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Re: The MLB Thread
All signs point to Bobby Valentine being the next manager for the Red Sox. Lots of people hate the move. While I don't love it, as a Sox fan, I don't think they could have done much better. The list of applicants wasn't exactly mouth watering. Some have suggested that Bobby V is a short term answer until a Joe Maddon or John Ferrell becomes available. I think that's getting ahead a bit. Let's see what Bobby can do with this talented group first.
One thing is for sure. If they wanted to change the culture from Terry Francona's reign, this hiring will surely do it. We'll have to see how the players respond. They didn't seem to fight for Francona's job in the end. Will they play hard for Bobby?
Ehh, personally I think it'll be a Dusty Baker type of deal. I think Bobby V will have authority, but will pretty much be on such a high-profile, high-salary type team, just like he was with the Mets.
In other words, despite his prescence -- the inmates will have the keys to the asylum. And Bobby V will be right there beside them, crazy as always.
It'll be interesting to see him back in a manager's uniform, and in such a high-profile job. He played his cards right, considering he managed all those years in Japan, and last year was offered the Marlins job TWICE, and turned it down, waiting for "something worthwhile". Short of the Yankees, nothing is bigger than the Red Sox. So he lucked up.
But Bobby V in a division that's gonna see so many visits from Buck Showalter, Joe Maddon, Joe Girardi, and Boston-alum John Farrell.... there's bound to be some fireworks. Unless this Bobby V is gonna be a kindler, gentler, tamer Bobby than year's past. But based on his Baseball Tonight prescence... he's still Bobby V.
Re: The MLB Thread
It's official: Red Sox hire Valentine to manage
by Tim Brown / Yahoo! Sports
The Boston Red Sox on Tuesday hired Bobby Valentine to be their manager, according to numerous reports, so the suits have retaken the clubhouse.
This is what happens when an organization puddles up over a month. This is what comes when an historic decade becomes grounds for gluttony.
Two months from the official end of the freefall, the GM is in Chicago, the manager is bounced, the assistant GM is in the big office and upper management is leaning in.
These are the new Red Sox, cut from consecutive third-place seasons, drawn from $330 million in payroll dollars, in hindsight more wisely used as kindling to warm a stoop on Yawkey Way.
This is the humiliation that chases the epic collapse – a manager search, and then some handwringing, and then a manager search 1B, followed by a Twitter-flood.
This is what it looks like when the adults show up, when the men who spend the money expect a return, and when the men who crave power see an opening.
You get Bobby V.
And, damn, did the Red Sox just get lucky.
He’s smart. He’s charismatic. He runs the clubhouse. He owns the top step.
Any questions?
The shame in this is that any love for Valentine will be viewed as a criticism of Terry Francona. It’s not intended as such. Francona was the best manager the Red Sox ever had, or certainly for the past century or so.
Given the events of 2011, up to and including September 2011, however, Francona himself might argue Valentine is the better man for 2012 and beyond.
The Red Sox had lost their way. They patched what they could. They bailed where they had to. And still they foundered, in the most chilling way imaginable.
This is why Bobby V made so much sense.
He’s 61, a baseball man – you could argue – for exactly that long. He’s done New York at its craziest with the Mets. He’s battled the Yankees. He’s pushed clubs into October.
And this is what he has left. Nearing the fourth quarter of a wonderful life, one spent as a uniformed phenomenon, and a tragically injured player, and a man’s man, and a leader, and an international sensation, what comes next is the Red Sox. What comes next is Boston.
The city whose fans – only seven years ago – promised they would shuffle off and die in peace, managed about three months of peacefulness. They won again three years later, and again went stubbornly into the dying-in-peace thing.
Clearly, it’s never going to happen. So, they come clean on what it is to sit in that ballpark, in the shadow of those pinstripes, front row to their own angst and insecurities and, occasionally, their peace.
That’s OK. It is now, and it is again.
Because, let me tell you, Bobby V is exactly their kind of guy. In his world, you will be with him or you will be against him, just like in their world.
Middle ground is for timid, and he has no room for timid.
The town gets Bobby V, one of the few men alive who could go breath for breath with the boys in the bleachers, the guys who love Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia, who couldn’t warm up to J.D. Drew, who wonder where the past two years went, and then who the hell was going to do something about it.
Well, they’ve got their man, a New Englander who gets them, a man who understands what it’s like to go a lifetime without winning a World Series, a man who’s still working that out.
Now, it won’t be all sunshine and Dropkick Murphys encores and Duck Tours with Bobby V.
Hiring a manager doesn’t buy you a rotation, a right fielder, a shortstop or a closer. But, in this case, it might embolden the left fielder, and put some pitchers on some treadmills, at the very least. It doesn’t dismiss 2011, but it might create a path to 2012.
That’s what the Red Sox needed. Not a young guy. Not a first-timer. Not a vanilla manager.
They needed a big boot and the passion – and the fearlessness – to swing it.
Maybe it doesn’t hit its target. Maybe the fellows above new GM Ben Cherington, those rumored to be behind the hire, should understand that Valentine doesn’t simply rule clubhouses. He rules cultures. He rules organizations.
