Reel in the Big Fish

So some crazy stuff has went down in baseball. Trades, free agent signing, etc. Lets start covering all of it.

The Giants resigned center fielder Angel Pagan to a 4 year $40 MM deal. A good move for San Francisco to keep a popular player.

The Texas Rangers sign right handed relief pitcher Joakim Soria to a 2 year $8 MM deal. They lost a lot this off season, so maybe a good bullpen arm will help the Rangers out.

A big surprise came from the Nationals signing starting pitcher Dan Haren to a 1 year $13 MM deal. Haren is a great pitcher coming off a sub par year. Haren in undoubtedly better than Edwin Jackson, and I think Haren is one of the most under rated pitchers in the MLB. He joins the strongest rotation in the MLB with Strausburg, Gonzalez, and Zimmerman.

The Red Sox signed switch hitting outfielder Shane Victorino for 3 years $37 MM. Some say that Victorino signing with the Red Sox may be a sign that they are trying to move Ellsbury. It would be a stupid decision to move Ellsbury. He has a great combo of speed and power. If anything, see how far into the season you get, then trade him.

The San Francisco Giants strike again by signing Post Season hero Marco Scuttaro to a 3 year $20 MM deal. He will man second base and is also a fan favorite in San Francisco. A good move for the Giants.

The White Sox signed infielder Jeff Keppinger to a 3 year $12 MM contract. He is coming off a year where he hit .325/ .367 /.439 in 418 plate appearances for the Tampa Bay Rays. Probably an  improvement over Kevin Youkilis.

The Cardinals signed left handed reliever Randy Choate to a 3 year $7.5 MM deal.

The Angels signed left handed reliever Sean Burnett to a 2 year $8 MM deal. A good pick up for the Angels.

The Phillies traded pitcher Vance Worley and Trevor May to the Twins for center fielder Ben Revere. The speed demon will be a good fit in Philly. He is good on defense and can hit for average. The downside, he has yet to hit a home run at the MLB. The Twins acquire two young starters who have bright futures.

The Red Sox continued the free agent shopping by Signing Koji Uehara to a 1 year $4.25 MM deal. He will be good at the end of games along side Andrew Bailey, the closer.

The Diamond Backs signed starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy to a 2 year $15.5 MM deal. McCarthy took a line drive to the head in the regular season and had to have season ending brain surgery. He is fine now and has reportedly began to throw again. He posted a 3.24 ERA in 2012 and really should have gotten more attention this off season.

The Phillies worked another trade out, this time with the Texas Rangers. They acquired infielder Michael Young in exchange for Josh Lindbolm and a minor league player. The Rangers are eating $10 MM of the $16 MM owed to Young. The Rangers really have been mistreating a player that has been with the franchise for so long. I believe that is why Young was willing to waive his no trade clause.

One of the Big Fish, Zack Geinke signed the largest contract ever for a pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers. A 6 year $147 MM contract will be paid out the Greinke who will join a rotation with Clayton Kershaw and Josh Beckett. Lets see if Greinke lives up to the contract.

The Cleveland Indians signed 1B/3B Mark Reynolds to a 1 year $6 MM contact. The power hitter will most likely play first base most of the season.

The Royals acquired starting pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis in exchange for super outfield prospect Wil Myers, starting pitcher Mike Montgomery, pitcher Jake Odorozzi, and third baseman Patrick Leonard. The Royals' rotation is beginning to look very respectable. James Shields, Jeremy Guthrie, Ervin Santana, Wade Davis, and Bruce Chen can contend in the AL Central.

The Pirates resigned relief pitcher Jason Grilli to a 2 year $6.75 MM deal. Grilli posted a 2.91 ERA from 2011-2012. He is a good set up man for closer Joel Hanrahan.

The Dodgers also agreed to sign left handed Korean super star Ryu. He signed for 6 years $36 MM. He is untested, but will be pitching in a big park with good defenders.

The Twins signed starting pitcher Kevin Correia to a 2 year $10 MM contract. With Correia, who posted a 4.21 ERA in 2012, the Twins' rotation is looking respectable for seasons to come.

The Royals lost Joakim Soria, but signed George Sherril and Dan Wheeler to minor league deals. Both are question marks, but could be a good addition to the bullpen for the Royals.

Kevin Youkilis joined the dark side according to many Red Sox fans. The Yankees signed the third baseman to a 1 year $12 MM contract. He will be filling in the injured Alex Rodriguez, who is having hip surgery in the near future.

The Reds acquired Shin-Soo Choo in a three team trade with the Diamond Backs and the Indians. Super pitching prospect Trevor Bauer will go to the Indians in exchange for a bundle of prospects. Choo is going to play center field for the Reds. I don't think he is a center fielder, but we'll see how this works out.

The Dodgers traded for second baseman Skip Schumaker in exchanged for a short stop prospect. He will join the stacked Dodger lineup.

The Yankees signed fan favorite Ichiro Suzuki to a 2 year $13 MM deal. Ichiro really wanted to return to the Yankees and rejected a greater deal from the Phillies. Depending on what the Yankees do in trades and the free agent market, Ichiro will play right field.

The biggest surprise of the off season, the other Big Fish, Josh Hamilton signed with the Angels for a mega deal for 5 years $125 MM. The Angels are stacked, they have 20 year old super star Mike Trout, multi-time MVP Albert Pujols, homer happy Mark Trumbo, powerful Kendrys Morales and now Josh Hamilton. Expect the Angels to not have a repeat of last season, especially with a deflated Rangers ball club.

