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Outfield 2007

Edgy DC Nov 07 2006 10:47 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Nov 07 2006 10:52 AM

South Korean outfielder Lee Byung-Kyu has declared himself a free agent available to talk with Major League teams.

Edgy DC Nov 07 2006 10:51 AM

There were five Lees on the WBC-winning Korean team. Byung-Kyu is allegedly a fine player, but the true prize of the team was Lee Seung-Yeop.

Centerfield Nov 08 2006 11:45 AM

Speculation from Philly is that they may offer Soriano 5 years, 80 million. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/15954717.htm I would guess that is more than what the Mets would be willing to give him.

Edgy DC Nov 08 2006 11:47 AM

I'm thinking that he'sll remain a fine player for about half of that length.

Elster88 Nov 08 2006 11:49 AM

]That's the first time the Phillies can make offers to free agents like outfielder Alfonso Soriano. The Phillies could open with an offer of $80 million over five years, and are prepared to go higher to sign whomever they consider the top free agent on the market. That number isn't even attributed an unnamed source. It's pure wild-ass speculation by the writer. I'm wondering if he got it from his rectum or reached all the way back to his small intestine. Maybe I'll write and ask.

duan Nov 10 2006 07:48 AM

JD Drew declared himself a free agent yesterday, walking away for $33 million for 3 years at the dodgers. Anyone fancy a whirl?

HahnSolo Nov 10 2006 08:49 AM

I was surprised by the Drew thing. That's an awful lot of cash to walk away from. Seems to me that Boras is terribly overrating both his client and his client's value on the open market.

Yancy Street Gang Nov 10 2006 09:01 AM

It reminds me of when Drew was drafted by the Phillies and refused to sign with them. It seems that when he decides he doesn't want to play for a particular team, he can be awfully determined not to do so.

soupcan Nov 10 2006 09:11 AM

It will be interesting to watch if J.D. Drew can get a better deal on the open market than what he walked away from. I remember those Dodger Blues fans sure didn't think much of him.

Yancy Street Gang Nov 10 2006 09:14 AM

Whoever signs him is going to be signing a jerk, I'm pretty sure. That shouldn't necessarily be the deciding factor in whether you sign him or not, but it has to be part of the equation.

Frayed Knot Nov 10 2006 09:18 AM

Interesting tactic by Drew. He's a terrific talent but there's always the injury bug. And it's not just a string of bad luck which could turn around at some point; he's got a lingering knee problem that limits his OF play and keeps him out of the lineup. There's also ... well, just something missing from his game. He's so frustratingly unagressive at times to the point where you wonder how much he cares. I don't like to throw around that charge but he's one of the few where it think it fits.

smg58 Nov 10 2006 10:09 AM

Drew and Boras are assuming it's a players' market. He's a high-OBP guy who just (finally) put a 100-RBI season under his belt. I bet he beats $11M per year. I'm not sure I'd want to be the team that makes that offer, though.

Edgy DC Nov 10 2006 12:30 PM

I think it's a pretty good (but hardly airtight) bet that somebody --- Cubs, White Sox, Red Sox, Angels -- will offer Drew more that thee years, $33 million. Part of what has led to the speculation of a sellers' market this year is that the Phils are looking to re-load. But they won't likely be very interested in Drew because of established fan antipathy toward him. The Mets are in that outfielder market hough. Saavy dude, that agent of his.

