Twins!

So the Twins supposedly offered Michael Cuddyer a 3 year $25 million deal to stay with the club but Cuddyer took a 3 year deal for $31.5 million from the Rockies. I don’t think you can blame a player for taking the best offer on the table, but I am somewhat surprised Cuddyer left for the Rockies over $5 million. The Twins however, have seemed to replace Cuddyer quite adequately by signing Josh Willingham to a 3 year $21 million deal. Comparing the two I say defensively I’d rather have Cuddyer as he is more solid and versatile, he can play all over the diamond really. Offensively it’s fairly clear over their careers that Willingham is a bigger power threat, and over his career has also been better at getting on base. Cuddyer would seem to be a little faster and strike out less, but overall I think they are very close in who would be the better player. The Twins made an offer that wasn’t accepted and I believe were smart to go out and get a very good player of very similar ability for $3.5 million a year less than they guy they let walk signed for. If there are two free agents that I think are very nearly on the same level it would be Cuddyer and Willingham, so I think the Twins made a good decision to save some money and not pay more than they felt a player was worth. I am a little surprised that these two didn’t get a little more money though, as they signed 3 year deals at 32 years of age, you would assume they will be solid for the duration of the contract. I guess JD Drew ruined teams on giving players like this more money. (I’m only joking, sort of) The free agent market is slimming, but there are still many moves to go before spring training no question about that. Let ‘em keep on coming.

The Mets Doing Business

The Mets traded Angel Pagan to the Giants for Ramon Ramirez and Andres Torres. They also signed Frank Francisco to a 2 year $12 million deal, and Jon Rauch to a 1 year $3.5 million deal. The signing of Rauch and Francisco are great moves, helping their horrendous bullpen greatly, without long term commitments or overspending on a flooded relief pitching market. This will certainly help their bullpen greatly along with Ramon Ramirez acquired in the trade with the Giants. This is a good sign for the Mets as they are making quality moves, and with their organization in shambles that is a nice thing to see. Getting Andres Torres is certainly a downgrade over Angel Pagan in my mind, but a worthy downgrade with the addition of Ramirez to the deal, so the Mets may not be getting big named players like they tried to do in the recent past, but they are building a team that might not lose every single game next season. They likely don’t have much more money to spend this offseason though as they’ve said they had $20-25 million and they are at like $20 million, but it’s been money well spent. Unrelated to the Mets (I’m assuming they aren’t in on one) there are rumored to be some blockbusters in the work. Whether they get done or not is uncertain, but the Indians seem they might be involved in one so watch out for that. Also Andrew Bailey might be on his way to Boston in a package with Josh Reddick and some prospects. This would mean the Sox are relying on Darnell McDonald, and or Ryan Kalish in right field, unless they go out and get someone. I suggest they get someone else if they lose Reddick. Also Gio Gonzalez could be leaving Oakland as Bailey might, but it would take 3-4 very good prospects, but Gonzalez is the kind of pitcher you expect to give up top prospects for, although 4 would be a lot. Stay tuned, I think the next day or two will have some good action. If you want to hear about it, come here because I give you what you need to hear.

