Jan 5th 2009 4:46PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
In what has seemed an inevitability for the past two weeks, sources have told ESPN Radio’s Bruce Levine that Milton Bradley has signed a three-year, $30 millon contract to patrol right field in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field for the Chicago Cubs.

The upsides are quite easy to see for the Cubs and Bradley. For the Cubs, they have gained a switch-hitter to break up an incredibly right-handed middle of the batting order. He’ll likely slide into the No. 5-hole behind Aramis Ramirez and in front of reigning rookie of the year Geovany Soto. Bradley has always had star potential, but it has been derailed due to injuries and attitude problems for the most part.

Last season he played in just 126 games, but that was the second highest of his career. When he played, however, he was a monster. He led the American League in OPS and on-base percentage. He hit 22 home runs in 414 at-bats. If he’s in good shape and finally starting to mature as he heads into his early 30s, things will out just fine.Continue Reading

Jan 5th 2009 5:05PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Remember, just a few days ago, that Derek Lowe was insulted by the Mets’ initial offer — because of Carlos Silva, naturally. Apparently that did the trick, because now the Mets are ready to amp up their courtship. With some other teams in the fray, expect Mets’ GM Omar Minaya — who said he expects negotiations to drag on for the next few weeks — to raise the offer in order to get his man.

As an aside, I have to tell you I’m just overjoyed that Lowe won’t be signing anywhere for the next few weeks. We haven’t had enough talk about him or his possible desination yet this offseason. He’s not yet to Manny Ramirez or Jake Peavy territory, but he’s sure getting there.

Anyway, apparently the Angels are also in on the Lowe sweepstakes — just sort of lying in the weeds. Remember, they lost out on the Mark Teixeira bidding. Though they did sign Brian Fuentes to close games, they still would seem to have plenty of money in the budget to outbid the Mets’ $36 million offer. It should be noted that this is an unlikely possibility.

I still think Lowe will eventually end up in Queens.

Jan 5th 2009 6:15PM by Jon Bois (author feed)
As I’m sure you already know, Javier Vazquez recently moved from the Chicago White Sox to the Atlanta Braves.

The White Sox have been around for a long, long time, but these days they’re often described as a “dying medium.” The Braves, meanwhile, have emerged as a free, open, readily accessible source of baseball.

Can we really blame Vazquez for leaving behind the Chicago market and the ubiquitous feuding with Ozzie Guillen? I don’t think we can. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, wish him the best, and enjoy the ride. Today’s Dugout is after the jump.Continue Reading

Jan 5th 2009 9:28PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Carl Pohlad purchased the Twins in 1984 for what is now a paltry $38 million, and he is often given credit for saving Minnesota baseball. Today, at 93, he passed away.

It would be quite the understatement to say he lived life to the fullest. A working-poor son of the Great Depression, Pohlad rose from humble beginnings to become one of America’s wealthiest people, heading a family-owned network of banking, bottling, real estate and other companies. Forbes magazine wrote in September that Pohlad was worth around $3.8 billion, making him the 102nd richest person in America. That’s not it, though. He also started several charties, and — with his family — has dedicated many hours and millions of dollars towards helping the community in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Under his ownership, the Twins won two World Series championships and made the playoffs six times. Not too shabby for a small market club.

A tip of the cap to thee, Mr. Pohlad. That was one hell of a life you just completed. We should all strive to accomplish even a fraction of as much.

Jan 5th 2009 10:16PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
In a savvy move by the Angels’ front office, they let a few months get between the suicide squeeze debacle and signing manager Mike Scioscia to a contract extension. By now, I’m sure enough Angels’ fans have forgotten about the incident — they of the laid-back Cali lifestyle — and will be happy with the move.

Anyway, the Angels cruised to the AL West division title last year due to much superior talent — when compared to their pathetic division-mates — so I guess you have to reward the manager. Who cares if you could have grabbed any Joe off the street (Joe the Manager?!?) and gotten similar results? Arte Moreno and the rest of the Angel’s braintrust likes him enough that they have now locked him up through the 2012 season.

On a serious note, I really respect Scioscia as a manager and a man, just as I did as a player growing up. He’s a good baseball guy, and commands a serious amount of respect in the locker room. He was at the helm for the Angels only championship, and they have won four of the last five division titles. There aren’t many managers I’d rather have.Continue Reading

Jan 6th 2009 12:02AM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
The World Champions — I write that in every Phillies post just to pander to the Philly Phanatics, is it working? — have gone about their business this offseason without really altering their payroll. Sure, they signed Raul Ibanez, but that was teamed with the departure of Pat Burrell. Ibanez is going to make less per season than Burrell was making. They also re-upped with Jamie Moyer for two years in a moderate, at most, deal.

