The Rays should offer Rocco Baldelli a minor league contract. Come home Rocco!!!!!!!!

Free Agent Predictions
They have us getting Calero and Zaun.

Rec’d so it sticks to the top.

John Paul Morosi
Low, low K rate, but he didn’t walk anyone either in 09 with the Cards. Over 386 ML innings he has a 4.89 FIP that may be exaggerated slightly by a 2007 that saw him get 17 starts. Looks like he’s pretty good against righties:



Could be a decent low-cost find for the Royals. Maybe Dayton Moore studied some basic economics at a community college over the summer with these recent moves.

Dick Kaegel
Could be the kind of low-risk move that we make. To wit:

Year FIP IP
2005 3.52 2
2006 2.29 2.1
2007 5.41 13
2008 4.00 158.2
2009 3.79 4.1

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=8686&position=P
Of course, he’s 31 and has thrown 180 innings in the Majors, but check out his 2008 pitch values.

Oh wait….

I wanted Billy Butler as a DH/1B last off-season but KC wisely held onto him. Alonso would be a nice get as a 1B of the future, but it’d have to be a prospect(s) for prospect(s) swap since Cincy doesn’t want to take on payroll.

Troy Renck
Phillips has a .293 wOBA over a career of 213 plate appearances. The article states that they may still try to re-sign Yorvit Torrealba, but if they can’t he could be a pretty decent option for the Rays. Yorvit turned down a 2/4.5M deal from Colorado so they may pony up more or just say screw it and roll with what they’ve got. He had a .316 wOBA last year, while I have the average ML catcher at .317 so he was a basically league average bat. Over his career it’s at .307. The 31-year old threw out 14% of his would-be thieves last year (yuck), but that number is at 29% over his career. For what it’s worth his range factor was 8.8 last year. Could be an upgrade over Navi for the same money, but not a great leap forward.

the Marlins were unable to sign Josh Johnson and him and the team are very bad terms saying “I wanted a 4th year, it was now or never and they wouldnt budge at all”

Marlins cant afford anyone(dude isnt looking to be Sabathia, he wants 4 years 40 million

Who would be down for a deal involving Niemann and spects? I know we have pitching but you can always add an ace.

Shields, Garza, Johnson, Price, and Davis/Hellickson give us 5 guys who can be and have been many times(especially JJ, Shields and Garza) What would you trade?

Congrats to Hughes, the slugging 1B traded for Gregg Zaun, for being added to the Orioles 40 man

* The Rays are said to be interested in discussing a long-term extension with Carl Crawford. If the team does decide to move him, however, the Mets and Braves have expressed interest.
    * The Rangers and White Sox are among the teams interested in acquiring B.J. Upton.
    * Executive VP Andrew Friedman on his team’s offseason targets: “We have a list of guys on other teams we have an interest in, and a list of free agents as well. And depending on how the market evolves on both fronts, it will go a long way toward shaping our thought process…. We feel like there are a lot of talented names out there.”
    * Smith notes that the Rays have a history of signing relievers who are coming off injuries or down years. He mentions Kevin Gregg and J.J. Putz as a couple of possibilities in that realm.
    * The club could be open to bringing back Gregg Zaun and giving last season’s catching platoon of Zaun and Dioner Navarro another try.

No Gregg please and let’s sign CC!

beast 19 year old C who will be in AAA at some point next season and his D is underrated

Scott Merkin
1/1.375 isn’t bad for a guy that can play solidly anywhere in the IF. Something kind of funny that I heard at some point last year was that there were only 4 guys in the majors that started their careers in the 80’s. The list includes Vizquel, Sheffield, Griffey Jr. and Randall Johnson. Pretty crazy that Omar, might be of the most use to a team at this point. Anyways, R.J. had a great write-up on him over at FG if you want to know more:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/omar-vizquel-to-the-south-side

If Crawford is traded for a catcher/1B prospect- Player? How does that affect the development of Luke Bailey, Nevin Ashley, Cody Cipriano, Jeff Malm? Hmm

Turns out Evan Longoria WILL be on the front of MLB 2k10. You can check it out here and vote for your fav one

Ken Rosenthal In 2009, the Jays had one of the best SS positions of all the teams in the AL as I saw only the Yanks and Rays playing better at the position. These moves seem to show that Toronto is really hamstrung by the Vernon Wells contract and will not be able to make a key pickup until they are out from under it. With all the O’s talent coming up 5th place could be the Jays for their taking. A-Gon has put up a non-park-adjusted wOBA of 0.294 over the last 3-years (note he did not play in 2008) using a 2/3/5 scale (0.296/0.338/0.266). Using that same scale for his UZR over the last 3 seasons you would get a value of 2.3. He is a below-average hitter for his position, but does have some value with the glove. He seems like a slight upgrade over McDonald for $2.5M. McDonald can go back to being a super-utility glove, while being a drain at the plate. Coupled with rumors of Overbay on the block, that Jays infield is not going to be a pretty sight, even if Aaron Hill plays at the level he did in 2008.

Bruce Levine
CHONE has him slashing at 0.226/0.322/0.414 over 394 AB’s. The article states that the Sox are not looking to use him everyday, but as a guy off the bench. In limited COF duty last year he showed a positive UZR, but that’s such a small sample that I don’t put much stock in it. It’s a 1/.5M deal, so it would be pretty hard for it not to be a good signing.

Matt Eddy
Wise, you may remember, saved Buehrle’s perfect game by snagging a sure homer. He will always be able to tell that story to his grand kids, which is good considering he won’t have to tell them what a poor hitter he is. CHONE projects a slash-line of 0.256/0.306/0.416. They may have an eye on using him as Ibanez’s personal caddy in LF, where he has a 6.5 UZR over 471 innings over his career. Ibanez was off to a great start in 2009, and could get the Burrell treatment that Charlie Manuel used in the past, in order to keep his legs fresh. This is a pretty good signing, IMO, though follows the trend we have seen thus far of teams making low-impact signings to fill holes.

so many mixed rumors floating around. I would love him to finish his career with the rays but the possibilities of that are <1%

That has real potential to bring in a basically free, very talented arm.

Of course, it would mean 3 lefties again with McGee, Howell and Choate/Swindle

Tyler Hissey has a pretty nice write-up in part one. I can’t disagree with anything that he states. Keep an eye out for part 2 as he plans to look at hurlers and prospects.

Tyler Hissey, again, takes an interesting look at Jason Bartlett. It’s a great article for those that are less centered in the Rays-verse as most of this stuff we have been talking about for some time. IMO his source listed in the last paragraph is impeccable.

Forgot about the 10 day rule.

wasnt offered arbitration. Theres a solid bullpen arm that will cost money but no picks

Maybe that will get a Bradley deal closer.