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Annoying tripe from a YANKEES blogger who posts at MLBTR

I gave him a piece of my mind a few times in the comments (wayne gomes). I'll rip all I want on BSG, but when an outsider starts in (and a Yanks guy at that, trying to make this "aging core" argument! Laughable), F that. Better show the proper respect

doug_jones?

Matts: I don't know if I agree with you or if I think your nuts or if i even understand what the hell you are talking about, but I like having you on our board.

Between Matts and Floppy, my panic level has moved from 10+++ to 7.

I think its a bad contract but I'm starting to come to the view that how you manage your payroll/roster is alot less important than having the scouting department that hits on guys like Utley, Rollins, Hamels, Howard, Happ, Madson, etc. in the first place. No matter what Rube does, we still got Arbuckle.

SQUIRE

Supposedly 97.5 is trying to get Keith Law on - for a little Mike Miss v. KLAW smack down. I need to hear this should it happen. Woody, live tweet this.

Squire wrote:I think its a bad contract but I'm starting to come to the view that how you manage your payroll/roster is alot less important than having the scouting department that hits on guys like Utley, Rollins, Hamels, Howard, Happ, Madson, etc. in the first place. No matter what Rube does, we still got Arbuckle.
SQUIRE

Is this what telling my kid there's no Santa would be like?

I blame PowerPoint

Squire wrote:I think its a bad contract but I'm starting to come to the view that how you manage your payroll/roster is alot less important than having the scouting department that hits on guys like Utley, Rollins, Hamels, Howard, Happ, Madson, etc. in the first place. No matter what Rube does, we still got Arbuckle.

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Isn't Arbuckle with the Royals?

We've still got T Mac though. And he isn't going anywhere

joe table wrote:We've still got T Mac though. And he isn't going anywhere

It seems clear that cost certainty is a big part of how Rube and Co. are running things. I doubt we as fans place any value on that.

I think in hindsight, cost certainty was absolutely a big factor in the Polanco contract and Durbin arb offer. On their own, those moves--esp the unwillingness to wait and let the relief and IF markets develop--puzzled me more than a little

But as it turned out, since his main plan the entire time was to go harpoon Roy, it made sense to budget and fill those other needs quickly, and while leaving the balance of the money available to go towards the #1 goal.

Those first two deals made a lot more sense to me once the Roy deal was done, which essentially tapped out the offseason budget (give or take 2-3mm for vet relievers).

Rube was probably thinking that if he waited on 3B and tried to get the Roy thing done first and for some reason the market took off for 3Bs (in reality, the opposite happened after the Polanco signing), they could be left with a crappy option at 3B after the dust settled and a need to fill. And maybe he had similar thoughts about the Durbin/relief pitchers market

jeff2sf wrote:Supposedly 97.5 is trying to get Keith Law on - for a little Mike Miss v. KLAW smack down. I need to hear this should it happen. Woody, live tweet this.

Unfortunately, Law would whip out some variety of SABR numbers that will leave Missanelli baffled since he doesn't know what they even mean.

Rube proved with the Halladay/Lee deals that, if he really wants someone, he'll do whatever is necessary to get that guy and stay within budget. We can argue the merits of his approach but, if he wants Werth, he'll sign him. And, if I had to bet, I'd bet he does.

JFLNYC wrote:Rube proved with the Halladay/Lee deals that, if he really wants someone, he'll do whatever is necessary to get that guy and stay within budget. We can argue the merits of his approach but, if he wants Werth, he'll sign him. And, if I had to bet, I'd bet he does.

What you say is true. But the other thing about Rube is -- if he doesn't get to an agreement pretty quickly, he moves on. I think he learned this from Gillick (e.g. Lohse) and we saw it with Lee and others probably (Burrell?).

I haven't gone through every page in this thread but it strikes me that technically the title of the thread is wrong in I think in that $125M guaranteed includes the $10 million buyout for 2017 (not 125+buyout). The extenson was $115M for 2012-2016 (20, 20, 25, 25, 25) with a club option for 2017 at 23M or a buyout at 10M. No biggie.

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Here's Clay Davenport of BP:

Neil (NJ): I would love to hear any thoughts you may have on the Howard extension.

Clay Davenport: My thoughts mostly echo Matt Swartz in today's piece, perhaps a touch more pessimistic. His strikeout rate is among the highest ever, so there's very little room to allow for a slowing bat. But Stargell more or less had the same traits, and produced some monster seasons in his early 30s, and I don't think the slow bat usually becomes the problem until more like 35. In the early 30s I'd say the loss of footspeed is the bigger deal and the increasing injury risk... granted he's been excellent in that category to date

That reminds me of another annoying thing to hear from outside commenters, "Howard is a bad athlete" or "Howard is an inferior athlete to Teixiera."

He may throw a horrible thrower of the ball, but he definitely has more foot speed and quickness than Teix IMO, and he makes some plays on foul popups and dive plays that require 3-4 steps that (again IMO) very few 1B can make