Jan
15
Smoltz: Yanks courted me
ByVia MLBTR, we hear a Dan Patrick interview with John Smoltz in which the former Brave and current Red Sox pitcher explains that the Yanks were in on his contract talks. According to the injured hurler set to come off the DL by early June, the Yanks were one of four teams — the Red Sox, Dodgers and Braves being the others — to come calling, but in the end, Boston won out. It’s good to hear that Brian Cashman was doing what he could to land a low-risk, high-reward starter. If Boston wanted to guarantee more money, so be it.
Dan Patrick needs to change his headshot:
http://imgsrv.670thescore.com/.....673158.jpg
Attempted coolness/hardness FAIL.
….that picture is beyond fail.
It’s so beyond FAIL that it’s practically approaching FAIL from the other side.
It’s so fail it’s LIAF!
I love the tendrils of smoke wafting up from his hand, which is holding something below the frame. What is he holding?
A cigar? A blunt? A burnt Belgian waffle? Dry ice? A metaphorical representation of a Felix Hernandez fastball?
Is it just his hand itself that is smoking, because Dan Patrick is en fuego? The world may never know.
“A blunt?”
If Dan Patrick were me, that would be the answer.
Well done.
http://www.paulschmidstudio.co.....d-home.jpg
Joe–http://www.paulschmidstudio.com/images/pothead-home.jpg
Otto walking out of Stoner’s Pot Palace
Man, that is FLAGRANT false advertising!
Where is that as his official head shot?
Something in his hand is “En Fuego”.
CWIDT?
You’re late.
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-258970
I just saw that. Damn! Newman!
You have let Melvin down.
I’ve let the entire world down.
I’m going to put on my Snuggie, grab a six pack of PBR and have a good cry.
Here’s what I don’t get about the Smoltz thing. There was a report (saw it on Neyer’s blog I think) that he was throwing hard and easy in his workout for the Red Sox. This includes a mix of fastballs and sliders. If he’s throwing that well now, why won’t he be available to pitch until May?
Throwing ~30 pitches one time doesn’t equal throwing ~100 of them every 5 days.
From throwing off a mound to pitching in game action is what, 6 weeks? I don’t see how that adds up to 4 months. Also, he could come back as a reliever if the problem is arm strength.
Also, he could come back as a reliever if the problem is arm strength.
But they want/need him as a starter. Why would they bring him in as a reliever, they’d just have to stretch him back out again and further retard his progress.
Did you read the second half of the Neyer report that I linked to last night? There’s a whole other half of the equation there.
It’s great that Cashman did his due diligence, but ultimately, is Smoltz what the Yankees need out of the 5th starter?
Without a doubt, Smoltz is awesome when healthy. However, what we need most of all is innings and stability, neither of which he can be counted on to provide at this point.
It is assumed that he can come in sometime around the ASB and kick butt. Who fills in for him until he does? And what if he doesn’t?
2nded.
The entire thing.
That is why you sign him as a luxury, a sixth starter type. The more healthy and effective options a team has down the stretch the better. With rotation ‘depth’ the Sox can ease him back and fit him into the staff in a few different capacities. If he doesn’t bounce back to form, he wasn’t slotted into a set role to begin with.
The problem for the Sox is that they have Brad Penny slotted into the number 5 slot.
That’s not much of a problem.
It’s a problem when you think of current-Brad Penny as a relied-upon starter in the AL East.
Agreed. I would prefer the Yanks approach (sans Pettitte) of letting the ‘kids’ fight it out for the last rotation spot to a fat and ineffective Penny.
Despite Gammons claim that he is the same pitcher as AJ.
The problem for the Sox is that they have Brad Penny slotted into the number 5 slot.
Yeah, and Wake is #4, but if healthy, Smoltz is easily better than both of those guys. So if he comes back healthy, he simply replaces whoever is pitching worse.
So given that Wakefield or Penny will probably be hurt or ineffective, the Red Sox will likely be relying upon John Smoltz. He’s not a 6th starter, he’s a guy they will most likely need. He also had major shoulder surgery on his torn labrum.
That’s why the Yanks didn’t want to give him 5M gurenteed
For my injury-risk pitcher I’d rather have Ben Sheets.
the Yankees got outbid by the Sox? MLB needs a salary cap.
Red Sox Fun Fact of the day: They still owe 18M over the next two years to Julio Lugo.
(Luckily for them, there’s no way he makes the 600 2010 plate appearances he’d need to trigger the final 9M vesting option).
Oh that Julio Lugo…
Speaking of FAIL…
Oh, indeed.
*yes, in that voice*
I enjoyed this post.
I can only assume he’s looking at that smoking thing in Dan Patrick’s hand.
This image will now haunt my nightmares.
http://i177.photobucket.com/al.....esGirl.jpg
Why are you posting pictures of Rebecca-Optimist Prime?
MUCH better.
Why is that woman so God damn flat-chested?
It would be really funny if Lowry got injured in April of 2010, and they were forced to play Lugo every day.
