jaysfan2014

Nick Cafardo's newest article: http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/01/25/who-are-best-coaches-baseball/zcpxKWtI6PQSWz1cTmNQVM/story.html 1. Here’s the way one GM handicapped the Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes: Yankees $155 million, Cubs $120 million, Diamondbacks $120 million, Dodgers $119 million, White Sox $100 million, Astros $100 million. Based on that, the Yankees heavily overpaid on Tanaka on money and years.

Buster_ESPN Buster Olney If season started today, picks from here would be: WAS, ATL, STL, LAD, SD as playoff teams in NL, TB, BOS, NYY, DET, OAK in AL. Your picks? Correct on the Red Sox and Rays, delusional on the Yankees (it's ESPN. What do you expect?), still a tough call on Detroit because of Verlander's injury and Kinsler being a downgrade over Fielder offensively, even with Nick Castellanos expected to be at 3B. Don't forget the Royals have a decent pitching staff even without Ervin Santana, and the coming arrival of Yordano Ventura. Oakland is accurate, but what about the Rangers? And don't forget, most teams, like the Jays and Orioles, aren't done yet in free agency. As of the NL, most are accurate except for San Diego.

And yet teams like the Angels and Rangers continue to throw money at their problems, yet can't beat the A's. Now if only the A's could get back to the ALCS.. Detroit keeps beating them!

Sorry to disappoint you, but as long as Peter Angelos runs the show, they're not giving huge contracts.

Agreed that the Red Sox are faves, but there are questions with Bogaerts and Bradley, and potential regression after that World Series win.

Don't sign with the Orioles. Ownership will try to weasel out of any contract because they're cheap. This time it's Tyler Colvin: Jon HeymanVerified account ‏@JonHeymanCBS after finding tyler colvin still has back issue, orioles will give him a minors deal but no majors deal. so he remains a FA Boy, if you think Rogers is bad, they look like the Steinbrenners compared to the Orioles' ownership.

The reason for the payroll difference was due to JP Riccardi being a tightwad, lower revenues and different revenue sharing at the time, and we were rebuilding. Outside of the Yankees, most team payrolls were much lower than they are now.

It should be noted the time the dollar was at $1.60 was about the time Delgado was a Jay, and the Skydome was falling apart due to the bankruptcy of the building's owners, as it's part of the reason Rogers got the Skydome so cheap.

Hey, at least we're not in Argentina or Venezuela, where their currencies are set to plunge or are plunging because of their socialist policies blowing up in their faces. Argentina just devalued this week due to decreasing reserves to defend their currency. Some of our currency decline is due to concerns about China, plus the fact the currency was overvalued at parity. As for when Godfrey screwed up with the payroll, I believe that was in the early 2000s when the US dollar surged to $1.60 against the Canadian dollar. Don't expect a return to those levels, as once the Fed starts the printing press again, currencies such as the yen, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, etc. will likely rise.

Miami and Pittsburgh are safe since they have new stadiums. Tampa and Oakland are the ones most likely to move, as neither city is budging on building a new stadium.

If only Loria hadn't bought the team and wrecked it, ruined their TV deal, and failed to get a new stadium.. baseball may still be in Montreal. And don't forget Selig rigging things so Montreal couldn't call anyone up in September due to it being too expensive. This will be Oakland and Tampa Bay in the next few years.. both need new stadiums and MLB isn't going to continue to wait around. There was a piece recently that Portland, Oregon wants to get an MLB team, along with Montreal. And both of those teams would be favorites to relocate to those two markets. Tampa's could accelerate further if the Toronto game in Montreal is a big hit..

Also, with the economic concerns in the US, there is no guarantee our currency will drop any lower than it currently is.

Most teams hedge for currency moves. So it's a non-issue. Plus bear in mind we had the league's highest payroll in 1992/1993, when the dollar was MUCH lower than it is now. The NHL on the other hand stands to lose big with a lower dollar, considering how dependent it is on Canadian teams.

Tanaka stands to lose big money in NY: http://www.atr.org/yankees-pitcher-lose-over-half-million-a8085 He would've been better off in Arizona or Chicago if he was going for the money.. New York's tax burden is quite high. It's likely part of the reason for the Yankees heavily overpaying guys like Tanaka.

