Edwin Jackson to the Nationals

Edwin Jackson signed a one-year deal with the Nats today. Price unknown as of now but Twitter accounts have between $8MM and $12MM.

The Nats are becoming a decent team. Davey Johnson has built teams before (mid-80s Mets) and even though he turns 69 this year, I wouldn’t bet against him doing it again. If Strasburg and Harper develop, …

I hope they make the playoffs. Really, if just for Wang. Wang did decently in his comeback last year (4-3, 4.04). The Nats went 80-81. Harper was in the minors, Strasburg started just five games in his recovery, Werth had a bad year, Ryan Zimmerman missed 1/3 of the year, Adam LaRoche missed 100 games. I’d like to see how D.C. would react to a good baseball team. After all, Washington has only seen three teams make the postseason; the original Washington team (now the Minnesota Twins) won the WS in 1924 and lost it in 1925 and 1933.

First in war, first in peace and last in the league? Not anymore, it appears.

Update: I’m looking at Danny Knobler’s blog, and he lists Nats starters: Jackson joins a Nationals rotation that already featured young stars Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmermann, and already added Gio Gonzalez this winter. The Nationals also have John Lannan, Chien-Ming Wang and Ross Detwiler, although they could now look to trade one of them this spring.

Throw in Clippard, and Storen in the bullpen (along with just signed veteran Brad Lidge), and this could be a young team coming on. (Check out the rest of their roster… Ramos, Morse, Espinosa, Desmond…

Update II: Casey Kotchman signs with Cleveland.

Angelo Dundee dead at 90.

Not long ago, the boxing world lost Joe Frazier.

Now it has lost Angelo Dundee.

Muhammad Ali’s long-time trainer died tonight at the age of 90. I remember him for many things—telling the champ to pick it up, he was losing… there are so many memories. Dundee telling Ali (Clay then) to keep fighting and to stay away from Liston when something (liniment on Liston’s gloves? Cheating?) got into Clay’s eyes in the first fight. Clay wanted Dundee to cut the gloves to get at his eyes. Of course, things cleared up and Liston quit on his stool. There is also the memory of Dundee throwing in the towel in the Holmes fight, saying “that’s enough” when Ali’s second, Bundini Brown, wanted to continue.

I used to love boxing while I was growing up. Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Shavers, Holmes, Norton, Spinks… then Tyson… not to mention Quarry, Ellis. Not only that, I used to love watching the old fights. Dempsey, Louis, Patterson, Marciano…but today? Crapola.

In other news, this Penn Stater was happy to see a tradition continued. PSU is known for father/son combinations. The Suheys. The Pittmans. The Gumans.

I graduated with Curt Warner, the RB great, in 1983. Today, his son, a WR, committed to PSU.

T-shirts for Yankee fans

I received the following from Matthew Zuk, Owner of Roll Call Bronx, New York. (edited)

My name is Matt, …  I just launched a start-up Yankees branded tee-shirt company named Roll Call Bronx, NY. (http://www.rollcallbxny.com). …

His twitter account is (@Rollcallbxny) and facebook (facebook.com/rollcallbxny).

Be sure to check out his blog and merchandise, and check him out on Twitter and Facebook!

 

Yankees talking to Bill Hall

Personally, I’d prefer Chavez, but Chavez isn’t as versatile as Bill Hall.

But then, who is?

Reports are that the Yanks are talking to Bill Hall. Hall works out with Yankees’ hitting instructor Kevin Long, and supposedly ex-teammate CC Sabathia is stumping for Hall.

Hall does provide versatility. While Chavez, a lefty bat, can play 1B, 3B and DH, the 32 year old Hall can play all three OF positions as well as 2B, SS, 3B and of course, DH.

Heck, he even pitched a 1-2-3 inning once.

Hall doesn’t have the speed of Nunez, but does have more pop. A .248 career hitter, Hall’s 162 g. average is .248-19-68 with 10 sb. OPS+ 92. His plate patience is lacking, however, as in that 162 g. average there would be 43 walks but 149 K.

He only hit .211-2-14 for Houston and SF in 2011. OPS+ 60. A poor year. For Boston in 2010 he hit .247-18-46, OPS+ 103.

Hall’s best year was 2006, when he had 35 HR and 85 RBI for the Brewers.

In other news, Pat Burrell will retire. Burrell, 35, got two rings—with the 2008 Phils and the 2010 Giants (the Giants picked him up in midseason). He ends his career with a .253 B.A., 292 HR and an OPS+ of 116. He finished 7th in the 2005 MVP voting, 14th in 2002, and was 4th in ROY voting in 2000.  He hit 30 or more HR in a season 4x and twice topped 100 RBI. His 162 g. average was .253-29-96. He hit .230-7-21 for SF in his final season, 2011. OPS+ 113.

Update: The Yanks have apparently signed soon-to-be-30 yr. old reliever Manny Delcarmen to a minor lg. deal. Delcarmen didn’t spend any part of 2011 in the majors. He is 11-8, 3.97 in his career with Boston and Colorado, 3.97 ERA, ERA+ 118. He’ll get a look in S.T. Delcarmen had an awful AAA season in 2011, between Seattle & Texas AAA teams, 3-2, 5.59.

What’s become of Chuck Noll?

If Bill Belichick is the winning coach next Sunday, he matches Chuck Noll for the most SB victories by a head coach.

Which leads me, a Steelers fan, to wonder … what has become of Coach Noll?

Noll recently turned 80, and since his retirement after the 1991 season, hasn’t been seen or heard from much since.

From Wikipedia:

Noll still has a residence in suburban Pittsburgh. However, he spends most of his time at his home in Florida. His mobility has been limited by chronic back problems. Noll holds the ceremonial title of Administration Adviser in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ front office, but has had no real role in the team’s operations since his retirement. He spends about half the year in Pittsburgh, with his wife Marianne. They have a son named Chris who is a teacher in a private high school in Connecticut.

