Winter Baseball Obsession

I thought we needed a thread for relevant, hard-hitting news that will have an impact on the draft, such as the following:

R.A. Dickey plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in January despite the Mets' disapproval of the idea.

The Mets sent a letter to Dickey's agent last month, warning that the knuckleballer's contract could be voided if he is injured during the climb. "If we thought it was a good idea, we wouldn't have sent the letter," Mets GM Sandy Alderson said. "It seems to me that the letter is enough of an effort to dissuade him, and he intends to go on nonetheless." Dickey is currently training in the Nashville area. He's making the climb to raise awareness and money for a charity, and to get in peak shape for the upcoming baseball season.

Source: Wall Street Journal Dec 27 - 8:44 AM

I know he was on everyone's list for next round, but...

Melvin Mora retires with 1503 hits, 171 homers, and a .277/.350/.431 slash line in 1556 Major League games. According to Baseball Reference, Mora made just under $40.5MM during his career.

Chris & Roy remain unimpressed by R.A. and his "adventures." Per Rotoworld:

"Chris Carpenter injured a toe earlier this month while on a fishing trip in the Amazon with friend Roy Halladay.

The story comes via a blog entry earlier this month from professional angler Skeet Reese, who joined Carp and Doc on the trip. Reese says Carpenter was injured while jumping from one boat to another and that the toe "was all swollen and black and blue the next morning." The Cardinals haven't said anything about the injury, and it's unclear if it's a non-issue or might be something that could affect his availability for the start of spring training. Also worth noting is that while on the trip, Reese and Doc evidently saved a stranded fisherman that had been attacked by an anaconda. Seriously.

Source: SkeetReeseInc.com Dec 30 - 4:02 PM"

If Vlad can't hit it, it can't be hit.

Here is a fun nugget of former player news for your morning coffee enjoyment:
http://network.yardbarker.com/all_spor ... ain_col_10

Yanks swap Montero for Mariners' Pineda.

http://rotoworld.com/headlines/mlb/3478 ... ntero-swap

Amato, I'm curious what you think about this deal. As a Mariners fan, I think it's a step in the right direction to becoming a well-rounded team again and hopefully contending in a few years. Pineda can pitch, that's for sure, but he's still a pitcher, and their values and seasons can be erratic. Might as well sell now.
Montero doesn't have to be a stud next year, because the Mariners aren't going to do any better than 3rd in the AL West anyways, but if he, Ackley, and Smoak all click at the same time, I think we compete. Especially if the pitching that we have in the system (Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen) develops.

I think as far as the secondary players in the deal, that's where Yankees tilted things in their favor. Jose Campos seems like a much better prospect than Hector Noesi. Will this matter in the long run? Who knows.

At the very least, I'm excited for the Mariners to have finally done something this offseason.

wsuguay wrote:Yanks swap Montero for Mariners' Pineda.

http://rotoworld.com/headlines/mlb/3478 ... ntero-swap

Amato, I'm curious what you think about this deal. As a Mariners fan, I think it's a step in the right direction to becoming a well-rounded team again and hopefully contending in a few years. Pineda can pitch, that's for sure, but he's still a pitcher, and their values and seasons can be erratic. Might as well sell now.
Montero doesn't have to be a stud next year, because the Mariners aren't going to do any better than 3rd in the AL West anyways, but if he, Ackley, and Smoak all click at the same time, I think we compete. Especially if the pitching that we have in the system (Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen) develops.

I think as far as the secondary players in the deal, that's where Yankees tilted things in their favor. Jose Campos seems like a much better prospect than Hector Noesi. Will this matter in the long run? Who knows.

At the very least, I'm excited for the Mariners to have finally done something this offseason.

(Not that you asked me, but:) I think it's a good deal for both teams. I think Pineda will be solid over the course of his career, but he'll get figured out a bit. The M's sold high, which is a good thing, and the Yankees needed starting pitching in the worst way, and Pineda will still slot in nicely as a #2 behind CC. Montero will be a solid anchor in the M's lineup while Ackley, Smoak, Franklin et al. develop. It'll be dicey for this year and next probably, but when Walker, Paxton, and Hultzen are ready to contribute, the M's will have a nice offensive core. It's the first time in Z's reign as GM that I can see a viable plan emerging, and I think the M's are poised to be competitive right around the time the Angels start to regret the Pujols contract and all the Rangers stars are put on the DL for the rest of their lives.

Yes, I realize that I basically restated everything Mike said. Fun trade, though.

