Color Me Shocked

by dtoddwin on Oct 31, 2009 11:07 AM EDT Comment 16 comments

Two interesting pieces in an article by Buster Olney today. Here is the link to the article:

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4610865&name=olney_buster

1.) I think the first paragraph sums it up:

The conversations between general managers began accelerating this week, and some have noticed a distinct trend that does not bode well for this winter's crop of free agents: The financial restructuring that has been occurring across the landscape is about to hit the arbitration-level players like a tidal wave.

This is exactly what I expect(ed) and I think it will continue to color the landscape going forward in baseball as well as the NBA and NHL. (The NFL has its own separate issues, in my opinion.) Salaries are going to come down.

2.) Freddy gets a new two year deal.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/31/SPCE1AD7NT.DTL

Needless to say I was completely wrong and Vlad was right about this part of the Jack-Freddy duo (although I think with Freddy's injury, this might even surprise him.) I don't know who the Giants thought they'd be bidding against. Maybe they wanted to justify giving up Alderson. I am very surprised. One year, six million--maybe. Two years, eight million--maybe. Two years, twelve million--while it isn't by any means outrageous, I think it is pretty surprising, particularly in the context of what Olney writes above. I bet Freddy is breathing a sigh of relief today. Good for him.

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Something I noticed in the second article...

Noah Lowry has been placed on outright waivers. Is he worth a flyer, or would this just be a pointless risk?

Hey, an out is an out - unless you're Mario, in which case it's probably two outs. -UtesFan89

by wg1of5 on Nov 1, 2009 12:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Hard to say.

His last two years have been wrecked by arm problems. If they’ve been adequately addressed, he could be a solid addition. If they haven’t, then he wouldn’t.

No way to really know without seeing the medical records.

by Vlad on Nov 1, 2009 1:12 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

All right.

Seems like if we were to shop Maholm/Duke/both, though, it might be nice to have a starter like Lowry to plug in for the interim (assuming his health is what his agent says it is, which it probably isn’t).

Hey, an out is an out - unless you're Mario, in which case it's probably two outs. -UtesFan89

by wg1of5 on Nov 1, 2009 5:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

To me, he seemed like Zach Duke-light…mostly a junk-throwing lefty. If his arm is ok, why not?

by NastyNate82 on Nov 2, 2009 10:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Lowry hasn’t pitched anywhere, not even in the minors, since 2007. I wouldn’t sign him to anything more than a minor league deal and wouldn’t be prepared to use him in the majors until he’d spent a couple months in the minors showing he can still pitch.

by WTM on Nov 2, 2009 1:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Don't feel bad.

Nobody gets ’em all right.

The new Freddy deal is a bit higher than I’d expected, under the circumstances, and I suspect that the numbers involved mean that his knee problem isn’t as serious as we may have been led to believe by the media reports. Though you can never underestimate the importance of Sabean’s veteran fetish…

If teams are going to be aggressive about non-tendering players, as Olney suggests, that could present some opportunities for us to pick off solid talent at solid prices.

by Vlad on Nov 1, 2009 1:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Agreed....

Starting with Atkins on a one-year deal if they are serious about moving Andy to second. Let him play third until Pedro is ready.

by dtoddwin on Nov 1, 2009 1:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not in love with Atkins.

His glove at 3B is pretty brutal. If I were going after a non-tender 3B, it’d probably be Iwamura or Kelly Johnson.

That’s just my preference, though.

by Vlad on Nov 1, 2009 2:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

+1

I don’t want to go anywhere near Atkins. Iwamura would be a much better option. I also wouldn’t mind getting another arm. Justin Duchscherer and brett Myers would both be interesting high upside pitchers. If we can get one of them for a solid 1 year deal for around 3-5 million then I would say do it.

by joegonzo on Nov 2, 2009 6:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If we go with Iwamura or Johnson...

there’d probably be no reason for LaRoche to move to 2B…since both have played quite a bit of 2B.

by Thunder on Nov 2, 2009 8:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well, in the longer term, he'd still need to move...

…if Alvarez is the future at 3B. LaRoche is likely to be around longer than any FA we sign this offseason, and we’ll need somewhere to put him.

by Vlad on Nov 2, 2009 8:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

iwamura seems about to be traded

MLBTR says so…

i doubt we have any shot at Duscherer or Myers.. there likely are enough people willing to take them!

by BurgherKing on Nov 3, 2009 3:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Obligatory quibble:

MLBTR is an aggregator. They mostly just republish things that other people are saying, rather than actually drawing on sources and saying things themselves.

Dejan is tweeting that we’re the NL team being mentioned in those reports from the Florida papers: Link. Depending on what we’d give up, that could be interesting.

by Vlad on Nov 3, 2009 4:12 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The contract seems a mite high, and may prove to be quite high by spring, but I don’t think it’s crazy. I don’t know what’s in SF’s system wrt 2Bs, but stability (in the sense that you know what you’re getting when he’s healthy) from a solid 2B is nothing to sneeze at, even if you figure he’s a 120-game player at this point.

by JRoth95 on Nov 1, 2009 4:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs