Minding The Stove
Old No. 7: Thus far the biggest moves have been made by the Angels. I've long been a critic of their GM, Bill Stoneman, for being way too conservative with his farm system and letting his major league offense rot. Stoneman stepped down and was nominally replaced by Tony Reagins, although I feel the old man still has a say in big decisions.
Anyway, they traded Orlando Cabrera for Jon Garland, which I think is a bad move. Cabrera was the second-best hitter on the team, a defensive whiz and a loose, positive leader type. Garland is middle of the road at best. They then surprised baseball by winning the Torii Hunter sweepstakes—he'll play center while last year's semi-bust Gary Mathews Jr. slides to a corner spot. You like what the Angels are doing, can you tell me why?
Rustoleum: I’m glad someone else thought that trading Cabrera didn’t make a lot of sense, especially for Garland. I mean the one thing the Angels have is pitching, were they hoping he could come in and be the next Bartolo? I guess the fact of the matter is they are probably going to try and trade one of their younger starters, but who? You know Lackey, Escobar, and probably Weaver won’t get moved. I could see Saunders but his upside seems to be more than that of Garland, who’s best season was two years ago when he went 18-7 for a loaded White Sox roster. His ERA that year was 4.50 with a .297 baa. That leaves Ervin Santana, who you know the Angels would love to unload, but who in their right mind would want that chump? If they were smart they’d call the Pirates, because not only would they take Santana, they would probably send their best two or three prospects back.
I think Cabrera will be harder to replace than the Angels think and if they think Erick Aybar is the answer, they should just trade away Vlad right now… preferably to the Yankees. Cabrera hit over .300 last year, and had a surprisingly high (for a shortstop… on that team) 86 RBIs. He’s good for 100 runs and 20-30 SBs, and like you said can also flash the leather.
The good news for the Angels is they are getting Torii Hunter. Now I know OLD number seven didn’t think it was a good move, but I think (especially after dumping Cabrera) that this was the most positive move the Angels have had since getting Vlad. You’re talking about one of the top two or three center fielders in the game. He’s a high energy guy and a total defensive stud. He was the heart and soul of the Twins, they are going to sorely miss him. Coming off of one his best years hitting, you’re looking at a guy who will probably hit .270 to .280, have 30 jacks, 20 steals, 100 runs, and 100 RBIs . He’s exactly what the Angels needed...besides a third baseman.
So I guess overall I’m kind of split on the Angels offseason so far, but maybe they can steal Miguel Cabrera and become the Red Sox West.
Old No. 7: Your team, the Yankees, retained Alex Rodriguez. He's obviously the best player in baseball, but do you wish they'd mixed things up a bit?
Rustoleum: Well he's still not signed, yet, but obviously the Yankees are really the only team who can afford to have A-Rod on their roster and not totally tear the team apart. I’d have liked to have seen the Yankees do things a little differently, but frankly having the best player in baseball on your team doesn’t hurt. The Yanks are kind of a weird team, frankly there isn’t anyone out there free agent wise that could have helped them besides Torii Hunter (I wish the Mariners weren’t able to re-sign Ichiro). The one thing they sorely need is starting pitching (who doesn’t?) and not really old ones. I mean you have to like the younger ones that are coming along. Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, The Wanger, and we’ll see what they do with Joba. Of course if they decide to start Joba, we’re a bit screwed in middle relief. But we’re the Yankees we can buy some middle relief.
Old No. 7: Speaking of the same old song and dance, your boys also brought back Posada and Rivera, and if Pettitte isn't back in pinstripes next year I'll buy you a beer. Assuming, of course, that he isn't named in the Mitchell Report like he was in the Jason Grimsley indictment. How do you feel about rehashing these same old guys that haven't won anything since last century?
Rustoleum: The rehashing is fine, as long as you sprinkle in some youth and the Yankees are getting there. I like the Yankees' shot with Cabrera, Cano, and the young pitchers. Pettitte had a quietly good year and you need some veterans to give the leadership that A-Rod will never give you. Posada is coming off of his best season ever and keeps improving every year. Re-signing Rivera for three years is a bit nerve racking, but guys are playing into their forties regularly now. There can be something good said about the HGH. Besides, I’d way rather have these guys coming back as your vets than say Mark Grudzielanek or Mike Sweeney.
Old No. 7: The last time the Red Sox won the World Series they jettisoned much of the team. Dave Roberts, Cabrera, Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe, Alan Embree, Bill Mueller and Kevin Millar were all let go, and Johnny Damon followed a year later. Obviously it eventually worked out, because they're back on top with a deeper, younger team. But it sucked seeing those guys that delivered a championship leave.
