MLB Offseason 2013-2014

[Timby]

Timby, whatcha think about the Cubs being rumored as one of three teams hot on the heels of Tanaka?

I would love to see him in Chicago.

Is he worth the amount of money he's sure to get?

It's a crapshoot. NPB is essentially AAAA baseball, so it's very hard to predict performance. For every Koji Uehara there's a Matsuzaka.

I'm not sure this is the year for the Cubs to splurge on a pitcher. They're still going to be really bad this season, so Tanaka isn't going to be a magic cure-all. I still think he's landing in Los Angeles or Seattle.

Also, how can the Yanks get in under the "189" if they sign him? Or is he worth forgetting about that number?

I talked about this a page or two ago. The Yankees' payroll right now is projecting somewhere in the high $160 million range, give or take a bit. In their perfect world, they could sign Tanaka to a backloaded contract that makes his tax charge negligible for 2014 and then goes crazy after that, then dump Ichiro's contract, and do nothing else and keep Project 189 intact and going, but that's a really, really big stretch and would require a lot of dominoes to fall in their favor.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ Would the $20M posting fee count towards Project 189?

 

[Yanks]

^ Would the $20M posting fee count towards Project 189?

From what I understand it does not.

 

[RAMA]

The public has shown it generally doesn't care about PED use, it consistently would vote players implicated in such use into the Hall of Fame, as with the recent Betard HOF vote.

http://www.couriernews.net/story/2039822.html

As for the 60 minutes interview and the case against Arod, it's all bullshit, and MLB came off looking like idiots after the report, not to mention the show itself.

On a personal note, I don't really care what Arod used and think it all should be legalized and McDonald's should be banned, it kills far more people than steroids or HGH.

RAMA

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Yankees have got Tanaka. 7-year deal.

 

[Tom Servo]

Hahahahaha, oh Project 189 you sham. To quote The Lost World: Jurassic Park:

"I haven't made the same mistake twice!"

"No, no you're making all new ones."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I could give a damn about "Project 189". As long as we get the guy.

 

[Yanks]

Wow, I was right again...

 

[Tom Servo]

Well we should have known the Yankees ability to make asinine deals knows no end.

All I know is Yankees fans better hope he is a #1 or #2 starter cause he he busts, they are hosed even further then they are now.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Now I actually hope those massive numbers of innings he pitched in Japan come back to haunt him.

 

[Scout101]

Wow, I was right again...

7 years, 155 for a guy that's never thrown a MLB pitch. See what happens, congrats I guess? Of course, kinda forced into it by the trainwreck of the rest of your offseason/team, otherwise Yankee Stadium would be a ghost town starting with game 2.

The irony that you seem to (keep) missing is that by doing this, it admits that getting under 189 Mil was a sham. Which is perfectly fine, except you've been making decisions for the past 2 years that have hurt your on-field product in order to try and achieve the goal. Now you blow by it, and it just means you've been killing yourself for nothing, and did the equivalent of tanking without getting the draft pick at the end.

Congrats? You're still playing for 2nd or 3rd in the AL East, IMO. If this roster wasn't wearing pinstripes, you'd wear out your keyboard telling us how much they suck and will win 40 games max...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If this roster wasn't wearing pinstripes, you'd wear out your keyboard telling us how much they suck and will win 40 games max...

Just like you do.

 

[Yanks]

Well we should have known the Yankees ability to make asinine deals knows no end.

All I know is Yankees fans better hope he is a #1 or #2 starter cause he he busts, they are hosed even further then they are now.

There is no where else to get a young arm for the Yankees.

I always knew he was going to be in pinstripes.

I see this as very little risk financially. His jersey sale are going to go through the roof, here and in Japan.

There is ALWAYS risk signing a pitcher. Who thought signing Kevin Brown would turn out they way it did?

I think this sign was a must for my Yankees and I'm glad they pulled the trigger.

Now, if they can just get out of A-ROID's contract.

 

[Yanks]

Wow, I was right again...

Congrats? You're still playing for 2nd or 3rd in the AL East, IMO. If this roster wasn't wearing pinstripes, you'd wear out your keyboard telling us how much they suck and will win 40 games max...

Not so sure.

Old? Yes, but it's been proven we can win with "old" players.

There are 2 critical wild-cards in what the Yankees have in my view.

Tanka is not one of them. He can pitch 3 or 4 until he gets used to the MLB. He will at least be a strong number 3.

#1. Ellsbury. I DO think they paid to much for him, but if he remains healthy he will be worth every dime. No real reason to expect he'll miss much. His big injuries were "Freak" injuries.

#2. Peneda. It's time for him do earn his keep and I believe he can step in as a strong #4 or #5 and work his way up in the rotation is others "tire". The kid has a great arm.

Do we need to go out and buy a 3rd baseman? I don't think so. I'd give it to Munez and let the kid start. I've always liked his bat and his fielding has improved each year.

This hitting line-up is as good or better than anyone in the east.

1 Jacoby Ellsbury CF
2 Derek Jeter SS
3 Carlos Beltran RF
4 Mark Teixeira 1B
5 Brian McCann Catcher
6 Alfonso Soriano DH
7 Kelly Johnson/Nunez 3B
8 Brian Roberts 2B
9 Brett Gardner LF

Don't know if I bat Jeet 2nd, but switches can be made as needed. I think I put Gardner up there.

