I ain't got got got no time...
Today is the deadline for teams to offer arbitration to thier own free agents, which in recent years has unofficially become the true start of the free agency period. If a team is not offered arbitration by midnight EST tonight the team is not priviliged to any compensation and cannot resign that player till May of next season, effectively meaning they will be moving to another team. The Cubs will most likely be offering on Matt Clement, Paul Bako, Todd Hollandsworth, and the possibility of Todd Walker. Clement will almost positively sign a long term deal with another team so the Cubs will get a 1st or 2nd round pick from whoever signs him, depending on the team. They would also like to bring back the other three players. However the Cubs will not be offering Nomar any arbitration meaning they have until 11pm CST tonight to sign him. Unfortunately it appears that they are on the verge of signing both him and Walker to new deals that could be announced as early as this morning. Reports have varied on Nomar going from $7 million/1yr deals to $11 million/1yr deals, all with incentives based on playing time and performance.
Personally I don't know what the hell the Cubs are thinking if they are going to resign Nomar. He was an offensive force in baseball...three years ago. Nomars defense, despite having a cannon arm, is average at best - although the high Wrigley infield grass might bump him up to slightly above average - hasn't been the same since he broke his wrist in 2001 and I cannot see how the Cubs will justify signing him to a one year deal, knowning he's only upping his value to get out of town next season. The team currently has no prospects that are major league ready - or even have major league potential - in the minors and the free agent crop at shortstop next year is poor, especially compared to this offseason. Since the Cubs made a mistake in not going after Miggy Tejada last year, the majors best SS now that Arod has moved to third, they could go out and get either Edgar Renteria or Orlando Cabrera, whom would both rank higher than Nomar on the list of SS's at this point in his carrer with Renteria being arguably the best defensive SS in the league right now. So why commit to an older, more fragile, worse defensive, possibly more expensive player....I cannot answer that, and I don't know many who can.
Today also signals the end of the Moises Alou era in Chicago and leaves me with one question to answer...who will be pissing on their hands in the clubhouse now?
No Big Unit on the SouthSide...
Kenny Williams offically conceded in the Randy Johnson derby yesterday by announcing that they could not change Johnsons mind to waive his no-trade clause to come to the White Sox. It was a well placed effort by the Sox to get the no.1 they havn't had since BlackJack McDowell was flinging for them in the early to mid 1990's but it predictable fell short since I don't think anyone thought Johnson would be willing to go to the Palehosers, a team which couldn't contend in a weak AL central last year. Williams also stated that they're are no more options in free agency for position players outside of going after Jermaine Dye to play RF for them next year (and someone else cheap after that). Now if I were a Sox fan and I heard my GM say this, i would be extremely upset if they didn't land one of the upper-tier pitchers they claim they are also going after this offseason, along with some help in the pen.
Thar she blows....
There have been rumors out early this morning that the Rockies have terminated the contract of Denny Neagle and get rid of the $19 million plus they still owe him due to a decency clause in his contract. Although there have been talks about doing this since his incident the union will probably be able to stop this. I've been searching the Denver papers this morning to find some confirmation to the story of his termination coming out of Florida but havn't seen anything as of yet.
Side Notes...
- The Cubs are close to signing Mark Sweeney to possibly fill Todd Hollandsworth's role of last year according to Barry Rozner.
- There was a meeting this weekend with MLB, MLB Union, and government officials to create a new drug policy that could be impletmented within the next couple weeks, look for more on this in the next few days.
posted by Herboturbo @ 12/07/2004 04:55:00 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Jzang
Okay, I'll humor you...You can refer to the comment section of one of my earlier posts "firin' up the hot stove..." where i broke down how much money the Cubs have left to spend on free agents and explained the possible Sosa trades to the Mets. The team has plenty of money. Even with the two signings today, they have over $20 million left easily, with no one else left to sign except an outfielder and some bullpen/bench filler guys. They could have shifted the money spent on Nomar right into one of the other SS's who are a better long-term solution than Nomar, who most likely will leave after this upcoming year and that is my point, he will leave and there is NO ONE to replace him next season either internally or on the market. They really wouldn't be able to trade for anyone of significance either since guys signing this year will not be traded next year and the other major SS's (tejada, arod, jeter) are not going anywhere. Unless Jim Hendry really thinks Nomar will return to previous form and the tall grass at wrigley will help and they think they can resign him - i do not see why they wouldn't go after one of the other guys, unless contrary to reports they told the Cubs to go to hell about signing with them.
Maybe its just me but i would rather have a guy that will turn 29 next year and has a better glove and can fill the lead-off spot than an injury prone guy turning 32 with shoddy defense with the *potential* to put up some monster offensive stats.
On the Sox, they said they're still in the market for a starter, although that market dried up by one today with the signing of Jared Wright. Although using thier action in the free agent market of the past few years i would think they'd be more likely to trade for someone than sign someone like a Matt Clement to fill out thier rotation.
The other point about trading for Randy Johnson. If Kenny Williams thinks that he has a World Series contender and that Johnson will be the pitcher to put them over the top, you most definently make that move. There's a reason why minor leaguers are called prospects, its b/c their prospects might not pan out. If you have a chance to win now you take it, you dont gamble on a chance to win in the future. Plus there were more than one quality 1B they could get on the open market to offset dealing Konerko, although these are all moot points now.
Margarnickle
Me get off my bandwagon! Exactly what bandwagon was i on. You need to stop drinking from the Nomar Kool-Aid and realize whats going on here. My entire point which i emphisized was why sign Nomar when you can spend the same money on a better, younger player and LEADOFF HITTER in Renteria - especially with Nomar being the ONLY possible option next season if he doesn't pan out. Renteria will be lucky if he gets $11 million per year, let alone more than that, which is the cost of doing business with Garciaparra next year. Nomar has never really been above average defensively. His best season came in 2000, before his injuries started happening, and he still had 18 errors that year. In 4 of 6 full seasons he has played he committed more than 20 errors and his lowest total has been 17. Renteria has lowered his error totals every year significantly from 27 in 2000 to only 11 this past season. Plus the Achilles Nomar injured is another problem with Nomar, that type of injury bothers guys thier entire carrer's after it happens and will even further limit Nomars mobility in the field. Renteria is relatively injury-free in his carrer, the last time him being on the DL in 1998. One thing to look forward to seeing if it remains a trend however is that in 42 games with the Cubs Nomar made only 3 errors, so its possible the Wrigley factor could have a large effect on his defensive capabilities.
The only reason i can think of that the Cubs went back to the well for Nomar is that Renteria told them he was uninterested, but that would be against everything coming out of the rumor mill so far this offseason, so i will remain a skeptic of Nomar, as i was when they originally traded for him, until he proves he can not only play better defense, but put up good offensive numbers as well.
Post a Comment
<< Home