I don’t know who the NFL has scheduled to present the Lombardi Trophy to the winning team this year.

But a deserved presenter would be Chuck Noll.

Slow days.

So we wait for the Super Bowl. Meanwhile we have the yawn-inducing Pro Bowl and the lunacy of the X Games.

I hate the X Games. Watching someone do flips on a snowmobile isn’t for me. Hey, if you want to kill yourself…

Baseball couldn’t get here soon enough.

Do Yanks have interest in Ibanez?

There are a number of free agent DHs out there. Rumor has it that Johnny Damon desperately wants back with the Yankees. Matsui, Vlad, Derrek Lee, Fukodome, and Raul Ibanez are others. Heck, Juan Pierre is out there (not that anyone would want the all-speed, no-power Pierre as a DH).

For a time, it’s been reported that the Yanks only had $2MM left to spend…on a DH and also on another backup infielder (Eric Chavez return?). Brian Cashman was suggesting trading a pitcher (dumping A.J.’s contract, eating some $$$, thus freeing up $$$) to acquire a bat. If not A.J., then Hughes or a youngster not named Banuelos or Betances (Warren, Phelps, Mitchell).

The tide could be turning, however. Now, the best thing may just be to wait out the above, aging list and to see whose salary demands drops all the way down to the level that Cashman and the rest of the Yankees’ hierarchy feels comfortable with.

Today the N.Y. Post reports that the Yankees could have interest in Raul Ibanez. Even ESPN’s Buster Olney chimed in on Twitter:

Raul Ibanez would be a good fit for the Yankees: they’d get him cheaply, he’s got a nice swing for the park,can play RF-LF, and a great guy.

Ibanez could even play 1B. (Swisher can, too, also Chavez if the Yanks re-sign him). Ibanez has been working with hitting guru Rudy Jaramillo, and thinks that he has fixed holes in his swing that led him to hit just .245 last year (.289 OBP). In the bandbox that is CBP, Ibanez still had 20 HR and 84 RBI. But his OPS+ dropped to a 91. Of course, Yankee Stadium’s RF would be a nice target for Ibanez’ lefty swing. Also obvious is that Yankee Stadium would NOT be as generous as CBP was to Ibanez if he drove the ball the other way.

If the deal is a Kuroda-like deal, for one year only, then I can see getting Ibanez (or, for that matter, Damon or Matsui). The concern is that Ibanez turns 40 in June. Heck, he’s only 9 1/2 months younger than the just-retired Posada.

Ibanez had a lower B.A. than Damon or Matsui (I’ll leave out the righty hitting DHs, like Vlad & Lee for now), and is older than both of them. Of course, Damon as the most speed of the trio. Ibanez also had more HR and RBI than either Matsui or Damon did.

I don’t know if the Yanks are favoring one over the other or if Ca$hman is just waiting for one of the trio’s price to drop into his range so he could pounce on the first one who becomes affordable. It appears that Ibanez, a .280 hitter, could (and I’m taking his age into account) post a .265 average, 17-25 HR, and say, 75 RBI. Which would be just fine for what Ibanez probably would be in the Yankees’ lineup—the #7 hitter.

Those are numbers that Posada (.285-21-81 in 111 games in 2009, OPS+ 125) would put up in that spot in the batting order. From 1998-2007, Jorge averaged 136 g., .279-21-84…then throw in the 2009 numbers, and you can see that those are numbers very similar to what you would hope to get from Ibanez. Ibanez probably would walk a bit less than Jorge did.

For his career, Ibanez is a .280 hitter, 252 HR (same total as Bobby Murcer), with an OPS+ of 112. He was an All-Star once (2009) and drew MVP consideration twice, with Seattle in 2006 and 2008 (finishing 21st and 20th).

The question with all the available DH’s is this: how much is left in the tank?

Update: A few hours after I mentioned Juan Pierre above, he signed a minor league deal with the Phillies.

Yanks avoid arbitration with all players.

Boone Logan, the last of the arbitration-eligible players, agreed to a $1.875MM, one-year deal. The Yanks were able to settle with each of the players, in just about every case, splitting the difference roughly down the middle.

It’s nice to be able to avoid that process and the hard feelings it often creates.

In other Yankees news, the Hiroki Kuroda signing is now official, and to make room for him, the Yanks DFA’s Kevin Whelan.

Lidge to Nats

35 yr. old Brad Lidge has signed a deal with the Nationals. Lidge missed 1/2 of 2011, and went 0-2, 1.40, 1 save for the Phils. He had the “perfect” season of 2008, when he had no blown saves while going 2-0, 41 saves, 1.95 that year as the Phils won the WS. From there, he had a miserable 2009, going 0-8, 7.21, 31 saves. An ERA+ drop of 226 to 59.

Lidge was on the mound when Johnny Damon pulled off his “double steal” of 2nd and 3rd on the same play, and he then went on to lose game 4 of that 2009 WS.

Lidge is 26-31, 3.44 for his career with 223 saves. (Hou 2002-2007, Phils 2008-2011).  ERA+ 126. In the postseason, he is 2-4, 2.18 with 18 saves, second only in postseason saves to the great Mariano Rivera (42).

Keppinger, Francis sign. Phils make trade.

Utility man Jeff Keppinger, at times linked to the Yanks, signed with the Rays.

Now for the Yanks to get to business on Eric Chavez.

Jeff Francis, once the Rockies ace, signed a minor league deal with the Reds.

The Phils traded Wilson (Exxon) Valdez to the Reds for lefty pitcher Jeremy Horst. It’s a bit surprising considering the recent injuries to Utley, Polanco and Rollins.