Winter Meetings Open Thread: Day 4

by gondeee on Dec 6, 2007 8:45 AM EST in Open Threads Comment 18 comments

Well the big news in the wee hours of the night while most people were sleeping on the East coast was that our old centerfielder Andruw Jones signed a two year, $36.2 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers continue their collection of Braves free agents - Rafael Furcal signed there, as did J.D. Drew before he opted out. Here are the particulars:

A five-time All-Star, Jones will receive a $12.2 million signing bonus, of which $5.1 million is payable next year, $2.1 million in 2009 and $5 million in 2010. He well get salaries of $9 million next year and $15 million in 2009, and also will receive a no-trade clause.

Interesting move for what looks like a two-year make-good contract. He gets a lot of money in the short term - much like Furcal did two years ago - but sacrifices the long term contract he seemed to want so badly. I looked up AJ's splits at Dodger Stadium and they seem to echo his career numbers pretty well. Since 2000 he has put up .267/.343/.500 with 5 homeruns in 86 at-bats there. Certainly Dodger Stadium historically plays as a pitchers park, so that could hurt AJ's homerun output over the next two seasons, as could the tougher pitching in the NL West. Of course, he'll get to play more games at Coors Field, where he's slugging .716 since 2000, so that could even everything out.

We won't have to wait long to see Andruw in Dodger Blue in Atlanta. LA plays a three game set beginning on Friday, April 18th at Turner field.

Not much other news from overnight. The Rule Five draft happens at 10 a.m. ET.

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Rule 5

In the Rule 5 draft, it looks like we've lost.... Sergio Valenzuela? Who the hell is that?

Not much of anyone, apparently.

I have no idea why the Reds took him.

by subwindow on Dec 6, 2007 10:46 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

umm

He's a hard throwing righty that was in rome this year..pitching very well in winter ball... The reds pobably threw his name in a hat with 20 other guys and pulled his name out...What the heck praetorian, What do you think? That the reds front office all got wasted and picked a guy they didn't want? Maybe the kid wasnt being protected at all, or maybe he was on the AA protection roster..Same thing happened with cole armstong. Everyone was probably said the same thing about him, now he's on the white sox 40 man looking at big league time

by bravos408 on Dec 6, 2007 10:58 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

jeez

Obviously they saw something in him that they wanted, but my question was why would they want a mediocre pitcher who has mostly failed at the Single-A level.

Keep in mind, they have to keep him on their 25-man roster all year long.

My best guess is that they're going to give him a shot during spring training and give him back if they don't like what they see. Maybe the Braves should take this approach, I kind of like it.

by subwindow on Dec 6, 2007 9:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Heh?

It's a good way of handcuffing yourself for a whole season, having to hold a roster spot for someone like, oh, Scott Thorman, for example. Too bad to play, but too good to give back or let go. Someone who's close enough to the majors to be worth the risk will already be protected anyway, with VERY few exceptions.

The Reds lost a player, Jose "Carlos" Guevara, in the Rule 5 draft that was MUCH better than the player they picked from the Braves (Valenzuela).

WHEN (not if) the Reds offer Valenzuela back, I think the Braves should use his roster spot (and the $25,000) for someone else.

by kray1000 on Dec 6, 2007 10:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Contract.

It's a strange deal in that Andruw was clearly not getting more than one year anywhere else and they were trying to hide the fact that this is a make-good contract. It lets Boras say that he got Andruw a multi-year deal that made him the highest paid CF in baseball, even after a terrible season. He did it with a club known for overpaying in order to keep their contracts short, so it further hides the fact that this was the best he could do in terms of both length and money.

I think it's a solid deal for the Dodgers, as he's likely to rebound from last year, plays good D in a park that needs it and allows them to shop Kemp/Ethier as part of a package for a headlining stater. Personally, I'd flank Andruw with those two youngster and find something to do with Pierre. That would provide excellent defense in the outfield, good bats all around and young/cheap compliments to Andruw in the middle.

Come check out my blog 52 Card Pick-up and let me know what you think!

by ejruiz on Dec 6, 2007 10:58 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Eh

That has to be an unmovable contract re: Pierre. He still has four years and $36.5 million guaranteed for a guy with no arm and a career .722 OPS which he hasn't exceeded since 2004.

by 17843 on Dec 6, 2007 11:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Pierre.

If you can't trade him, then bench him. What's the point of playing a guy who has no desireable skills?

