Late Innings

I know it’s been over three months since I’ve written anything of relevance in this blog… but I’m back wishing everyone a Happy New Year. I apologize for the hiatus; life gets in the way.

People have been emailing me for reactions to all the winter moves and trades, particularly the Cliff Lee and Carlos Silva trades in particular. Ha my opinions are along the same lines as the Craig Calcaterras and Dave Camerons of the world… it doesn’t take a degree in nuclear physics to analyze the trades that happen. But if I’ll write in here if something interests me, I promise.

With tonight’s deadline to sign players drafted in the June Amateur Draft approaching, I wanted to bring up the contenders for next year’s #1 Draft Pick in June 2010:

I could have calculated the GB better, and I could also calculate Washington’s “magic number” to clinch this division, but then again it really doesn’t matter. The “Natinals” have been playing better, while Kansas City has been bad in the second half, Baltimore has yet to win a series since the All Star break happened. I’m not suggesting that Baltimore has a good chance at Harper, but if they continue to stink they’ll have this kid come next June.

Then again, as most people know, the key theme to the 2009 draft has been one word: signability. The top three draft picks, Steven Strasburg, Dustin Ackley and Donovan Tate are all represented by … Scott Boras. And that Harper kid is also represented by … (drum roll please) … Boras.

Boras has stated before that he wanted to “revolutionize” how the draft works. In other words he simply wants to have his clients paid more. As most people know, he wants 50MM for Strasburg. Tate’s about to sign for 6MM, but he wants over 10MM for Ackley, a solid outfielder but only projects as a 15/15 hitter. The first two picks would have “record” bonuses, eclipsing whatever was paid to Mark Prior when drafted by the Cubs.

This past draft is also chock full of high school pitchers who want Rick Porcello money, Ackley’s UNC teammate Alex White who wants to be paid like Adam Wainwright (someone should tell him that he needs a 90 MPH fastball before that happens), and Aaron Crow, drafted by the “Natinals” last year but couldn’t agree to terms (I think they offered something like 3.9MM.) Crow pitched a year in the independent leagues, and was redrafted by the Royals who in turn offered him 3MM, which he is scoffing at. If this pitcher has brains and also is as polished as his left-handed counterpart Brian Matusz, he would be in Washington pitching right now. Matusz already has three major league starts under his belt.

I don’t understand why these amateur picks turn down top dollars? Remember Matt Harrington, offered millions of dollars by the Cubs, etc. He’s now changing tires at Wal-Mart for a living. Now I’m not suggesting that Crow or Strasburg will go the way of Harrington, but they are foolish to think that some team is going to sign them for more money the following year, not with (a) the current draft structure and (b) the economy the way it is. Strasburg is clearly the closest thing to the real deal, but if he’s turning down “record” contracts, something’s clearly wrong with the draft.

I’ll cut right to the chase, I disagree with Joe Posnanski:

7. Alex Rios (Chicago White Sox). I originally had this as the second-worst contract in the game … but that was blowing this out of proportion. Several readers make the strong point that it really is not THAT bad, and I’m probably overreacting to the off-season he’s having now. Either way, this is the third deal where Ricciardi has hit the ejector button in the middle of the contract (B.J. Ryan and Frank Thomas coming first). At least this one, someone else picked up the tab — and yes, Kenny Williams will now be the one judged on how this contract turns out.

He makes a compelling case against J.P. Ricciardi and him doling out bad contracts. I agree wholehardedly with his claim, that is he handed out some bad deals, notably the Vernon Wells albatross of a contract. However Rios? I actually liked this move on behalf of the White Sox.

Rios has come a long way in his career. When he first came up, people thought that he’d never hit for power, based on the 1 HR that he hit in 2004 (over 426 AB!) His power eventually then started to climb, to the point where he hit 24 HR in 2007. His reward for that season, a seven year, 69MM contract extension, buying out the rest of his arbitration years, as well as some free agency years.

Wells is fast, on pace to steal 30 bases for two years in a row. While his defense is regressing, he might enjoy his move to Chicago. For one, he’ll have some protection in the lineup. And secondly, with him manning center all to himself for the next five years, this deal looks good for the White Sox. Erik Manning agrees.

