Vernon Wells gives a thumbs-up before spinning his wheels again.
Pujols power Halolinks:
As Rev noted in this FanShot, there's a new Angels blog out there providing some good content. In their latest posting, Halos Daily looks at Vernon Wells; What If Vernon Wells Were A Free Agent? - Halos Daily. Although I somewhat disagree with the conclusion (I think Wells would get more in free agency...a little less than Carlos Beltran's 2yr/$26M deal with St. Louis), the post does give us some hope for a Wells bounce-back, "Players typically stay close to their career averages in BABIP. Wells, for example, has a .282 BABIP over the course of his career. He’s finished eight of his ten seasons with a BABIP within 20 points of that career average. In 2011, Wells had a gruesome .218 BABIP, which clearly contributed to his terrible .218/.248/.412 slash line. This is a sign that we should expect Wells to bounce back significantly in 2012."
One good sign that your post is good is when it gets picked up by another site. Halos Daily's Pujols piece was the basis for Sam Miller's recent posting: Albert Pujols and Angel Stadium and home runs - The Orange County Register. As noted in both articles, we might see more Pujols pokes leaving the field, "Albert Pujols in 2011 hit "a remarkable 16 balls that were either doubles or flyouts that would have been home runs if they were hit at Angel Stadium." Pujols had 37 HR last season, and if my 3rd grade math is correct,we may be watching the first Angels' hitter to blast more than 50 home runs in a season in 2012.
Oh, and then there's the four-letter network guy who pilfers your post without giving you the proper credit: Will Angel Stadium boost Albert Pujols' power? - ESPN Los Angeles. Mark Saxon mentions Sam's article, but fails to recognize the genesis of the conversation at Halos Daily. Anyway, there is this, "According to ESPN's Park Factors under the "Resources" tab, Busch Stadium was one of only five major-league stadiums where it was harder to hit a home run than Angel Stadium."
Trumbo, Conger to be present in HR Challenge - Gonzo and 'The Show'. "Proceeds from the event will go towards the Cory Hahn Fund, which benefits the SoCal product who was paralyzed from the chest down after an on-field injury while playing for Arizona State University last February." This event will be held Saturday at El Dorado High School in Placentia.
This is the arbitration time of year in baseball and Baseball Prospectus fills you in on how the process works: The BP Wayback Machine: The Arbitration Process - Baseball Prospectus. "Thirty years on, the process endures. The onset of full free agency, in 1976, for veteran players would create three classes: those with no leverage, those with some leverage, and those with full leverage. Arbitration exists today largely to handle the second class." MLBTradeRumors.com has pretty cool arbitration tracker: Arbitration Tracker — 2012, but here is some additional news:
K-Rod signs for $8 million - JSOnline. "It didn't hurt the Brewers cause when another Boras client, Ryan Madson, signed a one-year deal recently for $8.5 million to be Cincinnati's closer. Axford isn't eligible for arbitration yet and will make well under $1 million. So, combined, the two contracts aren't too bad to be able to lock down the eighth and ninth innings, if the Brewers do decide to keep K-Rod rather than trade him."
Chili Davis was one of my family's favorite players during his years with the Halos: Happy Birthday Boy! Chili Davis turns 52 - Yahoo! Sports, and this post highlights some of his playing and post-playing career, "Earlier this offseason, the Oakland Athletics named Chili Davis their hitting coach. Last year he played the same role for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox."
Tigers' Victor Martinez likely out for season with torn ACL - Detroit Free Press. "The Detroit Tigers today announced that designated hitter Victor Martinez tore the ACL in his left knee during off-season conditioning last week and likely will miss the 2012 season. Asked today whether he will be looking to add a bat via free agency or trade, Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said: "We’re open to it, by all means." There's a FanPost talking about how Bobby Abreu would be a good fit for the Tiger as a replacement for Martinez. I gotta say...I agree.
Pujols would bring so much more interest, hype, and coverage to our team if he were to hit 50+hrs as a first year angel. I think marketing would have a ball with this and there would be so many more people jumping on our bandwagon lol..
