It's not offical, but local stations report Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui has a greed to a 3 year deal to play for NY, valued at 21 million dollars.

This was a major pick-up for the Yankees, whose OF was very dispointing since Paul O'Neil retired.

Also, before Ming whines about the rich getting richer, the hypocrit small market Royals refused to resign their BEST pitcher, Paul Byrd, and cut their 40 million payroll, EVEN though they will get 40 Million in revenue and luxury tax sharring!
In effect, the Yankees and a few other teams are now footing the bill for all the have nots, who STILL refuse to improve, even when HANDED money to do it.

Could this be like a baseball offseason thread?

Anyway, that is AWESOME. I am a die hard Yankees fan (in Red Sox country), and was waiting to hear that news. Now all they need to do is sign Clemens. Too bad they lost Stanton though :(

And does no one care about Jeff Kent? He is one of the best second basemen in the league and no one bothers to mention it? Guess we have no one in the Bay Area ;)

Yanks got a better reliever then Stanton.

I was surprised Houston signed Kent, never figured those cheapos would sign a home state guy.

Yanks may not sign Clemmens if they make a trade with Montreal, and that looks like a done deal.
I would rather have Vasquez/Colon then an aging Clemmens next year.

Originally posted by Alcibiaties of Athenae
Yanks got a better reliever then Stanton.

Yanks may not sign Clemmens if they make a trade with Montreal, and that looks like a done deal.
I would rather have Vasquez/Colon then an aging Clemmens next year.

1. Who was the reliever?
2. I think that i would definetly rather have two young guns than an old 40 year old who, despite his great workouts, is done in like a year or two. Plus Colon was awesome last year in Montreal. Still can't figure out why Cleveland would do that. Now they lost Thome and might be in danger of being worse than Kansas City :lol:

Easy, because the league is full of owners that care more about $$$ than winning.

The Royals are a TRAVESTY. In a great baseball area, with good revenue from Radio and a giant footprint in the Midwest, they are the epitome of a sorry a$$ed franchise.

I don't fault the Yanks for signing guys to help them win. Steinbrenner always said that he wouldn't mind paying out sharing, IF the teams would use it for baseball. Many owners are just pocketing it. :(

Kent is a defensive liability who refuses not to play 2B. I wish he would have went somewhere else though instead of to the Cards main competitors...

I wonder if motorcycle boy will put up the same numbers without Bonds protecting him....hmmmmm...I don't THINK so...

Congrats to the pinstripes for signing Matsui...

Now only if the Cubbies can find some help for that anemic batting order (Eric Karros?????? arrrggghhh)

At least their pitching will keep them in games especially with the Estes signing...(provided they pitch 162 complete games that is)

Originally posted by WildFire444
1. Who was the reliever?
Chris Hammond, who posted a major league-leading 0.95 ERA in 63 appearances for the Atlanta Braves last season. He became just the third pitcher since 1900 to post a sub-1.00 ERA while exceeding 70 innings.

2. I think that i would definetly rather have two young guns than an old 40 year old who, despite his great workouts, is done in like a year or two. Plus Colon was awesome last year in Montreal. Still can't figure out why Cleveland would do that. Now they lost Thome and might be in danger of being worse than Kansas City :lol: The Cleveland owner is a jerk, he gutted a world series team, and blames STEINBRENNER for his troubles. :rolleyes:

I love Vasquez, he was banged up last year, but look out for this year.
I would love to see him and Weaver in the rotation, and dinosaur Clemmens somewhere else.

What a coincedence! The American Godzilla movie has Godzilla attacking New York! :lol:

Originally posted by Alcibiaties of Athenae
[B]
Chris Hammond, who posted a major league-leading 0.95 ERA in 63 appearances for the Atlanta Braves last season. He became just the third pitcher since 1900 to post a sub-1.00 ERA while exceeding 70 innings.


Thanks AoA! I couldn't find that anywhere. And speaking of the Atlanta Braves, i couldn't believe that they traded Kevin Millwood for a catcher, one that i personally have never heard of.

Millwood was an economical loss.

Their GM was crying yesterday about how horrible the economics in baseball are now.

Cry me a river.

Yeah, Schuerholz really screwed up this time.. I mean, you trade Millwood to a division rival for a back-up catcher -then- you whine about how you were forced to make that deal? I'm sure there are 13 AL teams who would have loved to give a backup catcher for Millwood...

And yes, Hammond had a great year in the bullpen, but this is a guy who, two years ago, couldn't make Cleveland's bullpen and was out of baseball. I wouldn't be expecting an 0.95 ERA from him every year.

Ortiz and Byrd COMBINED cost 10.5 mil, the same amount Millwood would have cost, so he figures he got two for one.

Schuerholz said some double talk about he had to maove fast, which is why the Phillies got him.

I wouldn't be so quick to slam the Braves about Millwood. I think it was a bigger mistake letting Moss go...I have a hunch he is going to have a better year than Millwood....

Never underestimate the Braves ability to handle their pitching staff....

Yeah, and whenever the Braves offer a pitcher in a trade...



RUN!


Name one decent pitcher that ever left Atlanta in the last 10 years.

But I have a feeling that Moss will be the first.

Tom Glavine.

You say Tom Glavine AoA, but we dont know if he will be decent this year. even though he is a perrenial all-star in my mind.

He's a hall of famer.

