http://economics.about.com
Isn't Karros the kind of player we would rail at the Pirates and Tigers and Royals for signing?

Depends how much they signed him for.

Statheads don't criticize (or atleast shouldn't) criticize non-Stathead teams for signing mediocre players. Statheads criticize non-Stathead teams for overpaying mediocre players. The problem isn't that they buy Yugos, but that they pay Ferrari prices for them.

Karros is good if he only faces lefties. At 1+ mil did the A's overpay for a lefty-masher? It look from here they did, by a fair margin. Are there any good non-Oakland lefties in the AL West besides Jamie Moyer and Jerrod Washburn, the latter of which may be traded out of the division. Texas has a few lefties, but are the A's really worried about the Rangers?

I don't get it, but Beane stopped making sense to me awhile ago.

Cheers,

Mike

As a loyal Oaklandian I ahve no idea what Beane is doing this year. First he gives up an all-star catcher (granted he's caught a ridiculous amount of innings the past few years but he's just beginning to hit which is one thing the A's lacked last year) to get a hurt, mediocre center fielder. Then trades for Damien Miller who is older than the entire A's staff combined and can't hit. I'm not sure about Rhodes because he's never closed before and his closing stats aren't so hot, but the A's have had success with other pitchers like this (Isringhausen). The deals I liked were to acquire Kielty and Redman because Beane doesn't give up to much or deals from his strength. Now Karros I have no idea why he is signed and perhaps becomes a top andujar candidate but I really doubt it. I also doubt Gitz can be anymore pessimistic about this offseason for the A's :)

http://bbfl.scottlucas.com
Lord knows I'm not a member of the Eric Karros Fan Club, but check out these numbers vs lefties:

2001: .255/.317/.511 (Dodgers)
2002: .317/.397/.485 (Dodgers)
2003: .366/.441/.545 (Cubs)
Career: .292/.362/.479

Used STRICTLY against lefties, he's respectable, and it's not as though he's stealing ABs from Hee Seop Choi.

Used as a pinch hitter and occasional sub for Hatteberg irrespective of the opposing pitcher's arm, he's dog meat.

A's opposing lefty starters in the AL West:

Kenny Rogers (TEX)
Jarrod Washburn (ANA)
Jamie Moyer (SEA)

That's all I see, unless an NRI or Texas's Ryan Snare somehow earns a rotation spot.

well thats 1/4 of the division's total starting (4-man) rotations... Thats not too bad I guess... maybe bill knows something that we do not.

The A's play teams outside of the AL West don't they? And they can use Karros to platoon 1B and DH as needed. The way I see it the A's have set themselves up with some decent platoon situations at 1B and DH as well as the outfield and even at catcher. Miller's 3 year split versus lefties shows a .367 OBP.

I mean $1 million seems a little high but this is a player with many years of major league experience who is actually useful in a given role.

Actually, the money for just this season is $550,000 plus $40,000 for playing 75 games, and $40,000 more for each 5 games played above that. So if he platoons and pinch hits and plays in, say 100 games, he'd get paid about $800,000.

Where the million comes into play is that there's a $500,000 buyout if the A's don't pick up a $1.5 million option which would be paid in 2005.

Remember, when Beane signed Hatteberg, almost nobody thought he would do much of anything. He did well in 2002 (.280/.374/.433) and not as well last year (.253/.342/.383) but still pretty good. I think this Karros signing works as 1B/DH vs lefties, as RBillie said.

Anybody know of a place on the web that lists trades going back several years?

Thanks in advance.

RBillie is on the right track...

Eric Karros vs. LHP (2001-2003): 316/389/515
S.Hatteberg vs. RHP (2001-2003): 269/358/404

So, think of it this way - a Kareberg platoon can be reasonably expected to put up somewhere in the neighbourhood of a 285/368/441 line, at a price of about $3.3MM. That's almost exactly the median of how MLB first basemen performed last season. Platoons can be had cheaper than that but all in all, it's not horrible.

I don't know if this is the place to post this but I was always wondering if there ever was a switch pitcher (throw both left and right handed)...

