2007-2008 MLB Offseason Thread

[no97]

Rollins wins NL MVP.

And rightly deserved, even from this homer. Holiday had shiner numbers, but Rollins had 20 triples, and he had a better defensive season than Holiday.

Really? Since that's the exact reason that Tulo didn't win ROY? Tulo was the better fielder but lost out because Bruan had better offensive numbers... It's clearly the east coast bias, and even a Philly fan agrees with me on this, and he's a member of this board.

Unless I'm mistaken, the ROY award has always favored offense. Defensive stats are nice and all, but when a rookie hits over 30 HR's in his first season, that's rarely going to be passed up. The award isn't "Most Valuable Rookie".....

It's not just that, it's the Rockies as a whole...

They made it to the World Series and yet no awards were given to Rockies players... Tulo should've won ROY & a Gold Glove, didn't get either... Todd Helton with his .999 fielding percentage didn't get a Gold Glove and Matt Holliday should have been NL MVP.

Now, it's not right to expect everything there to happen, but you'd think that at least ONE would have, but no, not the Rockies, not for a team that doesn't play out east.

Hate to break it to you, but the World Series (or the NLDS or NLCS for that matter) are irrelevant to your argument. ROTY, MVP and Gold Glove are Regular Season awards... I am surprised at how many articles I read that say, "Tulowitzki should have been ROTY, or Holiday should have been MVP, just look at how they took the Rocks to the World Series." (heck, there's one up on the Rockies official site right now) Well, my response to that is that Colorado barely even made the playoffs, doing something hardley unprecidented (14 out of 15). Yes, it was a nice run, but the post-season run was what made it special, until they were swept in the WS.

Now, argue numbers all you want (and there are underseving guys that win awards every year), but don't give me the World Series line...

Moose

[Shumway]

Angels sign Torii Hunter, 5Y $90M

That sucks...I kinda wish the Dodgers would've signed him, I'd much rather have Hunter in CF than noodle-arm Juan Pierre...

You know, as an Angels fan, I'm not positive I like this move. I've always thought of Torii as one of the more overrated players in the league(offensively). He's NOT the big bat the Halos need. Which is why I'm hoping the Angels have enough money left to pursue Miguel Cabrera. Heck, trade Torii or MatHGHews for him. With Rivera, Vlad, G.A., Willits, Torii, and Matthews, I can't see them keeping all of them. Juan Rivera's oftenly overlooked, as he spent the majority of last season on the DL or on the bench. He's not a big bat, per se, but a solid bat and an underrated arm in the field.

[FiddySicks]

Angels sign Torii Hunter, 5Y $90M

That sucks...I kinda wish the Dodgers would've signed him, I'd much rather have Hunter in CF than noodle-arm Juan Pierre...

You know, as an Angels fan, I'm not positive I like this move. I've always thought of Torii as one of the more overrated players in the league(offensively). He's NOT the big bat the Halos need. Which is why I'm hoping the Angels have enough money left to pursue Miguel Cabrera. Heck, trade Torii or MatHGHews for him. With Rivera, Vlad, G.A., Willits, Torii, and Matthews, I can't see them keeping all of them. Juan Rivera's oftenly overlooked, as he spent the majority of last season on the DL or on the bench. He's not a big bat, per se, but a solid bat and an underrated arm in the field.

Hunter just improves your defensive status, which was lacking at times with Anderson, and he also improves your batting, witch was lacking at times with Willits. I think Hunter is a solid aquisition and think the Angels made a terriffic move grabbig him. He seems to fit in perfectly with that team, he's a pretty good bat and a terriffic glove, he's the all around package.

[Nick 1733]

Rollins wins NL MVP.

And rightly deserved, even from this homer. Holiday had shiner numbers, but Rollins had 20 triples, and he had a better defensive season than Holiday.

Really? Since that's the exact reason that Tulo didn't win ROY? Tulo was the better fielder but lost out because Bruan had better offensive numbers... It's clearly the east coast bias, and even a Philly fan agrees with me on this, and he's a member of this board.

Unless I'm mistaken, the ROY award has always favored offense. Defensive stats are nice and all, but when a rookie hits over 30 HR's in his first season, that's rarely going to be passed up. The award isn't "Most Valuable Rookie".....

It's not just that, it's the Rockies as a whole...

They made it to the World Series and yet no awards were given to Rockies players... Tulo should've won ROY & a Gold Glove, didn't get either... Todd Helton with his .999 fielding percentage didn't get a Gold Glove and Matt Holliday should have been NL MVP.

Now, it's not right to expect everything there to happen, but you'd think that at least ONE would have, but no, not the Rockies, not for a team that doesn't play out east.

