The one time I wake up early enough to be the first to post, and I have no idea what the line is from.
Hijack: Anybody else follow the Raptors as closely as me? How about that Tank Black vs. Vince Carter story? It's pretty bad when ya have to hand over such a fistful of dollars to such a crooked man.

Donkit, I haven't really followed the Raps in the past, but I'm giving them a shot this year. Last night was a great way to start things off -- an exciting game with a bunch of spectacular plays. I have no idea what tickets cost, but I imagine if they keep my interest I'll end up at a few games at the ACC.

I hadn't heard what the final ruling was -- did they decide that Vince owed the guy the money even though the guy was in jail and therefore couldn't manage him?

Much to nobody's surprise, I'm sure, this quote from Lee Sinins' "Around the Majors" this morning:

Nomar Garciaparra, who will be a free agent, is reportedly interested in the Yankees, where he would move to 2B.

Cementing Jeter's position as the third-best (but starting) shortstop in his own infield.

Ok..I am usually just a lurker here but I think I know that question. It's definately Clint Eastwood...I think the movie was "A Fistful of Dollars"

Aaron Gleeman has done his usual fine job on analyzing the meat market for second basemen" in the Hardball Times. Aaron points out that Placido Polanco has become a fine offensive player, and is, of course, a great defender. The major concern with him is injuries.

All of this got me to thinking. Polanco's bat is developing to the point that he'd be a fine third baseman. He's a fabulous defensive third baseman (good range, terrific at getting rid of the ball quickly to start the DP, very few errors). Plus, he's much more likely to steer clear of injuries at the hot corner than at second.

There's been some talk about potential free agent third basemen, with high-priced names being bandied about. Is anyone else interested in Polanco as a lower-priced alternative?

http://me.woot.net
Well done, Brian. The quote was, indeed, from the fun 60's western A Fistful of Dollars.

Your punishment for winning this thread's contest is the poster from the awful 80's spy flick Firefox:



and a link to the web site ThinkInRussian.org.

The one time I wake up early enough to be the first to post, and I have no idea what the line is from.

Dude, you posted at 11:33!
Must be nice. :)

I haven't really followed the Raps in the past, but I'm giving them a shot this year

I really enjoyed last night's game. If they get anything out of the centres so that Bosh can stay at power forward, it could be a really fun season.

Me Grimlock have season tickets to the Raptors. Does anyone know of a batterbox equivalent site, except it's about the Raptors?

Cementing Jeter's position as the third-best (but starting) shortstop in his own infield.

Pardon me Mick... but that's Mr. Derek Gold Glove Jeter Clutch. Please be sure to always refer to Himself by His full title.

Incidentally, Mick, as a Yankee fan would you prefer to see them continue to load up on huge contracts this winter, meaning a playoff appearance again next fall, or would you prefer to see them start the teardown immediately, all but gauranteeing finishing behind Boston next year but giving you some hope that the inevitable crash might not last long?

http://sil.mcmaster.ca
I really like the Polanco idea. The only problem being that he's such a good utility guy that a contending team would give him three or four million dollars just to be a jack-of-all-trades. Toronto (obviously) can't afford that.

Named For Hank...

Donkit, I haven't really followed the Raps in the past, but I'm giving them a shot this year. Last night was a great way to start things off -- an exciting game with a bunch of spectacular plays. I have no idea what tickets cost, but I imagine if they keep my interest I'll end up at a few games at the ACC.

Don't buy tickets at full price ever, sign up to get the Raptors Insider e-mails at raptors.com and you will get great ticket offers on various dates. They had a 45% off deal for Hallowe'en.

I hadn't heard what the final ruling was -- did they decide that Vince owed the guy the money even though the guy was in jail and therefore couldn't manage him?

Vince cut ties w/ Tank a couple years ago, Tank wasn't in Jail at that time.

Heh, in reading Donkit's post, I thought he was being ironical that he didn't know where the quote came from... and then used the title of the film later in his post. Maybe Donkit, you should be playing the lottery today?

