More photos » by Tom Mihalek - AP

WOE IS ME I MIGHT NOT GET $140M

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Ok, that's somewhat of a misnomer. Teams have expressed interest in Matt Holliday. For the bigger market teams, he seems to be a perpetual option. The Mets are still interested, but keep balking at the price - or do they? They've been linked to one of Bay, Holliday, or Lackey, as they want to make at least that much of a splash, but I haven't heard anything hard yet.

Holliday's agent, Scott Boras, has tried to link Holliday to the happiness of Albert Pujols, insinuating that it'd make the whole "lifetime extension" concept a bit easier to sign. The major opponents hate the idea of 1/3 of the payroll tied up between 2 players, but I frankly don't see how StL can seriously be a force in the NLC without the likes of Holliday or Bay.

In other news the Rays have landed Rafael Soriano, but they are still needing to negotiate a contract. Atlanta receives reliever Jesse Chavez in exchange.

The Yankees are currently negotiating with Johnny Damon.

The Mets are going to make 2 offers before they leave today: Bengie Molina, and ???? - according to Steve Popper from Amazin' Stories.

The Red Sox are concerned that Jason Bay may not be durable enough to warrant a big contract.

Anything else exciting going on? Post it in here!

Everyone who has fancy career interests, an interesting college degree, opinions on whether Indiana Jones or Han Solo was more badass, feels like the guy they got to play James Spader's character in Stargate SG-1 was a bit too much of a sissy (or maybe not sissy enough), or can list 3 reasons why NCC-1701-E was superior to NCC-1701-D, they should discuss said topics in here.

For the record, I hate myself for being able to put those numbers down from memory.

Point is, let's attempt to keep the RockPiles and feature articles on topic, and keep discussion about whatever TV shows, movies, books, generals, and other nerdly pursuits out of there and growing and blossoming in here.

via content.ytmnd.com

More photos » by Hector Mata - AP

Boom, Baby - the Yankees are just disgusting anymore.

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If you all missed it, yesterday's Winter Meetings thread was absolutely ridiculous.

Rumors were milled. Topics were lost. Games were played. Pandas were exploited.

And the Stove was Hot.

As Rox Girl points out in today's RockPile, there was a big 'ol trade yesterday.

The Yankees gave: P Ian Kennedy, OF Austin Jackson, P Phil Coke.

The Yankees got: CF Curtis Granderson

The Tigers gave: P Edwin Jackson, CF Curtis Granderson

The Tigers got: P Max Scherzer, P Daniel Schlereth, OF Austin Jackson, P Phil Coke

The Diamondbacks gave: P Max Scherzer, P Daniel Schlereth

The Diamondbacks got: hosed GOOD VALUE COMPLETELY SCREWED (dammit Rox Girl give me back my keybelsrajri rahahfgghghhhhh) P Edwin Jackson, P Ian Kennedy.

The Tigers are planning on making Austin Jackson their opening day CF to replace Granderson.

And there's been a bunch of news today already. Andy Pettitte is making news by signing a 1-year, $11.75M contract with the Yankees.

Speaking of the Yankees, they're still pushing for Roy Halladay, with Jesus Montero being the centerpiece of the deal. They must really be banking on Joe Mauer becoming a FA, while Toronto sees Montero as being a 1B primarily. I've heard this isn't a terrible assessment, but it means that the Yankees will have to send along Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain.

Apparently the Mets are thinking that dealing 2B Luis Castillo is suddenly unlikely to be moved. They're also looking at John Lackey.

On the other side of the country, the Mariners and Felix Hernandez seem to be miles apart in contract extension. Felix wants 6 years, $100M, and the M's want 4 years, 2 options, and less than half of that figure. Future Red Sox #2 FELIX HERNANDEZ WOOOOOO!

Meanwhile, in terms of stuff relevant to us, the Rockies and Yorvit Torrealba are talking turkey on a 2 year deal. I haven't seen this finalized yet.

All your rumors can go here.

More photos » by Paul Connors - AP

I see that contract you're toying with, Omar...come on, just add another year...you can do it...

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Good freaking freezing morning, sports fans, it's time we gather around the hot stove, and I don't just mean to talk baseball, my toes are about to fall off. Thank God for my Columbia parka.

Let's kick things off with a name to warm us up: Randy Wolf.

The biggest teams interested in him are the Brewers (who are desperate for pitching) and the Mets (who are just desperate). The Brewers' camp is making it sound as if the deal is all but done, however Mets insiders are saying he's still available and they're still pursuing him.

