On this date in 1998, the Tigers traded Luis Gonzalez to the Diamondbacks for Karim Garcia. Gonzalez would hit 224 home runs in eight seasons with Arizona, including 57 homers during the team's 2001 Championship season. Here are tonight’s links…
- Jim Bowden ranks the top ten contracts in baseball (from a team perspective) at ESPN.com and Rays players (Matt Moore, David Price and Evan Longoria) occupy three of the top four spots.
- The Brewers started negotiations with Norichika Aoki in the $1-1.5MM range, according to a Sanspo report relayed by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. Milwaukee won the bidding for the Japanese outfielder with a bid of $2.5MM earlier this month.
- The Chiba Lotte Marines announced that they signed former big league first baseman Josh Whitesell, according to a Sponichi report passed along by Newman.
- Newman also relays a Sponichi report indicating that Softbank is working to acquire former big league lefty Renyel Pinto. The Orioles had some interest in Pinto this offseason.
- Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus lists ten prospects who will look to turn their careers around in 2012 after disappointing 2011 campaigns. Wilmer Flores of the Mets, Aaron Hicks of the Twins and Jose Iglesias of the Red Sox appear on the list.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs attempts to determine which active players are future Hall of Famers and considers Major Leaguers such as Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Carlos Beltran and Joey Votto along the way.
Jim Bowden’s article couldn’t be more asinine.
What are you talking about? I’d be the first to rip Bowden as a moron, in general, but his article and top 10 was pretty reasonable.
The cano deal is already over. No mention of padroia. etc.
No it isn’t. The contract had team options for ’12 and ’13, which are obviously being exercised.
– ECB
True, but Bowden conveniently ignored them in his calculation of AAV because they didn’t fit his point. That’s my issue with Bowden in this instance.
For real, Bowden should know the routine, Google “Contracts with Andrew Friedman’s name on them -Pat Burrell” and just copy paste the results.
Luis Gonzalez is someone whose name is NEVER mentioned in the same breath as Palmeiro, Bonds, or McGwire, but it should be.
Former texas ranger pitcher .. and venezuelan .. Rosman Garcia .. Die tonight ..
traffic accident .. here in caracas ..
Sad news, i was listening to a Mexican Pacific winter league game when his name was mentioned, truly sad news.
Que descanse en paz, Rosman José García Parra.
Some obvious one and a few guesses for the HOF out of current players. Obviously for alot of these players it would involve them playing at their current levels for many more years. Jeter, Mariano, Pedroia, Prince Fielder, Pujols, Braun (If he is found to be innocent), K-Rod, Papelbon, Adrian Gonzalez, Mark Texiera, Michael Young, Johnny Damon, Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay ect.
braun wont get in even if he is. he’s tainted, almost none of the “juicers” were ever 100% proven to have taken steroids and none of them will probably get in
Yeah I get that but there is a slight possibility they prove 100% that what he tested positive for wasn’t HGH or a PED.
too early to call him tainted.
I know nothing more than anyone else, but i honestly sounds like he was taking something like viagra(i know, ha ha). But seriously… synthetic testosterone, medical condition, private reasons, explantation that will put everything to rest, according to braun.
Not only is it too early to call him tainted, but Ryan Braun could end up as one of the most critical players in baseball history. Almost everyone else was near the end of their career, or retired, when proof or admittance caught up with them. Here we have an in-his-prime stud. If he turns it around and plays just as well beyond this point, I think we may finally start feeling out some middle ground of how to acknowledge the reality of steroids, without the ridiculous idea that its best to just forget the last twenty years never happened.
Word going around is that he tested positive because of a drug he has to take for an STD. If so, whomever leaked this information illegally needs to be sued out of their every pennies. Not only did his professional reputation take a savage beating but a young single dude having to profess his STD publicly is embarrassing and he shouldn’t have to go through that. That is a very private thing.
Hadn’t heard that, but that is interesting. My thoughts were just a guess that I came up with a while ago, and if you’re correct I wasn’t too far off haha.
Anyways, I do agree, its horrible if its true that someone leaked a positive test because of that. Whoever leaked it will have some SERIOUS consequences
K-Rod and Papelbon? Who do you like on this year’s ballot, then, Jeromy Burnitz and Terry Mullholland?
Wow brilliant comparison in Burnitz. Secondly its not out of the realm of possibility for them both to make the hall. Do you think Mo will be the last closer ever to make the hall or something? And again just some very speculative guesses.
Closers have to perform at unreal levels to be considered for the hall. Theres alot of folks who think even hoffman will struggle to get votes for the hall
I can’t believe Pedro Martinez wasn’t mentioned.
Pedro is retired I thought the article was about current players.
He is retired and the article is about current players. He will be in the hall though, no doubt. Statistically one of the most dominant pitchers ever.
And Pedro had a ball boy build to boot. Definitely an all-time great.
I don’t see either Pedoria or Papelbon becoming HoFers, honestly.
Prob not Paps but I could see Pedroia being there if he can play for awhile.
awesome article by dave cameron
I hate that insider crap.
