There's nothing else to talk about so... rumors!

by JI on Dec 29, 2008 7:09 PM PST Comment 52 comments

Andruw Jones, coming off a disastrous first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, has been the subject of trade talks between L.A. and the New York Mets, according to sources.

New York also has been trying to move a second baseman Luis Castillo, who is coming off a poor season and is owed $18 million over the next three seasons. But it's unlikely that the Dodgers would have interest in Castillo, because they have a young second baseman in Blake DeWitt, and Castillo does not play a lot of different positions. If the Mets were to move Castillo, they would be in a position to then pursue the top free-agent second baseman, Orlando Hudson.

link

Hey, if you can get him for next to nothing, Jones may be worth a look, his UZR results are excellent (+17.5 3yr average) and he can't possibly be as bad as he was last year.

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Hmm...

and he can’t possibly be as bad as he was last year.

You just gave him a goal!

Fans are typically idiots.

by The Typical Idiot Fan on Dec 29, 2008 7:41 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Any chance Prince Fielder is being shopped?

It's a crazy messed-up world... It's a doggy-dogg world...

by oc on Dec 29, 2008 7:46 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Yes.

by JI on Dec 29, 2008 8:02 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Fielder ----> Angels?

It's a crazy messed-up world... It's a doggy-dogg world...

by oc on Dec 29, 2008 8:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm going to post it to legitimatemlbtraderumors.com

by JI on Dec 29, 2008 8:24 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Should be a .org.

by acblue on Dec 29, 2008 8:29 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Whatever keeps the Rev hopeless.

It's a crazy messed-up world... It's a doggy-dogg world...

by oc on Dec 29, 2008 8:45 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Are we still looking for outfielders?

by Fin on Dec 29, 2008 9:12 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Yes, but this isn't a great match

by JI on Dec 29, 2008 9:17 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

No, it'd be terrible.

But is a Gutierrez/Chavez/Ichiro outfield not good enough? Or are we looking at Jones as a possible DH?

by Fin on Dec 29, 2008 9:27 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Eeeeeewwwww

by acblue on Dec 29, 2008 9:39 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Why on earth would we want to DH Andruw Jones?

by seattlebruin on Dec 29, 2008 9:56 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

You're right, that would be terrible.

Safeco would kill his numbers too.

by Fin on Dec 29, 2008 11:11 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Bahahaha

How do you kill .158/.256/.249???

by brayden04 on Dec 29, 2008 11:29 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

To be fair, last year was kind of a small sample size.

But I would imagine he would put up more Sexsonesqe numbers if he played more.

by Fin on Dec 30, 2008 12:11 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Last year was a small sample size,

but it’s not like he set the world on fire in his last season in Atlanta. I think he’s pretty much done.

by brayden04 on Dec 30, 2008 12:22 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

small sample? yes

but when it’s this devastatingly bad, it’s still a mega red flag.

he’s LD% was 13% (which would mean his expected BABIP would have been around .250, his real was something like .260 so yeah luck wasn’t , his HR/FB fell off a cliff was putting it kindly (it was 5% last year, just to compare, Melky Cabrera was 6.5% last year)

He was either badly hurt, or completely lost it, either way it’s not a good sign, he might bounce back some, but it’s not really worth gambling over 10+M for.

by RollingWave on Dec 30, 2008 2:23 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

He's still really good on defense

If the Dodgers pay the bill, it’s worth the gamble.

by JI on Dec 30, 2008 9:27 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

i've said it before

and i’ll say it again, defense value is not reliable. though Jones’ have been remarkablly consistent in terms of UZR. but if we look through more players, we tend to see pretty dramatic and random shifts in their UZR scores from year to year.

by RollingWave on Dec 30, 2008 10:20 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

So your saying UZR is worthless?

by JI on Dec 30, 2008 10:48 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Because those other players are playing through pain.

Big Z is the MAN.

by Taylor H on Dec 31, 2008 12:18 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Don't use a single year of data

by Jeff on Dec 31, 2008 12:19 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

that's probably a better idea

looking at it in terms of multi year stretchs. still that doesn’t change the fact that most players tend to see pretty drastic swings on a year to year bases (example, Coco Crisp last 3 year in CF went from decent, to AWSOME to pretty bad.)

by RollingWave on Dec 31, 2008 1:12 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I forgot to add

that because this tend to happen, the reliability of defensive evaluation is not quiet as reliable as those with the bat. and it doesn’t exactly take a scout of sabremetrition to see that something was seriously wrong with Andruw’s bat last year.

by RollingWave on Dec 31, 2008 1:14 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Use an average of those three years of data in concert with scouting information

and you’re likely to get a pretty solid handle on a player’s defensive abilities.

by acblue on Dec 31, 2008 1:20 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Adrian Beltre went from a .714 OPS to a 1.017 OPS to a .716 OPS in three seasons

Is OPS a garbage stat?

