Love seeing Boras get his teeth kicked in on his top player this season. Methinks the rest of the year isn't going to be too kind to ol' Scott...
Regarding Matsui, I'm ok with them not pursuing him..just like I'm ok with them not pursuing Dunn. Neither one is a world-beater, and I'd like to see what we can get out of the farm system in the next year or two, personally. I wouldn't be terribly upset if they signed either, but I wouldn't beat the drums in their support. Forgetting that I personally don't mind Dunn's player profile very much (those are exactly the kind of guys you keep your DH slot open for, anyways), the Seattle media and the Mariners have done waaaaay too efficient of a job convincing 'the people' that you don't want low average, high K guys. They're just not professional hitters! Selling Branyan AND Dunn to the peeps in one offseason? Seems a little unlikely, but hey..I've been pleasantly surprised thus far with Z's apparent tendencies.
=== What If Something Happened and Randy Couldn't Pitch At That Level Any More? ===
Famous last words, Royal Brougham ca. 1998. As high as the reward was -- the sight of one of baseball's best and most fascinating pitchers ever, blossoming and prospering right here in Seattle -- that must have been some risk with that 3-year contract. :- )
"I still expect him to be pitching effectively in ten years" -- Bill James, outrageously, in 1995.
As he aged from 40 to 44, Randy Johnson had FIPS (fielding-neutral ERA's) the last 5 years of:
2.18
3.77
4.37
3.08
3.73
We'd be happy if Morrow ran those, the next five years. Randy is doing it in his 40's. Do you know what it feels like to be 42? Most guys are done at 32.
Amusing to note that you could literally have given Johnson a 12-year contract in 1998. "You don't think I'll hold up? You go right ahead and make that bet," the Unit snapped, back in 1998.
..............
These days, the Big Unit over-challenges quite a bit, but he's still a skosh better than the #4's and #5's 'round these parts.
Last year, Randy started 30 games with an ERA in the 3's. He had a 2.41 ERA after the All-Star Break. What other MLB starting pitcher are you going to get, for 1 x $8MM, with those results?
Oh yeah. And the Giants get to sell tickets to his 300th win.* Wow. 29 teams passed on topping 1 x $8MM?
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=== Go With Geoff, Dept. ===
It was amazing to see Seattleites get into a huff over Geoff Baker telling them how the rest of the world does things.
Truth hurts, don' it buddy. :- ) Every other city in the country watches Seattle flail in its death throes, over a couple of snowfalls, and watches aghast.
My wife listened to the radio the other day and a no-salt spokesman said -- I am serious here -- that they didn't want to harm THE PUGET SOUND. The Puget Sound!
Without any irony whatsoever: a caller mentioned that the Puget Sound contains salt water.
A short while later, the same no-salt spokesman made adjustments in his second trip around the league and said, "Well, it isn't the Sound as such; it's the environment generally."
...........
Bill James said, "You pay a price for everything you believe that isn't true." The last week or two has been one of the most dramatic demonstrations of that, that I've ever seen.
Personally I wonder how much the city politicians are thinking about science, versus how much they're thinking about making a statement. This particular statement cost yours truly a whale of a lot: I was driving around downtown all week, and the streets took about four years off the life of my vehicle and twice that off me. You haven't lived until you've "washboarded" two blocks in 15 minutes and then watched a stoplight cycle four times at Lenora, hoping you'll make your 5 o'clock.
But at least in Seattle, we yukky people recognize that we shouldn't be here, yukky'ing up the world. Insanity is a small price to pay for perspective :- )
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=== Godzilla Stomp, Dept. ===
According to this article, Three AL West teams seek the high-OBP, high-RC/27, lefty services of Hideki Matsui. The one that doesn't, is the M's.
Not saying they should. Interesting, however, that all three other AL West teams see a rebound from Matsui's knee-impared 2008. Come to think of it, wasn't there a pointed disinterest from the Nintendo org the first time around?
Then we find this note from RotoTimes saying that the M's had been, in November at least, interested.
Not that we're recommending it, but an in-form Hideki Matsui generates as many runs as an Adam Dunn -- about 7.0 RC/27 -- and would replace Wlad or F-Gut in the M's lineup.
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=== More on Boras ===
My fave article tonight: Details on the NYY-Boras negotations.
The Yankees made a substantially lower offer to Teixeira before the winter meetings, an offer that quickly was pulled once Boras informed the Yankees how much he was seeking...
Boras told the Yankees they needed a 10-year deal, with the last two years as player options. That got an absolute no from the Yankees, who had [early on - drd] offered eight years and $180 million ($22.5 million per year).
Around midday Tuesday, Boras said Teixeira would agree to an eight-year contract, but only if the average annual value was $24 million per year, making the total contract value $192 million. The Yankees conferred, then told Boras no, that they had made a fair yet firm offer and would stand pat, the source said.
Boras responded by saying that Teixeira likely would be a Red Sox.
The Yankees refused to budge from their offer, and 20 minutes later, Boras called back and said Teixeira would take their eight-year, $180-million offer.
That's what I call negotiating against yourself, Scott. :- )
Cheers,
jemanji
Comments
Just look at O swing % of Jr and others DH candidates.
You will know why Jr is HOFer.
Doesn't look like Boras "lost" the negotiation.
If losing negotiations consists of getting the best available offer by far then I want to lose more negotiations. If Boras doesn't take the Yankees offer then he loses 20-35 million with the next best offer. Boras was trying to squeeze every penny out of the contract for Tex and he succeeded on that front.
Losing the negotiation would have been a repeat of the Kevin Millwood situation. Not getting everything you "ask" for is not the same as getting everything you "want".
The Yankees were bidding against themselves here and paid a large premium for Mr. Teixeira's services. Well played Scott.
Agree that it's tough to call it a loss when you secure any of these mega-contracts :- )
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You realize tho Coug that the Red Sox, from as far back as October, "set their entire offseason strategy" around acquiring Teixeira.
Now we come to find out they wouldn't give Tex any more than they gave Manny -- quite a few years ago.
If you think that's because they drew a line in the sand early, through no fault of Boras', then you're right. But if Henry's remarks indicate that Boras ticked Boston off with his arrogance, then Boras blew a potentially sweet situation in Boston.
Sounds a lot to me like Boras alienated the Angels early on, also. A less unpleasant agent might easily have generated a legitimate bidding war, but in this case no bidding war ever took place.
...................
The Yankees got Teixeira for their opening offer -- and the Yankees were the #3 or #4 team on the list to open the offseason.
IMHO it's pretty clear that Boras suffered significant backlash on this one.
It's also possible the Red Sox were in it just to drive the price up for the Yankees.
Asides from Matsuzaka (which half the money paid didn't count against their payroll), the Red Sox haven't really been crazy about going after top-tier FAs. They like acquiring underpaid stars through trade and extending them (Beckett, Schilling, etc.), nabbing undervalued FAs (Drew, Okajima, etc) and developing their own star players.