Do the Blue Jay minor league teams have team or individual pictures of players? And how might I obtain such?

Since this page is about rumours, I thought I would update the current ones:

- While there are Reports that Nomar is willing to change positions, former Red Sox player Lou Merloni doesn't buy it.

- Carl Pavano recieves a three year $21 million contract offer from the Marlins.

- Olerud is willing to return to the Mets

- Vazquez to Arizona? Brown to Atlanta? Sosa to Florida? Deglado to Baltimore? Randy Johnson and JD Drew to the White Sox?

- Are the A's really interested in Charles Johnson as there cather next season?

Hey, thanks for the tip, Braby!

Grimlock, do they have anything like the Season's Pass, or do you have to pay real money for Raptor's Season Tickets?

"Heh, in reading Donkit's post, I thought he was being ironical that he didn't know where the quote came from... and then used the title of the film later in his post."

- LOL

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=3603
COMN for Clay Davenport's BP take on the National League Gold Glove winners. The short story is that there were no abysmal choices in the NL comparable to Boone.

as a Yankee fan would you prefer to see them continue to load up on huge contracts this winter, meaning a playoff appearance again next fall, or would you prefer to see them start the teardown immediately

Jonny, good question. I am noodling with a feature for Da Box on How to Rebuild in the Bronx, but it won't be ready for a while. Suffice it to say the names "Randy Johnson" and "Nomar Garciaparra" are not prominently involved.

Me Grimlock have season tickets to the Raptors. Does anyone know of a batterbox equivalent site, except it's about the Raptors?

I'm also a huge fan, but have not been able to find anything akin to what Da Box offers; intelligent, passionate discussion with a slight statistical slant (actually, given the sad state of most basketball forums, I would settle for intelligent).

I check out Raptorblog once in a while.

Me Grimlock have season tickets to the Raptors. Does anyone know of a batterbox equivalent site, except it's about the Raptors?

RaptorBlog.com ain't bad. Not quite the same amount of traffic as Da Box but I think Scott's one of the better NBA bloggers out there.

I just read Clay Davenport's take on the AL Glove Glove awards and it seems he took away Wells' glove and gave it to Johnny Damon, hmmmm.

From the games I've seen between the Jays and Boston, as well as the playoffs, there is no way that Damon is a better CF than Wells. I do not care what Davenport's stats say in this case (although I appreciated them when they proved that ODawg should've won)as they just don't line up with reality.

NFH: No, there aren't really any Season's Pass type deals where it's like $1/game! Me Grimlock's second row greens goes for $38/game. Face value is $52, and you get first dibs on playoffs, but that hasn't been an issue the past couple years...

Actually I was hoping that Craig B (being the resident basketball enthused cabal member) might start up a basketball thread once a week or so (just for the baseball off-season).

I made it to the game last night, Raps played really well; If they could shoot they would have blown out the Rockets.

I'm all for the Raptors once a week thread (in the off season), but then people might want Leafs threads if hockey ever gets started up, and I'm not a big fan of that. Yes I am biased and no that is not fair to have Basketball and no Hockey, BUT who cares...haha

Raptorblog.com is indeed an excellent site. My only wish is that Scott would blog more often (though I think he will be writing fairly regularly this year - at a certain point last season there just wasn't much to say.)

I also second the notion of Craig giving us some regular basketball content - greatly enjoyed last year's defensive study.

Hey Jaysfan, I just got back from a business trip to see a company one of our former posters used to work for. Not a pretty town.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~96~2512358,00.html
Just read an article that I found over at Pro Sports Daily Rumors that suggests that the Rockies will most definitely trade pitcher Shawn Chacon because he will earn about 2.2 MM in salary arbritration this year.

The article also states that the Rox would want an outfielder back in the trade...the article mentions Dave Roberts as a possibilty.

In my opinion, if this is a trustworthy rumour, this would be a great trade to look into. Chacon was an All-Star starter last and had a decent year at closer this year; although his agent says he would like to go back to starting if possible.

He's 26 years old and throws a mid 90's fastball with a slider and change-up as well. Apparently he's a pretty good groundball pitcher.

