Sunday Bloody Sunday

Well not too much news heading into the new year but there was one signing yesterday...

Baltimore continued to load up their roster by signing corner infielder/outfielder Aubrey Huff to a 3 year, $20 million contact. I believe this means that they won't be looking at trading Brian Roberts for Laroche anymore. This gives them great depth though, and it gives them another above average hitter who can play many different positions. Huff combined for a 106 OPS+ last year and has hig over 20 home runs in each of the last five seasons. He will give the Orioles many options because of his right handed bat and his ability to play 4 different positions along with DHing. So as previously discussed, the Orioles rebuilt their bullpen, and now they have added two offensive players (Huff + Payton) who can play multiple positions. They also haven't traded anyone of consequence except Chris Britton while doing this. I think that today, the Orioles are in a better position to contend in the AL East than the Blue Jays. Huff is the kind of guy, that the Jays should have taken a look at, he plays all the positions they needed backed up and didn't cost an excessive amount.

Saturday Morning and there's no cartoons on

First things first...welcome to BVtN Version 2.0...hope you all like the re-design...onto the day's news.

It seems that the D'Backs are close to acquiring the Big Unit and that "a deal may be done before next week"...joy...the yanks get rid of another old man and pick up more pitching prospects. I never thought I'd say this...but Brian Cashman is doing an incredible job at stockpiling the farm system this off-season

• On a side note, the article mentions that Doug Mientkiewicz would be the Yanks' first baseman and that they badly want Mark Loretta as a utility infielder.
  
• That article about rotations from BBTF I posted yesterday? Interesting...it seems that the Jays problems in the last two seasons has been their 4th and 5th starters being badly below average in both ERA+ and innings per start. Last season, the pitchers who combined for these two sports cost the team at least two wins. So what does JP do? Lose the number three starter and not replace him...this could be a long season. Oddly, Hardball Times has posted a similar article that I will recap tomorrow.
  
• So the ride to Toronto and back gave me plenty of time to read and although I'm not sure I suggest Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, I do suggest Dealing: The Cleveland Indians New Ballgame for any baseball fan. It's the story of Mark Shapiro's reign as the Indians GM up to 2006. It's an easy read and goes through many of the climatic events during his time as GM, beginning with the purchase of the team by the Dolans. It's an interesting period of time where they had to rebuild and let players leave through free agency such as Thome and Ramirez while trading players such as Alomar and Colon. There's an entire chapter on the Alomar trade, it's failure and what the Indians management staff learnt from it for future trades. It's a great read, certainly for anyone interesting in seeing how one GM rebuilt a team so well by using shrewd moves.
  

Zito, Rotations, 'ask dan'

I love when a big signing happens...so many different stats thrown out and so many different opinions...so let's go through them...oh btw if you don't know we're speaking of Barry Zito joining the San Francisco Giants for a reported 7 year deal worth $126 million, it's the biggest signing for a pitcher of all time. So first the stats...

• Zito has spent 7 seasons in Major League Baseball, winning 102 games and losing 63 (.618 winning percentage).
• He's consistently thrown over 200 innings for the last 6 seasons.
• His best season was in 2002 when he won 23 games, lost 5 and had an ERA of 2.75 along with an ERA+ of 169, he was rewarded with the Cy Young Award that season and won his only playoff start that season.
• He's 7-7 in the playoffs with an ERA of 3.25, those stats are swayed by his awful start against Detroit last season
• He threw over 220 innings in the last two seasons and had an ERA+ of 116 both seasons
• VORP (2004-2006): 31.5, 41.8, 49.9 Wells (2004-2006): 30.8, 32.0, 58.9

So why put the Wells comps? Because, they were given the exact same amount of money over the same number of years. While Zito did not progress as much in 2005, he had a bigger jump in 2006. Why am I mentioning this? Because, Zito would look good between Halladay and Burnett right now and Wells could be playing on his contract year in the outfield...
Ok so what do the 'experts' think about it?

