Well, this has been a busy week. Gone are a few familiar faces, arriving are a few new ones. And for almost all of the teams in the NL East this week, with the passing of the deadline to tender or non-tender arbitration eligible players, there's a lot of movement in baseball. I'm ecstatic to see that Eric Hinske will be back for another year, and I'm optimistic about Scott Linebrink, but regardless of the debating, I'm feeling melancholy to see Matt Diaz's time in Atlanta come to a close.
Welcome back to another week of Things Read in Other Moms' Basements.
GO HOKIES.
Javier
Vazquez signs one-year deal with Marlins - MLB
Our old friend is now going to become our new adversary, as he signed a one-year
deal with the Fish. $7M and full no-trade clause, and Javy is happy to be very
close to Puerto Rico. Evidently, this is one of those cases where we throw last
year out the window and reserve judgment until the start of the season, since
as we very well know, he's capable of being a different beast in the NL East.
Tendered
and non-tendered - Sun Sentinel
Tendered: Anibal Sanchez (duh), Ricky Nolasco (duh), Clay Hensley, Burke Badenhop,
Leo Nunez (our b*tch), and Edward Mujica. Guys who were non-tendered: RP Jose
Veras, and a no-brainer, Ronny Paulino, since John Buck will outright replace
him. The funny thing about Paulino is that regardless of where he may or may
not land next year, as long as he is on a Major League team, he still has to
sit out the remaining eight games of his 50-game suspension for substance abuse.
Chris
Coghlan, center fielder - MLB
This'll be good. Never played CF in the majors before, and coming off knee-surgery.
I get the impression this is going to turn into one of those scenarios like
Alfonso Soriano playing CF for the Cubs, and Suzuki Ichiro trying out CF for
the Mariners. Hint: both ended in failures, and required the acquisition of
a defensive WARG guy to take over, and the supplanting of someone.
John
Baker to be relied upon as LHB off the bench - Fish Bytes
Recent Tommy John surgery will prevent him from really throwing for a year,
but that doesn't mean he still can't swing a bat. He won't be doing any catching
duties in 2011, but he'll be spending a lot of the year coming off the bench
to pinch-hit.
Ruben
Gotay signed to minor league deal - Sun Sentinel
Former Brave, Met and Royal, Gotay signs with the Fish with hopes to be another
utility infielder option, along with Omar Infante. His last Major League action
was in 2008 with Atlanta, and spent all of last year in the Cardinals' AAA squad.
Sucks
to be Andrew Miller - Fish Stripes
Traded to the Red Sox, and immediately non-tendered afterward. Can't feel good.
Introducing
"Patience and Power" - Marlin Maniac
In reference to Logan Morrison's supposed patience, and Mike Stanton's obvious
power. I'm not going to lie, the only reason I really linked it, it because
it reminded me of the short-lived WWF tag team of Hercules and Paul Roma, "Power
and Glory."
K-Rod
pleads guilty to assault - MLB
That's a no-brainer. What isn't though, is that new GM Sandy Alderson has stated
that he's going to be the closer next year. I would've been impressed if he
wanted to make a splash and found ways to sever ties with K-Rod, Oliver Perez,
and Luis Castillo, but I guess not.
Mets
"deep into talks" with Chris Young - MLB
What does that even mean? Deep into talks? It sounds like phone canoodling,
where boyfriends ask their girlfriends what they're wearing right now, but regardless,
the Mets are interested in bringing the 6'10 starting RHP to New York after
the Padres got tired of all his injuries and let him fly. Oh yeah, they're also
interested in former Rockies pitcher, Jeff Francis.
Tendered
and non-tendered - MLB
Tendered contracts were three huge no-brainers, and the most valuable players
for the 2010 Mets: Mike Pelfrey, Angel Pagan, and R.A. Dickeyface. I'm not surprised
at the non-tendering of John Maine, who spent most of the last few years plagued
by injury, but I am a little surprised to see that Chris Carter was non-tendered,
considering his average play in limited capacity, which was better than lots
of their prior options. RP Sean Green was also non-tendered, for essentially
the same reason as Matt Diaz - the cost would've been higher than the team wanted
to pay. Stupid collective bargaining agreements.
Pedro
Feliciano refuses arbitration, becomes free agent - MLB
Pros: Saves the Mets roughly $4M, nets them a draft pick. Cons: They don't really
have a lefty in the bullpen anymore. Unless you count the recently
signed to Minor League deal, Mike O'Connor. Of course, they can always sign
Hideki Okajima, who was recently non-tendered by the Red Sox, to be the obligatory
Japanese guy out of the Mets bullpen for 2011.
Or,
just move Oliver Perez to the bullpen and be a $12M LOOGY - NY Daily News
Hey, at this point, if the Mets can get any outs out of Oliver Perez,
I say, do it.
Hisanori
Takahashi signs with the Angels - LA Times
Figure that, a Japanese player going out to California. Two years, $5.5M, and
lots of expectations, like stabilizing the Angels bullpen, and being
a contingency plan for the once-great Scott Kazmir.
