Hot Stove season wrapping up and spring training is drawing near

This has been a very busy off-season for many MLB teams.  There has been free agency as always but there have  been many trades, more then I can ever remember in one offseason.  It is now about a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting which means that for the most part all of the heavy lifting is done.  This year though it is still pretty active.  I take a look at the latest and what may come next. 

Max Scherzer signs a 7 year 210 million dollar deal with the Washington Nationals.  It is actually half deferred which means he gets half of that in seven years and then the other half for the next seven years.  It is actually a 14 year deal where he will only play for the team for seven years though.  This is a crazy deal and I guess we can say Scott Boras does it again.  The Nationals right now look to be loaded with pitching and are an instant favorite for the World Series. 

James Shields is the only big name left out on the open market and who knows where that is going.  We have heard some things here and there but nothing major regarding Shields.  I would expect his situation to be resolved though in the next couple of weeks. 

The Houston Astros signed Colby Rasmus to a one year deal and were close to acquiring Ryan Vogelsong but that appeared to fall apart and now he may be close to rejoining the San Francisco Giants on a one year deal.  Yovani Gallardo was traded to the Texas Rangers for prospects.  The Red Sox signed Dana Eveland to a minor league deal. 

The Braves have signed former Brave Kelly Johnson and also now on Thursday night have agreed to a one year contract with Jhonny Gomes.  The Cincinnati Reds have signed pitcher Jason Marquis to a minor league deal.  Dontrelle Willis is back in baseball signing a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. 

I wouldn't expect anything really major to happen the rest of the way.  Shields will be signed by someone and there may be a couple of more trades.  It is looking more likely now though that the Philadelphia Phillies will hold on to Cole Hamels until the trade deadline and that the Washington Nationals may hold onto all of their pitchers for right now also.  There is a chance that anything can happen at anytime  though as it already has been a crazy off-season. 

MLB Winter Meetings Recap

It was a wild and very busy four days at the annual baseball winter meetings in San Diego, California.  The local New York teams stayed quiet but the rest of the league didn't.  It used to be just the big spending big market teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cubs etc would make noise but not anymore.  The Oakland Athletics have been very buys, the Chicago White Sox and Miami Marlins were very busy this week, the Red Sox and Cubs were active also. 

The Chicago White Sox signed David Robertson to be their closer.  He got a four year deal for around 46million.   They also traded for starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija from the Oakland Athletics.  The actual trade was RHP Chris Bassitt, C Josh Phegley, 1B Rangel Ravelo and IF Marcus Semien for Samardzija and RHP Michael Ynoa. 

The Cleveland Indians acquired OF/1B Brandon Moss from the Oakland Athletics for minor league second baseman Joe Wendle.  The Athletics were very busy but it appears they are in rebuild mode although Billy Beane doesn't see it that way. 

The Chicago Cubs signed Jason Hammel to a two year deal and then they signed Jon Lester to a six year deal.  The Arizona Diamondbacks finalized their six year deal with cuban Yasmany Thomas.  The Pittsburgh Pirates claimed RHP Josh Lindblom off of waivers from the Oakland Athletics.  The Toronto Blue Jays claimed 1B/OF Chris Colabello off of waivers from the Minnesota Twins.  The Chicago White Sox claimed C Rob Brantly off of waivers from the Miami Marlins.  The Texas Rangers claimed LHP Scott Barnes off of waivers from the Baltimore Orioles. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates resigned pitcher Francisco Liriano to a three year deal.  He had a very good year last year and has stabilized their rotation.  The Chicago Cubs acquired catcher Miguel Montero from the Arizona Diamondbacks for RHP Jeferson Mejia and RHP Zack Godley.  The Anaheim Angels acquired C Drew Butera from the Los Angeles Dodgers for cash considerations or a player to be named later. 

The Miami Marlins acquired second baseman Dee Gordon, RHP Dan Haren and IF Miguel Rojas from the Los Angeles Dodgers for LHP Andrew Heaney, IF/OF Enrique Hernandez, RHP Chris Hatcher and C/IF Austin Barnes.  The Dodgers then acquired second baseman Howie Kendrick from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for LHP Andrew Heaney.  The Angels acquired infielder Josh Rutledge from the Colorado Rockies for RHP Jairo Diaz. 

