Great news for any selfish, unmotivated residents of the Angels’ clubhouse ; free agent 1B Shea Hillenbrand is bringing his chalkboard advice iconoclast ‘tude to Anaheim, having signed a one-year, $6.5 million deal earlier today.
Baseball Prospectus’ Will Carroll hints there’s a blockbuster-a-brewing, with Atlanta in the middle of the conjecture.
The Braves are in full dump mode, trying to get something for Andruw Jones, trying to find Jones™ replacement on the cheap, and working more on the bullpen. Leo Mazzone isn™t there to build a bullpen out of dreck anymore. So how does this all work together? Why trade a young player like Andy LaRoche if they™re trying to control the payroll? Why deal Jones right now rather than at the deadline? The team is determined to find a solid bullpen and think they can do it with a series of deals that include LaRoche, Mike Gonzalez, Andruw Jones, and several CF candidates that I™m told include Rocco Baldelli, Curtis Granderson, and Nick Markakis. The deals appear to also have some other big names like Tim Hudson, Mark Teixeira, and Dontrelle Willis on the peripher.
MLB.com’s shilltastic Mark Newman is kind enough to let us know the above love(less) seats are sale priced at a mere $999.00 through December 31. (link swiped from Hot Foot). It’s quite a deal, admittedly, but I’m holding out for the Spine-Melter 2007.
Kenny Williams has been stocking up on young, cheap bullpen arms, has young, cheap center fielders in Brian Anderson and Jerry Owens, and has been pursuing Andruw Jones for a few years. This is semi-baseless stuff, but Andruw Jones wearing the Good Guys’ colors isn’t out of the question.