Throw Another Log on that Old Hot Stove

curtis-granderson-stealsSo far, the biggest trade was the three-way deal involving the Yankees, the Diamondbacks, and the Tigers.  New York got All Star centerfielder Curtis Granderson, enough said, they got the best player in the deal.  Arizona got starting pitchers Edwin Jackson & Ian Kennedy.  While Detroit landed centerfield prospect Austin Jackson, starting pitcher Max Scherzer, and a couple of lefties for their bullpen Phil Coke & Daniel Schlereth.

The Texas Rangers traded starter Kevin Millwood to the Orioles in exchange for reliever Chris Ray and Rule V selection Ben Snyder, the move was designed to free up money so Texas could sign free agent starter Rich Harden.  The Rangers had enough money left over to acquire thirdbaseman Mike Lowell for catching prospect Max Ramirez from the Red Sox.  Boston is interested in signing free agent thirdbaseman Adrian Beltre.

Pirates reliever Jesse Chavez has to be wondering whether it’s safe to unpack his bags, as he’s on his third team this offseason.  He was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, who just dealt him to the Atlanta Braves for reliever Rafael Soriano.  The Braves no longer needed Soriano, since bringing in Billy Wagner & Takashi Saito.

The Chicago White Sox brought in former Seattle Mariners closer J.J. Putz to replace Octavio Dotel, whom they chose not to retain.

Hot Stove Starting to Heat Up

OmarVizquelThe White Sox fired up the Hot Stove signing SS Omar Vizquel & Andruw Jones.  Vizquel has been the best defensive shortstop of his time and will tutor Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez.  Omar might be headed for Cooperstown when he finally hangs them up, his numbers stack up with Ozzie Smith, and nobody flashed a better glove at short.  Speaking of excellent fielders, nobody did it better than Andruw Jones, but that was in his day.  Andruw isn’t all that old, but he got old in a hurry, with very old knees.  Jones will not embarrass himself in the outfield with the glove, although he won’t add to the team speed, but he was brought in here for his bat and to provide some outfield depth.

After a career year with the Blue Jays, Marco Scutaro cashed in with Boston, where he’ll be the Red Sox everyday shortstop.  Outfielder Mike Cameron’s new home will be Fenway Park, playing leftfield for the Bosox, which would mean Jason Bay will not be retained.  The Redbirds made a wise investment bringing Brad Penny on board.  Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan has to be licking his chops, adding Penny to a staff that already has Adam Wainwright & Chris Carpenter.  The Atlanta Braves bolstered their bullpen by adding lefty Billy Wagner and righthander Takashi Saito.  By signing with the Nationals, Ivan Rodriguez will serve as a backup catcher & mentor to Jesus Flores.

I’m sure there’s alot more to come, I’m especially looking forward to the Rule V Draft, which takes place on the 10th.

Ryan Zimmerman and his $45 mil-5 yr. contract

 

Look at THIS !!!

Ryan Zimmerman strolled into the home clubhouse at Nationals Park after Monday’s news conference announcing his $45 million, five-year contract and was greeted with a smile and a yell from a teammate sitting on a couch…

  In this age of declining (or at best, "stagnant") salaries — see the free agent class of last winter — , Ryan Zimmerman drags this kind of contract out of the Nationals? WOW !!!

  Would Jim Bowden have EVER agreed to something like this?

  Is this Exhibit A of: Why Team Presidents should not be left alone with agents?

  I wonder if this is the first contract Kasten ever negotiated.

  I stand in AWE of this agent. Scott Boras, scoot over.

  Question for you guys: On a scale of 0% (no chance) to 100% (sure thing), What do you think is the chance that Ryan Zimmerman will be worth $14 mil in 2013?

  What do you think?

DonS.

P.S. Disclosure: I originally drafted Ryan Zimmerman in ILLOWA League in the Second Round. A year ago, I decide he was "Tim Wallach" rather than "Mike Schmidt" and swapped Zimmerman for Huston Street. So factor in as many "grains of salt" as you think that deserves.

Crede falls to the dark side

I’m curious what Sox think of this.

Not so much that Crede won’t be with Chicago any more.  I think that song was written a few months ago.  But now he’ll be playing for their arch-rivals Minnesota Twins. 

Comments from the South side?

