There's speculation because Theo mentioned Wake's contract extension "freeing up 1.5m for luxury tax purposes", and that kicks in at 170m while our payroll is at 120m or so, but I don't really see any way we get near there. I'm sure they'll push hard to get one of Bay/Holliday for ~15-17m/y, and maybe go after Lackey/Figgins, but I think they do really like Buchholz as a 3/4 and Lowrie at SS for next year and will push harder to make a trade for a true superstar (Felix and Adrian Gonzalez are the two pipe dreams, Halladay and Justin Morneau two others mentioned) than overpaying a mediocre free-agent class to counter what the Yankees did last year with Tex/CC/Burnett.

There's also Chapman, and speculation he could get 20-25m, but I'm not sure if he really counts in the same class as major league free agents.

There's rumors that the Tigers are in a situation where they need to make some major cuts to payroll and Granderson along with just about everyone outside of Verlander, Cabrera, and Porcello are on the block.

DetTox, you heard anything?

It doesn't sound like it's a mandate, but the rumor is Dombrowski will trade Granderson if the right deal presents itself. I'd shudder to think what would happen to Dombrowski if he made that deal because Grandy might be the most beloved Detroit sports figure since Yzerman retired: he's just a great person.

Now personally, if a team like the Giants came to Dombrowski and offered a package that was highlighted by Madison Bumgarner, I think you have to do it.

Likely though, I give it a 10% chance of happening. If it did though, I think it'll be the Yankees to take him because they could also take on a guy like Nate Robertson and his terrible contract, and still give up a decent package in return.

We'll see what happens though. I certainly would not put it past Dombrowski because he's done a lot of big wheeling and dealing, but Grandy as a 3 or 5 hitter is a 30 HR/100 RBI type guy with speed and great D who is on an absurdly affordable contract for I believe 3 more years.

So to summarize, unless we either get an elite pitching or middle infield prospect who is about MLB ready, or a ton of salary relief via a team taking on Nate, Willis or Ordonez, I don't see it.

Also, personally, I think Porcello might be our only untouchable player. I doubt we'd deal Miggy or Verlander, but I could certainly see it.

I believe the Cy Young awards for both leagues are announced this week. Hoping that Zack picks up the American League award.

If he doesn't, its a travesty.

Is it Cy Young? I thought it was Manager of the Year and Rookie of the Year this week. But maybe it's all of them and the MVPs alone are next week.

I know the AL Cy Young is announce tomorrow. Not sure about the NL Cy Young date.

2009 MLB Awards | MLB.com: News

Today, ROY. Tomorrow AL CY. Wed, MOY. Thursday NL CY. MVPs next week.

Interesting:

Andrew Bailey (OAK) wins the AL ROY:

Bailey takes AL rookie award | MLB.com: News

Chris Coglan (FLA) wins the NY ROY:

Coghlan is named NL's top rookie | MLB.com: News

Not the highest profile names.

Boo.....was hoping Happ would take the NL ROY.

And I wanted McCutchen to win. I would've been fine with Happ winning, too, but Coghlan?

And I'll flip out tomorrow if Greinke doesn't win the Cy Young.

To be fair, Coghlan has the same OPS+ as McCutchen and more games. But Happ or Hanson should have won it.

Should have gone to Happ. Coghlan's defense was terrible killed some of his value as a hitter. I would have gone Happ, Hanson, Wells, McCutchen, Coghlan.

It's all perception. After all, terrible defense didn't stop Jeter from getting the Gold Glove. :D

Zack Greinke won the AL Cy Young Award!!!! SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats, Zack!

Very nice! Glad to see the voters made the right choice, even with the relatively low win total!

Any truth to the Adriann Gonzales(1b-SD) to the White Sox rumors that are all over Chicago sports radio today?

I think they got the order right too, which is surprising. Expected more support for CC.

Only thing I've seen is this from MLBTradeRumors saying there's nothing to it.

http://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/5797895977

Happy for Greinke. He dominated baseball this year despite playing for a bad team and an anemic offense. He had six no-decisions in which he allowed two earned runs or fewer.

