Baseball (MLB, WBC, College, etc.)

In Boston they're calling this "addition by subtraction"

Phillies sign Papelbon

NEW YORK (AP)—A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that the Philadelphia Phillies and closer Jonathan Papelbon have agreed to a $50 million, four-year contract.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because the deal had not yet been announced.

Papelbon, who turns 30 on Nov. 23, had 219 saves over seven seasons with the Boston Red Sox, including 31 this year, when he made $12 million.

Ryan Madsonfs agent and Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. were close to a $44 million, four-year deal on Monday, but Amaro told Madson agent Scott Boras the following day that team president Dave Montgomery wouldnft approve the deal.

^ Never thought the BoSox would ever let Papelbon go...

bmwracer wrote:^ Never thought the BoSox would ever let Papelbon go...

I'm not surprised. He was looking for a multi year deal and it seemed like the Sox felt his age was too much of a liability.

Jav_sol wrote:I'm not surprised. He was looking for a multi year deal and it seemed like the Sox felt his age was too much of a liability.

His age?

He's not even 30 yet... :sweat:

bmwracer wrote:
His age?

He's not even 30 yet... :sweat:

He'll be 30 come next season. Sox didn't want to pay for a 34 year old closer. Besides I don't think he wanted to be here anymore.
But the issue is that there aren't any good closers in the market. :sweat: So not sure what they'll do.

Jav_sol wrote:He'll be 30 come next season. Sox didn't want to pay for a 34 year old closer.

That hasn't hurt the Yankees... Mariano Rivera must be pushing 40.

Then again, Rivera is in a class all by himself.

Matt Kemp signs 8-Year, $160M Deal With The Dodgers

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bmwracer wrote:
That hasn't hurt the Yankees... Mariano Rivera must be pushing 40.

Then again, Rivera is in a class all by himself.

Yeah, Rivera is an exception. Given the money Papelbon is going to have to be the best closer in the NL for the next few years. :sweat:

Jav_sol wrote:Yeah, Rivera is an exception. Given the money Papelbon is going to have to be the best closer in the NL for the next few years. :sweat:

The Phils hope so... Though it seems like a lot of these big contracts are a must more times than not.

From a Los Angeles standpoint, Kevin Brown, Jason Schmidt, and Juan Uribe come to mind. :bleh:

Houston Astros To AL? MLB Forcing Astros Out Of NL: AP Source

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HOUSTON -- Major League Baseball told Houston businessman Jim Crane it would not approve his purchase of the Astros unless he agreed to move the team to the American League, The Associated Press has learned.

Crane was forced to agree to move the sale along, a person familiar with the negotiations said Wednesday on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made by MLB or the Astros. Approval of the sale could be announced as early as Thursday at a meeting of baseball executives in Milwaukee.

Crane reportedly agreed to the move in exchange for a drop in the sales price valued earlier this year at $680 million. The person who spoke to the AP could not confirm the sales price.

"We'll let baseball talk about that," current owner Drayton McLane said Wednesday night. "There were a lot of adjustments, so we'll just wait and see what they have to say (Thursday)."

The players' association believes two 15-team leagues would create a more proportionate schedule and has urged baseball to make the switch. With schedules for next season already completed, the earliest such a move could take place is 2013.

Time is running out for approval of the Astros deal: Crane has said that his offer, which was announced on May 16, expires Nov. 30.

Clayton Kershaw wins NL Cy Young Award

NEW YORK (AP)—Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers has won the NL Cy Young Award in a runaway.

Kershaw received 27 of 32 first-place votes, five seconds and two thirds for 207 points in voting by the Baseball Writersf Association of America announced Thursday.

Philadelphiafs Roy Halladay, last yearfs winner, was second with four first-place votes, 21 seconds and seven thirds for 133 points. Phillies teammate Cliff Lee was third with 90 points, followed by Arizonafs Ian Kennedy with 76 points.

With a big curveball that might be baseballfs best, Kershaw won the NLfs pitching triple crown. Pitching on a team that went 82-79, he led the league with a 2.28 ERA and 248 strikeouts and with a 21-5 record tied Kennedy for most wins.

:woot: :victory: :applaud:

^ Yay!!! :woot: :dancing: :applaud:

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Most deserved... Sandy would be proud. :victory:

MLB Playoff Changes: Wild Card Teams Added For Each League

October baseball just got a little more interesting. Major League Baseball announced on Thursday that both the American and National leagues will have an additional wild card team, creating a one-game playoff between each circuit's pair of wild card winners.

"It's an extra playoff game," Commissioner Bud Selig, per the New York Daily News. "The one criticism wefve had is that we didnft put enough on winning the division. Now we have. Now we have in a big way."

Selig noted that the new format could happen as early as 2012, but could be held off until 2013.

Talk of expanding the postseason has been going on for a few years now. In the Fall of 2010, Selig said that he was "intrigued" by the idea of making some changes. Later, he said that "if we went to 10 teams, we wouldn't be abusing anything."

Before the 2011 season was underway, Selig informed reporters that the league was moving toward expansion.

Expanding the postseason was not the only change made. MLB also approved the sale of the Houston Astros on the condition that the club will move from the NL to the AL, which would create two 15-team leagues. MLB approved the sale on Thursday, meaning baseball will have its first realignment since the Milwaukee Brewers switched from the AL to the NL after the 1997 season.

All baseball for 2011 is officially over.

