The Birds and the Fish?

The huge trade between the Blue Jays and the Marlins is complete. The Blue Jays will get Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Emilio Bonifacio, and John Buck. The Marlins will get Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Alvarez, Jeff Mathis, Anthony DeSclafani, Justin Nicolino, and Jake Marisnick. 4 Million Dollars will go to the Blue Jays.

This trade is obviously in favor of the Blue Jays. They get two speed demons, one who is a great hitter, one great pitcher and one good pitcher, and a decent catcher.  The Marlins are dropping their payroll and reconstructing their team.

The way I would construct the lineup for the Blue Jays in the following:

Jose Reyes, Emilio Bonifacio, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Colby Rasmus, Brett Larwrie, Adam Lind, John Buck, Rajai Davis.  

But the Pitching Rotation is even better. Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow, Ricky Romero are a sold four starters although Romero was just terrible this past season.

In other news, Today the Tigers signed right fielder Torii Hunter. He signed a 2 year $26 Mill contract with the Tigers. He will be playing with some of the best and probably play right field and bat 5th or 6th. The projected lineup is the following:

Edwin Jackson, Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Torii Hunter, Jhonny Peralta, Alex Avila, Andy Dirks, Omar Infante.

Not to shabby for these two American League Teams.  

The Miami Marlins

The Marlins finished 2011 with a record of 72-90. They made a lot of moves this off season and I think they will have the biggest difference in wins, for the better.

The pitching rotation for The Marlins is pretty decent. They have Josh Johnson anchoring it, coming back from an injury. His ERA over the past 3 seasons is 2.64. That translates to a 153 ERA+, meaning he is 53% better than league average.  The Marlins also signed Mark Buehrle. Buehrle has pitched 200+ innings for the past 11 seasons which is phenomenal. He has a 3.82 ERA over those 11 seasons which is also really good for a guy who pitches so much. Carlos Zambrano was acquired through trade. He is troublesome but Ozzie Guillen can probably put him in line. Zambrano's ERA was elevated to 4.82 in 2011, but his career ERA is 3.60.

The Marlins also signed the National League leader in batting average, Jose Reyes. Reyes is known for his speed, but in 2011 he had a .384 OBP. His average on base percentage for the past 3 seasons is .355 which is about where it will be for 2012. Hanley Ramirez will be moving to third base to accommodate Jose Reyes. He wasn't so pleased at first, but he is warming up to it. Ramirez is 28 and has a career .380 OBP and a162 game average of 25 home runs and 83 RBI's. The RBI's will increase, because with Reyes in front of him will produce more runners on base. Mike Stanton is 22 years and has established himself as a power hitter. In 2010 and 2011 he hit 22 and 34 home runs respectively. Over those 2 years he also has a 132 OPS+ which is only going to improve with time.

The other signing for The Marlins was Heath Bell. In 2009 Heath Bell established himself as one of the most dominate closers in the game. In the 3 seasons since 2009 he has a 2.36 ERA, 132 saves and 9.6 K/9. The Marlins can stitch together the rest of the bullpen and finish games strong.

The Marlins made a definite bang in the 2011-2012 off season. They are making another attempt to make the post season. If they win the World Series within the next few years lets hope they don't have another fire sale right after.

By the way am i the only person who like the new uniforms?

The Chicago White Sox

The White Sox finished 2011 with a 79-83 record. It was disappointing to see The White Sox do poorly, but that's the unpredictable aspect of baseball we all love so much.

The lineup for The White Sox was hurt by the poor performance of Adam Dunn. He actually had a negative WAR. WAR stands for wins above replacement. His WAR was -2.7 meaning without Adam Dunn the White Sox would have won 2.7 more games. You cannot fault the White Sox for signing him. He had a 138 OPS+ in 2010, but the transition between leagues and to DH must have been incredibly difficult for him. If The White Sox want to do well in 2012 they need to get Adam Dunn back to him old self.

A positive look at the White Sox's lineup is the consistency and excellent performance of Paul Konerko. Konerko has an  average OPS+ of 140 over his last three seasons, which is great. He has also driven in 304 RBI's over that span. The White Sox need to keep one consistent hitter for the entire year and Konerko is definitely that guy.

The rotation looks a little different without Mark Buehrle, because he signed with The Miami Marlins. If Jake Peavy can stay healthy and get back to the Peavy from 2008, The White Sox will have an ace. Peavy hasn't pitched 20 games since 2008 because of injuries. The pitcher to watch is John Danks. He is going to be 27 and hasn't had a big season yet. If 2012 can be his break out season The White Sox may still be alive in the American League Central. The final pitcher worth discussing is Philip Humber. He pitched 163 innings in 2011 with a 3.75 ERA. He 29 and has good stuff. Being in the prime of his career he may be an advantage to The White Sox.

Although they traded away Sergio Santos and Carlos Quentin The White Sox have a chance to improve on their record from 2011, but not by much. They lost big parts of their team in Mark Buehrle, Carlos Quentin and Sergio Santos. I guess The White Sox have decided to start rebuilding. Combined with The Twins, The White Sox can be a thorn in the side of The Tigers.