Ken Williams is by far my favorite GM in all of baseball, simply due to the fact that he takes risks. His moves are always head scratchers (e.g. the Javier Vazquez trade, or the Jake Peavy deal), but this Rios deal is grand theft for the Pale Hoes. If Ricciardi made any mistake, it’s that he let Rios go for free. If the Jays wanted to dump salary, he should have sold him Wells instead.

So how about it, the White Sox get a 30-30 man in center for five years. What’s wrong with that? Yes his numbers are down this year, but I expect them to return. If Posnanski wanted to include a bad contract to his list, why didn’t he mention Torii Hunter? Speaking of aging center fielders with little upside, Hunter’s got 60MM coming to him over the next three years from the Angels. Coupled with his new injuries, it’s a shame that Bill Stoneman and company didn’t take out an insurance policy on their center fielder.

Yesterday at 4PM EST was the MLB non-waiver trading deadline. Big names like Roy Halladay, Adrian Gonzalez, and Heath Bell weren’t moved. However plenty of moves were made yesterday and days leading up to the deadline. Here’s my interesting analysis on the moves.

San Diego Padres traded Cla Meredith to Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore Orioles traded 1B Oscar Salazar to San Diego Padres.

This trade has me shaking my heads when it was made. Meredith is effective and induces ground ball outs, perfect for Baltimore. Salazar, while a solid hitter, is out of options. For Andy MacPhail to even be able to acquire something for Salazar, that alone is an accomplishment.

Edge: Baltimore

Indians get Minor leaguers – pitchers Jason Knapp and Carlos Carrasco, INF Jason Donald, C Lou Marson. Phillies get SP Cliff Lee and LF Ben Francisco.

This move had me scratching my head as well. Lee is effective, an ace. The haul the Indians for for him is weak. Marson and Donald are going to be servicable, as is Carrasco, and Knapp might be as good as Josh Johnson, someday. However with super-prospect Carlos Santana coming up, Marson won’t have much of a starting role. Lee will rake in Philly, and Francisco is a pretty-good fourth outfielder. Mark Shapiro did not get full value for the ace.

Edge: Philadelphia

Cliff Lee is going to start paying off immediately for the Phillies. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Giants get 2B Freddy Sanchez, 1B Ryan Garko. Pirates get Minor league RHP Tim Alderson. Indians get Minor leaguer LHP Scott Barnes

I lumped these moves together, though they happened on separate days. The Giants surrendered good pitching prospects to redo the right side of their infield, with replacement-value players. The move of Alderson had me scratching my head, and Barnes should excel in Cleveland. Pittsburgh had to move Sanchez, albeit a solid player, but with a 8MM 2010 option that was causing trepidation amongst Pirate front office officials.

Edge: Cleveland and Pittsburgh

Mariners get SS Jack Wilson and RHP Ian Snell. Pirates get C Jeff Clement, SS Ronny Cedeno, and three minor league RHPs Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin and Nathan Adcock.

I’ve always been a big fan of Snell, and him going out to the pitching friendly confines of Safeco is huge. It also helps that he’ll have great defense behind him, with Wilson also being brought on board. Wilson is solid and worth his money, but as many people have pointed out, there are cheaper glove men out there, Adam Everett being one in particular.

The Pirates meanwhile get a nice haul. The arms are power arms. Cedeno is useful, but shouldn’t start. Clement is intriguing. He reminds me of Andy LaRoche, a former top prospect for the Dodgers who didn’t pan out, also acquired last summer by Neil Huntington. I thought this trade over deep and am not sure which side I fall on, I like it for both teams.

Edge: Even

Pirates get RHPs Kevin Hart and Jose Ascanio and minor league infielder Josh Harrison. Cubs get LHP John Grabow and LHP Tom Gorzelanny.

Huntington was indeed busy, but this haul isn’t as solid as the group of players he got for his double-play tandem. Hart will be useful in their rotation, but I like the players the Cubs got. Garbow will be useful, and I’ve always been a Gorzelanny fan. Like Snell, he was raking at Triple A, and stashed at the back of the Cubs rotation could be good for him. He reminds me of Rich Hill, someone that had good success in 2007 and is trying to get his career back on track with another team.

Edge: Cubs

Rockies get LH/RP Joe Beimel. Nationals get Minor league prospects Ryan Mattheus and Robinson Fabian.

