2008-09 Hot Stove Thread

Now that voice claims Freddy An. Garcia isn't under contract.

 

Was it an injury that obviously occurred today or is there now a possibility that the team that just signed him could void his contract? I'm not sure if I would have wanted to take a flier on him, but I think that there are not enough organizations that go about the route of signing one or two pitchers each year from the scrap heap to try and make into reclamation projects. The idea of giving C.C. a contract of 6/140 is crazy to me. Contracts for pitchers should be shorter but average higher annual salaries, simply because of the risk involved. How can the Cards be so great at turning chicken shit into chicken salad? And I don't think the answer is simply because of Dave Duncan, because I would argue that there are a handful of other pitching coaches in MLB better than him.

 

Joe Poz throws a little Cleveland perspective on the Steinbrenner retrospective:

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/11/28/king-george/

Man, I'm glad to be alive when this guy is writing. I imagine those of you who were around for Red Smith or Shirley Povich in their primes felt the same way.

 

The Cardinals invest more heavily than others in Latin America. They even have scouts in Colombia and Curacao. That's covering the bases.

 

That was a great article, thanks for posting

 

Joel Sherman calls out Andy Pettitte in today's Post.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12022008/sports/yankees/if_pettitte_signs_elsewhere__in_bronx_he_141839.htm

 

Kansas Citians?

 

I like Joel but I think he's crazy to think Pettitte, out of some sense of loyalty, should take five or six million dollars less to pitch for the Yankees. The Yankees stood by Pettitte out of self interest and Pettitte should make his decision out of self interest.

Also, if the Yankees walked away from trying to acquire Johan Santana because they thought Pettitte could provide similar results, the Yankees' talent evaluators have some major issues.

 

You called?

 

Apparently Javier Vasquez is about to be traded to Atlanta. The White Sox say they told him that, but they are working out the other four players involved.

Saw this on the Bottom Line, looking for a link now.

 

They couldn't get Peavy, so they traded for Home-Run Javy? Have fun with that.

 

Whew. That team needs to just rebuild completely. Their rotation needs work, their bullpen is a mess and Chipper Jones is not exactly healthy these days.