Rumor Mill: Winter Meetings 2011 Edition

Winter meetings for baseball, if nothing else, equals a pleather of rumors. True, false, or something in between, but how can you tell? You can’t! Early stages of rumors are generally the least reliable and I don’t put too much into anything until I hear multiple sources that are generally good, say they are so. A lot have been spreading and I’m here to spread them some more, although at this point I feel I actually have a pretty good grasp on what is going on (said optimistically). The big one so far, is that the Marlins have reportedly offered Albert Pujols a 10 year deal most likely with an annual salary exceeding $20mil. Pujols decided not to sign a deal with the Cardinals last year because he wanted more than the $22mil per year they were offering for 9 years. So assuming this deal is greater in per year salary, and taking into consideration the money the Marlins have already spent, the Marlins will have spent more money this offseason than their entire payroll in the last 9 seasons combined if they sign him. Now Pujols wants a no trade clause and the Marlins “don’t do those” so that’s another obstacle, there is no guarantee this deal will get done, but it’s looking more and more likely. Two trades to report, Twins send Kevin Slowey to the Rockies for a player to be named, this should help the Rockies pitching staff add depth, Slowey definitely a quality pitcher, although last year was tough on him with a 6.67ERA in a small 14 game showing. White Sox sent Sergio Santos to the Blue Jays for Nestor Molina. Santos is a solid arm for the Jays pen as he had 92 punchouts in just under 64 innings last season, he will be immediate help for them. Molina will be in the minors almost certainly next season but he will add to a barren farm system in the south side Chicago organization (not that the north side is any better in that department). Molina split time between A/AA and compiled 148k’s/16BB’s in 130.1 innings. I like the deal a lot for Chicago. A few names that are also on the trade block are Kyle Loshe of the Cardinals, John Danks of the White Sox, and Andrew Bailey of the Athlestics, among others. I heard that the Red Sox won the bidding war on shortstop Nakajima, but then heard this was FALSE, Cherington (Sox GM) says they didn’t even put in a bid! Crazy rumors. While there definitely some moves at the winter meetings, don’t expect a ton. A lot of times the meetings are just a spring board for deals to come later. A lot depends on arbitration cases, which are generally very much up in the air at this point, and it can be hard to get deals done in such a short span when there are so many deals to be made. Some other things I’m hearing, Fielder likely done in Milwaukee. The Red Sox offered David Ortiz 2 year deal worth $18 million, but Ortiz wants $25 million, so they are still working on it, the Sox would most likely like to get something done since Ortiz will make a killing in arbitration, which in my opinion they shouldn’t have offered him. I don’t find him to be worth arbitration, and feel the Sox were in the driver’s seat because Ortiz’s market seems bleak. Follow me on twitter @ryandana1 to stay posted on the latest news, or keep checking my blog as I will update with news as much as I can. Gotta love them winter meetings!

The First Domino To Fall?

Heath Bell signs a 3 year $27 million, with the Miami Marlins. Does this trigger more players to join Bell in Miami? The Marlins are a few moves away from being serious contenders even though Bell is the first real move they’ve made this offseason. The have young star on the rise Mike Stanton in right field, Hanley Ramirez at Short (or possibly third), and some pretty decent players in Gaby Sanchez and Omar Infante on the right side of the infield. Logan Morrison a good young prospect in his own right patrolling left field (just had surgery on his right knee, should be ready for start of spring training), starting pitchers Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, and Anibel Sanchez are a solid group. They have the makings of a good team, they really could use a center fielder and someone to play the left side of the infield with Ramirez, and then bolster their pitching staff. Jose Reyes and CJ Wilson are said to be the Marlins primary targets in free agency and if they acquired them which isn’t out of the question at all, they would certainly compete for the NL East. It’s been said the Marlins are looking to add 2 more starting pitchers, most likely sign one and trade for another. Assuming they add two solid guys, and a bat or two, they should be a team to watch, even in a division with the Phillies and Braves. Bell is a very good closer, we might have just witnessed his prime, but no doubt he’s a good edition for the bullpen. Maybe slightly overpaid for, but I think this means the Marlins are serious. So who’s next to take their talents to south beach?

Some Acquisitions To Catch Up On

I haven’t made to many posts lately so here’s one to catch up on some player acquisitions of late. One story that will have implications beyond the players involved in the swap is Chris Iannetta being dealt from the Rockies to the Angels for Tyler Chatwood. This will help the Rockies add to their young pitching options, and make a spot available for Ramon Hernandez. Colorado is rumored to be a favorite destination for Hernandez to land, in order for the veteran to handle the young pitching staff with prospect Wilin Rosario. This also gives the Angels a guy who will most likely see at least a solid share of the catching duties in 2012. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer have made their first big move with the cubs (still waiting on that compensation issue to be dealt with…anyways) signing David DeJesus to play right field for them on a 2 year $9 million deal with an option for a 3^rd year. DeJesus had a down year with Oakland in 2011 but was a solid player for Kansas City from 2003-2010. He’ll look to bounce back as the cubs look to actually win some games this season. Now to a player who I’ve been saying is under the radar, Jonathan Broxton signs a 1 year deal with Kansas City for $4 million with $1 million more in incentives. The former Dodger closer will be KC’s setup man while trying to rebound from elbow surgery. Broxton is still young and if he pitches like he is capable of, it will be quite the bargain, we’ll see how he holds up along with their closer Soria, as he has had his share of shoulder problems. Broxton a good arm out of the pen, and insurance policy for Soria. Some good action in the offseason so far and the winter meetings just around the corner, the hot stove is going to heat up, prepare yourselves.