The Rockies upgraded their bullpen over the past few weeks, acquiring Betancourt from the Indians and recalling Chacin from Double A, and now acquiring Biemel from the Nats. However I feel that Mattheus is too big of a price for the solid lefty, due to be a free agent at the end of the year.

Edge: Nationals

Mariners get LHP Jarrod Washburn. Tigers get LHPs Luke French and minor leaguer Mauricio Robles.

This trade has been analyzed ad nauseum by many, and I agree with them entirely. The Tigers made this move out of desperation. Washburn’s ERA was helped out by a solid team defense, and he’s bound to regress in Detroit. I’m not saying he’s a bad pitcher, but he’s not an ace they’re expecting to receive. Six years of team control of French (plus a power arm) is a huge price to pay for the soon to be free agent starter. Good job Wayne Z.

Edge: Mariners

Twins get SS Orlando Cabrera. A’s get Minor league SS Tyler Ladendorf.

The Twins played the waiting game, not giving up Danny Valencia in the process. This move is huge, since the Twins are weak up the middle. I like this trade better than the one the Tigers made, since they gave up a fringe SS prospect. And Cabrera is starting to heat up too… hopefully this move will appease Mauer and Morneau.

Edge: Twins

The Twins made out well acquiring Cabrera. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Red Sox get C Victor Martinez. Indians get SPs Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price.

Martinez will be useful in Boston. He’ll be very helpful, and will hopefully wake up their dormant offense. He’s also under control and is affordable through 2010. The cost for him? Masterson will be useful in Cleveland, but Hagadone is the key to this trade. He has front line starter potential, and Price isn’t too bad himself. The Red Sox are trading from their surplus though, and Bard, Bowden, Tazawa, Buchholz and Anderson are staying put.

I’m curious to see what the Indians and Mariners rotations will look like come 2010.

Edge: Even

Marlins get 1B Nick Johnson. Nationals get Minor leaguer LH/SP Aaron Thompson.

The Marlins get a great OBP guy, with the Nationals throwing in the remainder of his salary to boot. They had to surrender a top pitching prospect though, but I like this move on both sides.

Edge: Even

Orioles get Minor leaguers 3B Josh Bell and RHP Steven Johnson. Dodgers get LH/RP George Sherrill.

Sherrill’s days of closing appear to be out-numbered, however he’s going back into his role when he was devastating in 2007 for the Mariners, as a specialist. He destroys left handed hitters, and if/when the Dodgers play the Phillies in the playoffs, he’ll be very useful. The cost for him though was a powerful and advanced third base prospect in Bell (especially that ISO above .200.) He could be a 30 HR threat soon. And Johnson isn’t too bad himself, having ties to Oriole broadcaster Dave Johnson.

I like this move for the Orioles, but it’s not as lopsided as many people say it is. If the Dodgers win the whole thing, then it’s worth it for them.

Edge: Baltimore

The Red Sox get Casey Kotchman. The Atlanta Braves get 1B Adam LaRoche.

The Braves have been playing well, and LaRoche’s bat will be useful. Kotchman’s glove is good, and he’s cheaper and under team control as well for some time, which is probably why the Red Sox were interested in him. Don’t expect him to start anytime soon however.

Edge: Even

Reds get 3B Scott Rolen. Blue Jays get 3B Edwin Encarnacion RH/RP Josh Roenicke, and RHP Zach Stewart.

I like this move on behalf of both teams. Rolen’s glove is outstanding, plus the Jays are paying the rest of his salary for the year. They’re on the hook for his 12MM salary next year though, but if he stays healthy he’s worth it. Encarnacion has a great bat, but shouldn’t be fielding the hot corner. He could be like Tony Bautista was for the Jays, a 30 HR threat.

Had the Reds traded Yonder Alonso, as originally was reported by FOX, this move would be grand theft by the Blue Jays.

Edge: Even

Padres get Pitchers Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Dexter Carter and Adam Russell. White Sox get SP Jake Peavy.

Honestly, when I first heard this trade announced on ESPN radio, I thought Jayson Stark was joking (especially since those idiots were taking steroids instead of trades, a big reason why I avoid ESPN radio.) Then the rumor came to fruition 30 minutes after the deadline, and Peavy and his agent confirmed the trade, by waiving his no-trade clause.

