Poll

Predict the 2010 MLB World Series winner

Phillies
7 (30.4%)
Reds
1 (4.3%)
Braves
0 (0%)
Giants
3 (13%)
Yankees
4 (17.4%)
Rays
0 (0%)
Twins
2 (8.7%)
Rangers
6 (26.1%)

Total Members Voted: 23

Author Topic: 2010 MLB Playoffs Discussion & Predictions  (Read 12273 times)

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Online JCA-CrystalCity

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If you were starting from scratch next year, would you take Johan or Dickey? I think the same goes for most of that list, he's not the best anymore, but he's up there year after year. It may have been the right move, but the question was whether or not most teams resign their own, I was providing a counter example. I could have used the Indians with CC and Lee or the Rangers with Teixeira.
Indians might have been a better example, but we were talking about the Twins. Indians are a bit weird though. They had terrific attendance when the Jake opened, and a high budget. Then Shapiro did the right thing and brokeup the 2002 team.  That led to some pretty good teams from 2005 on, but they ended up just a little short and the fans never came back. That crimped the cash flow enough to push them to deal the talent they had just assembled, and it looks like those latest deals were unsuccessful except for Carlos Santana and maybe Chris Perez for the utility guy (was it Mark DeRosa?).  I view Cleveland as a market limited team now due to the midwestern economy, so I still think that my basic point is true: except for market limited teams, teams that build internally have payrolls expand naturally when players hit arb years and they are retained.   Philly and Twins are great examples of that (to get back to playoff teams).  The corollary probably is that if the core misses the playoffs, then it is dealt. Maybe that explains the Indians.

You wonder if Ryan Zimmerman's career will parallel Carl Crawford's?  Crawford was re-signed once after his first two years, with the team buying out his arb years and picking up options on his first two FA years to cover 2009 and 2010.  When the last option expired, he was one of the best players in baseball and essentially priced himself out of the team's budget.  Now it may seem like a long shot that the Nats will be one of the best teams in baseball for 2011-13, the last three years of Zimmerman's contract, as the Rays were with Crawford, but Zimmerman will be hitting the market after a recovery (we can hope) and, if you buy WAR, is due for maybe a bigger contract.  Do you keep Zimmerman for what you offered Tex or more, or do you do what Texas did with Tex, and pull in an Andrus, a Feliz, and Harrison, and a couple of other pieces?