• Crasnick has no opinion apparently but breaks down the signing...points out Zito's durability and the fact that he's less of an injury risk because he's not a hard thrower. Also, his fit as a flyball pitcher in the cavernous SF park seems positive
• Keith Law...hates it! Three big reasons: length, declining fastball, 'overratedness'
• Ratto seems confused about his own opinion...'bold, insane, needed'
• Jacob Luft thinks they'll still finish 4th
• More opinions to come I'm sure

So what do I think? People are desperate for pitching and the Giants paid for an overrated yet quite good pitcher. This is only $25 million than the Red Sox paid to sign an unproven asian pitcher for 6 seasons.

So moving on...there's an excellent article on BBTF about rotations! Read it today, I will use it soon to analyze certain rotations.

Finally, another segment of 'ask dan':

Who's the next GM you're doing? I nominate Ash to compare him with Ricciardi!

Actually, Ash is the one I was thinking of doing, then I thought about Mark Shapiro and Brian Cashman. So it will be one of the three...not sure which one yet but most probably Ash.

2nd update of the day...Zito signs, Big Unit rumors

It seems that Barry Zito has finally found a home, as a report has him signing with the Giants for the identical contract that Vernon Wells just signed (7 year, $126 million). His VORP was 49.9 and his ERA+ was 116 last season. When Burnett signed his contract with Toronto last year, his ERA+ had been 117 the year before and his VORP had been 33.1. More comparisons later...



It seems that the Yanks are asking for three young pitchers from the D'backs for the
Big Unit. Brandon Medders interests them although Arizona would rather give up Luis Vizcaino

On the road again....

Well I'm currently on the road, so here's a first update for the day, I'm unsure whether I'll get another on in but I should.
The Yankees have finally signed Kei Igawa on the eve of the deadline. He is set to join a rotation with Wang, Mussina and Pettitte. This allows them to deal Johnson with a bit more ease because Pavano and Hughes will battle for the fifth spot in the rotation.

Keith Law also does not like the Hillenbrand signing citing that it will take away playing time from their young players, as I stated yesterday and that they didn't need another player who doesn't walk much and can't work players.

Finally, I'll answer questions if you post them, for the people who've e-mailed me, they know that I'll answer quickly...So the first installment of 'ask Dan'...

What'd you think of that Barfield trade? Obviously signing Giles changes the
dynamics but what'd you think before that happened?

I actually liked the trade as a baseball deal when I saw it. Barfield filled a big hole for the Indians at the time and Kouzmanoff is a good hitter who just mashes at every level. He struggled last year but with the low amount of at-bats, you can't exactly make conclusions from that season. He also filled a hole for the Padres in being a third baseman and being a righty power bat. He's battled injuries however so there's a warning flag. As for Brown, he's a power reliever who lacks control so it will be whether or not he accepts to drop a lil velocity in exchange for higher control. The Padres make away like bandits in this deal however with the signing of Giles, something they may have been thinking about when making this deal (knowing the Braves may non-tender him and they'd have an advantage because of his brother)

wednesday news

It seems that Keith Foulke will join the Cleveland Indians next season. Foulke has struggled because of injuries but in 2006 his ERA+ was of 106 in 49 innings. The AL Central may quickly be taking over as the dominant division of the American League. They have the past two ALCS winners and have four legitimate contenders. They've lost Brown and Kouzmanoff in the trade for Josh Barfield, and they've also signed four above average relievers Joe Borowski (2006: 115 ERA+), Aaron Fultz (2006: 102 ERA+) and Roberto Hernandez (2006: 143 ERA+) . They added 3 relievers with closing experience to help out a bullpen that had to suffer through 3 blown saves (and 4 losses) from Fausto Carmona in one week after trading Bob Wickman.

The other addition they made to their offense, along with 2B Barfield, was outfielder David Dellucci, who is a left-handed hitter who specializes against righties and last year had an OPS+ of 125+. It looks like they'll live with Victor Martinez's defensive deficiencies at catcher to make room for Ryan Garko at 1st base. I actully received Dealing: The Cleveland Indians New Ballgame for Christmas to read all about Mark Shapiro, I'll let everyone know how good it is.