The Houston Astros signed reliever Luke Gregerson to a three year deal and reliever Pat Neshek to a two year deal.  The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired left handed pitcher/reliever Antonio Bastardo from the Philadelphia Phillies for minor league pitcher Joely Rodriguez. 

The meetings finished with a flurry on the last day.  The San Diego Padres acquired outfielder Matt Kemp and C Tim Federowicz from the San Diego Padres in exchange for catcher Yasmani Grandal, pitcher Joe Wieland and minor league pitcher Zach Eflin. 

The Detroit Tigers acquired outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Rick Porcello.  They also received RHP Alex Wilson and LHP Gabe Speier.  The Miami Marlins acquired Mat Latos from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for RHP Anthony DeSclafani and C Chad Wallach. 

The Minnesota Twins signed pitcher Ervin Santana to a four year deal.  The Kansas City Royals signed 1B/DH Kendrys Morales to a two year deal.  The Detroit Tigers acquired Alfredo Simon a pitcher from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for RHP Jonathan Crawford and infielder Eugenio Suarez.  The Boston Red Sox signed pitcher Justin Masterson to a one year deal. 

The Texas Rangers acquired pitcher Ross Detwiler from the Washington Nationals in exchange for two minor leaguers.  The Miami Marlins acquired RHP Andre Rienzo from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for LHP Dan Jennings.  The New York Mets signed outfielder/1B John Mayberry Jr. to a one year deal. 

The baseball world has another big hot stove Monday

The Boston Red Sox who just a couple years ago proclaimed that the other teams such as their archrivals who spend big can keep doing that but they do business differently now.  Well look how quickly things change, they finished in last place for the second time in three years.  The year in between the two last place finishes did produce a world championship.  They went out and signed Hanley Ramirez who was their property to begin with at the beginning of his career and they also signed Pablo Sandoval.  They spend approximately 190 million on two guys.  Ramirez it appears will be moving to left field where he has never played before other then the winter leagues.  Sandoval is coming off a world championship with the San Francisco Giants and will be the third baseman. 

There is reason to be happy if you are part of Red Sox Nation but I would also be cautious.  Ramirez is always hurt and he isn't known as a great clubhouse guy either.  Sandoval is a very good player who becomes great in the postseason but they are paying him to be great all the time.  There is always a concern with his weight and also his OPS has gone down in three straight seasons.  The Red Sox also need pitching which they appear that they may be getting in free agency or a big trade.  They also have a logjam of players right now. 

The rumors are that they are talking to the Phillies about Cole Hamels and they are also talking to Jon Lester about a reunion although to me that seems less likely.  They really need two starters at the moment as they have Clay Bucholz, Joe Kelly and a bunch of unknown quantities.  The last time the Red Sox did this it didn't work and they tore it apart by trading guys to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Will this time be different, will it bring short term results but long term problems?  Will the New York Yankees react or are they going to act like the Red Sox were pledging to act just a couple of years ago.  There are a lot of questions right now but we will see how this all plays out the rest of the winter into spring training and then the regular season.  The Red Sox are very active right now and people like action just remember though world championships aren't won on paper or in the off-season, they are won from April-October. 

The New York Mets signing of Michael Cuddyer

The Mets signed outfielder Michael Cuddyer to a two year and 21 million dollar deal.  They were the first ones to make a big splash.  Cuddyer is a sign that the Mets are ready to compete and done with their rebuilding mode.  He turned down the one year/15.3 million dollar qualifying offer from the Colorado Rockies.  The Rockies will get a compensation pick from the Mets which will be the number 15 pick in the draft. 

Cuddyer is 35 and a two time all-star.  He was the 2013 National League batting champion.  He is a veteran of 14 seasons with the Minnesota Twins and Colorado Rockies.  He owns a career 279 average and has played in 1,419 games.  He hits and throws right handed.  He played 49 games last season with the Rockies batting 332 with 10 homeruns and 31 RBI.  He made three trips to the disabled list with a left shoulder strain and a left hamstring strain. 