Oh, from the article (emphasis mine):

Crede, who provided stellar defense and was a clutch hitter during his tenure with the Sox…

I’ve heard from more than one Sox fan that Crede’s defense had been lacking in 2008 at least in comparison to his past years.  Perhaps that’s true?  Or maybe that was due to his injury??

For what it’s worth, Crede does say he’s almost back to 100%.

Who wants Manny?

Apparently, there was a small rally of Mets fans outside Radio City who were calling for the signing of Manny Ramirez.  According to Matt Cerone of Metsblog, it was organized via messageboards and was billed as a Bring Manny to the Mets Rally”.

Deep in the heartland, Albert Pujols had other ideas.  He’s actually been in contact with Manny “every three days” and wants him on the Cardinals. 

“Maybe St. Louis doesn’t have the money to sign him, but he could give them a discount because St. Louis is a great city that supports its players,” Pujols said.

haha!  Yeah, that’ll happen. 

St Louis IS a great baseball town, though.  I’ll give him that.

Sox Bring on Big Man to Fill Big Hole in Rotation

colon With Javier Vazquez traded off to Atlanta, good riddance, Chicago had an open slot in their rotation, in Back to the Future fashion, Kenny Williams flipped back to 2003, and Bartolo Colon. Colon was signed to a $1 million dollar contract, with an innings pitched clause that could be worth an additional $2 million dollars. Workhorse Bartolo is a big man, who pitches big innings, when healthy, 242 in 2003 with the White Sox. He was limited to only 39 innings with the Red Sox in 2008, due to injury.

It seems as though the White Sox may be out of the Freddy Garcia sweepstakes, looks like Freddy will be heading to the Big Apple, either with the Yankees or the Mets. So the Sox rotation is Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd, John Danks, two righthanders coming off injuries (Jose Conreras & Bartolo Colon), and possibly young lefty Aaron Poreda.

Last year Esteban Loaiza was brought in as a rotation possibility, but without his fastball, he was ineffective, and quickly gone. Hopefully Colon will make out better this year.

Cubs give up on Pie… it was only a matter of time

Felix Pie has been traded to the Baltimore Orioles.  The fact that he’s been traded shouldn’t come as too much as a surprise to Cub fans.  The acquisition of Joey Gathright was pretty much the final nail in Pie’s coffin as a Cub.

In return for Pie, the Cubs got back LHP Garret Olson and RHP Henry Williamson. 

Looking at USA Today’s fantasy profile on Olson, it’s hard to find any positives.  That page is filled with words like, “mess”, pathetic performance” and “ugly numbers”.  I can say that up until he got to the majors 2007, his K/9 hovered around 9.0.  But his 6.00+ ERA last year doesn’t inspire confidence. 

Henry Williamson is more of an unknown having pitched professionally for 2 years with only 90 innings under his belt.  Last year in A ball, he struck out 42 in only 29 innings if a small sample size is any indication.

Will Felix Pie flourish or at least survive in the Orioles organization.  If he follows Corey Patterson’s pattern, he might have some share of success.  A change of venue has always helped Pie.  Unfortunately for him, the successes he’s had have been in the minors and winter ball.  Once placed in the bigs, all the talents that Felix was supposed to possess seem to vanish.

Koji Uehara Signs With O’s

koji-uehara The Orioles have signed 33 year old starting pitcher Koji Uehara, of the Yomiuri Giants. As a rookie in 1999 he was the leader in wins (20), strikeouts (179), ERA (2.09), winning percentage (.833, 20-4 record), complete games (12), and was named Rookie of the Year. Koji was the Sawamura Award (named after legendary Yomiuri Giants pitcher Eiji Sawamura of the 1930s & 40s) winner in 1999 & 2002, best starting pitcher in Japan. Due to an injury in 2007 Uehara pitched as a closer, saving 32 games, with a 1.74 ERA. He returned to the starting rotation in 2008.

Koji has enjoyed alot of international success with a 12-0 record and 2 saves, appearing in the Olympic Games (twice), the World Baseball Classic, as well as the Asian Baseball Championships. He was the winning pitcher against Cuba in the championship game of the WBC, and led the tournament with 16 strikeouts. In 1998 Uehara rejected a $3 million dollar offer to sign with the Angels on the advice of friends and acquaintances, and instead signed with Yomiuri. Although he had his struggles in 2008, he is a durable pitcher, and it should be interesting to see how he fares with the Orioles.