But interestingly enough, the Brewers and Mets are intertwined otherwise, because if the Mets land Wolf, I'm seeing stirrings of a Corey Hart for John Maine trade - although this may just be lobby gossip, similar to the Edwin Jackson to the Mets rumors from yesterday. But if the Mets DON'T land Wolf (or another pitcher), then parting with any arms, especially young ones, is somewhat foolish.

Which brings us to Kevin Millwood. 35, coming off of a hot season, career history of being terrible, average at best. Something just screams Mets there.

Joel Sherman is suggesting that the Braves are looking to trade off Rafael Soriano, who just accepted arbitration. The Yankees are interested, but probably won't send much value, as the Braves have roughly zero leverage. Quick, Frank, get Jim Hendry on the phone before it's too late!

So before we start throwing more logs onto the fire, let's revisit one trade that didn't happen yesterday (but I guess still might, you know how these things work: nobody knows). The Yankees would receive Curtis Granderson as well as 2 prospects from the Diamondbacks(because their system isn't depleted or anything), Detroit would receive Max Scherzer from Arizona, along with Austin Jackson, Phil Coke, and Michael Dunn from the Yankees, and Arizona would receive Edwin Jackson from Detroit and Ian Kennedy from the Bronx. Frankly, AZ is getting hosed in that regard, because I see it as them giving up FAR more than they're receiving. And seriously, Yankees, quit being the Yankees and just call up Austin Jackson and let him cut his teeth in the majors already instead of just selling all of your prospects. Oh wait, you're the Yankees.

More photos » by M. Spencer Green - AP

I'M THEO EPSTEIN I'M SO GREAT I could be great too if I could just throw money at Julio Lugo and make him disappear.

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Alright guys, sorry this is late, but let's dump as many trade rumors as possible in here.

Brian Bruney was traded to the Nats, and that's superduper exciting, I won't lie (lying).

Brett Myers is getting interest from the Rangers and Astros and other teams, but his 2-year requests are being met with balking.

Speaking of the 'Stros, they're not going to be able to crack the pocketbook much. Be thankful, Astros fans, because you know that they'd just dump a lot of money on a one-dimensional player who really wouldn't be worth all that much.

Adrian Beltre is set to decline arbitration, so enjoy the draft picks, Mariners' fans!

Keep posting links and rumors in here.

More photos » by Isaac Brekken - AP

Project This.

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Beginning of the season, Counting Rocks broke down each member of the rotation in hopes of making a prediction on the season everyone would have. While we'll cover the rest of the rotation/team later on down the line, I want to take a look at how Jason Marquis performed against the projections, as coming into the season, he was effectively the most boring starter we had, and everyone had a good idea of what we were going to get out of him. Innings eaten, unimpressive ERA, generally blah.

Boy, he sure made us look silly, didn't he? I mean, not to the extent where we're extending him, obviously, but he certainly outperformed my expectations as well as most everyone else's.

Jason Marquis

#21 / Pitcher / Colorado Rockies

Height: 6-1

Weight: 210

Bats: L

Throws: R

Born: Aug 21, 1978

 

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jason Marquis	15-13	38	33	2	1	0	0	216.0	218	104	97	15	80	115	4.04	1.38

So now that we've seen Marquis' season, let's move past the jump and take a look at what the projections all had to say about him.

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More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

"Oh, I can get you out this way as well? Man, I should do this more often!" And he did. More than anyone else in the NL.

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Oh yes, we're discussing fielding. That can of worms that doesn't seem to get measured right, credited appropriately, or appreciated properly as far as building a team goes. There's a lot of debate on who are the best fielders, which metric does the best job, who are the best judges, and are Gold Glove awards complete tripe, or recognition of truly, the best gloveman?

Well, none of this really applies to pitchers, so you might as well close the can. A position player has a zone they're supposed to cover or what have you, have to play balls and field them to make outs, turn complicated plays, etc etc etc. If a fielder can't field, they'd better be able to club the ball, and vice-versa. However, a pitcher's job is to pitch the ball. Being a solid fielder is somewhat of a bonus, but not really a make-or-break kind of situation, as most balls that a pitcher actually needs to properly field aren't going to fall in the gap for doubles or rattle around in the corner; that is to say that typically, the worst thing that can happen by a pitcher not getting to a ball is an infield single. Definitely not ideal, but could be much much worse. Of course, I'm excluding throwing errors, which are such a huge deal, but that's another story, and we'll touch on them later.

Back to the issue of zone ratings and such, they don't apply to pitchers. Pitchers may be the only fielder that we can actually look at the basic metrics and get an idea of how well they did.

So let's dive in.

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