Bidding Adieu To Day Two
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Well, here we are, two days into baseball's vaunted Winter Meetings. The Rotoworld crew has produced close to 300 news blurbs in the last 48 hours, which may seem ridiculous to those who have tracked the action from afar. I'll tell you straight up -- these Winter Meetings have not been boring, and have not been lame; you just need to have a taste for minor moves and inner-workings. In case you've gotten lost in the shuffle, or have a "real" job that doesn't require tracking baseball news wires all day, I'll swing you around the goings-ons from an exciting Day Two.
By the way, thanks for keeping up with us this offseason. Make sure you check out our
Twitter feed and NBC's fantastic baseball blogging venture
Circling The Bases, led by some of Rotoworld's finest and
Craig Calcaterra.
Did Somebody Say Blockbuster?The Diamondbacks, Tigers and Yankees teamed together for a doozy of a trade Tuesday afternoon. Here's the breakdown, in case you missed it:
New York receivedOF
Curtis Granderson (29) - from Detroit
Detroit receivedRHP
Max Scherzer (25) - from Arizona
OF
Austin Jackson (23) - from New York
LHP
Daniel Schlereth (23) - from Arizona
LHP
Phil Coke (27) - from New York
Arizona receivedRHP
Edwin Jackson (26) - from Detroit
RHP
Ian Kennedy (25) - from New York
It's difficult to award a "winner" and "loser" of a trade only hours after it's been agreed upon. Heck,
Max Scherzer could slip on a patch of ice on his way out of the Wayne County Airport terminal tomorrow and crack his knee in two. But it certainly seems like the Tigers made off with the largest lot of inexpensive, young talent. The Diamondbacks, on the other hand, traded away two young, talented pitchers for two older and more expensive pitchers. Only time will tell if Arizona GM Josh Byrnes and Co. made the correct move. As for the Yankees? Well, they'll be just fine.
The Phillies Are Being Bench ConsciousThe Phils made another move to solidify their bench Tuesday, adding utilityman
Ross Gload on a
two-year contract. Gload is great -- he hit .318 as a pinch-hitter in 2009 and posted a .261/.329/.400 batting line overall -- but it sure is strange that the Phillies have spent so much time and money this offseason focusing on bolstering their reserve corps. The Phillies' bench now consists of Gload, catcher
Brian Schneider, outfielder
Ben Francisco, and infielders
Greg Dobbs and
Juan Castro. Castro, Gload and Schneider were all signed in the past week. Perhaps being bench-conscious and not starter-conscious is one of the luxuries of winning back-to-back National League titles.
Luis Castillo Will Not Go QuietlyMets GM Omar Minaya has indicated to New York-based reporters that he's hoping to get rid of
Luis Castillo this winter in order to make room for free agent second baseman
Orlando Hudson. Things aren't running smoothly, however, and Minaya came close to admitting defeat Tuesday morning:
"I couldn't tell you that I'm close - not that close. But closer than we were," Minaya told the
New York Daily News.
"There are a couple of scenarios where it's just not 'A' for 'B.' You have to go through a third team. Sometimes you have to go through a fourth team."A four-team trade, Omar? It's wholly unsurprising that the guy's job is on the line.
Two Major Signings Are Now FinalThe path from an agreement to a contract, to a physical, to a signature, to a press conference can often take less than 24 hours. The Cardinals
finalized their deal with right-hander
Brad Penny on Tuesday evening after first revealing the deal Monday afternoon. A physical was taken, a signature was inked, and he's expected to address the St. Louis media on Wednesday morning.
Chone Figgins' deal with the Mariners, for whatever reason, didn't run as swiftly. He agreed to terms with the club back on Friday and the deal was not finalized until Tuesday night. It doesn't matter at this point, of course. The M's have their man and he's already chomping at the bit to begin contributing in Seattle. Figgins even suggested Tuesday that he should bat second in manager Don Wakamatsu's lineup:
"I was just personally thinking that Ichiro [Suzuki] is obviously one of the best leadoff hitters in the game,'' the thoughtful Figgins told
Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times.
"He's able to do what he's doing in the one-spot, so I figure with me plugged into the two-spot, being a little more patient at the plate, it makes an even more dangerous tandem."Figgins posted a .395 on-base percentage in 2009 while Suzuki threw up a .386 mark. That's one heck of a one-two punch at the top of the Mariners' batting order and should set up a great deal of RBI opportunities for the rest of that Seattle lineup.
A Change In SceneryPeter Gammons announced Tuesday that he's leaving ESPN after a 20-year run. He'll be taking on an analyst role with MLB.com, MLB Network and NESN. I know he has his detractors, but Gammons has remained a favorite of mine even as ESPN morphed from a one-of-the-guys network to the Evil Empire it is today. And, hey, now we get to read and hear him without having to fight through a pay wall. So good luck, Pete. I know you're reading.
