2010-2011 MLB Offseason Thread

[Swifty]

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[HUGG]

Update, Sunday Night: It’s being widely reported that Iwakuma will return to Rakuten next season. The Mainichi Shimbun has a piece with quotes attributed to Iwakuma’s agent (Don Nomura) as saying “the two sides won’t sit down at the negotiating table again” and “after our first proposal, we were thinking we had a compromise through negotiation, but the Athletics seemed to think ‘if you can’t take this price, you don’t have to come here’. That wasn’t a condition we could accept.”

Meanwhile, Sponichi is saying that Iwakuma was looking for a deal for four years, $30m, but the A’s were only offering $3.5 – $3.75 annually. Paraphrasing Sponichi, that’s about what Iwakuma has been making in Japan, and he’s used to seeing starting pitchers who move to MLB get a big raise relative to their last season in NPB. Such are the perils of the posting, in my opinion.

I thought Rakuten might try to post him again this offseason, but the rules stipulate that under this scenario, the player can’t be posted again until November 1 of the following year. By then, Iwakuma should have completed enough service time to qualify for free agency.

http://www.npbtracker.com/2010/11/condition-oakland/

[emkayseven]

genius on the A's part, basically just blocked him from going to the Mariners or Rangers or Angels and didn't cost them a dime

this is going to expose a flaw in the posting system, definitely think that there's changes a-comin'

[HUGG]

I don't really think that's what they were doing though considering they traded Mazzaro after winning the posting and are now likely gonna be in the market for a back-end starter.

[DColts]

It cost the A's $19 mil

[Mainge]

genius on the A's part, basically just blocked him from going to the Mariners or Rangers or Angels and didn't cost them a dime

this is going to expose a flaw in the posting system, definitely think that there's changes a-comin'

They had to outbid those teams didn't they? I don't see a flaw

EDIT: Actually, I see that they do not have to pay the fee if they don't agree to contract so you are correct that it cost them nothing.

I suppose they could make the fee partially or even fully guaranteed. That would help prevent blocking I think.

[Metes]

Reds gon sign Dtrain

So sayeth Twatter

[DColts]

Your twatter was right

[Beef]

They had to outbid those teams didn't they? I don't see a flaw

EDIT: Actually, I see that they do not have to pay the fee if they don't agree to contract so you are correct that it cost them nothing.

I suppose they could make the fee partially or even fully guaranteed. That would help prevent blocking I think.

Yeah, NPB beat MLB in negotiating that one. Those teams don't generate revenue like MLB teams do - they weren't even created with the intention of doing so - so they can basically use these situations to subsidize their operations.

[Miamarlin21]

This is for me.

[MiamiHomer]

The Tigers are close to a deal with catcher Victor Martinez on a four-year, $50MM deal, reports Ignacio Serrano of El Nacional (link in Spanish). Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets to confirm the report. Serrano says Martinez accepted the Tigers' offer, and there will be a deal barring an unforeseen event.

According to Serrano, Martinez turned down a four-year, $48MM offer from the Orioles and a three-year, $48MM offer from the White Sox.

Though the Red Sox hoped to re-sign Martinez, they can take solace in receiving the best available draft pick as part of their compensation. The Tigers must surrender their #19 pick next year to the Red Sox, unless Detroit also signs Jayson Werth later.

MLBTR

[Miamarlin21]

Salty FTW!!

[DColts]

Moss will not be happy.

[DColts]

The Yankees offered Cliff Lee 6 years $140 mil.

[MiamiHomer]

Jesus.