Also, everyone criticizes Cashman for the Pavano signing, but wasn’t this contract worse? At least with Pavano, you’re only flushing money down the drain. With Lugo it’s money and a roster spot.
Lowrie.
Is it really that big a deal?
yes.
Would you like people to call you “Krys”?
I point you to: http://riveraveblues.com/2008/.....-v-y-5973/
So you’re comparing a single comment about a rookie shortstop to multiple people repeatedly misspelling the name of a Cy Young winner?
No, I’m just having fun.
Misspelled name is still a misspelled name.
Wow, looking back at that thread on Buster Olney’s Jake Peavy talks, I think that’s the most frustrated I’ve ever been in my comments.
“Josh Beckett is better than Hanley Ramirez”… yeesh.
Is it really that big a deal?
It’s only a “big deal” if you take a helpful correction personally or defensively. Nobody is slandering/libeling you or drawing any conclusions about you. Just correcting your innocuous typo/ignorance.
L-O-W-R-I-E
2010? what happened to 2009?
The option is based on PA in 2010.
so you saying Boston might not even try to trade Lugo sometime during the season or even next offseason?
Who would take him?
some desperate NL team, maybe even the AL.
I guess Mets. Castillo for Lugo plus some other latin player and salary reliief.
You’d have to be pretty f-ing desperate…
lol ditto.
you know Rebecca, outside of LoHud…I’m shocked to see you curse
alot.
…Dude, you’ve never seen my Livejournal, have you?
lol negative.
Why do we consider Smoltz low-risk (I understand the high reward part). It seems to me that the risk is $5.5 M for damaged goods that can’t contribute at all. I know the Sox are rich, but that’s still money. If it were $1M guaranteed with $9 M in incentives, then I could see calling it low risk. Doesn’t he at least merit “medium-risk” status?
Fair enough.
Smoltz is low-risk for rich teams like us and the Sox, I suppose. Medium risk for most of baseball and high risk for the Marlins.
5.5M is walking-around-money for John Henry.
5.5M is what got it done, and its one year, they’ve spent nothing this offseason, keeps the fans excited and seems like the team is making acquisitions, bunch of people will probably buy Smoltz jerseys & t-shirts. The 5M doesn’t prevent them from anything, there is no big FA left for them to sign and if it saves them shipping off a prospect for a token 5th starter, its prob worth 5M to them
And if he’s not healthy enough to start they can probably still have him come out of the pen… which could use help.
Oh, snap:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/.....index.html
Jesus.
Crazy, right? And I’m flying out of LaGuardia on Saturday. Wonderful.
what the hell is it with New York and plane crashes?
too soon?
Yeah, we fly to Charlotte a lot, so there was a frantic email going around my office just now, to make sure no one was on that flight.
Yikes. Hopefully everyone is more or less OK.
banker?
Pharma.
Blunts?
Maybe…
Hookup?
Me too.
Not in the devils’ three-way kind way, though.
Damnit, Joe, you broke the streak. I wanted to see how many one-word comments in a row we could get out of that.
I’m jealous of your ability to embed.
That’s what SHE said!!!
Weird, I thought most pharma were in NJ.
I’m in communications (marketing/educational resources).
Triangle Park.
Most big pharma is in NJ, then there’s various development clusters, Cali, Cambridge, etc.
Ahhh okay.
Yeah, my parents’ house is 10 minutes from the big BD plant.
Watching on CNN. All the passengers are OK.
geesh.that sucks. good to hear everyone is okay.
geez a fuckin plane just crashed into the hudson. Thank god everyone is ok.
Red Sox and Kevin Youkilis agreed to a four-year deal worth more than $40MM.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/.....gn-ke.html
Seems like a poor deal for the player. Dude is 30 on opening day, so if the option is picked up he will be 36 when he is a FA and will be hard pressed to get another solid contract. If he would have signed a 2 year deal he would be 32 then could probably get a 4-5 year deal. Not sure what Theo is doing up there but he is doing a good job locking up those position players on good deals for the sox.
Yeah that is a great deal for the Sox. Damn.
No wonder so many FA are unhappy with Boston…
He’s still got 2 years of arbitration. Chances are, the first 2 years of the deal are for like 12 mill combined, and the last 2 are 28 mill. Regardless; in the next 4 years (due to arbitration) he would have a tough time doing much better than 40 million. Same as Pedroia over the next 4.
Pedroia over the next 6*
Except his family is filthy fucking rich, so it doesn’t much matter to him, I suppose.
Whose family? Gerrit Cole?
Youkilis.
Youkilis, the son of a jewelry wholesaler, was a member of the 1994 Sycamore High School team that won the AAU National Championship. On the side, Youkilis had one line in the 1994 romantic comedy “Milk Money”, starring Melanie Griffith and filmed in Youkilis’ hometown of Cincinnati. He was 14 at the time.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Youkilis
I believe you may have heard of his father, Nick Pappageorgio. He’s a big time Vegas high roller.