ESPN.cocksucker policy of not attributing bloggers is a bitch move. Mark Chumpson is symptomatic of a mainstream emdia that parasites off of the bloggers.as a matter of doing business. Christ was a blogger, so enjoy rotting in hell, Saxon.
I would bet $5,000 that Pujols won't hit 50 home runs
A career high, at age 32, switching to the marine layer & road games in Safeco/Mausoleum during an era of offensive decline? Not happening. Though I will be dropping a major Pujols-projection bomb here one of these weeks….
The V-Mart and Crawford injuries give me renewed hope that JeDi will be able to trade Wells after all! I would submit that his bad BABIP was due to hitting 500 pop-ups….
Trout DID hit two bombs in a single night game at Safeco last year. If our beloved Trout can muscle a few out, I imagine Pujols won’t have much trouble.
You must remember from rocket school that moisture makes the air less dense. The marine layer kills baseballs mainly because it’s colder than surface air.
‘Zactly! Vernon’s extremely low 2011 BABIP isn’t about him being unlucky at “hitting them where they ain’t.” It’s about really shitty contact – more likely related to an inability to read and handle the pitches he was seeing.
Brandon Wood’s 2010 BABIP of .191 wasn’t an indication that he was “unlucky” with where the ball went off the bat. Neither was Wells’ .218 last year.
Is a pretty big park but would those dimensions be that much different then that of lets say Milwaukee? If he can put them out there consistently then he can put them out anywhere consistently
With this roster and Hunter's penchant of getting two outs with one swing
I can see Pujols leading the AL in intentional walks by a large, large margin this year. Morales would be the only reasonable protection for him if he was healthy and at 09 production levels but that is a pipe dream at this point.
for all the terrorism in the world, the colorization of old movies, tax hikes, Justin beibers music, all of Katherine Heigls movies, He helps Liz Hickok make dumb art out of Jello, He is responsible for giving your kids nightmares, and their cavities.
This is the program from the first Angels game I attended
I met Chili last summer and he laughed when I told him I still have this. He was a really cool guy and told me he did not have one until the Angels found a few that summer and sent him a couple.
I love looking through old Halo Magazine covers online...some are awesome, some are hilarious and some are unintentionally hilarious. Like Dante Bichette in a tank top, lifting weights.
It’s funny how there’s now way in this day and age that the Chili Davis one would ever get printed. It’d probably look something like this, instead:
Agreed, there's no way a player holds dynamite on a cover today
It’s funny getting older. I never noticed all the Marlboro ads in stadiums when I was a kid, but now they are the first thing I see when watching old games or highlights.
1993 was in some ways the rebuilding year that opened this era of Halos baseball. With a lot of young players on that roster, blow outs like this were bound to happen. Chili Dawg actually had a pretty decent line in that game!
Probably even more so before the DH was around. Canseco famously blew out his arm pitching in relief. I remember Wade Boggs during his twilight years threw a scoreless inning against the Halos using only a knuckler (striking out Todd Greene swinging!).
Managers are waaay too conservative now to do that sort of thing. It still happens from time to time in blow outs, but you won’t ever see a core regular stepping on the mound. We’d see maybe Abreu, for example. Or Bobby Wilson, who probably at least has a decent arm.
Her boobs distract me from the fact that Sarah Jessica Parker and Julia Roberts are still limping than sad old faces onto a movie set as we speak. I still use Erin Brokovich (and the fact that it won an Oscar) as a test of my Buddha like calm. I can get through about 32 minutes now before I violently shut it off.
Heigl’s pretty much the mark of a crap film though.
I would kill to see Albert hit 50! I haven’t been a fan of baseball for many years, only since 2006, so it’d be the 3rd time I seen 30+ homers hit by an Angels player. Vlad 2006 Kendrys 2009?
