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Young Drachma · 09-25-2007, 12:13 AM

I think the revelation about how truly young our ballclub is, has sent me scouring the free agency market for players who are veterans.

I'd like to make the playoffs next year and I believe we have the right combination of young talent to do it, but we need guys to come in and help fill spots where necessary.

Looking around, there aren't tons of guys that I'm even interested in. We've made offers for Reginald Baxter (9 HR/102 RBI/.302 last season with Detroit), a 24-year old first baseman and Diego Rojas (.253/19/112 with Angels), a 2nd baseman who I think could help us.

Given the two are the cream of the offensive crop in terms of guys who played in MLB last season, we're likely to get outbid for both of them, as we're not going to get in a bidding war over them.

VORP IS USEFUL
You know, I find that VORP is actually an extremely useful tool in evaluating players statistically. I never imagined it would be and it's nothing I ever used until this season, but, it's extremely handy as ratings tend to correlate, but more important, statistical performance tends to be there. And that's the handiest part of all.

TRADING PROSPECTS
I once heard Joe Morgan (ok, cringe if you hate him..) say on a telecast that he believed that teams had to win within the window that they have and that dealing prospects is part of that. That it'd be nice to watch a guy develop, but sometimes you don't have the luxury of being able to do that.

I look at my current situation and think the same thing. We need proven veterans to help us fill out a roster that won 80+ games with a bunch of kids and with key injuries to guys who are sparkplugs for us.

But I always have a hard time making big deals like that, not so much because I have a hard time dealing with prospects that develop for someone else five years down the line, as much as I always wonder "what if?" and try to hold out with such deals.

But honestly, we've got such a glut of guys right now that I can't even keep all of them if I wanted to, because they'll never play.

It doesn't mean that it's not hard for me to do sometimes.
November 30, 2001
Signed C Manny Lopez to a four-year deal worth $31.9 million. He hit .257 last year with 11 HR and 60 RBI for San Jose and while that amount of money might seem excessive for who should amount to a backup catcher, last season's situation where we essentially got hammered for half the season when our starting catcher went down, we decided that it wasn't worth taking a chance again with a guy who has already proven himself to be more than a little injury prone.

09-25-2007, 12:13 AM	#58
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	I think the revelation about how truly young our ballclub is, has sent me scouring the free agency market for players who are veterans. I'd like to make the playoffs next year and I believe we have the right combination of young talent to do it, but we need guys to come in and help fill spots where necessary. Looking around, there aren't tons of guys that I'm even interested in. We've made offers for Reginald Baxter (9 HR/102 RBI/.302 last season with Detroit), a 24-year old first baseman and Diego Rojas (.253/19/112 with Angels), a 2nd baseman who I think could help us. Given the two are the cream of the offensive crop in terms of guys who played in MLB last season, we're likely to get outbid for both of them, as we're not going to get in a bidding war over them. VORP IS USEFUL You know, I find that VORP is actually an extremely useful tool in evaluating players statistically. I never imagined it would be and it's nothing I ever used until this season, but, it's extremely handy as ratings tend to correlate, but more important, statistical performance tends to be there. And that's the handiest part of all. TRADING PROSPECTS I once heard Joe Morgan (ok, cringe if you hate him..) say on a telecast that he believed that teams had to win within the window that they have and that dealing prospects is part of that. That it'd be nice to watch a guy develop, but sometimes you don't have the luxury of being able to do that. I look at my current situation and think the same thing. We need proven veterans to help us fill out a roster that won 80+ games with a bunch of kids and with key injuries to guys who are sparkplugs for us. But I always have a hard time making big deals like that, not so much because I have a hard time dealing with prospects that develop for someone else five years down the line, as much as I always wonder "what if?" and try to hold out with such deals. But honestly, we've got such a glut of guys right now that I can't even keep all of them if I wanted to, because they'll never play. It doesn't mean that it's not hard for me to do sometimes. November 30, 2001 Signed C Manny Lopez to a four-year deal worth $31.9 million. He hit .257 last year with 11 HR and 60 RBI for San Jose and while that amount of money might seem excessive for who should amount to a backup catcher, last season's situation where we essentially got hammered for half the season when our starting catcher went down, we decided that it wasn't worth taking a chance again with a guy who has already proven himself to be more than a little injury prone.