2011-2012 MLB Off-Season Thread

[jOOj]

He's not leaving St. Loo. FFS!

[MiamiHomer]

Braves reportedly open to moving Jair Jurrjens and Martin Prado.

[Miamarlin21]

Still crazy he and Gorkys Hernandez were traded for Edgar.

[Miamarlin21]

I found this interesting about the CBA talks:

MLB's collective bargaining agreement expires five weeks from now. Here's the latest on what the upcoming CBA will look like and when we might hear an announcement:

The players and owners expect some sort of luxury tax system will exist under the new agreement, according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. The luxury tax technically expired when the 2011 season ended and created a "hang-up" in the negotiations, according to Stark.
Owners continue to demand hard slotting for draft picks and the union won't budge, so the sides are at a "standoff," Stark reports.
The MLBPA aims to ensure that teams no longer surrender top picks for signing Type A free agents starting this offseason. However, the owners will only make this change in return for hard slotting, according to Stark.
Rob Manfred, MLB's executive vice president of labor relations, is the point man on the Dodgers' ownership issues and the collective bargaining agreement, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter). The sale of the Dodgers has slowed CBA talks, but it appears the sides will reach a deal within a few weeks.

[Bobbob1313]

A hard slot would be excellent.

Ehe. I just got the innuendo.

[Miamarlin21]

Can someone explain the hard slot concept? I don't quite understand it.

[Bobbob1313]

Can someone explain the hard slot concept? I don't quite understand it.

When you draft a player, he signs for a predetermined amount of money based on where he was drafted.

It basically avoids scenarios where big market teams get top-10 talent at the end of the 1st round or supplemental draft because nobody else wants to pay them.

[Metes]

I've never been crazy about the idea of surrendering picks to sign A/B free agents. I understand that it's trying to enforce parity, but if a guy is clearly going to leave the team he's with, why should they benefit from another team "stealing him away?"

Also, the criteria for determining A/B free agents is terrible.

I'd be totally fine with it going away.

[Miamarlin21]

Thanks Bobo.

[MiamiHomer]

Mark Bowman of MLB.com reported yesterday that the Braves were shopping Jair Jurrjens and Martin Prado, and had already talked to the Royals about a potential deal, but now Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star writes that those discussions have “stalled.”

According to Dutton the Royals expressed interest in Jurrjens and the Braves offered to include Prado along with him, but Kansas City balked at the asking price of outfield prospects Wil Myers and Lorenzo Cain.

Dutton speculates that they’d be willing to deal Cain, but Myers is probably off-limits. Which makes sense, because Cain is 25 years old and yet to get an extended shot in the majors, while Myers played this season at Double-A as a 20-year-old and is considered one of the top hitting prospects in baseball.

Royals turn down Braves’ Jair Jurrjens and Martin Prado offer

[Metes]

Jurrjens is interesting because of the upside, but he has been pretty bad the last two years

[Bobbob1313]

Jurrjens is interesting because of the upside, but he has been pretty bad the last two years

He was pretty excellent last year.

[Miamarlin21]

He was pretty excellent last year.

Yeah. I was thinking he had a good year. Metes is just being silly.

[Bobbob1313]

Well, he was no good the year before.

[HUGG]

metes is remembering the starts after the all-star break before he got shut down (7gs, 5.88era, .301baa, 1.65whip)