Don't forget, Boston had a core of players in Pedroia, Ellsbury, Buchholz and Lester as well. They supplemented their core with mid-level free agents on short term deals like Napoli, Victorino and Drew who helped contribute to Boston's World Series win, and didn't paralyze their team with untradeable deals, like the Yankees have, with Tex, A-Rod, Sabathia, and eventually Ellsbury and McCann being untradeable assets.

That's not true. Most of the casual fans, especially in New York, picked the Yankees as World Series contenders after the Tanaka signing. Unfortunately, like the Jays of last year, the Yankees have gaping holes to be fixed, even moreso than the Jays in 2013, with holes at 2B, a decent SS (Jeter's a DH at best), 3B, and the bullpen behind David Robertson, if he can survive being the closer. Tex needs to stay healthy as well, but rumour has it his wrist is acting up already, and he may not be ready for Opening Day, as according to MLB.com’s Yankees beat writer Bryan Hoch, Teixeira is still experiencing a bit of stiffness in his surgically repaired wrist while swinging off a tee and continued strengthening exercise. Not a good sign, especially considering he's basically the cleanup hitter now with A-Rod and Cano gone. They also need Sabathia and Kuroda to rebound as well. Look, unlike Boston and Tampa, the Yankees are far from sure things. Even ESPN is calling them a 4th place team after the Tanaka signing, behind Boston, Tampa and Toronto, as Baltimore is likely a last place team as constructed presently.

Unlike 2008 though, there are no prime homegrown players on the Yankees to help save this team this time. Jeter's 40, Cano is in Seattle, Damon and Matsui are retired, Tex has chronic wrist issues, and of course A-Rod is suspended and would've been awful regardless. And McCann is nowhere close to 2009 Posada, even with the power, which is offset by a low average and injury concerns. And Nick Swisher isn't coming to help them like in 2008. Trying to compare the 2009 World Champions with the 2014 team isn't worth it. Outside of Tanaka, the Yanks are still a declining ballclub that is in danger of repeating the same mistakes of the 1981-1992 period (although 1985 was a close call, thanks to the Jays winning the division that year.) Until they commit to rebuilding their farm system, this cycle of buying free agents for diminishing returns will continue.

I may buy a PS4 for this game.

Rocco Baldelli retired in 2010 due to a rare condition called Mitochondrial Channelopathy, which is life-threatening. He is a special assistant of baseball operations for the Rays now.

As for Grady Sizemore.. this is basically dependant on Sizemore staying healthy, and pushing Bradley Jr. for the CF job, if the Red Sox feel he needs more AAA time. But considering the injuries with Sizemore, I'm not holding my breath.

We'll see what the Show 2014 brings. It's coming to PS4 BTW.

$203M+ right now after the Tanaka signing. And he'd better be a stud, or the Yanks are in trouble. With the signing, their payroll is at about $160M for 2015 and about $157M for 2016. So basically, the Yanks have a window of 3 years (or less) to win with Tanaka with the current team. No salary relief is expected until 2017, and with free agency declining and the Yanks farm a mess, it could be trouble if Tanaka ends up a bust.

Cot's started listing the Yanks luxury tax bill: https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tpQLwiiQL4kzEzLhsUqVjLQ&output=html They're at $203,197,405 as of right now, facing a tax bill of about $7M+, with still more players to sign to minimum contracts. And yes, they do have to pay the $3M of A-Rod's bonus.

Well, he's an 11th round pick. And thanks for correcting that. Let's wait and see what he does in A+ ball this year at 23. Sorry, I was looking at Baseball Reference--and I didn't notice he was already 22 going on 23. Forsythe was acquired because the Rays have injury issues with Hak-Ju Lee and Tim Beckham(knees). Their depth is very thin in the infield in the minors.

No kidding. As I mentioned, Tissenbaum was an OBP machine in A ball. Let's hope he keeps it up in high-A this year, especially considering Tampa does need a long term 2B to eventually replace Ben Zobrist, who is due to leave via free agency after this season. Forsythe can do it, but they need a longer term option.