MLB 2013

[Ingmar]

Might as well start a new thread with a fucking MONSTER deal apparently going down right now:

Toronto gets: Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, John Buck, and Emilio Bonifacio from the Marlins.

No word on what is going back to Miami yet.

Calling it now: Yankees finish no better than 3rd and miss the playoffs.

EDIT:

Happy Blue Jays players starting to hit Twitter...

JoeyBats19 Jose Bautista
Its a good day to be a bluejay!

Toronto just doubled their payroll.

EDIT 2:

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal
Confirmed to #Marlins thus far by me and @jonmorosi. Escobar, Hechavarria, H. Alvarez, Nicolino.

EDIT 3:

Meanwhile in Miami...

Giancarlo Stanton ‏@Giancarlo818
Alright, I'm pissed off!!! Plain & Simple

[Azuredream]

I may be uninformed, but is this just the Marlins dumping payroll or something? I can't think of anything they could possibly be getting for the quality of players they're giving away. They sucked ass last year, but Reyes and Buehrle were still good individually.

[Fordel]

Curse of the spinfish!

[Paelos]

Their owner deserves everything bad that happens to that franchise.

[Azaroth]

Looks like I might end up at a Jays game or two this summer. It's been a while.

I may be uninformed, but is this just the Marlins dumping payroll or something? I can't think of anything they could possibly be getting for the quality of players they're giving away. They sucked ass last year, but Reyes and Buehrle were still good individually.

I have no idea who the prospects are in the trade coming from the Blue Jays.

Given how hard they try to get us to have faith in a turnaround for the Jays every season, I'd say it doesn't bode well for the Miami side of the deal.

[murdoc]

Their owner deserves everything bad that happens to that franchise.

This. 100x this.

I'm not a huge follower of baseball, but this was a monster deal for the Jays. I don't think they're done yet, either.

[WayAbvPar]

I keep hearing it is the Mariners and Orioles who are the expected frontrunners for Josh Hamilton. What will likely happen is the Orioles will push the price up to a franchise crippling level, then bail out and let the Mariners 'win'. Hamilton will fall off a cliff and utterly fuck the Mariners. Which will mean that the Orioles finish off the job they started with the Bedard trade. Bitter? No, not me...

[ghost]

Their owner deserves everything bad that happens to that franchise.

He has won two World Series acting like a complete jackass. 

[HaemishM]

I may be uninformed, but is this just the Marlins dumping payroll or something? I can't think of anything they could possibly be getting for the quality of players they're giving away. They sucked ass last year, but Reyes and Buehrle were still good individually.

They are doing their usual "WE DIDN'T WIN WHAAAAAA DUMP PAYROLL GET YOUNGER RAAARRRGGGBLBLE" bullshit. The Jays get a shitload, give up a bunch of prospects and some meh guys. The Marlins really don't get shit back in return other than dropping a boatload of payroll and rebuilding their farm system.

An All-Star leadoff hitter, a former Cy Young winner (didn't Buerlhe win one?) and another #2/#3/#4 level starter plus other stuff. That's a good haul.

EDIT: And if Hamilton goes to the Mariners... LOLLERSKATES. I know they are pulling in the fences out there but I see Adrian Beltre 2.0 with more drunken binges.

[Bunk]

Jays already had a solid hitting lineup - they just had no pitching. I think their "Ace" Romero lost 8 of his last 9 starts or some such thing. This, this could make them quite scary. I may actually pay attention for the first time in nearly twenty years.

[Ingmar]

Romero had a lot of injury problems this year - elbow, knees. His peripherals were terrible and it's likely the health issues were really affecting his delivery (hence huge spike in walk rate). His history other than that is good so I would expect if he can be healthy going forward he'll be fine.

[WayAbvPar]

Allow me to introduce you to the latest excuse why the Mariners won't be players in the free agent market. Since upgrades to the park are part of the contract/lease with the city after the taxpayers built them a palace, one would assume this is factored into the operating budget and won't affect the payroll. In reality, the cheap fucks that run the team will be reticent to spend any money when their gate is in the toilet.

Their TV contract runs out in a year or two, and they are primed to launch likely launch their own RSN, which should absolutely print money. My fervent hope is that the borrow against the future now and crank up the payroll to give us something worth watching once the new network hits (and before Felix fucks off to greener pastures).

[HaemishM]

That's a really big epeen measuring device.

[Paelos]

I still laugh at every early broadcast of that horrible looking park. The MLB announcers had to tow the company line about what a great idea it was to build a shiny lime-green eyesore for people who weren't showing up.

[WayAbvPar]

Are you talking about Safeco Field? It is widely regarded as one of the better ballparks in the league. Not really an eyesore at all.

Also- TOE the line. Otherwise they would be dragging it somewhere.

[Paelos]

I think toe the line is antiquated despite being correct.

I like the idea of towing something together. It's wrong but mentally i get it.

