The Angels signed malcontent 1b Shea Hillenbrand.

 

On paper, this is an excellent signing for the Halos. They potentially clog their gaping hole at 1b and don't have to rely on some combination of Kotchman/McPherson/Morales to step up and fill that hole. And Hillenbrand provided 21 home runs and a .280 average last year between the Blue Jays and the Gians, and was hitting over .300 before running into problems in Toronto.

 

On the other hand, the Angels haven't always been the best place for people with an attitude. Scioscia is only going to take so much from these guys, and the Angels already have the example of shutting down Jose Guillen and letting him go during the playoffs in 04 right when the Angels needed that bat the most.

Would McPherson be worth a look as a platoon with Josh Fields at 3rd if Crede gets dealt?

Would McPherson be worth a look as a platoon with Josh Fields at 3rd if Crede gets dealt?

Yes. I think the kid has real talent, but he hasn't developed as fast as the Halos wanted and has been hurt quite constantly to boot. When the Garcia/Crede for Santana/Figgins deal was talked about, I wanted McPherson as a throw-in for exactly that reason.

Boras has told Texas that Zito will sign elsewhere and it looks like the Giants are the team according to rotoworld.com.

They may go 6 years, $100 mil.

Thinking about it, the two things I'm most excited about for the 2007 season are: will Pedro come back and be all right? or is this the end? and What will Ichiro do?

 

Personally, I think Ichiro is the most exciting thing in baseball.

Aaron Boone signs a 1 year, $925,000 deal with the Marlins.

Just out of curiosity's sake, I was wondering what would come up in a search for "Pedro Martinez + Steroids" on Google and came across this. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/pedrosonsteroids

 

Wow, some people are really dumb. Not just the illiterate creator of the petition but also signature number Last/3 who made comments indicating he doesn't support it yet signed it to indicate his support. Huzzah!

 

(Well, I was searching on a little more than a curious hunch. This article is incredible, http://www.nydailynews.com/07-30-2006/spor...9p-369944c.html, about Juan Gonzalez + steroids + his trainer + MLB covering it up in 2001 when his trainer was caught with it at the Canadian border on his way to the Indians, and it mentions that this trainer was also Pedro's trainer. So out of curiosity's sake I was wondering if Pedro ever made public comments on steroids and was searching that out.)

On paper, this is an excellent signing for the Halos. They potentially clog their gaping hole at 1b and don't have to rely on some combination of Kotchman/McPherson/Morales to step up and fill that hole. And Hillenbrand provided 21 home runs and a .280 average last year between the Blue Jays and the Gians, and was hitting over .300 before running into problems in Toronto.

 

Huh? This is an awful signing. Hillenbrand was a below average hitter last year, and he's already 31 years old. The best he's ever been is a slightly above average hitter, nothing more. Oh, and he can't play defense. He's a first-baseman/DH who can't hit and who hurts his team a ton when he's put at third.

 

It's ridiculous, that team should just put McPherson at third for a year and be done with it. So what, he's never going to be a high OBP guy, but he's cheap and he's going to slug right around .500 'cause he's got so much power potential. I see no reason why he couldn't put up a .250/.300/.500 line, which would be much better than paying Hillenbrand what, $6 million bucks?

 

Shea = useless.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Aubrey Huff will get a three-year, $20 million contract from the Orioles.

 

"All that is left is a physical and dotting the I's and crossing the T's," a source familiar with the negotiations said.

Could of been nice for us in LF.

Thats a good move. I expect Huff to play a lot better outside of Tampa. I'd have been a big fan of getting him, especially if we dealt another pitcher (because I want to load up on offense if we decide to load up on pitching prospects).