TwistedLogic

So the majority of you want to trade a guy that has two 4+ WAR seasons in the last four years for prospects? If you guys under value the f*** out of him so much yourselves, what do you think other teams are going to want to pay? Nobody is going to pay you what Rasmus is worth. Keep him. Extend him. It worked for Bautista, it worked for Encarnacion. It worked for Escobar and Janssen. Even though it sucked s*** at first for Lind, it still ended up working out. Extensions make sense. Creating valuable assets just to sell them off for pieces that have the potential to be similar assets in the future is the kind of backwards, nonsensical s*** that gets teams in these messes in the first place. The Rays have to do that because they operate in the MLB's salvation army. The Jays are one of the biggest market teams with one of the biggest payrolls in the MLB now. I dare any one of you to answer me this: why the hell should you sign free agents on the back-end of their careers when you have players entering their primes? If Rasmus was on another team and had just posted a 4-WAR season, everybody on this f***ing board would be desperately clamouring to put together hypothetical trade packages that would make him a Jay. The proof is right there when you look at people's opinions about guys like Yan Gomes and Henderson Alvarez (no past track records but people want them back) and guys like Ubaldo Jimenez, Ervin Santana and Aaron Hill (guys that were good, bad (some, arguably s***), and then good again, just like Rasmus). Oh yeah, you want Hill and Gomes back because there's a hole at 2B? In the absence of Rasmus, having Melky, Gose and Sierra in two-thirds of your outfield is considered a f***ing hole. It's so retarded to sit here and parade about how Gomes was a loss, despite the fact that he's never proven he can repeat his success, and that a guy like Ubaldo Jimenez is a good idea to sign, despite his alarming fastball/whiff rate concerns, but then to go into another thread and talk about selling high on Rasmus and Lind. It's the same people that would have sold high on Bautista and Encarnacion because they "didn't buy it". It's just stupid and I wish AA is smarter than that.

No they would not. It's very common to agree to pre-arb deals. Look on MLBTR and you'll see hundreds of posts on their website over the years titled "(team) avoid arbitration with (player)". The Jays would have traded Arencibia to the Rangers, and the Rangers would have given him a contract that would replace his arbitration for that given year (sort of like a one-year extension if you can call it that). Up until last year I think, the Jays had a very long history of never even going into arbitration with their players because they were so efficient at working out deals with their arb-eligible players. It doesn't matter if he's due more in arbitration, because he signed with the exact team that he was already talking to prior to being non-tendered. In other words it's basically the exact same plan, procedure and result, with the only difference being that had he done this exact same deal prior to being non-tendered, the Jays would have received a player or cash for it. Yeah, he can be an egotistical douchebag and refuse that option, and let the Jays lose him for nothing (which is what happened) as a form of spite, or he can look at is as repaying (in a very small way) a team for supporting him through three years of absolutely f***ing horrendous, god-awful production, and trusting him as their starting catcher in one of their most "all-in" years in franchise history. The Jays irrationally and unjustifiably stood behind him, even to go as far as making him the opening day catcher in front of a kunckleball. The guy did nothing but s*** all over the baseball field, spit on the franchise by making an ass of himself in the public eye, and act as the self-proclaimed voice of the locker room while attracting more negative press since the Hillenbrand days. If you're the worst employee that you can possibly be and do the worst job you can possibly do, costing your employer money, time and respect in the eyes of the public, and then you get fired, no you should not be a self-entitled f***ing prick and have the audacity to put down an ultimatum like "pay me or let me walk".

Yeah and JPA leaves on the most douchebag f***ing note he could possibly leave on. Had he accepted this deal before the non-tender deadline, the Rangers have said that they would have traded for him. They were ready to make the trade with the Jays if Arencibia had accepted a new deal to avoid arbitration. He clearly didn't except, since the Jays lost a potential piece (no matter how insignificant it was) non-tendered him. That guy has hurt this organization in every possible way that is virtually possible.

