Lincecum gets busted, Abreu gets his wings
You only thought the baseball season was over with the Yankees' 7-3 win over the Phillies in Game 6 of the World Series. Next year starts right now.
Seriously, was anyone shocked to hear about another professional athlete getting in a scrape that involved drugs?
San Francisco's young ace Tim Lincecum was stopped for speeding in Washington last week and the cops found a little pot in his car. Three-point-three ounces little. The accompanying charge was a misdemeanor, Lincecum paid his fine and that was that.
The Giants went 19-13 in Lincecum's 32 starting assignments this season with the 2008 NL Cy Young winner recording a 248 ERA, second-best in the NL. His 261 strikeouts led the Senior Circuit, the second straight season he's been the National League K King.
For some reason he still reminds me of Cameron (Alan Ruck) from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Angels re-sign Abreu to two-year deal
Any pain Bobby Abreu might have felt watching his former Yankee teammates celebrate their World Series title was tempered at least somewhat by his new contract to keep him in sunny LA.
The 35-year old outfielder signed a two year, $19 million contract with the Angels on the heels of his seventh consecutive 100 RBI season. After spending the past few seasons with the Yankees, the 14-year veteran signed with Los Angeles in the offseason only to see his new mates fall to New York in the ALCS.
A career .299 hitter, Abreu passed the 2,000 career hit mark this past season when he hit 15 homers, drove in 103 and stole 30 bases for the Angels who were second in scoring in the majors, once again behind New York.
The Red Sox and their Florida pipeline
Boston dealt a couple of pitchers to the Florida Marlins for outfielder Jeremy Hermida, an interesting move that should be the start of an offseason ripe with a few big moves by the Red Sox.
Hermida, 25, was the 11th overall selection in the 2002 draft by the Marlins and this is one of those "maybe he'll reach his full potential with us" moves. Last winter, Boston GM Theo Epstein made a "maybe we'll catch lightning in a bottle" move when he acquired Rocco Baldelli with a one-year, fairly low-cost, low-risk free agent deal.
The fallout from this means Baldelli is gone, a very obvious decision there. And it could mean the club tries to move J.D. Drew, with the eating-of-the-silly-contract part of that move if it's made.
Hermida played right field mostly over the course of five seasons with the Marlins, Drew's primary position. Hermida's best year in Florida came in 2007 when he established 'triple crown career highs' in homers (18), RBI (63) and average (.296).
The two pitchers going from the Red Sox to the Marlins are both lefthanders, minor leaguer Jose Alvarez and Hunter Jones who pitched out of the Boston pen 11 times in 2009 with a 9.24 ERA.
Free agent spotlight: Jason Bay
Staying in Boston, the team that could be the primary player in where several big free agents land eventually. That includes their own Jason Bay.
After exactly 200 games in a Red Sox uniform, and 719 in the Pirates' Gold and Black, Bay is arguably this winter's top free agent among position players. The British Columbia native slugged 36 homers and drove home 119 runs in his first full season playing left for Boston and has been a favorite of Sox Nation since his arrival midway through the 2008 schedule.
Acquiring Hermida gives the Red Sox some leverage in the talks now, and all reports are Bay is very happy being in Boston with manager Terry Francona. Epstein's offseason decisions are complicated by trying to sign Josh Beckett (22-10. 3.86) to a contract extension.
The Mets and Giants are rumored to be ready to beat any offer the Red Sox might make Bay, but my guess is he re-signs to play the Green Monster, getting a four-year, $65 million deal with a nice fifth year parachute.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com and of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
You only thought the baseball season was over with the Yankees' 7-3 win over the Phillies in Game 6 of the World Series. Next year starts right now.
Seriously, was anyone shocked to hear about another professional athlete getting in a scrape that involved drugs?
San Francisco's young ace Tim Lincecum was stopped for speeding in Washington last week and the cops found a little pot in his car. Three-point-three ounces little. The accompanying charge was a misdemeanor, Lincecum paid his fine and that was that.
The Giants went 19-13 in Lincecum's 32 starting assignments this season with the 2008 NL Cy Young winner recording a 248 ERA, second-best in the NL. His 261 strikeouts led the Senior Circuit, the second straight season he's been the National League K King.
For some reason he still reminds me of Cameron (Alan Ruck) from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Angels re-sign Abreu to two-year deal
Any pain Bobby Abreu might have felt watching his former Yankee teammates celebrate their World Series title was tempered at least somewhat by his new contract to keep him in sunny LA.
The 35-year old outfielder signed a two year, $19 million contract with the Angels on the heels of his seventh consecutive 100 RBI season. After spending the past few seasons with the Yankees, the 14-year veteran signed with Los Angeles in the offseason only to see his new mates fall to New York in the ALCS.
A career .299 hitter, Abreu passed the 2,000 career hit mark this past season when he hit 15 homers, drove in 103 and stole 30 bases for the Angels who were second in scoring in the majors, once again behind New York.
The Red Sox and their Florida pipeline
Boston dealt a couple of pitchers to the Florida Marlins for outfielder Jeremy Hermida, an interesting move that should be the start of an offseason ripe with a few big moves by the Red Sox.
Hermida, 25, was the 11th overall selection in the 2002 draft by the Marlins and this is one of those "maybe he'll reach his full potential with us" moves. Last winter, Boston GM Theo Epstein made a "maybe we'll catch lightning in a bottle" move when he acquired Rocco Baldelli with a one-year, fairly low-cost, low-risk free agent deal.
The fallout from this means Baldelli is gone, a very obvious decision there. And it could mean the club tries to move J.D. Drew, with the eating-of-the-silly-contract part of that move if it's made.
Hermida played right field mostly over the course of five seasons with the Marlins, Drew's primary position. Hermida's best year in Florida came in 2007 when he established 'triple crown career highs' in homers (18), RBI (63) and average (.296).
The two pitchers going from the Red Sox to the Marlins are both lefthanders, minor leaguer Jose Alvarez and Hunter Jones who pitched out of the Boston pen 11 times in 2009 with a 9.24 ERA.
Free agent spotlight: Jason Bay
Staying in Boston, the team that could be the primary player in where several big free agents land eventually. That includes their own Jason Bay.
After exactly 200 games in a Red Sox uniform, and 719 in the Pirates' Gold and Black, Bay is arguably this winter's top free agent among position players. The British Columbia native slugged 36 homers and drove home 119 runs in his first full season playing left for Boston and has been a favorite of Sox Nation since his arrival midway through the 2008 schedule.
Acquiring Hermida gives the Red Sox some leverage in the talks now, and all reports are Bay is very happy being in Boston with manager Terry Francona. Epstein's offseason decisions are complicated by trying to sign Josh Beckett (22-10. 3.86) to a contract extension.
The Mets and Giants are rumored to be ready to beat any offer the Red Sox might make Bay, but my guess is he re-signs to play the Green Monster, getting a four-year, $65 million deal with a nice fifth year parachute.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com and of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
