Could Peavy go to the Red Sox?

I was thinking if the Yankees do sign C.C. Sabthia, wouldn’t the Red Sox go after Jake Peavy.  It would be a great move for the Sox, since Peavy is a little better than C.C. and he would give the Sox a three headed monster of Matsuzaka, Beckett, and Peavy.  A deal for Peavy would look like this

San Degio gets: Jacoby Elsbury OF, Clay Buchholz  SP, Justin Masterson  SP , and Jed Lowrie SS

Boston gets: Jake Peavy SP

Boston would have to give up a big part of their future but it would help them and hurt the Yankees who are one of the three teams in that division that the red Sox are going to compete with in the ’09 MLB season.  This is also a better move than signing Ben Sheets because he has an injury risk and usually when the Yankees or Red Sox make a move that could be a stud or dud it’s a dud.  It’s better than signing A.J. Burnett because Peavy is just plain old better than Burnett.  In the AL East everyone has pitching or is making a nice move to get pitching and that’s what the Sox need to do to even contend for a Wild card in the AL.  Peavy is going to win around 5 Cy Young award by the time his career ends if he can keep his numbers like getting 200 strikeouts from 2005 to 2007 and a 2.00 plus ERA every season, he is just an amazing pitcher that can help the R ed Sox a lot with his fastball and other great pitches.

Mailbag and other things to start soon!!!

I will try to do a baseball mailbag starting in December, maybe sooner if you can get questions in quick.  The mailbag will allow you to ask any question about anything baseball, so ask away!  I will also start to display my shows called MLB Today and Tigers Tonight on this site.  I will have many opinons and reports in December and I will post every day to every other day (when I’m busy).  I will start to create all-time and history of baseball things too.  If you have any other suggestions please comment below.  Thanks!!!

P.S. Mailbag questions can be written below!

K-Rod not as good as advertised

Francisco Rodriguez is not as good as advertised.  He may have gotten 62 saves, but he had 69 save opps.  Seven blown saves is a lot for a closer and his 2.24 ERA may look good but it is a higher number if you’re a great closer.  He got 77 strikeouts this year, a number slowly on the decline from his 90 last year.  He was a great closer in 2006 but his numbers and production keeps going down and if he goes to a bad team or was on a bad team in ’08 he would have more around 35-40 saves,  possibly less.  So as a free agent he should target a winning team or his saves will go down dramatically and his ERA could move up to 3.00 which is bad for a good closer.  An average closer has a 3.00 ERA, but not a good one.  Another thing is the Mets should go with Brian Fuentes if K-Rod becomes tough to sign because Fuentes isn’t that bad.  His ERA is the only shaky thing about him, he gets the job done, too.  K-Rod’s saves were more of a fluke this year.  I think 50 saves is a more reasonable high for the rest of his career because he can put up a lot of saves.   He just doesn’t fit 60 saves every year.  He will blow a couple saves every year and his ERA is a little to high, but he is an okay closer he’s just overrated.

Hot Stove Fixer: Toronto Blue Jays

We will kick off the hot stove fixer with the Jays, who are closer to the playoffs than you think.

Free Agents:

Gregg Zaun, A.J. Burnett, Kevin Mench, John Parrish, Brad Wilkerson

They should try to re-sign Wilkerson and need to re-sign A.J. Burnett, he is so valuable to these Blue Jays.  Burnett is great behind Halladay, he also can be shakey a times but overall he is an above average player.  Lat year he won 18 games and got 231 strikeouts to go along with a 4.07 ERA.  He only has a career 3.81 ERA, too.

Free Agents to sign:

Derek Lowe, Wily Mo Pena

Lowe can be the Jays big target to get.  He has a low ERA and he is around 150 in the K department he also racks up lots of wins.  Pena will get the Jays a left fielder with the rest of there money and he can hit 25-30 homer and get RBI’s along with that

Trades:

A few minor deals

Minor deals help you for injuries and 40-man call-ups.  They usally work good too.

Rotation

Roy Halladay

A.J. Burnett

Derek Lowe

Dustin McGowen

Shaun Marcum

This rotation is among the AL best. Halladay, Burnett, and Lowe are the big three of AL pitching staffs.  Lowe won’t have any trouble either he’s already pitched in the AL.

Bullpen:

David Purcey

B.J. Ryan

Casey Janssen

Scott Downs

Brandon League

Jason Frasor

Jeremy Accardo

This is a great bullpen with a mix of rookies and veterans.  Accardo can be an all-star. Frasor is a great person to turn to in any type of situation , Ryan can be a setup man and have a spot close job.