Peavy and Axelrod were shaking their heads, as was I. The White Sox are paying all of Peavy’s contract over the next three years, and they surrendered four prospects. I was a huge Poreda fan, and Richard should be useful.

The fact which made this trade strange is that Peavy is damaged goods. However when he’s healthy, he’s good. He’s very good. But I’m curious to see how he’ll do outside of Petco, since his home/away splits are different.

The most important part of this deal is that the Padres rid themselves of Peavy’s albatross of a contract, which admittedly looked like a bargain two years ago. The ace should be ready by September, and if the White Sox are still in the hunt, it might pay off for them. Ken Williams made a lot of moves that had me scratching my head, but many of those moves come back to make him look like a genius months later. I like this trade now for the Padres for the above reasons, but let’s see what happens a few months from now…

Edge: Padres

Any ways that’s all of the moves (I think.) Now it’s August, and we’ll hopefully see more trades, though these players will have to slip through waivers first.

11:26 PM: Man this was a brisk game. And I’m so glad that Carl Crawford got the MVP award… I think I reverse-engineered their formula for choosing the MVP. Take the two teams in the previous world series, and give it to the best player on the winning league’s team. Seriously, J.D. Drew strangely enough got it last year… any ways I’m going to bed. Good game.

11:15 PM: Mo is on to close this puppy out. Prediction: the MVP goes to either Mo, Papelbon, or Youk. I’ll bet your mom’s virginity on it.

11:13 PM: What a catch by Jayson Werth… wow.

11:08 PM: Wow, Joe Nathan blew the string out good outs (18) by the AL pitching staff. With two on base, let’s see if this game can go into extra innings, just like last year’s marathon.

11:02 PM: My personal fave Adam Jones knocked in the go-ahead run with a sac fly. If the AL wins this, will he be given the game MVP trophy? Granted, keep in mind that he doesn’t play for the Yankees or Red Sox… like with what happened last year with George Sherrill.

Earlier: I was at Texas Roadhouse watching most of this… some thoughts I have. Why weren’t Zack Grienke and Dan Haren the starters? I can understand that it’s being a toss-up between Haren and “the Freak” in the NL, but in the AL Grienke clearly has had more dominant numbers. I guess people don’t want to see Royals and Diamondbacks starters…

…Speaking of Roy Halladay, it was interesting to hear Ken Rostenthal go through some rumors tonight as to where he would land. He’s suggesting that Halladay will be traded, going either to the Phillies or Yankees. I thought the Yankees couldn’t take on more payroll. And I wonder what prospects they’d have to surrender. The Yankees don’t have the pitching prospects that the Jays crave, unless they give up their original “big three", that is Kennedy, Hughes and the six pound, eight ounce baby Joba.

…Not a big fan of the Obama fellow in office now. I hate his policies, but I love the fact that he’s a baseball fan. It was cool to see him in the press box. Joe Buck’s voice makes people commit suicide, but it was still cool seeing this. …Now his first pitch? Not impressed. It had no heat on it. Then again, if it did, he’d tell it to cool down. It’s letting off too many carbon emissions.

I’m watching the Home Run Derby and have been so far disappointed. Nelson Cruz and Prince Fielder looked ok, then came Brandon Inge who drew the collar. The AL doesn’t have the best crushers out tonight, and I know many of them turn down the invitation due to superstition and such. However this game benefits charity, and the more home runs that are hit, the more that is donated. I never considered Inge much of a masher. He puts up 20 home run seasons, and I give him credit for doing so at Comerica, but he didn’t look good this evening. On that note, be glad that Ichiro turned down the invitation.

Hey, your’s truly will be live-blogging tomorrow’s All Star Game held in St. Louis. I’ve did this before, and the results were interesting. I got my case of beer ready.

Man, Chris Berman’s voice is annoying as ever tonight.

Watch the 2009 All Star Game Tuesday July 14th at 8PM EST on FOX.

I haven’t written here in a while. It’s a long story, no doubt. However I wanted to discuss one of my most favorite topics, the MLB Amateur Draft. I know to some people like Keith Law and John Sickels, today is a national holiday for them (actually it’s more of a weekend, given the three days of the draft.) For me, it’s another day of drinking, though not as excessive as Flag Day.