The two obviously go hand in hand and correlate with his crazy bad season. But both, in a sense were outliers and off his career marks. Which were 18% LD rate (somewhat skewed by two strong rookie and sophmore seasons), and is probably more in the 16-18% LD rate in the and .282 BABIP.
He has precedent for putting up a very low LD rate, in 2009 Wells posted a 14.6% LD rate which qualified as one of the worst 20 or so of the last 10 years. So he has been putting up weaker contact recently than ever before.
Will he rebound from it? BABIP, historically does tend to normalize to some degree. As long as he isn’t in terminal skill decline. In projecting Wells going forward its best to probably
aknowledge the weak LD%, declining BB% et al and notice it contributed to his terrible 2011. How useful it will be for 2012? Quite useful, but I personally would expect a rebound. He’s had a long career and career rates do matter somewhat. He’s 33, so I wouldn’t expect a ‘career year’ but I think he could stabalize.
In short, I wouldn’t say it totally blows a hole in the bounceback theory, but rather adds to the overall picture. We should be wary and thankful we have Trout if Vernon Wells decides to tank and stay crappy.
The Angels should definitely hedge their bets as there is no certainty in a bounceback. Terminal skill decline could be on the cards for Wells, we will get a clearer picture early next season. AS I mentioned, we are damn lucky to have Trout waiting to get the call! Makes me less nervous/worried about requiring a Wells bounceback.
Wells does not have chronic knee issues and still has a reputation as a good defender. I am 100% confident he would receive a 2/16 to 2/20 offer on the open market. Look at all the teams jumping for Cuddyer and Kubel.
He would have to settle for a one year deal and it would be a miracle if he got more than $5 million. He flat out stopped hitting last year and that’s scary.
There are plenty of guys who can catch fly balls and manage to not make outs at the plate 75% of the time. Vernon would really have to prove last year was a fluke before anyone ever thinks about offering him anything significant ever again.
But somebody in baseball would. The Indians just missed out on Beltran, the White Sox need another bat, and St. Louis signed an injury risk for more. Even the Padres are paying $8mill or Quentin. Baltimore or a return to Toronto could still be options.
I’m not saying it’s right, but it would probably happen.
Consider that the dodgers just re-signed Juan Rivera, who out-performed Vernon Wells last year, for $4.5m. Also, consider that VW’s numbers last year are consistent with his road numbers from his last year in Toronto. What we’ve seen from VW is what we should roughly expect going forward.
I’m with you, 72% of this vote is sheer lunacy. A team would be better off buying $5m worth of lottery tickets over giving $5m to VW for the privilege of him creating outs for them night after night.
It would take a dumb team to offer even $5 million. Who the hell would outbid them? Far too many no-name players with the same skill set who can be had for nothing.
I don’t care if he has “comparatively little mileage on his arm”. That’s right up there with getting into a land war in Asia and betting a Sicilian when death is on the line.
Vernon Wells is like an outfield version of Pena, more or less. Teams would “value” his defense and he would probably get 2/23ish on the open market with ease.
Also does anyone else have this ominous feeling that Yu Darvish and Prince Fielder will sign with the Rangers within the next five days and the shit talking from LSB will commence. I can see the “Rangers counter the Pujols/Wilson signings with a deadly combo of their own” type bullshittery.
Not because the Rangers have any incentive to sign him based on the fee, but the Japan club who receives the money pressures the players to sign. Darvish is young and could easily dominate the JPL another year and get just as large of a posting fee and a six year contract from the Yankees or whoever else frees up money this year, but it wont happen.
Whatever sense of honor and loyalty that lingers in the sport for our Asian compadres will make this get done pretty much no matter what.
I wonder what the Nippan response would be if Darvish didn’t sign. Apparently the posting fee alone is enough to pay their entire payroll. So in effect they could double their payroll if he leaves.
its honestly a crap shoot with so many variables that its way way too hard to make a clear cut decision on who “wins” this offseason based on these four moves.
However in the short term I do think Pujols is the biggest domestic marketing piece while Darvish does land Arlington some sweet signs that Ranger’s fans will undoubtedly never be able to read.
