The 15th of FOX Sports Midwest’s live chats of the 2010 season will be held throughout Friday afternoon’s Cardinals-Cubs series opener. Join in the interactive discussion with me and the FSM personalities.
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Adam Wainwright (19-11, 2.45) goes for his first-ever 20th win against Tom Gorzelanny (7-8, 3.90) as the Cards try to stave off post-season elimination.
Friday’s first pitch is scheduled at 1:20 P.M. Central with pre-game starting at 12:30.
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So the Red Sox signed Felipe Lopez. People are speculating that he might be worth a compensatory pick if signed this off-season. I certainly hope that that is not true. If he qualifies as a Type B free agent, that would have been a serious blunder on the Cardinals’ part.
I don’t see the release as a serious blunder. The odds Lopez would sign early seem very low. There is no way the Cards would offer him arbitration in fear he would accept. Therefore they aren’t missing a draft pick.
If the Cards had offered arb, and if he’d accepted, and if he’d won, could they have non-tendered?
No, the arbitrator’s decision is binding.
Er, well, I guess that a history of being timid with offering arbitration overshadows a pointless release? I see no reason why Lopez would have accepted arbitration to be a backup on the Cards. He only signed this past one year deal because the market fell out before Boras’ stall tactics ended, no?
Last year Flip was coming off a season where he hit .310, OPS .810 with 680 PA, and hadn’t gotten fired for being bad and being disruptive. And still he had trouble getting any money, or any offers at all it seems. He would probably have jumped on the chance at a guaranteed MLB contract.
Aside. I was looking through ESPN Deportes and there is a report that the Cuban government is thinking of allowing Cuban pro ballplayers to sign with MLB teams. The big sticking point seems to be they are trying to figure a way for the Cuban government to make money off of it in a way that would be allowed by U. S. laws restricting commerce with Cuba.
Spanish language.
http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/blogs/index?entryID=1138140&name=enrique_rojas
This Lopez story is a fuzzy ambiguous one.
One way of looking at is as follows. The Red Sox must be aggressive in following the compensatory value of departing players. They must have at least one analyst focusing on this issue. Lopez was pursued by the Padres as well, and their GM Hoyer came from Boston, so has learned to look at this aspect.
One unusual feature is Lopez had a mystifying collapse to his market last winter, after a good year for Arizona. Whereas Orlando Hudson got $5MM or so, Felipe had to settle for only $1MM. So if Felipe goes to arbitration this winter from a low salary $1MM and after a bad year in 2011, I would imagine he would not command much more than $1MM. He does not have 2010 results to justify a raise via arbitration.
So Boston could offer him $1.1MM in arbitration and it is plausible someone other team could offer $2MM, despite Felipe’s poor 2010, because he could bounce back and have a better 2011 and there is not a lot of middle infield talent at Felipe’s age in the free agent marketplace. If Felipe gets a better deal than the low salary he gets via arbitration, then Boston can collect a highish draft pick. Its a quirky situation that could work out well for the Red Sox and they seem smart to see its potential.
Another possibility is Felipe has off-field or attitudinal issues and that this is known around baseball, explaining why he did not get more money last winter and why the Cards have not dumped him.
If Felipe is not representing himself well as a team-mate, I can understand the Cards dumping him for morale purposes. And this can make sense to TLR, who of course has nothing to do whatsoever with scouting and signing amateurs, so could care less about foregoing a compensatory pick.
If Mo looked at this the same way as the Red Sox, he would have kept Lopez for the tiny remainder of the season, parked on the bench and in the dog house. The Cards could have offered Felipe arbitration only because he was not entitled to more than a paltry raise. This would gamble that another team would offer Lopez more than his low salary via arbitration. Then the Cards would get another high draft pick. This would require Mo holding his nose against the stench of offering Lopez arbitration, but as a cold-blooded exercise in landing an extra high draft pick, it would probably work. In due course, we will see how the Lopez case turns out for the Red Sox.
The Cards and Red Sox seem to try to exhume value from one anothers cast offs. The CArds took Suppan, Womack, Lugo, Clement, etc. The Sox tried Chris Duncan and now have inked Lopez.
In my 3rd paragraph on Felipe, “not” is a typo that should read “now.”
Yeah, I’m just annoyed because I prefer it when the Cardinals make the Red Sox look silly by ditching players too early.
Look silly *for* ditching players early.
This Lopez story is a fuzzy ambiguous one. ??????????
Tony sends FL home…….firing a shot over the Latin heads who are embarrassing him……
Mo sends a shot over Tony’s head………and Lozano……waiving FL
Padre’s need help……….they claim……….
Red Sox claim seeing a cheap draft pick hanging there???????? Maybe with a solid infield, they want a switch hitting backup who will be used as a back up. With Lopez’s numbers, an arbitration agreement or number has probably been talked about……thus the Lozano’s selection……….
Danny Lozano doesn’t have any clients with the Sox……does he? What have the RS and him been talking about? He kept his client high profile with out having to play……. looking good on all fronts
This is all about posturing for the off season. Did Mo screw up…………??? Unlikely….. he is just forwarding an agenda.
The biggest story missed is the interview with the commish………proud of taking a hold of baseball rising costs………………..?????????? say what?????????? nice “no follow up Dan”……
how about……….. “How did you do that Bud??????????
Sports media guys are not going to ask that kind of question Westy. Bud might have had to take the fifth, in an interview. The guy would end up like Jack Clark, out of a job. Oh, I mean ‘too busy’, right.
WC, funny you should mention that. I was just in the midst of writing a post about several questions I would like to have seen asked to Bud.
It seems like somebody is serious about seeing if Descalso can play third. All the more reason for Mo to get Flip off the bench.
Its too bad Descalso and Jay are both lefties. I’d like to see them at the top of the order ahead of Albert.
Hawksworth took one in the kisser. Scary. Looks like he lost some teeth. Tony will probably get suspended for coming on to the field after having been ejected.
Maybe Bud created the Great Recession to have a cover story for holding down player salaries?