JUGGERNAUT

I'm sticking to my original stance. If Davis beats out AJ in ST with BA, OPS, & CERA he will get 3/5 starts in April. Anything else & AJ will get either 3/5 or 4/5. I see no scenario where AJ relegates Davis to nothing more than a bench player. Regardless of who shows up as the better C in ST, Davis will be used often as a pinch runner & pinch hitter. Koney might be faster than AJ. The CWS have 3.25M spent on C in 2005. They are going to squeeze every drop of performance out of that.

I do not know what Beltran is thinking. Is he just a poor student of math? Does he trust Boras so much that he doesn't bother to listen or read newspaper articles? If the rumors are true about the Mets offer than Beltran is basically walking away from the Astros for the same contract value to join the Mets. It's not just that there is no state income tax in Texas. NY has one of the highest state income taxes. If you leave your team for as little as a 3-5% bump in salary then you're a fool. Especially when the city has opened thier arms to you. All he needed to do was to perform at an all-star level (not MVP level) & that would have been enough to secure the best sports star related endorsements in the Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, & Austin markets. Those 4 cities combine to have a market value bigger than that of Chicago's. He's choosen to leave a team & a park where he had the best success of his career for about a 3-5% gain in salary. For those of you who think that's a good move please explain why.

AJ vs BD R H HR RBI SB W TB AB ONBASE OUTS OPS 45 128 11 77 0 19 193 471 162 344 .729 22 40 6 18 1 12 67 193 53 154 .603 I don't think it's a slam dunk for AJ as much as you do. AB/R AB/H AB/HR AB/RBI AB/SB AB/W AB/TB AB/OB AB/OUTS AJ:10.47 3.68 42.82 6.12 491.00 24.79 2.44 2.91 1.37 BD:08.77 4.83 32.17 10.72 193.00 16.08 2.88 3.64 1.25 AJ's clearly a better hitter than Davis. But is he a better C? That's what I think we'll find out in ST & that's ultimate going to decide who the lead is. I'll agree with you that if AJ proves to be the better C in ST then he is going to C probably 4 out of every 5 starts where if Davis beat him out in ST Davis is only going to get 3 out of every 5 starts. If they are close AJ will get 3 out of every 5 starts.

I'm glad to hear he's been invited to ST. That tells me if he doesn't make it as the 25th man he'll opt to go to Charlotte as the 26th man. With the rash of injuries the CWS has encountered in past years he'd have a good chance of being called up. I still believe the CWS will go start the season w 12 pitchers. There are too many question marks w 3-5 as to how long they can go & a bullpen that seems tailor made for L & R specialists.

If Davis out hits AJ & manages a better starters era & W-L record than AJ in ST are you saying he still has no chance of starting? The CWS has been dividing up the AB's amongst it's C's for years. Do you think that's going to change because of AJ? As for the 50%, I meant that if beats AJ out in ST w both the bat & starters era I think he has a 50% chance to get the lead. Now as to him accomplishing that in ST it probably drops to 10%. I definitely think he has a chance albeit slim. As to your take on Davis' worth remember that KW felt good enough about him to start the season w him. Hermannson talked KW in looking at AJ. So I think KW is still high on Davis even w AJ.

That's not a bad option if you think about. Delgado is going to sign w someone below what other's have received this off-season simply because the big cash players are not in the game for his services. He expressed a desire to play for TEX so maybe he would be open to playing for CWS. Obvlously signing Delgado means trading Koney. But you are trading Koney when his value is at his highest & their is no loss of suitors for him. Think of it this way: Delgado+Vazquez+cash for Koney,Garland. The cash rcvd from AZD would reduce Delgado+Vaz to 60M/3. Koney+Garland would cost about 45M/3. The net cost is 15M/3. Impact wise these moves would push the CWS into serious AL pennant contenders. Much more than the division crown.

When was the last time the Twinks had a HOF-caliber player? They're just jealous. Thomas needs just one more MVP season to lock in the HOF. Right now he's a border-line case. Similar to Sandberg. If he can't get the MVP season then he just needs a couple of near MVP seasons.

