HOT STOVE TIME! Now that the awards are mostly done, time to get talking about what’s going on with the player moves and predictions for 2011.
— Alan
Just to carry over the moves mentioned in the old thread, we have Victor Martinez to the Tigers and Huff resigning with the Giants.
Nice. 2 year, $22 million deal with a third year option are the reports for Huff. A well deserved contract. Hopefully this is the kind of moves the Giants will make in the future instead of overpaying for guys like Rowand and Roberts.
That just sounds like a terrible deal to me. 2 years, $22m for a guy as inconsistent as Huff has been, who plays corner OF or 1b and will be 34 next season?
This seems pretty much exactly like the Rowand deal, only Huff is older.
Some reports say the Yankees have offered Cliff Lee a six year, $140m contract but that he’s holding out for a seventh year.
That’s about $6million more than anyone expected him to get as a HIGH end. It’s not a crippling contract but its a little out there.
Go Mets! I think this is their year!
;-)
I have to steel my will to not get unduly excited by the constant (baseless) trade speculation. Upton! Other Upton! Grienke! Nishioka! Aaaaaghgh!
Hell, I’d be ecstatic if we can do a reasonable job of resigning guys like Hudson and Pavano.
Either way, Martinez or no, the Central is Minnesota’s for the taking once again in 2011, I think ;)
I was thinking more in terms of years. Instead of the stupid long term deal of 4-5 years this is relatively short and it’s actually for somebody who has actually done something for the team. Is it a bit too much, probably, but he help lead the Giants to a World Series so I can’t fault them for overpaying a bit. It’s a step in the right direction.
Falling into the trap of paying players for past performance is a good way to hurt your franchise, that’s all. Huff had two great years for the Giants, no doubt, but this contract is madness!
Maybe once the World Series high wears off and Spring Training rolls around I’ll realise how bad a contract it is. Maybe I’m just used to all the bad contracts the Giants were tossing around that this actually seem reasonable to me. Hopefully he can put up another solid year, if not I’ll be cursing Brian Sabean’s name by midseason again. And btw, Huff has only had one great year for the Giants so far.
1 pretty good year. In 2009 he put up horrific .241/.310/.384 numbers for the O’s and Tigers, a fine OPS of .694.
And he’s 34.
The years are fine, but I don’t know that anyone was going to give Aubrey Huff much more than 8-9m per year. The Giants have deep pockets for sure, but throwing around $2-3m per season unnecessarily can wind up biting you in the butt.
Supposedly the contract for Huff was to match what another club was offering. Sabean had to ask for special permission from Bill Neukom (managing general partner) for the extra money. It only took a match to retain him, though, as he has stated many time his love for the city and the team.
Giants were close to their salary limit from last year, but had talked about upping the salary limit if it made sense. If I remember correctly, they were just under $100M last year, and already had nearly $90M on the books due to existing contracts and expected arbitration increases.
The only thing I don’t like, is the Giants only plus (maybe plus plus) major league ready position player (Brandon Belt) is a first baseman. Huff or Belt could move to the outfield, but I think the Uribe/SS deal is something they should have shored up first.
Plus, historically Huff only performs well in even numbered years.
So where is Jeter going to end up? Thought it was funny that he and his agent claimed to be ‘baffled’. I guess they thought that since Jeter is a ‘fan favorite’ the Yankees would compensate him for that, but his numbers were down last year and apparently fan favorites have to produce too.
He’ll be in New York. He gets maybe 8-10 million elsewhere. Unless he really just wants to try and stick it to the Yankees, but he’d only be hurting himself by leaving. In conclusion, fuck the Yankees.
Jeter will play for the Yankees until he dies, and then they’ll bury him between second and third base. The following year, his defensive numbers will be the best of his career.
I will be surprised if Jeter goes anywhere but the Yankees. But, I am enjoying watching this back and forth between the parties.
The Dodgers have signed Jon Garland to a 1 year/$5M deal w/ club option for 2012. Option vests if he pitches over 190 innings.
- several reports say Jeter wants six years, $150m ($25m/per), compared to earlier reports that the Yankees were offering three or four years at $15m/per. His agent now denys those numbers, though.
- the Twins ended up winning the auction for the right to try and sign japanese SS Nishioka.
Rumors are that the Dodgers are the ones that drove up the price on Huff. Furthermore, it looks like the Dodgers are close to signing a 3 year deal with Juan Uribe.
Good move(s) for the Dodgers. Nothing like bolstering your lineup and weakening a division rival at the same time.
And in the crazy rumors department, its being mentioned that SF might be a destination for Jeter if he doesn’t resign with the Yankees. I doubt that SF would pay the years or dollars Jeter is rumored to want, but they may have an offer that beats what the Yankees are willing to offer.