Rumors for December, 2010
Top 30 most memorable baseball moments: #30-28
Posted by: | Comments
A couple of years ago I bought a DVD of the MLB’s 30 most memorable moments. I watched that DVD everyday for like a month, and showed it to every friend of mine that I could. Today, I found an article on ESPN.com that summed up all those memorable moments.
In this article I am going to cover the first three moments. The moments are chronologically organized.
Moment 30: Christy Mathewson throws three complete-game shutouts in the 1905 World Series.
Mathewson played in the Majors for 17 seasons with the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Reds. He won 373 games throughout his career (third most of all time), and had a 2.13 career ERA. He won 20 games or more in 13 seasons, and 30 games or more in four seasons.
In the 1905 World Series the New York Giants were playing the Philadelphia Athletics. Mathewson was the starting pitcher in Game 1, and pitched a 4-hit shutout for the victory. Three days later, with the series tied 1–1, he pitched another 4-hit shutout. Then, two days later in Game 5, he threw a 6-hit shutout to clinch the series for the Giants. In a span of only six days, Mathewson had pitched three complete games without allowing a run.
Moment 29: Boston Red Sox sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees on Jan. 3, 1920.
Popular legend says that Red Sox’s owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees in order to finance a Broadway play, “No, No, Nanette”. Although there might be another reason. After the 1919 season, Ruth demanded a raise to $20,000 ($220,000 in current dollar terms and double his previous salary). However, Frazee refused, and Ruth responded by letting it be known he wouldn’t play until he got his raise.
Frazee finally lost patience with Ruth, and decided to trade him, and the best offer he got was from the Yankees’ owners Jacob Rupert and Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston. The Yankees offered an all-cash deal—$100,000 ($1,100,000 in current dollar terms).
Frazee, Ruppert and Huston quickly agreed to a deal. In exchange for Ruth, the Red Sox would get $125,000 ($1.37 million in current dollar terms) in cash and three $25,000 ($270,000 in current dollar terms) notes payable every year at 6 percent interest. Ruppert and Huston also loaned Frazee $300,000 ($3.29 million in current dollar terms), with the mortgage on Fenway Park as collateral. The deal was contingent on Ruth signing a new contract, which was quickly agreed to, and Ruth officially became property of the Yankees on December 26, 1919.
Moment 28: Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants strikes out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin in succession in the All-Star Game at New York’s Polo Grounds on July 10, 1934.
Hubblle had a career record of 253-154 with a 2.98 ERA and 1,677 strikeouts with the Giants. With a slow delivery of his devastating screwball, Hubbell recorded five consecutive 20-win seasons for the Giants (1933–37), and helped his team to three NL pennants and the 1933 World Series title. In the 1933 Series, he had two complete game victories, including an 11-inning 2–1 triumph in Game Four (the run was unearned). In six career Series starts, he was 4–2 with 32 strikeouts and a low 1.79 earned run average.
Teixeira thinks that Pettitte is leaning towards retirement
Posted by: | Comments
Based on a series of text messages between Andy Pettitte and Mark Teixeira, the first baseman believes the left-hadned pitcher is “leaning toward retirement.” However, Teixeira hopes that his teammate will return to New York’s rotation for at least one more season, according to ESPNNewYork.com’s Ian Begley.
“I think, like everyone else [thinks], if he’s leaning one way, he’s probably leaning towards retiring,” Teixeira said on Tuesday. “I think that’s what he’s publicly said. It’s no secret right now. That’s probably where he’s leaning. But in a month and a half, a lot can happen.”
“Selfishly of course, I love Andy Pettitte like a brother. He’s such a great player. He’s such a great teammate. I would hate to not play with him this year,” Teixeira added.“But his family is obviously No. 1 to him and if [returning to the Yankees] is not going to be in his plans then we’re going to wish him the best of luck and when he comes back on Legends Day we’ll give him a big hug and tell him we miss him.”
Last week, GM Brian Cashman sounded like he was moving forward as if Pettitte is not going to return for 2011.