Hate to break it to you, but the World Series (or the NLDS or NLCS for that matter) are irrelevant to your argument. ROTY, MVP and Gold Glove are Regular Season awards... I am surprised at how many articles I read that say, "Tulowitzki should have been ROTY, or Holiday should have been MVP, just look at how they took the Rocks to the World Series." (heck, there's one up on the Rockies official site right now) Well, my response to that is that Colorado barely even made the playoffs, doing something hardley unprecidented (14 out of 15). Yes, it was a nice run, but the post-season run was what made it special, until they were swept in the WS.

Now, argue numbers all you want (and there are underseving guys that win awards every year), but don't give me the World Series line...

Moose

I wasn't saying BECAUSE they made it to the world series... I'm saying that they happened to make it there and yet have no awards for the season, that just isn't right.

[jonkj]

I wasn't saying BECAUSE they made it to the world series... I'm saying that they happened to make it there and yet have no awards for the season, that just isn't right.

Well, the Cardinals won -- a better finish than this year's Rockies -- the World Series last year, and they didn't win any of the awards (Ryan Howard, Brandon Webb, Hanley Ramirez, Joe Girardi). Houston was awardless in 2005 when they lost to the White Sox. When the Red Sox and Cardinals met in the World Series in 2004, neither team had any award winners. Same for the runner-up in 2003, the Yankees.

[Nick 1733]

I wasn't saying BECAUSE they made it to the world series... I'm saying that they happened to make it there and yet have no awards for the season, that just isn't right.

Well, the Cardinals won -- a better finish than this year's Rockies -- the World Series last year, and they didn't win any of the awards (Ryan Howard, Brandon Webb, Hanley Ramirez, Joe Girardi). Houston was awardless in 2005 when they lost to the White Sox. When the Red Sox and Cardinals met in the World Series in 2004, neither team had any award winners. Same for the runner-up in 2003, the Yankees.

Really, you're telling me that none of those teams you mentioned above had a single gold glove winner?

[CC97]

I wasn't saying BECAUSE they made it to the world series... I'm saying that they happened to make it there and yet have no awards for the season, that just isn't right.

Well, the Cardinals won -- a better finish than this year's Rockies -- the World Series last year, and they didn't win any of the awards (Ryan Howard, Brandon Webb, Hanley Ramirez, Joe Girardi). Houston was awardless in 2005 when they lost to the White Sox. When the Red Sox and Cardinals met in the World Series in 2004, neither team had any award winners. Same for the runner-up in 2003, the Yankees.

Really, you're telling me that none of those teams you mentioned above had a single gold glove winner?

It's always possible that the Rockies amazing regular season* was a team effort therefore not putting any individual players above others in the National League.

*-by amazing season, I mean an amazing couple of weeks when it really mattered

[BaltimoreFan]

I definitely think Toluwitski should have won rookie of the year. If you watched the Rockies in the playoffs he was a key player, if not their best. He played like a vertern and was a big reason they made it to the World Series. I think he'll be one of the top SS in baseball. But in a way it may be good that he didn't win ROY. Look at how many busts have won the award. At least that's the way I looked at it when Markakis didn't get a good look last season. He had a great rookie season, but was in the shadow (and still really is) of that great rookie class.

[LMU]

Angels sign Torii Hunter, 5Y $90M

That sucks...I kinda wish the Dodgers would've signed him, I'd much rather have Hunter in CF than noodle-arm Juan Pierre...

You know, as an Angels fan, I'm not positive I like this move. I've always thought of Torii as one of the more overrated players in the league(offensively). He's NOT the big bat the Halos need. Which is why I'm hoping the Angels have enough money left to pursue Miguel Cabrera. Heck, trade Torii or MatHGHews for him. With Rivera, Vlad, G.A., Willits, Torii, and Matthews, I can't see them keeping all of them. Juan Rivera's oftenly overlooked, as he spent the majority of last season on the DL or on the bench. He's not a big bat, per se, but a solid bat and an underrated arm in the field.

Actually, this move makes PERFECT sense. For one, the team's not likely to keep GA past 09, so once he's out, they can permanently shift Matthews to LF. Also, if they are serious about the GA/Vladdy DH platoon with Matthews alternating between corner outfield positions, it could help GA and Vlad health-wise, so they won't miss very much time during the season.

Also, I was reading that by adding Hunter, it's insurance that the team won't be as hurt by trading away Howie. SO, if anything, this'll be the final piece before adding Miggy Cabrera, or if that doesn't pan out, Tejada.

I also have been hearing that they might be looking to bring Eckstein back for a couple seasons to hold SS until Wood's ready.

[jonkj]

I wasn't saying BECAUSE they made it to the world series... I'm saying that they happened to make it there and yet have no awards for the season, that just isn't right.

