The Milwaukee Brewers have announced that they’ve hired former Mets Manager Willie Randolph as new Manager Ken Macha’s bench coach. Randolph was a candidate to take over as the Brew Crew’s skipper but ultimately Macha was the one getting the gig. For those who don’t remember Randolph played for the Brewers in 1991.

[MLB]

…With Mike Maddux taking over as the pitching coach in Texas, the Milwaukee Brewers promoted Bill Castro to the role of pitching coach. He had been the bullpen coach for the past 17 years with the Brewers. He had been the Brewers pitching coach once before, in 2002 when Dave Stewart stepped down. [Yahoo]

…Andy Pettitte wants to pitch next year, and he wants to pitch for the Yankees. But according to him they haven’t even contacted him yet, and this is even after GM Brian Cashman said that they (the Yankees) wanted Pettitte back. [USA Today]

“I let them know a few weeks ago I’d like to come back and play,” Pettitte said at Joe Torre’s annual Safe At Home Foundation dinner, which honored the 1998 World Champion Yankees. “My agent said he would call me if he had heard anything and he hasn’t heard anything.”

…According to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that the St. Louis Cardinals have offered Ryan Ludwick, Skip Schumaker and Mitchel Boggs to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for outfielder Matt Holiday. If the deal were approved the Cards would likely offer Holiday a contract extension. [Fox Sports]

…The Pittsburgh Pirates have named Perry Hill their firstbase coach. This rounds out the two coaching vacancy’s the Pirates had going into next season. [CBS]

…The Houston Astros have signed pitcher Chia-Jen Lo to a minor league deal. Lo 22, is the first player in franchise history from Taiwan. Lo is a primarily a closer and pitched for Team Taiwan in the Olympics. He’s attending the Chinese Cultural University and will be joining the team when spring training rolls around. [CBS]

…The Atlanta Braves have hired Dominic “Dom” Chiti as General Manager Frank Wren’s special assistant. Chiti had spent the last six seasons with the Texas Rangers, with the last three as their bullpen coach. Interestingly enough, it’s a home coming of sorts for Chiti who was drafted by the Braves in the second round of the ‘76 draft where he remained in the minor league system through the 1980 season. [MLB]

I’m sensing a great disturbance in the Force.

Every so often, a series of circumstances begins to cause, for a lack of better word, a feeling about a given issue. Not so much intuition but rather a set of facts that nestle into my subconscious that rattle around until something acting as a catalyst coalesces that feeling into an epiphany of sorts.

Sometimes, the feeling is bang on, other times I just misread things. To use an example, back on September 10, the Phillies were 3.5 back of the Mets but for some odd reason, I was completely unconcerned about it. I even predicted on The Mike Gill Show that the Phillies would come back to win the division.

It wasn’t a wild guess; it was just that the Mets’ Billy Wagner-less bullpen were enjoying a streak of unusual competence while the Phillies nuclear offense was sputtering. I thought that neither situation would continue and a reversal of fortunes would take place.

I enjoyed a stress-free year with the Phillies since I felt, even with the Mets acquiring Johan Santana, that it was a playoff calibre club. I wrote in March:

Unlike a lot of pundits I wasn’t willing to concede the division to the Mets due to their acquisition of Johan Santana. There is a reason they play the games—too many variables come into play when you play 162 baseball games … if Hamels can demonstrate he can log the innings expected of a No. 1 starter and Brett Myers can throw 200 innings of 120 ERA+ pitching then the East is an altogether different beast.

The Phillies were red hot down the stretch but heading into the post season I was worried about the Cubs. The Dodgers dispatched them in short order and once that occurred I had another “epiphany”: the quality of the team coupled with their recent play was going to win them the World Series. I predicted (again on The Mike Gill Show) just such an outcome after Chicago was eliminated and sure enough…

Obviously, I have been wrong on too many occasions to count as well, but lately I have been on a bit of a roll: I felt for quite a while that MLB might collude against Barry Bonds and I made the following prediction about the Jays back on September 3 as they were once again going for a six-game winning streak:

If the Jays do break through tonight–then you can bet they’ll go on a nice little tear where they’ll get to within reasonable striking distance of the wild card before again driving a stake through our hearts.

They did just that–they ran their winning streak to ten and went into a four game series at Fenway Park where they were within striking distance of the wild card and blew a late 5-3 lead in the third game that began a 3-7 skid that landed them in fourth place.

I’m not saying this to boast, but rather to point out that when something jumps from my subconscious to conscious mind it’s because something is up and recent events are what caused it to go from here to there inside the ol’ brain.

After that lengthy lead in, I’m sure (assuming you’re still awake) you’re wondering what has popped into my cuddly little head this time.

