Just a few quick things this morning. The Baseball Hall of Fame will be announcing it’s class of 2010 today at 2:00 pm ET. Waiting for the HOF election results is always fun, but must be fairly excruciating for those on the ballot.
Joe Posnanski recently wrote an article for Sports Illustrated detailing his HOF ballot. Although he once again makes the case that Andre Dawson does not belong in the Hall of Fame, the article is still worth reading. He has a unique way of looking at baseball. As I’ve said in the past, he’s a terrific writer, but I’m still trying to come to grips with his perspectives.
A couple of other articles I found interesting were Jayson Stark’s explanation of his Hall of Fame ballot and Tim Kurkjian’s defense of his vote for Andre Dawson.
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The Cardinals signed Matt Holliday to a 7-year/$119 million contract yesterday. The contract may also contain a no trade clause, but I haven’t seen that reported anywhere. I just know that was a sticking point in previous contract negotiations.
Obviously, the Cards are better with Holliday than without him, but I just don’t see him having that kind of value. In many ways, The Cards signing of Holliday mirrors the Cubs signing of Alfonso Soriano. They apparently bid against themselves and paid so much for Holliday that in a few years, the contract is going to be untradeable and the Cards are going to be stuck with him.
The real question now is, what does Holliday’s signing mean for the Cardinals long-term plans for Albert Pujols. Most reports this off season have suggested that the Cards needed to sign Holliday to show Pujols that they are serious about staying competitive. But a few writers have suggested that the Cardinals decided to spend the money on Holliday now because they already know that they aren’t going to be able to keep Pujols long-term. I don’t know which is true, but it makes for some interesting speculation.
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The Boston Red Sox announced that they will be moving Jacoby Ellsbury to left field to make room for Mike Cameron. According to the report from ESPN Boston, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein said, “It’s more to do with Cameron’s experience, and Ellsbury’s ability to play a dynamic left field. This is not necessarily a permanent arrangement, or a long-term arrangement. But we think Cameron is still an elite center fielder … and that’s the best way to go for now.”
Ellsbury’s “ability to play a dynamic left field?” What does that mean? And is calling Mike Cameron an “elite center fielder” a little over the top. He’s good, but I don’t think he’s ever been viewed as “elite”. Plus, if he ever was elite, I don’t think he’s still elite at age 37.
For his part, Ellsbury was not particularly happy about the move. Boston manager Terry Francona (who I like to call “Tito”) said, ”He (Ellsbury) was probably a little disappointed, which is what I expected, but with Cameron’s long strides and Jacoby’s quickness, we have a chance to have a real dynamic outfield here.”
There’s that “dynamic” word again. At least we know that Theo and Tito are reading the same talking points. It sounds like the entire press conference was put toogether by a PR firm rather than a baseball organization.
Anyway, the point of all of this is that chosing Cameron over Ellsbury for center field may mean that Boston is beginning the process of separating themselves from Ellsbury. That’s just conjecture on my part, but I think it’s fair to say that by most standards, Ellsbury doesn’t hit enough to be an “elite” corner outfielder. Now that he’s in left field, Boston may start looking for a player with a little more power. If they do and Ellsbury becomes expendable, I hope the Cubs are waiting in the wings to scoop him up.
