The Tampa Bay Rays signed Troy Percival to a two-year, $8 million dollar contract today:
Percival, who seems likely to supplant Al Reyes as the Rays closer, will be introduced to the media at 3 p.m. at Tropicana Field.
He pitched 40 stellar innings for the Cardinals in 2007. Even if his ERA goes up a [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:52 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | 1 Comment
November 30, 2007
Lastings Somewhere Else
It looks like Bleacher Banter got his wish. There’s a breaking news flash on WFAN that the Mets traded Lastings Milledge to the Nationals for Church and Schneider. I guess that solves the Mets catching problem. He doesn’t have much of a bat, but he can draw a walk.
Thanks to Thomas Peretti [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:43 pm | Trades | Permalink | 6 Comments
November 30, 2007
Gambling on One More Year
Kenny Rogers officially signed with the Tigers, although the value of the contract wasn’t reported.
Posted by David Pinto at 12:30 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | No Comments
November 30, 2007
Forecasting 2008
ACTA Sports is now taking orders for Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster 2008.
Posted by David Pinto at 12:12 pm | Books | Permalink | No Comments
November 30, 2007
Who Plays Barry?
HBO is going to make Game of Shadows into a movie. I wonder if Barry will play himself, like Jackie Robinson did?
Too bad Avery Brooks is close to sixty. He looks good with his head shaved and would bring the proper intensity to the character.
Posted by David Pinto at 12:03 pm | Movies | Permalink | 7 Comments
November 30, 2007
Outer Space Kaz
The Houston Chronicle reports the Astros are on the verge of signing Kaz Matsui to replace Craig Biggio:
If the season started today, manager Cecil Cooper’s first two batters would be players Wade acquired this winter. Center fielder Michael Bourn, who landed in Houston in the Brad Lidge trade, would lead off, and Matsui would bat [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:44 am | Free Agents | Permalink | 4 Comments
November 30, 2007
Time for Fame
Via BBTF, I agree with Hal Bodley that it’s high time to put Marvin Miller in the Hall of Fame. In my lifetime, Miller did more to change the game in a positive way than anyone else. Free agency brought a new dynamic to the game that brought in fans in droves. [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:35 am | History | Permalink | 3 Comments
November 30, 2007
The Double J Battery
Jorge Posada wants the Yankees to acquire Johan Santana:
“We need a No.1, and I think that’s one of the reasons we’re going after Santana,” Posada said. “It is a need in October, no question about it. When you look at the past World Series champions, they were able to have a No.1 throwing at least [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:25 am | Pitchers | Permalink | 6 Comments
November 30, 2007
Waiting for the Nats
Bleacher Banter doesn’t want to hear about signing minor league free agents:
I’m sorry for the rant, but the Nats have been here a few years, and they keep saying we’re going to have a winning franchise, and be a big market team, and just wait, when we have a stadium, we’ll contend. How do these [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:58 am | Management | Permalink | No Comments
November 30, 2007
Updating Bedard
The Orioles and Erik Bedard’s agent decided to take a break from talking about a contract extension. This shouldn’t be a big deal, since it will be two more seasons before Bedard reaches free agency. Of course, the O’s would like to avoid arbitration. Erik might also bring in some youth:
The Orioles [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:50 am | Pitchers | Permalink | 2 Comments
November 30, 2007
Blanton and the Athletics
Melissa at Athletic Supporters wonders why the Athletics haven’t offered Joe Blanton a contract for his arbitration years:
Yet despite this track record of success, the A’s have, at least publically, failed to engage Blanton in discussions about a long-term extension that would take him through arbitration. This lack of negotiation has given credence to the [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:31 am | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
November 29, 2007
Keeping the Team Together
Bad Altitude is happy with the return of Torreabla and Herges:
These are great deals — the Rockies are keeping valuable pieces, but not at rates that will hurt them or at contract lengths that will create dead money to deal with in three or four years’ time. Has a franchise’s overall apparent health ever swung [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:34 pm | Transactions | Permalink | 3 Comments
November 29, 2007
Paying for Santana
Murray Chass suggest Carl Pohlad should pay for Johan Santana out of his own pocket:
The owner of the Kansas City Royals from their birth in 1969 until his death in 1993, Kauffman operated the Royals as if they were a public trust and financed them partly with his personal fortune. Kauffman spent what he had [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:50 pm | Owners | Permalink | 7 Comments
November 29, 2007
The Name Game
Arte Moreno on the Mitchell Report:
But Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno raised the bar Wednesday when he said the report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball will include names of players.
“The names of players will come out that people will be mad about,” Moreno, quoted by The Los Angeles Times [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:23 pm | Cheating | Permalink | 9 Comments
November 29, 2007
Santana Sox
The Soxaholix alerts me to the last comment to this post:
A little birdie says the Boston Red Sox have become the favorite in the Johan Santana trade sweepstakes.
