Rumor Mill
Caveat emptor: We ain't gonna prove 'em, link 'em, or Google 'em for ya. :- ) Take it or leave it. Youse guys have known me since (as far back as) 1995 and you have a feel for how careful I am, or amn't, with info processing.
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COEFFICIENT OF CONFIDENCE = 0.85: Bidding on Teixeira is already up to $22.5M x 8 years and will go considerably higher. AL teams who are north of $20M already (!) include LA, Boston AND New York.
D-O-V and all iterations thereof are scoff-free zones. If you're one of those who thinks that LA, Boston and New York are idiots and you're the guy who's smart, please head three websites up I-5 and stay there. ;- )
I'm going to assume at this point -- the jelling of the expectations in the $24-27M range -- that it's a moot point for the Mariners.
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COEFFICIENT OF CONFIDENCE = 0.65: Inquiry on Adam Dunn is coming from the Angels, Dodgers, Nationals, and ... Mariners! (Obviously the Angels are pushing hard for Tex and setting up Dunn as the safety net.)
I realize, just from my re-baptism here this week, that there is a blog or two that (predictably) loathes the idea of Dunn. Well, good to know that little has changed. :- ) :winning smile: The object of the game is still to keep the powder dry.
If you agree with the anti-Dunn argument, you don't need me to repeat it for you at length. (Psst: it's "Sexson redux.")
We'll deal with that if the rumors get hot. For now, notice that Dunn is:
(a) turning 29 next season,
(b) the owner of five consecutive 40-homer seasons,
(c) a 130-140 OPS+ hitter, and
(d) lefthanded in Safeco.
This presumably makes him a legit Zduriencik target. Youse guys told me that Zduriencik is focused, right?!
::crickets::
I don't know if we're going to have to spend the next five years playing badminton against the idea that every FA is Richie Sexson, but simply note that (a) if Dunn has precisely Sexson's weird decline, he'll have three great years from here, and (b) Safeco doesn't demoralize LH hitters.
If Jeff Clement ever produced exactly Adam Dunn's lines from the last five years, we'd all be thrilled.
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COEFFICIENT OF CONFIDENCE = 0.40: Rocco Baldelli has supposedly received word that his possibly terminal disease (a mitochondrial disorder) was misdiagnosed; now the diagnosis is channelopathy, a very treatable disease.
At 24, Baldelli hit .300/.340/.530 in CF and looked headed for a possible Dale Murphy career. Baldelli was actually, what Adam Jones and Greg Halman dream of becoming.
If all of a sudden he's healthier than Brandon Morrow, it's worth keeping an eye out. Imagine having a CF playing LF next to F-Gut and Ichiro.
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COEFFICIENT OF CONFIDENCE = 0.70: That M's fans will spend the winter hoping for that one MOTO bat that will make the 2009 M's truly interesting ... and then find out, after the M's sniff around for hometown discounts and don't get them, that the M's are "way over budget already" and are going with Bryan Lahair.
COEFFICIENT OF CONFIDENCE = 0.20: That M's fans will watch Dr. D disappear like Bobby Fischer, reappear just as suddenly to post 10 times a day, and nothing weird will come of it.
Cheers,
Dr D
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image: http://cdn.faniq.com/images/blog/p1_dunn-SI-mangin.jpg
