Clem Fandango

Exactly my sentiments. Of course you didn't get accused of trolling by the haters. Pretty sure his post didn't include any potshots. I was genuinely curious, because I left the computer in the afternoon and it was two pages and when I got home last night it was 9 pages and I was drunk and didn't really feel like reading. :hmm:

Why the hell is this thread 9 pages long?

Yeah, I figured I couldn't be the only one with a sibling like this. My brother thinks since he played baseball in high school back in the late 90's he's got some sort of leg up on baseball knowledge. He was the athlete... ironically I was the computer geek. So... stereotypes and all that.

I want to punch that article in the face. All it's going to do is force me to take a call from my brother saying "Looks like the Cubs are going after Stanton, huh?" and then I'll explain how it's nothing and he'll say "THE [expletive] ARTICLE SAYS WE'RE LOOKING INTO STANTON, HOW THE HELL ARE YOU SITTING HERE TELLING ME THEY'RE NOT DOING THAT" Then we'll get into an argument which will end up with me calling him an [expletive] for believing what Phil Rogers writes, then he'll call me gay, tell me to go [expletive] myself, talk trash about Billy Beane and Moneyball, and hang up on me.

I want to punch Phil Rogers in the face.

A PTBNL has to be named and traded in 6 months; neither Almora or Soler would be eligible to be traded in 6 months. 10-4 EDIT: Other tidbit relating to next year. Cubs stretching out Michael Bowden in the DWL... http://www.bleachernation.com/2012/11/25/michael-bowden-for-starter-in-2013-and-other-bullets/

Is there something in the new CBA that says we can't have guys like Soler and Almora be PTBNL anymore? I see a lot of people say "They're ineligible to be traded for another year". Isn't that what PTBNL tags are for?

Interesting tidbit from Cafardo Doubt anything happens, but it's fun to speculate. I'd have to imagine a deal for Stanton has to include Baez. I'd be okay with that.

IIRC he was a little below average, and not that great, and they had better defensive options in the system so they converted him. That being said, I wouldn't move him back. He's actually a very good defensive left fielder, if I'm not mistaken. I wouldn't trade Samardzija for him though. He's not exactly cheap... owed $31.5 million over the next three years with a $12.5 player option for 2016. I like Gordon a lot, though, but if I'm trading Samardzija for a 3B option, I'm targeting an actual 3B like Moustakas.

No to Jeff Keppinger, please.

I really wish we had one that was expendable :( I think this quote is more important from that article...

Wise financial decision for LaHair

Yup, that was posted on the previous page.

Ichiro being an awesome human being... http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/ichiro-surprises-keeper-ichimeter-special-thank-presents-232543149--mlb.html

Still can't believe he doesn't have some value as a platoon DH/1B. I can, mostly because he's not good

EDIT: others already said it better.

So this essentially became Geo for Loux and a PTBNL? I like that very much.

Oof... LaPorta has been trash. Even if we had a gap in our roster he could fill as a stopgap I'm not even sure he'd be worth the pickup at this point

I don't know why the Rangers would agree to this trade, but I won't complain. Loux is a great addition

Moustakas I can see since they've seen him at the MLB level, but I think Myers can fetch more than Samardzija, and I think the Royals would/should know that

1) Samardzija will be 28 at the start of the 2013 season, he is not in his mid 20's. 2) Samardzija only has three more years of team control available 3) He is entering his first year of arbitration, and if he continues to do well his then his price tag is not a desirable reason to trade for him any longer 4) Hellickson has benefited from Joe Maddon's smart usage of defensive shifts. Samardzija proved to be a better pitcher this season than Hellickson has been the past 3 seasons combined (fWAR). But what do you think teams are going to value more? A 25 year old with a career 3.06 ERA in 402 IP over three seasons pitching in the toughest division in baseball who is making league minimum next season and is under control for 4 total years which makes him a prime contract extension target, or a 28 year old with a 3.81 ERA in one season as a starter in 174 IP who is entering arbitration and under control for 3 until he turns 30? 5) He has only shown success as a starter for one season, and while most of us acknowledge that he was fairly dominant most of the season, and his struggles midway through the season were tied to an attempt to work another pitch into his repertoire, his overall 2012 numbers combined with 1 through 3 do not scream "Let's trade one of the best prospects in baseball for this guy". He's a valuable trading chip, but I don't think anyone here thinks he's worth a Wil Myers level prospect. Why would the Royals trade their best prospect who costs them next to nothing and they have team control over for the next 6+ years for a guy who has had one year of moderate success and is about to get a little bit pricey while getting closer to the age of 30? If they trade Myers it will be for a pitcher with far more value than Jeff Samardzija, IMO.

So the Blue Jays offense is now looking something like: C John Buck/J.P. Arencibia 1B Edwin Encarnacion 2B Emilio Bonifacio (I assume) 3B Brett Lawrie SS Jose Reyes LF Melky Cabrera CF Colby Rasmus RF Jose Bautista DH Adam Lind And a rotation of: Josh Johnson Mark Buehrle Ricky Romero Brandon Morrow J.A. Happ Not too shabby. I would assume Arencibia is going to be traded what with d'Arnaud more or less ready to take over.

More stuff about the Marlins being dicks...