2011-12 Hot Stove Thread

Surprised that the A's won the bidding, and that it was that low. The Cubs spent $7 million on Gerardo Concepcion, who according to the BP scouts, wouldn't have cracked the first three rounds of the amateur draft based on his talent. Given the bids for Darvish, and that teams are going to be seriously curtailed in bidding on amateur and international talent in the near future, I was surprised the deal wasn't worth more than $50 million.

 

The big difference is that Cespedes will be a free agent after four years. Concepcion might not hit free agency for 10 years.

 

Couple Chicago-related items:

How would Cubs fans react if they had to go to the South Side due to renovations to Wrigley?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/u-cellular-field-home-chicago-cubs-164911497.html;_ylt=Au9fLz5NVr.BNmdNRQcPaT4RvLYF


Fukudome signs with the White Sox, one year, one million deal.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AtgsjdoKTs8p_WUGwY4M13URvLYF?slug=ap-whitesox-fukudome

 

Seems like kind of a lot for him; I would think he's just a minor league invite guy at this point.

 

Heard that Tony Gwynn was having another cancer surgery. Had no idea it was a 14-hour procedure ...

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7578270/hall-famer-tony-gwynn-14-hour-tumor-removal-surgery

 

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/sportingscene/2012/02/laughing-at-the-mets.html

 

AJ nixes trade to Halos for Abreu...because his wife is afraid of flying.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120216&content_id=26717588&vkey=news_ana&c_id=ana&partnerId=rss_ana

 

I'm glad he did. I'd rather see the Yanks take their chances on a prospect who never does anything in the bigs than bring back the wall-allergic Abreu. Take a chance on someone with a little upside instead of an expensive washed-up slug who can only DH.

Apparently, most of the teams on Burnett's no-trade list are West Coast teams because his wife refuses to fly. When he was in Toronto, part of his deal was limo transportation to and from his home (in Maryland?) for his wife to Toronto eight times a year. Guess he wasn't going to get a limo to Anaheim that often.

 

Via Twitter: Tim Wakefield will announce his retirement today.

 

Burnett to Pirates done:

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/yankees-trade-a-j-burnett-to-pirates-1.3538767

Bucs get two minor leaguers, righthander Diego Moreno and outfielder Exicardo Cayones. Neither is considered a major prospect.

Yankees will pay $20 million of the remaining $33 million on Burnett's contract, so the Pirates are getting Burnett at $6.5 million per year. That's not a bad deal, considering they didn't give up much of anything.

 

Paying a shitty pitcher $6.5 million per year is not a good deal.

 

Shitty in the AL East = average-to-above-average in the NL Central