Fielder would be pretty huge too. Darvish would be similar to Wilson in that baseball dorks would know him, the average person probably not.
I had many people ask me if I was excited about Pujols, and when I said “Yeah, and CJ Wilson, too” they’d say stuff like “Oh yeah, heard about him too. Is he any good?” Darvish will just be That Guy That Looks Like A Lesbian Olympic Skier until he proves himself on the mound.
how that all goes over in Texas. Sterotypes aside, Texans do not really embrace feminine asian dudes with lots of love and care. It might make literally no difference, but whatever, I still think there will be a shorter leash if he does poorly due to the cultural differences. And by cultural differences I mean Ranger fans are rednecks.
When Carlos Pena hits .220, he does it with an OPS over .800. Wells can’t even dream of being that useful with his terrible plate discipline. If anyone offered him more than Juan Rivera’s $4 million salary, after the season he just had, I’d say they were crazy.
My point was (poorly executed as it may be) was that front offices look at things like home run numbers and poorly conceived defensive value when signing players.
That with the Boras aspect I see Pena getting easily 8million. If Wells had Boras I could see him getting at least the same, if not more based on whatever 112 page binder Boras releases on him.
There are a few signs that front offices are coming around
Big doofs who hit home runs and do nothing else aren’t nearly as sexy as they were 10-15 years ago. At least Pena is recognized for getting on base and playing his position competently. Vernon has already aged out of his natural position and has no other skill besides Trying The Hardest Of Anyone To Yank The Ball Right Down The Left-Field Line. I think his sucktitude is pretty obvious to just about everyone, except maybe him.
i would love this
Pujols would bring so much more interest, hype, and coverage to our team if he were to hit 50+hrs as a first year angel. I think marketing would have a ball with this and there would be so many more people jumping on our bandwagon lol..
C.A._Rep_Los_ANGELS - January 18, 2012 via mobile
maybe he will hit 62 and then everyone can try and figure out how to handle the guy to break maris' record without "help"
Balls and Strikes - January 18, 2012
i remember when i jumped on the bandwagon
In 1998 when I went to my first game!
Hell I invite all the people to join our crazy little bandwagon! I have room!
Alavel - January 18, 2012 via mobile
Mark Saxon is a pig
ESPN.cocksucker policy of not attributing bloggers is a bitch move. Mark Chumpson is symptomatic of a mainstream emdia that parasites off of the bloggers.as a matter of doing business. Christ was a blogger, so enjoy rotting in hell, Saxon.
Rev Halofan - January 18, 2012
I would bet $5,000 that Pujols won't hit 50 home runs
A career high, at age 32, switching to the marine layer & road games in Safeco/Mausoleum during an era of offensive decline? Not happening. Though I will be dropping a major Pujols-projection bomb here one of these weeks….
The V-Mart and Crawford injuries give me renewed hope that JeDi will be able to trade Wells after all! I would submit that his bad BABIP was due to hitting 500 pop-ups….
mattwelch - January 18, 2012
FWIW....
Trout DID hit two bombs in a single night game at Safeco last year. If our beloved Trout can muscle a few out, I imagine Pujols won’t have much trouble.
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - January 18, 2012
Forget the marine layer. Have you ever spent a summer in STL?
It’s usually 90/90 (temp/humidity). Even with the marine layer, it never gets that humid here.
red floyd - January 18, 2012
I'm surprised, Red
You must remember from rocket school that moisture makes the air less dense. The marine layer kills baseballs mainly because it’s colder than surface air.
Suboptimal - January 18, 2012
All I know is that STL was unlivable in the summers.
red floyd - January 18, 2012
No argument there
I was in Montgomery for a week last summer, and I thought my skin would boil.
Suboptimal - January 19, 2012
And there is no point in putting on make-up,
because it just slides off your face.
LanaBanana - January 19, 2012
Wells' BABIP
‘Zactly! Vernon’s extremely low 2011 BABIP isn’t about him being unlucky at “hitting them where they ain’t.” It’s about really shitty contact – more likely related to an inability to read and handle the pitches he was seeing.
