Baseball Historians

Is it going to be long before PECOTAing is a word.  Anyway, Billfer does a nice job of not only mentioning the fact that the mean averages are out for PECOTA, but he gives us a few Tiger specific nuggets.  Namely how good people expect Max Scherzer to be as well as how things stack [...]

Brandon Inge’s contract with the Tigers is finished at the end of the 2010 and this fan can’t wait for him to go somewhere else.  One interesting not on Inge in his defense is when you look at his splits, he’s a much better career hitter when you carve out his time at catcher.  Those [...]

It looks like the Tigers and Justin Verlander are getting closer to a long term deal that will lock up the franchise pitcher.  The current deal on the table is 5 years, $75 million with the Felix Hernandez contract as the bench mark.  Rosenthal and Morosi say in their piece that if there’s a sixth [...]

Lots of news around MLB today and some signings that could potential impact the 2010 New York Mets.
1- Free agent starting pitchers Ben Sheets and Jon Garland are now signed with Sheets joining the Oakland A’s(1 yr/10 million) and Garland tossing for the San Diego Padres(1 yr/4.7 mill). Both were believed to be options [...]

The Tigers sent Jeff Larish outright to Toledo today and he’ll be a non-roster invitee to spring training.  Larish is one of those guys who mashed in the minors but has problems in the majors catching up to pitches with that long swing.  I hope this isn’t Ryan Strieby’s fate (i.e. a career AAA guy) [...]

I’m confused.  Very confused.  Unless you’re the Chicago White Sox, you usually determine whether your team is a buyer or a seller and you react accordingly.  The Tigers appear to have an identity crisis because with each move they make, it appears they swing from one side to the other.  At the end of the [...]

The Mets have added an insurance policy for injured CF Carlos Beltran, trading RH RP Brian Stokes for OF Gary Matthews, JR from the Los Angeles Angels. The switch hitting OF, hit .250 with 4 home runs and 50 rbi in 103 games in 2009, while playing 80 starts in the field. He played 46 [...]

The Tigers were busy locking up a bunch of players prior to actual arbitration throughout the past week.  Gerald Laird signed for $3.95 million, Zach Miner is in for $950,000 and Bobby Seay signed for $2.475 million.  That leaves the pink elephant in the room in Justin Verlander.  The Tigers and Verlander look to be $2.6 million apart [...]

Mets top free agent C target Bengie Molina has reportedly re-upped with the San Francisco Giants for 1 yr at 4.5 million.  Look for New York to sign another veteran FA C(Rod Barajas?) 1B Carlos Delgado looks to be an ex Met as he signed with The Toronto Blue Jays, his original ML club.

Hot Stove Update:
1- Nothing more to add on the Carlos Beltran mess, which is essentially a silly pissing contest between the organization and Beltran’s representatives(Scott Boras’ and his cast of thousands). The key here is getting #15 back and healthy, he is an amazing player and without him, the Mets are not half the club [...]

The Tigers locked up closer Jose Valverde to a two year, $14 million deal and there’s a $9 million option for 2012.  I’ve said this before, but I thought relief was one of the few spots where the Tigers should have just looked from within.  Instead, they’re overpaying, in my opinion, for a good but [...]

Tim Brown is reporting on Twitter that the Tigers have signed Jose Valverde to a two year, $14 million deal.  If this is the caee, I’m pretty disappointed.  I put a question mark next to it because it was Tweet and I haven’t seen anything official.

I’m a little behind on this, but with all of the prospects lists that have already been put out, Baseball America’s list almost seems late by comparison.  BA’s is probably the least Sabermetric friendly but the list is still pretty useful when you compare it other prospect analysts.  There’s no surprise that Jacob Turner comes [...]

In a shocking development, Mets superstar CF Carlos Beltran had surgery on his bad right knee Wednesday and will miss anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks. Beltran, missed 81 games with a bone bruise in the knee, led NY with a .325 average while posting a .415 on base percentage. He added 10 homers and [...]

The Tigers inked Joel Zumaya to a one year, $915,000 deal today and in the process, they avoided arbitration with the hard throwing right hander.  Zumaya has had his share of injuries the past three seasons but at less then a million, the team should get a bargain assuming Zumaya can pitch most of the [...]

Seperate internet reports have the Mets close to signing top free agent C Bengie Molina. ESPN believes the two sides will come to an agreement with the next 48-72 hours. FoxSports.com claims Molina’s asking price has lowered and he would accept a two year deal.
Bloggers opinion: This would be another good move for the [...]

Wow, this was a big surprise and enough to drag me out of my hiatus. The Reds signed the highly coveted and much hyped Cuban hurler Aroldis Chapman. They inked him to a 5 year, $25 million deal and that should help shore up the rotation. My guess is he’ll be at the [...]

In one of his latest columns, Jason Beck ponders the Tigers choice of closers.  Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon are gone so that leaves a laundry list of potential closers with Ryan Perry and Joel Zumaya probably heading the list.  The Tigers are still being mentioned in the talks for Jose Valverde but in my [...]

As I have stated for the past couple of weeks,  I love the Mets signing of Jason Bay. This is a great move and let me tell you why.
1- He is a 25 homer-100 rbi Left fielder. Like the 2008 offseason, the Mets had a major need that GM Omar Minaya filled.(Closer in ‘08) [...]

Highly sought after free agent OF Jason Bay passed his physical Monday in Manhattan and the Mets will announce his signing Tuesday. The club has called a 11 am Press Conference Tuesday at Citi field that will be aired live on the Mets flag ship station, SNY.  Bay’s deal is worth a reported 4 years [...]

It’s now 2010.  The free agency season is winding and spring training is less then two months away.  The Tigers made one of the biggest trades of the offseason and the question is, “now what?”
Jason Beck is a little optimistic.  Or at least he’s conveying what the Tigers have told him.  He also talks about [...]

Happy New Year.  Baseball America has posted their top ten book list for 2009.  Unfortunately I’ve been working in another direction and haven’t had as much time to read baseball books so this site has pretty much gone dormant.  If you want, subscribe to the RSS feed and in the event I kick things off again [...]