The MLB Offseason Rolls On, Not Too Many Big Splashes Just Yet Though

To keep you up to date I’m going to quickly run you by some news in the MLB of late. Veteran 36 year old defensive stud Jose Molina signs a 1 year deal worth $1.5 million to play for the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays didn’t bring back Shoppach and traded Jaso, so this fills a need for them, Molina is not a great offensive player but will be a good fit for an always young Rays team who could use leaders like Molina, I think it’s a great fit. It’s been reported that the Phillies reached out to retired closer Billy Wagner to see if he had any interest in coming back and joining their bullpen. He said no, and they moved on signing Jonathan Papelbon. They could still probably use another solid veteran arm in their bullpen, but Madson could come back to them in arbitration, or they could add someone with free agency, there is still a lot of good value arms out there. They say it is not a necessity to bring in another vet to the pen, but I think if they don’t now it will continue to eat away their farm system because they almost certainly would need one or more at the trade deadline. Miami Marlins continue to make people believe they will spend money on some big name free agent this offseason as they had CJ Wilson visit today. Wilson one of the top, if not the top starting pitcher available in this year’s free agency is among good company in sparking the interest of the Marlins. The Marlins have been said to be interested in pretty much everyone on the market from Pujols to Buehrle to Reyes, and now Wilson. A lot of experts are saying they like Miami to land Reyes, which I can’t argue with the fact that it is a strong possibility. This would most likely end with Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez moving to 3B. Finally Johnny Narron was named Brewers hitting coach to replace Dale Sveum who recently became manager of the Chicago Cubs. Narron was a big part of Josh Hamilton’s reemergence to baseball relevancy when he came back with the Cincinnati Reds and when he was traded to the Texas Rangers. Let’s see what he does with what should be a very good Milwaukee lineup next season.

Lifting For Baseball

I always hear pitchers wondering if traditional lifting is alright for them and if stuff like bench pressing will hurt their shoulders. With a pitcher he relies on the health of his arm and without it, he has nothing. So I’m going to shed some light on getting bigger and stronger as a pitcher, and keeping your body healthy while doing it. (Position players should also read, it will still help) Tim Collins, who made his big league debut at the beginning of the 2011 season at just 21 years of age with the Kansas City Royals as a pitcher is exactly the kind of guy you want to look up to while training. He went from 5’5” 131 pound high school senior to now 5’7” 171 pound major league pitcher. He went from a fastball in the low 80’s to one in the low 90’s currently. He worked hard with his strength coach Eric Cressey and it paid off. Now what he did was a lot of basic strength training at first consisting of deadlifts, lunges, pull-ups and chin-ups, rows, pushups, some squats, and dumbbell chest presses. Cressey doesn’t let him do any barbell presses, which I agree from experience put far more stress on your shoulders than dumbbell presses, and Cressey prefers unilateral (working one at a time) movements for the legs. So lunges are much more effective than squats, as they put less stress on your spine/lower back. From my personal knowledge of lifting, closed chain exercises (performed where the hand (for arm movement) or foot (for leg movement) is fixed and cannot move) are much better for your joints, and Open chain exercises (When your hands or feet are able to move) are much more strenuous on the joints. Not to mention the fact that closed chain movements work more muscles. So don’t worry about being the best bench press in the gym, worry about getting into the right shape and condition. Collins needed to add this 40 pounds to his frame to handle the rigors of a long baseball season, it keeps him healthy and his body from breaking down and becoming injured. However, this is muscle he gained, adding muscle even for pitchers can be a good thing, it is necessary to be strong enough and well-conditioned enough to stay healthy for a full season. As far as arm speed I also have learned that your arm will only travel as fast as it can safely slow it back down, so to increase velocity on your throws, strengthening the muscles that slow your arm down will help a lot. I personally like to use resistance bands and simulate throwing, but have it so the resistance band is trying to pull me through my motion, and I must resist, and only let it pull my arm forward very slowly. Great exercises for pitchers, and baseball players in general (Everyone can use to stay healthy) are lunges, sprints, one leg piston squats (with body weight or dumbbells) and hill runs, for the legs. For the upper body, I would do some dumbbell presses for the chest, especially incline presses along with pushups, I would definitely focus on pull-ups and chin-ups for the back along with rows. Also some curls of any kind (I’m a big fan of zottman curls) and some triceps work (I like dips) should be thrown in. Make sure you do some cardio with the lifting and plyometrics are always good to add explosiveness. Core work is always good (although your core works no matter what you do) but to do some leg lifts, which are most effective ab exercise, is ok. But to avoid back pain that often comes with it, decompress your spine with back bridges, this will undo the compressing that bending over while doing any ab exercise does. Also strengthen the rotator cuff with some resistance band movements; I posted a video the rotator cuff moves below. Train hard and train safe.