If this were to happen, it would allow the Jays to spot start different players in the 5th spot, players like Towers (who probably deserves this spot anyways...), League or Chacin. It would also allow Batista to stay at closer.

WHo would the Jays have to give up? Reed might do it if another prospect was thrown in...or is that unrealistic?

If it's the former poster I think it is, I don't think we should talk about him at this site.

Oh yeah, you can COMN in the previous post for the link...

I know, that's why I wrote as I did. I can now understand why F.D. always was so angry.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1915425
Grenade found in Wrigley.

I can't stop laughing at the police spokesperson response.

I think the cop planted it just so he could deliver that one liner the next day.

While I don't know basically anything about basketball, I'd be more than happy to help set up a Box-like place to talk about Raptors stuff.

In my opinion, if this is a trustworthy rumour, this would be a great trade to look into. Chacon was an All-Star starter last and had a decent year at closer this year; although his agent says he would like to go back to starting if possible.

Having a 7.11 ERA doesn't sound like a decent year to me. He walked 52 batters in only 63.1 Innings and he's had control problems throughout his career. There's a reason the Rockies are shopping him around, because he's not a good pitcher.

I'd rather have Towers as the 5th starter than Chacon plus not giving up a player like RJ to get him.

Aaron, I would love a box like place to talk Raptors and NBA.

I'm a big Raptors fan (I know a lot more about the NBA than MLB)and I currently go the Raptors NG to get my fix. Great group of posters over there but I wouldn't mind posting in 2 different places.

Win Shares takes away Wells' Gold Glove as well. Based on WS, the Gold Gloves go to:

AL

C - Ramon Hernandez
1B - John Olerud (!)
2B - Orlando Hudson
SS - John Valentin
3B - Eric Chavez
OF - Mike Cameron, Carlos Beltran (Just his AL results), and Torii Hunter

NL

C - Brian Schneider
1B - Derrek Lee
2B - Alex Cora
SS - Cesar Izturis
3B - Adrian Beltre
OF - Andruw Jones, Craig Biggio, and Jose Cruz

Win Shares doesn't do pitcher's defense.

SS - John Valentin

Now there's a blast from the recent past. It's Jose, of course.

The Dodger infield was pretty good, huh? I've got to do a study on the Yankees and Dodgers, pitching and defence, 03-04. It's really too bad that A-Rod arrived in New York because it makes the analysis more difficult.

I thought Mike Cameron was with the Mets all year.

Jose Cruz was with the D-Rays. What year are these win shares for?

Hernandez was with the Padres!

Ron, is the raptors newsgroup still any good?

I gave up on it about a year ago... there seemed to be dwindling membership, and I got sick of one of the prominent posters. I gave up on the Jays newsgroup at the same time, cause I found the box, and there wasn't much content there anymore. I do recognize some names (well, at least one anyways) from there here.

SS - John Valentin

Now there's a blast from the recent past.

He does some work for the Red Sox pre-game and post-game shows occasionally.

Ron, is the raptors newsgroup still any good?

I gave up on it about a year ago... there seemed to be dwindling membership, and I got sick of one of the prominent posters. I gave up on the Jays newsgroup at the same time, cause I found the box, and there wasn't much content there anymore. I do recognize some names (well, at least one anyways) from there here.

I like the Raps NG. A nice small hardcore following. Mostly talk about the Raps/NBA but other topics are discussed too. Igor does a lot of excellent stat work.

I can take an educated guess about the prominent poster you're talking about and that's Mayor Tommy. He hasn't really posted there in a few months (except for the odd post). He brings up some good points but the reason people don't like him is because he'll repeat it a 1000 times.

I think I was starting to go down that road in Da Box with my concern of Rios's lack of offensive production/HR power but I have stopped talking about (well of course except right now because I'm using it as an example).

I personally found the arguments between Mayor Tommy and everybody else pretty amussing. It doesn't bother me. After all we're only talking about sports and it's entertainment.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/columnists/askba.html
BA has the free agents that are Type A, B and C. COMN.

