I'm glad the Red Sox paid all that money for a guy that can get them to the playoffs, but probably won't win.

Major rep if you can take a screenshot of that for me.

Meh, teams splurge on these big ticket FAs and struggle to win titles...Nats, Yankees, Red Sox last season, Dodgers.

Might have to text it to you lol. Paper comes out tomorrow I think. Pm me and remind me and I'll hook it up.

Ok will do.

I found a paper that was a couple weeks old but they hadn't had visitors that week lol. Just a birthday wish to the aunt lol

I found this online - it's probably good enough.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-esPc0Q_jNQ...und%2BTown.jpg

That's exactly what we usually have lol.

That looks to be from Illinois

Well call me a busybody, but I think Mr. and Mrs. Emmet Walker should work on their problems at home before they go galavanting off to Alton on the weekend.

Yep. Same around here.

Yes. I have family in nearby Milan and that weekly paper still runs that stuff.

Great writer and am glad he is onto a better place and more money.

KC star desperately looking for someone to fill his big shoes, lets see what bum they bring in.

Tweet from David Prices girlfriend, 2 years ago:

https://mobile.twitter.com/kstatetif...468540416?s=03

We seem to have made some kind of minor trade with the Cardinals. Not sure what we got, we sent them Jose Martinez (not the AAA guy, a rookie ball Jose Martinez)

edit: We got Jose Cruz. Probably our new backup catcher

Or our new LF:

<img style="-webkit-user-select: none" src="https://ontheoutsidecorner.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/cruz.jpg">

:D

TONY cruz. Good D, no hit back up. Better than drew Butera.

Ew.

Sorry

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

If any of you would like to play the Ed Easley game, it might give you an idea of how Tony Cruz is thought of...

http://www.savethecloser.com/Easley/

I mean, I'm guessing nobody truly likes their backup catcher, but seriously, Tony Cruz is the !@#$ing worst. It's not even his complete inability to hit, he's arguably the worst pure receiver I've ever seen. He's lazy behind the plate, won't set a decent target and has the body language of a pissed off teenager whenever things aren't going to script.

Tony Cruz !@#$ing SUCKS and if he's on your roster, you're a worse team for it.

No, he is not a good defensive catcher.

You're falling victim to Nichols Law of Catcher Defense: A catcher's defensive reputation is inversely proportional to their offensive abilities.

People presume Tony Cruz can play defense because he's on a major league roster and it sure as shit isn't because of his offense. They'd be wrong - he can't play D either. He's a garbage player who's on the roster only because he's one of Matheny's pet players.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tony Cruz&#39;s pitch-framing approach can best be described as stabbing 10 men with a shiv.</p>&mdash; Jonah Keri (@jonahkeri) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonahkeri/status/521504124295450624">October 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Thank you so much for enlightening us all.

ROFL

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Forget the theory that Jeff Samardzija will be the bargain of the offseason. Teams talking with him say he&#39;s claiming to have $100M on table</p>&mdash; Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) <a href="https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/672129557969924096">December 2, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Jerry Crasnick on twitter saying the Royals may be priced out on Zobrist. Mentions the Mets, Nats, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, Cards, Angels and Braves have all shown interest.

Still wouldn't be surprised if his contract is closer to Gordon's than people expect.
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Like I said, he's probably the worst pure receiving backstop I've ever seen.

The guy started catching in 2009. By 2012 he was the Cardinals backup catcher and getting pretty much zero playing time.

So he got 3 years of pretty intense training in the minors then he went to seed at the major league level as Yadi's caddy, where he got minimal playing time. He's caught all of 3,100 innings in his entire career, majors and minors. He didn't catch at all before the Cardinals converted him. So about 350 games worth of experience total behind the plate in his entire life. If you want to see what a guy with 3 full years of experience catching looks like behind the plate, Tony Cruz is your man.

The guy is awful. I can't speak to Butera but I absolutely can speak to Cruz and whatever Royals fans think they'll be getting from him....they won't. He's not good at anything.

Butera is very good defensive catcher, but his batting is similar to just letting a pitcher bat. Cruz at least you can trust with a bat. Cardinals trouble was Cruz got used way too much mainly bc how the NL rules is setup. If you only played him once a week, the damage is minimal.

You can't trust Cruz with the bat, either. They had a virtually identical OPS last year and their K/BB rates are almost identical (Cruz a little less likely to strike out, Butera a little more likely to walk).

Cruz is horrible man. And I'm not saying this to shit on the Royals, this is purely shitting on Cruz. In 600+ ABs, Cruz has a WAR of -2.8 That's below replacement level, mind you. Not even 2.8 wins below average, which would be pretty damn impressive in only 630ish ABs. But nearly 3 wins below 'random guy plucked from any minor league system' in about a single season worth of plate appearances.