With arbitration season beginning today, they are about to take on a significant payroll increase. Players can now file for arbitration, and I’m guessing Cole Hamels — who only made $400,000 last season — will be filing. You know Ryan Howard, again, will. All told, the Phillies are likely to have eight players file.

Whether they decide to sign the players before arbitration hearings or not, the World Champs’ front office better get that checkbook out, because they are going to pay for these guys. Let’s look at each, briefly.Continue Reading

Jan 6th 2009 12:30AM by Mullet (author feed)
Major League Baseball kills me sometimes. They want to get tough on enhancing your performance through drug use, but then a player does his due diligence only to get clipped because the league changes the list of banned substances without giving players enough notice or grace period. Take the case of J.C. Romero, who has found himself stuck with a 50-game ban … not for cheating, but for “negligence”. Three months after Romero was tested before a Phillies-Mets game on Aug. 26, the players’ association sent a Nov. 21 letter to players that stated, “We have previously told you there is no reason to believe a supplement bought at a U.S. based retail store could cause you to test positive under our Drug Program. That is no longer true. We have recently learned of three substances which can be bought over the counter at stores in the United States that will cause you to test positive. These three supplements were purchased at a GNC and Vitamin Shoppe in the U.S.”So what Major League Baseball is saying is this: “J.C., we told you the rules and you followed the rules. But because we just found these substances now we’re going to ban you. Sorry, you should have read our minds even before these new substances were even in our minds.” So who are the negligent ones here? The player for doing what he’s told? Or the MLB machine for changing the rules in the middle of the game and then handing out retroactive punishment? It’s the World Series rain delay all over again.

Jan 6th 2009 3:00AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Andruw Jones’ demise has (ironically, I suppose) already been covered this morning by the nearly irreplaceable Matt Snyder. As we all know, Druw is a tad chubby, has essentially been benched for life and the Los Angeles Dodgers don’t want him on the team. Now, apparently, neither does a Dominican winter ball team.

Dios. Mio.
The usually accurate Raul Tavares sends me the following missive via e-mail (spelling and punctuation is all original):

Hi rob, happy new year, just a few lines to let you know that andruw jones left his team for good, and is not coming back, the reason is that his wife is sick, but the real reason for me is that the team asked him to leave.

He was struggling here, only a .148 ave, slow in defense, the team was desperate and they did not release him just because furcal recomended him and did not want to upset rafael, jones replacement hit a 3 run hr and aguilas won just the second game of the semi finals.
Or, perhaps, “que lastima” would be more appropriate. IF this report is true, then, well, things are much, much, muchmuchmuch worse than Snyder, myself or anyone could have possibly realized.

See, because if it is, Druw isn’t just horrible enough to get cut … he’s getting pity parties from a Dominican because Rafael Furcal gave him a good recommendation. It’s not getting any prettier any sooner, folks.

Jan 6th 2009 8:26AM by Eamonn Brennan (author feed)
It’s no secret the Yankees have spent like madmen this offseason. After a year of “going young” — which isn’t enough time to truly “go young,” but that’s a different argument — the Bronxies have decided that was stupid, and are now spending like never before on the best free agents money can buy.

Except there’s one free agent who isn’t sexy, and who isn’t dangling his services in front of a bunch of different teams. Andy Pettitte has sworn his dying loyalty to the Yankees. In return, they’ve offered him a one-year, $10 million deal, a pay cut from the $16 million he made last year. Not shabby, to be sure, but not exactly a king’s ransom in the same winter as the C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira deals. And now, Pettitte has decided to turn that money down.Continue Reading

Jan 6th 2009 9:00AM by Josh Alper (author feed)

This year’s free agent market has been only slightly less frozen than the world’s credit markets. There have been a paltry number of deals completed despite a contending team’s worth of free agents available to interested bidders. At long last, the first Monday of the New Year brought some activity.

Three free agents made headlines by agreeing to or closing in on new deals, and all three are cut from similar cloth. Pat Burrell agreed to a two-year, $16 million contract with the AL champions in Tampa, Milton Bradley is heading to Wrigley for three years and $30 million and Jason Giambi is reportedly very close to agreeing to a deal bringing him back to the A’s.

Giambi’s rumored to be signing for one year, perhaps with an option year, which makes it clear that the glut of players suited for corner positions or DH has made for a buyer’s market. So, operating under the assumption that all three teams made good deals, which player will have the biggest impact on their new club’s postseason hopes?Continue Reading