The Angels may be pulling out of the Helton negotiations now that they've agreed to a deal with Shea Hillenbrand, possibly for $6.5 million. This guy put up a total VORP of 5.1 last season! 5.1! And he's mostly a DH! He had an OPS+ of 93! If you look at last year's stats it easily makes him one of the worse signings of an already bad off-season, but at least it's only a one year commitment. Remember when I mentioned the bad luck of Juan Rivera's injury? Well, they mention that it's one of the reasons they picked up Hillenbrand. Not sure how this works out though because they're essentially taking at-bats away from some good young players like Quinlan and Kotchman and giving them to Hillenbrand. And of course, the clubhouse chemistry will be so much better now...

• Verducci on SI has his list of 10 players that should breakout this year, good read...has one name from the past for Jays fans...Chad Gaudin.

Epstein Trade Analysis + Tidbits

So the Epstein Trade Analysis was posted as previously mentioned, there were 17 trades analyzed and of those 17, according to my humble opinion:

• 5 were Player Acquisition deals meant to improve the team without giving up Major League talent. He added 155.8 runs more than he gave up while taking on approxamitely $16.5 million in first year salaries
  
• 5 were baseball deals were the players traded were pretty even except for positions
• 5 were Role Player Acquisitions meant to slighlty improve the team without giving up Major League talent where he added approxamitely $3 million added 17 runs
  
• 1 was a player dump (Kim)
• 1 was a role player dump (Mientkiewicz's $3.75 million, his VORP was only 4.8 that season)

Now what's interesting is comparing his "baseball deals" to the other GMs that have been researched. The five deals I qualified for this section werethe deals involving: Giambi, Hillenbrand, Garciaparra, Roberts/Payton and Payton/Bradford. Of the trades in these categories...Theo "lost" every one! He added $5 million to his first year salary base in the process while giving up an incredible 151 runs according to VORP. Hillenbrand and Roberts were both much better than the players received in production and Matt Murton has turned out to be a good player as of yet. The other GMs studied:

• Depodesta made 5 of these types of deals where he rid himself of over $6 million of first year salaries while adding 29 runs to his team above replacement level
• Beane made 9 trades of this type and he added 250 runs of VORP while adding only $8 million in payroll...and that's without adding the value of players received in trades for players originally received in these types of deals (Long, Lilly, 1st round picks)
• Ricciardi didn't fare as well...Of the 7 baseball deals made , Ricciardi added almost $3.5 in salaries and lost 23 VORP runs. But that's still better than Theo...

So what am I saying? Well nothing, I'm just pointing out the stats. But it seems for all the good pub that Epstein received for being a great general manager, he made several mistakes when making trades. However, he has a ring and none of the other three GMs studied do, so maybe stats don't tell the whole story! Again, if you want to read even more about Epstein's reign as Red Sox GM, pick up Feeding the Monster by Seth Mnookin. There's also an article over at ESPN Page 2 about how the Sox are the new "evil empire".

Little bit of news:
The Yanks are in talks to trade the Big Unit back to Arizona? Interesting, and most probably a shame for Jays fans, RJ is old and the Yankees would just get younger again. The New York Daily News reports that a trade to San Diego may be most likely. It seems that the Orioles are staying busy and are interested in Shannon Stewart.

Trade for the holidays

Merry Christmas everyone, in case you haven't noticed, the Theo Epstein trade analysis is up, when I come back from holidays I'll analyze it a bit further here and work on some past ones. The White Sox and Rangers have agreed to a five player deal that will see Brandon McCarthy become a Ranger. Interesting deal, has anyone benefitted from having a surplus of pitching more than the White Sox? McCarthy has performed well out of the pen for Chicago, last season he had an ERA+ of 100 in 84.7 innings, the previous year he mostly started and had an ERA+ of 110. The 6'7 23 year old is a former 17th round pick and was traded to Texas with 18 year old outfielder David Paisano. In exchange, Chicago receives three pitchers; lefty, and former first round pick, John Danks along with righties Nick Masset and Jacob Rasner. Danks was ranked as the number one Texas prospect by baseball america, while Masset was 8th on their list. Jay Mariotti, for one, doesn't like the trade. It seems the White Sox are constantly trying to build from within and as Mariotti states this is two pitchers that are traded for prospects. This would make a lot of sense if the White Sox didn't have such a strong team.

