Kingmanarama

No, I don't think Lawton or Klesko were signed as platoon players, but they've both played their way into platoon situations at various points. Both of them sat against some LHPs in 2005. And Nixon has been platooned with Payton, Kapler, et al for a couple years. I'm not saying that any of those guys have reasonable contracts, and, again, I'm not saying that payin $5M+ for a platoon player is a wise way to allocate resources. Just offering names. I think it's reasonable to hope that Jones ends up in a platoon, so that he can inflict less damage. There are guys with large, multi-year deals who are utilized this way. Personally, I'm horrified by the Jones signing. Carry on.

If you perhaps name me a few left side of the platoon players that are earning more than $5m per in a multi-year deal, that'd be cool. Thanks in advance. Trot Nixon at $19.5/3Y. Matt Lawton at $27/4Y, though I think that one just ended. Ryan Klesko signed a $16.5/2Y extension. Obviously, I'm not saying Jones compares favorably with any of those guys, nor am I saying that those are good contracts. But these things do happen.

I'm just in complete agreement with this. If there was a worse option than signing Jones to a 3 year deal, I can't think of it. Just...wow. Wow.

Obviously true. I'm not suggesting that Aramis won't get better. And Manny might never again be the hitter he was from '99-'03. But Manny is also one of the inner-circle all time great hitters, and I don't think it would be surprising if he matched last year's performance in his age 34, 35 and 36 seasons. Also, the only year Aramis has ever reached a .310 AVG, .360 OBP, or a .570 SLG was 2004. (ducking) I realize he was very close to that line in 2005, too. We'll be fortunate if he maintains that level for the next three seasons. And, just to be clear: I like Aramis. Yay Aramis! ...unless you're the Red Sox and you've just acquired Andy Marte. Boston isn't really a logical destination for Aramis Ramirez, unless the Red Sox intend to put Marte in left, Lowell at first, and deal Youkilis. When the Red Sox placed Manny on waivers, Vlad and Tejada were available in free agency. Manny's money could have been reinvested unusually well. The same is not true right now. Today, I think the Red Sox are willing to move him because he's asked/demanded to be moved, and they can't/won't placate him again. Yes, Manny's overpaid. He's also just about as good as it gets. In a market where Paul Konerko gets $65M/5Y offers, Manny's deal looks, um...less bad. It certainly looks better today, with only three seasons remaining and a bare free agent market, than it looked in 2003. Yes, that's a lot of money. A theoretical Brian Giles is better than no Brian Giles, I guess. I do not trust Jim Hendry to do remarkable things with lots of money. We have no idea what the market is today. We can be reasonably sure that the Mets, Angels, O's, and Diamondbacks have been involved in trade talks. The Yankees would probably be interested right now, too. Some smart team might deal for Manny, then flip him to the NYY for...well, I don't know what they have that I'd want, other than Sheffield.

Doubt it. It's been reported that Boston has asked about Jeremy Reed and Coco Crisp, though. If Damon signs elsewhere, Boston would apparently be willing to deal either Clement or Arroyo for a CF. Also, if Aramis "is entering what should be a prime just as good as the prime Manny is leaving," that will mean that Aramis, like Manny, is one of the 10 best right-handed hitters of all time. Let's hope that's true.

Manny hasn't posted an OPS+ below 140 since 1994, and he hasn't been below 150 since 1998; Aramis has never reached 140. No, his offensive production isn't quite as prodigious. I like Aramis a lot, but c'mon. And while he plays a more important defensive position, Aramis doesn't play it much better than Manny plays left. More significantly from Boston's perspective, Aramis doesn't play third as well as Marte. I don't think Manny's contract is quite as onerous as it used to be, either. He has something like 3 years and $57M remaining on his deal. Eh. That seems just about right, actually, given recent free agent signings. His bad-teammatedness probably costs a couple runs each year, since he seems to sit out a game or two each season. Beyond that, I don't think it has a measurable impact. Anyway, I really doubt that Boston would consider a Ramirez swap to be "an absolute killing." They would get worse in the short-term, and would be adding their third 3B of the offseason. They'd have to do something truly remarkable with the money saved, and this isn't really the free agent market in which to do it.