Brandon Wood’s 2010 BABIP of .191 wasn’t an indication that he was “unlucky” with where the ball went off the bat. Neither was Wells’ .218 last year.
LAASurfin - January 18, 2012
Shhhhhhhhhh!
Dombrowski may be reading.
gitchogritchoffmypetis - January 18, 2012
Safeco
Is a pretty big park but would those dimensions be that much different then that of lets say Milwaukee? If he can put them out there consistently then he can put them out anywhere consistently
C.A._Rep_Los_ANGELS - January 18, 2012 via mobile
Dude
Brewer’s have a notorious pitchers park.
migfig - January 18, 2012 via Android app
With this roster and Hunter's penchant of getting two outs with one swing
I can see Pujols leading the AL in intentional walks by a large, large margin this year. Morales would be the only reasonable protection for him if he was healthy and at 09 production levels but that is a pipe dream at this point.
PhiSlamma - January 18, 2012
Chili Davis is responsible
for all the terrorism in the world, the colorization of old movies, tax hikes, Justin beibers music, all of Katherine Heigls movies, He helps Liz Hickok make dumb art out of Jello, He is responsible for giving your kids nightmares, and their cavities.
He is the killer of children’s dreams.
Sinatrasratpack - January 18, 2012
OK, that came out of left field
Moondoggy - January 18, 2012
I have posted here a few times about how he was with kids asking for autographs while he was a player
lets just say I hold a grudge
Sinatrasratpack - January 18, 2012
But yes it was out of left field
Sinatrasratpack - January 18, 2012
Terrorism? I think you may be right...
Mayheminthehood - January 18, 2012
This is the program from the first Angels game I attended
I met Chili last summer and he laughed when I told him I still have this. He was a really cool guy and told me he did not have one until the Angels found a few that summer and sent him a couple.
JeffJoiner - January 18, 2012
I love looking through old Halo Magazine covers online...some are awesome, some are hilarious and some are unintentionally hilarious. Like Dante Bichette in a tank top, lifting weights.
It’s funny how there’s now way in this day and age that the Chili Davis one would ever get printed. It’d probably look something like this, instead:
Mayheminthehood - January 18, 2012
Agreed, there's no way a player holds dynamite on a cover today
It’s funny getting older. I never noticed all the Marlboro ads in stadiums when I was a kid, but now they are the first thing I see when watching old games or highlights.
JeffJoiner - January 18, 2012
that dawg
has got some girth
Nizock - January 18, 2012
Wait why would he have anything to say about Candlestick?
Did the As play there at the time?
Halowitz - January 18, 2012 via mobile
Uh, his first 7 years with the Giants?
dmhead - January 18, 2012
not a 49ers fan?
Downing Rules - January 18, 2012
More likely
it was his deflated batting lines from playing all those years in a dump by the bay. Though I’d love to get my hands on that mag to read the article.
dmhead - January 19, 2012
Oh those
which led to my birth. Chronoligically. The two are otherwise unrelated.
Halowitz - January 19, 2012
What the hell!!
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=davisch01&t=p&year=1993
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CAL/CAL199306170.shtml
What the hell what the the hell?! What was going on that day?
Halowitz - January 19, 2012
Vaguely remember
1993 was in some ways the rebuilding year that opened this era of Halos baseball. With a lot of young players on that roster, blow outs like this were bound to happen. Chili Dawg actually had a pretty decent line in that game!
dmhead - January 19, 2012
That may be the case
but how did it fall all the way to the DH to finish the game? Were there not as many bullpen arms in those days? Or were they just screwing around?
Halowitz - January 19, 2012
It used to happen more often
Probably even more so before the DH was around. Canseco famously blew out his arm pitching in relief. I remember Wade Boggs during his twilight years threw a scoreless inning against the Halos using only a knuckler (striking out Todd Greene swinging!).