OPS
Guy signs 4-year, $56M contract with Chicago White Sox - WaPo
The Adam Dunn saga finally comes to an end, as he finally gets his desired fourth
year from the Chicago White Sox. What I'm curious about is what position he's
going to play for them, what with the may or may not re-signing of Paul Konerko
which would eliminate 1B, and sending him back to the outfield isn't ever really
that great of a deal. Either way, regardless of what he feels about it, I'm
pretty sure he's going to end up being a DH anyway.
And
the biggest repercussions may come from the Franchise - MLB
Apparently, the fans aren't the only ones disappointed with the Nationals' inability
to sign OPS Guy. Ryan Zimmerman, who was close friends with Dunn during his
tenure has made his voice heard of his between-the-lines disappointment at the
team with cryptic statements towards the direction of the team. I respectfully
disagree with Zim, whom I make no secret of being a fan of, because Dunn or
no-Dunn, I think the team is still headed in the general correct direction,
based on the building of the team from within, on the farm. I tip my e-cap to
the Nationals office for not caving into their offer, the fans' demands, and
sticking to their guns, and I'm especially relieved that the Braves will no
longer have to face Dunn anymore, for at least three years.
Another
by-product of the Tulo deal - MLB
If I could hand-pick my own starting left-infield, it would very likely end
up being Troy Tulowitzki and Ryan Zimmerman. And seeing what Tulo got, Zim has
alluded to the fact that he'd love a similar deal to lock up him in Washington
for the next decade. It's debatable to whether he deserves it or not, but personally,
if anyone does, it's Zim, who like Tulo, is outstanding with the bat, and plays
excellent defense to boot.
Tendered
and non-tendered - WaPo
The Nationals had a ton of players arbitration eligible, and unlike most teams,
many were tendered contracts: Zombie Jesus Flores and Alberto Gonzalez have
already agreed to one-year deals, $750K, and 600K respectively. P John Lannan,
P Sean Burnett, P Doug Slaten, UT Michael Morse, and OF Josh Willingham were
all tendered contracts. I'm curious to what's going to happen with Willingham,
who was denied a request for a multi-year deal. But non-tendered were C Wil
Nieves (no room), Chien Ming-Wang (didn't even play), and Joel Peralta (Got
greedy, wanted two years).
Speculation:
Carl Pavano? - NDN
Having actually completed a full season with minimal injury, Carl Pavano is
looking to be sold high on, and the Nationals could be interested. Maybe a move
back to the NL could rejuvenate his career a la Javier Vazquez?
A
no-brainer - MLB
Jayson Werth declines arbitration, doing the Phillies a favor by getting them
two draft picks.
And
he's meeting with, you guessed it, Red Sox - Beerleaguer
Come on, it's pretty much a forlorn conclusion that he ends up in Boston, right?
Who
could replace Werth? Surely, Matt Diaz - Philly.com
I understand the happenstance of Matt Diaz's forced departure from the Braves,
but it doesn't make me any less disappointed to see him leave. But to see just
how much the Phillies World is apparently
salivating at
the idea of acquiring him for themselves is kind of nauseating. Their ideas
for right field are a little puzzling, with such names as Diaz, Domonic Brown,
Ross Gload and Ben Francisco being thrown out there to succeed Werth, but the
realistic option is to get Diaz, and do what he does best - platoon him in left
with Raul Ibanez.
Never
giving up - USA Today
Despite the fact that he'll be 49 come the start of the 2012 season, Jamie Moyer
will. Not. Surrender. Fresh off of Tommy John Surgery, the ageless wonder is
planning on returning to baseball in 2012, no matter who he's playing for.
Ben
Francisco, Kyle Kendrick tendered contracts - Philly.com
Both are logical moves, since Francisco will see a lot of time platooning or
starting in right-field with Domonic Brown, or until Brown is fully ready, and
Kendrick is a fully capable fifth starter.
Phillies
show interest in Abobo Dennys Reyes - Beerleaguer
Yes please. In the wake of J.C. Romero's likely departure, the Phillies are
looking at options like Dennys Reyes to fill the spot of bullpen lefty. In 13
years, the 34-year old tubby has bounced around to ten different teams, and
guess which team he's forfeited the most home runs to? That's right, the Braves.
They're reportedly interested in lefties such as Arthur Rhodes, and potential
former Mets, Pedro Feliciano and Hisanori Takahashi.
How
does Troy Tulowitzki's contract potentially effect Jimmy Rollins? - Phillies
Nation
Always fun to think of these scenarios, how one player's massive deal effects
another player of a similar position. How the most dynamic shortstop in the
game, in Troy Tulowitzki effect J-Roll, who hits free agency soon? Now that
I think about it, I kinda cringe wondering if Brian McCann and his agent are
keeping their eye on Joe Mauer's contract when Heap hits free agency in 2014?