Rusty those have to be last years totals, cruz was in the AL this year and Cameron was in the NL. I didn't think Win share numbers were out yet.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/wsallead/
I think these are this years numbers.

COMN

BA has the free agents that are Type A, B and C. COMN.

Hey, how come Troy Glaus is a type C? Are his numbers that bad?

Tony Batista: A. Troy Glaus: C
Yeah, surrre.

Kris Benson is a C. Who wants to make the Anna Benson joke here?

Toronto listings: Delgado A, Myers B, Zaun B.

Acording to BA Zaun is a type B and if the Jays offer arbitration and he is signed by a team not in the top half of drafters, the Jays would get a first rounder! I wonder what happens if in this senario he is signed a fellow bottom feeding team? Supplemental first round?

These are this year's win share GG's.

AL

C Damian Miller
1B Mark Teixeira
2B Orlando Hudson
SS Cristian Guzman
3B Alex Rodriguez
OF Johnny Damon
OF Mark Kotsay
OF Torii Hunter

NL

C Brian Schneider
1B Todd Helton
2B Jeff Kent
SS Jack Wilson
3B Adrian Beltre
OF Andruw Jones
OF Jim Edmonds
OF Corey Patterson

"BA has the free agents that are Type A, B and C. COMN.

Hey, how come Troy Glaus is a type C? Are his numbers that bad?"

I was just about to say. Avg .241. 15 dingers in 207 at bats isn't bad. OPS was .930!

By the by. [This will be my second (I don't wanna say dumb becuase it would hurt my feelings, so lets say remedial) remedial question of the day.] What is a win share and how does it relate to defense? Is there a difference between offensive and defensive Win Shares?

Or am i just... remedial.

OT - Are there any plans to update the Organizational Depth Chart in the near future?

Chacon would be an interesting trade target. Very similar guy to Batista but cheaper in the short term. And apparently can start or relieve though I like him better as a starter. Because of his control he's more of a #3 guy but he has the stuff to be higher in a rotation.

He doesn't figure to cost that much since the Rockies are in a position to shed salary to make budget. Rotoworld suggests they might move him for a guy like Dave Roberts or Reed Johnson.

Frankly, I'd do this trade without thinking about it. Reed Johnson is an OK player but imminently replaceable. Starting pitchers with mid-90s fastballs and a few years under their belt at a reasonable price are rare. The worst that could happen is you waste $2.2 million for a year and non-tender him the next year. The best that could happen is you obtain a very valuable and tradeable commodity.

Pitchers around the age of 26 or 27 usually start really figuring things out (see Escobar). And having had Chacon on my fantasy team last year, I can say he was lights out at times as a starter. Like Escobar he was horribly miscast as a one inning reliever.

To appreciate how dominant he was at times you have to look at his 2003 Game Log and look at the number of 7 and 8 inning outings where he basically shut the other team down. Now he took it on the chin just as often but I'd much rather see a young pitcher fluctuating between dominance and disaster than consistent mediocrity. The game log is similar to what we've seen out of Escobar and Miller in the rotation. With experience these guys have a chance to be very good starters.

More importantly you have a deeper pitching staff. You now have the option of signing a couple of better relievers and field a rotation of Halladay, Lilly, Batista, Chacon, and Bush. A rotation with experience and upside. Or moving Chacon, Batista, or even Bush to the pen and giving the #5 slot to someone else.

Of course if I had my way I'd rather sign Matt Clement but he's likely to cost at least 3 times what Chacon would make for one year and on a minimum 3 year deal. Of course the Jays could have just kept Escobar for 3 years at around $5 to $6 million and had an equivalent to Matt Clement already.

Noooo! I did know the reference, I was just trying to be clever. Apprently I was too clever. I demand a recount. Joe! Joe, that prize is mine!

Whoever made the comment about me posting at 11:33 and talking about waking up early, its all relative ;-). Nobody posted before I woke up.

Hey, how come Troy Glaus is a type C? Are his numbers that bad?

