I think it is a bad deal for the M's. Figgins will be 32 when the season starts and has only played one full season the last three. Four years for an injury prone, 32 year old guy is a lot. I think it may work out the first two years, but I can see them getting really stuck on the back end of this deal.

Sometimes it works to have two different sets of rules for stars and everybody else. This is Sparky's first spring training speech as told in Posnanski's new book on the Big Red Machine.

I'm not terribly concerned about that. Even considering the economic downturn, $9M per season for Figgins is likely undervaluing him. Even if he regresses a bit from last year's hitting numbers, he'll still be worth the money.

It's always cool to have guys that are easy to root for on a personal level - Edgar Martinez will always be beloved in Seattle for much more than his great hitting - but what really excites me about Figgins is getting another patient bat in the lineup and a good on-base guy for the top of the lineup.

I would suspect that Ichiro remains the leadoff hitter, but either way you go it's nice to have those two at the top of the lineup.

That got me thinking (Ichiro/Figgins). I think I'd rather have Figgins 1st and Ichiro 2nd. Figgins is about 10 points below Ichiro for career OBP but the spread between his BA and OBP is about 70 points where as Ichiro's is only 40 since he doesn't take many walks. So, over the course of the season, I think 10 points of OBP would be wiped out by the extra bases a fast runner like Figgins would take on an extra 30 points in hits.

SI

Also, although Ichiro is fast, too, and steals bases, he doesn't seem to create the kind of trepidation/fear from batteries that Figgins does, who is more along the lines of a Crawford or an Ellsbury in impression/impact. So Ichiro at the #2 would see a lot more fastballs. And he would be able to do more with them than Figgins. A lot of fastballs to Ichiro == nothing good for teams playing the M's.

So Pat Burrell has been reportedly traded to the Cubs who have in turn traded him to the Mets.

If true...poor Pat, he's gone from the Penthouse to the shithouse in little over a year.

Edit: There are some sources denying it so. Hopefully the denials are true.

Too bad we don't play in Shea anymore.

my thought exact.

It'll be interesting to see how Philly fans treat Pat the Bat.

I remember hearing a while ago about a deal involving the Cubs, Mets and Rays that involved Burrell, Bradley and Castillo. Pretty much just exchanging one problem for another.... wonder if there is any truth to it.

From what I read it was discussed a little, but nothing serious ever came of it. Every team seems to want the cubs to pay some of Bradley's salary and the Cubs are only offering around $5 million.

1:54pm: Cryptic tweet from Ed Price of AOL FanHouse: "Rumor that Mets acquire Edwin Jackson." Price then updated that the rumor was "heard in the lobby" but not confirmed.

This will be interesting between Dombrowski and Minaya. Is it possible for both GM's to be raped in a trade?

Never a good sign for the acquiring team when an already young pitcher is being shopped for more young pitching, especially when it's coming off a 2nd half slide.

Jackson will be a fine 3 to 4 starter in the NL. Detroit doesn't want to pay him what he'll make in arbitration and he's a Boras guy so I doubt they wanted to even attempt to resign him.

A young pitcher that will then be on his fourth team.

If the Mets get him, I guarantee they pay more than 3/4 starter price.

Well do you have any young pitchers who touch 100 and need to develop secondary pitches or white middle infielders who are any good?

FWIW Price is backing down hard on that one.

Well, David Wright's been hitting like a 1980s middle infielder recently...

Sounds like it's not gonna be the Mets, but he will be gone pretty soon.

Looks something was brewing with the Yankees, but they backed out.

It's looking like Granderson to the Yankees may be a done deal now. Detroit would get Austin Jackson and Phil Coke from New York and Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth from Arizona. Arizona would get Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy.

Well reports are now saying Schlereth may not be in the deal. Would be disappointing for me if he wasn't.

I'm seeing Schlereth still in the deal, per Ed Price a moment ago.

If this is the deal then Detroit did really, really well here.

I would like to take the time to thank Arizona for being utterly retarded and getting involved in a deal that made no sense from their perspective.