Well, here we are, two days into baseball's vaunted Winter Meetings. The Rotoworld crew has produced close to 300 news blurbs in the last 48 hours, which may seem ridiculous to those who have tracked the action from afar. I'll tell you straight up -- these Winter Meetings have not been boring, and have not been lame; you just need to have a taste for minor moves and inner-workings. In case you've gotten lost in the shuffle, or have a "real" job that doesn't require tracking baseball news wires all day, I'll swing you around the goings-ons from an exciting Day Two.
By the way, thanks for keeping up with us this offseason. Make sure you check out our
Twitter feed and NBC's fantastic baseball blogging venture
Circling The Bases, led by some of Rotoworld's finest and
Craig Calcaterra.
Did Somebody Say Blockbuster?The Diamondbacks, Tigers and Yankees teamed together for a doozy of a trade Tuesday afternoon. Here's the breakdown, in case you missed it:
New York receivedOF
Curtis Granderson (29) - from Detroit
Detroit receivedRHP
Max Scherzer (25) - from Arizona
OF
Austin Jackson (23) - from New York
LHP
Daniel Schlereth (23) - from Arizona
LHP
Phil Coke (27) - from New York
Arizona receivedRHP
Edwin Jackson (26) - from Detroit
RHP
Ian Kennedy (25) - from New York
It's difficult to award a "winner" and "loser" of a trade only hours after it's been agreed upon. Heck,
Max Scherzer could slip on a patch of ice on his way out of the Wayne County Airport terminal tomorrow and crack his knee in two. But it certainly seems like the Tigers made off with the largest lot of inexpensive, young talent. The Diamondbacks, on the other hand, traded away two young, talented pitchers for two older and more expensive pitchers. Only time will tell if Arizona GM Josh Byrnes and Co. made the correct move. As for the Yankees? Well, they'll be just fine.
The Phillies Are Being Bench ConsciousThe Phils made another move to solidify their bench Tuesday, adding utilityman
Ross Gload on a
two-year contract. Gload is great -- he hit .318 as a pinch-hitter in 2009 and posted a .261/.329/.400 batting line overall -- but it sure is strange that the Phillies have spent so much time and money this offseason focusing on bolstering their reserve corps. The Phillies' bench now consists of Gload, catcher
Brian Schneider, outfielder
Ben Francisco, and infielders
Greg Dobbs and
Juan Castro. Castro, Gload and Schneider were all signed in the past week. Perhaps being bench-conscious and not starter-conscious is one of the luxuries of winning back-to-back National League titles.
Luis Castillo Will Not Go QuietlyMets GM Omar Minaya has indicated to New York-based reporters that he's hoping to get rid of
Luis Castillo this winter in order to make room for free agent second baseman
Orlando Hudson. Things aren't running smoothly, however, and Minaya came close to admitting defeat Tuesday morning:
"I couldn't tell you that I'm close - not that close. But closer than we were," Minaya told the
New York Daily News.
"There are a couple of scenarios where it's just not 'A' for 'B.' You have to go through a third team. Sometimes you have to go through a fourth team."A four-team trade, Omar? It's wholly unsurprising that the guy's job is on the line.
Two Major Signings Are Now FinalThe path from an agreement to a contract, to a physical, to a signature, to a press conference can often take less than 24 hours. The Cardinals
finalized their deal with right-hander
Brad Penny on Tuesday evening after first revealing the deal Monday afternoon. A physical was taken, a signature was inked, and he's expected to address the St. Louis media on Wednesday morning.
Chone Figgins' deal with the Mariners, for whatever reason, didn't run as swiftly. He agreed to terms with the club back on Friday and the deal was not finalized until Tuesday night. It doesn't matter at this point, of course. The M's have their man and he's already chomping at the bit to begin contributing in Seattle. Figgins even suggested Tuesday that he should bat second in manager Don Wakamatsu's lineup:
"I was just personally thinking that Ichiro [Suzuki] is obviously one of the best leadoff hitters in the game,'' the thoughtful Figgins told
Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times.
"He's able to do what he's doing in the one-spot, so I figure with me plugged into the two-spot, being a little more patient at the plate, it makes an even more dangerous tandem."Figgins posted a .395 on-base percentage in 2009 while Suzuki threw up a .386 mark. That's one heck of a one-two punch at the top of the Mariners' batting order and should set up a great deal of RBI opportunities for the rest of that Seattle lineup.
A Change In SceneryPeter Gammons announced Tuesday that he's leaving ESPN after a 20-year run. He'll be taking on an analyst role with MLB.com, MLB Network and NESN. I know he has his detractors, but Gammons has remained a favorite of mine even as ESPN morphed from a one-of-the-guys network to the Evil Empire it is today. And, hey, now we get to read and hear him without having to fight through a pay wall. So good luck, Pete. I know you're reading.