Also, it seems now that with the signing of pudge by detroit seattle is in need of a catcher, and they have a lot of pitchers. Perhaps a trade could be worked out (in january there was a rumor of cash+werth for soriano).

JayFan, meet Greg Harris

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/ML_1998_trans.shtml
Anybody know of a place on the web that lists trades going back several years?

b-r has all transactions grouped into year/league. For example, COMN for 1998 AL. You can get Explorer to jump to trades by using "Edit" "Find on this Page" and typing in the word "trade".

I've spent a little time there myself lately.

By the way, that's retrosheet's data being used on b-r; I just find b-r to be easier to navigate.

Leigh: I've spent a little time there myself lately.

</understatement>

He did well in 2002 (.280/.374/.433) and not as well last year (.253/.342/.383) but still pretty good. I think this Karros signing works as 1B/DH vs lefties, as RBillie said.

I am sorry, but .253//342/.383 isn't "pretty good." It's not a line for a passable major-league hitter, let alone a first baseman.

The point, which Baseball Prospectus makes contstantly, is that lefty-masher types are crawling all over the minors; all you need is to know where to look. And, supposedly, the A's are one of those teams who know where to look. On the whole I think this is a harmless move, one that won't do much one way or the other, but Billy Beane is supposed to be able to pick up players better than Karros for less than $1 million. (Where's Geronimo Berroa, who Sandy Alderson picked up, when you need him???)

Ben, yes, I'm grumpy about some of the A's winter moves. I do, however, like a few, such as Kotsay and Kielty (plus Arthur Rhodes, if healthy, will be good). Kotsay is really a terrific baseball player: he can hit a little, he can run a little, and he can throw a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing him play more. Kielty has obvious skills, such as working the count and drawing walks. I remain skeptical that he will do much more than .250/.360/.440, but there have been worse regulars to play OF for the A's in recent years. As I've said before, however, both Kielty and Kotsay are terrific complementary players on teams with good offenses, like the Blue Jays or Red Sox. They are not front-line offensive talent, and, despite their world-class pitching, the A's need at least a little front-line offensive talent to compete with the improved Angels and the already good Red Sox and Yankees. Offensively, the A's are not there. They're not even close.

Unfortunately the A's have a good $11M sunk in Dye. They have to hope they get something from him this year.

I think there is a prior perception bias (?) here for most people who look at Karros. He wasn't a terrible player, definitely not a mendoza line 1B with no defense. But he was a player who made insane amounts of money for mediocre production (7, 6.5, 8 mil for '01, '02, '03 seasons). That is a lot of money to be thrown around for a light hitting 1B who plays decent defense from all reports.

Prove me wrong on the defense, I really don't know if he truly was Mark Grace perfect or Jason Giambi horrible. Put it in another way, I don't think JP would have gotten rid of big bad Raul Mondesi if he was only making a million dollars a year. At least I wouldn't...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=1725666
ESPN and AP report Drew Henson and the Yankees have parted ways. Henson gives up all remaining cash in future years of the contract and the Yankees agree not to pursue any of the money he's received to this point.

Houston holds his NFL rights and has made his workout on Feb 12 open to any other NFL club who has potential interest. Their hope is to broker a trade before the NFL draft as he's currently unsigned and will go back into the draft should he remain unsigned on April 24. COMN for the article.

Pretty interesting article on the pitcher who throws with both hands. Funny quote:

Otherwise Harris could have the ball in his right hand, the batter would get into the left box, Harris could switch hands, the batter could switch boxes. ... You'd never get anything done."

That'd be fairly amusing to watch. Those weird chiropractors...

b-r has all transactions grouped into year/league. For example, COMN for 1998 AL. You can get Explorer to jump to trades by using "Edit" "Find on this Page" and typing in the word "trade".

That's really cool. Thanks. How did you find it, though? The transaction pages don't seem to be linked from anywhere on the league page.

I agree that this is a baffling move by the A's. Perhaps there's more to it, however? I don't know much about Karros' reputation, but is it possible they could be signing him partly as 'veteran presence', like the Jays did with Mike Bordick? Admittedly, Bordick was more useful in conventional terms for the Jays than Karros will be for the A's, but it's possible that they really like his attitude/leadership.
Just because they're the Moneyball poster boys doesn't mean the necessarily ignore stuff like that entirely...