Come check out my blog 52 Card Pick-up and let me know what you think!

by ejruiz on Dec 6, 2007 12:29 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I completely agree

Hopefully for the Dodgers Joe Torre won't be so quick to play the veterans like Garciaparra, Pierre, and Furcal over LaRoche, Ethier, and Hu. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they did (they're not paying them $30 million next year for nothing!).

by 17843 on Dec 6, 2007 1:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

2010

Isn't it sort of embarrassing too that they are paying him $5 million in 2010 not to play for them. They had to spread the money out over three years, but they only wanted AJ for two - that sends a message.

by gondeee on Dec 6, 2007 1:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re:

It's a short-term deal, but let's not kid ourselves: it's still a guaranteed 18 mil a year for two years' worth of roaming center in Dodger Stadium. That's a lot of dough. It was definitely not Andruw's and Boras' ideal contract, but it's not like it's a bad contract, either. He's still getting paid, and if he puts in a couple solid years, he'll be hitting the market again at age 32 (!). Torii Hunter is 32 right now and just pulled in his 5 year/18 mil per contract. I imagine Jones can top that easily with a couple of good years under his belt.

Best of luck in Los Angeles, Andruw.

by jc25 on Dec 6, 2007 11:08 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Torii.

Just like Gary Matthews Jr. and Pierre's contracts are viewed negatively after just one season, Torri Hunter's and Aaron Rowand's contracts will look bad by next year. I honestly doubt that Andruw will put up the numbers required to dish out a 5+/$100M+ contract. Bottomline is that Andruw and Boras were looking for a mashion in the Hamptons and settled for a time share down the road.

Come check out my blog 52 Card Pick-up and let me know what you think!

by ejruiz on Dec 6, 2007 12:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

one of my posts in another thread

PLEASE READ The 40 Man Roster isn't..
The only protection roster!!! There is a AA and AAA protecion roster. Players protected on the AA roster if selected in the rule 5 must be place a level higher by the purchasing club. Players on the AAA roster must compete and win a big league job... Players on the 40 man arent eligible. If you think these guys are far away from the big leagues look at who wasn't protected.. there's a page long list.. Being on the 40 man is a huge deal. Holt, pope, smith...all those guys are being protected on the AAA roster.. i guarantee it. You think pope is more major league ready than schreiber, or cuevas? No! if he was the braves woulve seen the rule 5 as a threat and put cuevas on the AAA to allow pope protection. Same with everyone else if they are of value to the braves.

by bravos408 on Dec 6, 2007 12:48 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Also

If a player is selected off of a minor league protection roster, they can be assigned to any team once a playing season begins.

by bravos408 on Dec 6, 2007 12:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Torre's Smart...

He's surrounding himself with older players, the kind that he is best with. If you'll remember, he's not very good with bringing in young guys and teaching them up. Sure there are Cano and Jeter (although Jeter was just destined for it) and that's about it. It's especially bad as far as pitchers go, I can't remember him bringing one up and making him good.

I like Torre as a coach, he's a smart guy and knows how to handle any situation. However, this might set their minor league roster back 10 years because if he can't make LaRoche, Kemp, Ethier or any of the others good, they're screwed.

by iLukeisamazing on Dec 6, 2007 2:31 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Torre has never really had a chance....

Maybe you are right that Torre can't bring along younger players, but I don't think that he has ever really had a chance to do so.

Sure there has been the occasionally youngster that has adorned the pin stripes while Torre has been there, such as the examples you provided. But for the most part the Yankees are all about winning now, so for a long time and pretty much all the way through Torre's tenure up until probably the last couple of years, the Yankees would trade away all there good young prospects for immediate help. They wanted to win now, so they sent all the blue chip prospects to other teams for All-Stars, so Joe Torre has never really had the chance to bring along young players because the Yankees farm system was depleted for a long time.

It actually seems that they have finally wisened up and are a little more reluctant to ship off their top prospects.

So as far as Torre goes I say the verdict is still out on whether or not he can bring along the young talent, but we should find out soon enough.

by whunt13 on Dec 6, 2007 3:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

Joe wasnt really in the position to have young talent all the time.. what matters what what steinbrenner said and what cashman did...torre always called steinbrenner daddy, cause george was his daddy..and it showed. Torre just became sick of it, and probably realized George wasnt worth the poop he had to put up with (though joe loved the yankees with all his heart)..good luck joe, you are a good man

by bravos408 on Dec 6, 2007 3:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

sorry

sorry about that horrible english...

by bravos408 on Dec 6, 2007 4:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Andruw in Los Angeles

I predicted Andruw would end up in LA back in July.
Here's what he has to look forward to out here.

Won't need all those cars cause you can't drive fast anywhere
A pitcher's ball park
Fans arrive by the first pitch of the 3rd inning and leave on the 3rd out of the 7th
Know your local fire department well.
Brush up on your Spanish
You think there is media coverage of the Braves welcome to Los Angeles, media capital of the world, don't want to hear about slumps.
Los Angeles Lakers rule, baseball distant second place
Laid back Andruw may fit in here however.

by los angeles braves fan on Dec 6, 2007 10:29 PM EST reply actions 0 recs