Did you just say ALC? No. I don't see that. An ALCDC? Yes. We should be able to beat the Twinks. Rotation - greatly upgraded Lineup - slight upgrade (Losing Lee will hurt. We survived w/out Maggs in 04. ) Bench - upgrade Pen - sligh upgrade (Dustin better than Jackson, Luis better than Adkins, Cotss) Wildcards: Just about everybody, but mostly Pods. If he can be the CWS version of the Marlin's Pierre than the sky's the limit. If he's a 244 hitter again then the CWS should still squeak into the post-season with a div win.

Look, just forget it! I will never mention non-topic stuff again! Do whatever you want. It's a rule of the board but like all communities if no one respects it then it's meaningless. It's not worth the political flak I get from the socialists to mention it EVER AGAIN! on-topic: He made 2.35M in Japan. That's not AAA $. His 2004 #'s were good enough to guarantee a raise if he should decide to remain there. The CWS can not simply ignore that when negotiating with him. They can ignore the Herald's claim of 20M/3. That's ridiculous. No one in Japan or America is going to offer him that. Yet this is always the way the press spins things when it comes to the CWS. The article suggests that because the CWS spent 2.25M on AJ they won't be able to afford Igu. This despite the fact that the 4M/2yr offer remains on the table. What Kaz was offered by the Mets has nothing to due w Igu. What the NYY gave Womack (4M/2yr) does.

If he can get Jon Garland to pitch the WAY JON IS EXPECTED TO PITCH he's worth the 2.25M on that stat alone. Maybe this is exactly what the CWS needed. A guy who will get up off his ass go out to Jon & say "Is your name Judy or Jon? You shake me off one more time & I'll make it Judy!"

Made to pitch at the Cell: Career #s: GB/FB, BA vs, MOB, SLG vs, IP/HR MB: 1.25/261/11.4/408/9.05 FG: 1.16/248/12.0/.395/9.01 OH: 0.73/236/11.5/397/7.68 JC: 1.09/.239/12.9/404/6.88 JG: 1.24/.268/13.2/439/7.09 Look at the IP/HR numbers & you can see the drop-off in the rotation. We are all hoping 3-5 improve on that in 2005. If not no post-season. Pen: ST: 0.83/182/9.1/10.33 - Awesome! DM: 0.81/217/11.0/9.92 - Pretty Good! DH: 1.03/265/12.6/7.92 - So-So CP: 0.84/254/12.8/7.85 - So-So LV: 0.70/238/11.7/6.08 - Poor NC: 1.22/255/14.4/5.57 - Really Bad JA: 1.29/299/14.1/5.07 - Really Bad There's been a lot of talk about the CWS getting Javier Vazquez. I don't want him. JV: 1.00/260/11.7/425/7.59 Yes those numbers are better than JC, JG but they are not good enough for 27M/3. That's what he would probably cost. They are not better than MB or FG. Unlike MB or FG they are based mostly on NL numbers. I want the top CLE starters! JW:2.41/277/13.1/413/11.25 - Holy s***! CS:0.92/247/12.2/394/10.34 - Awesome! CL:0.72/255/13.3/439/6.52 - No thank you. SE:0.76/263/13.1/460/5.87 - No way hosea! MIN starters: JS: 0.74/225/10.9/362/9.61 - Awesome! BR:1.01/273/11.5/441/7.76 - comparable to El Duque CS:1.73/297/13.1/439/11 - Pretty Good! JM:1.27/274/12.8/435/7.60 - Ok KL:0.91/279/13.3/454/6.79 - No thank you! I don't see CLE parting with Westbrook so I'd like to replace Contreras & Garland with Sabathia & Silva. I think they are tailor made for the Cell.

I said I think! I didn't say I know. That means I have my doubts. I give him a better than 50% chance. KW did not spend 1M on Davis because he thinks he's a bumb. He did have a solid month last year & ST is about a month long so I think he can do it. AJ slumped in Sep so that only helps Davis' chances. Hitting alone is NOT going to decide who's 1st string. Defense & pitcher's era will also play a factor. Poo Hah!

I think it is. I think Uribe has a lot to do with that. The players might be looking at the Cell like a spa for hitters now. If you're in need of a boost or a fresh start sign with the CWS. What it means now is that the CWS has more $ to spend on pitchers who are less likely to give up long balls. As I understand it, one of the stats available to GM's in talent evaluation is avg hit distance. It's recorded on hitters & against pitchers. KW should be targeting those guys who are the lowest. Regardless of their FB/GB ratio's or even eras. Unfortunately that's not available to fans, so we have to wing it.

