(UPDATE (1:39PM): The Intrepid One says that Sabathia may well have declined the Yanks' $140 million offer, and that the Giants have met with him. Baggs also says that one exec says the Brewers may now be the frontrunner.)
Via the most excellent MLB Trade Rumors, word around the Bellagio is that the Giants are "supremely confident" that they will sign CC Sabathia, according to Inside the Dodgers.
(I'll leave it to you all to run with that title.)
That's an extremely stray rumor that Tom Tony Jackson concedes is based on hearsay, but the notion that the Giants are interested would seem to be corroborated by Ken Rosenthal's report that management plans to meet with CC in the Bay on Saturday.
Between Sabathia continuing to drag his negotiations out and the Giants non-denials, it looks like the smoke here is legit.
Which begs the question, if Bill Neukom is in a mood to make a 1992 Peter Magowan-esque free agent splash, wouldn't Mark Teixeira make a whole lot more sense?
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
UPDATED: Supreme Confidence ≠ Supreme Competence
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11 comments:
Nah. I think we should spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a guy who plays once every five games, threw 726,000 stressful innings last year and plays a position that this team has in spades.
Texeira. Pfft. C'mon, man. We got Travis Ishikawa. Travis. Ishikawa. No need to mess with perfection at 1B.
I totally agree with signing Tex rather than CC. Is the plan really to sign CC and then trade Cain for a bat? That may garner a big time hitter sprinkled with a top prospect or 2 but whats the downside? CC flops and the Giants are hand-cuffed for 6 more years. I don't like the downside but I really do love the upside. Still not worth the risk.
Right on, Jason. As constructed, this team's cleanup hitter is still Bengie Molina. A team that boasted three (or even four if the Unit came to the Giants) Cy Youngs in their rotation and had Bengie freaking Molina as their cleanup hitter is like buying an engagement ring with a giant platinum band and a .1 carat diamond: sure it's impressive, but more for the stupidity of it all than anything else.
Hasan,
Do you know of any interest in Tex from the Giants Brass? If so, does it mean that they have "kicked the tires"? Would we have to find another bat to protect Tex or could we go with Molina or Sandoval?
In my opinion, one obvious selling point for Tex vs. Sabathia is that Tex would bring more fans to the games. He plays everyday and since he is a switch hitter, would almost certainly have the ability to dominate against anyone. In my opinion he gives way more bang for the buck.
I think it's safe to say Tex isn't interested in playing in SF or else you would've at least heard some rumblings about a potential offer. There's no way a team with the imbalance between pitching (good) and hitting (bad) would consider $20M to Sabathia and not Tex without having some sort of inkling that Tex isn't interested.
He'll sign on the east coast, close to his and his wife's family, probably with a winning team - although don't count out the O's or Nats because of Chesapeake locale - and for as much if not more than Sabean could put forth. My guess is BS probably put feelers out to Boras, got a "Well you're certainly welcome to make us an offer but..." response and decided to move on to the next best option.
As a Braves fan who got to watch Tex play for a few months, he's certainly worth whatever he'll get, unfortunately, I will be resigned to watching the maddening "potential" of Casey Kotchman "develop" for the next two/three years. Yay.
Ya well at least you got a good prospect (not really a prospect anymore) back in return. There was no way the Braves had the money to ink him to a Boras contract. That being said, Boras is a greedy agent representing greedy athletes. Thats why the Boras is selected as their agent. I think its safe to say that $$$ is the primary goal in the Boras camp so why couldn't the Giants be in on him?
Yeah, I'm not totally dismayed about the Tex trade because it seems that Marek may contribute pretty solidly in the 'pen sometime soon.
As far as why I don't think that Tex has any interest in the Giants - or any west coast team for that matter (I think the Angels are in it as a courtesy) - is because I think some guys (i.e. Tex) tell their agent, "Look, this could be my last chance at a long term deal so I'd like to go somewhere I'll have an opportunity to win a World Series within the life of my contract. If you can find a competitive offer from one of the Chesapeake Bay teams, I'll give them serious thought." This isn't to say that the Giants can't be contenders in the next 4 or 5 years, it's just that some teams are better suited to win immediately and consistently.
It's not a coincidence that the teams most often mentioned to be the winners of the Tex Derby are located within an easy trade ride of each other. Boston, NYY, Baltimore, DC. One of those teams will have his services next year despite teams like the Angels, Dodgers, Giants capable of paying him similar amounts.
Sometimes it comes down to geography. Well, geography and a buttload of coin.
Great posts by everyone. To answer Jason's question, there has been absolutely no contact between the Giants and Boras regarding Tex, although I only read what's public.
Regarding the Wonderful Weydiddy's assertion that Tex has no interest in playing out West - I certainly think that there's merit to it. But I also think that if winning is Tex's criteria, you can pretty much count out the Nats and O's out of hand.
The O's are in the most difficult division in the majors, and there's a legitimate case to be made that they have little hope of finishing higher than fourth in that division for the next five or so years.
As for the Nats, they are further from competition than probably any team in the majors - the talent level is extremely poor on the team.
The Sox make the most sense for Tex, and that's where I think he ends up. The private jet he'll be able to afford will allow him to commute from Maryland every day should he choose.
However, as you all have alluded to, for almost every player, it comes down to the dollars. I think CC is that rare exception where he will really leave money on the table to play for his team of choice. Nothing necessarily compels me to believe the same is true of Tex. If the Giants commit to more years and dollars, I have no reason to believe they wouldn't be in it.
You may be right about his distaste for the Giants, Weydiddy, but as they say, "If you don't ask, the answer's always no." And I don't think the Giants have asked.
I agree that the O's and Nats are about as far from the playoffs you can in each league for teams not named the Royals or Pirates, and I don't think that he'll actually sign in either place, I'm just following the smoke on all of the reports popping up about his potential landing spots. If Tex is true to what he says in his interviews, winning is the number one priority (aside from the dollar sign shaped pool and private food taster), which probably puts him in Boston if Theo puts enough of his Pokemon collection on the table.
I really don't think it's a distaste for the Giants, I just think that this is his first chance to dictate where he'll play and, all money being relatively equal, the west coast just isn't what he's looking for. I mean, Hasan, you live here, what's not to love about traffic on the Baltimore/Washington parkway??
What I think Sabean should do is trade a good lookin' southpaw named Craig Clark to the Braves for Jeff Francoeur's sub-.300 OBP and we'll call it a day.
Deal.
I would love to take the risk on Farncoeur! He has a good bat but it disappeared last year. I have never seen a rifle like the one that he has. He could just about throw out a runner tagging third from the archways!
I have been seeing a trend of available hitters taking less money to play elsewhere. I am sure its a combination of the big phone being a pitchers park and our dismal offense. What can Sabes and the boys do to start attracting these big names? Is it a matter of us needing to spend more money until we get a legitimate offense assembled? I am not liking the downward spiral in offense.
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