Anyone with their right mind knew that the Nationals were going to take Stephen Strasburg, it’s a given. And we are all ready to watch the contract negotiations unfold with Scott Boras in the picture. My popcorn is ready. The Mariners took UNC 1B/CF Dustin Ackley with the obvious #2 pick. Honestly I would have liked to see him fall down to the #5 spot (which the Orioles had), but he was clearly the best hitter in the draft. And with Scott Boras as his “advisor", like Strasburg he could easily command 10MM in guaranteed money. I saw Ackley play this weekend Sunday against South Carolina, and liked what I saw. Great batting eye, great defense (especially when he moves back to CF after the injury heals), however it might take some time for his power to develop.

…

The first four picks of the draft were rightly predicted, however the Orioles surprised me by taking Matt Hobgood. From what people are writing, he’s a big kid who’s projected to be a power pitcher in the late innings. The Orioles could have taken Zack Wheeler (as I expected), but I think signability played a role here. Baltimore’s system is loaded with young pitching, but Wheeler would have fit nicely (in the big leagues by 2012.) San Fransisco immediately took him with the next pick (and he looks nice with Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson in the system as well.)

If Baltimore hadn’t taken Wheeler, I thought about (UNC SS) Grant Green as a possibility, but then he didn’t fit the mold as a typical defensive shortstop that Andy MacPhail wants. I really would have liked them to get Wheeler, and I’m curious to know the motivations why he wasn’t picked. From what Rich Lederer wrote in today’s live blog:

Hopgood was named the 2009 Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year yesterday. He is a big bodied pitcher who can also hit. Baltimore clearly liked him better than any other team. He is committed to Cal State Fullerton but is likely to be a fairly easy sign at this spot.

Still him and Marc Hulet were just as surprised as I was. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t question Joe Jordan, whose done an excellent job as the scouting director for the Orioles in the past four years, but this move has me scratching my head.

Then again the economy clearly played a role here. I’ve never before seen so many high school arms seeking Rick Porcello money (a bad precedent the minute it was set by Detroit.) But then again that didn’t stop many teams today, especially Detroit (again), who took Justin Turner at the #9 spot (and he could command 7MM by the August 17th deadline.)

***

Now back to the main story, the Nats took Strasburg. What would it take to sign him? I’d offer him 15MM right off the bat and leave the offer on the table. That’s what everyone is expecting, and I feel that it is clearly fair. He won’t get 50MM (sorry Jon, Boras Corporation contractor), not in this economy. There have been stories galore leading up to today which shown the #1 pitching picks from years back… the best of the bunch was Andy Benes, a mediocre Padres pitcher who compiled a .500 winning percentage in his career. His brother Alan also pitched in the National League, and like his brother was a .500 pitcher (29-28 over eight seasons.)

Outside of Strasburg, we might see Ackley get 10MM, and I think that’s a strong possibility. Still, in looking at this draft, it was clearly top heavy. Last year’s draft showcased more pure hitters, while this one showcased tons of high school arms. Still I expect most of these players to wait until the last minute to sign, like last season. Granted some first round picks from last year signed quickly, like Buster Posey (Giants), Tim Beckham (Rays) and Kyle Skipworth (Marlins.) This year might be different. I expect the Pirates to sign Tony Sanchez quickly, and the same thing goes with the Orioles and Hobgood. Maybe that’s a good thing, since Brian Matusz and Matt Wieters waited until the 11th hour to sign in years past. Hopefully he’ll sign quickly and will be playing ball in the rookie leagues by Summer’s end.

David Pinto of Baseball Musings is holding an annual pledge drive for his site. He raised over $2,500 so far, and we should all contribute something. I just did, I hope others follow. It should be noted that writing on BM is Pinto’s full time job.

Pinto’s Lineup Analysis tool has gotten some exposure recently on MLBTR, and both have been using it to project all 30 teams’ offense for the 2009 year. I personally have used his DBD Database more often than not, especially for researching which starters pitched for a team however many years back.

In other words, donate something to the site. The contributions are used to fund the massive data which is fed to the above Python scripts.

