Day 10 - Do It The Wright Way

Mets reportedly offering monster deal to David Wright

 

 

 

Published November 28, 2012 | By RBTS Staff

 

Reports have surfaced that indicate the New York Mets are determined to keep star third baseman David Wright a Met for life.

All was quiet on the home front regarding Wright and a contract extension thus far this off-season, but since Monday things have been heating up. The Mets have apparently made David Wright several offers, one reportedly in the seven year, $135-145 million range. Although Wright is nearing 30 years old, he was able to bounce back from injury this past season to bat .306 with 21 home runs.
Both sides are eerily mum on the issue. A Mets spokesman said only that talks are “ongoing”, while General Manager Sandy Alderson was unavailable for comment.

Wright said:

 ”It was important to me from the very beginning that these negotiations remain confidential and private. I plan on sticking to that.”

The Mets are doing the right thing trying to ink David Wright long term. His production has been top notch, and he has emerged as a team captain and leader. If they plan on getting back to being a potential contender, Wright is a good place to start.

-Jim Racalto (Sports-Kings Co-Founder)

Day 9 - Swisher Sweet

Anthony Gruppuso – US PRESSWIRE

Nick Swisher has had plenty of suitors this off-season, and with good reason. He’s a proven bat, a switch-hitter who would fit in just about any lineup and has been a consistent performer for the better part of a decade.  He’s been linked most recently to the San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox, all of whom could use his bat in their lineups.

The one thing that all of those teams have in common is that they are all expected to be contenders next season. Even the Red Sox, coming off a horrific season in 2012, are expected to reload and shouldn’t be down for long.

Swisher is a good complementary piece that can fit into just about any team’s lineup, but is not enough of a star that he should be signed expecting to carry an offense. He’s not a middle-of-the-lineup hitter, but he is the type of hitter that can propel an average offense into a very good one.
This is the category the Pittsburgh Pirates fall into.

Over the past two decades of futility, the Pirates could have been made to seem like a good fit for any major free agent, as their roster was typically full of holes. But signing a player like Swisher onto many of those teams would have been a misuse of funds, as his abilities are not enough to overcome the offensive issues of many of the Pirates teams of the past.
This Pirates team, however, is different.

On this Pirates team, Swisher does not have to be a star. He does not have to be a leader. He does not have to be their best hitter. They already have Andrew McCutchen for all that.
They also have some effective complementary pieces in Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker, Garrett Jones and up-and-comer Starling Marte. The Pirates are finally at a place where a piece like Swisher makes sense. Of course, they will probably have to overpay to get him.

Swisher will likely not consider the Pirates among his top choices unless there is a significant financial advantage to their offer. Most predictions call for Swisher to get a fourth year, if not because he deserves it than because of the demand for him this winter. They also call for a contract between $12-14 million per year.

The Pirates don’t have the payroll flexibility to go much higher than $14 million, but they could go further in years. The longer the contract, the more risk there is with any free agent, and with Swisher entering his age 32 season in 2013, the risk is even greater than with younger free agents. But a five-year deal, something that Swisher may not have yet been offered, would lock him up only through his age 36 season, when Swisher could still be productive. He likely won’t still be living up to the contract, but he could still be productive into his late 30′s.

Swisher has the one skill that tends to age well in any era – plate discipline. Even as his skills begin to diminish towards the end of a five year deal, causing his batting average to dip and his power to decline, he should still be able to maintain his ability to get on base. Even in his worst season (2008), Swisher posted a .332 on-base percentage, better than anything they are projected to get out of right field this season. Swisher won’t still be the player he is today in five years, but he should still be an employable major league outfielder.

If the Pirates want to make a move, and they need to do so badly, offering Swisher an additional year could be exactly what it takes to get it done, proving both to their fan base and to the rest of the baseball world that they are taking their opportunity to become competitive seriously.

Read more at http://www.rantsports.com/mlb/2012/11/26/mlb-rumors-nick-swisher-still-available-for-pittsburgh-pirates/?xtRuaUcBi5mPM7q2.99

Day 8 - 一郎からのギフト

Anyone who has watched a Seattle Mariners home game over the past eight years may have taken note of the “Ichimeter.” The Ichimeter is a hit-counter that was invented by Mariners Amy Franz in 2004, when it was used to count Ichiro’s hits on his way to an MLB record 262 hits in a single season. Over the past several seasons, the Ichimeter has been used to count the total amount of hits Ichiro has in his MLB career.

On Tuesday, Ichiro decided to thank Franz for her loyal service in operating the Ichimeter all those years by sending her a thank you package. Franz proudly shared the goods on Twitter, which included some autographed items and the thank you note that you see below.








Fans all around the country dedicate themselves to traditions like the one Franz created in Seattle, but very few of them are ever personally thanked by a future Hall of Famer. We already knew Ichiro was capable of incredible feats like this one on the field, but it’s refreshing to see a star player who cares about making a person’s day off of it as well.

By Steve DelVecchio November 21, 2012

Day 7 - House for sale

John Lackey is attempting to cut some of his West Coast ties.