Rustoleum: That’s not even a fucking question. You just had to get that in, didn’t you. The only ones that piss me off more than you, OLD no. 7 from New York, are the bandwagon fans...you know the ones who wear that stupid, fucking B on their hats (especially the pink or green hats). If the Royals were to make it to third place one of these years, do you think they would start making pink hats too?
Old No. 7: No, but they are wearing the powder blues again in ’08—nice. If you’d relax a little bit I’ll get to the question. This year, the Sox retained Curt Schilling and Mike Lowell with what I consider very smart contracts. Both took pay cuts from their last deals, and both took fewer years than what was speculated would be required to retain them. Does anyone do it better than Theo?
Rustoleum: Maybe you should ask his boyfriend, next question.
Old No. 7: I think that all the subjective crap about baseball is a joke—the awards and the Hall Of Fame and all that shit the writers vote on. I can't think of a group of assholes that do a worse job than baseball writers, and they have pretty much the best gig in the world. Check out this link, and this one too.
Rustoleum: I couldn’t agree more. I still can’t believe Feinsand’s reasoning to why he left Beckett off of his Cy Young ballot. Wins are overrated? That is pretty ridiculous, last I heard winning baseball games was a good thing, unless you’re the Marlins or the Royals. And his comments about quality starts, try throwing C.C. or Carmona in the AL East and I have a feeling that neither would have as high of quality start percentage. And last I heard a quality start could mean your ERA was 4.50, that to me is an overrated stat. Also, the fact of C.C beating Johan three times this year is all fine and dandy, but the twins sucked. Their offense was pathetic and Johan would win games in spite of the Twins only scoring one or two runs. So if he gave up three, he pretty much wasn’t going to get the win. I understand if you thought C.C. had a better year, but leaving Beckett off of the ballot is a shame and you probably shouldn’t be voting. That was like leaving Ripken or Gwynn off your HOF ballot...or Jimmy Rollins winning MVP.
Old No. 7: It's obvious to me that the Rockies got hosed. You can make an individual argument against Tulowitzki for the Gold Glove and Rookie Of The Year, Holliday for MVP, Hurdle for Manager Of The Year and Francis for Cy Young, but to have that kind of season and get shut out is a traveshamockery. Can you justify the job the baseball writers do?
Rustoleum: I know a lot of people who haven’t watched the Rockies that closely (and probably not a lot of baseball) still believe that Coors skews numbers, but that argument has started to get very old. Although the home runs were the highest they’ve been in three years (since 2005: 325, 312, 335), it doesn’t even compare to the stretch before the humidor was brought in (02-04: 377, 398, 400). That said I certainly have no problem with Peavy winning the Cy Young over Jeff Francis. As fine a year as Francis (17-9, 4.22) had, Peavy won the triple crown and hands down should have won the award. I can understand Bob Melvin getting the Manager of the year; as miserable as the Rox were last year, the D-Backs were just as bad and they ended up with the best regular season record in the NL. You can also make cases for Rollins and Braun winning MVP and ROY, but I do think Holliday and Tulo got hosed a bit.
The award, though, that makes very little sense to me is the Gold Glove that the writers stole away from Tulo. Rollins was third in the NL in fielding percentage, while Tulo was number one at arguably the hardest position on the field… and he’s a rookie! Tulo had the exact amount of errors as Rollins, in almost 100 more attempts. And that gun that Tulo displayed all year was unmatched. But what do I know, we should ask the smartest baseball writer in the world, Mark Feinsand.
Old No. 7: As interesting as this offseason has been already, we could blow the lid off the whole thing if either Miguel Cabrera of Johan Santana get moved. Do you think the Yankees have a shot at either, and where do you think they'll end up on Opening Day?
Rustoleum: I really don’t think either of them will get moved before the season starts. I believe Jayson Stark put it best when he talked about these teams holding on to Cabrera and Johan, to at least give the appearance that they are going in to the season thinking they aren’t tanking right off the bat. While I think the Twins believe in this philosophy, I’m sure the Marlins don’t give a shit about their fans and would take an offer and then try to move out of town, perhaps KC could use another team. The best move, in my opinion, would be to listen to offers, but wait until you get closer to the trading deadline for desperate teams to start throwing as much as they can. And as much as I would love to see the Yankees get either of these players, I really don’t think the Yankees have enough of anything to make a run. That said, if they could make a run at Santana, they should do anything in their power to get him.
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