Managers are waaay too conservative now to do that sort of thing. It still happens from time to time in blow outs, but you won’t ever see a core regular stepping on the mound. We’d see maybe Abreu, for example. Or Bobby Wilson, who probably at least has a decent arm.
dmhead - January 19, 2012
I have felt so alone
Thought I was the only one who CAN. NOT. STAND. Katherine Heigl’s movies.
cath619 - January 18, 2012
The movies? Her? Or both?
Moondoggy - January 18, 2012
She'll do.
Her boobs distract me from the fact that Sarah Jessica Parker and Julia Roberts are still limping than sad old faces onto a movie set as we speak. I still use Erin Brokovich (and the fact that it won an Oscar) as a test of my Buddha like calm. I can get through about 32 minutes now before I violently shut it off.
Heigl’s pretty much the mark of a crap film though.
gitchogritchoffmypetis - January 18, 2012
I don't know enough about her to say with any integrity that I dislike her.
But integrity is for suckers. Both.
cath619 - January 19, 2012
I would kill to see Albert hit 50! I haven’t been a fan of baseball for many years, only since 2006, so it’d be the 3rd time I seen 30+ homers hit by an Angels player. Vlad 2006 Kendrys 2009?
migfig - January 18, 2012 via mobile
I just read that article…and I’m suspicious of that tool he used now. It’s off so I’m going back to just hoping for 30 homers.
migfig - January 18, 2012 via mobile
He will get to play at least 3 games each in NYY, BOS, CWS and 9-10 in Texas
We’ve already seen what he thinks of the latter. No reason he can’t have a few mutli-HR games at each stop.
Commander_Nate - January 18, 2012
Getting out of my element here but regarding Wells didn't he have the worst LD rate in baseball?
Doesn’t that poke a hole in the “His BABIP shows he should rebound” theory?
Thanks in advance for answering
hauldog - January 18, 2012
Yes it does
mattwelch - January 18, 2012
Yes he did, the worst LD rate and the worst BABIP
The two obviously go hand in hand and correlate with his crazy bad season. But both, in a sense were outliers and off his career marks. Which were 18% LD rate (somewhat skewed by two strong rookie and sophmore seasons), and is probably more in the 16-18% LD rate in the and .282 BABIP.
He has precedent for putting up a very low LD rate, in 2009 Wells posted a 14.6% LD rate which qualified as one of the worst 20 or so of the last 10 years. So he has been putting up weaker contact recently than ever before.
Will he rebound from it? BABIP, historically does tend to normalize to some degree. As long as he isn’t in terminal skill decline. In projecting Wells going forward its best to probably
aknowledge the weak LD%, declining BB% et al and notice it contributed to his terrible 2011. How useful it will be for 2012? Quite useful, but I personally would expect a rebound. He’s had a long career and career rates do matter somewhat. He’s 33, so I wouldn’t expect a ‘career year’ but I think he could stabalize.
In short, I wouldn’t say it totally blows a hole in the bounceback theory, but rather adds to the overall picture. We should be wary and thankful we have Trout if Vernon Wells decides to tank and stay crappy.
TheQuestforMerlin - January 18, 2012
Thanks
Gut feeling I think Vernon has a decent year.
hauldog - January 18, 2012
I'd guess Dale Murphy, Andruw Jones et al had bad LD%s and BABIPs when they fell off a cliff
Sometimes those numbers probably reflect a sharp and permanent erosion of skills.
mattwelch - January 18, 2012
Yes, certainly
The Angels should definitely hedge their bets as there is no certainty in a bounceback. Terminal skill decline could be on the cards for Wells, we will get a clearer picture early next season. AS I mentioned, we are damn lucky to have Trout waiting to get the call! Makes me less nervous/worried about requiring a Wells bounceback.
TheQuestforMerlin - January 18, 2012
As of 9:05 am, there are 31 votes for "Between $8M and $10M."