What I love though is how the guy named "Cooler Heads Prevail" was probably the most uptight, angsty, depressive and self-loathing person on this website; probably one of the worst I've seen on the internet as a whole.

People drawing new conclusions based on newly acquired data that paints a totally new picture? Shocker! JPA is an above average pitch-framer, so your point is moot.

Makes me feel so f***ing warm inside to read that report. I hope it's true. Sure it helps us far more if he ends up in Seattle rather than New York, but it always feels good to see *******s lose money. I used to love Cano until this whole thing went down. This guy was a f***ing kid in the Dominican Republic. He's seen the conditions there and how desperate kids are to get out of there, how baseball is their only ticket to a life. He should be thanking his lucky stars that he had baseball roots in his own family, which no-doubt helped in his discovery, but instead they pull this s*** with the Mariners, who were essentially bidding against themselves for the sake of it. The Mariners are completely justified in being pissed off about it.

Is this a fact or speculation? I've heard the rumors but I haven't heard "it's NYY or Japan, end of discussion" It's a fact. It's why the Yankees got Kuroda so cheaply last offseason. He also doesn't want a multi-year deal (and didn't want one last offseason), since he'll be undecided again next year about returning to the Yankees or leaving for Japan. The Yankees are offering $15-16M. I'm sure many teams are interested in the 2/30 or 1/21 range, but it won't matter. That's funny because two years ago, it was a "fact" that it was either Dodgers or Japan for Kuroda. Suddenly he was in pinstripes. As long as these guys are human, anything can happen. But do I think the Jays have a shot at him? Maybe one in a thousand.

I've got a good feeling about this guy.

Saw this coming from a mile away. I always felt like I couldn't imagine him any uniform other than a Rangers one. Even when he was a Blue Jay, he just always looked like a Ranger to me. I don't know why, some players I just can't picture in any other jersey. Like Ellsbury, no matter how hard I try, I can't imagine him in Pinstripes. Seems awkward as f***. I actually think Arencibia can provide positive value in Arlington. I'm not going to say he's going to go nuts, but I could see him possibly getting his s*** together and being a 1-2 win player there, with potential for a bit more. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he came across the right coach and posted a 4 win season some day. Happy as f*** that he's gone though.

Mariners Willing To Pay Cano $230-240MM By Steve Adams [December 5, 2013 at 3:21pm CST] Robinson Cano flew to Seattle to meet with the Mariners in person today, and the team has informed him that they are willing to pay as much as $230-240MM on a 10-year contract, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com (Spanish link). It was reported yesterday that the Mariners may have topped the Yankees' offer of roughly $170MM, but if true, the reported $230-240MM offer would shatter the Yankees' highest bid. The Mariners met with Cano's representatives on Tuesday, according to multiple reports, but this appears to be the first instance of Cano traveling to Seattle to meet with club officials. Cano and agents Jay-Z of Roc Nation Sports and Brodie Van Wagenen of CAA are said to be seeking something in the neighborhood of $252MM. The Yankees reportedly will not offer Cano more than $200MM, and in the wake of that news, the offense-starved Mariners appear to have emerged as major players in the Cano sweepstakes. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/12/mariners-willing-to-pay-cano-230-240mm.html

I don't understand what you mean by "still god-awful, but not as bad as I thought". How bad did you think he was? Being the 8th worst catcher in any given season is bad enough because you're in the bottom third at your own position, being beaten by the majority of your own peers. We're talking the 9th worst single season by a catcher in 142 years of Major League history. We're not narrowing it down to the live-ball era, we're not even narrowing it down to the modern era. When you get to the point where you're literally in the bottom 0.01%, it doesn't matter what place you fall, whether it's 30th worst, 9th worst or dead last. It's just completely arbitrary to differentiate or split hairs at that point. If someone said that JP Arencibia had the worst catching season of all time, the revelation that it wasn't the absolute worst but the 9th worst makes absolutely no difference. It's "god awful", and it's bad as it can be.