"We talk a lot about not giving up picks.  In this case, we looked at it, did the analysis and decided this player was worth it.  We had a pretty good sense of what was out there.  We're pretty happy that we addressed one of our biggest needs and, although we sacrificed a draft pick, didn't give up any of our current talent," Ricco said.  "We're still in a great position to have a productive meeting at the GM meetings and see how else we can improve the team.  "Certainly we value our draft picks and would like to hold onto them.  But, at the same time, we're looking to win.  So in this case, we decided that the value of Michael Cuddyer was worth it." 

They said that they looked at the injuries and there was nothing too concerning.  They feel he will be a good player for them.  They said the age is the age and their is risk with any signing but this is one they were willing to take.  I think this is a good move for the Mets as long as they add at least a shortstop with it.  I believe they are going to do that and then they are on their way.  They are too close to contending now to not take some risk and spend some money.  He will be a good veteran bat in the middle of their lineup.  It also signals to the fans and the rest of the baseball world that they aren't fooling around anymore and that the Mets are for real now. 

The New York Yankees reach an agreement with Brian McCann

The New York Yankees reach an agreement with Brian McCann


The New York Yankees have opened up their wallets and signed Brian McCann. It is the first big signing of the free agency season. The Yankees who didn’t get much out of the catching position last year now have one of the best in the game. At least offensively that is. McCann isn’t a great defensive catcher but he isn’t horrible either. The Yankees had Jorge Posada for all those years and were able to win. You don’t find really good hitting catchers too often and now they have another on in McCann.

The Yankees did have Russell Martin a couple of years ago but he wasn’t even that good offensively. He hit a lot of homeruns but didn’t hit for a very high average. McCann is near a 280-career hitter. He is a pull hitter, which will play very well in Yankee stadium and their short right field porch. He is a guy who consistently hits 20+ homeruns and now should see a boost in Yankee Stadium. I could see him now hitting 30+ a year.

The Yankees not only gave him 5 years and 85 million, he has a 6th year vesting option which could push it to 100 million. He also has a full no trade clause. He is 29 years old so he is still in his prime.

Is this a risky deal, it could be in the final couple of years of the deal. The Yankees though are the ultimate now team. They are coming off a year where they missed the playoffs and their rivals the Boston Red Sox won it all. The Yankees are not going to rebuild, they are going to reload. This is just the first step; they now have their catcher.

McCann could also move to first base in 2016 when Mark Teixeira becomes a free agent and he will be able to get DH days being in the American League. I think this is a good deal for the Yankees and of course for McCann.

The Yankees will now set their sights on Carlos Beltran and then hope to resign Robinson Cano. If they can do that, it will be some lineup and they could work on the pitching. They have their eyes on Tanaka from Japan but don’t know when and if he will be posted. If he is they figure to go hard after him and hope to resign Hiroki Kuroda also. The Yankees anyway you look at it will have a very busy off-season. It got off to a good start for them on Saturday with this big signing. Stay tuned for more to come and it could be soon.

Rangers win Game Five and move one win away from a World Championship

The Texas Rangers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 4-2 on Monday night. The win put the Rangers up 3-2 in the series and they can wrap it up with a victory on Wednesday night in St. Louis. This has been a great World Series and feels like it will or should go seven games, we will see what happens on Wednesday. The pitching was good again and the difference in the game was clutch hitting by the Rangers and lack of by the Cardinals.
Chris Carpenter started for the Cardinals and pitched well. He was sailing along until he gave up a homerun to Adrian Beltre in the sixth inning. Carpenter pitched seven innings giving up two runs on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Octavio Dotel took the loss pitching 1/3 of an inning giving up one hit and two runs with a walk and a strikeout, Marc Rzepczynski pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and striking out one and Lance Lynn gave up a walk without recording an out. Jason Motte pitched 1/3 of an inning striking out the only batter he faced.

C.J. Wilson pitched 5 1/3 innings for the Rangers giving up four hits and two runs with one of them being earned. He walked five and struck out three. Scott Feldman pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one, Alexi Ogando pitched one inning giving up two hits and three walks with a strikeout and Darren Oliver recorded the win pitching a perfect inning with a strikeout. Neftali Feliz picked up the save pitching an inning walking one and striking out two.