I don't know, just a shot in the dark. If this is a straight baseball move then I agree that it's a waste of resources.

Just a quick question--does anyone know where to find box scores for the Caribbean World Series? I know Puerto Rico lost its first two games but I was wondering how Alexis Rios was doing. I figure by this point he must be exhausted.

As far as I know, Rios is not playing in the Series - he's home relaxing.

According to the BA e-mail, he was selected by Ponce to play on their team--although I could be wrong on this.

Newburg Report has just informed its subscribers that Mike Lamb is now a Yankee in exchange for a Single-A pitcher.

Man, if he replaces Boone out of spring training that infield defense could be historically *terrible*.

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040203/MLBSIGN03/TPSports/Baseball
Mick, you're looking like a genius. COMN for Jeff Blair's take on the I-Rod contract. From that column:

The Blue Jays might be persuaded to do a three-year deal, but a source says they would not go beyond $10-million a year and would be more apt to throw in a third year if the first two are closer to $8-million or $9-million a season.

My own view is that if you want a "hometown discount", it's better if no one in the organization spoke to reporters about potential terms. And, the numbers that are being bandied about involve a very large hometown discount.

Oops, editing error. The contract in question is Delgado's.

Scott - I could be wrong, I seem to remember someone mentioning that Rios was not selected. You should probably believe BA over me =)

Rios was invited but not selected to final PR team. Jose Cruz sr. wanted to give a chance to play to as many Ponce players as possible and the only extra OF picked was Raul Gonzalez.
You can find boxscores in ESPN Deportes the spanish language section of ESPN.

Is "Derek Jeter" a clutch hitter? I was playing around the ESPN site and I found an interesting split called "Close and Late" defined as "results in the 7th inning or later with the batting team either ahead by one run, tied or with the potential tying run at least on deck". It would seem to me that a clutch hitter would have a higher OPS "Close and Late" than he does overall.

OPS over last 3 years
----------------------

Name             Overall     Close & Late  Diff

Carlos Delgado   0.974       0.892         -  8.4%
Alex Rodriguez   0.996       1.112         + 11.6%
Barry Bonds      1.278       1.300         +  1.7%            
Sammy Sosa       0.911       0.802         - 12.0%
Derek Jeter      0.830       0.681         - 18.0%

You make the call!

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/7057293
CBS Sportsline released their off-season power rankings. While the Jays did rank 12, which I suppose you can make an argument for, I think it's absolutely insane to put the Orioles ahead of the Jays at 11. I also disagree with putting the Astros at #2?!? This is not an offseason ranking --- but an actual power ranking --- so they seem way off the mark with a lot of these. Obviously I don't put much stock in this, but I think their rankings were swayed way too much by offseason aquisitions, many of which ultimately faulter.

COMN for link.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1726539
Maddux to Chavez Ravine??? COMN

http://www.baseballprimer.com/to/archives/00001224.shtml#12posts
For what it's worth, the Transaction Oracle at Primer approves of the Karros signing. COMN.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1726670
The Yankees are clearing one roster spot from completing a trade with the Rangers for 3B Mark Lamb. In exchange, the Yankees give up another minor leaguer, this one of the pitching variety and carries the name Jose Garcia.

ESPN's synopsis of the hurler goes as follows: Garcia, 22, was a combined 10-8 with a 2.52 ERA while splitting last season with Class A teams Battle Creek and Tampa. The Yankees signed the Venezuelan right-hander as an undrafted free agent in 1999.

This adds a fifth option for the Yankees 3B hole, all of which are weak at best. So while the Yankees surely won't shop any further this offseason (at least not for an infielder), come trade deadline there's gotta be a market for a package of 5 mediocre infielders ;-)
For the complete article, COMN.

See message #141326 for the initial mention of this transaction, minus the name of the inestimable Mr. Garcia.

