Baseball Meanderings
Yankee Stadium was awarded the 2008 All-Star game. I find absolutely nothing wrong with this except that the site for the 2009 All-Star game was announced first. What's up with that?
Carlos Zambrano is poised to win the largest arbitration salary ever, even if he loses. He submitted a $15.5 million request and the Cubs offered $11.25 million. The previous record was the $10 million Alphonso Soriano got last year, although Derek Jeter was destined for a higher salary before withdrawing from arbitration to sign a ten-year contract in 2001 (see following link).
Speaking of arbitration, I discovered something odd the other day: previously, two players have submitted requests lower than what ownership offered. Mike Edwards (DH) requested $50,000 in 1980 and was faced with an Athletics' offer of $58,000, while Mike Flanagan (P) requested $485,000 in 1982 in the face of a $500,000 offer from the Baltimore Orioles. I'd be interested in knowing more about these cases, but am too lazy to research them at the moment. I couldn't find my original source for the information, but it can be found here.
It looks like Sammy Sosa will be returning to the Major Leagues. The Texas Rangers decided to gamble with a $500,000 minor-league contract (plus incentives). True, it's only a minor league deal, but I think he will perform well enough in spring training that the Rangers will take him into the season. He's going to be much more the Sosa of 2004-2005 than the one of 1998-2001, I'm sure. Unfortunately, I don't think his stay in the majors will last long enough for him to accumulate the 404 strikeouts he needs to take sole possession of first place alltime (he's currently second; Jim Thome should move into third barring missing half the season). It would take three seasons of fairly regular playing time, and, while I can see him sticking around for this year, possibly even next, I can't see him sticking around through 2009 and staying healthy and effective enough to get the necessary plate appearances.
Russ Ortiz managed to get a contract as well, from the Giants. I'd complain more about these last two contracts if they weren't for under $1 million each; they're practically free by baseball standards, so I'll stick to complaining about real wasted money, like the $7 million a season the Cubs thought a certain pitcher was worth after compiling an ERA of 6.02 last year, or the $18 million a year the Giants thought a certain overrated pitcher was worth for far too many years.
Carlos Zambrano is poised to win the largest arbitration salary ever, even if he loses. He submitted a $15.5 million request and the Cubs offered $11.25 million. The previous record was the $10 million Alphonso Soriano got last year, although Derek Jeter was destined for a higher salary before withdrawing from arbitration to sign a ten-year contract in 2001 (see following link).
Speaking of arbitration, I discovered something odd the other day: previously, two players have submitted requests lower than what ownership offered. Mike Edwards (DH) requested $50,000 in 1980 and was faced with an Athletics' offer of $58,000, while Mike Flanagan (P) requested $485,000 in 1982 in the face of a $500,000 offer from the Baltimore Orioles. I'd be interested in knowing more about these cases, but am too lazy to research them at the moment. I couldn't find my original source for the information, but it can be found here.
It looks like Sammy Sosa will be returning to the Major Leagues. The Texas Rangers decided to gamble with a $500,000 minor-league contract (plus incentives). True, it's only a minor league deal, but I think he will perform well enough in spring training that the Rangers will take him into the season. He's going to be much more the Sosa of 2004-2005 than the one of 1998-2001, I'm sure. Unfortunately, I don't think his stay in the majors will last long enough for him to accumulate the 404 strikeouts he needs to take sole possession of first place alltime (he's currently second; Jim Thome should move into third barring missing half the season). It would take three seasons of fairly regular playing time, and, while I can see him sticking around for this year, possibly even next, I can't see him sticking around through 2009 and staying healthy and effective enough to get the necessary plate appearances.
Russ Ortiz managed to get a contract as well, from the Giants. I'd complain more about these last two contracts if they weren't for under $1 million each; they're practically free by baseball standards, so I'll stick to complaining about real wasted money, like the $7 million a season the Cubs thought a certain pitcher was worth after compiling an ERA of 6.02 last year, or the $18 million a year the Giants thought a certain overrated pitcher was worth for far too many years.
Labels: baseball
posted by DC | 5:38 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home