As usual, there were quite a few (smaller) bits of baseball news and activity over the past week. Here are some of the more interesting ones:
Los Angeles Dodgers For Sale:
The coming Dodgers sale is attracting quite a few bid groups. It feels like every other day a new bidding group emerges, usually headed by a new celebrity or new sports figure. And, as one of the premiere large market teams in baseball, this is to be expected. So far we have heard of groups spearheaded by; Magic Johnson (basketball player from LA), Mark Cuban (current owner of a basketball team), Peter O’Malley (former Dodger team owner), Steve Garvey (former Dodger player), Fred Claire (former GM of the Dodgers), Ron Burkle (a billionaire supermarket mogul and famous fund raiser) and finally Orel Hershiser (former Dodger pitcher). There seems to be a TON of ex-Dodgers who want to restore the storied franchise to where it belongs. And that gives me hope that the Dodgers, managed by one of my favorite players of all time (Don Mattingly), will indeed get back on its feet after being sold. The sale should easily break the record for the price of a baseball franchise ($845 million for the Chicago Cubs in 2009).
Trainers Room:
Mariano Rivera, arguably the greatest closer of all time, had surgery on Friday to remove polyps from his vocal cords. The recovery time should be 3 weeks maximum and should not affect any aspect of his baseball preparations for next season. The 42 year old Rivera had unexpectedly been suffering throat and vocal issues over the past month to the point that he was finding it hard to speak. Thankfully for the Yankees, he throws his unhittable pitches with his right arm, not his vocal cords!
Logan Morrison, the young 24 year old Marlins outfielder, is wondering when his right knee will feel 100 percent as he is still experiencing pain in it. He had several severe tendonitis flare-ups during the season, especially after two separate jarring wall crashes. Morrison also had a bad cut requiring stitches on that same knee from a collision with teammate Emilio Bonifacio. He already has received a plasma shot in the knee that was supposed to facilitate off-season recovery. But, it’s been a month since the season has ended, so when does a player finally get some (hopefully only exploratory) surgery done? Looks like that will happen Monday for LOMO.
Free Agent Signings:
David DeJesus signed with the Chicago Cubs for 2 years at $4.25 mil per. There is also a team option for 2014. The 31 year old DeJesus is a solid number 3 or 4 outfielder and would be an asset for any team. The lefty has hit .293 or better in 4 of his 8 full seasons. DeJesus can also play all 3 OF positions well above average defensively, giving the Cubs great roster flexibility. It’s still hard to believe how much baseball players get paid (to me anyway), as DeJesus is coming off his worst season of his 9 year career. But, I guess, the Cubs are eager to start making some moves (I fully expect them to be very active this off season).
Jonathan Broxton signed with the Kansas City Royals for 1 year at $4 million plus another $1 mil in incentives. His role will be as the main setup man for closer Joakim Soria. This could be a 1 year steal if the still only 27 year old Broxton comes anywhere close to his 2009 form. Broxton was near unhittable for several years while closing for the Dodgers, including 398 K’s in 303.1 innings between 2006 and 2009. An amazing total for a relief pitcher! But the past two years have been a struggle for Broxton and culminated in his having arthroscopic elbow surgery in September. The small market Royals are obviously buying low on him in hopes of a return to his former level.
Chris Capuano signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 2 years, $10 million total. This must be a devastating loss for the New York Mets! (Just to be very clear, this is totally baseball nerd sarcasm) The 33 year old lefty’s best quality was simply proving he can pitch a full season (he missed all of 2008 and 2009 recovering from his second Tommy John surgery). But his 2011 numbers for the Mets, in their pitcher’s park, hardly blows anyone away. Capuano went 11-12 with a WHIP of 1.35 and an ERA of 4.55, but he did pitch 186 innings with 168 K’s. Sadly, Capuano’s signing almost certainly signals the end of the Japanese Hiroki Kuroda’s major league baseball career.
Angels Rotating Catchers:
The Los Angeles Angels have been active this week both trading for a new catcher and trading away their old catcher. The Angels received the 29 year old Chris Iannetta to be their new primary catcher by sending the Colorado Rockies their young 22 year old back of the rotation pitcher Tyler Chatwood. Chatwood started an awful 25 games for the Angels last year with a 6-11 record, 1.67 WHIP and a 4.75 ERA. But at 22 years old and the Angels having a great front of the rotation already, why wouldn’t the Angels wait to see how the young Chatwood turns out over the next couple of years? They traded for Iannetta to try and get some more offense out of the catcher’s position, but Iannetta is the perfect example of the average Colorado player. His home/away splits from last year are just silly; .301 home AVG/.172 road AVG, .975 home OPS/.587 road OPS, 10 HR at home/4 HR on the road. I doubt he will be as much an offensive improvement as the Angels are expecting.
Then, later in the week, the Angels traded away their 28 year old catcher Jeff Mathis to the Toronto Blue Jays for a 27 year old lefty pitcher by the name of Brad Mills (he started 24 average games at AAA last year). Mathis was the Angels' primary receiver for the past several years, but his offensive has progressively gotten weaker over that same period. The Angels couldn’t justify carrying his lifetime .194 batting average anymore. It really makes you wonder why the Angels got rid of Mike Napoli last year in the first place (arguably the best offensive catcher in the game).
Good stuff Aaron.
ReplyDeleteBroxton is a great signing for KC, he puts the Mexecutioner on notice. You would think the Mets who should be desperate for decent bullpen arms would have been able to sign someone like that, but it also speaks to the young talent base of the Royals that he wanted to go there.
As for the Angels, apparently Scioscia didn't like Napoli's defense, and I've read where he's notoriously tough on his catchers since he was one. Didn't realize Iannetta's splits were so severe, but even if he hits .230 or so he's better than the Mathis/Wilson black hole. Or he could wind up backing up Hank Conger if Conger finally wins the job.
I love hot stove season!
Dan
Thanks Dan!
ReplyDeleteNext week could be even crazier with the Winter Meetings in full swing.
I totally agree that Jonathan Broxton probably likes what he sees in Kansas City! I assume he only wanted a one year contract to prove that he is healthy and go for a bigger contract in 2013.
As far as the Angel catcher moves, from what I have read, these are the first catcher moves that manager Mike Scioscia was actually not directly involved in. Usually Scioscia has great say in the Organizational moves, especially catcher, but the Angel bigwigs supposedly weren't happy with how under performing the catching has been offensive-wise. I would love to see Conger step up myself! Can never have enough solid catching in the majors.
And who doesn't love the Hot Stove!