Line-up/ Bench

1. 2B Aaron Hill
2. 1B Lyle Overbay
3. CF Vernon Wells
4. DH Travis Snider
5. RF Alex Rios
6. 3B Scott Rolen
7. LF Wily Mo Pena
8. C Curtis Thipgen
9. SS John McDonald

Bench

1. OF/DH Adam Lind
2. INF Marco Suctaro
3. UTIL Joe Inglett
4. C Rod Barajas

There line-up may not look great to you but they have a little of everything and that’s what builds a winning team.  Same with the bench, they can make a great team with all these moves.

Tigers should trade for Ramon Castro and Miguel Montero

The Tigers have one catcher right now, Dusty Ryan.  They should pick up one or two catchers this off-season.  Pudge and Varitek are free agent agent options but are not likely to sign here.  Instead of trying to get a big name catcher (almost no team will).  So why not get two small ones and platoon them,  my idea is to get Ramon Castro from the Mets and Miguel Montero from the D’Backs.  Castro is a back-up catcher with the Mets, he can play great defense and has awesome power.  His cons are he is slow, and has a hard time getting on base.  But he can always have a breakthrough year getting hits like Ramon Saintago did this year.  A deal sending him to Motown would have the Tigers trading Max Leon and/or Kody Kirkland who are great defensively.  Also they should trade for Miguel Montero who is a great player playing for the Backs he has a little of everything offensively, his average has had ups and downs, but a few more downs than ups.  He needs some more work on his defense, andhis throwing.  His splits are close in just about every stat, so he can hit anywhere.  If the Tigers can make a deal for him they should try to get Yusmeiro Petit, who with a little work in the minors and Rick Knapp he can shine as a reliever.  A deal for those two would have to include Will Rhymes and Clay Rapada, who are both pretty good.  These catching moves could help the Tigers big right now.  Also, they could use Ryan as an emergency catcher.

PITCHING TIGERS:The Tigers should re-sign Freddy Garcia and Yorman Bazardo to minor league contracts with invitees to spring traning.  Also they should try Zach Miner as a full time starter he is great at starting and should be in the bull-pen.  They should also try Freddy Dolsi as a closer or sign a minor player like Brandon Lyon or trade for someone.  They should also get this Lugo for Robertson deal done!

40-Men: The Tigers have put Casper Wells, Wilkin Ramirez, Zach Simons, Alfredo Figaro and Guillermo Moscoso to there 40-man roster.  Overall great moves

MVP votes are in, were Pedroia and Pujols the best?

In my opinion Pedroia was not the right choice for MVP.  Pujols was good all year and really deserved this award.  He should won it more than twice considering that he almost a lock for the hall of fame.  I think in the AL Josh Hamilton really deserved it, he had great numbers and a great story and has lived up to his potential, he finished in seventh. Longoria finished 11th and should have finished higher he was the heart of the Rays, he played great defense, hit 27 homers and got 85 RBI all in his rookie-shortened year.  His average should go up and I am also giving the honer of being compared with A-Rod.  K-Rod needed to go down on this list, he had the most save opportunities in the whole MLB.  He is good but isn’t worth that much.  One more person who should have been higher is AL home run king Miguel Cabrera he lead the Tigers in his first year in Mowtown he hit 37 homers and 127 RBIs, plus he made a nice conversion from third base to first base only making nine errors.  Now is the part I wonder why they let Boston and New York writers vote, for the second straight year a Red Sox or Yankees was overrated and won the award.  Sure in 2007 A-Rod won homers but Maggs had better defense a batting title and led his team, and Maggs barely lost the RBI crown to A-Rod.  This year it was Pedroia who hit 17 homers had 83 RBI and a 326. average.  He won it, only the 326. average was worth a vote, even though he is a number two hitter I don’t think he is as good as A-Rod.

Lugo for Robertson or Willis?

The Tigers are rumored to be interested in Red Sox Shortstop Julio Lugo, the speedy and decent defensive player who is “overrated” to the Sox Nation.  He might not be the best offensive shortstop and he’s defiantly not Nomar Garciapara, he’s just overpaid and that’s what the Tigers might not make this deal for.  Lugo is a ball of energy and will help a team go round but Khalil Greene is a good option.  The Tigers only want a one to two year fix a short because of prospects Clae Iorg, Michael Hollimon, and Danny Worth.  Hollimon is a great young player who is ready for the show, Worth and Iorg will bring a good competition for a though position which is good for the Tigers.  Now if the Lugo trade were to happen Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson would be the two best options for the Sox.  I got to watch Willis pitch in his second to last start this year and it is just his confidance that is down, he got out of jams by strikeouts and routine plays but he had quite a few rougher spots.  Robertson is a bulldog who is more of a streaky pitcher, with a 4.00 plus ERA he can throw a 3-run 5-hit game or a 7-run 13-hit game.  He has a lot positive and had a super down year in 2008.  I would prefer the Tigers try to trade someone else but Lugo might be a Tiger soon and will give them a big key, speed.

