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Jake Peavy entertained the idea of heading into free agency without representation, which is an entertaining idea in and of itself. If Peavy's luck from the season followed him into the offseason, I could imagine him pushing for one counteroffer too many, and he'd be forced to settle for a one-year, $4.5 million contract with a club option for 2014.
Alas, we can set that notion aside. On Friday, it was announced that he hired Jeff Berry from CAA. You may know Berry from such negotiations as Mark Buehrle's four-year, $58 million deal, John Danks' five-year, $65 contract, and ... Mark Teahen's three-year extension.
The Sox have a history of working well with Berry, but from those examples above, he's not exactly Captain Sergeant Hometown Discount. I'd put Peavy's odds of re-signing with the Sox no better, no worse. And based on two of the last three deals Berry has engineered, the Sox might be better off taking a pass.
Terrerobytes
- Twins shake up coaching staff for next season | twinsbaseball.com: News
- Breaking Down the Twins' Coach Cull: Who Left? Who's Next? - Twinkie Town
The Twins are cleaning house in the coaching ranks, choosing to either not renew contracts, or reassign coaches under contract to lesser roles. Of Ron Gardenhire's staff, only pitching coach Rick Anderson remains in his current position.
Among the coaches reassigned -- Scott Ullger, who goes from bench coach to outfield instructor. But I'll always remember him as the third-base coach who appeared to step on the field to try to fake out Teahen; a move born out of desperation after realizing he waved home the final out in April of 2010. Hey, I can GIF it now!
- Royals fire hitting coach Kevin Seitzer - KansasCity.com
- Royals Fire Hitting Coach Kevin Seitzer - Royals Review
The Royals fired their longest-serving coach, hitting instructor Kevin Seitzer. The reason?
Seitzer paid a price for disappointing seasons by two of the club’s young cornerstone players, first baseman Eric Hosmer and third baseman Mike Moustakas, and a sharp decline by veteran right fielder Jeff Francoeur.
"Kevin was a tremendous hitter when he was in the big leagues," Yost said. "His philosophy was, basically, to stay to the middle of the field and to the off side. I think we’ve got a group of young power hitters who are capable of hitting homers."
It's worth noting that Francoeur's "sharp decline" put him exactly in line with his own performance from 2008 to 2010. If anything, Seitzer was screwed by Francoeur's out-of-line performance last season.
Anyway, the reaction on Royals Review is noteworthy, because here's one case where they believe the Royals fired the hitting coach to maintain the status quo.
- Terry Francona upbeat after interviewing for Indians' managerial position - MLB.com: News
- The Indians' Managerial Search - Let's Go Tribe
The Indians fired Manny Acta with a week remaining in the season and replaced him with Sandy Alomar Jr. Alomar has long been considered management material -- even during the end of his playing career -- and the Tribe put the interim tag on him for what was effectively a two-series trial run. He interviewed first, and now he's up against a guy with two World Series rings in Francona.
The storystream at Let's Go Tribe includes a blurb about Albert Belle throwing his hat in the ring. Much like he threw a baseball at a heckler.
James puts together a clip show of his favorite highlights after the All-Star break, including REDDICKDUDNMOOOOOOOOOOO
In Friday's Marlinfreude thread, there was a discussion about whether there's any benefit in hiring retreat managers. On SB Nation's budding longform page, there's this great piece by Gregory Jordan that shows how once-martinet Buck Showalter has softened as he's aged, to Baltimore's benefit.