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.

Houston, We Had A Problem

Houston Astros fire GM Ed Wade and President Tal Smith, not too surprising considering new owner Jim Crane promised changes and the team is clearly not in any shape to compete in any division. This is probably something to do with roster moves made in the recent past. Wade traded Lance Berkman, Michael Bourn, Roy Oswalt, and most recently Hunter Pence. That is a lot of good players to trade away and not have rebuilt anything. The Astros do have some solid prospects, but is it worth being a non-factor in baseball for the past few years. The Pence trade brought in some very good young talent and the other trades helped bolster the organization’s prospect strength as well, but how do you trade away Oswalt and Pence to the Phillies without getting top prospect Domonic Brown in return. Brown is a 24 year old outfielder that is just about ready to make major contributions to a big league team, someone that could have been a major piece to the Astros future, but Wade whiffed on acquiring him. Not to say the Phillies and other teams have dominated the Astros in trades recently, but the Astros sure haven’t dominated anyone in that regard either. If you give up top players to a team looking to contend, you should be in the driver’s seat and get top prospects. The Astros need to find a GM who wants to win, and wants to win soon. They need a guy who is going to make moves, develop these prospects they have, or ship them off for ready talent. But they are moving to the AL West in 2013 and it should be a fresh start for them to compete again. They should not have to be sellers at every trade deadline, I welcome the day they will be buyers.

Valbuena Heads North Of The Border

Toronto received Luis Valbuena in exchange for cash considerations from the Cleveland Indians. Low risk, possibly a good return. Valbuena has always showed promise, especially at AAA where in 2011 he hit .302 had a .372 OBP and had 17 homers with 75 RBI’s in 113 games. He’s played 229 games in the majors but the 25 year old hasn’t really put it together up there. He’s a very good fielding 2B, and can be used as a utility player due to his versatility. The offense though, he shows promise but Cleveland didn’t think that was enough to keep him on the 40 man roster so they moved him down to make room on it, and Toronto snatched him up to put him on their 40. I like the move by Toronto, he’s still young and has potential, and at very worst I think he could at least be a productive bench player. At this point he seems to be in a battle with Mike McCoy for the 2B job, with Kelly Johnson likely to decline arbitration, unless the Jays go out and sign or trade for someone else. In that case Valbuena and McCoy would likely be battling for a utility man spot off the bench. The Blue Jays have made moves like this before that worked out well. Jose Bautista was acquired from the Pirates in 2008 for a player to be named later. Bautista started out showing promise even with the pirates but never really put it all together consistently until the end of the ’09 season with the Jays. Could this be a case like Bautista, probably not quite as big of a steal, but Valbuena definitely has the potential to be a good starter if he can translate his 2011 season in AAA into the big leagues. This is an under the radar move that could help Toronto now and in the future as Valbuena is still young and could be a permanent fixture in their lineup if he can harness all the potential and produce. Alex Anthopoulos is a guy who has my trust, he’s made some good moves, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Jays seriously contend in the near future even with a stacked division. They still have work to do but this is a good move.

My Scouting Video

Well what to do in New England on a nice day at the end of November. Play baseball!!!! This is me getting back on the field after a 3 month hiatus. Far too long off if you ask me. I miss the game too much. Me my brother and a few friends balling. Check it. (Video Cred to Kyle Holland, world class video maker).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Keux_s2m8IQ Sorry I couldn't get the video on, but that is the youtube link.

Arbitration: 2011 Edition

I just wanted to take some time to talk about players offered arbitration in 2011. I’ll just focus on the ones I find interesting, but feel free to ask about other one’s as well, which can easily be looked up online at a site like MLB.com. First case I’d like to bring up as interesting. Francisco Rodriguez of the Milwaukee Brewers. Rodriguez, if he accepts, would be due a one year raise from the 13.5 million dollars he made last season. Certainly the Brewers are hoping he declines in search of a longer deal (arbitration only being for one year) and a chance to be a closer for a team again. (Axford is the Brewers closer and Rodriguez was mainly a setup man). However, if Rodriguez accepts, this will certainly hinder the Brewers in the free agent market if they want to resign Prince Fielder, or sign Jimmy Rollins, whom they have a significant interest in. As a type A free agent (while the term lasts) the Brewers are hoping this lands them compensation picks, which would make this move good, but if Rodriguez likes the money then they are more or less screwed. David Ortiz, who made $12.5 million last year, was offered salary arbitration by the Red Sox. That’s an awful lot of money for a player seemingly without anywhere else to go. There isn’t a huge market of the aging 35 year old DH who is in search of a multi-year deal. The likelihood in my mind that he ends up in a uniform that doesn’t say “Boston” on the front of it are slim to none. That was my view before arbitration as well, but I have to feel like he will accept as this is a lot of money and a guarantee that he gets to play next season. I feel like Boston would have been better to not offer him arbitration and sign him for less. I doubt he declines and signs somewhere else, but in that case the Sox would pick up compensation making this a good move. Maybe these two teams are banking on the fact that only 2 of 27 players offered arbitration last year accepted. I’d like to say that offering Josh Willingham, Michael Cuddyer, Kelly Johnson, Ryan Madson, Mark Buehrle, Edwin Jackson, and obviously Fielder, Pujols, Reyes, Rollins, and Wilson were all good moves. On a final note, interesting to me, Carlos Beltran could not be offered arbitration due to a provision in his contract which leaves the question of where he will land still very much up in the air. Arbitration day is a gamble, we’ll see who appear to be the winners and loser on December 7^th, the deadline to accept, which a bunch of players will probably wait for to make their decision.