EDIT - I got the Marlins and the Mariners mixed up. I meant that stupid field in Miami. We switched topics and I didn't follow.

[Ingmar]

Melky to the Blue Jays as well - 2 years at $8 million each. Better than I thought he'd get, Toronto is being very aggressive. Probably good value there in any case.

[cmlancas]

Melky to the Blue Jays as well - 2 years at $8 million each. Better than I thought he'd get, Toronto is being very aggressive. Probably good value there in any case.

I was hoping the Rays would scoop him up for about half of that.

Most TB fans are somberly waiting for Upton and Shields to leave.  They offered Upton the hometown discount, but analysts predict that's just so the Rays can snag another draft pick.  We love us our farm system over here.

[Ingmar]

There's no way he was going to go for less than ~8, but potentially it could have been a one year deal.

[Paelos]

Not that I held out much hope with Boras in the picture, but the Braves chances of holding onto Bourn in the free agent market are dwindling fast.

[cmlancas]

There's no way he was going to go for less than ~8, but potentially it could have been a one year deal.

Every now and then TB gets a contract discount on folks who're lookin' to make a home someplace.  Lots of mid-to-late-career sports stars end up making a home here.

[Paelos]

Apparently the Braves are now looking at BJ Upton very seriously.

[HaemishM]

They want to underpay another young player for a few years before losing him to free agency? 

[Paelos]

They want to underpay another young player for a few years before losing him to free agency? 

Seems to be our plan while liberty media owns the team. Also we're hamstrung by Turner cutting a sweetheart TV deal that pays the Braves diddly dick until 2030. Nevermind the fact that we have one of the largest TV markets in the US along with the Yankees and Cubs.

[Ingmar]

They want to underpay another young player for a few years before losing him to free agency? 

I think you are thinking of Justin Upton? B.J. already is a free agent.

[Ingmar]

And speaking of BJ Upton, to the Braves for 5 years, $75 million.

I'd put this as one of those 25% chance of awesome, 40% chance of appropriate value, 35% chance of Oh Fuck Aaron Rowand deals. It's risky, but the potential upside is really good. I think I'm glad it isn't us trying it though.

[Paelos]

Defensively he's outstanding. Offensively he has more power than Bourn, but he also has a major problem with strikeouts I'd like to see addressed.

[cmlancas]

Defensively he's outstanding. Offensively he has more power than Bourn, but he also has a major problem with strikeouts I'd like to see addressed.

That's just part of his game.  Having watched him very closely for years, he hits .225 when he's free swinging and .260 when he's not.  His defensive ability is incredible though.  As a Braves fan you'll have flashbacks of great center fielders such as Grissom, Nixon, and Jones (before he got fat).

I also think that when you put competent hitters around him some of the RBI pressure will be lowered, raising his average further.

I'm sad to see him go because he's such a great talent, but I'm happy he went to the NL and happier still that it was ATL.

[Ingmar]

Defensively he's... inconsistent. He makes some great plays, but runs the wrong way on others. I'd say the jury is out, but you're not getting another Andruw Jones here.

As far as hitting goes, plate discipline and bat control aren't usually skills that suddenly develop at age 28 (and actually his walk rate is pretty good already). Still even if he only manages to keep up his usual .750 OPS or whatever that's valuable at CF.

[cmlancas]

Defensively he's... inconsistent.

I'd say I've watched maybe 400 games over the past four seasons of Rays baseball.  No.

Maybe a touch when he broke into the bigs as a transitioning SS, but no.  Defense is one of his top assets.

[HaemishM]

I also think that when you put competent hitters around him some of the RBI pressure will be lowered, raising his average further.

Too bad all the power hitters around him in the lineup also hit for .260 or less. I smell another Dan Uggla. 

[cmlancas]

There's no way it can be any worse than TB.  .240 on our club makes you a megastar.

 

[Ingmar]

First - he's unarguably a worse defender than Bourn, who is the best defensive CF in the game by a pretty large margin IMO. Fielding Bible gave their award to Trout but I think Bourn was better. Point being, Atlanta fans are going to feel like they're seeing a dropoff when they watch him and they probably will be right.

Second - the naked eye is not always the best judge of defense. We're usually looking at the batter for long enough that we miss what kind of jump an OF gets on a ball, so we only see the 'catch' part and think a guy who makes great catches - and Upton *does* do this impressively - is a great defender, even if we're missing the fact that there are balls that other guys get to that he's missing. Advanced metrics for fielding are not yet as reliable as those for hitting, but they're a lot better than they used to be and they tend to have Upton as an average-to-pretty-good fielder overall. (Assuming I didn't fuck up my filter at FanGraphs he's actually slightly below average on both UZR and defensive runs saved in 2012.)

[Paelos]

We don't need better defense. We need to stop having three of the NL leaders in strikeouts if they aren't hitting bombs

[HaemishM]

We don't need better defense. We need to stop having three of the NL leaders in strikeouts if they aren't hitting bombs

You just did. Now you'll have FOUR.