Red Reposter - Winter Meetings Day 3 potpourri

by ken on Dec 9, 2009 8:00 AM EST in News

Who is Gossip GM? I'll never tell!
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The Winter Meetings in Indy end tomorrow with the Rule V draft. Here's a recap the deals and other news that broke yesterday, much of which was disussed in yesterday's open thread:

- Walt Jocketty had some discussions with the Rangers about "a hitter, shortstop depth and pitching depth." but nothing sounds close. Walt and Jonny Gomes' agent are "still a ways apart." Shortstop is still an area of interest, but it's no surprise that Jocketty thinks Miguel Tejada or Orlando Cabrera are poor fits for the Reds' "pay structure" (this rumor was floated by Jim Bowden). And rest easy, RijoSaboCaseyWKRP - the Reds have not reached out to Jamey Carroll (his agent, Cincinnati-based Jonathan Maurer, confirmed).

- And speaking of Bowden, Washington signed Pudge Rodriguezto a two-year deal. The final piece! Bowden is of course no longer the Nationals' GM, making this one of the first winter meetings he hasn't attended as a GM in some time. Which means no sartorial controversies and no arm-wrestling contests gone awry.

- The Yankees, Tigers and Diamondbacks had an old-fashioned three-way that saw Curtis Granderson go to to the Yankees and Edwin Jackson head to Arizona. There are some promising young players in the deal as well - Arizona trades Max Scherzer to Detroit, and New York sends Austin Jackson and Ian Kennedy to Detroit and Arizona, respectively. New York is definitely capitalizing on its ability to absorb salary (from a team looking to shed it) to add a very solid up-the-middle player near his peak. Dave Cameron gives an "A+" to NYY.

- Brad Penny signed a one-year, $7.5M deal with St. Louis. He's a big guy without a great health track record, but when you already have two Cy Young candidates and another decent starter, gambling on the upside of a hard-thrower like Penny isn't a bad idea. Meanwhile, St. Louis continues to talk with Scott Boras about Matt Holliday, who is still presumably recovering from that ball striking his groin.

- Peter Gammons is jumping from ESPN to MLB Network. In my first job out of college there was a girl in my training class with the last name Gammons who had Mass. plates on her car. I asked her if she was related to Peter Gammons; she answered she was not. Somehow the relationship failed to blossom from there.

- What would you guess Albert Pujols makes in endorsements? Derek Jeter?

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Something interesting to start the thread with:

The Angels are reportedly interested in trading one of their infielders, with Maicer Izturis being the most likely to go.

Last year Izturis hit .300/.348/.392 while playing 2B, SS, and 3B. He seems to be an average to slightly above average fielder at both 2B and SS. He was worth 2.8 WAR last year, and at least 1.5 each of the 3 before that. He’ll probably make around 2 million this season in arbitration.

I don’t know what he’d cost in prospects, but if Walt was going to go after anyone, he’d be my choice. He’s a switch hitter who hits righties (career OPS+ 103) better than lefties (89). He’ll be 29 this season, and in his last year of arbitration.

Seems like a perfect candidate to platoon with Janish. Based on how he does this year, how Cozart does in AAA, and how Janish does, they could decide whether to try and sign him after this year or offer him arb and possibly pick up an extra draft pick.

I’d really like this to happen.

If I hear the word 'perky' again, I'll puke

by nycredsfan on Dec 9, 2009 8:22 AM EST reply actions

Also, his K rate is super low (around 10%), he's pretty selective, makes good contact, sees pitches, etc., so he'd be a pretty decent #2 hitter

so Dusty wouldn’t even have to think outside of the box regarding his SS.

If I hear the word 'perky' again, I'll puke

by nycredsfan on Dec 9, 2009 8:40 AM EST up reply actions

Good idea. What his defense like?

I have no problem seeing Paul from the 7th inning on and start on Sundays!

by timb116 on Dec 9, 2009 9:11 AM EST up reply actions

I've given this subject its own thread

here

Red Reporter or follow on Twitter: @redreporter

by Slyde on Dec 9, 2009 9:19 AM EST up reply actions

Buster Olney says the Red Sox are interesred in Coco Crisp

Didn’t the Sox just spend a full year trying to get rid of Crisp?

by Brian B on Dec 9, 2009 9:31 AM EST via mobile reply actions

Mixed Emotions on Gammons Move

I thought I’d miss Gammons when the MLB Channel started and I stopped watching BBTN. But it turns out, I didn’t. The MLB Channel paraded out their own lineup of solid journalists that I’ve grown to like.

At ESPN, Gammons was a baseball rock star on a channel that acts like it’s forced to cover baseball when it really just wants to show the latest Championship Poker Tournament. This move by Gammons seems a little like he’s abandoning ship over at ESPN more than a great ‘get’ by the MLB channel.

Now Gammons will have to battle for airtime with other journalists that the MLB Channel has featured over the last year, who have shown us that Gammons isn’t such a rock star after all. Maybe these other guys will force him to drop the NY/BOS bias that was bred into him over at ESPN – but I doubt it.

by jambolyajones on Dec 9, 2009 10:13 AM EST reply actions

my fear is that it will lead MLBN to start featuring the BOS/NY stuff way too much

They did a pretty good job in their first year of covering the whole league, but Gammons is such a northeast guy that I’m worried his appearances will strictly be focused there, much like with ESPN.

Red Reporter or follow on Twitter: @redreporter

by Slyde on Dec 9, 2009 10:31 AM EST up reply actions

but I think people who just watch Bos/NY stuff watch ESPN anyways

I like to think that MLBN is for the silent majority of us who want to see Colorado-Milwaukee games more than northeast baseball. I’m confident/blindly optimistic they’ll stay that way.

BTW, I don’t have a TV in my new digs…can one get MLBN on computer?

"And then there was the USAID guy in Kandahar who drove a giant pink Cadillac, which the locals set on fire one day. If you wanted to destroy something symbolic during a riot, you just could not do better than that. Good stuff." - Ghosts of Alexander

by Cy Schourek on Dec 9, 2009 12:37 PM EST up reply actions