Was Tony Reagins allowed to vote 31 times?
angelslogic - January 18, 2012
That's just a bit less than Beltran
Wells does not have chronic knee issues and still has a reputation as a good defender. I am 100% confident he would receive a 2/16 to 2/20 offer on the open market. Look at all the teams jumping for Cuddyer and Kubel.
JeffJoiner - January 18, 2012
Even after last season?
He would have to settle for a one year deal and it would be a miracle if he got more than $5 million. He flat out stopped hitting last year and that’s scary.
There are plenty of guys who can catch fly balls and manage to not make outs at the plate 75% of the time. Vernon would really have to prove last year was a fluke before anyone ever thinks about offering him anything significant ever again.
dmhead - January 18, 2012
I'm not saying I would pay it
But somebody in baseball would. The Indians just missed out on Beltran, the White Sox need another bat, and St. Louis signed an injury risk for more. Even the Padres are paying $8mill or Quentin. Baltimore or a return to Toronto could still be options.
I’m not saying it’s right, but it would probably happen.
JeffJoiner - January 18, 2012
Andruw Jones hit .222/.311/.413 in 07
and the dodgers still gave him like 2/$36
WhatShouldIThrowToday? - January 18, 2012
I'd rather have Cuddyer or Kubel
stuck in Romania - January 18, 2012
Seriously, there are a ton of votes for over $5m.
Why would any team do that?
Consider that the dodgers just re-signed Juan Rivera, who out-performed Vernon Wells last year, for $4.5m. Also, consider that VW’s numbers last year are consistent with his road numbers from his last year in Toronto. What we’ve seen from VW is what we should roughly expect going forward.
I’m with you, 72% of this vote is sheer lunacy. A team would be better off buying $5m worth of lottery tickets over giving $5m to VW for the privilege of him creating outs for them night after night.
snowhor - January 19, 2012
Absolutely
It would take a dumb team to offer even $5 million. Who the hell would outbid them? Far too many no-name players with the same skill set who can be had for nothing.
dmhead - January 19, 2012
Today is the Yu Darvish to the Rangers day of judgement
I hope he signs for a crazy high amount of money… (thus committing over 100 million to a Japanese pitcher and stopping their pursuit of Fielder…)
TheQuestforMerlin - January 18, 2012
100+ mill to a Japanese pitcher.
I don’t care if he has “comparatively little mileage on his arm”. That’s right up there with getting into a land war in Asia and betting a Sicilian when death is on the line.
gitchogritchoffmypetis - January 18, 2012
Thanks for the laugh...
Love that movie and love that line! I laughed out loud!
frmysteryman - January 19, 2012
Carlos Pena
is going to get 8+ Million.
Vernon Wells is like an outfield version of Pena, more or less. Teams would “value” his defense and he would probably get 2/23ish on the open market with ease.
Also does anyone else have this ominous feeling that Yu Darvish and Prince Fielder will sign with the Rangers within the next five days and the shit talking from LSB will commence. I can see the “Rangers counter the Pujols/Wilson signings with a deadly combo of their own” type bullshittery.
PhiSlamma - January 18, 2012
Well Darvish only has about 1 hour.....
However everything I’m reading sounds pretty confident the contract will get done
ItCouldHappen - January 18, 2012
The posting fee really makes this interesting
Not because the Rangers have any incentive to sign him based on the fee, but the Japan club who receives the money pressures the players to sign. Darvish is young and could easily dominate the JPL another year and get just as large of a posting fee and a six year contract from the Yankees or whoever else frees up money this year, but it wont happen.
Whatever sense of honor and loyalty that lingers in the sport for our Asian compadres will make this get done pretty much no matter what.
PhiSlamma - January 18, 2012
yeah.
I wonder what the Nippan response would be if Darvish didn’t sign. Apparently the posting fee alone is enough to pay their entire payroll. So in effect they could double their payroll if he leaves.
ItCouldHappen - January 18, 2012
I think both sides would be trying to fool themselves into thinking the other team made a huge mistake, but we got the good guys.
I must say, if you’re trying to counter the Angels Pujols/Wilson signing, then Fielder/Darvish is the way to do it.
