RealGM

Very ugly indeed stud. Sometimes I wonder who these people are that design new uniforms.

Very dirt bike kid imo

I hope it's not a trend with the advertising/marketing bean heads in NY that think they know so much about branding......lol

http://deadspin.com/5138890/pedroias-br ... olestation

oh think of all the possible jokes that can be made by people more creative then me

well those helmets don't look that horrible in those pictures. But in the video they looked beyond horrible. I can't believe they are going to wear those

AP source: Pettitte, Yankees close on deal

NEW YORK – Andy Pettitte and the Yankees are closing in on a one-year contract that would bring the left-hander back to New York.

A person familiar with the negotiations said the agreement could be reached later Monday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because talks are not yet final.

Pettitte wanted to return and the Yankees preferred to have him come back. The sides have been apart for months on how big a pay cut the 36-year-old pitcher would take from the $16 million he earned last year.

He would join a projected starting rotation featuring CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain.

Pettitte pitched for the Yankees from 1995-2003, helping them win four World Series titles, then spent three seasons with his hometown Houston Astros. He returned to the Yankees in 2007 and was 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA last season, his highest ERA since 1999.

Pitching with a sore shoulder, he was 2-7 with a 6.23 ERA in his final 11 starts and missed his last turn of the season.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090126/ap_ ... pettitte_2

I really think he'll be great as the #5, plus he would probably split time with Phil once he works his way back up.

Ugh, I know it wasn't likely but I really wanted to see Andy wind up With the Dodgers or back in Houston. Out of the 3 they've inked he's the guy I would worry the most about in September/October about.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... kas/090126

espn's page 2 has finally tackled the atrocity of the rangers helmets among other bad jersey ideas! but we will have helmet night june 16th! mark your calendars

and just to talk about how bad houstons farm system is (or how awesome texas's is) this excerpt from jim callis was funny:

Q: Just curious . . . Where would the No. 30 prospect in your top-rated system rank in your worst-rated system? Where would the No. 1 prospect in your worst-rated system rank in your top-rated system?

Dale Carriger
San Francisco

A: Very interesting question. In the organization rankings in the 2009 Prospect Handbook, we tabbed the Rangers as having the best farm system in the game and the Astros as having the worst. Righthander John Bannister was the No. 30 prospect on our Texas Top 30 list, while catcher Jason Castro was No. 1 on our Houston Top 30.

Bannister signed as a nondrafted free agent in 2002 out of Tucson's Sabino High, where he played with J.J. Hardy. He moved to the bullpen after coming back from Tommy John surgery last year, and he impressed scouts by pitching at 93-96 mph and reaching 98 in the Arizona Fall League. He also has a hard 11-to-5 curveball, though he's still refining his command. He's similar to righty Felipe Paulino, who's No. 7 on our Astros list. Paulino worked just one inning last year while battling shoulder problems, so I'd put Bannister ahead of him for now.

Castro, the 10th overall pick in the 2008 draft, projects as an offensive catcher and a solid defender. He's similar to Taylor Teagarden, No. 6 on our Rangers list, though Teagarden is a stronger catcher and has a few more questions about his bat. Teagarden has proven himself at higher levels, so I'd put Castro behind him at this point.

yanks and andy agreed to 5.5 mill guaranteed, another 6.5 in options


very good signing by the yanks, everything falls in place for them pitching wise

Varitek re-signs

It took nearly three months, but the Boston Red Sox have reached agreement to bring back catcher Jason Varitek on a one-year, $5 million contract, pending a physical and the execution of final details, two major league sources said Friday.

The contract would include a 2010 club option for $5 million. If the Red Sox decline their option, Varitek would hold a player option for $3 million.

There also is $2 million in potential incentives in the player option next year, which would be triggered if Varitek plays 80 to 120 games. If he were to play 120 games next year, he could earn $5 million even in the player option.

Under either scenario, the maximum total value of the contract could not exceed $10 million.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3872796

What a waste of 8 million dollars.

Theo Epstein was quoted as saying, "It's not every day you can spend 8-12 million of your boss's money and make his product inferior at the same time. That I was able to accomplish this in today's economy and still retain my job is a true testament to the sheer absurdity of major league baseball."

heh.

Although everyone's been so down on Varitek that he's become sort of underrated, at least among the sabermetric community. His BABIP and LD% both dropped off a cliff, and it's hard to say for certain how much is legit decline and how much is bad luck. All of the projection systems listed on fangraphs show him having a moderate rebound season (think OPS in the .710-.740 range). That's not good, but it's still better than replacement level. If the Red Sox couldn't get a deal done with the Rangers or anyone else, would Josh Bard have been as productive as Varitek as a starter? He might've been, but it's hard to gauge since he fell off even worse than Varitek last year.

It's not a good re-signing, but it might not be completely terrible either.

Bleeding Green wrote:What a waste of 8 million dollars.

Theo Epstein was quoted as saying, "It's not every day you can spend 8-12 million of your boss's money and make his product inferior at the same time. That I was able to accomplish this in today's economy and still retain my job is a true testament to the sheer absurdity of major league baseball."

Hilarious.

Bleeding Green wrote:What a waste of 8 million dollars.

Theo Epstein was quoted as saying, "It's not every day you can spend 8-12 million of your boss's money and make his product inferior at the same time. That I was able to accomplish this in today's economy and still retain my job is a true testament to the sheer absurdity of major league baseball."

But he's the Captain. Without that guy the team would be lost and have no clue how to play baseball. He's great for the pitchers too.

Seriously tho, I actually expected the deal to be higher, so in that regard I'm a little happy. I'm just hoping somehow he can hit about a double A level this season.

Cubs deal Hill and Wuertz to Baltimore and Oakland

CHICAGO -- The Cubs traded right-handed reliever Michael Wuertz to the Oakland Athletics for a pair of minor leaguers Monday and sent sent left-hander Rich Hill, their starter in Game 3 of the playoffs two years ago, to the Baltimore Orioles for a player to be named.

In the Oakland deal, the Cubs received outfielder Rich Robnett and infielder Justin Sellers.

Small deals, here's the nuts and bolts:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3878987

I was super high on Hill a few seasons ago, what happened with him? I would have given a player with a name to get him. 2007 was decent, even still with his Ankielitis Id take a chance on him.

Perez back to the Mets, 3 years 36 Million. Pretty happy about that.

I can't believe Oliver Perez is getting 13-mil a year. Guy hands out walks like Jehovah's Witness pamphlets.

Hill was having back spasm trouble all through the season, and this and possibly other factors were reportedly screwing with his mechanics. Most of his playing time consisted of getting beat up in the minors. Apparently the Cubs like their staff enough not to want to spent time trying to fix him. Not a bad move by the Orioles, though. They need a couple of these "swing for the fences" moves to come through in their rotation to have a shot at doing anything this year.

Da Schwab wrote:I can't believe Oliver Perez is getting 13-mil a year. Guy hands out walks like Jehovah's Witness pamphlets.

His strikeout rate and relative youth seem to make him tantalizing enough that it kept his value pretty high. Even in current form, he's still not a terrible thing to have in a rotation. Plus, the market is running out of decent pitchers and the Mets really needed someone in that spot either way. It was this, sign Sheets, or try to make due with someone like Randy Wolf.

Hill's issues are mental. The guy was getting lit up in the Winter Leagues and there's a reason for that. Baltimore got him simply because McPhail loves him from the day of being with the Cubs(that's why you see the O's getting a lot of former Cubs players). Regardless, it's funny how the Cubs have now given away all the prospects the Orioles were asking for last year for Brian Roberts.