I just want to add that AJ aside is it not true that SF has appeared as a fester pool for problems & attitudes for years? Before AJ it was Kent. You didn't hear much about Kent when he went to HOU & now he's a member of the LAD. I think those problems in SF are more related to SF than the players themselves. There probably are no saints there but the clubhouse seems to bring out the devil in the sinners. That's never going to happen here. Not with Ozzie at the helm. He just doesn't put up with that crap & he's not afraid to mouthoff at the best of them.

VS. LEFT: .227 / .544 VS. RIGHT: .283 / .775 HOME: .283 / .737 AWAY: .261 / .720 He had 2 horrible months in Apr & Sep. Not good. But he was mostly facing LH's in those months. The bottomline is that for 2.25M he's a definite upgrade over Davis. I don't think he's guaranteed the starting position though. I think Davis can still beat him out in ST.

I forgot Hermie. I wonder why. Maybe he's forgettable. Let's take a look: As you all know by now I think there is a big dropoff betw the AL & NL. I was surprised when I looked at this but there really is something to be said about who's behind you & who's ahead of you in the lineup. What has happened in the modern game where FA has led to great player movement the 6-9 hitters in the NL avg 200 OPS than the 6-9 hitters in the AL. That's pretty bad & it's obviously going to lead to lower ERA's & other stats for NL pitchers. Does the NL & AL differentiation exist in the ml's? I don't think it does. In any case let's look at Hermie: He has 1 AL stint: 2002 BOS 12GP, 7.77 ERA 2002 v R: .373/ .403/ .644/ 1.047 - horrible 2002 v L: .325/ .378/ .450/ .828 - bad 2004 v R: .242/ .291/ .358/ .650 - good 2004 v L: .285/ .352/ .498/ .850 - bad Again I don't see it. I guess the hope here is that Hermie will be good vs RH in the AL & Vizc will be good vs LH in the AL. But since they didn't show that when they were in the AL I remain skeptical. After looking at Hermie I'm knocking my grade down to B. Basically KW locked up 12M/2yr in guys I think will fail at the Cell.

With the signing of AJ it's a definite A-. If you read the reports behind these signings most GM's believe the best bargain this winter was Dye at 10M/2yr. Most GM's believe he is going to have a monster year at the Cell. Next to that is Hernandez at 8M/2yr. That's right in line with BOS 8M/2yr base for Wells. But BOS could wind up paying more than double that with incentives. Most GM's believe Hernandez might be at the top of his game & his health. The Pods deal was the toughest for CWS fans to accept. I expect greatness out of Lee vs NL pitching. That's going to haunt KW if Pods & Vizcaino are just average. Of course there is the PTBNL but unless Pods is a star this season KW is going to be criticized for this for years. I think it was a bad trade. Vizcaino was bad vs RH & great vs LH in the NL. He came up with OAK & his best era was 4.66 before joining MIL. In 2001 w OAK vs RH 282/333.424 vs LH 241/302/517. In 2004 w MIL vs RH 290/331/522 vs LH 163/245/341. I don't know what KW sees in this guy. Hie got worse vs RH & his LH improvement could simply be an indication of how weak the NL is these days. So this trade is going to come down to Pods & PTBNL. I don't expect that to be Sheets, so it's basically Pods. Well at least we can say we saved 16.5M/2yr we could spend elsewhere. AJ for 2.25M/1yr. A No-brainer. Good deal! Here's the way I look at it. If we assume the CWS were not going to jump into the mid70-mid80 payroll range then the Lee trade really breaks down like this: In exchange for Lee, we got El-Duque+AJ+Pods+Viscaino+PTBNL. Looking at it that way the deal looks much better.