The Elias system must heavily factor in playing time. Or, it must be doing so in a roundabout way by focusing heavily on counting stats. Hard to log ribbies whilst injured.

I can take an educated guess about the prominent poster you're talking about and that's Mayor Tommy. He hasn't really posted there in a few months (except for the odd post). He brings up some good points but the reason people don't like him is because he'll repeat it a 1000 times.

Yeah, that's be the one. I just got fed up of him posting gigantic posts all in caps about the greedy grocer, and his complete inability to discuss the issue, or even realize that the Raps do spend money, so stop blaming the teachers. And then him and jawz got into some insane political feud, with threats to call the cops, etc.

Upon reading your posts and thinking back to that, I think I finally understand why the box doesn't allow polictical posts. I used to think it was pretty petty of them, but I finally get it.

My prize! :-P

I believe that the Elias ratings are based on performance over the last two seasons, and it must heavily weigh counting stats over rate stats. How else could Delgado be considered a better player than Bonds?

Clearly, Glaus is a better player than Batista, and his rate stats bear that out, but if there's one thing Batista has been good at over the last few years, its racking up the counting stats.

The nice thing about this ranking system, is that is severly undervalues good players who have been injured for 2 years (though it can be argued that anyone who has been injured enough for 2 years to have that significantly affect their counting stats deserves to be negatively valued...) and reduces draft compensation accordingly. This must make Glaus that much more attractive to the Jays - if he was signed, the Jays would not lose a draft pick of any great significance, versus the top picks they would lose if they signed Sexson, for instance.

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3136828
Looks like the kidnappers of Urbina's mom have lowered their ransom to 6 mil.

I suprised this has gone on for so long.

Don't know the success rate of actually getting money when player's family members are kidnapped but I'm thinking it can't get too high because everything can be traced.

As a type C free agent, Glaus would not cost the Jays a draft pick at all. The Angels would simply get a sandwich pick. So instead of losing a pick, the Jays' 2nd round pick would be simply moved down a slot.

Which brings to mind an oddity in the Type B and C rules. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. Type B is supposed to indicate a more valuable player and yet there are instances where a Type C will free agent will give a team better compensation.

For instance, if Escobar had been a Type B instead of a Type A, all the Jays would have gotten was Anaheim's 3rd round pick. But if he was a Type C, the Jays would have got a sandwich pick after the first round.

Doesn't seem to make sense to me. A team's compensation should not be altered by how many free agents the signing team decides to snap up. I do think that there has to be more stratification than A/B/C. The fact that the Top 30% all cost the same compensation is puzzling since there's a huge dispency in performance between the low end and high end of that subset.

OK, I was wrong. Type C means supplemental 2nd rounder but the example above still holds. The Jays would have gotten better compensation if Escobar was a Type C than they would have if he was a Type B.

Also, signing Glaus would only push down a team's 3rd round pick which is a very slight cost. Unless you cared that much that Anaheim gets an extra 2nd round pick. Which you might if you feared they'd take someone you want though that would be impossible to project.

http://me.woot.net
Just goes to show you that, if you specifically say you don't know the answer, you might not get credited with knowing the answer. If you'd started your message with "HAHAHAHA I WIN SUCKAS" I probably would have picked up on it. :)

Doesn't seem to make sense to me. A team's compensation should not be altered by how many free agents the signing team decides to snap up.

But you have to balance how the compensation affects 3rd party teams. How about this scenario: The Yankees sign Beltran, Pedro, and Delgado. They lose their first, second, and third round picks. These picks are not assigned to Houston & Boston & Toronto, but are simply eliminated. Toronto's compensation is two 1st round sandwich picks, Houston gets a 1st round sandwich and a 2nd round sandwich, Boston gets a 1st round sandwich and a 3rd round sandwich.

I'm off to SubWay.

I should have added yesterday that the NL Golden Glove choices did have a lemon in them, although not at the Bret Boone level. That would be Steve Finley, who is a below average centrefielder at age 39 (and was at age 37 and 38 too). Davenport's stats back this up, as do those of every other objective measure.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/11/05/SPGCI9M2N41.DTL
Apparently Zaun is in demand. COMN.

