Don’t worry, these links won’t be sent to the minors to start the season…
Justin Upton close to a long-term deal
I was one of many Yankee fans patiently waiting for The Justin Upton to hit free agency, however just like Felix Hernandez and Seattle, Upton is signing long-term to stay in Arizona. The 22-year-old is set to receive a six year deal worth $50M, which will still allow him to hit free agency at age-28. After hitting .300-.366-.532 with 26 homers and 20 steals last season, Upton was probably going to build on those numbers in 2010 and set himself up for a pretty nice payday in his first year of arbitration eligibility. Too bad.
Could Austin Romine end up being more valuable than Jesus Montero?
Well of course he could. But for it to happen, Montero would need to become a full-time DH and produce like Paul Konerko (another big righty bat who was too big to stick at catcher), while Romine becomes a slightly better than league average backstop. Bryan Smith at FanGraphs ran through the numbers and the comparison, but the moral of the story is that even just faking it as a catcher will make Montero so much more valuable than he would be anywhere else. That’s why the Yankees won’t move him from behind the plate until it’s absolutely necessary.
Strawberry: Jenrry Mejia is the next Mariano Rivera
I love Darryl Strawberry, I really do. He was my favorite player as a kid in the 80’s, but come on dude. You can’t just look at the velocity and movement that Mets’ prospect Jenrry Mejia gets on his fastball and compare him to the greatest reliever of all time. The 19-year-old Mejia was ranked as the 56th best prospect in the game by Baseball America, but he’s walked 92 batters in 210 career minor league innings. Mo? Try 98 walks in 432.1 minor league innings. Command > movement > velocity, folks. Learn it, love it.
And finally, here’s a new site to check out called Sabometrics. Make sure you check it out, there’s some pretty interesting stuff in there.