Subcribe to this Feed
Let’s go see the Cubs at Tootsie Roll Park!
The Chicago Tribune and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority have been in negotiations to allow the ISFA to purchase Wrigley Field.
One of the main hang-ups to the deal was the financing of the purchase and the planned improvements to the aging stadiumand its surroundings. But Governor James Thompson has come up with a plan, using private financing and partial naming rights to make it work.
Wait…………”partial naming rights”?!
Does this mean we could see Cubs games in the future at a partially renamed Wrigley Field? Names like:
Wrigley Field at Orbitz Park
Wrigley Field at Morton Salt Stadium
Wrigley Field at Encyclopedia Britannica Park
Wrigley Field at Midway Games Stadium
Wrigley Field at Tootsie Roll Industries Park
…or any other Chicago-based firm. This partial naming has been done before. Just look at the Oakland Athletics. They are playing at Cisco Field in McAfee Coloseum.
I think the world is coming to an end.
Granderson the Key?
Has anyone’s noticed that in the six games that Curtis Granderson has played for the Detroit Tigers since his return from injury, his team has compiled a 4-2 record?
During that span, the Tigers have scored 7.33 runs per game (helped out by a 19-run game though). The team has also given up 4.33 runs per game, much lower than the 5.71 of the previous 21 games.
Sure, the resurgence of the entire team cannot be place upon Granderson’s return alone, but it would be hard to argue that he’s not a game-changer. His presence at the top of the lineup, creating havoc on the bases, provides better hitting opportunities for hitters further down in the lineup. His defense is also much better than his replacements.
Don’t look now, but the Tigers are 0.5 games out of second place, even after the abysmal start they had. With only a 3 game lead separating them from first place, it’s entirely conceivable that they could be in first place by June.
Note to GM Dave Dombrowski; lock him up long-term.
Dan Johnson Passes Through Waivers
Left-handed hitting firstbaseman Dan Johnson has made it through waivers and has been sent to Triple-A.
Since no team took a flyer on him, maybe scouts have seen something wrong with him. There’s a possibility that he’s lost some bat speed or swing mechanics with all his injuries. It may mean that they think that he needs some time in the minors to regain his swing, so what pick him up off of waivers?
But Giants, common, what are you doing?! You’ve said that you are looking for a left-handed power bat. You don’t have a chance to contend this season, so why not play out a young hitter until he starts to hit like scouts have said he can in the past. You also have Rich Aurilia and Dan Ortmeier playing first, are you kidding me? I can understand not trading something significant for him, but he passed through waivers!
Got your bags pack Brian Sabean?
Wayne Krivsky Fired
The Cincinnati Reds made a surprise move, not just letting General Manager Wayne Krivsky go, but letting him go this early in the season. Sure, the promising Reds team is once again slumping in the standings, but it’s early in the season and the team is much better off than when Krivsky took over in February 2006. Well, for the most part.
He’s made some pretty good trades during his short tenure. One of his best was Brandon Phillips for pitcher Jeff Stevens. A 30HR/30SB threat for a minor league reliever. Although the jury’s still out on the Josh Hamilton for Edinson Volquez and Danny Herrera trade, it looks very good as well as Volquez has pitched well this season for the Reds and Herrera looks to be a good relief prospect. Although Josh Hamilton is playing good as well, they got him for cash in a trade with the Cubs. Then there’s the Bronson Arroyo for Willy Mo Pena trade. Bronson has helped to solidify the top of the Reds rotation, whereas Pena hasn’t really become a threat for the teams he has played for.
But Krivsky was known to lean towards veterans too much and with the amount of good talent coming up through the Reds system, the team may not have wanted him to deal off any of those players. Although most of his deals included veterans for prospects, most of the prospects haven’t fared too well with their new teams.
If there has been one thing that I would make me dismiss Krivsky so fast it would be the signing of Dusty Baker to manage the team. Baker is NOT the manager you want to develop young talent, especially pitchers. It makes you worry for Volquez, Johnny Cueto, and Homer Bailey.
Are Prince Fielder’s Days Numbered?
Over the off-season Prince Fielder let it be known that he wasn’t happy with his pre-arbitration raise, being paid $670,000 for the 2008 season. He felt that he should have been given the same $900,000 that Ryan Howard was given prior to his first year of arbitration eligibility, even though the Milwaukee Brewers weren’t required to even pay him even $670k.
If Prince recovers from a very slow start to hit 40-plus home runs again this year, he and agent Scott Boras might demand the same $10 million in arbitration winnings as Ryan Howard was awarded this past February. That’s a pretty steep jump, and not a jump that the Brewers will probably like to take on. The team has supposedly offered a long-term contract to Fielder to avoid the arbitration woes, but with his agent in his ear, it is unlikely that Prince and the team will come together on a pact.
