This week contained the fabled yearly “winter meetings” where all Hot Stove heck breaks lose over a 4 day period. This made for a very busy week indeed! Here are a few of the smaller but tastier bits of baseball news and activity over the past week:
Newest ESPN Analyst:
Terry Francona has found solid work within the baseball universe for 2012. He will join the Baseball Tonight team as an analyst and will be part of the Sunday Night weekly game crew. Francona will be able to bring some interesting insights into the booth as the former manager for the two-time World Series Champion Red Sox. In a strange twist, he has been hired to replace the exact position vacated by Bobby Valentine! Francona did a very respectable job behind the mike for the 2011 AL Championship Series where he was a guest analyst for Fox Sports.
Kangaroo Court:
The player formerly known as Leo Nunez was arrested in the Dominican Republic. He was charged, booked and released shortly afterwards. The authorities confirmed his true identity as Juan Carlos Oviedo and that he was a year older then originally believed (29 instead of 28). Oviedo was attempting to get a new updated visa to try and properly work as a baseball player in the United States. The Miami Marlins have not completely abandoned Oviedo and are actively working with Dominican officials to try and help him return. The Marlins placed Oviedo on the restricted list and have control of his rights when and if he is able to return.
Manny Ramirez (you guys still remember Manny, right?) has officially been reinstated from the voluntary retirement list by MLB. Manny abruptly retired in April when he faced a 100 game ban for testing positive a second time. When Manny tried to play some winter ball he found out that he wouldn’t be allowed to play because almost all of the South American teams and leagues work closely with MLB. Why would they risk infuriating MLB and possibly lose money/support from the major leagues? Manny applied to return to the majors and has had his banning reduced to 50 games. Now he just has to find a team willing to put up with him and his 50 game ban. Good luck!
Arbitration News:
Three free agents accepted arbitration by Wednesday night’s deadline:
David Ortiz accepted arbitration with the Boston Red Sox although Big Papi was actually looking for a two year contract from them. The 36 year old DH may still actually get that contract since the Red Sox and Ortiz can continue to negotiate through February before the arbitration hearings occur. Big Papi earned $12.5 million last season and should earn at least $15 mil in arbitration. Ortiz definitely produced a solid year (.309 Avg, 29 HR, 96 RBI) and has been the face of the Red Sox for the past 9 years.
Francisco Rodriguez, affectionately called K-Rod, accepted arbitration with the frustrated Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee gambled by offering K-Rod arbitration and lost horribly. The closer market has been saturated this off-season and K-Rod couldn’t afford to wait any longer to see if he could find a closer’s job with another team. Not if he wanted to get paid closer level money (only the Yankees pay $10 plus million for a setup man). This will negatively impact how Milwaukee deals with their roster issues (as can already be seen with the signing of shortstop Alex Gonzalez). They will be scrambling to see if they can find any takers for Rodriguez, as his arbitration salary figures to be in the neighborhood of at least the $13.5 mil he earned in 2011. Ouch!
Kelly Johnson accepted arbitration with the Toronto Blue Jays. The 30 year old 2nd baseman earned $5.85 mil last year and will probably receive a small raise in arbitration. Johnson has shown some solid power for a middle infielder having 47 home runs over the past two years. The Blue Jays have also approached Johnson about playing some outfield next year, which he has been receptive to.
Free Agent Signings:
Matt Capps re-signed with the Minnesota Twins for 1 year at $4.75 million. There is also a second option year in 2013 for $6 mil. The 28 year old Capps is a mediocre closer at best, but after losing Joe Nathan to free agency, the Twins didn’t feel they could afford to lose Capps too. Capps saved 15 games in 24 opportunities last season, along with; 7 holds, 4-7 record, 1.20 WHIP and 4.25 ERA. He also gave up an awful 10 homeruns in 65.2 innings pitched. For the Twins sake, I hope Capps bounces back.
Alex Gonzalez signed with the Milwaukee Brewers for 1 year at an undisclosed amount. There is also a vesting option for 2013 (vesting options usually mean X number of games need to be played). Usually the Brewers do not announce terms of their contracts until the player passes their physical. A-Gon is an aging 35 year old, right-handed pull hitter, who can still play respectable defense at shortstop. A-Gon’s batting average is on a serious decline the past couple of years, he has never walked much, and his strikeout rate is rising (126 times last year). So why sign him? He supplies some surprising pop at shortstop, 38 homers and 69 doubles in the past two seasons. Plus, most Brewer fans will tell you just how atrocious their former shortstop, Yuniesky Betancourt, was in the field. A-Gon is a valid low budget option that allows Milwaukee to still consider adding another free agent or two.
Octavio Dotel signed a 1 year deal with the Detroit Tigers for an undisclosed amount. There is also a 2nd team option year for 2013. I have a feeling the terms have yet to be disclosed because, as usual with this off-season party, Dotel probably was overpaid. And the Tigers GM might be embarrassed by it. The 38 year old Dotel is the living definition of a veteran, well traveled relief pitcher. When he steps onto the mound for the first time with the Tigers, Dotel will solely own the major league record for number of teams played with. The Tigers will be his 13th different team! Until that moment, he is tied with Matt Stairs, Mike Morgan and Ron Villone, all having played for 12 different franchises over their careers. For those that don’t remember, Dotel recently helped The St Louis Cardinals win the World Series.
Rafael Furcal re-signed with the St Louis Cardinals for 2 years, $14 million total. Once Albert Pujols signed with the Angels, the Cards have moved on and are addressing their other needs. But it seems a rather expensive amount to sign a 34 year old declining player who is as injury prone as they come! Furcal played in only 87 games last year and 97 in 2010. Also, Furcal’s defense at shortstop has been on a steady decline. Throw in Furcal’s awful October performance with the Cards in the postseason and you have to think Furcal was seriously overpaid. Furcal went 15 for 77 in the post-season (a .194 average).
Trade Talks:
The Toronto Blue Jays traded for Sergio Santos to be their closer sending pitching prospect Nestor Molina to the Chicago White Sox. The 28 year old Santos is largely an unknown, having only been in the big leagues two years and having been the White Sox closer only last year. The righty fireballer Santos had a solid year as their closer with 30 saves, 92 K’s in 63.1 IP, 1.11 WHIP and a 3.55 ERA. His 30 saves were good enough for 8th in the AL. Santos is the immediate favorite to take over the closer’s role for the Blue Jays in 2012. The White Sox received the 22 year old Molina who split his year between A and AA levels as a starting pitcher. His totals look pretty decent: 148 K’s in 130 IP, 12-3 record, 2.21 ERA. This trade signifies that the White Sox are resigned to rebuilding their team, especially since it looks like they will be losing a couple of key players to free agency.
The Arizona Diamondbacks landed 23 year old pitcher Trevor Cahill in a 5 player trade with the Oakland Athletics. The Oakland Athletics have announced to the rest of baseball that they are “sellers” in this off-season and the Diamondbacks pounced quickly to land the young righty. Cahill has already had 3 full seasons in the majors even though he will turn only 24 in March. His 2010 season was an eye opener with 18 wins, a WHIP of 1.11 and an ERA under 3.00, but Cahill fell back to earth in 2011. He led the AL with 34 GS, threw 207.2 innings, struck out 147 batters, had a 12-14 record, a WHIP of 1.43 and an ERA of 4.16 in 2011. He joins a pair of 24 year old frontline starters for the Diamondbacks, Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson. The Diamondbacks also received reliever Craig Breslow and sent the A’s pitcher Jarrod Parker, OF Collin Cowgill and reliever Ryan Cook (yes, I have never heard of the three players the A’s received either).
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