Hot Stove

[Xenophon]

Still looks like a bad deal to me, but time will tell.

 

[Paulie]

Still looks like a bad deal to me, but time will tell.

The only thing that I have a problem with is how many prospects we're out by the end of all of this. We gave up 4 pretty good names to get Lee, only to shop him after a half-season rental. If we'd have won the WS, maybe one could look at that differently and say it was worth it.

I think Aumont could potentially replace the loss of Drabek though. Drabek was a little closer to coming up than Aumont is, but that's a minor detail.

 

[Xenophon]

I think some teams rely way to much on prospects and not enough on keeping good teams together.

 

[Paulie]

Yeah, but losing 7 prospects in a matter of months is a bit much.

I'm not sweating it though. I think Aumont has ace potential like Drabek does, and we didn't lose Brown or Happ.

We needed a good righty, too. Halladay, Hamels, Happ is not a bad 1-2-3 at all as long as Hamels gets his head straightened out.

 

[Xenophon]

that's a mighty big if.

The good news is the Mets fans are ready to kill Miniya for not making any moves, and they are talking about only chasing the wild card for the next couple of years since the division is locked up.

 

[Paulie]

Well, you don't earn the World Series MVP award in your first season pitching in the postseason if you're not capable of being a great pitcher.

I admit he's definitely a primadonna, but I do think he hates to pitch bad and hates to lose. That's what's most important to me, is hating to lose. Everyone wants to win, but not everyone hates to lose.

 

[Xenophon]

Yankees made another big trade, getting Javier Vazquez and reliever Boone Logan for melky and some minor leaguers.

The door is again open to resign Damon, and NY again has 4 top starters at the front of their rotation, no more wrries about who is #4.

In other NY news, the Mets again did nothing.

 

[Paulie]

Yankees made another big trade, getting Javier Vazquez and reliever Boone Logan for melky and some minor leaguers.

The door is again open to resign Damon, and NY again has 4 top starters at the front of their rotation, no more wrries about who is #4.

In other NY news, the Mets again did nothing.

I'm making a very early prediction of a rematch next fall.

 

[Xenophon]

It looks like that may happen.

Yankees really stole the guy, it was another silly salary dump by Atlanta.

 

[Article 15]

Vazquez was horrible with the Yankees a few years ago.

 

[Xenophon]

No he wasn't, he was 14-10 and a victim of one of the last of georgie's exiles, because georgie wanted Randy Johnson.

He will be a great #4 starter.

 

[Article 15]

His ERA was a kiss under 5 that year in NY ... in the old Yankee stadium.

In fact, besides 2007 when his ERA was 3.74 in Chicago, Vazquez has never had an ERA below 4.6 while pitching in the American League.

But yeah, for a #4 guy he's pretty good and with that offense his 5+ ERA wont matter.

 

[Article 15]

It could be worse tho ...

I have to hope John Lackey stays healthy and pitches well for the next 5 years.

Ugh.

 

[Paulie]

Atlanta is looking to free up salary room for more offense.

They apparently didn't get the memo that pitching > hitting.

They have Hudson, Lowe (or vice versa), and Jurrjens, which isn't a bad 1-2-3 punch.

Hudson will be on his 2nd year off of Tommy John surgery, which is usually when the arm is at its best in recovery. If they manage to pick up a big bat, this team scares me a bit in the NL East.

Rumor is they're eyeing Bay or Holliday.

 

[Xenophon]

His ERA was a kiss under 5 that year in NY ... in the old Yankee stadium.

In fact, besides 2007 when his ERA was 3.74 in Chicago, Vazquez has never had an ERA below 4.6 while pitching in the American League.

But yeah, for a #4 guy he's pretty good and with that offense his 5+ ERA wont matter.

That's the point, they are not looking for him to be a #1 or #2, they just wanted a guy who will pitch decently every five days, and that is exactly what they got.

 

[Xenophon]

Atlanta is looking to free up salary room for more offense.

They apparently didn't get the memo that pitching > hitting.

They have Hudson, Lowe (or vice versa), and Jurrjens, which isn't a bad 1-2-3 punch.

Hudson will be on his 2nd year off of Tommy John surgery, which is usually when the arm is at its best in recovery. If they manage to pick up a big bat, this team scares me a bit in the NL East.

Rumor is they're eyeing Bay or Holliday.

Atlanta is way to cheap to go for those guys.

They are far more likely to trade for a guy or sign a low level guy like derosa rather then shell out 16 million per for an OF.

 

[Paulie]

Atlanta is looking to free up salary room for more offense.

They apparently didn't get the memo that pitching > hitting.

They have Hudson, Lowe (or vice versa), and Jurrjens, which isn't a bad 1-2-3 punch.

Hudson will be on his 2nd year off of Tommy John surgery, which is usually when the arm is at its best in recovery. If they manage to pick up a big bat, this team scares me a bit in the NL East.

Rumor is they're eyeing Bay or Holliday.

Atlanta is way to cheap to go for those guys.

They are far more likely to trade for a guy or sign a low level guy like derosa rather then shell out 16 million per for an OF.

Well they saved 8 mil on Vazquez, and the word is they may trade Cabrera for prospects, which clears up another 3 mil I believe.

They'd only have to come up with another 5 out of their pockets in that case. And they have that kid Jordan Shafer who looks pretty good and may become their starting CF, so they don't NECESSARILY need Cabrera for that price. I saw Shafer a lot this past season, he looks promising.

Then they have McClouth who can play anywhere in the OF and gives you 20/70. With a little more pop in the lineup he could hit even better than that. Diaz is no slouch either, he kills us ALL THE TIME.

This is just my analysis of the situation, and believe me when I tell you that I obviously hope I'm wrong. It's bad enough that the Marlins nip at our heels these days and they don't even have a payrol worth speaking of.

At least the Mets are probably out of contention, and you never have to worry about Washington.

 

[Xenophon]

You should hear the Met fans, they are pissed taht no moves have been made.

 

[Article 15]

How the hell does Omar Minaya still have a job anyway?

 

[Xenophon]

The best guess is because the met owner is so cheap he doesn't want to pay him if he's not working for him.

The guy blows as a GM.