Heath Bell signs 3 year $27M deal with Marlins

his velocity has been constant and he was a bit unlucky with BABIP, IIRC. his main problem was his curveball. his command with it was off so he always either got hit off of it or couldn’t get it over for a strike. any pitcher will tell you the effectiveness of a curveball varies, sometimes wildly, from outing to outing (control, sharpness of break, opportunities to throw it, etc.).

when you’re dealing with a guy that pitches ~60 innings a year, you have to be careful about which statistics you put weight into. i think he’s got another year or two at an elite level, then he will decline. the marlins might regret it if they are stuck with him for 4 years/$36m because of the vesting option, but such is the nature of free agent signings.

I said to myself, “Okay, good.” It wasn’t a low price that the Padres could have paid. Sad to see him go, but for the price, we have others.

It’s all his fault!!!!

i think our payroll is something like $40m with the expected arbitration raises for guys like venable and headley. since the payroll is supposed to look like $50-55m next year that gives us some room to work with. depending on what happens with bartlett and hudson (and keep in mind we might actually free up some payroll there) it looks like what the club is working on is right field and bullpen. i’ve heard mixed views on whether or not the padres will pursue a veteran starter.

as for the BP i expect them to either go after someone like Lidge or perhaps two lower profile guys, i.e. one dustin moseley type and maybe another middling KT-like flyer.

right field and 2B/SS are where you’re almost certainly gonna see some movement. veteran infielders with good gloves are currently enjoying about their highest value i’ve ever seen (jamey carroll, mark ellis, and clinton barmes all got deals well over what you’d expect). since they are in such demand i expect byrnes to do everything to try to move either hudson or bartlett. the pads have been linked to furcal (kind of a lateral move i’d say, unless you’re hell bent on "anyone but odawg’). also wouldn’t be surprised if venable is packaged into any deal.

we will still have an all-star this year

Wonder who our all-star will be next year.

Latos? Maybin? Long shot-Jesus?

As long as he keeps the dali, he’s got the facial hair for closing already.

FFFFFFFUUUUUUU

I would have flipped my shit.

kid is scrappy to the max. depending on how comfortable bud feels about moving everth between 2b/ss we could have a pretty decent 3-man rotation in the middle infield and do it very cheaply as well, which frees up money elsewhere.

I am joking, but there might be some truth in it. With the caps on the draft, spending a lot of money on scouts/front offices might be one area where a small market team can try to gain some advantage over the big spenders.

to make Josh Byrnes look good

Jon Adkins pitched in four games for the Reds in 2008. He now lives a couple doors down from my friend Cody.

Then New York does have five times the media market that San Diego has, so in theory, 5 times as much payroll might be considered reasonable.

http://www.arbitron.com/home/mm001050.asp

that heath didn’t use metallica’s “for whom the bell tolls” as his entrance theme.

- the pun factor is excellent
- it starts out with bells ringing a la hell’s bells
- FUCKING METALLICA BRO