Ah, your normal table Mr. Pappagoergio…
On August 8, 2005, while playing for the Red Sox, Youkilis took the field in the 9th inning along with Adam Stern and Gabe Kapler, setting a “record” for the most Jewish players on the field at one time in American League history, and the most in Major League Baseball history since four Jewish players took the field for the New York Giants in a game in 1941.
That is kind of funny.
So is “SauvignYooouuuk Blanc”.
No wait, it’s not funny at all. My bad.
Can these guys play for Isreal for the WBC?
Okay, I have to admit it.
Major Jewish pride here!
considering he only made 3M last year, its not to shabby.
Ugh that’s such bullshit. We should have signed him!
he wasn’t a free agent
http://www.otrnow.com/store/dv.....okeSon.jpg
Makes sense, smart deal.
Boston did a good job signing him no doubt about it. It will be interesting to compare the numbers that Youkilis and Texieria put up over the next four years?
As for Teixeira, thank God he did not go to Boston, could you imagine him and Youkilis with Dustin Pedroia, for the next four years? That would not have been pretty.
could you imagine him and Youkilis with Dustin Pedroia, for the next four years? That would not have been pretty.
You’re right, that wouldn’t have been pretty.
Oh, wait, you were talking about baseball! Oh, yeah, in that sense too, yes.
Oh geez, for the love of the flying spaghetti monster!
Wait? You too worship the flying spaghetti monster?
Nah, but it’s fun to say
Fun to read about, too.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi.....endage.jpg
Youkilis, Pedroia, and Ortiz = bridge trolls
Better deal?
Pavano Guarentee $1.5 mill risk?
Hampton $1 mill Guarentee risk?
Smoltz $5 mill Guar. Risk?
Pettitte $13 million?
Penny?
Pedro?
Also, How great are the Sox? ….they paid $23 million for Lugo/Schilling/Coco? You could get that production out of Melky/Pavano/Betimit, …ha ha!
bring me Jon Garland right this minute
For what reason?
(please don’t say to pitch for the Yankees, PLEASE don’t say to pitch for the Yankees…)
Preview from an article for tonight or tomorrow:
In 2008 he walked nearly one more batter per nine innings than he did two years prior. If that was a one-year jump, it wouldn’t scare me as much. Yet his 2007 figure, 2.46, sets off a red flag. Combine this with his incrementally declining K rate, and you have one messy situation.
Jon Garland is the exact opposite of Katie Holmes topless.
Jon Garland or Sir Sidney?
pray the two never have a love child.
SidJon Garney?
Ponsnergardian?
Inbred?
oh dear.
Why does Jon feel he does not need the h in his name? does it look too much like a K ?!?!!?!
……….
A rip on Jon Garland thread… sounds excellent
Pedro + Garcia = 1 healthy pitcher …cheaper and better than Smoltz.
Wrong.
Smoltz = Schilling ….nothing.
Hmmm, I have $5 million to spend and get no production? …seems to be a better deal than $8 Million for the same of Schilling last year.
Recovering from major surgery, …to play mid season, …never shows up.
But both Pedro/Garcia are also coming back from injuries. Also, neither of them could be as good as Smoltz if both are healthy.
so, ….we are comparing 3 injured pitchers to each other. I need to get a better job. Lets add Milton and V. Zambrano to the equation too!
it’s like saying Jorge + Molina = one healthy catcher!
If only baseball worked like that…
Here me out, …Pedro is good for the 1st 2 months of the season, just in time for Garcia’s return from rehab!
Molina is the man! Mr. Last home run in the House that Ruth Built! He should start until he has the honor of the 1st home run in the new stadium. The House that Molina Cristened! Then cut him for Kevin Cash…it was Cashman, …but that would be nepotisim.
Hear…
Pedro is not good for the first 2 months. I would rather go with Al, IPK, Phil, or Humberto than Pedro. Same goes for Garcia.
Great news, ….the return of …….SHELLEY DUNCAN!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelley_Duncan
Can we trade him for Peavy yet?
Sorry man, …we already got Peavy for Melky/IPK/Igawa. per Peter Gammons.
http://tinyurl.com/7o8z87
Awesome
If you are looking for hot and sexy FA pitchers….check out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Garland
If you are looking for hot and sexy FA pitchers who suck….check out….
Fixed that for you.
Sorry Guys/Gals…my high school Grammar teacher called, I have to go back for some remedial education.
Who is better?
Omar Vizquel
or
Cody Ransom
Who is faster in a foot race?
Jose Molina
or
Jason Giambi (no thong)
Giambi.
Hell *I’m* faster than Molina and I run a 10:00 mile.
This is why we should trade for Barry Zito:
http://www.tmz.com/2009/01/13/.....ng-chicks/
Bring me Orlando Cabrera- move Jeter to Center Field
Who do you start?
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
2008 129 414 42 103 12 1 8 37 141 29 58 9 2 .301 .341 .249
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
2008 120 444 69 108 25 2 25 70 212 54 142 17 5 .331 .477 .243
I’ll give – player B