Without what they gave us, this is an awful deal for Grandy, but now with Mad Max (who I love) and Schlereth I am quite a fan.

Grandy is my favorite Tiger in many, many moons. Wish him the best in the Bronx.

Yep, not a bad haul by the Tigers there.

I hope Arizona at least got a reach around included.

ESPN is saying:

Sources: Trade sending Curtis Granderson to New York Yankees nearing completion - ESPN

Arizona just giving up Scherzer and not Schlereth.

Interesting. Sure hope it's not the case. It'd be a bad time for an ESPN report to actually be true.

Way to go Tigers!

Gammons just said Schlereth is in the deal. MLB.com is also saying Schlereth is a part of it.

I like this move from a Yankees standpoint. Now we don't feel compelled to bring back Damon as a position player, and Granderson is in his prime, right when this team is stacked to win.

I hope Austin Jackson turns into a good player for the Tigers.

If Schrlreth is in the deal, MLBTR has it mentioned that the four players are going to be under Tigers control for a combined 22 years. That is a huge, huge aspect to this deal.

Figured. I think it was obvious the Tigs wanted to replace the two holes in the pen with any move so a fourth guy had to be in it.

The other interesting thing now is that the Tigers have 4 lefties in their bullpen. Seems like an overkill although Seay and Coke are both guys who can come in vs righties. Only Ni seems like a LOOGY.

Dammit. Good deal for the Yankees. Even if Jackson and Kennedy are solid 3/4 starters with deflated numbers from pitching in the NL west I agree it makes little to no sense from Arizona's perspective.

Great deal for Yankees damn it. They gave up good prospects but nothing they can't replace or anything that negatively alters the team on the field from last season . I hope the Sox get a move on and sign Matt Holiday. I would like them to get Gonzalez from San Diego also. Plus they need a decent starter not necessarily a ace but a #3 would be good. Halladay is too rich for my blood.

you'd rather holiday than bay?

i guess i haven't dug in and done enough research to know (to my shame), but is holiday an upgrade over bay, or just a bigger "name?". fine...5 minutes of research shows me that they're basically identical players offensively. give me whoever will come cheaper please.

i'd also like to see gonzalez, but i don't think he's moving. price for halladay is also too rich for me...concentrate on what you've got and a reclamation-project or three for short money (Ben Sheets?).

Holliday is easily an upgrade over Bay.

Holliday, at worst, is a league average fielder. Bay is at the very least a below average fielder and if you buy into some of the advanced fielding metrics, he's one of the worst fielders in the leauge. I know that from just watching Bay for a season and a half his defense leaves a lot to be desired.

Holliday's a year younger and far better defensively than Bay (i.e. league average or slightly better). Bay has "proven he can hit in Boston" - I personally don't think Holliday would have an issue like Renteria did. We'd also gain a 1st and 1st round supplemental in exchange for a 2nd if sign Holliday instead of Bay. But really the main difference is going to be contract length. If we could get Bay for 3 or Holliday for 5 I would love it, but since this is likely the last big deal for each they both obviously want more years. Bay seems to be garnering more interest at the price they're floating, so it's quite possible we could leverage Holliday down if Bay signs with the Angels/Mariners now that the Yankees are out, but Boras is his agent so it wouldn't be easy or quick.

dola

2009 OPS+

Holliday - 139
Bay - 134

so you could say they're close to a wash offensively. Holliday is a year and a half younger and a far better fielder. My biggest fear is giving Bay 17 million a year for 4 or 5 years and then watching his defense continue to deteriorate to the point that he's basically a 17 million dollar DH in two years.

fair enough

Gammons is leaving ESPN

I'm actually pretty sad about that. Liked Gammons a lot.

MLBtv?

Gammon has annoyed me. The way he was a PR person for the Red Sox was tiresome and he seemed to have grown quite a hatred for the statistical community in recent years.

Despite that, the guy did a lot for baseball sportswriting (which could also be bad or good I guess).

Gammons will be working for NESN and the MLB Network next season per the Globe's Amalie Benjamin.