Nowhere is that a "40 win" roster.

Still need some pen help, I say Belfour and let Robertson stay in the 7th and 8th.

 

[Use of Time]

Holy fuck the Yankees/Red Sox shit slinging in here is getting tiresome.

 

[Yanks]

Holy fuck the Yankees/Red Sox shit slinging in here is getting tiresome.

 

[Scout101]

There is no where else to get a young arm for the Yankees.

Certainly true. Was hoping the Yankees would fail to get him, but only to see them shut out and forced to overpay a retread, not because I'm afraid of him per se.

Honestly, if the Project 189 thing was bullshit from the start, Darvish would have been a much better pickup, and helped last year as well. That's kinda where those comments come from, those kinds of decisions. Or letting Russell Martin go for peanuts in favor of having essentially ME catching/hitting up there. In retrospect, if you were going to pay the tax anyway, team could have been much better right now...

I see this as very little risk financially. His jersey sale are going to go through the roof, here and in Japan.

Unfortunately, baseball doesn't work like that. You'll get a little money, I guess, but about 1/30th of what you're thinking of. Hats/Jerseys/etc. are all through MLB and split amongst all teams. Same (poor) logic was quoted about DiceK to start, and debunked. Only way to get money to yourselves is to sell additional ads/stadium space to Japanese companies, or figure out a way to do tours to boost ticket sales. Would think the Yankees already have that market pretty tapped out, unless it dried up after Matsui went away and you couldn't get any back with Ichiro.

Either way, that big financial boost isn't coming, you're on the hook for 22M and change for 7 years. Unless he opts out after 4 I suppose.

 

[Yanks]

There is no where else to get a young arm for the Yankees.

Certainly true. Was hoping the Yankees would fail to get him, but only to see them shut out and forced to overpay a retread, not because I'm afraid of him per se.

I think Tanaka was in their plans from the start. They never showed interest in the free agent pitchers.

Now Price probably was a different matter, but he took 14 mil and stayed in TB.

Honestly, if the Project 189 thing was bullshit from the start, Darvish would have been a much better pickup, and helped last year as well. That's kinda where those comments come from, those kinds of decisions. Or letting Russell Martin go for peanuts in favor of having essentially ME catching/hitting up there. In retrospect, if you were going to pay the tax anyway, team could have been much better right now...

Never understood letting Martin go the way they did. Maybe they were just hoping for a better bat, but I really liked him behind the plate. But I'm more than happy with McCann and we weren't going to make the play-offs last year anyways as it worked out with all the injuries.

I see this as very little risk financially. His jersey sale are going to go through the roof, here and in Japan.

Unfortunately, baseball doesn't work like that. You'll get a little money, I guess, but about 1/30th of what you're thinking of. Hats/Jerseys/etc. are all through MLB and split amongst all teams. Same (poor) logic was quoted about DiceK to start, and debunked. Only way to get money to yourselves is to sell additional ads/stadium space to Japanese companies, or figure out a way to do tours to boost ticket sales. Would think the Yankees already have that market pretty tapped out, unless it dried up after Matsui went away and you couldn't get any back with Ichiro.

Either way, that big financial boost isn't coming, you're on the hook for 22M and change for 7 years. Unless he opts out after 4 I suppose.

Wow, that "DiceK talk" was where I got my info. I was not aware that it was ever debunked.

 

[Scout101]

Yep, debunked news from 2007. Not the best source

Did a quick search, this was the first one I found that directly addresses it:

http://sabr.org/latest/cameron-big-ticket-signings-dont-drive-attendance

DiceK had at least a small impact on the Red Sox because they weren't really 'in' on the Japanese market before. So they arranged sales to tour groups (tickets, a cut of hotel and tour guide fees I'm sure), they sold advertising to Japanese companies, there was signage for Japanese teams in the ballpark, they started offering sushi, etc.

Because they weren't really exposed to that market previously, it made a (small) impact.

Yankees are already in that market, have signage and ads, etc. Matsui, Ichiro, you've already got Japanese stars that have come through your team and driven interest in Japan. May get a slight attendance bump (which was a problem last year) on days he starts, but really small enough that you can't count on the money helping the contract. Hurts a little that he's a pitcher vice a position player, as he'll only drive ticket sales, to the extent that he does at all, every 5 days.

Either way, yeah, bad info. You own the 22M a year for 6 years, and 23M the last year, unless he opts out after 4. Based on age and contracts in MLB lately, if he's any good, he'll be gone in 4. Unless you AROD yourselves again and give him crazy money to stay. If the Yankees don't start developing players, that's the spot they'll be in again, though. As a Japanese pitcher, it's more mileage on the arm than the age suggests, so could be interesting...

 

[Yanks]

Either way, yeah, bad info. You own the 22M a year for 6 years, and 23M the last year, unless he opts out after 4. Based on age and contracts in MLB lately, if he's any good, he'll be gone in 4. Unless you AROD yourselves again and give him crazy money to stay. If the Yankees don't start developing players, that's the spot they'll be in again, though. As a Japanese pitcher, it's more mileage on the arm than the age suggests, so could be interesting...

I had heard that "opt-out" thing. I wasn't sure whether the Yanks had that option or he did.