All Entries in the "Free Agents" Category
Minnesota Twins Season Preview
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1) How was the off-season? What kind of grade would you give it?
For the Twins, the 2009 offseason was one of the best in recent history. After the (unfortunate) early exit from the postseason to end the 2009 season, the Twins had several clear and pressing needs. The most [...]
Mets Hot Stove Roundup: The Pilot Light Is Out
The Mets went into the offseason with many big needs: No. 2 starter, power-hitting leftfielder, catcher, setup man, and upgrades at second base and on the bench. As spring training begins, they have successfully addressed only one of those needs.
In January, the Mets signed Jason Bay for $66 million over four years, with an option [...]
The 2010 Brewers & The Groundhog Day Principle:
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Last week was Groundhog Day (the holiday, not the Bill Murray Movie). Per Groundhog Day tradition, the weather outside when the groundhog emerges hibernation is supposed to correlate with how much longer winter is supposed to last. For this article I decided to apply this principle with a [...]
Cardinals Are Not Dormant During Winter
While for a lot of teams, the offseason is a quiet time, a time for renewal and reflection. For the Cardinals, this offseason has been anything but.
It would have been hard to believe after the final out of the NLDS that anything would overshadow the pursuit of Matt Holliday during the [...]
A Recent Flurry of Free Agent Signings
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Chad Tracy to the Cubs to a minor league deal that can be worth up to $900K if he gets 450 plate appearances
Ben Sheets to the A’s for 1-year at $10M plus incentive bonuses
Jim Thome to the Twins for 1-year and $1.5M with up to $750K in incentives
Jon Garland [...]
Blue Jays Reflections on the New GM
Greetings from the frozen north, and man is it frozen this winter. Anyway, what has been going on with the Jays? Well, we are about 100 days into the career of our new GM Alex Anthopoulos and so far most reviews are positive. His first few steps have been to beef up our scouting department [...]
2009 MLB Free Agent Update
While I haven’t found any website or blog that can beat MLB Trade Rumors for your daily scoop of baseball rumors and transactions (trades, free agent signings, etc.), my favorite site to find out where every free agent has signed is ESPN.
Their MLB Baseball Free Agent Tracker, although it’s a little slow (usually takes a [...]
‘Tis The Hot Stove Season
Seeing David Pinto of Baseball Musings was a big influence in the start of this blog, I try to thank him with backlinks and posts like this. In tis post we will be linking back to Baseball Musings as they have begun to highlight players from A to Z and also cover some of the [...]
Same Old Off-Season: The Rich Get Richer and the Orioles Watch
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After enduring another long and disappointing season on the field in 2009, the 2009-2010 off-season was supposed to be the start of a new day for the Baltimore Orioles. With enough quality young pitchers to fill two rotations and a nucleus of talented young position players, this was to be the off-season in [...]
The Mariners’ Hot Stove Report
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Since the beginning of November, the end of the baseball season, it is almost unarguable that the Mariners have led the charge through the offseason. After a strong 2008 offseason, highlighted by the signing of Russell Branyan and the J.J. Putz trade, which netted the team Gold-Glove-snub Franklin Gutierrez, it wasn’t [...]
The Holliday Season
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So far, the Cardinals’ hot stove season can basically be summed up into two words.
Matt Holliday.
Everything the Cardinals have or haven’t done since the end of the World Series has been directly or indirectly tied to their pursuit of the outfielder. Their talks with Scott Boras were the focus of their winter meetings [...]
Red Sox Sign Their New Left Fielder
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Every blogger’s and journalist’s favorite Hot Stove Baseball site, MLB Trade Rumors has reported (by Zach Link) that the Red Sox have signed 36 year old OF Mike Cameron.
It is a reported two year deal worth around $15M. Cameron will play LF and give the Red Sox one of the best outfields in [...]
Boston Rumored To Be Close To Signing Lackey
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It has been reported by Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors, via Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and AOL FanHouse’s Ed Price that top free agent pitcher, starter John Lackey is in Boston for a physical. Players usually only take physicals in the area of a local team after [...]
Big News From Day 4 of the Baseball Winter Meetings
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The Trades…
It looks as if Boston and Texas have traded 3B Mike Lowell for top prospect C Max Ramirez with Boston eating a lot of Lowell’s contract. Due to the amount of cash considered and the financial state of the Rangers and owner Tom Hicks, MLB commissioner Bud Selig will [...]