A Boy Named Seo Nov 10 2006 02:12 PM

Bill Plaschke of the LA Times on Drew's decision: ]This contract was never a good buy, so good riddance After two years of floating transparently through Chavez Ravine summers, J.D. Ghost has finally done something with passion, with strength, with heart. He quit. He ordered his agent to tell the Dodgers on Thursday that he was opting out of a contract that was undeservedly lucrative and generously long. He walked away from a stunningly guaranteed $33 million because it wasn't enough. He walked away from a team that spent two years coddling and protecting him because a supportive clubhouse wasn't enough. He walked away from a city that blindly embraced and supported him because Dodgers fans weren't enough. He did all of this only a few weeks after publicly saying he wasn't going anywhere, because his word wasn't enough. In a flourish never before seen from the softest player on the planet, J.D. Drew flat quit. The move was legal, fair, Scott Boras-brilliant, and stunningly brash. Who knew the Ghost had it in him? "He wants out. He can have out," said Ned Colletti, Dodgers general manager. "If he's moving on, we're moving on." Boras, Drew's agent, was surprised at Colletti's anger, saying this was just business. "I never said anything like that when he didn't exercise the option on Eric Gagne, it works both ways," Boras said. I'll confess, I'm having a hard time writing this while doing a butter-churn dance, high-fiving strangers and digging up Christmas music. Losing J.D. Drew is the best thing to happen to the Dodgers since they lost Milton Bradley. His disappearing act was as disruptive as Bradley's disturbances. Keeping him in the lineup was as difficult as keeping Bradley out of trouble. Sure, he led the team with 100 runs batted in last season, but do you remember more than a handful of them? In two years he averaged 109 games, 18 homers, 68 RBIs and dozens of funny looks from teammates who never quite understood. He missed games with strange pains and hidden soreness. He missed games simply because the manager didn't want to push him. Never once did he express anger that he wasn't in the lineup, even in the final week of this season's playoff push. Never once, it seemed, did he fight to get on the field. The Dodgers will not miss a presence they never had, a power they never felt. They can take the $33 million that he just dropped in their pockets — $11 million annually — and use it to get stronger and tougher and better. A couple of days from now, Colletti will realize that giving up the Ghost is the best thing that could have happened. But he's angry now because the Dodgers did back flips to keep this guy happy. He's angry because the Dodgers were caught by surprise. He's angry because if he had known this earlier, he could have planned better for an off-season that will now be as nuts as last winter. "You don't just go to the Rotisserie room basement and pull another guy off the table," Colletti said. So the question remains, why did he leave? He didn't return The Times' phone calls Thursday night, so we'll have to guess. Everyone, including Drew, thought he was happy here. Late in the season, he told the Orange County Register's Bill Plunkett he was staying. "At some point, you make those commitments, and you stick to them," he told Plunkett. Colletti referred to that story with a sigh. "I'm surprised how it came down," he said. "Everything that we had heard … indicated that the player loved being here." Boras publicly agreed with that. "There's no question he was happy in L.A.," he said. So was it all about the money? Considering Drew instantly becomes the third-most attractive free-agent outfielder for teams that will gladly ignore his issues, much of it is. "If you have a five-tool outfielder who drove in 100 runs in a rather weak center-field free agency market, that matters," Boras said. But apparently it was also about the warm fuzzies. Insiders are saying that Drew truly did it love it here, until the season ended and he realized that not everyone in the organization loved him. He heard the rumblings that the front office was tired of the coddling. He grew weary of media that kept applying the heat. Drew is the sort of player who hates the hassles that come with being a star. He wanted to go somewhere and do what he does best — disappear. By the end of the season, he apparently realized that the longer he was here, the more impossible this disappearing act would become. Increasingly, the Dodgers weren't afraid of no Ghost. So Drew climbed on Boras' back and took the leap, while Colletti rubbed his eyes in shock that such a mild player could act so maddeningly. In the end, there's no reason for anger by anyone. Drew was just exercising his rights. Boras is just doing his job. The Dodgers eventually will get what they want. None of this was illegal or unethical. If you want to be upset, be upset at former general manager Paul DePodesta for giving Drew such a misguided quit clause in the first place. On second thought, give DePodesta a standing ovation. The Dodgers have finally rid themselves of … what's his name again? Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.

OlerudOwned Nov 10 2006 04:01 PM

Bill Plaschke is a professional writer. Bill writes about sports. He's a columnist. He also cannot write a paragraph with more than one sentence. What's up with that, Bill? Also, he never researches his articles. He's kind of a smug asshole, too.

Edgy DC Nov 10 2006 04:19 PM

]Sure, he led the team with 100 runs batted in last season, but do you remember more than a handful of them? I dislike this sort of reasoning.

metirish Nov 13 2006 01:08 PM

] There were five Lees on the WBC-winning Korean team. Byung-Kyu is allegedly a fine player, but the true prize of the team was Lee Seung-Yeop. Yeop signed with the Yomiuri Giants November 5th,650 million yen per year...about $5.6 Million.

metirish Dec 06 2006 11:06 AM

Sorry,I'm a cutting and pasting machine today... ] And then there's this: Manager Willie Randolph suggested yesterday that Shawn Green, despite the $6.5 million he is owed next season, should not be considered a lock in rightfield. Green is the front-runner, but after his unimpressive finish with the Mets, it doesn't hurt to have Milledge available as a fallback option. "Shawn Green is going to have to come to spring training and compete for a job," Randolph said. "It's good to have him as one of those real stable guys in our lineup, but so much can happen in spring training. Lastings, I'm still excited about him. "I thought he held himself pretty well even though he didn't get a lot of consistent playing time. [Cliff] Floyd got hurt and we wanted to kind of speed up his progression a little bit, and I thought he handled himself OK. The thing I love about him, he's young and he's enthusiastic and he's got a lot of upside, so I'm looking forward to seeing him in spring training."