The Twins would receive four players for the Twins’ two-time Cy Young Award winner, including center fielder Coco Crisp, 28.
Others would be shortstop prospect Jed Lowry, 23; left-handed [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:34 pm | Trades | Permalink | 11 Comments
November 29, 2007
Trade Debate
Over at Bronx Banter, Cliff Corcoran and Steven Goldman debate trading Hughes for Santana.
SG: I dunno, Yogi. Seems to me Santana is already good and Hughes might be good.
CC: That’s 100% true, but Santana is also already expensive and he’s already been good, and could be in decline already.
I keep seeing references to Santana’s decline [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:57 am | Pitchers | Permalink | 8 Comments
November 29, 2007
Forward Thinking
Both the Diamondbacks and Brandon Webb’s agent gave some thought to the future recently. Webb is under contract through 2009 with a team option for 2010 at a very reasonable price. The DBacks wanted to extend through 2013, but the Webb’s agent is willing to wait:
“Going after top dollar is not the ultimate [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:34 am | Pitchers | Permalink | 1 Comment
November 29, 2007
Improving Defense
Aaron Gleeman breaks down the Garza-Young trade in detail, noting that the undercard of the trade works in favor of the Rays.
On the most basic level the trade fits the team’s logical, oft-stated plan to part with pitching depth in order to address weaknesses offensively, with the Twins swapping a former top pitching prospect for [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:59 am | Trades | Permalink | No Comments
November 28, 2007
Deal Goes Down
The Rays-Twins finished the deal discussed earlier.
A front-office source told ESPN.com’s Keith Law that Minnesota acquired outfielder Delmon Young in a six-player deal that sends right-hander Matt Garza to Tampa.
The Twins also are sending shortstop Jason Bartlett and minor league right-hander Eduardo Morlan to the Rays for shortstop Brendan Harris and outfield prospect Jason Pridie.
I [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:36 pm | Trades | Permalink | 2 Comments
November 28, 2007
Hardball Trading
It looks like the Marlins are playing teams against each other as they bid for Miguel Cabrera.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:23 pm | Trades | Permalink | No Comments
November 28, 2007
Charity Auction
The Home for LIttle Wanders in Boston is holding an on-line auction. There are a number of sports items, including Fenway bleacher seats and a lunch with Dennis Eckersley.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:06 pm | Charity | Permalink | No Comments
November 28, 2007
Smaller Haul?
Joe Christensen warns Twins fans not to be too optimistic about what they might get in return for Johan Santana:
I have been getting skewered over e-mail for the comment that Miguel Cabrera will bring a bigger return than Santana on the trade front. Cabrera’s weight gain has been well-documented. The Yankees, Red Sox and Mets [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:28 pm | Trades | Permalink | 1 Comment
November 28, 2007
Baseball Musings Radio Show
If you missed tonight’s show, you can hear the recorded version here. It’s also available on demand at TPSRadio.
Update: Link fixed.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:16 pm | Podcasts | Permalink | 1 Comment
November 28, 2007
Garza for Delmon Young?
Rays Anatomy hears that a multi-player deal involving Matt Garza going to the Rays for Delmon Young is almost complete.
As of November 28th though, I think the Rays are giving up too much to get something they aren’t sure about. Young can produce at the level he did last year and still bat in the [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 5:05 pm | Trades | Permalink | 5 Comments
November 28, 2007
Baseball Musings Radio Show
The Baseball Musings radio show will be on TPSRadio tonight at 8 PM EDT. Check out TPSRadio’s other sports programming as well.
Feel free to leave a question in the comments to this post or during the show in the TPSRadio chat room and I’ll be happy to answer it on the air. If [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 3:36 pm | Broadcasts | Permalink | 2 Comments
November 28, 2007
Revenue and Salaries
My latest column at SportingNews.com looks at what the growth in revenue and the lack of growth in salaries means for the future of the game.
Posted by David Pinto at 3:29 pm | Management | Permalink | 2 Comments
November 28, 2007
Taking a Powder
Home Run Derby looks at the history of the powder blue uniform.
Posted by David Pinto at 3:18 pm | Uniforms | Permalink | 1 Comment
November 28, 2007
Old Broadcasts
NiteOwl at ArmchairGM links to a set of old time baseball radio broadcasts.
Posted by David Pinto at 3:15 pm | Broadcasts | Permalink | No Comments
November 28, 2007
The Umpire Zone
John Hale presents an excellent piece of research at The Hardball Times on the strike zones of individual umpires.
Roger Clemens was well known for taking rigorous notes and studying umpires–when they can differ as much as this, you’d think that every pitcher would. Umpires don’t just have big or small zones, they have very specific [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:48 am | Umpires | Permalink | 1 Comment
November 28, 2007
Save the Youngsters
River Ave. Blues wants the Yankees to keep their three young pitchers. If you agree, there are T-Shirts available to help you voice your concern.
Posted by David Pinto at 11:33 am | Pitchers | Permalink | 3 Comments
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