We’ll work backwards, here was the catalyst, from Sports Illustrated:

The Dodgers’ two year-offer to Manny Ramirez — believed to be for about $45 million — is very unlikely to lead to a quick deal between the sides, or perhaps any deal.

The sides are so far apart that the Blue Jays, Orioles and perhaps the Yankees and other teams likely have moved ahead of the Dodgers in terms of their chances to win the services of the mercurial superstar.

Obviously the Yankees are interested, they’re always interested, any agent with a player to peddle claims the Yankees are interested, Scott Boras would claim that the Bronx Bombers would be interested in paying top dollar for a free agent shortstop and third baseman–so that notation is easily taken with a grain of salt (although the Yankees are likely interested).

It’s the other two teams being bandied about–the Orioles? A team rebuilding the roster from the ground up that need pitching, pitching and still more pitching? The Blue Jays? The team that has J.P. Ricciardi still as GM–or he was the last time I checked; these are the stalking horses being used to jack up the price of Manny Ramirez?

Then it hit me, this offseason will likely resemble the 2003-04 market. For those of you that have forgotten, that was when Vladimir Guerrero received five years/$70 million from the Angels and Miguel Tejada was signed for six years/$72 million.

What has to be borne in mind is that lot of the suggested retail prices of free agents we’ve been reading about are from writers’ imaginations basing their guesses on last year’s marketplace and agents seeding the soil by “leaking” information to writers about what they hope to fetch for their clients–a favourite Scott Boras tactic. A Boras will generally “confide” in a writer that in conversations with unnamed team executives he has been informed that said executive would be willing to pay a Manny Ramirez/Derek Lowe/Mark Teixeira X number of dollars over X number of years.

It’s a form of subliminal advertising.

However, there are several factors at work that will affect the market–it’s one of the reasons the MLBPA will likely have a lot to say about C.C. Sabathia’s next destination; they expect a soft player mart and will likely insist Sabathia take the biggest offer to make sure the market is set sufficiently high.

Obviously, the biggest factor is the economy; the fact that Boras felt compelled to go public that the current economic crisis isn’t an issue for MLB spoke volumes. Indeed, before the credit crisis became public knowledge he was thinking four years/$100 million for Ramirez only later to say that five years/$85 million would be a good starting point for negotiations after the shekel hit the fan.

He’s downplaying it for obvious reasons.

Another factor is we had Bud Selig address the GM meetings specifically to encourage caution in off season spending: “He also talked about our economy and how troubling it’s been, and how we have to operate in a fashion that’s cognizant of that economy” according to Jimmie Lee Solomon, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner’s office.

If indeed MLB colluded against Barry Bonds, it serves as a pointed demonstration of the influence Selig enjoys. If he could get offense-starved teams to ignore the slugger then it’s not a reach that he could get teams to be fiscally conservative this offseason. The uncertain economy gives teams an excuse to just say no to exorbitant salary demands the same way that Bonds’ personality, legal issues, and potential media circus gave clubs a public excuse to ignore Bonds.

I also think that Boras is scared that he may not be able to get Ramirez the dollars he promised he could; the whole strong arming his way out of Boston and the bad press he received was because it was felt that they could cash in in a big way this offseason. If the money and years do not materialize, it could be as embarrassing a winter for Boras as last year when the A-Rod opt out fiasco blew up in his face.

Again, the spectre of Bonds looms large, if the one-dimensional slugger couldn’t get a one-year contract at any price what are the odds a team will throw 4-6 years at a slightly younger version of Bonds?

While Ramirez remains an elite slugger, his skill set is limited and his age makes teams leery of committing a lot of years to the future Hall of Famer. It’s not a stretch to state that Barry Bonds right now is a superior fielder and base runner than Manny.

Is the reason the Blue Jays and Orioles are in the running because there just isn’t the interest Boras’ envisioned? Neither team would be willing to commit the kind of years and dollars Boras is seeking for his client so why has Ramirez fallen to where those clubs are viable destinations for the enigmatic left fielder and future DH?

I think this hot stove league just got a lot more interesting.

Best Regards

John

The Red Sox Foundation’s 2008 Red Sox Hall of Fame induction was one that will be remembered for years to come.  The event, which was held at the Marriott Copley Hotel, honored George Digby Scott who served as a scout with Boston from 1944-94, RHP Wes Ferrell who pitched for the Sox from 1934-37, OF Mike Greenwell who played with Boston from 1985-96, Ed Kenny Sr. who served as an executive with the organization from 1946-91, SS Everett Scott who played from 1914-21, RHP Frank Sullivan who pitched with Boston from 1953-60,  1B Mo Vaughn who played with Boston from 1991-98 and won the AL MVP in 1995, and LHP Bill Lee, who pitched with Boston from 1969-78.

