An Early Valentine’s Day

2011-2012 Hot Stove Musings #2

Bobby in disguise

Looks like Bobby Valentine is the guy in Boston, and from what I can gather so far, Red Sox nation loves it. So far, the only really negative shot that I am aware of was tossed by (New York Times baseball writer and Blogger) Murray Chass.  He posted his opinion of Valentine November 27 on his blog at:
http://www.murraychass.com/

It’s probably true that new Red Sox GM Ben Cherington really wanted to hire Dale Sveum as the new manager. The fact that he lost out on that one to his old mentor (Theo Epstein) in Chicago may sting, but there is no doubt in my mind that Valentine can handle the heat from the enormous media spotlights that come with the Boston job. It’s also true that Valentine has been consistently ahead of the curve in using a Sabermetric approach in his player evaluations, so he fits right in with what Boston ownership has signed on for and has had success with.

With David Ortiz likely to sign somewhere other than Boston, it basically leaves Josh Beckett and Kevin Youkilis as the only guys left on the team from the old guard who is still a front line guy. Youkilis, Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek would be the only other players left from the '04 team, if Ortiz departs.

Open for change?

Regarding Bobby V, the guys on WEEI (John Dennis and Gerry Callahan) this morning were referring to a game that ESPN broadcast this summer in which Valentine stated that Carl Crawford couldn't be successful hitting with that exaggerated open stance that he's been using for his entire MLB career. The WEEI guys thought that was a great thing, that Valentine would work with Crawford to change that. Makes me wonder how Crawford was so awful, yet garnered a $142-million contract using it all those years? Toss out the 60 odd games Crawford played as a rookie in 2002, and last season, and he’s a .297 hitter for his career.

We laughed well, and loved poorly

WEEI also had a long phone conversation today with Valentine’s former GM with the Mets, Steve Phillips. Phillips, to his credit, and no doubt do to him taking his 12-step program seriously took a huge part of the blame for the Mets failures after 2000, saying that is was his fault for not giving Valentine better players. He also said he'd hire Valentine again, if he was a GM. (As an aside, I wonder what the odds are of Phillips ever getting a GM job in MLB ever again?)

In other news, one of the teams rumored to be interested in signing Ortiz is Tampa Bay, which sounds odd to me, considering Big Papi wants 3 years, and I have to believe at least 12 million per? This doesn't sound like a move that the Rays I have come to know would be interested in making? According to ESPN, the Rays 2011 payroll came in a little under $42-million, ranking next to the bottom in MLB. The Rays had 16 players whose combined salaries totaled less than $13-million last season, and only Johnny Damon made more than $5-million

Psst, Alfonso, the ball is below you

Another rumor has Oakland interested in signing Alfonso Soriano. Is it just me, or has Oakland become the prime destination for semi-washed up old sluggers the last few years? Soriano would fit right in with Hideki Matsui, Jason Giambi, Frank Thomas, and Mike Piazza, wouldn’t he? After Big Papi plays out this last free agent contract he’ll soon be signing, book him a ticket to the Bay Area in time for the 2015 season, I guess?

330+ pounds of disaster?

In the odd ball signing so far, the Kansas City Royals sign Jonathan Broxton to be the set-up guy for Joakim Soria? I think they are paying about 4 million for one year, which sounds like a lot of money for that guy, on that team? Don't the Royals already have some talented kids in that bullpen that can do the job that they can roster at 10% of the price for Broxton? I thought Tim Collins and especially Aaron Crow did pretty well in set up roles last season? Maybe the thought in KC is to stretch them out this spring, and have them begin to fill slots in the rotation, as Texas is intent on doing with Neftali Feliz?

In news out of Houston, Tampa Bay has given new Astros owner Jim Crane permission to speak with their current General Manager Andrew Friedman, about taking over a similar role with the Astros. All Friedman has done in the last 4 season is help get the Rays to the playoffs 3 times with one of the smallest payrolls in MLB.

Finally, with the tentative move of the Houston Astros to the American League in 2013, it will mean inter-league play will have completely ceased being a novelty, as at least two teams in each league will always be playing a team from the other league throughout the entire MLB season.  And Houston, after easily being the worst team in the National League this past season, will soon have a chance of replicating the feat in the American League.

Go 'Stros!