Bavasi, Poker and Millwood
Bavasi is playing his best hand right now to land Millwood. If he signs arguably the best Free Agent pitcher on the market, it will take some heat off the FO heading into '06.
If he comes away empty, he knows the outlook is grim. There are no decent pitchers left on the market, and Bavasi has little to trade w/o creating new holes in the team.
The Mariners are the only team we have heard to have officially offered Millwood a contract- 4 years, $44 million.
We know Boras is actively shopping that deal, trying to get Millwood more than AJ Burnett received from Toronto. Boras is hoping Bavasi panics and starts adding years and dollars to his deal.
Ideally, Boras wants Bavasi to do what Tom Hicks did with Alex Rodriguez. Start bidding against phantom teams and contracts. Fortunately Bavasi is no Hicks!
Bavasi still has money to spend. Until Millwood and Boras prove another team is willing to offer more years or dollars, he is right to stand pat.
Right now there is a serious game of Poker being played between Bavasi and Boras, and it will likely have a decent impact on the M's next season. If Bavasi misses out on Millwood and burns that money on the next idiot Hargrove picks out of a hat, no telling what kind of damage will be done.
Bavasi and Boras.
Who will blink first?
Bavasi is playing his best hand right now to land Millwood. If he signs arguably the best Free Agent pitcher on the market, it will take some heat off the FO heading into '06.
If he comes away empty, he knows the outlook is grim. There are no decent pitchers left on the market, and Bavasi has little to trade w/o creating new holes in the team.
The Mariners are the only team we have heard to have officially offered Millwood a contract- 4 years, $44 million.
We know Boras is actively shopping that deal, trying to get Millwood more than AJ Burnett received from Toronto. Boras is hoping Bavasi panics and starts adding years and dollars to his deal.
Ideally, Boras wants Bavasi to do what Tom Hicks did with Alex Rodriguez. Start bidding against phantom teams and contracts. Fortunately Bavasi is no Hicks!
Bavasi still has money to spend. Until Millwood and Boras prove another team is willing to offer more years or dollars, he is right to stand pat.
Right now there is a serious game of Poker being played between Bavasi and Boras, and it will likely have a decent impact on the M's next season. If Bavasi misses out on Millwood and burns that money on the next idiot Hargrove picks out of a hat, no telling what kind of damage will be done.
Bavasi and Boras.
Who will blink first?
posted by Tom at
2:36 PM
