Writings on baseball by Matt Barnard and Dan Stein.

 
As anyone who's been following the Winter Meetings is well aware: there's not much going on. So far. Every story seems to focus on the crowd surrounding Expos GM Omar Minaya, as he's been ordered by the MLB to slice about $15 million off his payroll for next season and has some very desirable talent on his roster. On espn.com's baseball frontpage (there's a link on the left), there's a caption underneath the picture of Minaya that says "Omar Minaya must slice up to $15 million off the Expos' 2003 payroll." This is something that's always bothered me, and it's probably relevant enough to address here. Doesn't the "up to" qualifier imply that he could reduce the payroll by any amount, as long as it's not more than $15 million? Which includes zero dollars, and includes one dollar...all the way up. If the caption read that he had to reduce the payroll by "at least" $15 million, then we'd have something. Anyway, it does appear that Javier Vazquez at the very least will be on the move soon, possibly to the Yankees for Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera and El Duque. I don't like this at all (I have no desire to part with Johnson, who's going to be terrific), but I'm going to wait to comment on it further until it happens. There's a ton of speculation circulating, so we'll wait and see.

Todd Zeile to the Yankees for $1.5 million
This isn't a done deal yet, but it's looking pretty likely. At this point in the career of a guy like Todd Zeile, this is a move that makes a lot of sense, particularly if Nick Johnson isn't going to be in the Bronx much longer. From the Yankee perspective, I don't really understand. They've got Ron Coomer, who presumably could be signed for less money and was just about as productive as Zeile was last year. The two guys are similar ages, and while Zeile's certainly a more established "good offensive player", I wonder if this spot couldn't be filled by someone else for considerably less money (a Jarrod Patterson, for example). Both Zeile and Coomer are declining, and while a decent year isn't out of the question for either of them, I don't know why this move is necessary. If Zeile is strictly a backup for Ventura and Giambi and does essentially what Coomer did last year (getting 150 at bats), that's alright. Either way, this seems to me to be a poor allocation of resources for team that is actively trying to pursue more expensive talent with the luxury tax already hanging over its head.

If and when we get some major developments from Nashville, there'll be more here.
posted by VZW Watcher at 1:42 PM -