Bottom line: the Yankees will have a poor-fielding 3B to go along with their terrible Mr. Jeter at SS and their terrible Mr. Giambi at 1B (the latter two make up for these shortcomings with first-rate offensive contributions, while the former won't achieve anything spectacular with the bat). You know the Yankees have a terrible defensive infield overall when Mr. Soriano, average at best at 2B, is clearly their best defensive infielder.

http://dickallen.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_dickallen_archive.html#107583089789461550
Interesting rant. COMN

I think the author has a very valid point, and it should be of interest to Jays fans. I am convinced JP takes clubhouse chemistry very seriously, and I know others here believe the same thing.
Obviously it is something that can never be quantified so it is harder for 'chemistry' to find a place in baseball analysis. IMO it shouldn't be at odds with the SABR community and I doubt that it is, the Blue Jays being the perfect example.

According to Baseball America, the Brewers are planning to convert Sunglasses At Night into an outfielder.

This is most interesting for those who are looking for deep darkhorses in fantasy drafts. Hart is the real deal at the plate and while he clearly isn't ready yet as a third baseman, if he isn't Cust-like in the outfield he will probably see time in Milwaukee this year, possibly significant time.

Why are we still debating whether Mr.Clutch is clutch or not? Gleeman did this a while back...

scroll down a bit to where it says "Derek is really, really cute" or "Derek is really, really cute" (Part Two)

Right, moving on

FWIW, Rogers reported strong 4th quarter results in 2003. Regarding the Blue Jays:

"The equity loss for the quarter was $17.0 million, consisting primarily of a loss at the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club (the "Blue Jays"). On a cash basis, the Company received $24.3 million from the Blue Jays related to the repayment of notes payable. In total, the company advanced $29.4 million of cash to the Blue Jays during 2003. The Blue Jays are expected to generate meaningfully lower operating losses in 2004 than in the prior year reflecting efficiencies in its operations and the benefit of the strengthened Canadian dollar. In 2004, cash funding by the Company to the Blue Jays is expected to be approximately $20-$25 million."

Is anyone (other than Will Carroll) who has an understanding of medical issues doing baseball injury commentary/analysis? Any useful sites or blogs regarding this aspect of baseball?

FWIW, Rogers reported strong 4th quarter results in 2003.

Slow but significant improvement and it should get better as the team wins more. But it's also sobering in that it'll be hard to expect much in the way of additional payroll in the near future with at least another year of significant losses expected. Right now my confidence isn't high in the Jays keeping Delgado but perhaps we'll be surprised.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1727032
The Red Sox will sign Ellis Burks today according to espn.com (COMN) for $750,000 plus health-related incentives. This is a typically brilliant low-cost acquisition by the Sox. Burks' 3-year line against lefties is .292/.384/.564, in an unfavorable home park.

I was looking at Burks earlier as well. While he hits lefties really well, his splits aren't that wide. He hits righties pretty good too.

The money guy on the FAN 590 this morning said that the break-even point in terms of attendance for the Jays this coming season would be an average of 30,000 fans.

Which I think is doable, with some marketing effort and a strong showing out of the gate by the team.

Pistol, I know that his splits aren't wide, but seeing as he's 39, and is coming off a right elbow injury, you could probably use him as a platoon player/pinch-hitter at least to start. The Red Sox, like the Yankees of old, have about 3 of these guys. It's a good strategy, and a reason to go with an 11-man pitching staff if you can.

The money guy on the FAN 590 this morning said that the break-even point in terms of attendance for the Jays this coming season would be an average of 30,000 fans.

2.43 million. The Jays last managed this in 1998. While it isn't impossible to imagine this happening, contention through the year is a must. In 2001, the last time the team was coming off a year over .500 (attendance correlates most strongly with the previous year's performance), they drew 1.9 million, and I think 2 million plus is a reasonable goal in '04. That would be well-reflected in the hopes for a loss of $20-25 million Cdn. in the Jays' operation.

By the way, does this make sense from a $$ standpoint? If it's true that the predicted loss would be $20 million, presumably on hoped-for attendance of 2 million or so, and the average revenue per head is say $40 Canadian, then it would take 500,000 souls at the park to hit the break-even, or 2.5 million, right around the 30,000 average quoted on FAN.

Yup, it works!

I wonder if the projections include the huge number of free tickets they give away? I mean, last year there were about three dozen ways to score a free ticket or four to a Jays game, and attendance was undoubtably padded by this -- I'd hate to think that they need to double their actual paying attendance or something like that.

