December 15, 2008 – 2:29 pm
He’s one of my favorite players of all time, but this just takes the cake.
Lofton was out of the game last season, but recently he tried to hurt the Yankees again when he attempted to dissuade CC Sabathia from signing with the Bombers.
“He painted a bad picture of New York and the Yankees,” a person in the know said. “A lot of negative things.”
This is more or less exactly what I’d do if I was a baseball player.
“Yankees? You don’t want to go to the Yankees. Trust me.”
“Boras, that’s your agent? You don’t want him as your agent. Trust me”
December 2, 2008 – 11:49 am
I know a lot about baseball, but arbitration confuses me. Instead of a player becoming a free agent he is given the option of going to court and having his play examined by a judge who then rewards him a contract commensurate to his performance? Something like that. Anyways when a player turns it down and signs with another team his original team is compensated with draft picks. Sometimes it’s one, sometimes it’s two depending on how valuable a player was at fantasy. (I heard last season the Mariners offered Jeff Weaver arbitration and they lost all their draft picks, but that’s just a rumor.) Anyways, here’s a roundup of the arbitration cases I care about.
The Mariners offered Raul Ibanez arbitration.
The Brewers offered CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets and Brian Shouse arbitration.
These are all good things. Raul Ibanez seems destined to misplay a fly ball in a playoff game at Wrigley Field and the Mariners will be compensated with two picks heading into their first draft under their newly hired draft guru. Exciting stuff.
The Brewers are a bit more interesting. Shouse is a pretty low risk gamble and Sabathia is a no brainer as it’s instantly two picks if (when) he leaves. Sheets is pretty interesting. The talk is that he is injured and teams are luke warm to him so he may come back, but doesn’t offering him arbitration say to the rest of baseball “we believe he’s healthy” as they know more about him than anyone else? Or is that what they want teams to think so they can go into this year’s draft with 5 first round picks? I still say he comes back, but it’s interesting to think about.
November 14, 2008 – 2:14 pm
Dave Cameron has a post over at fangraphs about CC Sabathia’s true free agent value. I find it interesting because while I find myself and others to be up in arms about what the Yankees are prepared to offer him (6y/$150M), an offer few teams could match. What’s interesting is that if he ends up signing for that the Yankees are actually GETTING A DEAL.
5.5 million * 5.5 wins = 30.25 million. That’s what we’d expect Sabathia to be worth if he signed a one year deal, which he clearly won’t do. In exchange for the security of a long term deal, he’ll give teams a slight discount off his current value. At a 10% discount for the safety of a five to seven year deal, that would put his annual average salary at $27 million.
So, that’s the baseline – six years, $162 million for Sabathia. If he signs for significantly less than that, whoever gets him is getting a relative bargain.
Brian Cashman is one of the best GMs in baseball and he doesn’t really get a lot of credit for it because of how much money he has at his disposal, but whatever he gets CC for (and he will get him) will probably be a very good deal for his team in the long run. Throw in this deal with the Nick Swisher steal and the Yankees are positioned to be really good thanks to Brian Cashman. Which is good for him, but sucks for everyone else. Don’t believe the hype, the Yankees being good isn’t good for the sport or anyone who watches it. The Yankees being good is only good for people with no soul.
October 7, 2008 – 11:13 am
I don’t really want to put up my thoughts about the end of the Brewers season. Ideally, it would have been nice for them to win the World Series. Ideally, it would be nice for everyone team to win the World Series (except the Yankees), but that’s just not how life works. They got eliminated in the playoffs and like I’ve said before the playoffs are all about luck. Especially a five game series. I am just glad the team is good, that when I go to a game there is a reasonable chance they are going to win. That’s all you can really ask for in life.
Looking at this team in 2008 the one person who gave them the best chance to win day in and day out was CC Sabathia. Now, he’s a free agent and nobody thinks that the team can re-sign him. I admit the odds are against them. The New York and LA teams just have more money and can afford to take long term risks. If CC Sabathia wants a 5 or 6 year deal, the Brewers would be stupid to try to compete. It’s too risky and an injury to Sabathia would cripple the franchise, but what if he were willing to accept a smaller deal (as he’s hinted at)? Would the team be able to afford him? I think there’s a chance. read more »