That's some seriously condensed suck right there. Butera's only a -1.7 in 850 plate appearances.

Like I said, it's difficult for me to really make a comparison between the two guys because I've seen Butera play maybe twice, but if you're saying that Butera was at least a sound defensive catcher, then he's a better player than Cruz. And if you just give a quick glance at WAR over their respective careers, it would seem to back that.

I'd keep Pete Kozma on the team over Tony Cruz and that's about the most damning thing I can say about a major league player. Yes, Tony Cruz is just that terrible.

We released Pena... We gave up nothing. Who gives a shit.

We released Pena... We gave up nothing. Who gives a shit.

We released Pena... We gave up nothing. Who gives a shit.

Did we release Pena? Did we give up anything? Does anybody around here give a shit?

Does anyone know what happened to PENA!!!!????????!!!!

Word on the street as that we released him. However, you'll be happy to know that we didn't give up anything! Also - nobody seems to give a shit.

I'm sure this was mentioned but rumor is we offered Herrera for Jackie Bradley straight up and they're considering it.

Rumor from where? Finding absolutely nothing about this anywhere.

Holland non tendered. As was Calixte. Pena traded to the O's for cash

Quit the runaround, how do you really feel?!?

Drops the Mic and walks away.

Rumors from almost three weeks ago

If that happens, not a fan.

Bradley is only slightly better than Dyson, and you're giving up a lot for that upgrade.

Other than August, 2015, Bradley has also hit at a Dyson level.

That's not going to happen so we don't need to worry about it. Moore obviously knows how important our bullpen is and Herrera is immensely important to it and you can't simply replace his production. It would be arrogant to think he could effectively replace him and I don't see that from Moore.

I wouldn't expect that trade either, but I wouldn't be surprised if Dayton moved bullpen pieces around. Obviously the game has changed but the Braves always changed the bullpen from year to year... and to some extent Dayton has done the same thing in KC quite well. Relievers are so up and down from year to year.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="it" dir="ltr">Pirates Non-Tender Pedro Alvarez <a href="https://t.co/VM3FQNP1Ht">https://t.co/VM3FQNP1Ht</a> <a href="https://t.co/c6ne7jN7xx">pic.twitter.com/c6ne7jN7xx</a></p>&mdash; MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) <a href="https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/672269478206525440">December 3, 2015</a></blockquote>
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We have a switch hitting Pedro alvarez...named kendrys morales.

Except our Alvarez can hit for a decent average and drive in runs outside of extra BH only.

Henderson Alvarez being non tendered by the Marlins is much more interesting to me.

Would look great, potentially, on a Medlen-like deal. He might not be available until May or June after having shoulder surgery in July 2015, but he has two arb years left.

So... You sign him to a cheaper deal this year with an option for 2017 (wit guaranteed cash) might tip the balance

It's a gamble, but $4 million this year and 6 million next might be enough to get him to sign with you. And considering the price of mid-rotation starters, that could be a real bargain.

Yeah I thought the same thing. Seeing the price of pitching it has become more obvious how important it is that we see almonte/Zimmer take that next step...and get consistency out of Duffy.

What do Alvarez's medicals look like? There may be something more going on there. Otherwise, Loria is just a moron.

He's recovering from shoulder surgery last July. Expected to be available in May or June this year.

His recovery may be going worse than eexpected, prompting the nontender. Or the Marlins may be cheap and not willing to pay a guy $4million for this year when he will miss 1/3 to 1/2 of the major league season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Padres continue to try to push James Shields in the trade market. Owed $63 million over the next three seasons.</p>&mdash; Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/672456042123550720">December 3, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Makes the Infante contract we're stuck with look like cinnamon buns and rainbows

Can'the opt out after 2016

Why would he?

It's worse than that - they'll almost certainly decline his 2019 option to throw another $2 million cherry on top of that shit Sunday.

Preller really ****ed that team up last year.

****ing opt-out clauses....MLB already has fully guaranteed contracts and now they're getting opt out closes included on even the mid-range FAs. It's hard to cry for owners when there's this much money in the system, but the MLBPA sure has cut some sweet deals for their players.

It appears to me that the Royals are positioning themselves to pick up someone in the Rule 5 draft. I believe they only have 38 people on the 40 man roster right now. With numerous gaps to fill in the bullpen, a spot in the rotation, LF, RF, and potentially 2b, I suppose it would make sense to look at low-cost options such as a Rule 5 candidate. Would anyone care to speculate on who they may be targeting?

Players are getting screwed. 39% of league revenues, down from 50% historically.

http://sports.cbsimg.net/images/visu...aphs033115.jpg

I have no idea who they might target to ADD to the team. But, I fear the Royals organization might lose Brooks Pounders.