Yancy Street Gang Dec 06 2006 11:11 AM

I'm glad to hear what Willie's saying about Green. Having Beltran flanked by Green and Alou seems a lot less than ideal to me.

metirish Dec 06 2006 11:14 AM

Yes,it's good to hear,and an endorsement for Milledge...

Rotblatt Dec 07 2006 09:40 AM

Here's a wacky idea: what about Bonds? Teams seem to be gunshy about signing him, which is understandable, but the dude can rake and he gets on base like no one's business. According to Baseball Prospectus, his defense in LF was suprisingly near average last year. He's alledgedly asking for $18M for 1 year with an extension based on playing time, so that's the ceiling we're currently working with. If we can get him down to, say, $15M for a year with a team option on a second, I'd take that deal in a nanosecond. Now, I know, I know--he'll upset team chemistry, he's a roider, it's something the Yankees would do, etc. etc. etc. The bottom line is, he'd be an asset to our team, and would significantly improve our chances of making it back to the playoffs, and winning once we got there. That being said, I don't know if I REALLY want him on our team, but from a business standpoint, it's hard to say no, isn't it?

Vic Sage Dec 07 2006 09:58 AM

]it's hard to say no, isn't it? well, lets see. NO! gee, that wasn't hard at all.

Yancy Street Gang Dec 07 2006 10:02 AM

Especially since the Mets are already paying Alou (who can't be traded before June 1, I think) and Green. If they were to hire Bonds, they'd have at least one very expensive reserve outfielder.

Rotblatt Dec 07 2006 10:29 AM

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Especially since the Mets are already paying Alou (who can't be traded before June 1, I think) and Green. If they were to hire Bonds, they'd have at least one very expensive reserve outfielder. True, but for how long? Alou & Bonds are both pretty much guaranteed to spend some time on the DL next year, and at this point, Green might be better used as a reserve player anyway. Bonds (482 PA) was worth 6 wins over a replacement player last year, according to Baseball Prospectus, which would have made him our third most valuable player. Alou (373 PA) was worth 3.6, and Green (575 PA) worth 1.7. Figure between 2 outfield spots, there are maybe 1400 plate appearances. If you assume those three will average around the same number of plate appearances next year, we're only "wasting" about 30 Green at bats, and we're gaining a couple wins over the course of the season. Trading Green is always a possibility, too, although I doubt we'd get much of anything for him.

cooby Dec 07 2006 10:32 AM

Bonds as a NY Met. And he thinks he's hated now.

Edgy DC Dec 07 2006 10:36 AM

It's never a bad idea to have four fulltime quality guys to cover left, right, and first. That said, not interested.

seawolf17 Dec 07 2006 10:41 AM

Rotblatt's crazy, but his points aren't bad.

metirish Dec 07 2006 10:44 AM

I wouldn't care about any baggage Bonds would bring,I want the Mets to win a WS title and having Bonds in LF would make us a better team...

Rotblatt Dec 07 2006 10:44 AM

seawolf17 wrote: Rotblatt's crazy, but his points aren't bad. Uh, thanks? Again, I'm not sure I want him on our team, but oddly enough, the dude might wind up being a bargain this year.

seawolf17 Dec 07 2006 10:45 AM

Yeah, I meant that in a nice way. My first thought was NONONONONONONONO, but then I really thought about it, and your points make a lot of sense. It could be an interesting fit.

Yancy Street Gang Dec 07 2006 10:46 AM

Edgy DC wrote: It's never a bad idea to have four fulltime quality guys to cover left, right, and first. That said, not interested. I agree with that, but it's not likely to happen with four guys making 8-figure salaries. ON EDIT: Maybe Green isn't making eight figures. I can't remember now.

metirish Dec 07 2006 10:54 AM

Mets will pay Green $6.5 million next season..