Hawks shut down Dragons win Japan Series

November 20, 2011

Toshiya Sugiuchi stepped up when his team needed him most, combining with three relievers on a four-hit shutout Nov. 20 as the Softbank Hawks topped the Chunichi Dragons 3-0 in Game 7 of the Japan Series at Yahoo Dome in Fukuoka.

The win sealed the fifth Japan Series title in the history of the Hawks franchise, and the first under the Softbank banner. The Daiei Hawks won the NPB title in 2003. Since the introduction of the playoff system in 2004, Softbank has qualified for postseason play six times but had always come up short\until this year.

"I'm exhausted, but it was a great series," said Hawks skipper Koji Akiyama. "Chunichi is a great team. We were just fortunate to come out on top.

"The pitchers on both sides were good, but I think our guys were just a little better. I think we have the best staff of all 12 teams in Japan."

This series featured the respective pennant winners from each league, and it was a strange one in one respect. Game 7 marked the first game of the series that was won by the home team. The Dragons opened the series with two wins on the road before the Hawks took the next three in Nagoya. Chunichi continued the trend with a 2-1 victory in Fukuoka on Nov. 19 to set up the decisive Game 7.

Milwaukee's Ryan Braun wins NL MVP

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NEW YORK (AP) \ Milwaukee's Ryan Braun won the NL Most Valuable Player Award on Tuesday after helping lead the Brewers to their first division title in nearly 30 years.

The left fielder received 20 of 32 first-place votes and 388 points in voting announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Los Angeles center fielder Matt Kemp, who came close to winning the Triple Crown, received 10 first-place votes and finished with 332 points. Braun's teammate Prince Fielder finished third with 229 points, and Arizona's Justin Upton finished fourth with 214 points. Fielder and Upton each received one first-place vote.

St. Louis' Albert Pujols finished fifth. It was the 11th straight year the three-time MVP was in the top 10 in balloting.

NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw was 12th in the voting a day after Detroit's Justin Verlander added the AL MVP to his Cy Young.

Braun led the NL with a .597 slugging percentage and had a chance to overtake Jose Reyes for the batting title on the last day of the season but finished second with a .332 average. The four-time All-Star had 33 homers, 111 RBIs, 109 runs scored and stole 33 bases as Milwaukee won a franchise-best 96 games. His 77 extra-base hits was tops in the league.

Kemp led the NL in homers with 39 and RBIs with 126 and was third in average (.324), but played for the NL West's third-place Dodgers. He also won a Gold Glove.

The 28-year-old Braun is the first Brewers player to win the MVP award in the National League and first since Robin Yount won in 1989, when Milwaukee was in the AL East. Rollie Fingers (1981) and Yount in 1982 are the other Brewers to take home MVP honors.

Braun signed a $105 million, five-year contract extension in April, linking him to the Brewers through 2020.

The 2007 NL Rookie of the Year winner rewarded the club with his fourth straight season with more than 100 RBIs. He hit a three-run, go-ahead homer in the eighth inning on Sept. 23 to clinch the division title for Milwaukee.

Beem must be celebrating... :woot: :woot:

Royals, Jonathan Broxton agree to deal

Former Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton has reached agreement on a one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals worth a guaranteed $4 million.

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The deal, which also includes performance bonuses, is contingent on Broxton passing a physical exam Wednesday. He will be introduced in Kansas City that day.

Royals general manager Dayton Moore said Tuesday that Broxton will be used in a setup role for closer Joakim Soria, solidifying what had been one of the big leagues' youngest bullpens.

Broxton, 27, is 25-20 with a 3.19 ERA and 84 saves over seven big league seasons. He was a National League All-Star in 2009 and 2010, but made only 14 appearances for the Dodgers last season before undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in September.

Broxton was attractive to numerous clubs because of his willingness to sign a one-year deal and go back on the market as a free agent next winter. The Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers and New York Mets all actively pursued him before he decided to sign with Kansas City.

Texas envisioned Broxton as a seventh-inning option in front of Mike Adams and Joe Nathan, and Tampa Bay considered him as a potential closer alternative to Kyle Farnsworth.

Royals outfielder and fellow Georgia native Jeff Francoeur played an active role in recruiting Broxton, baseball sources said. Francoeur, Broxton and Kansas City manager Ned Yost recently went on a hunting trip together in Georgia. Broxton was born in Augusta and currently resides in Waynesboro.

source: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7293835/los-angeles-dodgers-free-agent-jonathan-broxton-reaches-deal-kansas-city-royals

niknik wrote:Beem must be celebrating... :woot: :woot:

Royals, Jonathan Broxton agree to deal

You bet! :woot: :dancing: :applaud: :woot: :dancing:

Good riddance! :usuck:

Even better that he's gone to the AL: I won't have to see his fat, worthless mug in any games the Dodgers play. :victory:

bmwracer wrote:


Even better that he's gone to the AL: I won't have to see his fat, worthless mug in any games the Dodgers play. :victory:

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

MikeNolan wrote: :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Was I being too sentimental? :twisted:

Bobby Valentine To Red Sox As Next Manager

The Boston Red Sox have picked Bobby Valentine to be their next manager and the sides were working to complete a contract, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday night.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. Several media outlets in Boston, citing anonymous sources, reported earlier in the evening that Valentine would be the team's new manager.

An announcement could come by Thursday.

"He's got it. I just spoke to him a little while ago," Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, who managed Valentine in the minors with the Los Angeles Dodgers, said in a telephone interview with the AP.

The Red Sox had no comment, spokesperson Pam Ganley said. Valentine would succeed Terry Francona, who left after eight seasons following Boston's record collapse in September.