Doesn't matter that he left Atlanta, Shea is a pitcher's park, he will do fine.

Boston's former closer Ugueth Urbina signed with Texas.

Urbina signs with Texas (http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20021222&content_id=188327&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp)

Why would Boston let him go? I know that they have some quality relievers (coming from a Yankee fan) but is Embree good enough for the closing role? I think Epstein is hopin so.

Also, Fred McGriff signed with the Dodgers. He has been on quite a few teams in the last couple of years hasn't he? You would think he would have stayed with the Cubs since they are doing a major overhaul this year.

There were major questions about Urbina's durability in Boston, plus the fact that he was due to make beaucoup bucks next year if the Sox picked up his option. I don't think Embree's the closer in waiting there though. I mean, El Guapo/Beck did OK for the half-year or so when Gordon was down but I have to think they'll pick up somebody else.

AoA: Jason Schmidt was pretty good away from Atlanta. Health problems were his major downfall. Also, that Mike Stanton guy did pretty well... but that's the key for every franchise. Heck, it's hard to believe that the Jays once had Jeff Kent ...

Stanton might be the most over-rated post season reliver ever.

Yes, he has great numbers, but if you really watched him, he always either walked the first hitter or gave up a hit, was always in trouble, never went 1-2-3.
Rivera is the reason Stanton had a good record, he's the guy who came in and shut down Stanton's messes.

The Mets got no bargin in Stanton.

AoA, Atlanta lost Glavine to free agency, not in a trade.

Everytime Atlanta has traded a pitcher to someone, the pitcher goes south pretty fast.

Glavine will do fine in NY, but it will be very strange seeing him in a Mets uniform.

Jose Contreras has signed with the Yankees (http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1224/1482132.html)

This is GREAT. Being a Yankee fan and all :D :D :D

The rich get richer...

Actually, to tell you the truth AoA, I think Tom Glavine was the most overrated post-season pitcher ever, not Stanton. Which year did he -not- get hammered by opposing batters in the NL Championship Series?

Glavine is 12-15 with a 3.44 ERA liftime in postseason, which isn't too bad.
http://cbs.sportsline.com/u/baseball/mlb/players/playoff/7641_playoff.htm

The Mets got him to GET to the post season, not to win it all, they badly needed a credible starter.

The Yanks get better because the Yanks owner doesn't suffer from the terminal cheapness that many owners do, THAT is the real problem in baseball, tight ownwers that won't spend when they have the money.
It's easier to blame NY, but they can't fool the fans, they got revenue sharring and luxury tax, yet teams like the Reds and Royals annoced payroll CUTS.
Did the Yankees EVER set the market?
Nope.
Idiots like Tom Hicks of Texas did that.

Yes, it must be the Yankees' fault. :rolleyes:

The problem is that fans are losing interest in baseball in favor of the NFL. In the NFL, building a good team and going far in the playoffs has little to do with signing the most expensive free agents, and much to do with building a good organization, coaching, player development and cap management. It means there aren't likely to be any dynasties, but it also means that at the beginning of every season, your team has an even shot at a successful season. In the past, when professional sports were limited to a few big cities, the rest of the country could get behind a dynasty like the Yankees. Now, every mid-sized market has a baseball team, and people get fed up when it's obvious in February that their team won't play a single meaningful game all season. The fault may lie at choices made by owners, but the game is structured in such a way as to reward those choices.

Except for the Bengals. :)

As a Yankee fan, there is some good news and some bad. First of all Clemens (http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1230/1484397.html) signed with the Yankees, which is great.
Bad news is that Mendoza (http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1229/1483971.html) has signed with the Red Sox.

Personally, i would trade clemens for some younger pitchers.

Great, so the Yankees now have seven starting pitchers....

Petitte
Clemens
El Duque
Mussina
Weaver
Contreras
Wells

One starter a week!

You forgot Sterling Hitchcock.

Originally posted by jpowers
The problem is that fans are losing interest in baseball in favor of the NFL. In the NFL, building a good team and going far in the playoffs has little to do with signing the most expensive free agents, and much to do with building a good organization, coaching, player development and cap management. It means there aren't likely to be any dynasties, but it also means that at the beginning of every season, your team has an even shot at a successful season. In the past, when professional sports were limited to a few big cities, the rest of the country could get behind a dynasty like the Yankees. Now, every mid-sized market has a baseball team, and people get fed up when it's obvious in February that their team won't play a single meaningful game all season. The fault may lie at choices made by owners, but the game is structured in such a way as to reward those choices. I can say from my mid-market viewpoint, that our local joke of a baseball club is never useful right from spring training. They don't know how to invest in coaching and development, and they try to buy a few big name almost-stars to sell more tickets. They have no understanding of player depth, and injury prevention. So, I remain a Yankees/Mets fan, because they remain accountable to their fans - the Yankees much more than the Mets.

That said, I'm a bigger fan of the NFL - the Broncos are a class organization, and I can still expect either the Jets or Giants to be in post-season play. And Football is really so much more "American" than Baseball.:)

AoA: Yeah, but Hitchcock made all of like two starts last year. I'd be shocked if he made another start in a Yankee uniform for the rest of his career. I would imagine Steinbrenner's trying his darndest to package him in a trade to get at least something for him in return.

Of course, my Blue Jays just picked up Tanyon (3-18) Sturtze to be our No. 3 starter.. whee! I hope they can hit this year...