Well, the Cardinals won -- a better finish than this year's Rockies -- the World Series last year, and they didn't win any of the awards (Ryan Howard, Brandon Webb, Hanley Ramirez, Joe Girardi). Houston was awardless in 2005 when they lost to the White Sox. When the Red Sox and Cardinals met in the World Series in 2004, neither team had any award winners. Same for the runner-up in 2003, the Yankees.

Really, you're telling me that none of those teams you mentioned above had a single gold glove winner?

I was talking about the 4 biggies -- MVP, Cy, Rookie, Manager. Expanding it to include Gold Gloves, too, the 2005 Astros and 2004 Red Sox were still awardless. I'm sure there are instances of this before 2003 as well (that year was as far back as I looked).

[Audiodrama]

Yankees and Twins now "officially" discussing a deal involving Johan Santana, per Yahoo! Sports:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-y...p&type=lgns

[Jigga]

The Yankees absolutely HAVE to make this deal now. If they don't, the Sawks are going to offer up everyone except Papelbon for Santana. It'll be the A-Rod situation in reverse. Sorry, Twinkies...Santana's good as gone.

[See Red]

So why are the Twins looking to shop Santana?

With Santana and Liriano coming back, that automatically make the Twins a contender to win the American League and if the season doesn't go as planned, trade Santana at the deadline where he loses no value. I just don't get it.

I want Santana... Beckett and Santana at the top of the rotation would be wicked... but Buchholz PLUS Ellsbury PLUS more top prospects is a bit too much to give up, I think since Ellsbury is a future All-Star, and Buchholz has the talent of a future ace himself -- and I thought just as highly of him before his no-hitter. The Yankees look eerily similar to how they looked a few years back. Go ahead, Yankees... give up the farm.

[See Red]

Double post. Ooooops.

[KevinMcD]

Another Deal went down today with the Twins including young pitchers...

TO TAMPA:

RHP-Matt Garza

SS-Jason Bartlett

RHP-Eduardo Morlan

TO MINNESOTA:

OF-Delmon Young (aka Mr. Bat flipper)

SS-Brendan Harris

OF-Jason Pridie

Kind of wierd to see that the Twins are trading a high rated pitcher a day after talking about trading Santana.

[Joshawaggie]

I think this is gonna be the worst offseason ever for Twins' fans.

This trade, actually, is good. Garza and Young are both up and comers, but we needed a bat, which Young gives us. And we also upgraded our SS position, although I think Bartlett will be good for the Rays. But losing Hunter, and now probably Santana..... well, it sucks. balls.

[Tentomushi5150]

I have to say, I'm puzzled as to why the Sox are looking into Santana. All I heard last season was how the Red Sox had the deepest rotation in the AL, without Buchholz being a part of it. It would seem they're set in pitching, and they would have to raid their prospect bin in order to bring in Santana. He would be an asset no doubt, but it seems like they'd be giving up some possibly great players to bolster a staff that doesn't need it.

[no97]

I have to say, I'm puzzled as to why the Sox are looking into Santana. All I heard last season was how the Red Sox had the deepest rotation in the AL, without Buchholz being a part of it. It would seem they're set in pitching, and they would have to raid their prospect bin in order to bring in Santana. He would be an asset no doubt, but it seems like they'd be giving up some possibly great players to bolster a staff that doesn't need it.

If you don't get it, then you don't get the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry. It's all about keeping him from pinstripes, and getting revenge for the A-Rod trade which the Sox couldn't pull off, that the Yanks could. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Moose

[HedleyLamarr]

I have to say, I'm puzzled as to why the Sox are looking into Santana. All I heard last season was how the Red Sox had the deepest rotation in the AL, without Buchholz being a part of it. It would seem they're set in pitching, and they would have to raid their prospect bin in order to bring in Santana. He would be an asset no doubt, but it seems like they'd be giving up some possibly great players to bolster a staff that doesn't need it.

Because the Yankees, despite all their shortcomings, finished within 5 games of the Red Sox. Santana can make up that difference, easily.....

[Tentomushi5150]

I'd venture that not getting A-rod was beneficial to the Sox, but that's another debate I believe. I can understand to an extent keeping Santana from the Yankees, but isn't that cutting off the nose to spite the face? If the Red Sox would rather have proven commodities I can understand trading some tremendous potential for one of the best pitchers around, but considering they're coming off a decisive World Series victory, it doesn't appear they need to make any massive additions such as this, especially considering the price.

I think the records from last year are misleading. I hate to use a hypothetical situation here, but if you look at Eric Gagne's performance down the stretch, he cost them big time. They had a 7 game lead before they acquired him, which shrank as his ERA ballooned and he blew saves. I don't think you would've seen such a close division race at the end if you take his poor performance out. I know it's highly speculative, but I think it's worth mentioning.