Their play to win back their organization might have given away a little more.
But they had to. They had to push back. They had to whip the gluttony.
Plus, they had to pick somebody.
Might as well be the right guy.
Re: The MLB Thread
Lotta Cubs news today... 
I recant my statement above about the Cubs and Pujols.
It's no suprise: Cubs check in with Albert Pujols
by Tim Brown / Yahoo! Sports
Nobody can spend other people’s money quite like a baseball writer.
Well, nobody other than Fred Wilpon.
It’s what happens, maybe, when you have so little of your own.
Point is, Theo Epstein might be gaining fast.
The Chicago Cubs, long believed to be a reasonable landing place for Prince Fielder, both for what he would do to Wrigley Field and what the transaction would do to their NL Central neighbors – the Milwaukee Brewers – on Monday afternoon checked in on Albert Pujols as well.
Of course they did.
Look, if Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer had any ideas about building from within in a reasonable time frame, the restrictions on amateur bonuses in the new CBA blew that up. What the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays have done over the last several years just got a lot harder to do. General managers across the sport now believe they’ll need to build from the top down, which is bad news for operating budgets but good news for high-end free agents.
Like Fielder and Pujols.
While the Cubs in recent seasons haven’t spent with the Boston Red Sox, they’re certainly capable of it. And while the Red Sox haven’t been very good recently at evaluating those high-end free agents, I guess you don’t hire Epstein, make him your president, hire his preferred GM, and then tell him he can’t have a player, even if that player costs $200 million.
You just hope you’re not signing off on Carl Crawford or John Lackey.
Or Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Um, J.D. Drew.
Matt Clement.
Anyway, the guy did a lot more good than not good in Boston, and these are inexact pursuits.
And, as Epstein learned in Boston, if you intend to be a big market, you act like a big market. When the likes of Fielder and Pujols are available, you’re in. I’m not saying the Cubs should sign either one. I’m saying they should be in on both.
You’re in because the player is better than what you have.
You’re in because the market could collapse and the player could fall into your lap.
You’re in because being in brings knowledge, and because sitting it out is for the little guys and the Dodgers, and you don’t hire Epstein to spend your money and then stand around and watch the other guys get better.
Right?
Asked Tuesday if the Cubs honestly intended on spending for one of the superstar first basemen, Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts told the Chicago Tribune: “Like I’ve always said, there is one person responsible for making those decisions, and one person accountable for the results. So, if [Epstein] believes strongly that’s what’s in the best interests of the team, then he’s got my support.”
So, believe what you will. Consider Epstein’s motivation. Think about his history. And give it a few weeks.
Re: The MLB Thread
I would absolutely be stunned if the Cubs don't end up with one of the premiere 1B options in the Free Agency market this offseason.
The Cubs can't bellyache about how they need a regular option at 1B, beyond giving 1-2 year deals to journeymen like Carlos Pena, or a Jim Thome (who's already signed), and NOT break their backs trying to grab a Pujols or Fielder away from their main NL Central rivals.
The Cubs are also not very deep in the farm either.
Like discussed earlier, it's gonna come down to dollars and age vs. productivity.
But truely?
It's gonna come down to "the cut of his jib".
The Cubs want one of them, and frankly NEED one of them, and are one of few who can SPEND for them.
In a dream world, the Cubs sign Fielder to play 1B, and Pujols to play 3B. 
Not gonna happen though, considering they'd be committing nearly a half a billion both to those players for the next decade.
Re: The MLB Thread
Cubs sign outfielder David DeJesus
by Reuters
Nov 30 (Reuters) - The Chicago Cubs signed free agent outfielder David DeJesus to a two-year contract, the National League club said on Wednesday in the first significant move by their new chief baseball executive Theo Epstein.
The 31-year-old DeJesus, who has spent his first eight seasons with the Kansas City Royals before joining the Oakland Athletics last year, is a career.284 hitter with 71 homers and 436 career runs batted in.
Last season, DeJesus batted .240 with 10 homers and 46 RBIs in 131 games for Oakland.
The left-handed hitter has been a solid and versatile defender in his career.
DeJesus, who primarily played the corner outfield spots the past four seasons after starting his career in center field, had a 241-game errorless streak going into the 2011 season, the longest streak among major league outfielders at the time.
He was off to his best start in 2010 with a .318 batting average and an on-base mark of .384 for Kansas City before a thumb injury shut him down after the All-Star break.
(Reporting by Larry Fine, Editing by Simon Evans; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
Re: The MLB Thread
Another 4th outfielder for the Cubs.
Nothing to see here...
Cubs GM Jed Hoyer claims DeJesus is "not seen as a platoon player", and Hoyer also believes "David will bounce back in Chicago".
Lmao 
Whatever, this dude is a great fielder, but a destined 'situational' outfielder for the rest of his career.
WRITE THIS DOWN
DeJesus WILL end up being a platoon option. The Cubs will either platoon him with utility guy Jeff Baker, or more likely bring back OBP machine Reed Johnson.