All things considered Iguchi & his agent are fools if they don't sign with the CWS. Assuming they believe in his talent if he were to be a success in MLB then his intrinsic value to the CWS would be even greater than that of SEA. He needs to look at Shingo's intrinsic value & how his fame has grown being with the CWS. Will that lead to more ticket sales in 2005? Yes. There is a large asian community in this city & a good portion of it lives closer to the Cell than the beer garden. If Iggy were to make the all-star team how much would that mean in endorsement money? Look at Maggs, Sosa, & Koney. Now imagine spots featuring both Shingo & Iggy. They could write their own tickets. Especially if the Cubs tank (like I expect them to). If Iggy makes the all-star team I'd go out on a limb & say he'll double his earnings when you include media spots. That's more than he could make in Japan. If he can consistently make the all-star team he could be looking at 15M in earnings a year betw the CWS & media spots. I think it's a great move for the CWS & Iggy & I hope he comes to his senses. Off-topic: I just want to take this time to say Magglio Ordonez is the biggest fool in MLB. Not as big as J-Gonzo but probably #2. Gonzo walked away from a guaranteed 140M deal with the Tiggers. Where is he now? Signing a ml deal with the Tribe. Magglio walked away from a guaranteed 58-70M deal with the CWS. This deal was still on the table even after the collision. Where is he now? If he doesn't sign w the Cubs he can kiss the money he earned through media spots goodbye. Does he really think if he goes somewhere else he'll be signed up for commercials right away?

You're right. I should have PM'd. I did not bash you guys in the report. I just indicated the post was off-topic. On-topic: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/battin...Min=0&ageMax=99 Kaz wasn't even ranked in the top 20 in BA. Womack was #14. Some interesting names on this list: Durham #3, Uribe #4, Jimminez #11, Miles #17. Jimminez 2M Uribe 3M Miles 300K 4M/2yr is a fair offer for an unproven Iguchi. It's more than fair. But the CWS aren't just competing against the MLB teams for his services. I don't think there's anything preventing him from continuing play in Japan where he's a proven commodity. I think KW should be flexible enough to include some bonus money to outbid those teams as well.

I edited my post to include something related to the topic. It's not hard to do. You're not going to get thrown off the board. I've got nothing against 2 peers sparing in a thread. All I ask is that you include something in your post that is topic related. To make it honest. I personally think it's a bad move by Iguchi's agent to refer to Kaz as a measure of what Iggy's worth. But if that's the player he wants to compare his agent with then he should consider this: Kaz was ranked 69th in the NL in 2004 w a 4.58 RPG. Womack was ranked 61st in the NL in 2004 w a 5.01 RPG. Womack signed a 4M/2yr deal w the NYY this off-season.

I'm getting sick & tired of seeing non-topic stuff pop up in talent acquistion threads. You've been reported. If you are going to spar with one another then you should at least include something in your post RELATED to the thread TOPIC! Iguchi's agent needs to take a serious look at the players getting 1-3M/yr deals this off-season. What he also needs to think about is whether other GM's still Kaz's value at 20M+/3. I doubt it. Most of them probably see him in the 1-3M range. He's been a big dissapoinment.

When is the trade deadline for the off-season?

The NYY & BOS references make no sense. I think they threw that out there before the Renteria & Womack signings by both teams. The only other team that makes sense is SEA. Not so much because of need but because of Ichiro. If this guy can play he would be worth far more to SEA than the CWS. It could be his agent is trying to push SEA into a 6M/2. I can't see any team with $ to spend willing to offer 20M/3 yr. I'm encouraged that he's left the door open to creative contract construction. That's what the NYY did with RJ for cap considerations. Essentially taking a 3 yr deal & reconstructing for a 6 yr payout so they could fit him in 2005 at 10M. This was smart because the current labor agreement ends in 2007 & the tax threshold increases with each passing yr. So maybe the CWS could offer a 4M/2yr base + bonus incentives that would lead to an addition 2M/2yr & an option year at 6M provided he reaches as least 1/2 the bonus incentives. Assuming he met the incentives that would pay him nearly double what he made in Japan plus the security of a 3 yr commitment.

It used to be you needed to have a era < 4.00 just to make a rotation. Now we see Garland with an era < 5.00 worth 4M as a 5th starter. If Garland is worth 4M then Perez with an era < 4.00 is worth 8M. MLB economics.

I didn't hear anything like that. I've read the deal is simply contingent upon a physical. Perez is definitely going to be an LAD. The Green deal is off. He won't waive his no-trade. Doesn't like the AZD multi-year offer. KW says landing Iguchi appears to be a long shot. He's asking for 2.35M, the CWS are offering 4M/2. If the CWS lose him over 350K someone needs to be fired. Give him 5M/2 & finish the off-season.