He didn't go from catcher of the future to nothing in one season, he's always been garbage. He's posted less than a win in his three+ seasons in the majors. Gave up on him too soon? So you think they should have continued to play him at the major league level despite the fact that you admit yourself that he's a bad game caller and terrible defensively? Do you acknowledge that he had the 2nd worst OBP in Major league history since the year 1900? So after establishing that he's useless defensively, useless offensively, and a useless game caller, you think we should have continued to start him during our minute window of contention? Or are you suggesting we should have opted to take him to arbitration while being tight on payroll, sign him for 2-3M and pay him millions of dollars to play in the minors along with Romero and potentially pass up another asset that we could attain in that much money?

f*** this I'm going to sleep.

It's so fitting that Beede has the ugliest picture out of all the draft prospects on MLB.com. So ugly. Rowdy Tellez. Stop. Ryan Tellez sounds like a fat guy. Like Chad Jenkins sounds like a fat guy. Rowdy Tellez is his name.

No it's not. Stop it.

He sounds like a french baked-good. Stupid name. His name would be awesome if you took out the letter "Touki" and the letter "Toussaint" and put in a "Yu" and a "Darvish".

I don't want Toussaint purely because he has a really dumb name. It's why I didn't want Beede or Bickford and was nuts about Stroman, Smoral, Norris, Nola and Tellez. It's why I much prefer Garza of Yewbaldow Gimenez. It's all about the name. That's all that matters when evaluating talent. You think some chump named Chad Jenkins or Josh Collmenter or Mike Trout or Hunter Renfroe is going to cut it at the majors? f*** no. Jenkins sounds like a fat guy. Nobody wants a guy named after a fish. Might as well be Mike Fish. Now Austin Meadows? That's a winning name. That's got Hall of Fame written all over it. Like Mariano Rivera. Ma-Ri-A-No-Ri-Ve-Ra. See how it rolls off your tongue? That's a winner. I hope we use our draft pick to bring back Gustavo Chacin. Sounds like a musky, nice-smelling Mexican porn star from the 70s. Winner winner, chicken dinner. No. Stop.

Shiiiiiiiiit. I'm tired as f*** though.

I hope they draft him and offer him less than half of the slot, and then laugh in his stupid f***ing face. I'd draft him every year and offer him $50 until he gave up trying to get into baseball and say "Good. Now go rap."

Didn't MLBTR post yesterday that Hanson was available for nothing? I haven't slept all night though so I could be fabricating this completely.

I've believed it about Pujols since before he hit free agency. His size and look when he debuted, all the way to how his entire career has played out, all of it fits perfectly for a guy who is 3-4 years older than what Pujols is listed at. When you're talking about the greatest players to ever pick up a bat and glove, these guys don't start declining at the age of 28. Pujols was on a steady fall in his last three years as a Cardinal, he didn't just up and become s*** as an Angel. His decline was well-documented before he ever put on a halo, hell, even MLB Network made a small clip pointing out how every one of his significant stats had fallen drastically in his final three years before free agency.

It was actually my first instinct that you were recommending a legit band, but people also make a lot of gay jokes about Nickelback and you mentioned someone called "Pixies" so I put so I put 4 and 9 together. Will definitely check them out.

I'm not sure what that is. Sounds like a homo joke. Is that a homo joke? If it is... well... you're the homo.

I swear to god I knew someone would mention Nickelback as I was writing that post. I thought about them like five times when I was mentioning bands people hate. I like some of their older stuff. I'm not well-versed in the Nickelback-loathing though, are songs like "Burn it to the Ground" frowned upon as well?

Yeah, someone from Chicago nitpicking one of the worst stats in the history of sports to paint a prettier picture of a White Sox player. Big surprise here. Everyone involved/associated with the White Sox is either a dumb f***ing redneck, or a blind, retarded homer. Or/likely both. Konerko cost his team 2 Wins last year while Ellsbury provided his team 6 Wins. But who gives a s*** about a difference of $50-$60M value in a single season, herp derp, RBIs.