junior wince

by lboros on Mar 8, 2006 8:19 AM EST in News Comment 13 comments

the boys at Baseball Analysts were kind enough to invite me to their nl central preseason scrum -- part of BA's "two on two" series of divisional previews. BA's rich lederer and bryan smith constitute one of the "twos," the cub reporter's john hill and i the other. three of us have the cardinals winning the division; the fourth picked the brewers. (it wasn't me, i swear.) head on over there and see the opinions fly.

re the new bonds allegations: we had a long steroids discussion on this blog not that long ago, so i'm not going to rant at length on the subject again. but i can't resist sharing this comment from a giants partisan at McCovey Chronicles:

From my personal end, I don't really care what Bonds put into his body then, and I don't care what he puts into it now. Morals be damned -- as long as he's playing for the San Francisco Giants I'll take every hit he gives the team with a big fucking smile on my face.

there are a whole range of perspectives from sf fans in that thread, if you're interested.

back on march 2, before the cards' first spring-training game, ryan at cardinals diaspora said this about junior spivey:

I'm making Junior Spivey my preseason pick for 2006 whipping boy. This should not be confused with CardNilly's "Waste of Flesh" title given to different members of the 25-man active roster. Much more invective filled, the Whipping Boy stands to be ridden hard all season long, to the point where he is irrationally blamed for failures throughout the year. The Cardinals have done quite well with retreads like Spivey, and their success with second basemen really stands out. However, I think fans carry a lot of unjustified irrational exuberance in regards to what Spivey is capable of. I also think that, as I've said before, not every project is going to work out for the better.

a week into the grapefruit league schedule, spivey is making diaspora look pretty smart: he's 0 for 11 this spring. i normally wouldn't pay any mind to a hitless week in spring training, but one thing has got my attention: spivey has struck out in 6 of those 11 at-bats. makes you wonder if that bum shoulder of his has fully healed; during his injury-plagued 2005 spivey whiffed once in every three at-bats, far and away the highest ratio of his career. it is only a week, too soon -- as danup pointed out in a comment to a subsequent diaspora post about spivey -- to label spivey a bust. but keep an eye on that strikeout rate.

i doubt it will come to this, but tony graffanino is surely available for cheap. from chris snow in the boston globe:

Checked the box scores on Kaz Matsui this spring? The Mets' second baseman fighting to keep his job is 0 for 12. Odd man out Tony Graffanino would make some sense for the Mets if he turns it on. Four games into the spring, Graffanino is 1 for 8. Playing third base yesterday, he was eaten up by a ball smoked right at him (properly ruled a hit) but later committed an error when he dropped a towering foul ball.

he's on a one-year, $2m deal; i tend to doubt we'll see him here. but there's another odd-2bman-out in boston's camp -- my crush object, willie harris -- who's only on a $650K minor-league deal . . . .

in other, far more important bum-shoulder news, they say scott rolen looked good in his spring debut yesterday.

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How about...

...an Aaron Miles for Lastings Milledge trade? (just joking) Another issue to keep an eye on is the D-backs situation at SS. Counsell may go under the knife and they don't have many options to play his position. Alex Cintron has already grown old with disappointment.

by acr on Mar 8, 2006 9:42 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Soriano/Vidro

If Vidro is healthy, the Nats will almost certainly put one of the two of them on the block. Anyone see an extra $7 million or so lying around?

DCGreg

by DCGreg on Mar 8, 2006 11:13 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

cash flow is good

given that single game tix already seem to be nearly sold out.

8/13/79- Lou Brock 3000 hits

by lb3000 on Mar 8, 2006 11:56 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

marquis makes $5m

if he (and his salary) go to dc in the trade, there's most of the $7m . . . .

by lboros on Mar 8, 2006 11:33 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Not that anyone cares, but...

Cintron moved to Whitesox. With Counsell's potential injury, I wonder if they are going to try and give S. Drew the start early instead of waiting till late summer?

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-BBO-White-Sox-Diamondbacks-Trade.html

by sdelek on Mar 8, 2006 12:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Alberto Callaspo

They just traded for Callaspo. I think he is ahead of Drew for now. Callaspo would probably be given a shot to see how he did first. Last year Drew did not fair too well at AA hitting .218/.301/.386. Those numbers are a bit deceiving as on the year Drew hit 14 homers and had 21 doubles in 250 minor league at bats split between High A and AA.

Anyway, Counsell just got a second opinion on his shoulder and surgery is not being recommended as of now. He should be ready for opening day if all goes well. But you never know about these things.

It is pretty odd that the D-backs would move Cintron without knowing the future of Counsell.

by acr on Mar 8, 2006 2:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

more money needed

My original comment was a bit flippant, but it actually might merit some discussion -- particularly if, say, Ponson, Reyes and Wainwright all look good at the end of spring training.

Soriano actually is due to get $10 million this year, up from $7.5 mln last year. He's eligible for free agency after this year. Given our current payroll limits, we'd probably have to free up some more $$. Not sure I see it happening.

Vidro is due $7 mln this year, plus $16 mln over the following two years. My guess is that the Nats will part with him, rather than admit they royally screwed up by trading for Soriano and hoping he'd move the OF. Vidro, at least by reputation, is much stronger defensively. The big, big question with him is health. If his knee's OK, he'd be a huge addition.

Having just acquired Astacio, the Nats aren't as desperate for pitching as they were a couple of weeks ago. But they can't keep both Soriano and a healthy Vidro, so I'm sure they'll be listening. I would think it'd take more than Marquis, but Bowden is such a bad judge of player value, there's really no telling what we might be able to get away with.

DCGreg

by DCGreg on Mar 8, 2006 12:25 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

another factor

may be the alleged "positional salary cap" --- ie, jocketty supposedly is allowed to pay no more than $2m for a second baseman. that was reported by one of the beat writers --- joe strauss, i think.

don't know how firm those rules are (or, really, if they even exist) . . . .

by lboros on Mar 8, 2006 12:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I really really really

don't want to see our groundball pitching staff with Soriano behind it *shudder*

by azruavatar on Mar 8, 2006 1:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

marquis

if your going to trade marquis do it for cabrera..myabe theyd do it since marquis is a FA at end of season...

by punchinjudy on Mar 8, 2006 1:26 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Cabrera

Would take much, much more to get Cabrera than it would to get Vidro. Start with Reyes and then add a couple more top prospects even to get us in the discussion.

DCGreg

by DCGreg on Mar 8, 2006 1:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

But he'd plug out left field hole...

quite nicely and then you move him to third once Rolen's contract is up...

Hey I can dream can't I...

by azruavatar on Mar 8, 2006 1:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

What about Pokey?

Here's food for thought... Pokey Reese was released by the Marlins for an unexcused absence, so as long as management ensures that Pokey hasn't developed Griekne-itis, wouldn't he be an economically good choice at 2nd? Even if his bat doesn't show up, you can always count on his glove.

by FreddieD on Mar 8, 2006 2:21 PM EST reply actions 0 recs