2009 MLB Season

[Lowerdeck]

That's a pretty big deal. I saw like JA Happ and Phillippe Aumont going to Toronto in the group.

Boston signs John Lackey for five years, but still haven't resigned Bay or traded Lowell yet.

[Toe]

Halladay was the one player we could point to and be proud of. Now, Aaron Hill and Adam Lind have started to shine, but we have lost one of the best pitchers in baseball. Hopefully, the package we got for him will be good.

[Lint]

Man..I seriously don't wanna lose CLiff Lee...

[Guest Mr. Grinch]

You're getting a better pitcher though.

[Lint]

YEa I know...and we're getting one we have a better chance of resigning too...I've just grown to really like cliff lee...thuogh if its done before Xmas, all the CLiff Lee jerseys might go on clearance...I got a lot of family members with the last name of Lee..so it might make for easy xmas shopping "Here ya go..customized Phillies jersey!"

[Maxx]

I don't know, sure Halladay is a better pitcher, but they gave up a guy who himself is former Cy Young winner who was absolutely lights out in the playoffs. It really seems like a linear move, it only makes the rotation slightly better. What can Halladay do for them that Lee didn't?

[Toe]

...and Halladay has no playoff experience.

[Lowerdeck]

Red Sox sign Mike Cameron - so long Jason Bay.

[Maxx]

I like Mike Cameron, but that has more to do with me and my co-workers once imagining him as a guest judge on Iron Chef, loved him ever since. (Y)

[Lint]

The reasoning was, Cliff Lee was lookin for a huge contract in the 6/7 year range. The Phillies front office doesn't like signing pitchers for more then 3 years. Halladay would be willing to accept a 3/4 year contract from the Phillies

And until this year, Cliff Lee had no playoff experience either. His last time there he rode the bench due to a poor performance

[Clawson]

So Halladay in Philly for 3 years, win a World Series or two then he comes back. Right. Right?

[Guest Mr. Grinch]

Damn, I was holding out hope that the Jays would make a play for Cameron.

[The Sultan of Swank]

I know that trades in baseball are really fucked up to understand sometimes... but seriously.... 3 prospects AND they're paying 6 mil of Doc's salary this year... The Jays got fleeced methinks.

[Guest Mr. Grinch]

Three really good prospects, this is (supposedly) not another situation where the best we get turns out to be Marty Janzen. AA has said he could have had five or six prospects, but wanted these three more than the numbers.

And how is it getting fleeced? We weren't going to contend in 2010 anyhow, and Roy was gone after that. Better to get three great prospects now than absolutely nothing later.

[Ananas]

Yeah they definitely didn't get fleeced. They basically acquired 3 prospects that, depending on how you feel about D'Arnaud, become 1-2-3 on the Jays top prospects ranking (ahead of prospects like JP Arencibia, Zach Stewart, Henderson Alvarez and Chad Jenkins). And instead of holding on to him and taking risks on 2 compensatory draft picks of guys who have never stepped into a professional game, they got three guys, all of whom have had professional success and all of whom were the top prospects in their organizations at their respective positions. Forget about the 6 million; all it means is that instead of getting 15 million dollars in 2010 salary relief they got 9. And if I had to choose between eating some of Doc's 2010 salary for a premium package or getting the Yanks to take Doc's entire salary, extending him to keep him in the division and saddling us with Jesus Montero and some shitbag like Andrew Brackman, I'd have done what AA did in a second.

[Ananas]

So Jason Bay was officially unveiled as a Met today on a contract worth about $16.5 million a season for 4 years with a vesting option for a 5th. Thoughts? It's kind baffling to me that Minaya is spending this kind of money on a low-range 31 year old outfielder considering the absolute incompetence of his starting rotation (outside of Santana obviously) and the lack of production he got out of his infield in 09. Kelvim Escobar is a smart risk, but shoulder issues have limited him to 1 start in the past two years so you can't expect too much. They're already at around 110 million without the expected arbitration raises to Maine, Cora and Feliciano.

[Lowerdeck]

It's the Mets we're talking about here.

They're about one trade for Mike Lowell away from being the most recklessly run team in MLB.

[Ananas]

If Omar really wants to go into the history books, I've got a Vernon Wells I'd like to sell him.

[Lowerdeck]

If Omar really wants to go into the history books, I've got a Vernon Wells I'd like to sell him.

Too bad there's Jeff Francouer in the way.

Well, the Mets might be stupid enough to deal him for Wells.

[Ananas]

It looked for a second in November like Phil Hendry might be stupid enough to trade for Vernon Wells. If he isn't, nobody is.