And that sounds great to me. An OBP dream team, having DeJesus/Johnson split in RF. Both are amazing fielders with great hustle too.
Re: The MLB Thread
Pitching legend Greg Maddux leaves Cubs for Rangers
by AP
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP)—Greg Maddux is leaving the Chicago Cubs to join the Texas Rangers, reuniting him with his brother Mike.
The Rangers said Tuesday that Greg Maddux will become a special assistant to the general manager, the same role he held with the Cubs the last two seasons.
When asked what drew him to the Rangers, Greg Maddux responded: “Probably the majority of it was my brother.” He also said it was very attractive to work with Hall of Fame pitcher and Rangers President Nolan Ryan.
Mike Maddux has been the Rangers’ pitching coach for the last three seasons. He interviewed to become manager of the Cubs before Dale Sveum was hired this month.
Greg Maddux, a four-time Cy Young Award winner, will be an instructor at major and minor league spring training and will visit farm teams during the season.
“I like being around the game at the highest level possible,” he said. “I will be another set of eyes. I will try to use the experiences I’ve had in the game and just pass those down to the players and coaches, just try to help out any way possible.”
The brothers had first spoken about eventually working together when Greg Maddux took his job with former Cubs GM Jim Hendry, who was fired in August.
Greg Maddux said Hendry’s departure made him more open to see if working with Mike was a possibility now.
The part-time gig also allows Greg Maddux to spent time at home in Las Vegas with his 14-year-old son, helping his team and coaching younger kids.
“I missed the first 10 years of his life, I’m playing catch-up right now,” he said. “At the same time, I want to try to keep my feet wet in the game.”
Greg Maddux pitched 744 major league games from 1986-2008. He finished a 355-227 record and 3.16 ERA for the Cubs, Atlanta, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego. His Cy Young Awards came from 1992-95.
Re: The MLB Thread
I knew as soon as his brother Mike got passed over for the Cubs managerial position, this news would come down.
It's a huge loss imo. To have the greatest pitcher of his generation, leave your organization for another, even if for the opportunity to work with your brother and Nolan Ryan is a BIG loss.
Despite 3 Cy Young's, numerous division titles, 4 NL Pennants, and a World Series Championship with the Atlanta Braves, "Maddog" has by number spent far more years in the Chicago Cubs organization than any other team in his career.
"Maddux 31" hangs retired on the Wrigley Field right field flag pole in honor of his popularity with Cubs fans.
Maddux was apart of my childhood, not as a Brave, but as a Cub. When I first started watching baseball, it was Sandberg, Dawson, Grace, Dunston, Sutcliffe... and MADDUX of who I instantly bonded to.
To not have him in the Cubs organization anymore, and to have lost Sandberg from the organization last year are two HUGE voids imo.
I wish Greg the absolute best, and I hope the two of them are back very very soon.
Re: The MLB Thread
I would absolutely be stunned if the Cubs don't end up with one of the premiere 1B options in the Free Agency market this offseason.
The Cubs can't bellyache about how they need a regular option at 1B, beyond giving 1-2 year deals to journeymen like Carlos Pena, or a Jim Thome (who's already signed), and NOT break their backs trying to grab a Pujols or Fielder away from their main NL Central rivals.
The Cubs are also not very deep in the farm either.
Like discussed earlier, it's gonna come down to dollars and age vs. productivity.
But truely?
It's gonna come down to "the cut of his jib".
The Cubs want one of them, and frankly NEED one of them, and are one of few who can SPEND for them.
In a dream world, the Cubs sign Fielder to play 1B, and Pujols to play 3B.
Not gonna happen though, considering they'd be committing nearly a half a billion both to those players for the next decade.
It's probably easier to obtain Pujols as weird as that sounds. There are more suitors for Fielder and he has Boras as an agent who always gets the most money out of a contract that he can.
I think they've played it pretty well to this point on Pujols. They've let the market develop for Pujols and didn't overpay in an effort to make a splash. They know theoretically how much it should cost to land Pujols. It'll just come down to whether or not they make an offer that beats the Cards and whether or not he accepts.
Fielder will cost less but there are more teams interested and you have Boras lurking. He favors no teams as long as you have the best offer at the end of the day, Fielder will sign.
Brewers have allegedly offered 6yr and 120 million dollar deal. So Fielder is going to get at least 20 million dollars a year. The Rangers are also lurking in the weeds waiting to jump in.
You haven't mentioned this but the 2012 FA class is very poor on hitters. Josh Hamilton is the marquee guy but he'll probably resign with the Rangers. The 2012 FA class is loaded in pitching though. It makes a lot of sense for the Cubs to sign an impact hitter now and fill the pitching void next year in FA.
Re: The MLB Thread
A couple quick hits.
Jose Reyes signed with the Marlins, and supposedly they're still going after Pujols. Could that be enough incentive for him?
Manny Ramirez wants back in baseball, and his suspension has been reduced. I suppose some team will take a chance on him. Good luck there. Maybe the Marlins? Why the hell not?