Garrett Jones only got like 2 votes. I know it was half a season but he OPS'd like .920ish and hit 20 homers.

You have to forgive some voters who think the Pirates are an AAA team.

Heyman tweets that Lincecum won.

Jon Heyman rant anyone?

Fucking fuck Jon Heyman and his fuckin twitter fucking account. It's for jackoffs and/or 12 year old facebook fuckers.

Too bad Wainwright had such a good year. I think he cost Chris Carpenter the Cy Young he should have won. Congrats to Lincecum, though!

BBWAA.com: Official site of the Baseball Writers Assn. of America.

Wainwright actually got the most first place votes.

Of course, he had 19 wins. He was 2 wins better than the next best pitcher in the NL.

It is so sad that even having 2 more wins than the next most pitcher is still that powerful in Cy Young voting.

Tim Lincecum was head and shoulders above other pitchers; glad people got it correct, though its depressing how many old farts look at wins and nothing else.

Head and shoulders? I'm not sure you can necessarily say it that extreme vis a vis Chris Carpenter.

As much as I think Lincecum was the best pitcher this year (and I may be biased, but I think this is true), it's not "head and shoulders" better. Perhaps "clearly" better, but even that is pushing it.

By WAR, Lincecum was significantly ahead of Wainwright and Carpenter. I think it was pretty clear that Lincecum was the most dominating pitcher in the NL and the most effective - his edge in K's, IP and xFIP more than make up for the edge Carpenter had in ERA. Wainwright's only edge on Lincecum was IP, and only by 7 2/3.

Good on the BBWA for getting over their past bias towards W's.

Free agency has begun, do something good Braves.

I thought this was an interesting article on MLB revenue sharing.

Joe Mauer wins the AL MVP, and the BBWAA is impressing me this year by being a bit smarter than usual:

Mauer catches AL MVP Award | MLB.com: News

I'm rather amazed Jeter didn't pull in a couple first place votes.

So does anybody here want to burn Keith Law and Will Carroll at the stake for leaving Chris Carpenter of their Cy Young ballots? Or was that what that angry white man rant thread was about?

This is a great article a few days ago in the NYT about sabermetrics and Brian Bannister:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/sp...er=rss&emc=rss

No. It was a totally valid decision.

Agreed. Just trying to fan some flames. Obviously, nobody wants to take the bait :)

The only award the BBWAA got wrong this year was the NL rookie of the year. I can live with that, although Adam Wainwright getting the most 1st place Cy Young Votes and Miguel Cabrera getting a 1st place vote bugs me.

I'm not entirely sure putting Wainwright at 3rd and Carpenter at 4th is "totally valid".

Sure it is. By WAR, Wainwright was ahead of Carpenter 5.7 to 5.6; by xFIP, Wainwright was ahead 3.45 to 3.46, and with 37 1/3 more IP than Carpenter.

It really depends on what measures you most value in your Cy Young voting. I have no problem with someone putting Wainwright just ahead of Carpenter, as I think there are valid arguments both ways. The most important thing is this - Lincecum won, and he deserved to do so.

Do you really think the old farts that vote for the award look at those sort of stats?

Seriously, Wainwright was ahead by miniscule margins in both measures. 0.1 in WAR and 0.01 in xFIP. They are basically equal in those measurements. Therefore you should look deeper and thus, looking at WPA and ERA+, Carpenter easily outclasses Wainwright. If you are going to use those season long stats as reasons why Wainwright should be above Carpenter, then there is NO REASON not to have Haren above both.

Well, I'm pretty sure Law and Carroll do.

Fair enough, but outside a handful of writers, scouting personnel, and geeks like us no one else does.

My old man has been a baseball fan for 75 years, I guarantee you he has no clue what any stats beyond ERA, wins, K's and a few other basics mean.

I would venture to say most writers are in the same category as my dad.

Sure, but I think the conversation is whether Law was justified in putting Wainwright ahead of Carpenter.