I know that his splits aren't wide, but seeing as he's 39, and is coming off a right elbow injury, you could probably use him as a platoon player/pinch-hitter at least to start.

Agreed. I was just trying to say that he wouldn't need to be used exclusively against LHP to be effective for the Sox.

The Jays will be on TV 145 times this year. Unfortunatetly, Jays fans are stuck with the Faulds/Cerutti and Blach/Tabler tandems again!

------

Sportsnet reports the Jays' signing of minor league free agent Mark Lukasiewicz. Any other source for this transaction?

See, Rogers know that we dislike Faulds, but they keep using him in an effort to drive us out of our living rooms and into the SkyDome seats.

http://www.theplainsman.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/02/05/40221c63a50f4
Gabe Gross interview in the Auburn Plainsman, pretty interesting. COMN.

An article from San Diego talking about Dave Stewart going from the front office to an agent. Takes more shots at Godfrey and the Jays.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20040205-9999_1s5stew.html

It's kind of sad to see Dave Stewart flitting from job to job now as he wears out his welcome with ever-increasing speed at every stop. I hope for Eric Chavez's sake that he's a better agent than he was an assistant GM or a pitching coach.

Not sure if this has been brought up either, but apparently Alfredo Griffin is the Angels' new first base coach.

Actually, he's been there for 5 years now, I misread an article.

Q: Do you like the approach Ricciardi has taken with the Blue Jays in his short time as general manager?

A: (Gross) I like his approach he has brought to the Blue Jays. He looks at things like OBP (on base percentage) and walks. He’s not huge on the home runs.

Interesting.

I'd rather have Burks than Karros. Granted, Burks can't play first base, but he's a better hitter, he's cheaper, and he's got no platoon issues, as has been pointed out. He also won't have to adjust to the AL, as Karros will, if in fact there's any merit to that saw.

[It] would take 500,000 souls at the park to hit the break-even point

There go my big plans for marketing to the undead.

The Gross interview is interesting -- thanks for the link, David! Gabe has already learned the art of speaking much and saying little, which is the key to being an interviewable professional athlete. I'm not being critical here -- it's not easy answering endless stock questions in a pleasant, inoffensive, non-jargonistic way, which is how the public likes its sports heroes to come across. He's pretty polished already.

There are a few points in there worth following up:

- It's both illuminating and satisfying to see that JP spoke to Gross and told him the organization's expectations for his role in 2004. Most people just want to know what the boss wants from them, and JP obliged here. This also underlines that Gabe is considered very much part of the future in Toronto.

- [T]he biggest thing is learning how to play everyday. It’s not playing four to five times a week, it’s playing everyday. This is something that fans often forget. We work hard five days a week, sometimes six, then go home, usually to a house and family. Ballplayers work every day -- no weekends off -- usually from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, then go back to a hotel room and a roommate. It's a grind, folks, no matter how much money is in your bank account.

- I think Gabe may be misguided when he says that JP isn't huge on home runs. I think JP loves the home run -- as a fan, as a baseball man, and as a smart guy who knows that the homer is the single most valuable offensive weapon. What JP doesn't like, I would imagine, is players reaching for home runs at the expense of OBP, or trying to be a slugger when you're a speedy slap hitter. The only thing left to develop in Gross's arsenal right now, in fact, is home run power -- if he can crank 20 of those a year in the majors, the Jays have themselves a young, affordable and much more pleasant Paul O'Neill.

- Frank Robinson is a pretty terrible game manager, and is by all accounts tough, no-nonsense, and suffers fools not at all. But I'm still very happy to hear that Gabe spent a lot of time with Robbie at the Olympic trials -- there are very few men around today with that much baseball wisdom and know-how in their bones. That's a pretty good role model to choose.

... the Jays have themselves a young, affordable and much more pleasant Paul O'Neill.

I never heard any of O'Neill's teammates complain about him, and I wonder if O'Neill is one of those Rickey-Henderson-type players -- not in talent or similar abilities, but in "It's great to have him on our side, though I'd hate him if he was on the other team." Personally, I loved O'Neill's intensity. Like it or not, you at least knew the guy cared, something you can't say equivocally about a good number of players, who probably do in fact care but sure don't look like it. O'Neill also turned out to be a darn good hitter, and, as Jordan says, if Gross can approach that level, that's good news for the Blue Jays.