If you removed Patterson and Perez from that package (seriously...Neifi Perez?) and included Pie and Williams, then substituted Lowell for Marte, you might have something that Boston would consider. It's going to take a lot to get Manny Ramirez. If Boston were really desperate to get rid of him, it would have happened already. I think they'll let him hold out. If he did, the team would save a bunch of money and fans everywhere would turn on Manny.

I think the Crisp and Reed trade possibilities are mostly a hedge against Damon leaving, and/or finding a replacement in LF if they trade Manny. If the Red Sox are going to trade Manny, they're going to want *a lot* in terms of prospects and Major League help. The Cubs would have to give up quite a bit (maybe Hill and Cedeno), and we'd only get Floyd back? No thanks. If we're willing to do that, why not just trade for Manny and put him in right? He has a pretty good arm. It's his range and his reads that are, um...Kingmanlike.

Wow. If L.A. gives Damon a fifth year...wow. Other teams have to just walk away. What are the chances that Johnny Damon is worth $13M in 2009 and 2010, when he's 38 and 39?

I just bought tickets to the three games at Petco. Pretty cheap, actually. Any chance there could be an informal NSBB gathering in San Diego? I actually considered getting tickets to the Orlando games instead, just to make sure I saw the Dominican team. They could very well be the greatest team ever assembled in any sport: A-Rod, Pujols, Manny, Papi, Vlad, Soriano, Tejada, Pedro, Colon, etc. Whoa.

That Mulder deal has the potential to be an epic disaster. I don't know that Kenny Williams has ever traded a prospect who was as good as either Barton or Haren.

Aren't other teams courting Nomar as a potential right fielder? That doesn't seem too crazy, especially if you can get him for the same dollars and fewer years than Jones. Although, as with Bradley, you'd want to have a decent 4th outfielder who can step in for the 30-60 games that Nomar won't play. Ack. Can't the Cubs just reconfigure Wrigley so that there isn't a right field anymore? Seems like they could add about 5,000 bleacher seats that way.

Kenny Williams has built an organization that seems to be very good at helping talented players, particularly pitchers, maximize their talent. I'm sure he feels like the White Sox coaches and scouting staff can help Vazquez get back to where he was from 2001-2003. And if Vazquez returns to that form, he'll be the best starter in a very good rotation. The fact that Kenny Williams has a ring, his team is an obvious contender in '06 and '07, and they're selling plenty of tickets does, in fact, mean that he has done a good job. It's all anyone can expect from a GM, isn't it? Unless you consider probabilistic performance more important than actual performance, it's tough to be critical of Williams. I'm sounding like a Sox troll, so I'll stop. (I am, in fact, a Cubs season ticket holder.)

You wouldn't trade a few top prospects if it meant that the Cubs could contend for the World Series for 4 or 5 years? Really? I've felt for a long time that Kenny Williams gives up way too much minor league talent via trades. But, somehow, the prospects he's given up have yet to have much Major League success. So at this point, it seems reasonable to assume that the White Sox might just be very good at evaluating and projecting their minor leaguers. Now, even if the White Sox lose both Garland and Contreras to free agency after this season, they'll still have four very good starting pitchers in 2007. Whatever else Williams is doing, he's certainly not ignoring the future. Looks to me like he's planning for it.

Yep, but you ignored quoting the part of my post where I said that. Thanks for that! Apologies. But over the past three seasons Bradley has missed approximately a full season's worth of games, and it wasn't because he was platooned. I would have been disappointed to see the Cubs trade for him. Not nearly as disappointed as I'll be when we sign Jones, but still...

