General 2012/2013 Offseason Thread

[Rich the Giants fan]

I really didn't know who he was until I looked him up just now but he did pretty good for the Rays. Maybe he's the Sox big pickup.

I liked watching him play with the Giants. He's a gritty, hard-nosed player. He just got overpaid, but he's a nice addition to any team, nonetheless.

[Rich the Giants fan]

With the Dodgers spending spree, will some of the hate from the Yankees spending years shift a little bit to the Dodgers?

Who am I kidding? Probably not.....

there's enough hate to go around. My hate is primarily because the constant rise in salaries simply makes the game more and more unaffordable for me. I don't begrudge the players getting their cut, for otherwise it would simply go to the owners. But there needs to be a way to keep ticket prices down. There is a lot of revenue generated from other means nowadays (TV, sponserships), let's get ticket prices down so everyone can afford to go to a lot of games, not just the wealthy.

[Rich the Giants fan]

I'm kinda surprised the Whitesox haven't done anything yet. usually they make at least one big trade or signing in the off season.

Should a team make a big move, just for the sake of making a big move?

[Cap78]

there's enough hate to go around. My hate is primarily because the constant rise in salaries simply makes the game more and more unaffordable for me. I don't begrudge the players getting their cut, for otherwise it would simply go to the owners. But there needs to be a way to keep ticket prices down. There is a lot of revenue generated from other means nowadays (TV, sponserships), let's get ticket prices down so everyone can afford to go to a lot of games, not just the wealthy.

I get the mlb ticket ecery year and save the headache of spending too much on games...in the end far more feasable

[quagmire]

Keep on reading reports how these people want the biggest contract in MLB history shows that greed has run rampant in this game. Greinke is now the highest paid right hander in the game( overpaid, IMHO). Price's agent says he wants the biggest MLB contract, etc. Price is good, but isn't the biggest contract ever good.

[dominik]

Rangers trade Michael Young:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/t...hillies-120812

michael young for a relief pitcher? doesn't seem like a good trade to me. another bad offseason for the rangers who will likely lose hamilton too.

I criticised them last year for losing their best pitcher and replacing them with an unproven japanse pitcher and it turned out that they paid for it by not winning the division. with the angels spending so much money they just have to do something or they might finish third next year.

there are a lot of question marks in that team. who will play first (hopefully not mitch moreland who is a nice bench hitter but no MLB starter)? who will replace napoli? who will replace hamilton? not a lot of offense left and the pitching is not as good as it used to be too.

beltre is not getting any younger, kinsler had a down year, napoli is gone and hamilton will be gone. and still they have done absoutely nothing despite signing a big TV contract. basically they have no good hitter left.

[ol' aches and pains]

I assume the White Sox are planning to put Keppinger at 3rd. base, since they apparently aren't going to sign Youkilis. I would prefer Youk, obviously, but at least Keppinger is a genuine major league 3rd. baseman, which the Sox haven't had since 2006. But nine home runs and 40 RBI's is a little light for a corner infielder. He's only hit 41 homers in his eight-year career.

[RaysFan_98]

I assume the White Sox are planning to put Keppinger at 3rd. base, since they apparently aren't going to sign Youkilis. I would prefer Youk, obviously, but at least Keppinger is a genuine major league 3rd. baseman, which the Sox haven't had since 2006. But nine home runs and 40 RBI's is a little light for a corner infielder. He's only hit 41 homers in his eight-year career.

A little light? In over 400 plate appearances last year he only K'ed 32 times and hit .322 But you rather have a declining youk?

[Cap78]

A little light? In over 400 plate appearances last year he only K'ed 32 times and hit .322 But you rather have a declining youk?

I think the concern might be the fact there is no history for him...this is a small sample

[ol' aches and pains]

A little light? In over 400 plate appearances last year he only K'ed 32 times and hit .322 But you rather have a declining youk?

