{"id":12297,"date":"2011-11-06T11:08:49","date_gmt":"2011-11-06T11:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=12297"},"modified":"2011-11-09T08:39:27","modified_gmt":"2011-11-09T08:39:27","slug":"rounding-the-bases-a-busy-first-week-of-the-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=12297","title":{"rendered":"Rounding the Bases: A busy first week of the offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been just over a week since the St. Louis Cardinals won the 2011 World Series and much has happened in the intervening period.<\/p>\n

It can be difficult to keep up with all of the MLB news over the offseason.\u00c2\u00a0 This \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcRounding the Bases\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 feature aims to make the task easier by collecting and commenting on all the major stories over the winter months.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes it will be an overall round-up article; sometimes it will be a brief piece on a breaking news story: whichever seems to work best along the way.<\/p>\n

La Russa retires<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first major news story of the offseason was the somewhat surprising decision by Tony La Russa to retire mere days after leading the Cardinals to their World Series triumph.<\/p>\n

La Russa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contract was up this offseason and there had been various rumours about his future, but St. Louis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s miraculous late-season surge made many believe that he would want to carry on.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

In among the stories celebrating Sir Alex Ferguson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 25 years at the helm of Manchester United, it was stated that he may have retired had his team beaten Barcelona at Wembley in May and won another Champions League trophy.\u00c2\u00a0 Barca\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s humbling of Fergie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s team means that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never know for sure whether that was true, but there has to be an appeal when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve managed at the elite level for so long\u00c2\u00a0in going out on your own terms as a winner.<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how La Russa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hall-of-Fame managerial career has come to an end, although he made the decision back in August when the Cardinals looked like being out of contention.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps this was a case of the baseball gods taking matters into their own hands and giving him a fitting send-off.<\/p>\n

La Russa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s retirement will probably scupper my hopes of anyone creating the new IBBM pitching role<\/a> that his management in the World Series suggested he might take up.\u00c2\u00a0 The Rangers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Ron Washington showed a fondness for the intentional free-pass, so maybe he will pick up the IBBM baton.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

More managerial vacancies<\/strong><\/p>\n

If he does, he may do so without pitching coach Mike Maddux being alongside him.\u00c2\u00a0 During the MLB International broadcast of the World Series, Rick Sutcliffe stated that he thought Maddux could get a shot at taking on a managerial post this offseason.\u00c2\u00a0 La Russa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s departure has created an additional opening alongside the Red Sox\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vacancy and another option was added to the list when the new Front Office at the Chicago Cubs elbowed Mike Quade out of the ivy-covered door at Wrigley.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every manager is at the mercy of the roster he has to work with and Quade was certainly up against it with the shower he had at his disposal in Chi-town.\u00c2\u00a0 However, there was something about Quade that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t convince me that he was the man the Cubs needed.\u00c2\u00a0 From the outside I never quite felt that he had the authority to lead the club; that the players didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really see him as a Major League manager.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

That might be inaccurate \u00e2\u20ac\u201c or if it is accurate it might still be unfair on him \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but I had a feeling that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer would be looking for someone else as soon as they were on board.\u00c2\u00a0 Who that someone is will be an interesting story to follow in the near future, particularly as the rumours suggest the Cubs’ shortlist will include some of the same names that the Red Sox are considering.<\/p>\n

Confirmed changes<\/strong><\/p>\n

One vacancy that has been filled this week is in Washington, where interim manager Davey Johnson was confirmed in post on a full-time basis.\u00c2\u00a0 These are exciting times in the capital and Johnson is a good choice to take this team forward as the organization\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s young talent matures and, potentially, another big free agent comes on board this offseason.<\/p>\n

Alongside the interlinked Front Office changes in Chicago<\/a>, Boston<\/a> and San Diego<\/a>, the Los Angeles Angels appointed Jerry Dipoto<\/a> as their new General Manager. The Baltimore Orioles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 search appears to be coming to an end with Dan Duquette reportedly on the verge of becoming their new General Manager.\u00c2\u00a0 Reports suggest that a significant number of potential candidates distanced themselves from the Orioles job, which if true is a sad indictment on how far that once great organization has fallen.<\/p>\n

CC and Cashman continue in New York<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are no such problems in the Bronx.\u00c2\u00a0 As expected, Brian Cashman signed a new three-year contract to remain as the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 General Manager and CC Sabathia signed a new deal to remain with the team as their ace starting pitcher.\u00c2\u00a0 In Sabathia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, the process, if not the result, was a bit of a surprise.\u00c2\u00a0 Most people expected him to use his opt-out clause to test the free agent, before ultimately re-signing with the Yankees.<\/p>\n

Instead, Sabathia and the Yankees came to an agreement to avoid the opt-out and add another year on to the four he had remaining on his original contract.\u00c2\u00a0 That leaves him with a 5 year\/$122M contract (approximately \u00c2\u00a376.112m, or close to \u00c2\u00a3293k per week), with a $25m option for 2017 or a $5m buyout. So, CC didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly lose out financially by spurning the chance to become a free agent again.<\/p>\n

Trading starts early<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the first main trade of the offseason involved the Cleveland Indians acquiring veteran starting pitcher Derek Lowe from the Atlanta Braves.\u00c2\u00a0 The Indians have clearly been encouraged by their positive 2011 season and wanted to add some pitching depth early to get their offseason plans off to a good start.\u00c2\u00a0 Lowe showed some worrying signs that he may not have much left to offer as a starter in the Majors, so this is a gamble by the Tribe, albeit one predominantly funded by Atlanta, who will cover $10m of his $15m salary for the 2012 season.<\/p>\n

Thome returns (again)<\/strong><\/p>\n

One person who won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be with Lowe in Cleveland is Jim Thome. The veteran slugger enjoyed a late-season reunion with the Indians in 2011 and it must have encouraged him to dismiss the old adage of never going back to a former club.\u00c2\u00a0 Thome has returned to Philadelphia to be a potent bench-bat and an occasional first baseman as Ryan Howard recovers from his achilles injury.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

After La Russa ended his memorable career with a World Series this year, what chance is there that Jim Thome will end his by finally capturing a World Series ring with the Phillies in 2012?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been just over a week since the St. Louis Cardinals won the 2011 World Series and much has happened in the intervening period<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[553],"class_list":["post-12297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb-2","tag-mlb-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12297"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12316,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12297\/revisions\/12316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}