Friday Stuff

Not much to report today.

Alex Anthopoulos was on Sportsnet radio or Primetime Sports or something like that yesterday, but I was busy drinking.  DJF has a quick summary of that, but there wasn't really a whole lot that was noteworthy, which explains why I'm not writing a whole lot about it myself.

I only caught two real highlights from the encounter, and they were of the rosterbation variety.  First, it sounds like he really believes in Brett Cecil with a full season of Colby Rasmus behind him in CF.  He believed that they had the worst OF defense in baseball last year before the Rasmus trade (Patterson/Davis in CF, Thames in LF), and flyball pitchers (i.e. Cecil, Morrow, FrankFrank, Rauch) can't really succeed with poor OF defense. [Sidenote- If it was the D's fault, why the eff was Cecil sent down at the start of the season?]  Improved defense should lead to improved numbers for the pitching.  That means that Cecil probably won't be relegated to the bullpen, at least not yet, and the rotation, if the season were to start today, would be Romero-Morrow-Cecil-Alvarez-Mcgowan.  Having said that, asking prices for the better free agent starters still on the market is set to drop...

Secondly, based mostly on last season, Eric Thames has the upper hand for the starting job in LF over Travis Snider, but spring training and preseason will obviously play a role in the final decision on that front.

Elsewhere, my latest piece for Nowhere Plans is up.  It's about the contrast in contracts between Ryan Madson and Jonathan Papelbon, and what led to such a contrast.  I also get a little jab at the Phillies and RAJ.  Brace yourselves for some truly mind-bending photoshops.

Clay Davenport, some guy I've never heard of, tries to find equivalents between Cuban free-agent-to-be Yoenis Cespedes' Cuban league numbers and the MLB.  Apparently the Cuban League is like high-A in the states, so raw numbers look pretty outrageous, especially for a 26-year old, but Davenport still compares Cespedes to Adam Jones of the Orioles.  I'd take Adam Jones of the Orioles.  Cespedes in playing winterball in Cuba for some insane reason, and struck out thrice in his first game last night.  I'd like to point out that a 26-year who hits .244 (even with a low babip) in his 5th year of "high-A" probably isn't worth the hype, but what do I know?  I'd also like for someone from the Jays' scouting department to kidnap this Jose Abreu character, who hit .453/.597/.986 over 200-ish AB's this past season in the same league.

"Some Thoughts on Baseball" believes that the Blue Jays are the only suitor left for Prince Fielder.  Compelling, but I don't really see it happening.  I feel like Fielder's pricetag would fall in to the zone of other teams before it fell in to the Blue Jays' zone.

The Rays have signed free agent Luke Scott to a 1 year deal with an option for next year.  The deal is worth $5MM, with a $6.5MM club option.  Scott is coming off a season-ending shoulder surgery last year, but hit 27HR's the year before, and offers a good buy-low reclamation DH/1B option for the Rays, who are replacing Johnny Damon.  Fangraphs' take on Scott's move to the Trop.

Do you have a funny-ass joke for Bruce Chen to tell to the internet?

Update-- Oh yeah, I forgot to mention.  MAD MEN COMES BACK MARCH 25TH.  SO FUCKING EXCITED.