HOT STOVE LEAGUE 2K4/2K5

i wouldn't get too excited about shea.
I am also aware of this - but it would be nice to have someone on the team that's played SOME 1st base!
Plus, I only became aware of his "colourful personality" ("Trade me faggot") after my last post.

$500,000

http://rotoworld.com/content/playernews.asp?sport=MLB

Koch as a hard-thrower to burn through some righties in the 7th or 8th, preferably w/ bases empty = not too shabby. Koch as your save guy, or your guy in a bases-filled situation = you get what you deserve. This pickup is in the same realm as the BoSox's transaction involving Matt "Mickey" Mantei - if he pans out, super duper; if not, whatever. Though I would think the Jays would do s'more scouring & scavenging before dropping nearly a million on a "proven veteran".

Tony Batista getting $7.5M overseas = HOLY CRAP!

Fuck a bunch of Tom Hicks. He got roasted on drivetime radio today because he said that shipping off A-Rod gave them room to acquire veteran talent - only now he's tying major free agent acquisitions (ie Delgado) to shipping off Soriano to keep the payroll close to even. I hope they go 60-102 this year and he loses the Stars forever.

Also, they can hit a lick, too, & probably have the best infield in the AL, & still will even when / if they trade Soriano. Delgado is not needed @ all - he'll only be taking ABs away from either Texeira (right!) or DH-to-be Adrian Gonzalez (or maybe Texeira's the DH - I have no idea re: their defensive reputations), and unless either of those kids can fetch some upper-tier pitching, I'd rather have the kids.

Also also, the outfield - the weak spot in their lineup - gets a kick in the pants via their signing of Richard Hildago; full seasons of Delucci / Mench in LF, Nix / Delucci in CF, & Hildalgo in RF could be quite sexxxy. To be honest, I have no idea how they got 89 wins last year, given the shatty quality of their pitching, and I hesitate to give Buck any credit (because I'm like that). Orel's work, especially w/ the relievers, is probably a year or two away from being touted as Mazzone-esque.

However, unless they can flip Soriano for a solid pitcher - which is really all they need to succeed, at least in the regular season - I can picture them coming down to the Mariners' level. It seems like, this year, w/ the way the batting orders (hott!) & the pitching rotations (not so hott...) are shaping up, the AL West is REALLY going to beat the crap out of itself.

oh, wait...what was that? oh, yeah. it's dc's fault.

man, i really have a serious dislike for petey pete.

xpost

Geez.

Kinda discouraging: Delgado will "stand for" whatever nationalist hooey his new team wants him to...

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-spmets154116223jan15,0,7166561.story

(I might lose some respect if he accepts 3y/37M without a fight, FFS, JD Drew got 4y/40M!)

Neither have I, I guess.. I'm just a little sad that he'd feel like he couldn't continue to stand behind those positions playing for a US team. Which is really our culture's problem more than it is his.

MIR, if it wasn't for the fact that:

- Delgado's a first baseman
- Delgado's 3 years older than Drew (but only 3! that's surprised me!)

I'd agree w/ you.

Would someone PLEASE slap the Rangers upside the head and make the GM eat Mark Texeira's stat sheet from last year? If they're bitching about $$$$ issues, then they should not even think of signing Delgado when they have TWO (yes, TWO) 1B that can play full-time! Like, duh! And I'm going to keep on saying it because this just makes me so OFIOAU!

Brad Fullmer (65)
Eric Young (23)
Herbert Perry (21)
Brian Jordan (17)
Kevin Mench (14)
David Dellucci (9)
Chad Allen (5)
Alfonso Soriano (3)
Michael Young (2)
Mark Teixeira (2)
Andy Fox (1)
Adrian Gonzalez (1)

(See what I did there?)

- Delgado's a first baseman
- Delgado's 3 years older than Drew (but only 3! that's surprised me!)

Drew has had one good season (if you call 31 HR, 93 RBI good for a guy making 10M/yr). Delgado has had seven straight 900+ OPS seasons, including at least two MVP-quality years. Drew is injury-prone. Delgado is not -- last year was the only one in which he missed significant time due to injury, and he put up monster numbers once he came back healthy (so he's not showing any signs of slowing down at 32).

AFAIC, Drew is a monsterously larger risk at that salary, with a four year contract, compared to Delgado.

I guess for progressive athletes, I'll have to settle for my NBA boyfriend, Steve Nash, sweetly profiled in yesterday's NYT (he's reading Che's book and the Communist Manifesto)... who's Canadian, natch.

the orioles have now added blockbuster signing bionic tony saunders. way to go. actually, i think osuna is a solid signing for the nats pen, though...kind of cancelled out by the signing of esteban loaiza. ack.

Seattle addresses their pitching holes with ... Aaron Sele.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1970632