Hitting fluctuates. Pitching fluctuates. Why wouldn’t defense fluctuate?

by Jeff on Dec 31, 2008 1:29 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Just to prove that

Yes, it is possible to downgrade from Jose Vidro

by RollingWave on Dec 30, 2008 2:07 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Jones' upside is someting of a league average bat with good to great defense.

I’d probably be trying to deal Pierre if I were the Dodgers assuming JOnes has a clean bill of health

by JI on Dec 29, 2008 10:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

jones is better than Chavez

a Jones/Gutierrez/Ichiro outfield would be amazing defensivily and if someone got hurt Chavez is a great backup. The wouldn’t hit much but they’d save a ton of runs.

by Flamefox111 on Dec 30, 2008 10:58 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Bard and Penny to BOS

by Mariner John on Dec 29, 2008 9:29 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

hopefully

they won’t trade Bard for Mirabelle again :P

by RollingWave on Dec 30, 2008 2:27 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Bard for 1.7 milli

2.5 with incentives

good deal even if he’s just going to backup Varitek

by Fogel on Dec 30, 2008 2:33 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Based on what Fangraphs is saying, Varitek won't be back.

Unless they carry 3 catchers.

by Mariner John on Dec 30, 2008 4:16 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I was just going off this

Even with the apparent signing, Bard is considered a backup and the Red Sox are still trying to bring back Jason Varitek, a free agent who has been the team’s starting catcher since 1999 and the team captain the past four seasons.

by Fogel on Dec 30, 2008 4:28 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yannkees have too many corner OF/1B types.

Swisher to first?

by aws on Dec 29, 2008 9:37 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Nope

My guess is Swisher some right, some left, and some first depending on who is/is not hurt.

by JI on Dec 29, 2008 10:59 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

idealy

Put Damon in CF and pray he stays in one peice. then you get Swisher / Damon / Nady, which isn’t awsome but is at least mildly respectable. if they figure Damon simply can’t do it anymore or is too horrible there, then go with Melky / Gardner in CF and use Nady to cover Damon or whoever’s on a cold streak when facing lefties.

by RollingWave on Dec 30, 2008 2:25 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

They wouldn't be having this problem if they traded Gardner/Melky for Washburn.

by Fin on Dec 30, 2008 3:22 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

They could solve it by trading Swisher to the M's for the same pile of crap

that they traded to the Sox.

I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!!! I DRINK IT UP!!

by abender20 on Dec 30, 2008 8:18 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

They'll have to do that anyway when Matsui gets hurt / needs to sit down against a lefty

by JI on Dec 30, 2008 9:26 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

well

Matsui doesn’t really have much of a split against lefty, Damon has a bit more (but not extreme either) it’s more to do with that Nady is the one with the big split.

It’s highly unlikely that the Yankees play Matsui on the field except in some rare occasions in 09, even if they don’t care about defense. they at least can tell a guy with a bad knee with they see one.

by RollingWave on Dec 30, 2008 10:27 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

It’s highly unlikely that the Yankees play Matsui on the field except in some rare occasions in 09

Obviously:

Melky to center, Damon to left, Swisher to right, and Nady to DH.

I bet Swisher will play everyday just not at one spot, it’s more likely that Nady/Matsui/Damon/Cabrera split time between three available spots in the lineup.

by JI on Dec 30, 2008 10:51 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Those are pretty crappy rumors.

I’d rather try to guess who’s going to take washburn off our hands and for how little, and who can be added to the roster with the cleared salary.

Also, Penny is only getting 5mil/1yr? I know he stunk last year but he had a pretty good run for a few years. Doesn’t track record count for anything any more?

by Bearskin Rugburn on Dec 30, 2008 11:55 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Prefaced with: "There's nothing else to talk about"

I’d rather try to guess who’s going to take washburn off our hands and for how little, and who can be added to the roster with the cleared salary.

Yeah, but that treads dangerously close to rosterbation and I’m erring on the side of caution.

by JI on Dec 30, 2008 12:07 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

That assumes there are such things as good or interesting rumors.

Nice Guys Finish Third - Hopelessly lost, but makin' good time.

by pdb on Dec 30, 2008 12:47 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Shoulder and elbow injuries in 2008.

by Matthew on Dec 30, 2008 12:50 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Andruw Jones was so god awful last year

never in my life have I felt less confidence in a hitter each time he stepped up to the plate. Seeing him in person was just as bad. I remember fans mock cheering at him after he actually fouled a ball off. He did end up reaching base that at bat, off a fluke error.

You know what? Fuck you Sports Gods, fuck you.

by bluemax on Dec 30, 2008 12:21 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Orioles possibly interested in Sexson

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/schmuck/2008/12/orioles_sexson_an_option_at_1b_1.html

the other angels fan

by Eyebrows on Dec 30, 2008 4:57 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

ESPN.com reports that Chris Snyder’s three-year contract extension with the Diamondbacks is worth $14.5 million in guaranteed money.
The deal is said to include a fourth-year team option that would push the total value to around $20 million while buying out Snyder’s first two seasons of free agency. An announcement is expected to come as soon as Tuesday.

by Goose on Dec 30, 2008 5:02 PM PST reply actions 0 recs