The Red Sox also honored two special moments in Red Sox history. The first moment honored was Ted Williams’ last at bat on September 28, 1960 in which the 42 year old drove Jack Fisher’s 1-1 pitch in the bottom of eighth inning into the Red Sox bullpen during Boston’s last home game of the season.  The award was accepted by Ted’s daughter, Claudia who gave a heartfelt speech proclaiming that “despite the fact that Ted didn’t tip his cap after that last home run, he always said the best fans were in Boston.”  The second moment honored was Curt Schilling’s 2004 Pitch to the World Series Victory on October 19, 2004.  This memorable performance in which Schilling pitched on a surgically repaired right ankle during game 6 of the ALCS helped Boston complete the biggest comeback in the history of professional sports.

The biggest story of the night wasn’t the award ceremony but something that happened even before the event started. During a pre-dinner meeting with press, former Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee sounded off on a number of issues including the Red Sox choice to trade Manny Ramirez, his fondness of the new ownership, his tendency to give out $20 dollar bills when drunk, and how things would have been different in 2008 if he were mayor of Boston.

Lee started off in a rant about how “this game is a game of temporary things,” and explained how “Manny was well-loved and then he would have his little fits. We would patch things up and then we would win a world championship. This year, I think, Boston just kind of got fed up with winning. That’s too bad because we could have been world champions again. He wouldn’t have hit those 6-irons into the wind against the Cubs. He would have hit them against Tampa Bay.”  Lee also talked about how he proclaimed that the “Sox wouldn’t win without Manny on WEEI, and they told me to shut up. I told them, ‘You guys don’t like to win, do you?’ Because he’s the greatest hitter I ever saw.”

Lee continued on about how he loved Manny and explained “He’s a prima donna and he pushed down a traveling secretary. Well, you pick the traveling secretary up, dust him off, apologize and you go back to work. You don’t say he was a pariah, like Curt Schilling said. He can kiss my ass.”

Lee wasn’t done there, he then went on to explain how if the Red Sox had won the series in ’75 and ’78 he would have been mayor and felt Manny would still be with the Red Sox.  Lee exclaimed, “If I had been mayor, I would have banned private vehicles in downtown Boston. We would all be walking and cross-country skiing. We would all be in better shape. And if we were all in better shape, there would be no parking and Frank McCourt wouldn’t have been able to buy the Dodgers, and Manny would have never gone to L.A.”

Lee expressed his fondness for the new ownership and stated that it was a mutual love.  Lee stated “The new Red Sox management loves me because I’m their type of guy,” The old management, I probably cost them $400 million. Me and some guys from Cambridge, we started ‘Save Fenway Park.’ The seven of us marched on the streets, and the thing grew and the mayor got involved. It grew and it grew. John Henry came in and bought the club and realized what a jewel it was.”Lee also talked about how his wife won’t allow him to visit cash machines when he’s drinking because he tends to start giving out $20 dollar bills, how Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan hate Boston, and how the first thing Barack Obama should do after taking office is go over to Afghanistan and sign a peace treaty. Lee even included a story of how back in 1975 during the peak of the desegregation riots, 4 Irishmen came to his house to kill him. He went on to explain how he handled the situation by saying “I went out drinking with them and playing darts, because they’re Irish.”  It was a great night had by all with Lee only adding to the fun.

On Friday, the San Diego Padres shored up one roster spot when they exercised the $9-million option on outfielder Brian Giles as expected. 

The 14-year veteran finished his sixth season in San Diego and hit .306 with 12 home runs and 63 RBI.  Giles finished sixth in the National League in on-base percentage (.398), eighth in the NL in batting average (.306) and eighth in the NL in times on base (260).

The two-time All-Star as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates led the Padres in doubles (40), triples (4), batting average and on-base percentage.  Giles will be 38 when the ‘09 season begins.

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Also on Friday, the Texas Rangers exercised the option on Hank Blalock.  The ‘09 option — worth $6.2 million — brings back Blalock who is expected to be the team’s DH although there is an outside shot the club trades him in the offseason.

The 28-year-old Blalock missed most of the last two seasons due to injury.  In 2007, he missed over 100 games after Blalock was diagnosed with Thoracic outlet syndrome which required surgery to remove his first rib.  In 2008, Blalock missed time due to an injured hamstring then split time at first and third base. 

Blalock played 65 games and hit .287 with 12 home runs, 38 RBI and an .846 OPS.  He played 34 games at first base, the first time in his seven years that he played the position.