Bosox Hurlers: Made in Japan

saito There used to be a time when “Made in Japan” meant inferior quality, not anymore, just ask the Red Sox. The Red Sox just added Takashi Saito, former Dodgers closer, who first became a closer in Japan when his predecessor, Kazuhiro Sasaki came to the Mariners. In Japan Saito had a tendency to give up alot of home runs, 15 off the bat of Hedeki Matsui, which should be interesting. The Red Sox are hoping the 38 year old Saito can bounce back from an elbow injury, which landed him on the disabled list for much of 2008. Junichi Tazawa, a 22 year old, righthander, who idolizes Daisuke Matsuzaka, signed with Boston, in early December. The 5’11” Tazawa was 6-1 with a 1.00 ERA, striking out 56 in 54 innings in 2008, with Nippon. In signing two more Japanese hurlers, the Bosox are hoping for the same type of success they’ve had with Daisuke Matsuzaka & Hideki Okajima. Daisuke and his gyroball were only 15-12 in his first year with Boston, but he had a breakout 18-3 record last year. While lefthanded reliever Hideki Okajima has been solid in his two seasons with the Red Sox, more than 60 games & 60 innings pitched, & a sub 3.00 ERA, each year.

So, if you want to watch the Boston Red Sox staff this spring, you might be better off following the Japanese team in the World Baseball Classic.

Bosox Sign Three for a Penny

baldelli When Rocco Baldelli first came to the big leagues with Tampa Bay in 2003 as a 21 year old kid, he was compared to Joe DiMaggio. In his first two seasons he played centerfield, 156 games as a rookie, then 136 games in his second season, batting .289 & .280, 89 runs & 78 RBIs, and 79 runs & 74 RBIs, 27 SBs & 11 HRs, and 17 SBs & 16 HRs, not bad for a kid Rhode Island, still wet behind the ears. Baldelli tore his ACL while playing baseball with his brother in the offseason, while rehabbing he injured his elbow, and needed Tommy John surgery, he missed the entire 2005 season, and didn’t return to everyday play until June 7, 2006. Playing from that point on, he batted .302, 16 homers, 57 runs, 57 RBIs, 10 steals, in only 364 at bats. In 2007 during spring training Rocco pulled his hamstring, he’d appear in only 35 games. Doctors discovered some metabolic and/or mitochondrial abnormalities, but were unable to provide an exact diagnosis. Baldelli was limited to 28 games in 2008, mainly as a DH & pinch hitter, batting .263, with 4 homers, and 13 RBIs, he hit a three run homer in game #3 of the ALCS to help the Rays take the lead in the series. In the offseason, further testing revealed he suffers from channelopathy, which makes his condition more treatable and less serious than previously thought. Rocco will wear #5 with the Red Sox, first guy to wear it since Nomar Garciaparra’s departure.

41 year old righthander John Smoltz is no longer an Atlanta Brave, he’s joining Rocco Baldelli in Boston. Smoltz has a career mark of 210-147, all with Atlanta, and if he hadn’t shifted to the bullpen (154 saves) for four years, he’d be closing in on 300 wins. Although John only started six times for the Braves in 2008, due to shoulder surgery. Whatever he’s got left he’ll bring to Boston, he signed a $5.5 million dollar deal, with roster incentives which could net as much as $10 million. His best season as a starter was 1996 when he was 24-8, with a 2.94 ERA, earning him the NL Cy Young Award. In 2002, his first season working out of the bullpen, Smoltz established the new saves mark with 55, Eric Gagne tied the record one year later.

Brad Penny is the 3rd member of the free agent trio to join the Red Sox. Penny won 16 games in back-to-back seasons with the Dodgers in 2006-07, before succumbing to injuries in 2008 (6-9, 6.27 ERA, 94″ IP). Brad knows how to pitch for a winner, being a member of the rotation for the 2003 Florida Marlins as a 25 year old youngster, posting a 14-10 record, 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA in the World Series against the Yankees. After shutting out the Giants for seven innings in his first 2008 start, he spent much of the disappointing season on the DL. Yet at only 30 years of age, this talented righthander should be able to help Boston, if healthy.

So while the Red Sox didn’t match the Yankees when it comes to throwing dollar signs at free agents, they did add three players with heart. One local son returns home, while two pitchers who are proven winners were added to Boston’s roster, in an effort to get back into the postseason.