The Cardinals declined Woody Williams' option. What's a reasonable contract range for him? It'd be nice if he ended his career in TO, but then I thought the same thing about Hentgen last year.

I WIN SUCKAS!

There. That made me feel better.

The Hardball Times baseball annual will be available for $16 plus shipping for the paper copy and $6 (YUP, 6 BUCKS ONLY) for download. This is tremendous value. Now, the fact that two Box rosterites have contributed doesn't exactly make me unbiased, but if cheap salesman I must be, then so be it. "git your annual, you won't find a better bargoon nowheres".

/country sales shtick

http://www.raptorblog.com
R. Bialo said: "Raptorblog.com is indeed an excellent site. My only wish is that Scott would blog more often (though I think he will be writing fairly regularly this year - at a certain point last season there just wasn't much to say.)"

Yeah, I am going to try to update more often this season. There will be a blog after every game (either that day or the following morning) and additional blogs for events worthy of discussion.

Thanks to everyone who gave me props. The basketball blogosphere is far behind baseball in both quantity and quality, so I hope to make up a small amount of the difference.

The Cardinals declined Woody Williams' option. What's a reasonable contract range for him? It'd be nice if he ended his career in TO, but then I thought the same thing about Hentgen last year.

What's a league average pitcher who's going to give you 180-200 innings worth? $3 million?

I could see him getting up to $5 million if a big payroll team is looking to fill out a rotation.

#257967 Posted 11/05/2004 10:48 AM by Pistol:

Apparently Zaun is in demand. COMN.

Zaun came into this year needing somethign like a year and 67 days to get full pension... I don't exactly know what the pension is, but I know it was important to him, and I like him, so I hope he gets it.

He would have gotten MOST of a year this year, so here's hoping he gets the rest somehow... With us is fine... but I'm pulling for him either way.

Apparently Zaun is in demand.

Isn't Zaun a Type B Free Agent? So if he signs with the A's would the Jays get their first rouder or a supplemental pick or a second rounder? Somehow I don't see B Beane given up either pick for Zaun.

If teams offer arbitration to a free agent but lose him to another club, they'll receive compensation if he's classified as a Type A (top 30 percent at his position), Type B (31-50 percent) or Type C (51-60 percent) player.

For a Type A player, the compensation is the signing team's first-round pick plus a supplemental first-rounder. For a Type B, it's the signing team's first-round choice. For a Type C, it's a supplemental second-rounder. However, if the signing team picks in the upper half of the first round, that choice is protected and it loses its second-round selection instead. Also, Type C players who have been free agents in the past don't yield any compensation.

It'll be interesting to see if the Jays offer arbitration to Zaun. I can't imagine his arbitration price would be that high.

The Jays will have leverage with Zaun until the arbitration decision deadline as it is unlikely that anyone is giving up their first pick for him.

Donkit, I haven't really followed the Raps in the past, but I'm giving them a shot this year. Last night was a great way to start things off -- an exciting game with a bunch of spectacular plays. I have no idea what tickets cost, but I imagine if they keep my interest I'll end up at a few games at the ACC.

Another hoops hijack... HOW 'BOUT THEM RAPTORS!

Two in a row (against top notch opponents) and playing exciting basketball to boot.

NFH, you picked a good time to give them a shot.

loving the Rapts right now, Loren Woods stepped it up big, who would've thunk it that they can rebound?

Anyone think that maybe the Argos don't need an outdoor stadium?

Both they and the Raptors are picking good times to perform well.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=1917404
Gammons seems to think that the Blue Jays and Reds are in talks involving Kearns for Hinske. Seems rather lopsided for the Jays, but I just wanted to throw it out there to see what others think of the deal (somehow I think Kearns has more trade value at this point... it wouldn't be bad to then ship him out for more pitching, given decent OF depth on the team right now)

I don't think Gammons was suggesting that there was a possible Hinske for Kearns deal.

I read it as, 'if Kearns can't play 3B, the Reds will need to find someone that can play there. Hinske is a possibility'.

