Gregg to Cubs; Swisher to Yanks

[TheWord]

Swisher for Betemit and minor leaguers.

Gregg for minor leaguer Jose Ceda


Kerry Wood won't be back in Chicago, he wants a long term deal. Not sure I would give it to him, but it would certainly be worth a look, I'm sure Shapiro will be interested.

[TonyIBI]

Glad Gregg is off the Indians radar.

My priority list as far as FA closers is #1 Hoffman and #2 Wood. I think Hoffman is the right fit, but if Wood is not ridiculously over-priced and can be signed for 2 years and an 3rd option year at $8-9M max per I may prefer him more.

[jellis]

I really like hoffman sure he had a 3.77 era in a pitchers haven but the vet presence he could bring to that pen

[Hermie13]

Yeah the big issue with Wood is how many years. 2 and an option would probably work, but 3 isn't (same with Fuentes).

Hoffman is likely gonna be playing with either us, Detroit, or Milwaukee.....who's gonna give him the most money/incentives......

[TonyIBI]

I really want Hoffman, and the more I think about his potential signing the more I like it. He wouldn't command a long contract, is proven, is not on any sort of decline that shows he is about to fall off a cliff, and he would be invaluable in helping develop some of our in-house closing candidates like Lewis, Stevens, Miller, Meloan, Sipp and others.

Get it done Shapiro.

[TheWord]

He has regressed the last three seasons.

I have to disagree when saying there is no decline that shows he's about to fall. He's 41, and gave up 8 HR in only 45 innings last season.

I think he could do good things for our younger guys in the bullpen with learning when and how to throw the changeup, but at this point I don't think he is anymore than Borowski v.2

[Hermie13]

Hoffman's WHIPs the last 3 seasons have been 0.97, 1.12, and 1.04. Not really showing many signs of regressing. Yeah gave up more HRs than you'd like to see.

That WHIP of 1.04 this year was better than Kerry Wood, K-Rod, Fuentes, and Street. Was also better than both Perez and Lewis.

[endlesssleeper]

He has regressed the last three seasons.

I have to disagree when saying there is no decline that shows he's about to fall. He's 41, and gave up 8 HR in only 45 innings last season.

I think he could do good things for our younger guys in the bullpen with learning when and how to throw the changeup, but at this point I don't think he is anymore than Borowski v.2

That is totally off, Borowski posted an absurd 5.07 era in his 45 save season and obviously even worse in his short stint this year. I'm not sure what his WHIP was, but it had to be off-the-charts bad as well. Hoffman would be a huge upgrade in terms of stuff and ability, as well as leadership and other intangibles.

[TheWord]

It might not have been the best example, but it doesn't change the fact that Hoffman is quickly becoming a shadow of his former self in terms of numbers.

Obviously I don't expect him to be in the 5's, but I don't see his numbers going up either.

[endlesssleeper]

http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/a ... p&c_id=cle

good news regarding Hoffman, hopefully it leads to something.

[jellis]

I still stand era is faulty for MR, if you want to get accurate info on MR check out there is WHIP and OPP BAA

For the record Joe Blows last year was 1.43 and .289 this year 1.92 and .333

Hoffman in the same period 1.12 and .228 and 1.04 .224

If you look Hoffman also had a lot less innings this year because he was on such a bad team just didn't get the chances and I think this caused a lot of his issues

Bullpen is all about repetition and he pitched on average 3 less games a month then he typically did and that might be enough to throw him off a bit still even with this numbers he would have easily been a very useful member of our pen and I hope they get him

[Hermie13]

I agree. I think on a better team he performs much better. Not expecting Mariano Rivera or Brad Lidge type numbers, but solid numbers that'll help this team compete.