Major League Baseball: 2013-2014 Offseason and Spring Training

  • Thread starter JohnBM01
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Sad news for baseball fans, especially if you're a Mets fan... slugger and announcer Ralph Kiner died at the age of 91. How will you remember Ralph Kiner?
 
JohnBM01
Sad news for baseball fans, especially if you're a Mets fan... slugger and announcer Ralph Kiner died at the age of 91. How will you remember Ralph Kiner?
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Kiner's Korner. Although he never played for the Mets (Pirates), he was one heck of a human being, not just a baseball player and analyst.
 
According to ESPN's Bottom Line, Alex Rodriguez dropped the whole lawsuit he filed against Major League Baseball, the Players' Union, and Bud Selig. He wanted to overturn the 2014 suspension. Seems like he'll just be a good little boy and take the punishment.

Thoughts?
 
JohnBM01
According to ESPN's Bottom Line, Alex Rodriguez dropped the whole lawsuit he filed against Major League Baseball, the Players' Union, and Bud Selig. He wanted to overturn the 2014 suspension. Seems like he'll just be a good little boy and take the punishment.

Thoughts?
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Lawsuit had no chance. More harm would come from the almost impossible chance of he winning the lawsuit than the inevitability of losing the lawsuit.
 
Dodgers signed Paul Maholm today. Cheap, super low-risk deal for back of the rotation depth.

That puts 6 "healthy" starters with guaranteed contracts in Spring Training. Kershaw, Greinke, Ryu, Haren, Beckett and now Maholm. Billingsley also has a guaranteed MLB contract but he is expected to be on the DL until June or so.

I wonder what this means for Beckett. Maholm's deal has a base of 1-point-something million but incentives that (I'm going off of memory here - read about the contract hours ago) can take it up to something like 6 million. Beckett, on the other hand, is guaranteed something between double or triple that maximum amount.

I like having the depth and Maholm as an insurance policy, but one way or another, something will have to give before Opening Day. It's possible that Beckett could be simply DFA'd, or perhaps placed on the DL if he has a convenient physical setback during camp.

The urgency that this creates does annoy me a bit, I'll admit. Especially considering that between the two-game series to open the season in Australia, Sunday Night Baseball Opening Day in LA on ESPN, and other off days, the Dodgers won't even need to use a 5th starter until mid-April. Even then, it can shake out that the 5th spot only needs to be used like twice in the month of April. Those two spots precede off days and could just as easily been a bullpen start featuring guys like Jamey Wright going 3 innings or a guy with options like Magill and Fife coming up to make big league cameos.

Anyways, I guess none of that really matters now. Maholm is here and everything points to him being the 5th starter. Honesty, it's a fine deal and all, but I would've been more than happy to have Chris Capuano instead.
 
The Houston Astros have a new executive advisor. His name? Nolan Ryan. That's right- Alvin boy Nolan Ryan goes from... That other Texas team to the Astros. Maybe this will help the Astros rebuild quicker and maybe draw more talent.

[UPDATE] Former Astros' pitcher Roy Oswalt announced retirement after 13 seasons. I will certainly remember him for his awesome pitching for my Astros even including for the 2005 Astros. Best wishes to Roy O. in his retirement. And most of all, thanks for your service with my Astros, Roy Oswalt.
 
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Who knew the Astros would dominate this page?
Astros will be honoring Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt on April 5th, against the Angels. As far as I know, this is only to see them sign a 1-day contract and retire, not anything like retiring their number (which I would expect to be in August-ish). Would buy tickets right now, but they haven't started selling individual game tickets yet.
@JohnBM01 do you plan on going to this?
 
I've never been to a baseball game (never been to Minute Maid Park), and I'm not really into baseball. So I probably won't show up at MMP to see those ceremonies.
 
Apparently I wasn't paying attention for the past, like, week. The D-backs signed Arroyo to a 2 year, $23.5 million deal. He's a solid starter and very durable (never been on the DL, and also pitched with mono a couple years back and still put up somewhat decent numbers despite that). He was great for the clubhouse and fan friendly. Haven't seen R1600 Turbo around in a while here, but I'd say you got a good deal there. They may have overpaid a little bit for him, but he'll turn in a couple good seasons.
 
Speaking of overpaying, Philadelphia signed SP AJ Burnett for a 1 year deal for $16 million.

Mets signed RP Jose Valverde to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.
 
José Valverde is a good pitcher. I just hate how some of his closing pitching cost teams games, especially when he was with the Astros. At times with HOU, I kind of missed the closing pitching of Brad "Lights Out" Lidge when he was the Astros' closer. Valverde is still a solid pitcher regardless.
 
Blitz24
Speaking of overpaying, Philadelphia signed SP AJ Burnett for a 1 year deal for $16 million.

Mets signed RP Jose Valverde to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.
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16 for 1 year isn't too bad for AJ.
 