The Red Sox signed starting pitcher Ryan Dempster to a 2 year $26.5 MM contract. He is a good fit in Boston. He is the starting pitcher they need along side Jon Lester, the Red Sox are back in it for 2013.

The Tigers resigned Anibal Sanchez to a 5 year $80 MM deal. He went into the off season seeking a 4 year $60 MM deal, but I guess the Tigers really wanted him. He is a good pitcher and still young. The Tigers will be contending with the Royals in 2013.

Trading Places

Some trades took place today, no really big names were involved, but still exciting. One trade involved the Rockies and Royals. The two teams swap Jeremy Guthrie and Jonathan Sanchez. Perhaps a change of scenery will do well for these two struggling pitchers.

Guthrie traded for the second time this season

The Blue Jays and Astros conducted a 10 player deal that didn't involve any really big names as well. The Blue Jays will receive a trio of pitchers J.A. Happ, Brandon Lyon, and David Carpenter. The Astros will receive  Francisco Cordero, Ben Francisco, and minor league players Joe Musgrove, Asher Wojciechowski, David Rollins and Carlos Perez, and a player to be named later. 


The Orioles acquire Omar Quintanilla from the Mets for later considerations. This was to clear space for the return of Jason Bay. 


We expect a trades of Ryan Dempster and possibly Cole Hamels and Zach Greinke. The latter two are less likely because the Phillies offered Hamels 130 million over 6 years and the Brewers offered Greinke 100+ million over 5 years. 

The Kansas City Royals

The Royals finished with a 71-91 record in the 2011 season. They are a factory for young talent and may be in the contention for a wild card in a few years.

Billy Butler is often looked over when people think of a great DH. Butler has played 4 full seasons and has a .361 on base percentage and a .459 slugging percentage over that time. He has 66 home runs and 162 doubles over that period as well. Eric Hosmer is 22 years old and in his rookie season he hit 19 home runs, and had a .799 OPS. That will only improve with time. Mike Moustakas played 89 games as the third baseman for The Royals and slugged .367 over that time. He is only 23, but scouts say he has a lot of talent.

The Royals traded Melky Cabrera for Jonathon Sanchez. Sanchez had an elevated ERA in 2011. His ERA is 4.26 over his career and coincidental 4.26 in 2011. In 2010 his ERA was 3.07, proving what he can really do. All of the other spots in The Royals' rotation are only question marks. They don't have any great aces or all stars, but they do have a treat in the bullpen.

From 2007-2010 Joakim Soria's ERA was 2.01, but in 2011 it fluctuation to 4.03. Over 5 years Soria has managed to get 160 saves for The Royals and has  9.7 K/9. Jonathon Broxton also joined The Royals' roster this off season. He has a 3.19 ERA over 7 seasons for The Dodgers. He has been having trouble in his past few years with a 4.04 ERA in 2010 and just 12 innings pitched in 2011, but I think the royals can get some production out of him.

The Royals will not win The AL Central this year and probably not for a while. They need to develop their pitching more and have their prospects shine. The Tigers are a definite force to be reckoned with, but in the future The Royals may bring them down. Lets not forget that the all star game will be at Kaufman Stadium this year.


 

The San Francisco Giants

The Giants finished 2011 with a record of 86-79. It was a definite downgrade from when they won the World Series in 2010. They still kept their phenomenal pitching, but need help with offense.

The pitching for The Giants speaks for itself. Here are the 2011 stats of the projected 2012 starting rotation:

Tim Lincecum: 13-14, 2.74 ERA, 217 innings, 220 strikeouts.
Matt Cain: 12-11, 2.88 ERA, 221 innings, 179 strikeouts.
Madison Bumgarner: 13-13, 3.21 ERA, 204 innings, 191 strikeouts.
Ryan Vogelsong: 13-7, 2.71 ERA, 179 innings, 139 strikeouts.
Barry Zito: 3-4, 5.87 ERA, 53 innings, 32 strikeouts.

If the Giants can find someone else to be the number five starter they will again have one of the best pitching rotations in baseball. The Giants traded Jonathon Sanchez for Melky Cabrera earlier this off season. Sanchez had a 4.26 ERA and 101 innings pitched. Melky Cabrera played in 155 games, hit 18 home runs, 87 RBI's and an 121 OPS+ for The Kansas City Royals. Seeing how the giants can barely score 3 runs a game, this trade benefits them immensely.  

Buster Posey will be back for the 2012 season, which will help The Giants a lot. With Posey, Sandoval, Cabrera, and Aubrey Huff if he can be himself again, The Giants may be the comeback team for 2012. They traded their top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler for Carlos Beltran, who is now with The Cardinals. That has to be the worst trade of 2011. I would have kept Wheeler until the off season and made a trade for someone worth getting. If the Giants can score more runs in a game they can have four 15-20 game winners.

As for the bullpen: If you have a personality like Brian Wilson who needs anyone else, but Sergio Romo is also sporting a beard and a 1.50 ERA over 48 innings. Javier Lopez is a lefty who did well as a reliever also. He had a 2.72 ERA over 53 innings pitched. The Giants have a relatively good bullpen.

The Giants will be a contender for the NL West with the Diamond Backs. It will be a nice race to watch, because it will be so close.