MLB Off-Season Thread

[Todd]

They arent going to trade Pujols. I am sure John Mozleackmynameishardtospell and DeWitt value their lives.

Cardinals fans dont have battered wife syndrome when it comes to trading away superstars like Marlins fans do. There would be riots, death threats, and general jackassery from the entire metro area.

[emkayseven]

no way they don't resign pujols. the whole reason they spent on holliday was to show pujols they were committed to winning so he'll stick around

[Swifty]

This is trying to win 2 titles in the final 2 years of his contract so he maybe takes $22 mil instead of the $30 mil he could get on the open market.

However, this probably means bye-bye Chris Carpenter.

[PitchingWinsGames]

no way they don't resign pujols. the whole reason they spent on holliday was to show pujols they were committed to winning so he'll stick around

Hasn't Pujols pretty much gone on record as saying he'd take a discount to stay with a competitive Cardinals team anyways?

[Chewford]

Damn, the Encarnacion's have bad luck with faces.

[Swifty]

Hasn't Pujols pretty much gone on record as saying he'd take a discount to stay with a competitive Cardinals team anyways?

And in '03 when we were in Puerto Rico, Pudge said he'd take a 3 year deal at a home town discount to stay with us.

[Ramp]

Mark McGwire is returning to baseball this season as the St. Louis Cardinals' hitting coach. Could he also be making a cameo as a player, too?

In an interview with the Contra Costa Times, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa mentioned the possibility of putting McGwire on the team's active roster on Aug. 31 so he'd be eligible to play in the postseason, if the Cardinals are still in the race.


"If we're in contention, we'll put him on the roster Aug. 31. It's a nice little dream," La Russa told the newspaper.

However unlikely the scenario might be, La Russa said it's not impossible.

"Is it likely? Probably not. I don't think it's a zero possibility. The point is, you'll see him in spring training. He won't be leaning on the batting cage chatting it up. He'll work his [butt] off, and hitters will be thrilled he's there helping them," La Russa told the newspaper.

La Russa was speaking to the newspaper to promote his Animal Rescue Foundation's benefit event that will be held Saturday night in Northern California.

McGwire, who once again failed to be elected into the Hall of Fame due to performance-enhancing drug accusations, hasn't addressed the media yet about his new role with the Cardinals.

La Russa said McGwire could talk to the media by the end of January but definitely before spring training begins.

"He knows he's got to be forthcoming sooner than later," La Russa told the newspaper. "Now that we're past the holidays and awards, I think it'll happen soon. ... I'm curious to see what he says. I know enough about him and his character, I know he's a quality guy."

Eighth on the career list with 583 homers, McGwire has been stigmatized since evading questions from Congress in 2005 about performance-enhancing drug use.

McGwire received 128 votes (23.7 percent) in the 2010 Hall of Fame voting, 10 more than last year and matching the total from his first two times on the ballot.

"At least he didn't go backward," La Russa told the newspaper. "Hopefully now he'll get back [in voters' good graces] where he's out working again."

La Russa is confident that McGwire will make a great hitting coach. McGwire has a lot of talent to work with, including reigning MVP Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday, who agreed to return this week to the team with a seven-year, $120 million contract.

"He's so enthused about this hitting thing," La Russa told the newspaper. "I know intimately what he teaches, and that's one reason I'm excited about him getting out and sharing it. It's very straightforward. ... I put my credibility with him. I believe it will work. He will not only be a great coach, but when he comes forward and whatever's said, we'll be able to go forward."

Yes.

[PitchingWinsGames]

And in '03 when we were in Puerto Rico, Pudge said he'd take a 3 year deal at a home town discount to stay with us.

You can't seriously be comparing the character of Pujols to Pudge...

[Namaste]

The Yankees (players and ownership I believe) have donated $500,000 to relief efforts in Haiti.

That's pretty cool.

[m26555]

Carlos Beltran had worsening of osteoarthritis of the right knee during the offseason. He had not been experiencing pain following the conclusion of the season and into his early offseason conditioning. The symptoms returned to the point where pre-spring training conditioning became too painful. He elected to undergo arthroscopic clean out of the arthritic area of his knee by Beltran”s personal physician Dr. Richard Steadman today in Colorado. He is anticipated to return to baseball activities in 12 weeks.

