Free Agents Frenzy Starts here

[LoganBuck]

Dodgers spend $21.5 Million for three years of Brandon League. Eyes popping out emoticon.

[PuffyPig]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

Dodgers spend $21.5 Million for three years of Brandon League. Eyes popping out emoticon.

Sure glad we signed Marshall to that extension before the season.

His projected cost now?

[blumj]

Originally Posted by westofyou

It's from the Boston Globe, maybe they think Ohio is just one place Clevinnati

It's Nick Cafardo again. I had to check, not because the other Globe guys don't mess things up, but because Cafardo is a near lock to mess anything up.

[Vottomatic]

Well, if I had my crazy way, I'd fix the two problems with the Reds by extreme measures.

Problems:
1. Legit cleanup hitter to protect Votto. Someone with a good batting average, OBP, and reasonable power.
2. The 1 and 2 holes in the lineup. I'd add high OBP guys with decent speed at both positions. And most likely this would be LF and CF.
3. I'd can Stubbs however I could.
4. I'd let Ludwick walk.

My crazy solutions:
1. Trade with the Mets for David Wright and his .306 average, .391 OBP, 21 HR's, 93 rbi. He's a feared hitter and a solid third baseman. I know it would cost alot of money and alot in trade, but it would solidify 3B (he's 29 years old) for years to come and the help the Reds get maximum value out of Votto for the length of his contract. With Votto (LH) batting third, Wright (RH) fourth, and Bruce (LH) batting 5th, it maintains Dusty's lefty, righty, lefty need.
2. I'd trade for either Span (.357 career OBP), Fowler (.364 OBP), or sign Pagan (.333 career OBP) to play CF.

CF Fowler (SH) or Span (LH) or Pagan (SH)
2B Phillips (RH)
1B Votto (LH)
3B Wright (RH)
RF Bruce (LH)
LF Frazier (RH)
C Hanigan (RH)
SS Cozart (RH)

If Hamilton makes it to the big leagues, then so be it. Maybe he plays LF and bats lower in the order until he proves himself. Or maybe you move him to leadoff, Span to 2nd in the lineup, and move everyone down one in the order, Votto - cleanup, Wright 5th, etc. Or maybe Phillips drops behind Bruce in the lineup batting 6th and Hamilton and Span or Fowler are in the first 2 spots.

Either way, it's a nice problem to have.

[*BaseClogger*]

What are you trading the Mets for Wright? Hamilton, or the entire rest of the farm system?

[Vottomatic]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

What are you trading the Mets for Wright? Hamilton, or the entire rest of the farm system?

I didn't say it would work. I'm just saying that Wright is the type of hitter you need behind Votto to maximize Votto's talent. Ryan Ludwick or Jay Bruce hitting cleanup aren't going to get Joey pitches to hit.

[CySeymour]

Vottomatic, I think Fowler or Span would be very good targets for the Reds.

[MikeS21]

Problem is that Walt set the bar so high last off-season that we may be years before we see that much activity again. As others have said, there are a lot of lateral moves to be made but I don't see any moves that will upgrade a position that won't create a hole somewhere else.

I am not in favor of making a move just to make a move.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by Vottomatic

I didn't say it would work. I'm just saying that Wright is the type of hitter you need behind Votto to maximize Votto's talent. Ryan Ludwick or Jay Bruce hitting cleanup aren't going to get Joey pitches to hit.

Mike Trout would be a great fit in the lead off spot.

But well you know....


Meanwhile, more stuff

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/40121484/

What is it exactly that has made the offseason so attractive?

There is of course the belief of fans of those teams that sputtered out of contention this season that a couple moves during the next few months will improve next year’s outlook (although really, how many Houston Astros fans really believe they will finish out of last place in 2013?). Irrational optimism is also part of the offseason fun.

But could it be that what we most enjoy about the offseason is the chance to mock some of the decision-making … allowing us to ignore some of our own questionable decision-making?

The same group of us who enjoy critiquing a seemingly silly free-agent signing (oh my goodness I can’t believe the Red Sox gave Carl Crawford so much money!) won’t think twice about some of the silly decisions we make in our own lives (Hurricane Sandy shopping trip purchase: Olives? Olives. Olives!).

In the offseason we can hold baseball executives to a higher standard of decision making than we hold ourselves. We gasp at what Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. spends on free agents, while not thinking twice about how much we spend on something like cable television ($150 a month for 1,000 channels even though we usually just watch 15-20 channels, many sports-related).

Which of us hasn’t ordered one last unfortunate drink before last call, or bought electronics at the airport, or dated the completely wrong person, yet continued to laugh at the financials of the Alfonso Soriano contract?

This winter, when we’re trying to forget how much we’ve spent on smartphone apps we never use, these are some of the stories that we’ll be thinking about while we enjoy the start of baseball’s second season:

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

Dodgers spend $21.5 Million for three years of Brandon League. Eyes popping out emoticon.

The White Sox signed Jake Peavy to a two-year, $29 million contract.

[PuffyPig]

It's easy to GM this team when you have an unlimited payroll.

Need a clean up hitter? Trade for Wright. Hey you don't even need to speculate what players to give up or how we actually pay for it. Or whether the Mets would even likely trade a player they are about to sign to a long term contract.

As someone said, Trout can hit leadoff then.

[LoganBuck]

The League deal effectively prices Broxton and maybe to a lesser extent Madson out of the Reds budget. Rafael Soriano will be asking for the moon.

Teams with Closer needs.
Angels
Twins
Reds(maybe)
Brewers
BlueJays
Yankees(maybe)
Rockies
Tigers
Cubs
Marlins
Astros

[blumj]

The Dodgers seem to be operating in their own market right now, I'm not sure too many others will follow their lead.

[Vottomatic]

Originally Posted by PuffyPig

It's easy to GM this team when you have an unlimited payroll.

Need a clean up hitter? Trade for Wright. Hey you don't even need to speculate what players to give up or how we actually pay for it. Or whether the Mets would even likely trade a player they are about to sign to a long term contract.

As someone said, Trout can hit leadoff then.

Obviously a shot at me.

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by Vottomatic

Obviously a shot at me.

Yeah?