Yes. I admit it's admirable that Keppinger only struck out 32 times this season-Adam Dunn can do that in one road trip. But I'd like a little more power than that from the 3rd. base position. Also, Keppinger has averaged 87 games played over his career. I don't know if the Sox plan to use him as the regular 3rd. baseman, but if Youk goes, that would appear to be the plan.

[Rich the Giants fan]

I get the mlb ticket ecery year and save the headache of spending too much on games...in the end far more feasable

TV is no substitute for being at the ballpark. I love to watch games on TV, or listen on the radio, but nothing beats being at a game. It sucks that I can't afford to go as often as I used to, even though I'm better off financially now than I used to be.

[Rich the Giants fan]

michael young for a relief pitcher? doesn't seem like a good trade to me. another bad offseason for the rangers who will likely lose hamilton too.

I criticised them last year for losing their best pitcher and replacing them with an unproven japanse pitcher and it turned out that they paid for it by not winning the division. with the angels spending so much money they just have to do something or they might finish third next year.

there are a lot of question marks in that team. who will play first (hopefully not mitch moreland who is a nice bench hitter but no MLB starter)? who will replace napoli? who will replace hamilton? not a lot of offense left and the pitching is not as good as it used to be too.

beltre is not getting any younger, kinsler had a down year, napoli is gone and hamilton will be gone. and still they have done absoutely nothing despite signing a big TV contract. basically they have no good hitter left.

Huh? They paid for signing Darvish by not winning the division? As if Darvish was the reason? Darvish was 16-9 with a 3.90 ERA (116 ERA+), including 3-0 with a 2.21 ERA in five September/October starts.

Darvish most certainly was not the reason why Texas didn't win their division. Despite their late slide, your criticism was unfounded.

[Rich the Giants fan]

I assume the White Sox are planning to put Keppinger at 3rd. base, since they apparently aren't going to sign Youkilis. I would prefer Youk, obviously, but at least Keppinger is a genuine major league 3rd. baseman, which the Sox haven't had since 2006. But nine home runs and 40 RBI's is a little light for a corner infielder. He's only hit 41 homers in his eight-year career.

He's played 152 games (126 starts) at 3B in 8 big league seasons, and never more than 67 in any season. He's much more of a genuine utility infielder, though I might accept genuine second baseman.

[ol' aches and pains]

He's played 152 games (126 starts) at 3B in 8 big league seasons, and never more than 67 in any season. He's much more of a genuine utility infielder, though I might accept genuine second baseman.

Yeah, I'm not that excited about the signing. The Sox don't appear to be making any effort to sign Youkilis, God only knows why. He's the first bonafide Major League 3rd. baseman they've had since Joe Crede.

[dominik]

Huh? They paid for signing Darvish by not winning the division? As if Darvish was the reason? Darvish was 16-9 with a 3.90 ERA (116 ERA+), including 3-0 with a 2.21 ERA in five September/October starts.

Darvish most certainly was not the reason why Texas didn't win their division. Despite their late slide, your criticism was unfounded.

no darvish was not the reason for their fail. he worked out OK. the problem was that they only added darvish while other teams did a lot more. darvish was a nice sign but it was not enough considering their best pitcher went away. overall the team got weaker. getting darvish on top of wilson would have been great but expecting him to replace wilson and not add anything else was not the best idea.

and this year the team certainly got weaker to date. they already lost napoli and young and they will likely lose some relievers too (ok one is replaced now by the young trade). even if they do resign hamilton the team is still weaker than in 2012. and that is a major IF, it is more likely that hamilton will depart too and then their offense is a trainwreck (beltre would be their only elite hitter left and he is 34 years old and injury prone).

the rangers really need to do something this offseason or next season will not be funny for them. they should have gone for fielder with their new big TV deal last season but instead they saved the money and used bench hitter moreland in combination with napoli.

BTW: I know they lead the division most of the season but they benefited from the angels underperforming. I expect the angels to be much better in 2013 and then it will be really tough for the rangers in 2013.