“We’re obviously focused on the available markets to us and those players on the free-agent market and trade market that will be available. Andy currently is not one of those guys. If he chooses to be, obviously he knows we’d love to talk to him.”
While there’s an obvious competitive desire for Pettitte to continue his career, there are two factors that will ultimately affect Pettitte’s decision: his desire to be closer to his family in their Houston, Texas home and the amount of money the New York Yankees want to offer. It’s been previously reported that Pettitte will return to New York if they offer him a contract that “isn’t insulting.” It’s believed that Pettitte may be unhappy with his previous pay structure – he’s the team’s number 2 pitcher, but he’s being paid like a number 4 starter. So far, no other teams have been known to be aggressively pursuing Pettitte.
Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter: No. 1 Cliff Lee
Posted by: | Comments
The change of address card was already filled out. New York fans were already ordering their jerseys. Cliff Lee to the Bronx! Right? Wrong!
Unexpected move #1
Cliff Lee and the Philadelphia Phillies: Lee was considered the hottest player this winter. The New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers were the front-runners in Lee’s pursuit, although his name was briefly linked to teams like the Nationals, Red Sox and Angels. However, almost everybody knew (even Nolan Ryan) that the Yankees had the dump truck full of cash on the driveway of Lee’s Arkansas home.
By the time it was time for Lee to sign, a “Mystery Team” appeared and ended up hitting the jackpot for the left handed pitcher. Almost out of nowhere, the Philadelphia Phillies won the Lee Sweepstakes.
Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter -
Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter: No. 2 Carl Crawford
Posted by: | Comments
Parents can agree that friends have the most influence on their children, so with that said, you would think that Torii Hunter had his way with his buddy Carl Crawford in persuading him to move to Los Angeles. However, that wasn’t the case this winter.
Unexpected move #2
Carl Crawford signing with the Red Sox: It was almost certain that Crawford would go with the Angels, but in an unexpected move the speedy outfielder agreed to a deal with the Red Sox. The Angels had offered him a seven-year deal for $108 million, and he signed with the Red Sox for seven-years and $142 million. At some point Crawford was linked with the Yankees and Rangers too. Crawford has the nice big contract and he’ll be able to compete in his familiar American League East division.
Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter -
No. 1 – Click here to find out
Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter: No. 3 Adrian Beltre
Posted by: | Comments
Sometimes the most unexpected move is a move that didn’t even happen.
Unexpected move #3
Adrian Beltre’s indecision: I’m taking this into an account, because I think this strategy will probably back-fire on Beltre. At first there was a likelihood that he wasn’t going to return to Boston, then there was a good chance for him to return and finally Boston traded for Adrian Gonzalez and that sealed Beltre’s fate in northeast.
Around the same time, the Oakland Athletics made an offer to him, but something happened and Oakland pulled the offer from the table. Then he was linked to the Angels who made a “significant offer”, but again it was rejected by the third baseman. Now it looks like Oakland could be interested again in the third baseman, but if he takes too long to decide, instead of getting a juicy contract he may be disappointed.
Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter -
No. 2 – Click here to find out
No. 1 – Click here to find out
Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter: No. 4 Zack Greinke
Posted by: | Comments
Trades can take anybody by surprise – teams, players and fans. Imagine being out to dinner in San Francisco and then getting a push notification from the PRO Rumors iPhone app that you’ve been shipped off to Toronto. You have to get your stuff together, jump on an airplane, meet your new co-workers and learn the do’s and don’ts. Well many players throughout the season and during the winter go through this, including the unexpected move of 2009 Cy Young winner Zack Greinke.
Zack Greinke traded to the Brewers: The Kansas Royals said they would wait after Cliff Lee’s decision to move their ace. You would think they wanted to take advantage of the team that lost out on the Lee sweepstakes, but they ended up trading him to a team that didn’t show any interest in Lee. Greinke’s name was linked to the Dodgers, Rangers, Nationals and Blue Jays, but at the end they decided to go with the Milwaukee Brewers of all teams.
Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter -
No. 3 – Click here to find out
No. 2 – Click here to find out
No. 1 – Click here to find out
Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter: No. 5 Jayson Werth
Posted by: | Comments
Baseball is a game of surprises. Any given day, we see the craziest transactions and the most unbelievable moves. With that said, we’re going to review our Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter. With number 5 – Jayson Werth:
Unexpected move #5
Jayson Werth signing with the Nationals: Werth going to Washington was a surprise for me, I thought that he was going to the Red Sox. The fact that he signed with Washington was not the surprise, it was the contract he received from the Nationals that blew me away. He was presented with a seven-year deal with an average of $18 million per season.
The reason?
Teams like the Yankees or Red Sox, that are always contenders, used their tendency to always be competitive as an “intangible asset” in their negotiation. On the other hand teams like the Nationals, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, who are not usually contenders, don’t have that “asset” to bring to the bargaining table. Washington had to offer more money to Werth to compensate the fact that they won’t be contenders immediately, and it worked.
The contract was such a big surprise that Werth’s agent, Scott Boras, did not even shop it around. He quickly had his client sign on the line before the Nationals realized what they did.
Top 5 unexpected moves of the winter -
No. 4 – Click here to find out
No. 3 – Click here to find out
No. 2 – Click here to find out
No. 1 – Click here to find out
Derrek Lee deciding between the Orioles and Nationals
Posted by: | Comments
Free agent Derrek Lee is moving closer to a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals, according to sources close to Phil Wood of MASN. However, the decision is being complicated by the Baltimore Orioles’ persistent interest in the first baseman.
The loser in the Lee chase will likely sign Adam LaRoche. In mid-December, Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports said that in addition to the Nationals and Orioles, the San Diego Padres were interested in LaRoche.
Since talks are involving a one-year deal, Lee would like to play in a league where he’s comfortable so that he can build value for a better and longer contract next winter. Wood says a one-year deal would be more attractive to the Nationals since they have first base options after the 2011 season. One option would involve moving Jayson Werth to first base in 2012.
Rosenthal adds that Lee’s preference would be to play for a contender and/or play out West. He had an offer from the Padres for $8 million before the team signed Brad Hawpe to play first base. Rosenthal speculates that Lee would want a deal similar, if not more.
Jeff Francis Rumors: Teams interested but no offers yet
Posted by: | Comments
Last week we heard the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Texas Rangers had interest in left-handed pitcher Jeff Francis, but it doesn’t look like the Francis is ready to sign with any team yet, according to Marc Weber of The Province.
“It’s exciting for people to read because they think there’s lots of things happening,” Francis said, “but it’s not as fast-paced as it’s all made out to be. ”
“Teams are interested, but that’s about it at this point.”
Francis missed all of 2009 due to shoulder surgery, and his comeback year was not too impressive. Francis posted a 5.00 ERA in 104 1/3 innings for the Colorado Rockies in 2010, and you can probably blame the shoulder for his poor comeback.
“When I came back, it felt great,” Francis said, “and I had other starts where it was almost unbearable. But I think it was just the growing pains of coming back from surgery.”
Any team that signs Francis will probably sign him to an incentive-laden deal with a low base salary. The Rockies had a 2011 team option for $7.5 million, but that was obviously declined.
Cubs continue to have conversations with the Rays about RHP Matt Garza
Posted by: | Comments
The Chicago Cubs continue to have conversations with the Rays about starting pitcher Matt Garza, according to Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com. Rumors of the Cubs’ interest in the right-hander started during the Winter Meetings earlier this month.
The arbitration-eligible Garza will make close to $6 million in 2011, and it’s unclear if the Tampa Bay Rays will move him for Minor Leaguers or hold onto him.
Levine specualtes that if the Cubs and the Rays could come to an agreement, Minor League catcher Robinson Chirinos and shortstop Hak-Ju Lee would probably be included in a deal.
The Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees could also be in the mix for Garza despite the Rangers recently signing Brandon Webb to a one-year deal. Garza will be under team control through 2012, so he would be a solid force in a team’s rotation for at least two more seasons.
