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The Official 2012 MLB Thread

Marvin Miller, executive director of the MLBPA from 1966-1982 died today. Maybe the most influential person in the history of sports labour, he built the MLBPA into one of the more successful unions in or out of sports during his time. Just about anyone in sports earning millions of dollars owes a lot of it to Marvin Miller.

Miller dies at 95
 
The Atlanta Braves have signed free agent OF BJ Upton to a multiyear deal. He'll look good in the outfield with Heyward. Now that the first domino has dropped we may see players like Swisher and Hamilton start to sign.
 
A lot has gone on over the last couple of days. Just to recap:

-The Rays filled a hole at 1st base by signing James Loney to a 1 year $2 M contract. Loney is a below-average option at 1B. Look for the Rays to trade one of their quality starting pitchers for help in other areas.

-The Nationals signed Dan Haren, who's coming off of a tough year. $13 M for Haren and this takes Washington out of the Greinke sweepstakes.

-The Red Sox have made the biggest splash, though one has to question their moves. Mike Napoli was signed to a 3 year $39 M contract despite hitting only .227 last year and being oft-injured. Shane Victorino also signed for 3 years and $39 M, even though he only hit .255 with 55 RBI last season. Victorino seems to be on the down-curve of his career, and Napoli was no where near the level he reached in 2011 last season. The Red Sox are spending money again, but is it smart money?

 
Yunel Escobar is back in the AL East. The Marlins have flipped the now infamous SS to the Rays. This is good, if only because we now get to boo him much more often.
 
Scutaro has also just re-signed with the Giants, who have now retained both Scutaro and Pagan. 3 years and $20 million for the former Jay.

(Yes, the Giants just signed a 37 year old to a 3 year deal).
 
Some big baseball news over the weekend:

- Michael Young gets dealt to Philadelphia

- Tampa trades James Shields and Wade Davis to Kansas City for super prospect Wil Myers and a bunch of other prospects

- The Dodgers signed Zack Grienke to a 6 year 147 million dollar deal as well as Hyun-Jin Ryu to a 6 year 36 million dollar deal. LA's payroll looks like it'll approach at least 230 million next year, dethroning the Yankees as the biggest spending team in Baseball by a fair margin.
 
Nik V. Debs said:
- Tampa trades James Shields and Wade Davis to Kansas City for super prospect Wil Myers and a bunch of other prospects
Click to expand...

I like this for both teams. I'd love to see Tampa now sweep in and use the money they've saved to outbid the Yankees for Kevin Youkilis.  :)  I'm also thinking about where this now puts the Jays rotation stacked up against the rest of the AL East.

Nik V. Debs said:
The Dodgers signed Zack Grienke to a 6 year 147 million dollar deal as well as Hyun-Jin Ryu to a 6 year 36 million dollar deal. LA's payroll looks like it'll approach at least 230 million next year, dethroning the Yankees as the biggest spending team in Baseball by a fair margin.
Click to expand...

From bankruptcy to this in just two years. God bless America.

 
 
Rob L said:
I like this for both teams. I'd love to see Tampa now sweep in and use the money they've saved to outbid the Yankees for Kevin Youkilis.  :)  I'm also thinking about where this now puts the Jays rotation stacked up against the rest of the AL East.
Click to expand...

I'm no prospect expert but Keith Law, who I tend to trust on these matters, tweeted this

One final thought before I sign off: Talked to a bunch of scouts/FO folks tonight. Every last one of them said the Rays came out way ahead.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree. The Rays may have just gotten the best minor leaguer in baseball, a 22 year old SP who had a sub 3.00 ERA last year in the PCL and was BA's #68th best prospect in baseball, another pitching prospect that was BA's #23 best prospect and a 3B prospect who hit well last year all in exchange for a SP who had a 108 ERA+ and a 2.2 bWAR last season and a reliever.

Rob L said:
From bankruptcy to this in just two years. God bless America.
Click to expand...

To be fair that really had nothing to do with the Dodgers though. That was just about the weasel who owned them.
 
I like Keith Law too... I also like Ken Rosenthal;

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/kansas-city-royals-gm-dayton-moore-right-move-james-shields-wade-davis-trade-tampa-bay-rays-wil-myers-120912

Like I said, I think it's a good trade for both teams.
 