So I got drunk Friday night and overslept a huge fantasy draft on Saturday morning. I’m really pissed too, since it’s a really competitive, invite-only league, and my mad-skills kinda raked last year. My team was auto-picked, and it sucks. I understand how auto-pickers work; the algorithm attempts to grab the best player available at the position. In other words, I’m stuck with a pretty sweet crop of outfielders. My infield blows, my pitching staff fucking sucks (both starting and relieving.) I think I can salvage things here with this disaster… pitching is best found on the waiver wires anyways.

I had the same issue happen to me last year with a fantasy football team. In other words I was that kid who showed up with eight quarterbacks. Oh well, my strategy now changes. I was really hoping to draft a catcher as soon as I can. Think about it… we have Brian McCann, we have Joe Mauer, we have Russell Martin and then it falls off. I know Matt Wieters is now a household name, however I’m not sure where he went in this one particular draft.

I was eying the fourth round to draft a catcher. From what I’ve experienced, people get scared off if you draft too early. That is if I was to draft McCann in the fourth round, we’d have other owners being:

Oh shit. He didn’t just draft a catcher, did he?

At that point, the other catching studs are off the board. The same thing happens in fantasy football, especially if you draft a tight end (or in some leagues a defense) too early. In either case, if you party and chase girls the night before, you’re stuck with Jason Varitek (whom I ripped all Winter) and Gerald Laird on your roster the day after. That’ll teach me a lesson. Yes I’m smart enough to clean up the roster via waiver wire pickups, however good catching doesn’t come along too often, and this will be tough to fix.

***

A few things happened since I was last here. Scott Baker got a four year, 15MM extension a few weeks back, and Jon Lester got a five year, 30MM contract yesterday. Both the Twins and Red Sox aren’t getting discounts, and I give credit to the two pitchers for striking while the iron’s hot. And the Astros signed Ivan Rodriguez to a contract worth 1.5MM… good move on both sides, though FanGraphs doesn’t consider him much more of an upgrade on J.R. Towles. I gave up on Towles, and am now starting to consider Pudge for this fantasy team as I speak…

***

I wanted to close with an interesting graph I came up with for Johan Santana:

Google “charts” the Mets’ ace.

What do we see here? Easy. Johan’s ERA and Ks dropped when moving to the National League last year. However his WHIP was high, and his K/9 and BB/9 were also alarming. However the scary part behind his season last year was that 3.50 FIP. In other words his ERA should have been around 3.00 or so last year, but he got assisted with one hell of a defense (especially Mr. Beltran and Mr. Wright and Mr. Reyes…)

Santana’s a great pitcher, but his supporting cast saved his ass last year, sans his bullpen. That could change for this season, and I could see Johan winning 20. I think his ERA will be about what it was this past season, and I expect him to be fine in 2009 (he got off to a rough start last season.)

It’s tough to project the Mets’ ace. If you’d see, his 2007 and 2008 campaigns were very similar. He struck out about 20 more hitters with the Twins, yet his ERA was down by nearly a run as a Met. The result, he was a 4.6 WAR pitcher in both seasons. He also reached a career high in innings last season, and could that be a problem this season? We hope not. Still is the Santana of old going to return in 2009? I’m not sure. I highly doubt he’ll ever be a 7 WAR pitcher again though, something Tim Lincecum was last year (at a worth of 33MM, he was highly deserving of that Cy Young award.) Santana is a very good pitcher, and is a solid ace, but that Major League leading 2.53 ERA is hella-deceiving.

Rob Neyer of ESPN brought up four solid relievers who can be had for cheap:

Relief Pitchers: Joe Beimel, Chad Cordero, Dennys Reyes, Rudy Seanez

Over the past three seasons – all as a Dodger – Beimel was 11-4 with a 3.04 ERA. He gave up seven home runs in 2006, but has allowed just one over the past two seasons and 116 innings. Oh, and he’s a lefty. Either he’s a lousy guy in the clubhouse or his agent’s not having a good winter. Because for the past 50 years there’s been a place in the majors for a guy like Beimel, and I expect there will be for the next 50.

Cordero just has to convince someone he’s healthy. I don’t think he’ll ever be an elite closer again (if he ever was) because he gives up too many home runs. But he’s 26 and he’s got a 2.78 career ERA, and might make someone a fine setup man someday.

