Yearly Archives: 2007

December 17, 2007

Episode 83: Tejada in, Edmonds out

This week on the podcast:

  • Cubs signing Kosuke Fukudome and Cubs non-tendering Mark Prior. Both sort of hard to quibble with.
  • Houston trading for closer Jose Valverde from the Diamondbacks for 2B Chris Burke and pitchers Juan
  • Gutierrez and Chad Qualls.
  • Houston trading for Miguel Tejada and Tejada appearing in the Mitchell Report.
  • Even more talk about the Mitchell Report.
  • Cardinals trading away Edmonds, and the tears that flowed thereafter. But don’t worry; he’ll be OK.
  • Brewers tendering one-year contracts to: SS J.J. Hardy, RHPs Dave Bush, Claudio Vargas, and Seth McClung, and LHPs Brian Shouse and Chris Capuano.
  • Reds tendering one-year contracts to 2B Brandon Phillips and RHP Matt Belisle, coincidentally two guys likely to show up in the Hottest NLC Player bracket later this week (if I get all my Christmas presents wrapped in time).
  • Pirates continuing to do not much of anything. Imagine.
December 16, 2007

Transactions Update 12/9-12/15

I woke up this morning to find my truck buried under several inches of snow that fell overnight, along with a warning in my e-mail from the National Weather Service office here in Buffalo to expect another 4-10 inches by tomorrow morning. Ergo, I need a baseball fix. And since you need your weekly summary of player transactions from the past week, it’s a match made in heaven.

As usual, clicking on the first instance of a player’s name will open his stats page on Baseball-Reference.com for your convenience in determining whether you should applaud your team’s moves this week, or organize a mob to descend upon the club offices with pitchforks and torches. Unless you have your browser settings botched beyond repair, the page will open in a new window. Just close it to get back here.

For at least three of the guys mentioned below, I will resist (albeit barely) the temptation to link to the Mitchell Report instead of to their pages on Baseball Reference.

Sunday 12/9 – No transactions were made in the NLC, possibly because all the GMs in the division spent the day at church, praying that none of their players would be named in the Mitchell Report.

Monday 12/10 – Brewers DFA’ed OF Kevin Mench and signed RHP Eric * Gagne to a one-year contract.

Tuesday 12/11 – Brewers outrighted OF Laynce Nix to Class-AAA Nashville, signed C Eric Munson to a one-year contract (thus avoiding arbitration), DFA’ed RHP Matt Wise, and signed RHPs Greg Aquino and Seth McClung and C Mike Rivera to one-year contracts.

Wednesday 12/12 – Busy day:

Thursday 12/13 – The Cubs signed LHP Neal Cotts to a one-year contract.

Friday 12/14 – The Astros acquired RHP Jose Valverde from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for INF Chris Burke and RHPs Juan Gutierrez and Chad Qualls. The Brewers lost RHP Greg Aquino, who was claimed off waivers by the Orioles.

Saturday 12/15 – As RHM told us in the post below, the Cardinals traded OF Jim Edmonds to the Padres for 3B David Freese.

And that’s the way it was in the NLC this week.

John K. (HMZ)

December 15, 2007

Cards Trade Edmonds

The Cardinals have agreed to a deal to send centerfielder Jim Edmonds to the Padres in exchange for David Freese. From the Cardinals site:

Freese, who will turn 25 in April, was selected in the ninth-round of 2006’s First-Year Player Draft. After an impressive pro debut split between short-season Eugene and low Class A Fort Wayne, he had a big year at high Class A Lake Elsinore in his first full pro season. Freese hit .302 with a .400 on-base percentage, a .489 slugging percentage, 17 home runs, 69 walks, 96 RBIs and 102 runs scored.

OK, so I like this idea, though I imagine saying goodbye to Edmonds this way is difficult for Cardinal nation. Either way, though, his time with the team was short. He is 37.

Edmonds has full 10-and-five no-trade protection as a result of having 10 years’ Major League service time, including the past five with the same team. However, he hails from Orange County, Calif., making San Diego an appealing destination. Edmonds has hinted that 2008, the final season on his current contract, could be his last year in the big leagues before retirement.

So far, I’ve seen no comment from George Grande.

December 13, 2007

Mitchell Report Names Names

The long anticipated Mitchell Report is finally available, and kudos to MLB for not trying to bury it. Commissioner Bud Selig is talking about dealing with the offenders on a case-by-case basis, and maybe he will, but the best thing for the whole situation will be this report.

The Crack Technical Staff and I sorted through the names looking for connections, however small, to NLC teams. Our list is below. Check out the whole shebang on MLB’s site.

Astros
Ken Caminiti
Roger Clemens
Andy Pettitte
Stephen Randolph
Miguel Tejada
Ricky Stone
Gregg Zaun

Brewers
Derrick Turnbow
Ricky Bones
Gary Sheffield
Eric Gagne
Fernando Vina

Cardinals
Mark McGwire
Gary Bennett
Larry Bigbie
Cody McKay
Rick Ankiel
David Bell
Darren Holmes

Cubs
Manny Alexander
Rafael Palmeiro
Matt Franco
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Glenallen Hill
Todd Hundley
Todd Pratt
Rondell White
Gary Matthews Jr.
Ismael Valdez

Pirates
Barry Bonds
Armando Rios
Jason Christiansen
Tim Laker
Josias Manzanillo
Kevin Young

Reds
Benito Santiago
Ryan Franklin
Kent Merker
Hal Morris
Denny Neagle
Mike Stanton
Ron Villone
Rondell White
Jose Guillen
Scott Schoeneweis

December 12, 2007

Hottest NLC Player Tournament

The girls have been chatting about the Reds we find aesthetically appealing, and I’ve enjoyed it so much, I think it merits expanding to the whole division. Nominate your favorite NLC hottie in the comments on this post (including links to your favorite photos if you’ve got them). We can all have a good long look, discuss the issue intelligently, and vote on the the National League Central’s Hottest Player.

I don’t know if this trip will get us anywhere, but the scenery along the way ought to be nice. 🙂