Karim García…I’ll only remember him as a thug for that bullpen beatdown in the ALCS. That was him right? I don’t wanna unnecessarily call him a thug haha, but I’m pretty sure that was him
On this date in 1998, the Tigers traded Luis Gonzalez to the Diamondbacks for Karim Garcia.
Gonzalez would hit 224 home runs in eight seasons with Arizona,
including 57 homers during the team’s 2001 Championship season, Garcia would continue to be fat.
Do people actually sign up for that insider crap? Serious question…i’d rather a couple cups of coffee per month then to pay to read some jack offs opinion.
Especially when you can get so many more jack offs’ opinions for free.
Hear Hear!
On the future hall of famer article… If Jim Thome is questionable for the first ballot then in my opinion the steroids scandal has become a complete witch hunt. Thome was a top hitter in his prime and there was never a hint of controversy in his career besides playing on the same team as Jason Gimsley. I say he’s a first ballot lock.
Evan Longoria is the best contract in the history of baseball, without a shadow of a doubt(Obviously in relative terms though, because you can say “ancient player A got paid three chickens and a goat in 1742” but 3 chickens and a goat were probably worth something back then) Longoria is getting paid very little for being head and shoulders the best player at his position in baseball.
I can’t read the article but I think it is very unsurprising that Tampa have 3 players in the top 10.
Hmm current players looking likely to go to the HOF…
If Ichiro gets to 3000 he is an absolute LOCK. Scott Rolen and Andruw Jones should definitely both get in… assuming Adrian Beltre keeps his play up over the length of this contract, he should easily get in. I value defence though and don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t judge a player on 50% of the game of baseball.
A lot of the young players seem like locks right now (Tulo, Longoria, Felix etc) but you just never know. I’ll go ahead and say that Longoria in particular will probably end up being a lock for the HoF, I just don’t see him regressing, whereas what happens if Tulo loses some range and ends up at a different position? He ends up looking more ordinary… Miguel Carbrera will be in the HOF as long as he doesn’t have to spend a large part of his career DHing… which is a possibility…
David Wright is interesting, a lot depends on his next 5 seasons… does he stay a Met? They’re going nowhere in the next 5 years, in fact I’d go as far to say that if he stays a Met he isn’t going to sniff any post season success again(ever?). It’s a shame the Mets are so useless, I want to like them and I’m a big fan of Wright and Santana.
Dave Cameron -put down your bong !
one name to add to your list of actives that are future HOF candidates = CHIPPER JONES !
He put Chipper Jones in his list of ‘no brainers’
Also… I’m not Dave Cameron.
I know Chipper Jones worked out better than Todd Van Poppel, I am just not sure he’s a Hall of Famer. I know his first wife wouldn’t vote for him if she were allowed!
The Brewers started negotiations with Norichika Aoki in the $1-1.5MM range.
Don’t go to too crazy with the contract offer…. you don’t want him to feel welcome or anything!
How about starting the betting at 1 dollar next time, then you could could be a contestant on the price is right!
Unbelievable, the Brew Crew gets lucky by getting a chance here and all of a sudden they are getting cheap! What’s the deal?
PS The Orioles were interested in Pinto? Why because Kranitz coached him when he was a Marlin? Let the Brewers sign him! So they can be reunited!
Duquette is taking a snooze!
Let me get this straight:
Cano’s career WAR: 24.5 WAR over seven seasons
Pedroia’s career WAR: 26.7 WAR over five seasons
Longoria’s career WAR: 26.9 WAR over four seasons
Cano’s AAV: $9.83MM
Pedroia’s AAV: $7.35MM
Longoria’s AAV: $5.27MM
How in the world does one rationalize Cano on top while at the same time leaving Pedroia out entirely? That one aside, how in the heck did this guy have the nerve to put Cano over Longoria? Longoria is a better defender, has generated almost double Cano’s WAR on an annual basis and even if you want to argue the offensive angle, Longoria’s by and large the better hitter (.374 career wOBA versus .359 for Cano).
Cano’s a great baseball player and all and his contract is pretty good, but come on! The first year of his contract was actually above market value for his performance and while they’ve gotten three great years at a steep discount, his contract balloons next year. Guys generating roughly the same WAR level over the last three years as Cano are Beltre, Braun, Bautista (Y’know, for that matter, where is Bautista on this list?), Pedroia, Mauer.
The highest paid of those players will be Mauer, the lowest being Pedroia. Averaging out the peak salary each will get you brings us to $17.4MM, which gives us a rough market value for Cano’s production (And that’s generous considering Mauer had his worst year last year and neither Beltre nor Bautista produced in ’09). Cano will make $14MM and $15MM the next two seasons. At best, Cano’s making just shy of market value, but realistically that’s around what the current market for his production is. So, essentially, the Yankees got three years of well below market value production and two of just below market value (Unless he makes another massive leap forward and hits Pujols levels next year) and that beats Evan Longoria’s contract, which pays him basically a quarter of his market value and Pedroia, who’s put up nearly identical WAR to Cano (Despite missing half of 2010 to injury) at less AAV, doesn’t even rate the list?
This is one of the rare instances where I am glad that I didn’t have Insider. Cano #1 over Longoria was all I needed to see.
This is one of the rare instances where I am glad that I didn’t have Insider. Cano #1 over Longoria was all I needed to see.