High and Tight.: Making a List, Checking it Twice

Monday, November 28, 2005

Making a List, Checking it Twice

Well, Brian Cashman's holiday shopping list has been pared down a bit:

Dear Santa,
Please bring me the following:

~~BJ Ryan~~ (didn't want to set up)
~~Bobby Howry~~ (too expensive)
~~Scott Eyre~~ (wanted the NL)
~~Aaron Rowand~~ (traded elsewhere)
Tom Gordon
Kyle Farnsworth
Brad Wilkerson
Jason Michaels
Brian Giles

I have been a very good boy this year and haven't thrown away the future.

Love,
Brian C.

Ryan was completely overpaid by the Blue Jays. After only one year of closing he's given the biggest contract for a reliever, ever? It's understandable the Eyre wanted to stay in the NL,
and Howry was overwhelmed by the Cubs' ridiculous offer.

So who's left? It's time to start investigating the health of Octavio Dotel and explore an incentive-laden contract. Braden Looper is still available, and he might not be bad in a 7th/8th inning role. Farnsworth is the cream of the crop as far as what's left. Mike Myers is probably the best lefty of the FA crop. If Gordon can drop his insistence that his contract run until he's 50 and would accept the Yankee deal as it is, that would be fine as well.

The good news in all of this is that the Padres and Giles have broken off talks and the Yankees are ready to move in. However, St. Louis and Toronto are also believed to be interested. St. Louis is understandably a worth rival for his services, but with the free spending (!) Blue Jays in the hunt, they could either overwhelm Giles or drive up his price. They're expected to make huge offers to Giles and Burnett this week.

Stick to your guns, Cash. The only FA remotely worth overpaying for is Giles. There are arms in Columbus to help in the pen if there's no way to fill it via free agency (welcome to the bullpen, Mr. Smith.)

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 7:50 AM 3 comments

3 Comments:

At 11/28/2005 9:23 AM, Mr. Faded Glory said...: Hi Chris.

I would comment on your site but the only German I know is from watching old WW II movies, and probably wouldn't make sense in context.
At 11/28/2005 1:54 PM, Greg said...: That photoshop job is great.

And I think I'd much rather land Farnsworth than bring back Gordon. And I'm not sold on Giles just yet. We need to get younger.
At 11/28/2005 2:09 PM, Mr. Faded Glory said...: Getting younger for the sake of getting younger isn't helpful. The problem with older players has been long term deals long after their usefulness has expired (Brown, Williams, etc).

Every indicator is that Giles will perform at current levels for the next few years. A three year contract is a good investment.

Gordon is getting (is) old and I'd also take the Gordon draft picks and sign Farnsworth. However the market is getting quite thin so I wouldn't discount a Gordon return, with or without Farnie.

I still think Gordon is going to Philadelphia though.