Rob L said:
I like Keith Law too... I also like Ken Rosenthal;

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/kansas-city-royals-gm-dayton-moore-right-move-james-shields-wade-davis-trade-tampa-bay-rays-wil-myers-120912

Like I said, I think it's a good trade for both teams.
Click to expand...

Rosenthal describes Shields as "a true ace" which is just flat out nutty. The guy can pitch well but he was Tampa's #3 guy last year and contributed less value than Buehrle did. In exchange for him, and the two more years of control they have, the Royals gave up way more than the Jays did for Buehrle and Johnson and Reyes and the rest of it.
 
Nik V. Debs said:
Rosenthal describes Shields as "a true ace" which is just flat out nutty. The guy can pitch well but he was Tampa's #3 guy last year and contributed less value than Buehrle did. In exchange for him, and the two more years of control they have, the Royals gave up way more than the Jays did for Buehrle and Johnson and Reyes and the rest of it.
Click to expand...

Really?

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal
NL exec: "I saw Shields four times in Sept. Between his stuff, pitchability and stamina that rivals Halladay's, he certainly is a No. 1.
 
Rob L said:
Really?

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal
NL exec: "I saw Shields four times in Sept. Between his stuff, pitchability and stamina that rivals Halladay's, he certainly is a No. 1.
Click to expand...

Really. The guy sure doesn't put up the numbers of a #1, issues of pitchability aside. If Shields is an ace, Buehrle should start practicing his HOF speech.
 
The weird part about that deal is that both Myers and Odorizzi could easily compete for a roster spot this year and the Royals' core position players (Escobar, Moustakas, Hosmer, Perez, Butler) are no older than 26. Why make this move, when Myers and Odorizzi could easily grow with that group and in two years, they would have a very, very dangerous team.

I mean, I know they want to win games now, but I don't think the younger guys on that team are ready to compete just yet.
 
Another top prospect is trade for 10 cents on the dollar.

Three way deal between Arizona, Cleveland and Cincinatti.

To Arizona:
Didi Gregorius (Age 23, SS)
Tony Sipp (Age 29, LH RP)
Lars Anderson (Age 25, 1B/LF)

To Cleveland:
Trevor Bauer (Age 22, RH SP)
Bryan Shaw (Age 25, RH RP)
Drew Stubbs (Age 28, CF)
Matt Albers (Age 30, RH RP)

To Cincinatti:
Shin-Soo Choo (Age 30, RF)
Jason Donald (Age 28, UIF)
$3.5MM from the Indians

Arizona wanted a shortstop they could control for a while, but Gregorius is like one notch above Hechavarria. Choo's the real prize in this deal for the Reds - proven lead-off hitter for a team that desperately needed one. Cleveland gets a guy who has been considered one of the top prospects in the league.
 
Kevin Youkilis signs with the Yankees for 1 year and $12 M.

I really like the deal for NY, gives them a 3B to fill in for A-Rod and then a DH when A-Rod comes back. The Yankees now need a catcher and an outfielder. People have been talking about NY's decline, but this is still a very good baseball team. Don't underestimate them.
 
I'm sure it makes sense somehow but compare Youkilis to Eric Chavez and they're of a similar age, have similar injury problems, play the same position and Chavez had a significantly better year than Youk but Youk gets 12 milion and Chavez gets 3.
 
#1PilarFan said:
The weird part about that deal is that both Myers and Odorizzi could easily compete for a roster spot this year and the Royals' core position players (Escobar, Moustakas, Hosmer, Perez, Butler) are no older than 26. Why make this move, when Myers and Odorizzi could easily grow with that group and in two years, they would have a very, very dangerous team.

I mean, I know they want to win games now, but I don't think the younger guys on that team are ready to compete just yet.
Click to expand...

Yeah, those guys probably would have made the team and been upgrades on last season.  So now they have these pitchers but the position players are still weak beyond 2 players.
 
Nik V. Debs said:
I'm sure it makes sense somehow but compare Youkilis to Eric Chavez and they're of a similar age, have similar injury problems, play the same position and Chavez had a significantly better year than Youk but Youk gets 12 milion and Chavez gets 3.
Click to expand...

I imagine track record played into it to a significant degree. 2012 was Chavez's first really good season since 2005, whereas it looks like an off year from Youkilis.
 
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