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.

The Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks finished 2011 strong, winning the NL West. They had a record of 94-68 and may very well repeat something similar to that in 2012.

A major part of The Diamondbacks' success was their young and effective starters. Ian Kennedy won 21 games for The D-Backs and Daniel Hudson won 16. Their ages are 27 and 24 respectively. In the 2011-2012 offseason they traded for another young starter in Trevor Cahill. Although Cahill didn't win 18 games with a sub 3.00 ERA like he did in 2010, the 23 year old had a 12-14 record with a 4.16 ERA over 207 innings. That is good enough to be an effective number 3 starter in the NL West.

The Diamond Backs have a young and effective offense as well. Lead by Justin Upton in right field. Upton had a .369 on base percentage, 31 home runs and a .529 slugging percentage, giving him a 141 OPS+. Another offensive superstar in Phoenix is Chris Young. Although his OPS+ is only 103, he can hit home runs and get on base. In 2011 he had a .331 on base percentage and 20 home runs. Miguel Montero is their young catcher. He is 28 years old and is in the prime of his career. Montero had a 121 OPS+ in 2011 making him one of the best offensive catchers.

In the bullpen is Takashi Saito, JJ Putz, and the newly acquired Craig Breslow. Saito and Putz had ERA's close to 2.00 and Breslow had an 3.79 ERA. That adds up to a decent back end of the bullpen.

The Diamond Backs play in the National League West which isn't a powerful offensive division. It is oriented around pitching and The D-Backs definitely have that. They will compete well with Th.es Giants and it can go either way.