Might as well get this going for the new year. Go Sox:-)
[Reply]

Well my cousin signed with the dirty north side.. Oh well, didn't think it'd happen. Todd Frazier signs with the good guys. I like it. Best guy at 3rd we've had in a while.
[Reply]

Other hot stove news:
Colon signs with the Mets. Dude is still throwing heat. I call roids!!:-) Thanks for 05 though Bartolo:-)
[Reply]

Looking forward to seeing the Sox and Tigers battle for last place again, Nate. :-) :-)
[Reply]

Will be an exciting battle I'm sure :-)
[Reply]

Let's Go Mets!!
[Reply]

I'm confident my Twins will win the whole damn thing now that we have a Korean than can hit home runs off sub 90 mph throwing pitchers.....
[Reply]

Boo.... Go Nats! I'm holding my breath, right now, though.

I hope Dusty Baker can use his weapons better than Matt Williams could--and I liked Matt Williams...

But it looks like we may be looking at Daniel Murphy now that it looks like Brandon Phillips is a no go... :-(
[Reply]

Are not most bakers dusty?
[Reply]

Hoping the moves the Cubbies have made work out and they can make another run.
Surprised they got away with taking two guys from the Cardinals. It's usually the other way around.

Don
[Reply]

Reds will have a tough time losing less than 95 games next year. It may be worse than that, even.
[Reply]

Brian - how do you think Todd will perform in the AL?
[Reply]

Mets better sign YO.. Rumors they want to sign DeAza.. It'll be a looong season for them if they go that route.. Plus side would be maybe the Sox sign YO.

Frazier
Abreu
Cespedes

On paper, dangerous middle lineup. But let's be real, on paper the Sox looked good last winter with the work Rick did...
[Reply]

Tigers looked like the Team of the Century on paper for 3 seasons, and you saw how many WS titles that got them. :-)

Hopefully Cespedes is better for the Sox than he was for Detroit if you get him, Nate.

And no, I don't really mean that. :-)
[Reply]

If he does what he did for DET and the Mets last year, that'll work. Good numbers put up for both teams. But, I will say I had only become a "believer" in YO after his savage performance with the Mets.

My guess is the Giants, Tigers, and Chisox will make the biggest offers, and he'll land in San Fran
[Reply]

Cespedes did OK for the Mets. He hit the cover off the ball for about a month, but once the opposing teams figured out he couldn't hit high inside heat, he was done for the season. Really effected his production in the playoffs. I don't see that changing unless he puts some work into his game. I think the Mets will be better off not signing this over-priced player.
[Reply]

Cespedes was a 6.7 WAR player in 2015. In the OF, only Trout and Harper were better in all of MLB. In terms of contracts, you look at a recent OF signing: Heyward. Dude pulled in $184mm. Largest contract in Cubs history. He was a 6.0 WAR player last year. Personally, I think that is a decent signing for them. Single metrics like power numbers make Heyward look not exactly worth it, but his favorable WAR (glove makes up where his bat doesn't) and age close the gap. Cespedes will get a massive contract, but it'll probably be in line with other ~6 WAR OFs. The more I think about, my bet is DET or San Fran will throw serious coin and land him. I just don't see JR nutting up. Sox would have the highest PR in the teams history if they do.
[Reply]

Any thoughts on the two players voted into the HOF today?

Me, I have no problem at all with Griffey Jr. I guess one could quibble that he needed another couple of years active, but I won't be one of those.

As for Piazza, I think his numbers would prevent me from voting him in, were it not for the fact that he holds the HR record for a catcher. He was a powerful offensive weapon. On the other hand, he was not much of a defensive backstop, either as a receiver or with his arm. In my book, he was not a Posada, much less a Pudge. But that's me, and I won't begrudge the Pizzaman.
[Reply]

Griffey--YES! Griffey is probably my number one all time favorite players to watch, even though I was never a fan of any of the teams he played for. Although, I could stomach the Mariners.

Piazza--when I was younger, I was a Dodger fan, right through his rookie season. I always thought Mike Piazza was a solid player. Unfortunately, because of the flash of the players of the 90's and the fact that numbers are inflated more and more ever year, solid players wind up getting overlooked for the players that put on a show (See Craig Biggio and how long he had to wait to get voted in)
[Reply]

Solid? Yeah, sure. HOF? Ehhhh. And I saw Piazza a lot here with the Mets.

Not so much with the Dodgers, thanks to one of history's three greatest villains, Walter O'Malley. :-)
[Reply]