Well, it’s here. That important November event that the nation waits for.
Thats right, we have just made it through the first full day of the Major League Baseball’s annual GM meetings. While teams still have an exclusive negotiating window with their own free agents, this weeks meetings is where many of the foundations of deals will be laid, trades will be discussed and Scott Boras will exude evil. This is also a chance for many of the GMs and Agents to start thinking about how the economy will affect the game and how it is run.
So what’s been going on?
The Yanks have formally cut ties with two of the biggest embarrassments in team history. They turned down the $21 million option on Jason Giambi (who should never have left Oakland, or grown that ‘stache… Creepy…..), the first man to apologize for nothing in the history of baseball (we think it was for pooping in public or something but he never said). They also let Carl Pavano go. Who is he you ask? He is the guy who got $40 Million dollars to go 9-8 in 4 seasons and generally be called a wuss by the entire organization. (The Sox offered him more money 4 years ago before trading for Beckett, Whew)
Matt Holliday has made an appearance, which is rare for a player (he lives and train in the area, so it’s not too surprising). It may be for the shrimp cocktail, or it may be to meet with his agent (Satan) and Rockies management to find out where he will be underperforming next season. He is on the block but comes with the stigma of his career numbers being closely attached to the inflated offensive reputation of Coors Field in Denver. Many people speculate that he’s on the Sox radar, but a Boras guy who is unproven outside of Denver, with awful Home/Road splits (.357 avg, .423 obp, 1.068 ops /.280, .348, .803 I love Baseball Reference) and only one year on his contract is not the kind of chance we need to take at this point. What can he do? Nobody knows.
The Sox have said goodbye to Mike Timlin (I would love to see Mike retire and join the Sox as a minor league instructor. He is clearly done but could be an awesome resource for the young relief pitchers in the Sox System) and Sean Casey (thanks Sean, it was great, best of luck, and I hope I don’t have to hate you next year). But the two big Sox notes are that they are talking to the Rangers about one of their four young catching prospects and that they are the frontrunnner to land 22 year old Japanese amateur Junichi Tazawa. Tazawa is a bit of an unknown. He instructed the teams of Nippon Professional Baseball (thats the Japanese Leagues for those who don’t know) to pass over him in the draft this year, but he has been on the Sox radar for a couple of years and is in line with their goal of having all japanese Pitchers. He may be inline for a Major League contract right off the bat, but will undoubtedly be relegated to the minors for a time. He, like what ever the catcher the Sox get from Texas, will be a long term investment with less immediate impact and more in the future.
Now the Rangers. They have four guys who could fill the spot of Catcher in Waiting behind the Captain (should he come back), Gerald Laird, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Taylor Teagarden, and some other guy who it seems is too raw to be an option. This is the report from Extra Bases ”Saltalamacchia is more raw in terms of his catching than Teagarden but his physical upside is greater, according to one major league scout here at the GM meetings. Another scout said Saltalamacchia reminds him of a young Varitek at this stage in his development, with Saltalamacchia perhaps possessing a greater upside offensively.” Yeah, I have a man crush on Salty. Big whoop. Wannafightaboudit?
More from the meetings tomorrow, or if anything big goes down today. Congrats to President-Elect Obama. Go America
Trust in Theo. Go Sox.
105 Days.
Done.
Tazawa might turn out to be a good prospect.
However, the most important thing about him is that he is sort of a test subject for this new idea of japanese players bypassing the draft in Japan to sign as MLB free agents without a posting fee. the lack of a fee is very key to the whole situation. If it works, and he fairs well in the minors next year it opens up the door for the next BIG time japanese pitcher.. Yu Darvish. He is half Iranian, and has a lot of potential, both on the field, and as a hype machine.
Remember his name because he is going to have about the same amount of hype as DiceK in a year or two, and if tazawa comes to the sox it makes them the frontrunner for darvish.
Once again, increasing the possibility of an all Japanese rotation. Especially after Lester gets the surgery.
also, while salty definately has a fantastic minor league track record, and has been developing at a decent rate in the majors, Max Ramirez, probably the other Texas catcher you referred to, has almost as good numbers in the minors as salty did, and probably comes way cheaper. Laird is sort of a generic veteren (.306 career OBP in 6 major league seasons) and Teagaarden is probably the worts offensive prospct of the three young guys.
yeah, i love baseball-reference.com too