Great deal for both teams. Montero has the chance to be mike piazza, Pineda could be Felix. Yanks get a young number starter that they control for next 5 years and is cheap for 2 more. Rather than paying schmucks like Edwin Jackson too much, they waited and found a way to improve their rotation for below free agent market value. They can now fill the dh spot with 100 games of a solid hitter from free agent market for cheap (I've heard Carlos pena rumors) and still gave Arod and jeter 30 "1/2 games" off each in the dh spot. I've also heard rumblings that prince fielder may be ok to sign a 1 or 2 year deal with the yanks. That would be the ultimate, provided we can trade a chunk of aj burnetts contract in a Carlos zamrano type deal.

1. Jeter
2. Granderson
3. Cano
4. Fielder
5. Teixeira
6. Arod
7. Swisher
8. Martin
9. Brett Gardner

Cc, Pineda, Kuroda, Nova, FGarcia
Phil Hughes, Joba, RSoriano, DRobertson, Mariano

Wet dreams

Even if you take out fielder and move Teixeira and Arod up, insert Carlos Pena at number 6, they still are stacked.

This is gonna be a great year.

Shitty deal for the Giant Knockers. We needed Jesus in the Yankee lineup. Hopefully he can still mash in Seattle..

buxton91107 wrote:Shitty deal for the Giant Knockers. We needed Jesus in the Yankee lineup. Hopefully he can still mash in Seattle..

Hey, if you want to figure out a trade, I'd gladly welcome the newest Seattle Mariner on my roster. That's also because I think he'll do alright in Seattle. Ichiro and Ackley should be hitting right ahead of him, so hopefully there will be people on base. Also, Montero can spread the ball around the field, including to right - the easiest place to hit bombs in Safeco. I take that on the word of Jeff Sullivan at Lookout Landing, the best M's blog there is.

Plus, the Mariners could still make a move and find a bat to stick behind him. I think Prince has a better chance of going to Seattle for six years than he does to New York for two. There are other bats for hire out there too, though I'm not sure anyone is going to rush to sign a one-year deal to play for a loser and have their stats suppressed by Safeco Field.

And Vmart goes down for the Season...

http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2012/1/17/2 ... hnny-damon

Crawford has surgery to repair cartilage in left wrist, not too serious, but opening day possibly in jeopardy...

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/sports/x ... z1jnE7Mzch


Sucks for me, but not panicking yet, hopefully no big deal like they said.., (I knew I shouldve drafted another OFer)

ucancallmedavis wrote:Crawford has surgery to repair cartilage in left wrist, not too serious, but opening day possibly in jeopardy...

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/sports/x ... z1jnE7Mzch


Sucks being me, I should have drafted better players, but not panicking yet, hopefully no big deal like they said.., (I knew I shouldve drafted another OFer)

I fixed your post.

Fake identity seems to be the hot, new injury:

According to a report by broadcaster Yancen Pujols, Indians' right-hander Fausto Carmona was arrested in his native Dominican Republic for using a false identity.

The story was passed along by Jorge Arangure of ESPN Deportes. Maximo Baez Aybar, who handles PR for the Dominican police, confirms that Carmona (whose real name is actually Roberto Hernandez Heredia) was arrested outside the consulate while trying to secure a work visa. Details are still pouring in, but remember that right-hander Juan Carlos Oviedo (formerly known as Leo Nunez) was able to avoid jail time in the Dominican Republic after faking his identity and even agreed to a new contract with the Marlins this week. However, Oviedo is still trying to get his visa situation figured out and similar issues could cause Carmona/Heredia to miss the start of spring training or even the season. The Indians picked up his $7 million club option for 2012 in October, despite a 5.25 ERA over 32 starts last season. Stay tuned for further developments.

Source: Yancen Pujols on Twitter

Jan 19 - 3:06 PM

wsuguay wrote:Fake identity seems to be the hot, new injury:

According to a report by broadcaster Yancen Pujols, Indians' right-hander Fausto Carmona was arrested in his native Dominican Republic for using a false identity.

The story was passed along by Jorge Arangure of ESPN Deportes. Maximo Baez Aybar, who handles PR for the Dominican police, confirms that Carmona (whose real name is actually Roberto Hernandez Heredia) was arrested outside the consulate while trying to secure a work visa. Details are still pouring in, but remember that right-hander Juan Carlos Oviedo (formerly known as Leo Nunez) was able to avoid jail time in the Dominican Republic after faking his identity and even agreed to a new contract with the Marlins this week. However, Oviedo is still trying to get his visa situation figured out and similar issues could cause Carmona/Heredia to miss the start of spring training or even the season. The Indians picked up his $7 million club option for 2012 in October, despite a 5.25 ERA over 32 starts last season. Stay tuned for further developments.

Source: Yancen Pujols on Twitter

Jan 19 - 3:06 PM

You gotta hand it to the guy. When you have the opportunity to make up your own name/steal an identity and you come up with "Fausto Carmona" that's some serious flair.

S-Man wrote:22.2 - A.J. Burnett SP

This just in about AJ's status for 2012:

http://m.quickmeme.com/meme/1p64/