12/15/09

Bay to Yanks?, Yorvit, Omar Hearts Latin Players, More Roy... and top 100 players in decade


Jason Bay:

The Yankees have reached out to Jason Bay's representatives, a source tells Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. While the Mets, Angels, and Mariners are said to be the frontrunners for his services, the article says that the Bombers are "lurking in the weeds." -  mlbtr

Mack: figures...their turn... they should change the draft into two phases... the first, only the Phillies, Yankees, and Red Sox can sign people... when that period is done, the rest of the teams can fight over the crumbs...


Yorvit Torrealba

Yorvit Torrealba's pending grievance hearing against the Mets will take place Wednesday, writes Jon Heyman of SI.com. Torrealba contends that back when he was a free agent in 2007, the club falsely created the impression that he was an injury risk. Interestingly, the article notes that despite this, the Mets could still sign Torrealba this time around if they are unable to sign Bengie Molina.  -  mlbtr

-Mack: if I remember my mental notes correctly, there was a no-sign that day because the Mets had serious doubts about his past involving steroid... could be wrong, but that's what I remember was going around with the scouts...


Omar Minaya:

Omar Minaya favorites Latino players and it’s not right. He pays some of them more than they are worth to a club, and the fans have to foot the bill. I am sorry if I offend anyone with this post as that is not what I’m trying to do. I am a supporter for equal rights, I know most of the Latino players in the game have had hard, some even have had horrible lives in their countries and their families live on the paychecks these players make, but at the same time the fans should not have to pay the higher ticket prices for players who do not help contribute to the success of their team. - baseballthinkfactory

-You're kidding?  Omar favors Latin players???  DOH


Roy Hallady: 

Let’s face it, the Mets are seen in baseball circles as losers these days, a team full of holes going into next season with a lame-duck manager and a GM already on the hot seat. Compared to the Red Sox and Phillies, then, what exactly is there to like about them? ...In any case, while it’s not clear how much stock to put in reports that the Jays would have been open to trading Halladay to the Mets had GM Omar Minaya been willing to give up Jose Reyes, a major league GM with knowledge of the situation said it’s irrelevant. “Halladay wasn’t going to the Mets,” the GM said. “His people were letting everyone know he was only going to a winner - the Phillies, Red Sox, Yankees, or maybe the Angels, although he wanted to be in the East because he lives in Florida.


ESPN's Top 100 Players Of The Decade:


When making a list like this -- the 100 greatest players of this decade, which by the way I've officially and irreversibly dubbed "the 0's" -- it's easy to look at statistics. But which statistics exactly? And how does one compare hitters to pitchers? I took a shortcut, ranking the players (including pitchers) by wins above replacement (with a great deal of help from Baseball Projection.com). From there, it was relatively easy to arbitrarily bump players up and down the list based on quality of competition, postseason performance and pure excellence. (Six great seasons are better than eight good ones.) Generally, my advice on these matters is to avoid taking these things too seriously ... unless you think your favorite player has been shortchanged, in which case it's appropriate to file a letter of protest with the proper authorities.

6 Carlos Beltran - Beltran excelled in all phases of the game -- hitting, running, fielding -- and gets a couple of bonus points for his brilliant run with the Astros in the 2004 postseason.

10 Johan Santana - Little separates Santana and Halladay, and Santana's best seasons were slightly better than Halladay's. But Halladay pitched more and did all his work in the game's toughest division.

28 Pedro Martinez - Martinez went 75-26 with a 2.53 ERA from 2000 through 2004; in five seasons since, he has just 37 wins with 3.86 ERA, thus making the Red Sox look real smart to let him get away.

33 Jeff Kent - He didn't play in 2009 but still finished the decade with 850 RBIs, easily more than any other second baseman. Wasn't a good fielder … but he was good enough.

34 Gary Sheffield - Devastating hitter through the first six years of the decade -- .309/.408/.564 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) -- but production fell off in later seasons as injuries mounted. He's the closest to Dick Allen that most of us have seen.

36 Mike Cameron - Exactly the sort of player who's usually underrated: Low batting average, but midrange power, solid baserunning and outstanding defense in center field made Cameron better than you probably thought.

38 Carlos Delgado - It's hard to believe that Delgado has been an All-Star just twice; for the decade ranks fifth -- behind future Hall of Famers (probably) -- in both home runs (324) and RBIs (1,045).

56. David Wright

61. Melvin Mora

81. Tom Glavine

83. Cliff Floyd

85. Freddy Garcia

88. Jose Valentin

95. Jose Reyes

99. Kenny Rogers

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