Hot Stove Baseball 2005/06 - Page 6

It definitely could have hurt the Angels by offeirng it. For one reason, while they wait on his decision, it's money they cannot spend (otherwise they may duplicate players or go over budget). Also, if they know he's becoming a free-agent unless something is going wrong, why offer it?

Think of it this way, someone has a house that you want to buy, but you only have 500K to spend. The seller wants 1 mil, and you know he won't accept your 500K offer. However, the house may have plumbing leaks or foundational problems that make it worth less than 500K (assume you don't have a right to have the house checked out). Also, other houses may come on the market that drive the value of the house below 500K. Would you still make a guaranteed 500K offer? Absolutely not, because the only reason it would be accepted by the buyer is if something is either wrong with the house or the market crashes. Either way, you're better off looking for another house to use your money on.


In other news, Sosa sounds like he's retiring. I have mixed feelings about this. I suspect he was a roid user, and he's really hurt his image the last few years, but some of my fondest baseball memories come from that McGwire/Sosa home-run race. I think he just doesn't want to play in RFK, and if anyone in a normal sized stadium offered him a decent guaranteed contract he'd take it. How do folks from Chicago feel about Sammy now that he's done?

Weaver in the Angels.

Still dont know how I feel about it.

Leaning more towards good. I think Pitching Depth is going to be a major factor if the they wanna make it to October.

I was happy when I saw it was a one year deal. Maybe it was a package deal with his brother...

Pitching depth is always crucial, and at this point I think the Angels are a much better pitching squad than hitting squad. I'm still smarting about Konerko.

I'd like to see what Bud Black could do with Weaver. Should be a good pickup and in fact i'd say i'm feeling positive about it. Weaver doesn't have stuff that will blow you away though. It'd be nice to land a solid lefthander and of course some offense (I would have liked Glaus back in red).

Out of the whole starting rotation I'd say my favorite guy to watch is Lackey.

The way the ball travels to home plate is pure art.

you make a very valid point and i do agree with you to a point but only for about the first week of the offseason. the angels had to leave money open for the potential signing of konerko but after he resigned with the sox what did they do? it seemed like they went to fucking sleep after that. they did absolutely nothing. when konerko wasn't available they could've atleast tried to somehow salvage their offseason. manny never seemed to me like a real possibility. once the offseason progressed molina's stock obviously was falling or wasn't as high as he expected it to be. the angels didn't even give him a call. he's now only making about $2 mil a year more then last year. it wouldn't have exactly broken their bank to resign one of the games better catchers. but no, they decided instead to overpay for jeff weaver who is probably going to be the 3rd or 4th starter and pitch if he's lucky to a mid 4 era. the angels needed a bat and the actually lost one. vlady can't do it all. kotchman or mcpherson has to step it up big time for them this season or they'll be seeing a lot of repeat scoring drought's like last year.

I'm actually happy Erstad's back in Center but a little weary as to how Kotchman will handle First as a starter.

I heard he threw at his kid during the father-son game

Funny stuff:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2346877