What, if anything, concerns you the most about your favorite team(s), your favorite player(s), or whatever with this upcoming season?
 
JohnBM01
What, if anything, concerns you the most about your favorite team(s), your favorite player(s), or whatever with this upcoming season?
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1. The infield, 2nd base in particular. No clear starter at the moment and the organizational depth is pretty scary.
2. The bench. There aren't clear choices to come off the bench for 3B, 2B, or SS at the moment. Again, the choices are not fun.
3. The health of Matt Kemp. He's doing better with his shoulder, but he still hasn't been cleared to run on his ankle. Fortunately, there three other outfielders to hold things down until he's 100%, but I would really prefer to not have an outfield featuring both Ethier and Crawford on a daily basis. Those guys should be sitting against lefties and if Kemp is hurt, only one of those guys can be platooned for Scott Van Slyke. Also, if Van Slyke is starting in the OF that game, that leaves 1B without a backup. Life is better when Kemp is healthy.
 
JohnBM01
What, if anything, concerns you the most about your favorite team(s), your favorite player(s), or whatever with this upcoming season?
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One issue, oddly enough, is pitching. Even with the departure of Arroyo, the rotation is still strong. However, #1 starter Cueto seems to be injury prone. And the day catchers and pitchers reported on Friday, #2 starter Latos ended up having knee surgery, though it's not expected to be serious (around 10 days, but who knows what kind of damage he has).

And I'm still concerned about the hitting. Jocketty didn't do anything to go out and get a bat. With Choo gone, we have a void once again at leadoff. They're taking a pretty big risk rolling with Billy Hamilton in center. Though he's a base stealing machine, he had trouble getting on while in the minors. Like they say, you can't steal first base. The other concern is Ludwick. If he's healthy and hits well like he did two years ago, that'll be a huge help. Otherwise, pitchers will do their usual job of pitching around Votto without a worry.
 
You're not worried about the OF or Phillips? Those seem like the biggest problems for Cincy right now.
 
Villain
You're not worried about the OF or Phillips? Those seem like the biggest problems for Cincy right now.
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I did mention the outfield. Both Ludwick and Hamilton are out there for now. Bruce is streaky, but he can produce. I will admit Phillips has been a distraction for the team, or at least was partially last season. He put up some decent numbers last year, but again, he was hitting behind Votto for part of the year and Choo for part of the year. Since they were #1 and #2 in OBP, I would imagine he should put up numbers like that. I really don't know what this year holds.
 
I think the Reds rotation is pretty solid. How has Chapman been looking this winter?
 
I guess what concerns me about my Astros is their ability to improve and learn. They actually did better in 2013 than I would have predicted. So maybe for me, improvement, consistency, and patience (with fans) are what concern me about the Houston Astros. An issue away from baseball is all the media and money trouble with Comcast SportsNet Houston and the Astros.


Elsewhere... no Ryan Dempster pitching this season. Sad, since I respect Dempster, especially when he played for the Chicago Cubs.
 
Villain
I think the Reds rotation is pretty solid. How has Chapman been looking this winter?
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Honestly, I haven't paid a whole lot of attention over the winter. :boggled:

Another worry I forgot to mention was the loss of Hanigan. Though he struggled a little bit more at the plate this season than recent years (he was battling injuries however, so I'll give him a pass), he would make contact with the ball and rarely struck out. And he was tops in the league (okay, so pretty damn close in comparison to Molina) in throwing out base runners. I see the opposite in Mesoraco and have a hard time seeing him as the future at catcher. He swings at too many bad pitches and has trouble throwing guys out. And he may be the worst base runner out there. Maybe he will develop into a good player over time. We will see.
 
Well we don't have to worry about Homer going anywhere else next year (or traded at some point this season). He re-signed with the Reds for six years, $105 million. Hoping some more no-hitters come his way. :sly:
 
Dolph Drago
Well we don't have to worry about Homer going anywhere else next year (or traded at some point this season). He re-signed with the Reds for six years, $105 million. Hoping some more no-hitters come his way. :sly:
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Bailey is good, but that's a terrible overpay by Cincinnati. Sadly now Latos is most likely gone.
 
Blitz24
Bailey is good, but that's a terrible overpay by Cincinnati. Sadly now Latos is most likely gone.
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Unfortunately you're probably right. There's no way they can keep Bailey, Latos, and Cueto being a small market team. They've got some good young arms though, so I'm hopeful we will still have a good staff, even if Latos does leave. When Leake's on, he's great. And being pretty young, I don't see a huge contract coming his way anytime soon. I'm not sure how well Cingrani will fair in his second season. Does he have the stuff? Or will the batters figure him out?
 
Rumors are circulating that Nelson Cruz and the Baltimore Orioles have reached a deal; 1 year $8 million with $750k in incentives.
 

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