Panther.

He wants less money than Tex and there will be fewer powerhouse teams looking for a $15 million closer than another big bat.

I’ve been on the fence about resigning K-Rod, trying to convince myself that although he is young, he has a lot of mileage and that sooner or later that will catch up with him. Do I think it is wise to give a closer (or any pticher for that matter) a 5 year deal? No I don’t. Do I think 15 million a year for a closer ties up A LOT of payroll? I do. Do I agree 100% with everything you just said? Absolutely. Frankie’s makeup cannot be discounted and the idea that Shields, Arredondo, or anyone else can just step into the closer’s role and handle it, just because Frankie did it, is folly. I don’t know how this plays out, but it will be a sad day if he is closing for someone else next year. Until then, I’m going to enjoy every moment of this season.

It proves what I have read about Frankie in interviews. Frankie said his job is not easy to strike three guys out in a row, that after awhile batters figure you out and it gets harder and harder to fool them. The change up pitch he threw today shows Frankie is evolving and adjusting his pitching to the batters and the game to stay effective. I think he will continue to develop his pitches because he realizes what it takes to be as good as he is, and not rely just on a few comfortable pitches like others do in the game.

The bottom line with Frankie is if you give him all that money you suck money out of every other contract and make it hard to keep together the team. He also hasn’t had a major injury yet, so he is basically overdue for some maintainence. If they let Teixera go rather than give him the ridiculous money he will want, it may be doable, but it will still be a gamble.

there I said it. lol

That is one big ass forehead you have LA Seitz.

Not big on tossing that kind of scratch on a relief pitcher. Still think it was a bad contract with M. Rivera, but it isn’t my $$$$.

I know one thing though if they don’t take care of people like Vlad, Figg, JR, Big John, sign HK to some sort of contract taking him out of FA play instead of fighting him in arbitration and the fact they will need another starter when Garland leaves, and a LHP out of the pen with ET being in his walk year it won’t matter because there will not be a lot of games to save.

Would the tattoo also be in Bold Face

But if he is determined to go to the highest bidder, it might be tempting to let him go with Dondo comming on. Tough one. I think if he stays, it will be because he wants to, because we will be short of the highest bid. That being said, I personally would not have a problem with a 3 or 4 year 15-16 mil a year contract. But that’s just me.

It’s ridiculous to think that the Angels wouldn’t be in the running to sign him. He’s proven his value—PAY HIM FOR IT.

...please remind me how many arm/shoulder injuries he has incurred thus far?

If we sign him, we’re increasing payroll by just $5-8 million or thereabouts. Sign Teix, and it’s a positional increase more violent even than Frankie’s delivery.

G.A.+Garland+Oliver+Quinlan = around $26 million, depending on how you measure it. I’d be perfectly happy spending that exact sum on Teix & Frankie, but I would settle for Frankie + raises/extensions, if I had some sense that we were going to stick a difference-making bat in left field to complement Kendry at 1B. If we sign Teix, though, Vladdie might be gone after ‘09. Which, depending on how real & sharp his decline is, might not be a horrible thing.

I sure do wish we’d package Izturis and a bunch of other parts (Rivera, if we still own his contract … and maybe others) for Matt Kemp. The Dodgers are retards, and we need a young thumper in left. At any rate, we know one thing for sure—we have WAAAAAYYY too many ML-ready shortstops and WAAAAAYYYY too few young outfielders. Something’s got to give.

Meanwhile, we’re favorites to win the World Series, which isn’t a bad place to be.