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp...vkey=news_milb

That's in large part due to the cost controlled players who's salaries haven't budged much at all.

The MLBPA has never really concerned themselves with those guys, they're more worried about FAs. The cost of a win share on the open market is keeping pace with the increase in inflation.

So 'players' in general aren't getting screwed - a small subset of them are; guys with 1-3 years of MLB service time.

Who cares what the reasons are? They got 50% for decades after FA was granted and now it's fallen. Any Union worth its salt will reverse that or strike.

Isn't than an oxymoron ?

You really are simple, aren't you?

The reasons are absolutely critical to how it's addressed. The veterans control the influence of the MLBPA, not the young pups. The MLBPA isn't going to do a damn thing to deal with the 1-3 year players as it would act to the detriment of the veteran players (just as the NFLPA had no problem blowing apart the Rookie wage scale to further benefit the veterans).

The MLBPA will focus their efforts on adding the DH to the NL (another 15 jobs for aging veterans that can't play the field anymore) and the elimination of the QO that has served to suppress salaries for middle-tier FAs who are tagged with it.

They'll burn their capital up there.

The reason they're not getting as much revenue has little to with the FA/arb divide. It's owners paying massive amounts for teams (and in many cases, their share of renovations) instead of on payroll.

I wonder if KC would consider a bad contract swap with San Diego, or Vice-Versa.

San Diego gets Infante plus a prospect of minor value, KC gets Shields and $15 million over the life of that deal.

KC gets a guy who can be a No. 3-type starter for three more years, San Diego gets $48 million in salary relief.

But they're also taking on Infante's salary, no? So Shields and the $65 million he's owed over the next 3 seasons comes off the books (offset to $50 million for your cash kicker) but the $16 million Infante is owed over the next 2 comes back over.

So the Padres get $34 million in salary relief. They also only get 2 years of a replacement level player vs. 3 years of, what, 2.0-2.5 WAR/season pitching? Conservatively let's say Shields is probably a 2 WAR pitcher for the next 3 seasons, yielding a total of 6 WAR.

It's close. If I'm the Padres I probably don't make that deal because at the very least they're only dealing with a 3 year obligation. If you can get wins at 6 million/win share on a term of only 3 years, you're doing okay. Hell, most models put it at about $7 million/win now (and some even at $8 million per). Most of the time you'll have to take a substantially larger gamble than that by going to 4-5 years. I also think there's a decent chance that Shields is more of a 2.5 WAR pitcher over those 3 years, shifting the calculus pretty strongly against SD.

It would be an offer worth making, but if I'm SD, I wouldn't give the $15 million kicker. I figure if I'm taking on Infante, you're getting Shields for 3/$50 million (because I'm getting nothing back in Infante; dude is straight up replacement level). If Shields is a 2 WAR/season pitcher, you're looking at the higher side of the wins/season $$, but that would be expected due to the fairly short term.

Infante and a plate of ribs?

I've been wondering if the Royals might kick the tires on Shields for a while.

He could fill Jeremy Guthrie's role of eating 200+ innings while giving our bullpen some much needed relief.

Davis, Herrera and Holland were all ridden hard over the past two seasons (not at all the fault of Yost, but this is inevitable when you make two runs into deep October). If the Royals can find a way to get the Padres to eat some of that contract, there's a decent chance that Dayton would be interested.

Throw in Wil Myers while you're at it, because it would be pretty funny if Myers came back to KC with Shields and finally became the stud everyone envisioned.

Very doubtful-like almost zero chance.

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2015/12/02/...e-of-his-life/

It makes no sense, bit I'm still infatuated with the idea of bringing Myers back.

He cried about playing CF, which is fine, but he is 24 and wants to sit his ass at 1B. Pathetic. He was a shitty fielder who dogged it, so he's rolling his old bones over to a spot normally reserved for old dogs. He's lazy and indisciplined in every facet of the game.


Dayton sold high on that show pony.

Good point. I miscalculated there. KC would probably have to include a quality piece to make that work from San Diego's side. It also depends, I guess, on how desperate Preller is to shed that salary.

Padres are desperate.

And we can bring back Greinke, Soria and Beltran too. Too bad Affeldt retired. Oh yeah Bautista too. Then we can sit him on the Bench every day out of spite. Are you gonna be a douchenozzle again today Jose? THEN YOU SIT!

2016 ZiPS projections are out.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2016-...s-city-royals/

Infante, Orlando, and Brian Flynn are currently projected as starters and all are projected to be 0 WAR (replacement) players. Obv we will sign some FA but this is as of today.

Tigers get Pelfrey

Detroit is serious.