Does this make his days in Milwaukee numbered? Power-hitting prospect Matt LaPorta has been switched to play first base for his Double-A Huntsville team and has been racking up the numbers. On top of hitting 283/.389/.567 in 60 at-bats so far, LaPorta has hit a homer in three straight games. Many believe that his bat should be major league ready at some point this season.
Trading Fielder and bringing up LaPorta could position the Brewers even better if they obtain some nearly ready prospects for him. Due to the nature of the market, pitchers are usually the targets of the July deadline, whereas General Managers typically can get more for impact hitters after the season. This would give LaPorta a full year to prepare in the minors and give GM Doug Melvin time, without a deadline, to sift through the trade offers. But if the Yankees or Mets are besieged by injuries or ineffectiveness of their current players, they may push for a trade at the deadline. Wait…..the Mets have nothing outside of Martinez that can be viewed as a desirable prospect. The Yankees, on the other hand, may have the prospects that the Brewers would covet. But don’t forget the Mariners, GM Bill Bavasi might get desperate and offer a package centered around Jeff Clement.
This’ll be an interesting plot line to watch over the coming months.
Frank Thomas Released
The Blue Jays have released the once vaunted slugger, Frank Thomas. Thomas, a career .302 hitter with 516 home runs, was off to a horrible start. In 60 at-bats this season, he was hitting .167, with three home runs and only a .333 slugging percentage. The Jays are on the hook for Thomas’ $8 million salary this season, but by making this move now, would save $10 million next season as he has a vesting option for 2009 based on a very reachable 304 of plate appearances.
His departure likely means that prospect Adam Lind will be called up. Lind has been on an early tear in Triple-A this season, hitting .360, with 3 home runs and a 1.051 OPS. He’s also a better fielder than Shannon Stewart or Matt Stairs. The three will probably rotate between the leftfield and DH spots in the lineup for the time being.
Thomas hits the market as not that highly desired of a hitter as he once was. Although he’s well known to be a slow starter, at 41 years of age many teams are doubtful that he will be much of an improvement over what they already have. He’s also limited to DH duties as his defense at first base has declined over the years.
The only two teams that would presumably have interest would be the Oakland A’s and the Seattle Mariners. The A’s currently have Jack Cust struggling in the DH spot hitting .157 on the season so far. But he had a .912 OPS last year for the A’s and he also more likely to come out of the slump than the aging Thomas.
The Mariners have Jose Vidro hitting a lackluster .208 in the spot. Even though he hit .314 last season, the Mariners might look to upgrade on his lack of power. But doing this would effectively block prospect Jeff Clement from cutting his teeth in the Majors. Clement is on fire for Triple-A Tacoma, hitting .393 with a 1.218 OPS. Clement, a catcher by trade, is blocked by Kenji Johjima behind the plate, making the DH spot an ideal spot for Clement to get used to Major League pitchers before concentrating on his activities behind the plate.
Frankly, you don’t have much for options Frank.
Longoria Signs Record Breaking Contract
Evan Longoria has been in the majors for six games, for a total of 20 at-bats. But now he has a long-term contract. This unprecedented move has opened the eyes of many. The nine-year contract will possibly pay Longoria $44 over the life of the agreement. The first six years are guaranteed, garnishing a total of $17.5 million. There is also a one-year extension, followed by a two-year extension that, if both are picked up, give him an additional $26.5 million.
The exact breakdown for each year hasn’t been given, but it looks like Longoria has given up probable higher arbitration-related salaries and his three first agency years for more money upfront and some fiscal stability. The Rays, on the other hand, will save money during the arbitration years and have him very cheap for his first three free agency years if he blossoms into the star that everyone says he will be. Also, locking up a player through his arbitration years helps to curb any strife that takes place between a player and a team during the arbitration process.
I’m not sure if a player has ever been signed to a long-term contract so early in his career, especially to a nine-year deal. This is somewhat astonishing.
But if you really break it down, PECOTA values him at over $100 million during his first seven years in the majors. Then if you consider the other contracts throughout baseball, it’s hard to belittle the Rays for doing this. Over the first six years of his contract, Evan will be earning an average of $2.92 million, there are many players out there that he will be out-producing for that amount. Jason Giambi will be making more this season than the first six years of Longoria’s contract, but it’s possible that Evan will out produce him.
It was a good move by Friedman, but what GM will try this with a less promising player and get bit?
Misc Notes: Kotchman with Heads Up Play
While watching some Wednesday night baseball, I picked up a nice heads-up defensive play by Casey Kotchman of the L.A. Angels. In the top of the 5th inning, with one out and the Kansas City Royals’ Mark Grudzielanek on first base, budding star Billy Butler was at bat. Butler popped a fly ball up the first base line that looked like it was fading into foul territory, where first baseman Casey Kotchmand would surely catch it for an out. However, Kotchman seemingly dropped the ball, picked it up, tagged first base and caught Grudzy in a run down for the third out of the inning.