Yadier Molina was the hitting star for the Cardinals as he had three hits and an RBI. Rafael Furcal had a hit, Allen Craig had a walk and Albert Pujols was walked intentionally three times. Matt Holliday had a hit and two walks, Lance Berkman had two walks and David Freese had a hit. Skip Schumaker had a hit and an RBI and Nick Punto had a walk. The Cardinals were 1-12 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base. Carpenter made an error.

The Rangers offense was well balanced but Napoli delivered the big blow. Ian Kinsler had two walks, Elvis Andrus had a hit and Josh Hamilton had a hit and a walk. Michael Young had a hit, Adrian Beltre had a hit and an RBI and Nelson Cruz had a hit and a walk. David Murphy had two hits, Napoli had a hit and two RBI and Mitch Moreland had a hit and an RBI. Young and Napoli had doubles and Moreland and Beltre had a homerun. The Rangers were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and they left 10 men on base. Murphy and Wilson each made an error.

In the second inning the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead. Molina hit an RBI single and Schumaker hit a ground out scoring another run. The Rangers scored a run in the third inning on a solo homerun by Moreland to make it a 2-1 game. It would stay 2-1 until the sixth inning when Beltre got a hold of a hanging curveball from Carpenter and deposited it into the seats to tie the game at two. In the eighth Napoli hit a two run double to give Texas a 4-2 lead and that would be the final score.

The Rangers now lead the best of seven series three games to two. The Rangers after losing the first game at home have come back and won the last two. The teams will have a day off on Tuesday and then resume the series on Wednesday night. The Rangers can wrap up the series with a victory and if not there will be a Game Seven on Thursday night in St. Louis. This has been a terrific World Series and that continued in Game Five, it seems like there should be a game Seven in this series the way it is going. Pujols was intentionally walked three times in this game and I expect that to continue after his three homerun game the other night. If the Rangers do win the World Series it will be their first World Championship. Napoli became the second player to have four multi-RBI games in a World Series since 1960. He joins Mickey Mantle in that group. He is hitting 308 with two homeruns and nine RBI in the series. He is a leading candidate for MVP if the Rangers win the series. The other big story of the game was the lack of clutch hitting from St. Louis. You can also credit the Rangers pitching for that, but they were 1-12 with runners in scoring position. The team that has won Game Five in the World Series when tied at two games each has gone on and won the series 26 of the previous 39 times.

Pujols three homers power the Cardinals to victory in Game Three

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers by the score of 16-7 on Saturday night in Game Three of the World Series. Albert Pujols took over the World Series as he hit three homeruns. He was hitless in the World Series coming into this game. He took a lot of criticism after not speaking to the media after Game Two. Pujols answered back the best way he could with his bat and now they won’t be criticizing him. Pujols tied four World Series records and broke one, simply amazing. The pitching which has been so good for both teams through the first two games was non existent in this game as the offenses exploded.
Matt Harrison started for the Rangers and took the loss. He pitched 3 2/3 innings giving up six hits and five runs with three of them being earned. He had one walk and three strikeouts. Scott Feldman pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and three runs with two walks, Alexi Ogando pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up three hits and four runs with three of them being earned, two walks and a strikeout and Mike Gonzalez pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up one hit and two runs with one walk. Mark Lowe pitched one inning giving up two hits and one run with a strikeout and Darren Oliver pitched one inning giving up one hit and one run with two strikeouts.

Kyle Lohse pitched three innings giving up five hits and three runs with two walks and three strikeouts. Fernando Salas pitched one inning giving up four hits and three runs, Lance Lynn got the win pitching 2 1/3 innings giving up three hits and one run with two walks and two strikeouts and Octavio Dotel pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up one hit and striking out one batter. Mitchell Boggs pitched one perfect inning with a strikeout.

Adrian Beltre led the Texas offense with four hits and an RBI. Ian Kinsler had a walk, Elvis Andrus had two hits and Josh Hamilton had a hit. Michael Young had two hits and two RBI, Nelson Cruz had a hit, two RBI and a walk and Mike Napoli had a hit and two RBI. David Murphy had a walk and Yorvit Torrealba had two hits and a walk. Young and Beltre each had a double and Young and Cruz each hit a homerun. The Rangers were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Kinsler, Napoli and Andrus each made an error. Pujols was the star of the Cardinals offense and the game. Pujols had three homeruns, five hits and six RBI. Rafael Furcal had a hit, Allen Craig had a hit, RBI and a walk and Matt Holliday had a hit and a walk. Lance Berkman had two hits and a walk, David Freese had two hits, two RBI and a walk and Yadier Molina had two hits, four RBI and a walk. Ryan Theriot had a hit, RBI and a walk, Freese had a double and Molina had two doubles. Craig also had a homerun besides Pujols three. The Cardinals were 4-13 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Jay was caught stealing and Holliday had an outfield assist.