Updates From The Winter Meetings: 2 Days In
First and foremost, how can these meeting be called the “winter” meetings when winter does NOT officially begin until December 21st?!
OK, now that I got that off my chest let’s look around at the early news two days into these meetings.
Free Agent Signings
C — Pudge Rodriguez signs a two year deal with the Washington Nationals. [...]
Mariners On The Verge of Signing Chone Figgins. Whither Adrian Beltre?
he AP reports that Chone Figgins has signed a deal with the Seattle Mariners that would guarantee him $36 million over 4 years, with a vesting option for a 5th year to make the deal worth up to $45 million. Figgins would likely be the Mariners opening day third baseman and slide nicely into the [...]
Mets’ Hot Stove 2009 – Many Holes to Fill
In recent offseasons, the New York Mets have done a good job of addressing one main need. Last year, they needed a closer and signed Francisco Rodriguez. The year before, the Mets needed an ace and traded for Johan Santana. But this offseason will be much more challenging for general manager Omar Minaya. Even if [...]
Top 5 Low/High Risk 2009/2010 Free Agent Starters
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The market for starting pitchers is perhaps the most interesting, and arguably the most important market heading into any offseason. While casual baseball fans were given a crash course on Type A and B free agents last year, as there were some very high-profile free agents leaving mid-budget teams, they [...]
Top 8 Free Agent Relief Pitchers This Hot Stove Season
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For many teams, especially teams that are successful in the postseason, success is predicated on a solid bullpen. However, while stalwarts like Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman grab headlines and notoriety, as a whole, bullpen arms are significantly more volatile than the two legendary closers. Bullpen arms, especially middle relievers, tend to come [...]
Can Giant’s GM Brian Sabean Become an Iron Chef?
Brian Sabean’s off-season shopping list:
First baseman (with power)
Short-stop (who’s name is not an anagram for aged-rental)
Left fielder
Right fielder
Catcher
Oh, and pick up some milk, bread and maybe some of those frosted holiday cookies. And, one more thing. Could you take Aaron Rowand back? I left the receipt on the firdge, maybe you can get a [...]
Phillies 2009 Year in Review And a Sneak Peak at 2010
The Philadelphia Phillies accomplished quite a bit in 2009, despite falling just short of the coveted World Series Championship repeat. In fact, just getting back to the Fall Classic showed quite a bit of determination, and, to make it more impressive, they did it with a team that was inferior to their 2009 Championship squad. [...]
Top 10 Free Agent Outfielders
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Outfielders, as in many years, offer the most diverse market. The reason outfielders tend to end up as free agents more often, is that typically it is hard to find a combination of average to above-average offense and good defense, and vice versa. For example, Jason Bay is an above [...]
2009/2010 Free Agents at SS
It’s been quite some time since the the first wave of Cal Ripken deciples made up a trio of the league’s elite shortstops. Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter now play together, with Rodriguez moving to third base (though a swap would probably improve the Yankees left side). Nomar Garciaparra has battled wrist injuries and become [...]
Hot Stove Baseball Free Agent Tracker: 3B
Third basemen make up another fruitful class of free agents, perhaps the most fruitful of the entire 2009 class. The trade market for third baseman is also pretty bare, which should add intrigue, as most of the trade candidates have at least one serious flaw: Mike Lowell (injury-prone), Kevin Kouzmanoff (has gotten worse at the [...]
Hot Stove Baseball Free Agent Tracker: 1B
There aren’t many top first basemen available this year. Last year’s free agent class was led by Mark Teixeira, who was the top free agent according to the Elias rankings that determine pick compensation allocation for teams which sign multiple Type A free agents. Teixeira’s new team, the Yankees, signed three: Teixeira, CC Sabathia and [...]
Free Agent Tracker: 2B
The market for second baseman in the offseason is one of the few that have significantly more supply than demand. Last season, players like Orlando Hudson entered the offseason expecting a major pay raise, and didn’t get it because the economy caused several free agents to remain unsigned for most of the offseason.
Hudson is back [...]
2009/2010 Free Agent Tracker: Catchers
Like last year, this year’s most fruitful market for catchers is the trade market, rather than the free agent market. The Texas Rangers, who traded Gerald Laird to the Tigers last season still have two worthy trade candidates in Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden, while Ronny Paulino could be on the move again.
Especially in a [...]