But Kotchman didn’t drop the ball. The entire time the ball was in the air, Kotchman was watching it and Billy Butler at the same time. Noticing Butler throw his fit and not run out the hit, Kotchman deliberately didn’t catch the ball (as the replay showed) to induce the double play.
This good heads-up play was made better by the fact that Kotchman not only had the presence of mind to let the ball drop to get the double play, he placed his body between it and the foul line. This move made him into somewhat of a goalie, blocking the ball from rolling foul, keeping it in play.
Kotchman also made a nice catch on a hard liner off of Alex Gordon’s bat in the 6th inning. He’s shaping up to be a pretty good defensive first baseman, and by the looks of it his bat isn’t going to be too shabby either.
Over Spilled Milk: Walker for Ochoa
In another edition of Over Spilled Milk, I will review a trade from 2001. The Todd Walker from the Colorado Rockies to the Cincinnati Reds for Alex Ochoa trade was one of my first Trade Bait articles. Todd Walker was having a decent year for the Rockies, but being in a rebuilding mode, they decided to trade him away. Ochoa looked like an up and coming player that could take off in Coors Field. He had enough promise that the Rockies even offered Robin Jennings with Walker to get him.
Looking back, my analysis of the trade was a bit off, but neither really impacted their team negatively or positively. Todd went to Cincinnati where his power fell off some, as expected, but he hit for average and got on base at a decent pace for the Reds in 2001 and 2002. His defense was never something to write home about, but his bat would make you easily forget Pokey Reese.
Alex Ochoa didn’t develop into the perennial .300 AVG / 20 HR / 20 SB threat that I thought he’d become. Although he had a great 2000 for the Reds, putting up a .316 average with a .964 OPS in 264 at-bats, he never hit that well again in the majors. He continued to move about the majors, going to Japan eventually, before returning to the States and playing for Triple-A Pawtucket last season. He was a decent fourth outfielder at times, but nothing more. But many teams seemed to have seen some of the stuff that I saw in him as he was traded seven times during his career.
Robin Jennings was a minor league outfielder that, at 29 didn’t have much upside, but he provided the Reds with a .519 slugging percentage in 77 at-bats the remainder of that season. But he didn’t amount to much else, leaving baseball after 2003.
Although none of these players really made a real impact for their teams, the Reds definitely walked away from this trade as winners.
Giants don’t want Johnson
Fans and media outlets alike believe that the San Francisco Giants are needing to do a complete rebuild of their team from the ground up. Yet it doesn’t look like Giants’ GM Brian Sabean has fully bought into that. Recently, it has been flowing through the various media outlets that they have been actively looking for a left-handed first baseman. Henry Schulman of The San Francisco Cronicle has said that they’ve had internal discussions about Nick Johnson or someone to platoon with Rich Aurilia. That doesn’t sound like the thinking of a team that plans to rebuild.
That same article though does mention that the Giants scouted the Atlanta Braves’ Scott Thorman, noting that Thorman hit 11 homers last season in 268 at-bats last season. At Triple-A in 2006, he hit .298 with a .868 OPS, not too shabby. But his .216 batting average last season and his current .095 OPS this season at Richmond (albeit in only 21 AB) do not exude confidence that he can play, even semi-regularly in the majors.
The one name that does keep popping up is Dan Johnson. Oakland recently designated Johnson for assignment, making a trade more likely to happen. Dan’s alway put up good numbers as he rose through the Athletics’ system, but he’s struggled the past couple seasons in the majors, mainly due to injuries. But according to Henry Schulman’s article, the Giants don’t want to have anything to do with him.
This, of course, has made the blogs go crazy. Looking at Johnson’s stat lines that past couple seasons, many are berating Sabean’s lack of desire for Johnson. But if you sit back and ponder it, Sabean’s logic somewhat makes sense. Oh my gosh, did I just say that?
Billy Beane is probably doing like what any GM or agent does when selling his player or client to another prospective GM, he shines the light on the good…excessively. With Dan’s good minor league track record and a decent rookie season in 2006, the potential for Dan to be pretty good is there. Prince Fielder good? No, but he’s got the potential to hit 20-25 home runs per year and put up good on-base percentages. Beane is likely asking for a king’s ransom for Johnson and you can’t blame him.
Why should Sabean give up a decent prospect, or a decent prospect and a few mediocre ones for Johnson when he will likely have top prospect Angel Villalona ready in a couple years. The former third base prospect has moved over to first and he supposedly has more upside than Johnson.
Sabean needs to save his prospects and major league arms of worth for trades involving the other holes throughout the lineup. Unless you think that Brian Bocock, Jose Castillo, and Ray Durham are reliable everyday starters that provide good will provide good offense in the future. Outside of Rowand there’s no power in the outfield either. Top it off with the fact that the farm system is relatively barren and it looks pretty bleak, even if Sabean is smart enough to trade for the oft-injured Dan Johnson.