I tend to wait until the game is played before letting the shit talking commence, so as not to look like a complete know nothing.
Mayheminthehood - January 18, 2012
I cannot objectively say the Angels win or lose
its honestly a crap shoot with so many variables that its way way too hard to make a clear cut decision on who “wins” this offseason based on these four moves.
However in the short term I do think Pujols is the biggest domestic marketing piece while Darvish does land Arlington some sweet signs that Ranger’s fans will undoubtedly never be able to read.
PhiSlamma - January 18, 2012
Fielder would be pretty huge too. Darvish would be similar to Wilson in that baseball dorks would know him, the average person probably not.
I had many people ask me if I was excited about Pujols, and when I said “Yeah, and CJ Wilson, too” they’d say stuff like “Oh yeah, heard about him too. Is he any good?” Darvish will just be That Guy That Looks Like A Lesbian Olympic Skier until he proves himself on the mound.
Mayheminthehood - January 18, 2012
I am curious to see
how that all goes over in Texas. Sterotypes aside, Texans do not really embrace feminine asian dudes with lots of love and care. It might make literally no difference, but whatever, I still think there will be a shorter leash if he does poorly due to the cultural differences. And by cultural differences I mean Ranger fans are rednecks.
PhiSlamma - January 18, 2012
Winning can bridge any gap. Even a redneck, racial one.
That’s all it’d take.
Mayheminthehood - January 18, 2012
I agree
if he does well it does not matter if he makes out with the catcher, topless, after a CGSO.
However I would be interested to see the reaction if YuVish starts the season 0-4 with a 6.32 ERA and a 2 k/BB ratio.
PhiSlamma - January 18, 2012
Another notch on Mike Nappoli's glove
ItCouldHappen - January 18, 2012
A cross between Milk, Letters fro Iwojima, and Remember the Titans.
Lovely.
gitchogritchoffmypetis - January 18, 2012
Are you kidding?
When Carlos Pena hits .220, he does it with an OPS over .800. Wells can’t even dream of being that useful with his terrible plate discipline. If anyone offered him more than Juan Rivera’s $4 million salary, after the season he just had, I’d say they were crazy.
Suboptimal - January 18, 2012
I do not disagree
My point was (poorly executed as it may be) was that front offices look at things like home run numbers and poorly conceived defensive value when signing players.
That with the Boras aspect I see Pena getting easily 8million. If Wells had Boras I could see him getting at least the same, if not more based on whatever 112 page binder Boras releases on him.
PhiSlamma - January 18, 2012
There are a few signs that front offices are coming around
Big doofs who hit home runs and do nothing else aren’t nearly as sexy as they were 10-15 years ago. At least Pena is recognized for getting on base and playing his position competently. Vernon has already aged out of his natural position and has no other skill besides Trying The Hardest Of Anyone To Yank The Ball Right Down The Left-Field Line. I think his sucktitude is pretty obvious to just about everyone, except maybe him.
Suboptimal - January 18, 2012
Is that good for the player who will be making the 2nd most in the majors next year?
PhiSlamma - January 18, 2012
now's the time to sell high on vernon
since he predicted his .300 30HR season on twitter
the king of CERA - January 18, 2012
Vernon wells will hit .362/.43/.901
With 41 Homeruns and 132 RBI’s
Halos2011champs - January 18, 2012 via mobile
.437*
Halos2011champs - January 18, 2012 via mobile
he'd finally be worth it!
WhatShouldIThrowToday? - January 18, 2012
and 33 stolen bases.
Halowitz - January 18, 2012 via mobile
in MLB 2K7
Balls and Strikes - January 18, 2012
God. can you imagine what Tim Lincecum will get in free agency if he gets 21.5M in Arb?
I know he’s just a hair less awesome. Still, just want to say it one more time. I love you Jared Weaver.
gitchogritchoffmypetis - January 18, 2012
$22M a year + a bale of Maui wowie every off day?
LAASurfin - January 18, 2012
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