Yep. That just about figures. Word is that the Yankees have reached an agreement with free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira, worth in the neighborhood of 8-years and $180 million, plucking him away from the Red Sox. That brings their offseason spending to a total of $423.5 million. Combined with the contracts of A-Rod and Jeter, [...]
Dave Brown at Big League Stew did a mostly great job putting together this list of the top-ten most outrageous contracts negotiated by MLB superagent Scott Boras.
I say mostly because A-Rod isn’t a fair number one. He’s won three MVPs under his “outrageous” contracts with the Rangers and the Yankees, and will likely be the [...]
It’s beginning to look like the Somali Pirates are a much better-run organization than the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Somali Pirates signed over $100 million in Saudi crude for an undisclosed ransom. The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, a couple of Indian 20-year-old “pitching prospects” who’ve never thrown a fastball in anger. The [...]
ESPN is reporting that Phillies second baseman Chase Utley could be out until next June after undergoing hip surgery.
Utley’s OPS dropped from .955 in the first half of ‘08 to .855 after the All-Star Break. The fact that he spent most of the second half injured changes the dropoff from disappointing to remarkable.
Sports Injury guru [...]
This isn’t all that bad a deal for the Cubs, considering we’re just one year removed from Carlos Silva’s 4-years/$48 million contract.
From The Sports Network:
“The Chicago Cubs have re-signed right- hander Ryan Dempster to a four year deal. Although financial terms were not revealed, the contract is believed to be worth $52 million.
Dempster returned [...]
From the New York Post’s Page Six:
November 18, 2008 —
METS hottie David Wright is a charitable guy, but at his annual fund-raiser the other night, he was the one in need of some help. A spy at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square for his “Do the Wright Thing” event watched in [...]
OK, so Boston’s Dustin Pedroia is your 2008 AL MVP, according at least to the Baseball Writers Association.
Player
Club
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
Points
Dustin Pedroia
Boston Red Sox
16
6
4
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
317
Justin Morneau
Minnesota Twins
7
7
6
3
3
1
1
—
—
—
257
Kevin Youkilis
Boston Red Sox
2
4
4
9
2
4
1
2
—
—
201
Joe Mauer
Minnesota Twins
2
8
1
3
4
3
3
2
1
—
188
Carlos Quentin
Chicago White Sox
—
1
4
8
4
4
4
—
1
1
160
Francisco Rodriguez
Los Angeles Angels
1
2
6
1
6
—
3
2
—
2
143
Josh Hamilton
Texas Rangers
—
—
2
2
3
7
3
2
4
3
112
Alex Rodriguez
New York Yankees
—
—
—
—
1
1
4
1
4
7
45
Carlos Pena
Tampa Bay Rays
—
—
1
—
2
—
2
3
2
3
44
Grady Sizemore
Cleveland Indians
—
—
—
—
—
2
1
5
6
1
42
Forget for a minute that the BBWAA hasn’t updated its web platform [...]
24-year-old Giants rightie Tim Lincecum has won the NL Cy Young, in his first full year in the majors. The numbers speak for themselves. But here’s what some of the local columnists had to add:
Ann Killion of the Mercury News:
“The kid showed up at the ballpark Tuesday but forgot to bring an attitude or [...]
The Dodgers have reportedly offered Manny “Being Manny” Ramirez a multi-year contract that would make him the second highest paid player in baseball (with an average annual salary of somewhere between $23 and $27.5 million).
Manny is a hall-of-famer who put together one of the better second halves in recent memory last summer. But he’s also [...]
In a pair of “no-duh” decisions, the Yanks bought out the 2009 options of Jason Giambi and Carl Pavano. From MLB.com:
“The 37-year-old Giambi completed his seventh season in New York, batting .247 with 19 doubles, 32 home runs and 96 RBIs in 145 games. The Yankees held a $22 million option for 2009 on Giambi’s [...]