The Cardinals scored one run in the first inning and it was a 1-0 game through three. In the fourth inning is when it started getting crazy the game. The Cardinals scored four runs, Freese hit an RBI double and Jay reached on a force attempt and an error with two runs scoring. Theriot hit an RBI single and it was 5-0 Cardinals. The Rangers came right back in the bottom of the fourth with three runs. Young hit a solo homerun and Cruz hit a two run homerun to make it 5-3. In the fifth inning Freese grounded out to score a run and Molina had a two run double making it 8-3 Cardinals. In the bottom of the fifth Young hit an RBI double, Beltre hit an RBI single and Napoli hit a sacrifice fly making it 8-6. Pujols hit a three run homerun in the sixth and Molina hit a sacrifice fly to make it 12-6 Cardinals and the rout was on. Pujols hit a two run homerun in the seventh to make it 14-6. Napoli hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh making it a 14-7 game. In the eighth Molina hit an RBI double making it 15-7 and Pujols hit a solo homerun in the ninth to complete the scoring at 16-7.

The Cardinals have now taken a two games to one lead in the best of seven World Series. The Cardinals have also taken back home field advantage with the win. The next two games will also be in Texas on Sunday and Monday nights. The teams will have a travel day on Tuesday and resume the series on Wednesday and Thursday if necessary. I wouldn’t expect the Rangers to lose all three at home so this win by the Cardinals pretty much assured a return trip to St. Louis for Game Six. It was a history making night, the game was very long though and went very late so I am not sure how many people witnessed the history being made. It is amazing to me how baseball can be so different day to day and that is what makes it a special game. The first two games of this series were all pitching and this one was all hitting, will the series go back to the pitching being good or will the offense take over the rest of the series now. Pujols after the game had this to say”It is an honor to be in there, in the same category as those guys . But I just thank god that I was able to come out today and help our ball club to win and hopefully I can do that tomorrow again.” The Cardinals are now halfway home to their 11th World Series Championship in their history. This was the third highest scoring game in World Series history. Cruz hit his seventh postseason homerun in this game which is one short of the single season record held by Barry Bonds(2002) and Carlos Beltran(2004). He has 13 career postseason homeruns which are tied for 10th all-time. It will be interesting to see how Game Four is going to go on Sunday night, will Albert Pujols even have a chance to hit in that game or will the Rangers walk him?? Stay tuned to find out on Sunday night.

Basketball talk, are you serious?

Yes I am serious this is my least knowledgeable subject in sports but I have to talk briefly about the New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks. New Jersey has a basketball team? They do but barely as they are 0-14, you can't even be that bad if you tried. I have to give them credit for trying as they are badly outmanned and they aren't that good obviously. They are in complete rebuilding mode and have some good young pieces so it will get better but no wins seriously. They are trying to set the record and be relative by being irrelative. The record is 0-17 and they can do that with 3 more games on the West Coast against the LA Lakers, Portland Trailblazers and the Sacremento Kings. Nets coach Lawrence Frank is on the hot seat as you might expect. The New York Knicks aren't much better as they are 3-10 but the thing about them is it really doesn't matter until July of 2010. You might ask why is that well it is because that is when the free agency signing period begins. Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh headline the group of many. The Knicks have had their eyes on this for a couple of years as they have gotten under the cap so they could sign at least one marquee player and maybe a couple overall players. The question I have is why would someone like Lebron want to come to the Knicks other then playing in New York but with a salary cap the money isn't much different and in this world now it really doesn't matter so much for a star like him where he plays. It will be interesting to see if CC Sabathia could really recruit him like he says or if ultimately Lebron will end up in Miami with Wade or could he go to Brooklyn with the Nets if they move there as it looks like they now will.