Um...no. And actually, I didn't say he was injury-prone. I said he plays half-seasons. But whatever. He is, at the very least, a little incident-prone, isn't he? 2005 -- 60-day DL with torn patella tendon; 15-day DL with torn finger ligament. 2004 -- Missed time due to hamstring problems, right shoulder problems, "irritation near his right eyelid," an injured left ankle, and a rib cage problem. He was also suspended in June, then again in September. During the offseason, he served a three-day jail term for an old traffic incident, and was arrested for disorderly conduct. 2003 -- Missed a month with back spasms. Also missed time with an abdominal strain, and went on the 15-day DL with a hamstring injury. Link.

Ethier probably would've entered the season ranked as one of Oakland's top 2 or 3 prospects, no? Maybe just behind Daric Barton. He's not just some scrub. I can't see how this trade tells us anything about the Pierre deal. And it baffles me that anyone thinks we could have dealt for Bradley and thereby filled a hole in right field. His rates are nice, but he only plays half-seasons. He was just one of many lousy RF options, and now he's off the board. Eh.

Whoa. I really can't believe the Nats made a deal. Is Vidro done? This seems like a nice deal for the Rangers.

I'd like to mention, again, that it seems extremely difficult for the Nats to trade a player from their Major League roster while they are without an owner and their GM has been interviewing for other jobs. I can't believe Wilkerson would be moved during the winter meetings unless it was a simply overwhelming offer. Given the competition for Pierre, and the apparent fact that the Marlins intended to move him soon, waiting for the Nats (or the Phillies, with Michaels) carried significant risk.

So, is the consensus that Wilkerson is available, right now, for less than what Hendry gave up for Pierre? Or could Wilkerson have been had, right now, for the same 3 players? Because if that's true, I would have preferred him. But I doubt it's true. It seems very difficult to complete a trade with the Nats right now, since they don't have a budget or an ownership group, and their GM is interviewing for other jobs. So if you can't move on Wilkerson right now, and you know the Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox, and a few other teams are in the CF market, I think Hendry made a reasonable, defensible move with Pierre. I think timing was a big factor, since the Cubs clearly have other positions to fill. Also, is there any reason to think you can get Michaels from Philly with ease? Aren't they shopping Abreu because they have Michaels and Rowand? It seems like they're going to exhaust their options with an Abreu-for-ace-pitcher deal before looking to deal Michaels for prospects.

That career OPS+ of 87 includes Pierre's age 22, 23, and 24 seasons in Colorado, in which he posted a 55, 89, and 65. In the last three seasons, he's gone 98, 107, 84. Not great, obviously, but I think you've considerably overstated his suckiness. If we added Jerome Williams to this package, we could have gotten a player who is several orders of magnitude better than Juan Pierre? Really? Who?

Austin Kearns has taken more vile, unrepeatable, sexually-explicit abuse from the RF bleachers than any player I can think of. And he can dish it out, too. It would really be a shame if that relationship changed. But if he hit .234/.313/.406 for the Cubs, maybe it wouldn't have to.

I doubt the Red Sox would trade either Pedroia or Lester for Todd Walker, so don't worry Walker-lovers. Lester in particular is having a terrific season. Also, the Red Sox would want a platoon partner for Nixon, so Hollandsworth wouldn't really fit. They do need pitching, so they might like Rusch. Bet they'd like Maddux, too. In any case, with the Nats in a tailspin (4-11 since they left Chicago), it's not like anyone is running away with the NL wild card. No one here should be giving up.

This is all true, no doubt. Pretty slick move for a small-market team to invest its revenue-sharing funds in a major league pseudo-star, satisfying local fans and the MLBPA, then trade away the contract for prospects a few months later, thus preserving the windfall. The old bait-and-switch, as a used car salesman might say!

This seems like market value for Jenkins. But why would the Brewers choose to spend such a significant percentage of their $28 million annual payroll on this guy, a good-but-not-great corner outfielder? Is it just because he looks like Brett Favre? Stick Kieschnick out there, fer cripes sake.