Huge blow for the Mets. Beltran's career may be deteriorating before our eyes.
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And apparently, Beltran did this without the Mets' permission, and the Mets are not happy about it.
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#Mets are definitely claiming Beltran procedure done without their blessing, and are threatening some form of action

http://twitter.com/nyp_joelsherman

[DColts]

The Mets' front office is terrible.

A year ago, I placed the Mets at #5 on my list of the healthiest organizations in baseball.

My bad.

Yesterday’s he said-he said recounting of the events surrounding Carlos Beltran’s surgery are just the latest sign that the organization is a ship without a captain. Even the most conservative reading of the events looks really bad for the Mets – at best, their front office lacks the ability to communicate their desires to their team’s best player, at worst the player has reached the point where he simply doesn’t care what they say.

And then there’s the handling of the news. Word began to leak out on Wednesday that Beltran had surgery and that the Mets front office was extremely angry about it. It’s one thing to do a controlled leak of news that will come out eventually, as most teams in baseball do – it is entirely another to bring reporters into what should have been an internal issue. Then, to cap it off, the Mets held a conference call (necessitated by the leaks) that was run by Assistant GM John Ricco, ostensibly because Omar Minaya wasn’t able to find a working phone in the rural back-country known as Phoenix, Arizona.

More likely is that the Mets just didn’t want Minaya on that call for fear of what he might say. Say what you will about Minaya’s roster construction (and I have), but when you don’t trust your GM to meet with the press, you need a new GM. A significant part of the General Manager job is to handle the relationship with the press about the affairs of the team. The Mets apparently do not believe Minaya is fit to fill that role any longer.

Ricco’s handling of the conference call only goes to further confuse the chain of authority in Queens. Minaya is clearly not in charge, as the Wilpons continue to exercise more than a usual amount of influence on the front office. But they won’t willingly admit to running things either, leading to a nebulous power situation where there is simply no clear leader.

This is dysfunction on a large stage. Much like the last days of Jim Bowden’s reign in Washington, you have to wonder whether they’ll be able to escape growing evidence of a lack of control in the front office – never mind the questionable decisions Minaya has made spending the Wilpons money.

At this point, they just need to start over. The current situation isn’t working and it’s getting worse, not better. The team has a new ballpark in a huge metropolitan area and some terrific pieces to build around – they should be contenders. They should be well run. But they aren’t. It’s time for some wholesale changes before things get any worse, if that’s possible.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index...-the-big-apple

[Metes]

Ehe I remember his awesome rankings that put Baltimore, Toronto, Cincinnati, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Houston as better franchises than the Marlins.
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(And the Mets)

[nny]

He only had Washington behind the Marlins

and remember when we were going to be a horrible team in '09?

Yeah

[Fish and Chips]

Pirates signed Donnelly

[Namaste]

Was always a big fan of this guy's arm and his ability to hit the breaking ball:

Eye Injury
On August 31, Encarnación was struck in the face by a foul ball hit by teammate Aaron Miles while he was on the on-deck circle. Encarnación suffered multiple fractures to his left eye socket and an injury to his left eye and missed the remainder of the 2007 season. [7]
The injury was regarded by the Cardinals' head team physician, Dr. George Paletta, to be the worst injury he'd ever seen to the face on a baseball player. Paletta said the eye socket was essentially crushed on impact, comparing the injured area to the disintegration of an egg shell or ice cream cone, and that the optic nerve had sustained severe trauma. Paletta also said the eyeball had not been ruptured. [8]
[edit]2008 season

On January 16, 2008 it was reported that he would miss the entire 2008 season, and the future of his career was in serious jeopardy. [9]
On May 2, 2008, during a web chat hosted by MLB and the St. Louis Cardinals for fans to talk with the team's new general manager, John Mozeliak a question was asked regarding the possibility of Encarnación returning to the team. Mozeliak stated "I'm sorry to say that he will not. His injury will likely result in his career ending." [10]
On November 10, 2008, Juan filed for free agency, ending his tenure with the Cardinals.
[edit]Life after baseball

In July of 2009, a Dominican news organization reported that Encarnación was organizing a run to become a senator in the Dominican Republic, representing his home province of San Juan de la maguana. [11] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch later reported that the Dominican rumors were unsubstantiated and without merit, and Juan had instead been working heavily on his charity, the Juan Encarnacion Foundation. [12]
[edit]