Ryan Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 He's got skills. http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/rudolph.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lucia Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 What Rick Hahn's done in Chicago this winter is nothing short of amazing, considering how barren that farm system is. Eaton, Davidson, Abreu, and Garcia is a solid-looking young core on paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubbymark Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Wow at the Reed trade. At this rate, Chris Sale is probably on the market as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lucia Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 He is, but Hahn (understandably) wants a kings ransom in return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 We'll give you Rickie Weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimLivingston Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Hahn is understanding he needs to get younger and knows that closers can be made as opposed to found in the open market, and easier to find than a top 3B prospect, which has become one of the most barren positions for prospects in baseball at this point. Yes, I know you can move a SS or C there somewhat easily, but Davidson is somebody who could actually turn into the guy the Sox wanted Gordon Hayward to be so bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lucia Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Hahn is understanding he needs to get younger and knows that closers can be made as opposed to found in the open market, and easier to find than a top 3B prospect, which has become one of the most barren positions for prospects in baseball at this point. Yes, I know you can move a SS or C there somewhat easily, but Davidson is somebody who could actually turn into the guy the Sox wanted Gordon Hayward to be so bad. Gordon Beckham. Unless the (former?) Jazz player switched to baseball without telling anyone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimLivingston Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 God damn it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Fucking Hell The Yanks are likely to sign Brian Roberts I fucking forgot he was an option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LethalStriker Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 With the new posting system with a cap at 20M which is about 40 million less then the Japanese teams were getting previously and if more then 1 team bids on a player it automatically goes to the team with the lower record it's basically an unofficial draft of Japanese players. Now all of the Japanese players will be split more equally around MLB instead of them all going to the Yankees and Red Sox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 With the new posting system with a cap at 20M which is about 40 million less then the Japanese teams were getting previously and if more then 1 team bids on a player it automatically goes to the team with the lower record it's basically an unofficial draft of Japanese players. Now all of the Japanese players will be split more equally around MLB instead of them all going to the Yankees and Red Sox. That's not what they agreed on. What was agreed on was that any team that pays the posting fee is allowed to negotiate with the player thus making him a pseudo FA See the 4th bullet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Tanaka may not even be coming over to the US/Canada this season anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lucia Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 There's apparently going to be an "official" resolution on Tanaka today. He wants to come over, and the scale seems to be tipping in favor of him getting posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LethalStriker Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Paying the Japanese teams more then 20 million has always been ridiculous. It's basically like MLB and Japanese leagues are in a revenue sharing deal. They're developing the players just so 5 years from now they can sell them to the highest bidder and pay for their actual talent roster for a few years at a time. Paying 60-70 million just to be able to negotiate with a player was always ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 There's apparently going to be an "official" resolution on Tanaka today. He wants to come over, and the scale seems to be tipping in favor of him getting posted. It's tough to figure out from the varying translations I've seen of what Tanaka's feelings are on the matter. One day it seems like Rakuten will be able to convince him to stay, the next day it seems like Tanaka's heart is set on MLB because he's done all he can do in Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lucia Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 He'll end up here one way or another, but I think he's smart enough to know that in two years, his value will be a lot less than it is now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I still have concerns about his arm, but a thorough physical should sort that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Yanks signed Matt Thornton to a 2 year, $7 million deal. I don't hate it at all since it is cheaper than they would have had to shell out for Logan. Of course - you have to add in the usual "if healthy" caveat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimLivingston Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 There really shouldn't even be a posting system. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LethalStriker Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 It's not like MLB wants there to be a posting system but the alternative is these japanese players aren't allowed to be free agents until after 10 years playing for their teams over there. Maybe MLB teams need to be more proactive and sign these guys directly out of Japanese high schools before they sign any deals to play over in Japan. They wouldn't be ready to come directly to the majors like they are now but they're better off spending a few years in American minor league cities and then not having to pay millions later on just to be able to negotiate with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 It's not like MLB wants there to be a posting system but the alternative is these japanese players aren't allowed to be free agents until after 10 years playing for their teams over there. Maybe MLB teams need to be more proactive and sign these guys directly out of Japanese high schools before they sign any deals to play over in Japan. They wouldn't be ready to come directly to the majors like they are now but they're better off spending a few years in American minor league cities and then not having to pay millions later on just to be able to negotiate with them. I feel like there would be some pretty seriously hard to overcome issues with plucking a Japanese kid who's never lived away from home out of high school and dropping him into East-Nowhere Pennsylvania on a bus to West-Nowhere Pennsylvania with a bunch of coaches who speak no Japanese trying to teach him essentially from scratch. Hell, they don't even like drafting American kids out of high school. There would have to be a middle-stop somewhere where they could get from 18 to 21 learning baseball in a more comfortable and forgiving environment. Maybe they could somehow grease the wheels of some colleges to give scholarships to Japanese students? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muhammedboehm Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Can someone explain to me why with this new MLB rule about home-plate collisions, I get the point of whats the point of giving up a player for one run in May, but what if that one run is in a tied game in the bottom of the 9th of game seven of the world series? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lucia Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 They don't want players to end up like Ryan Freel, who had CTE and killed himself last year at age 36. Taking an unncessary part out of the game doesn't stop guys from running into walls or getting clipped on a check swing, but it does eliminate players from needlessly throwing flying forearms and shoulderblocks at the catcher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 It's not like MLB wants there to be a posting system but the alternative is these japanese players aren't allowed to be free agents until after 10 years playing for their teams over there. Maybe MLB teams need to be more proactive and sign these guys directly out of Japanese high schools before they sign any deals to play over in Japan. They wouldn't be ready to come directly to the majors like they are now but they're better off spending a few years in American minor league cities and then not having to pay millions later on just to be able to negotiate with them. I feel like there would be some pretty seriously hard to overcome issues with plucking a Japanese kid who's never lived away from home out of high school and dropping him into East-Nowhere Pennsylvania on a bus to West-Nowhere Pennsylvania with a bunch of coaches who speak no Japanese trying to teach him essentially from scratch. Hell, they don't even like drafting American kids out of high school. There would have to be a middle-stop somewhere where they could get from 18 to 21 learning baseball in a more comfortable and forgiving environment. Maybe they could somehow grease the wheels of some colleges to give scholarships to Japanese students? No different than drafting or signing up a bunch of kids from the Dominican when they're 16. And the Japanese kids are more likely to know some English even if, like Ichiro, they claim they don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Well, the kids from the Dominican at least have a pretty big network of players and coaches they can talk to in any franchise at any level. It will be awhile before any team would be willing to invest in that much talent (including coaches) for a few Japanese high-schoolers. It would take a certain amount of vision and planning to get an entire farm system ready enough to overcome the increase failure rate from burnout and cultural isolation or whatever. Like, people at every level if you want to have even a dozen Japanese youth prospects in your system. All for maybe getting one eventual big-leaguer out of a dozen unproven 18-year-olds. I just think the MLB clubs aren't particularly well-known for making those kind of big changes at the rookie-league through AAA levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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