Reyes is sort of like Beimel without the fastball (and thus the innings). Last season, he got into 75 games with the Twins and somehow totaled only 46 innings. Which might be some sort of record. Funny thing is, he’s not that bad against right-handed hitters. Anyway, if somebody’s looking for a LOOGY and can’t afford Beimel, Reyes is a solid choice.

And finally, I can’t let the opportunity pass to mention Seanez, who has pitched in the majors since 1989 (with a couple of enforced breaks) with nine different teams (including the Padres for three stints). He’s 40, but pitched effectively in each of the past two seasons and picked up a World Series ring with the Phillies last year. I’m not convinced yet that he’s not the new Jesse Orosco.

With that all “said", take Reyes off the list. The Cardinals nicely upgraded their bullpen for a guaranteed 3MM. Nothing against Brian Fuentes, who the Cardinals were interested in and is a very solid pitcher, but Reyes is a much more cost-effective answer, who costs a sixth of what Fuentes signed for.

Lots of stuff to run through quickly, but I see no need to use an ordered list here… on Friday last week the Twins inked Joe Crede to a one year deal somewhere between 2.5MM and 7MM. His offense was the main thing dragging him down in 2008, and if he rebounds in 2009, it’ll be good for both him and the Twins. With this news, I still see no need for Seattle to reduce their asking price for Adrian Beltre, who will be a hot name this November. … Speaking of other signings, Los Angeles signed Orlando Hudson to a one year deal worth 3.4MM. If he hits his incentives, he’ll be given a compensation of 8MM. He’s worth the 8MM, but is not worth the 15MM that he was originally seeking. Still with this, the team should really focus on getting Manny signed…

Speaking of other Type As who turned down their arb offers back in December, I could see (the other Orlando) Cabrera in Oakland, however not at 5.5MM, since he’ll cost an unprotected first round draft pick in the process. The same thing applies with the Twins and Juan Cruz. …

Hindsight is 20/20 for Cruz, and other players who gave the middle finger to their arb offers. (Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic)

I’m changing my mind now on Garrett Anderson’s contract, only because he’s only getting 2.5MM. RotoWorld called this move an “uninspired” signing by Frank Wren, but at that price Anderson’s worth it. If he gave the money that the Angels gave to Gary Matthews Jr. two plus years ago, it would be another story. Still I wish they would have signed Jim Edmonds instead…

Rich Lederer from Baseball Analysts sums up the arbitration cases nicely, and I agree with him when he calls Jeff Francoeur “overrated.” … Edwar Ramirez might have been referred to as “good hittin’” by Kevin Millar, but others disagree. The same thing applies to the rest of the Yankees’ relatively unknown (yet effective) bullpen. … and lastly in regards to Rick Kranitz’s “mystery starter”, I like David Pauley. Just say “no thanks” to Danys Baez.

Ryan Zimmerman signed a one year (not multi-year) contract. With that news, we have no more arbitration hearings for 2009:

Bring on the playoffs baby.

I wrote about this yesterday, but it seems that teams and players are now sprinting away from arbitraiton hearings. Or as David Pinto just put it today:

Might we set a record for fewest hearings in a year?

Add Josh Willingham to the list that also had Mike Jacobs, Kelly Johnson, Willy Aybar and Corey Hart added it to hours ago. And with Ryan Zimmerman now thinking long term, there aren’t too many arbitration cases left that need to be settled.

News item of today: Andre Either signed a 3.1MM deal. Finally the corner outfielders are starting to sign, as in we saw this past weekend with Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel. Will Corey Hart and Ryan Zimmerman come to terms now? I’m not sure. Still we’re starting to see fewer arbitration cases than we did last year. Last year we had eight cases, this year we have three so far (the players winning two of them.) This year with teams locking down their players (notably Ryan Howard), arbitration isn’t as fun this year as it was years in the past. Granted the month is still young…

Also, Edwin Encarnacion agreed to terms on a two-year deal. He’ll make 7.6MM over the next two, leaving one year of arbitration for him (2011) on the table. If Encarnaction goes deep 35 times, as projected by RotoProfessor, then this deal will look good for Walt Jocketty and Co., regardless of how bad Edwin will look in the field.

… by getting drunk tonight.

Baseball needs more David Wells, seriously folks.