Apparently the Dodgers have permission to talk to Paul DePodesta. What do we all think of this?

It's certainly interesting, Matthew. Nice to see another of the 'new wave' get a GM job (if it were to happen). With the stadium, and the pitching talent coming up, he might be able to match the A's style.

DePodesta would probably be better for the Dodgers than Gillick, at this stage of both men's careers. Whoever gets the job will be working at a disadvantage to put a pennant contender on the field this year, because it's so late in the offseason, but he'll inherit quite a bit of talent.

Having another enlightened front office could only be a good thing for the Blue Jays, giving them another potential trade partner for those three or four way deals the GM enjoys putting together. From a Jays fan's perspective, the NL is a good place for DePodesta; it might be difficult for Beane, who already lost J.P. Ricciardi and Grady Fuson, to replace another key man.

Thanks for the link to the Gross interview, David. Gabe seems to have everything he needs to succeed, including realistic expectations.

http://www.all-baseball.com/bronxbanter/archives/011253.html
As many know, Curt Schilling has taken to visiting the Red Sox forum Sons of Sam Horn and chatting with the members. He famously did it one night before deciding to accept the trade to Boston, and lately he's been conducting an ongoing Q&A over the last few weeks.
A controversy has erupted because David Pinto at Baseball Musings quoted some of Schilling's comments about Rob Neyer. Pinto was asked to remove the quote by a moderator from SoSH because Schilling said his comments were "off the record". Interesting stuff, lots of questions about what's public domain, what is off the record, etc.
COMN for the story from Bronx Banter.

That's an interesting chat with Schilling...If you follow the Bronx Banter links, through Pinto's site and on to SoSH, you'll find a great piece of insight from CS on positioning (7th post on the first page, I believe). He goes into the preperation he does with his coaching staff to make sure the defensive alignment for the opposing hitters are stuck up on the dugout wall. As well, he goes into his experience adjusting to Tony Gwyn's ability to hit everything anywhere.

I agree, Schilling's chat is excellent and he comes across as a very nice guy. He has some blind spots, obviously, but I was very impressed with how forward he was. It's sad that it's come to this.

Forward = forthcoming. I hadn't meant to imply that Schilling was hitting on anyone. Please don't sue me...

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1076022611201&call_pageid=968867503640&col=970081593064
I haven't seen it discussed here but in this morning's Star the Jays' new pricing scheme is adressed with a very positive attitude. The biggest difference is in the seats right behind the umpire, the $24 ones...in the 5th deck (that must've been the worst cash grab of all time). They're down to 9 bucks a pop (plus service charge of $1.25) all because, as Rob Godfrey puts it, "it's a function of us getting our head out of our ass." COMN for the article.

Are there only four "value" games as Ferschuk states. I thought that all weeknight tilts with teams other than New York, Boston, Oakland, Seattle and Anaheim would fall into this category. Wasn't that the case last year?

The fifth deck behind the umpires really is a great vantage point as you can see pretty much everything unfold before you, including where the pitch crosses the plate. You're looking directly down over the catcher. The price was ridiculous though as demonstrated by the large number of empty seats there despite the good view.

Pinto was asked to remove the quote by a moderator from SoSH because Schilling said his comments were "off the record".

When Schilling originally visited SoSH prior to being acquired by the Sox, that site was actually private; it was made public shortly after his initial appearance.

Perhaps Schilling is under the impression that it is still private, in which case the "off the record" remarks would make sense.

That's one possible explanation, anyway...

Does SoSH require password access for contributors? If so, he can make a legitimate claim that quoting the comment required permission (though "off the record" is a reach). If it's an open site, then he has no grounds for this argument. If it's published in a free area, it's quotable with appropriate citation.

As Schilling said in a recent "Sons of Sam Horm" chat, "blah blah blah." The full transcript is available for free at http://whatever.com.