Lackey is selling his Newport Beach mansion for just a shade under $10 million, according to Realtor.com. The 9,100-square-foot oceanfront compound includes a guest house and is listed with an asking price of $9,999,999.

The righty bought the pad in 2010 for $8.4 million, just a few months after the signing a five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Sox.

Built in 2007, the estate has 180-degree ocean views on .57 acres of land. With five bedrooms and seven baths, the house is nestled inside Crystal Cove community.

Hope he does better in selling this place than he did in Boston

 

 NESN

Day 6 - Brewers let the fans choose uni's

The Brewers recently announced on their website that they'll pick a uniform designed and submitted by a fan to wear for one Spring Training game in 2012.

What a great concept. The thing that is cool about this is they are letting the fans go with whatever they want. Fans can submit their own logos and fonts, or they can use any of the ones the Brewers used in their history. Fans will have the chance to get down to the smallest details: From button colors on the jersey, to patches on the sleeves, to the colors of the brim and panels of the hat.

I always thought the powder blues from the Robin Yount era were their best uniforms, so it'll be interesting see if they go with some type of take on that. Or perhaps someone will bring back this 90s logo. That is what makes this idea so cool, fans have a chance to design something old-school or modern depending on what they like.

You can download a template to create your own here, and you can check out a photo gallery of designs that have already been submitted here. I am pretty partial to the last one on the right, kinda reminds me of the Nashville Predators scheme.

Here are a couple more submitted examples:

 

Big Kahuna

Day 5 - Big News in the Northwest

   Seattle Mariners general manager, Jack Zduriencik, plans to upgrade the teams offense this offseason but as of now does not plan to pursue Josh Hamilton, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports. “You have to be realistic about how you're going to allocate your dollars,” Zduriencik said. “Some of these things drag out and if you're sitting there waiting on one chip, other chips in front of you might go away and you end up with nothing.”

 Reports surfaced early November that Hamilton was looking for a seven-year $175mm deal which would possibly put him out of Seattle's range. The team has other holes to fill and committing that much money to one player who is injury prone would not be a wise move. last season in 148 games, Hamilton hit .285/.354/.577 with 43 home runs and 128 RBIs.

Pro Rumors

That being said, we have some good news..........

This offseason, the Mariners will install a huge, gigantic, enormous new Jumbotron at Safeco Field, replacing the old scoreboard that was part video screen, part white-only lights and part advertising.
The new display will be entirely a video screen, and will stretch the entire width of the center field bleachers where Safeco Field’s current scoreboard is mounted. At 201.5 feet wide and 56.7 feet tall — that’s 11,425 square feet — the video board will be 10 times the size of the current video screen when it’s installed before the 2013 season, according to the Mariners.

The viewing area will be the equivalent of about 2,182 42-inch flatscreen HDTVs, the M’s said.
That will make it the largest board in all of Major League Baseball. And it measures even wider than the humongous display at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, making it the widest screen in all of sports.

Credit - Nick Eaton

Day 4 - They just keep getting better. More Jays Action...

The Toronto Blue Jays continued their transformation this offseason, signing former Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera to a two year deal worth $16 million. Cabrera was suspended for 50 games last season after a positive test for an elevated testosterone level.

Suspension aside, 2012 was a great year for Cabrera. His .346 batting average led the National League (though he's not getting the fancy "batting champion" title due to falling one plate appearance shy of qualifying, and some MLB damage control in changing the rules), and he posted a .906 OPS for the season. 2012 was the second straight great year for Cabrera after having a fantatstic season for the Royals, homering 18 times and stealing 20 bases while hitting .305 with an .809 OPS.

The 28-year old Cabrera joins a crowded Blue Jays outfield that has Jose Bautista holding the fort down in right field and Colby Rasmus tentatively starting in center. Toronto also has speedsters Rajai Davis and Anthony Gose in the fold, both of which could take playing time from Rasmus, who has struggled at times. By the same token, the Blue Jays could simply use Davis as the fourth outfielder and let the 22-year old Gose hone his offensive game a little more in the new AAA affiliate for the Blue Jays in Buffalo, a much more balanced environment for hitters in comparison to the extremely hitter-friendly field in Las Vegas.

The Blue Jays are really putting together a team that could be special. They still have some potential moves to be made with JP Arencibia, John Buck, and Bobby Wilson all behind the plate and top catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud waiting in the wings. Also, Adam Lind is still on the team and the Jays could look to acquire an upgrade over him at first base or DH, with incumbent Edwin Encarnacion playing the other position.

The salary for Cabrera also seems fair. It's a two-year deal, which isn't a crippling length for a player of Cabrera's age. At $8 million per season, Cabrera only gets a modest raise on the $6 million he made through arbitration last season. It's a very low risk/high reward deal for the Blue Jays, and with how good of a hitters park Rogers Centre is, a complete offensive collapse like the one Cabrera underwent in 2010 in Atlanta isn't very likely.

 Written by Joe Lucia