Archives › 2009 › December

Chicago had been waiting to move Milton Bradley before bringing in someone else to take his place in the outfield. Now they’ve moved Bradley, and according to Dallas Morning News blogger Evan Grant, they’re close to signing Marlon Byrd. Grant says what a lot of others have said: the Cubs were interested in both Byrd…

Outside of the Big Bust Challenge Trade, there isn’t a lot happening in baseball today, so let’s look at little stuff. Stuff like Firestone becoming the Official Tire of Major League Baseball.  I just left the business world, so I don’t care about the synergies and cross-promotional opportunities involved here, but there were still a…

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that the Diamondbacks have officially made an offer to Kelly Johnson and speculates that it’s worth around $2 million for one season. Johnson has been linked to quite a few teams since being non-tendered by the Braves last week, with Piecoro noting that the Cardinals, Nationals, and Astros…

Due to the vagaries of geography and time zones and stuff, we easterners don’t get to hear a lot about what happens in Seattle. Oh, we get the big stories: Ichiro is good, Steve Largent has sure hands, the Denny Party has found a new place to settle — but the little stuff often escapes…

Jose Arredondo is having a rough week. First it was announced that he’ll need Tommy John elbow surgery, which will keep him out for the entire 2010 season. Following that news the Angels non-tendered him, dropping Arredondo from the 40-man roster. And now he’s apparently been stabbed. Seriously. Prior to being non-tendered Arredondo angered the…

Anyone who has a strong enough constitution to be able to follow the Washington Nationals on a day-in-day-out basis knows that the only nice thing about it is getting to read Chico Harlan, who covers them for the Washington Post. He writes one of your better big-paper-affiliated baseball blogs, and always seems to have his…

I’m now fairly convinced that Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik is some sort of magician. In his first year on the job he overhauled Seattle’s defense, cut dead weight from the previous regime, brought in nice low-cost pickups, and watched the team go from 61-101 to 85-77. Not satisfied with that 24-game improvement Zduriencik began…

Jim Bowden left his last baseball job under a cloud of incompetence and corruption, and the last time we heard from him he was wearing bright-seamed designer jeans and taking the Nationals to task for signings he himself made.  But hey, a rumor is a rumor, right! Take it away Jim: Despite denials…Yanks are in…

I usually wait for the blogs to start updating before I’ll write a “What they’re saying about . . .” post, but this Milton Bradley business has brought out everyone’s inner-Henny Youngman, and the one-liners are flying.  A sampling: Jesse Spector: “Cubs getting rid of a guy because he’s a pain in the ass. Mariners…

Nick Johnson was amusingly tagged with the nickname “OBP Jesus” early in his career and has certainly earned the title in the years since then, ranking as one of just 10 active players with a .400 on-base percentage in at least 3,000 plate appearances: OBP Albert Pujols .427 Todd Helton .427 Lance Berkman .412 Manny…

Larry Stone of the Seattle Times tweets that the Cubs are actually going to trade Milton Bradley to the Mariners for Carlos Silva.  An announcement could come later today. Holy Moses, it was more than just a rumor. Now all Seattle has to do is figure out where to play him. Left field seems the…

The assumption has been that the Red Sox will sign Adrian Beltre, trade for Adrian Gonzalez, or make a similar move for a hitter if the deal sending Mike Lowell to Texas goes through, but recently general manager Theo Epstein and manager Terry Francona have both said that using Kevin Youkilis at third base and…

Monday through Wednesday, MLB.com was running a series about fixing the draft, dealing with international free agency, trading draft picks and hard slotting of draft pics, which I talked about here, here and here. It’s possible that I’ve gone temporarily insane, but I am certain that earlier in the week they had been scheduled to…

Cliff Lee thought he’d spend the rest of his baseball playing life in Philadelphia, saying “[a]t first I didn’t believe it. I thought we were working out an extension with the Phillies. I thought I would spend the rest of my career there.”  Ruben Amaro had other ideas, obviously, and it sounds like he was…

Yesterday we relayed word that the Dodgers and Reds were discussing a trade for Aaron Harang. Last night Yahoo!’s Tim Brown reported, based on word from a team source that such a deal was “not happening.” Probably for the best, at least from L.A.’s perspective. Because really, why would a team in the Dodgers’ financial…

That’s what Mark Feinsand of the Daily News reports, however it still wasn’t enough to get a deal done for Damon as the Yankees wouldn’t pay him $13 million per, even for two years. Assuming this is true, this is a case of Boras seriously misreading the market for his client, and ultimately doing him…

Not the San Francisco Giants. The City of San Francisco: City Attorney Dennis Herrera gave Major League Baseball a little chin music on Thursday, firing off a letter suggesting San Francisco would sue the league if it approves moving the Oakland Athletics to San Jose . . . “I need to make sure the interests…

Angelswin.com (found via MLB.com) reports that the Angels are interested in Braves’ starter Javier Vazquez.  That’s well and good, but the article only makes brief mention of Vazquez’s limited no trade clause that allows him to veto a deal to western division teams. A very personal clause for Vazquez, as the entire reason for it…

SI’s Jon Heyman writes that, despite the fact that that all of the other teams that need a left fielder are not really interested in Jason Bay, there is a “mystery team” in the running for him, making life harder for the Mets.  At the risk of falling into conspiracy theory land, I’m going to…

Yesterday I noted that Roy Halladay’s 9 year-old son is the one who allegedly pulled the trigger on the deal sending him to Philly and agreeing to the contract extension.  According to Baseball Prospectus’ Joe Sheehan, little Braden Halladay really made a bad deal: The story here is that one of the best players in…

According to Newsday’s Ken Davidoff, free agent Nick Johnson will return to where he began his career and sign a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Yankees. It seems like quite a bargain, though Johnson isn’t necessarily any better of a bet for the Yankees than Hideki Matsui would have been. Johnson can still play…

We’ve been playing this game for nearly six months now: some team is talking to the Padres about Adrian Gonzalez — usually the Red Sox — and then the report goes on to state, in some similar but perhaps not identical fashion, “yet the Padres have no reason to trade their first baseman.” But they…

If you happen to be in the greater Champaign, Illinois metroplex, I will be on WDWS 1400 with host Brian Moline talking about the St. Louis Cardinals and all things baseball in, oh, about ten minutes.  If you’re otherwise indisposed but just can’t get bear to miss me, they’ll have a link up to a…

While the Dodgers have yet to confirm the Jamey Carroll signing (his agent has, however), they did add several veterans on minor league deals announced Thursday, including first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, infielder Angel Berroa, RHP Josh Towers and RHP Luis Ayala. It’s necessary depth for a team that’s bled prospects recently and can’t afford a…

Remember Gookie Dawkins?  Formerly his claim to fame was taking over for Pokey Reese as the most ridiculously-named infielder on the Cincinnati Reds. In a serious lowering of standards, the title was assumed by Ray Olmedo upon Dawkins’ departure prior to the 2003 season.* But Dawkins now has a new claim to fame: he’s been…