UPDATE: The Tigers are close to this deal, but Willis is the favorite.  I would rather see Robertson go even though he is an okay pitcher who has helped them organization, he had one super good year but is just getting worse.

Trades: NYY-CHW, CHC-FLA, Peavy

Trade rumors and happinings are here!

• The Yankees traded for underachieving Nick Swisher who was a low prospect once, and then had one good season he will not even reach the 20 homers in ’09.  Besides the Yankees have enough first baseman and outfielders and underachieves like Johnny Damon.  The White Sox got Pitcher Jeff Marquez another good solid pitcher to get tradeed by the Yanks, and power filled back-up utilty player Wilson Betimet.  They also swaped minor league pitchers who probaly won’t be on their roster ever.  Edge: White Sox
• The Cubs left Kerry Wood for Kevin Gregg, a 5.00 plus ERA closer who gets a couple saves and will be wild.  The Cubs will hopefully get a good 2010 closer because Gregg won’t last long.  Jeff Samardzija is a 2010 closer option.  The Marlins got Relief Pitcher Jose Ceda who can last in the Marlins bull-pen for a while, Larry Bienfiest should be able to live about this trade he doing a nice job on the future, of course he does every off-season.  Edge: Marlins
• Jake Peavy is a Yankees option now, although I don’t see them getting this deal done because of lack of qualty prospects (because they waste them on Nick Swisher) Peavy is a lot better than C.C., also I think the Braves and Cubs can get it done with 4 or 5 prospects and one more player. Winner: Cubs

Trades: Nats-Marlins, A’s-Rockies, Peavy

Here is info on these trades!

• The Rockies trade OF Matt Holiday to the A’s for RP Huston Street, OF Carlos Gonzalez and SP Greg Smith.  The Rockies are rebuilding and will try to trade Street, so if they can make the best of a Street trade they might come out winners of this trade.  The A’s are getting a team leader that can put this team on the right track while getting fans to come to the ballpark to see a live superstar.  He can also help this team by getting RBI and playing decent offense.  He homer numbers can fall big from going to a top 5 hitters park to the second biggest pitchers park in the major.  Holiday projection 21 HR and 87 RBI.  P.S. A good place for Atkins is the Reds. Edge: Athletics
• The Marlins lost a starter and left fielder for nothing.  Scott Olsen, who is promising young pitcher was traded to a division rival and so was a power hitting Josh Willingham 25 homer guy with 30-35 homer potential is also gone to the Nats who might be up with the Phils and Metscompeting for first in three years.  In return the Marlins got second baseman Emilio Bonifacio who is a good player and has good speed and bad fielding isstuck behind Dallas McPherson, Dan Uggla, and Jorge Cantu.  They other players are P.J. Dean who is a nice pitcher from the bull-pen, but needs more developing time and they also aquired Jake Smolinski a pretty good second baseman who also needs more time in the minors is also blocked.  The Marlins may trade Uggla but it will take a lot. This Marlins team has went from a 85 to 75 win team.  Edge: Nationals
• A quick hit, I think the Braves are front runners for Peavy, he is a Cy Young pitcher they need.  They will have to give up some prospects like Gorkys Hernandez and Jo-Jo Reyes though, which will take a little from this team in five years.

2008 Tigers Rookie Of The Year (Al Kaline Award)

Here are the 3 candidates, Matt Joyce, Freddy Dolsi, and Armando Galarraga

3. Matt Joyce- This rookie brought the Tigers a power hitter and a nice outfielder in ’08.  He played right when Magglio was down and helped this team going and played left this year when there was no left fielder.  He is a fast and 30 homer guy who just needs to work on his defense, with 12 homers in only 242 at-bats.  He is a great player on this team.

2. Freddy Dolsi- He did good in A-ball and then boom he was in the majors.  He gave up a Home Run to Manny, his first batter.  But rebounded to a great rookie season as one of a few great relievers in this bullpen and he also is the future closer because he goes after hitters and gets them out.  He got a 3.97 ERA which is awsome for a rookie reliever.

1. Armando Galarraga- He was the ace of the 08 Tigers.  He lead the staff and never got discouraged or mad on the mound, which makes an all-star pitcher.  He had 13 wins, a 3.73 ERA, and 126 K’s  only finishing second to Justin Verlander in k’s the rest of those stats lead the team.  He is a MLB Rookie of the year candidate and he was a Cy Young type pitcher.  Armando lead the team in 08.

Honorable mentions: Jeff Larish, Dusty Ryan, and Clete Thomas