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=6&id=318057
Mike Nakamura apparently is attempting to pitch in Japan now. COMN.

Nakamura's profile is quite typical for Japan, except for the sidearming part. Throws soft, several pitches, good control of all of them. He may end up not being able to stick because he's entirely too "typical" - not the change of pace that Japanese teams really want from their gaijin pitchers.

Anybody have any idea how Pete Walker did in Japan this past season?

http://www.geocities.com/s_borisov/jb2004/04ybs.html
if i did this right, you can comn for a link to the yokohama baystars' 2004 stats (in english). pete walker's stats are in their pitching section.

about this greg zaun stuff: how long do the jays have to offer him arbitration? if they don't and a team offers him, say, $1.5 mil for the next year and the jays match that, but he leaves anyways, do they get any compensation or is that strictly for arbitration? this seems like an obvious choice, to give him arb. worst case, you end up with a decent catcher at a decent price (although, for the life of me i can't figure out how much zaun made in '04).

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists/Elliott/2004/11/08/705789.html
FWIW, Bob Elliot has some names that the Jays are interested in. COMN.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/sports/national/2004/11/07/Sports/wells-mlb041107.html
You know it's November when Vernon Wells has a good day in Japan. COMN.

http://me.woot.net
Holy crap. Pete Walker gave up 18 home runs in 46.1 innings? That is one awful pitching line.

Canadian Jason Bay has won the NL rookie of the year - Oaklsnd ss Bobby Crosby won in the AL

I'm surprised six teams are interested in Zaun. He's a barely average hitter -- if it's defense they want, offer them Cash. Short-term memories, I suppose. But is a .269 average really something people look for?

That Hinske to Cinci rumour is either
a) getting louder, indicating something might happen, or
b) complete garbage, with the same people repeating it over and over again.

I'm surprised six teams are interested in Zaun. He's a barely average hitter -- if it's defense they want, offer them Cash. Short-term memories, I suppose. But is a .269 average really something people look for?

I suspect that Zaun's appeal has four aspects:

A) He's a veteran catcher
B) He's a switch-hitter
C) He set career highs in almost every statistic last season
C) His agent is pretending that Zaun is really Jason Varitek

Zaun's appeal is somewhat puzzling, because for except for his crazy stats in May (and a good July), he was the same hitter that the Jays picked up in April. And 6 teams are (apparently) lining up to sign him, with the intentions of giving him a starting job. You can certainly do worse than Zaun (OPS+ has him as a league average player for 2004) so I guess he's seen as a relatively cheap option, but he's not that great of an option.

I've given up all hope in having a good understanding of transactions involving catchers. When the Minnesota Twins traded for Pat Borders in the hopes of improving a playoff team going into a series against the Yankees, based on his World Series numbers with the Blue Jays over a decade ago, I decided to stand back and let the GM's do their work.

When do the winter meetings start?

Zaun's appeal is simple. His career OBP, despite his battles with the bottle, is .339. He plays good defence. He might be 33, but he's only caught 570 games in his career, and can probably be effective for another 3-4 years at least. If he has conquered his demons, he might very well be able to keep his OBP in the .350 range. At that level, he's a fine catcher.

Few teams will rush out to spend $3 million per year on him, but in the $1-$1.5 million range, there will probably be interest.

http://www.ussmariner.com/
December 10th-13th: The annual winter meetings, where most of the big trades/free agent signings are officially announced. This is when a large majority of the impact moves take place, as well as the Rule 5 draft.

USS Mariner has just posted the list of important dates

BTW Tried the COMN thing to link to the post

Thanks dude...This thread has dropped really low on the webpage. Didn't think anyone would see my post!

Did anyone else read tat the Jays are interested in Corey Koskie? I read it on The Score's ticker. I'd love to see him in T.O because he is very good, Canadian and that would mean Hinski would be on the first flight out of here!

This Raptors-Jazz game is absolutely pulsating. Terrific game.

Raptors won the game 104-95, a terrific game. Toronto, please don't be missing your mediocre hockey team.