You have to be a member to post there, but anyone can visit the forums and read the stuff. I don't see how Schilling can claim that something posted on a publicly viewable site is "off the record".

Anyway, Pinto removed the quote without arguing the point, but the post asking him to remove it questioned his ethics in quoting Schilling in the first place - that's the controversial part. I don't see how Pinto did anything wrong - and he certainly would have been within his rights to leave the quote up, though of course it was nice of him to remove it.

http://www.csfb.com/thoughtleaderforum/2003/depodesta_sidecolumn.shtml
Here's an article that Paul Depodesta wrote, that's highly worth reading. If I were the new Dodgers owner and read that I might hire him sight unseen.

Perhaps worthy of its own thread, but I'm at work and will be away for the weekend.

It's only a matter of time that Depodesta becomes a GM, and the team that gets him will be in good shape. Since he comes with less baggage than Billy Beane, and can more than likely do the job as well, I'd prefer he stays in Oakland.

For the record, I'd like to point out the A's won a World Series in 1989, reached the World Series three straight years form 1988-1990, and lost the ALCS in 1993 to Toronto. It was not like Depodesta and co. inherited a team completely commmitted to losing. While they were playing poorly when Depodesta arrived -- as he points out -- they were not as far removed as they thought, because they already had Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Ramon Hernandez, Jason Giambi, Tim Hudson, and a few other talented prospects in their system. I will say for the hundreth time that the success of the A's is partly due to their model, partly due to the people operating that model, and partly due to the confluence of their core all working out and all working out at the same time. If one is stronger than the other, it is probably the model -- but not by much. Yes, the "system" encourages draft picks like Mark Mulder and Barry Zito, but the A's had drafted college pitchers before that didn't pan out (Kirk Dressendorfer immediately comes to mind, plus a slew of names I always forget).

As I've also said before, Beane does a fabulous job with his (cheap-owner installed) small budget, and the A's are better off with him than with, say, Cam Bonifay. But Sandy Alderson was also a good GM. Reading Depodesta, and listening to Beane, who never outwardly criticize Alderson, you come away with the impression he was a complete hack who didn't know how to evaluate talent or to build a winner. No doubt Depodesta and Beane don't think that, but that's what it sounds like between the lines. And it's simply not true.

Corey Thurman's contract with the Reds was voided "due to a pre-existing medical condition." Maybe JP did know something that we didn't when Thurman was left off the roster in October. COMN

Oops. Here's the story.

Gitz: That was '92, not '93, in which the Jays beat the A's. And a satisfying series it was - the wild pitch that the Jays were too smart to touch, Alomar's home run off Eckersley on Thanksgiving, and Henderson's error in the final game to set up the blowout. First playoff series the Jays ever won.

I remember in '91, there was a spring training game after which I predicted that the A's would not be back in the postseason that year. I don't know if the A's won or lost the game, but the pitchers that day were Harris, Dressendorfer, Slusarski and Klink. My reasoning was that any team throwing four names like that out there was doomed.

http://premium.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2545
One of the curious events of the off-season has been the overvaluing of "just above replacement value" talent (average relief pitchers for instance) compared with premium talent. COMN for a VORP analysis by Michael Wolverton of comments made by Brian Sabean concerning the possible acquisition of Vladimir Guerrero.

Speaking of adding up, Ligtenberg, Speier, Adams, and De Los Santos collectively add up to over $6 million. I think this season will be an interesting exercise in whether three or four 'decent' pitchers are better than one more expensive established closer.

Has anyone else ever seen the Jays' bullpen as deep? I wouldn't want to put any two guys from the '04 pen up against Henke and Ward, but when was the last time they had a top five that looked this good front to back?

According to the Team 990 in Montreal, Rob Ducey has joined, "the Expos' minor league coaching staff." Anyone know what his role is? Is it even the same Rob Ducey that played for the Blue Jays?

A, it is. Ducey will be a coach with AA Harrisburg. A "coach" at the AA level normally handles third-base coaching duties, as well as serving at hitting coach when the roving hitting instructor is elsewhere. Ducey will probably work with the outfielders as well.

They also formally announced what was known a fair while ago, that Tim Raines will manage at Brevard County in the Florida State League.

Tim Raines, manager. I love it!