• The Jays are finding out that Alex Rios is highly coveted...to me this should be a sign that he's going to be a special player and should be kept. But if the right package comes along...
  
• Bad News for Angels fans as Juan Rivera has broken his leg in Winter ball.
• The Yankees were taxed $26 million in luxury tax
  

Feeding the Monster book review

Before I get to the review, let's scan the news from across the league...not much going on. The Globe and Mail has a report that salaries were up 9% last season to an average of $2,699,292 US. Can't wait to see the figures next year... Interesting that amongst the teams with the 12 lowest average salaries, only one finished with a winning record...the 2006 Toronto Blue Jays. The Mets met with Jeff Suppan yesterday and the Cubs seem close to another free agent deal, this time with Cliff Floyd. Finally, everyone's favorite catcher Rod Barajas seems to have found a home with the Phillies for less money, but we're not reporting this until he takes the physical.

So I picked up Feeding the Monster by Seth Mnookin and I found it to be a tremendous book. It is an amazing chronicle of the journey that led to the Red Sox becoming World Champions. It begins with the introduction to the ownership group and all their trials and tribulations in trying to acquire ANY Major League team. In this part, there were A LOT of stories that I had not heard previously which made it absolutely fascinating. They also go through the near hiring of Billy Beane, the hiring of Epstein and all the subsequent moves and near moves. The near-trades of Manny Ramirez are all discussed pretty openly in the book as is the locker room battles between different players. It ends finally with the bizarre Epstein resignation and then his re-hiring. Mnookin did an incredible job of interview as many stakeholders as possible and getting all the stories from different vantage points. There's a lot in this book that had not previously been mentioned openly. The entire Nomar saga leading up to the trade and the reaction to the trade is fabulously chronicled. All in all, I think it's a great read for any baseball or sport fan.

Wednesday

Not too much going on in the baseball world. If there was anything, it would have been overshadowed by the big Iverson trade yesterday. How the best player in the NBA can be traded for only two first round picks and some cap filler is interesting. For Toronto fans, this makes the Carter trade look not as bad, right? Right???

Darryl Strawberry has decided to start dispensing advice, and he begins by saying that the Yankees can be fixed if only Jeter embraces ARod...In the same article, there's mention of Pete Rose backing Mark McGwire, I'm sure he appreciates it Pete. And finally, the Yanks are speaking with Mark Loretta about the opening at 1B and still trying to acquire reliever Mike Gonzalez from the Pirates. Loretta at 1B doesn't make much sense to me, he's undervalued as a second baseman...

The Mets are in Los Angeles to attempt to convince Barry Zito to sign. Rob Neyer has an interesting article about how good Zito is and how Boras is trying to sell him to teams.

I don't think I've seen something funnier than this translated video clip, turn down your speakers if you're watching it at work! This kid really doesn't like the Cubs moves...

• And Hardball Times has an article on the free agent remaining pitchers and their potential impacts on teams that could sign them. Zito only adding 3 wins above replacement level? I'd still take it if I was the Jays and kick Towers out of the rotation.
  

And the new Transformers preview is out, brings me back to my childhood, except this movie looks...crazy!


I think I'm going to look into this trading of the best players in each league, see what teams got back and compare it. Look for that later today

Tuesday reading

Well the talk is starting to go from the Wells re-signing to the "Hunt for Pitching 2006-2007". The Star has comments from Ricciardi saying that trades are getting harder to make and that at some point the young pitchers are going to have to come up and pitch for them. He says the biggest priority is to replace Lilly's innings. In quotes for the Sun he admits that there's a lot of interest in Rios but also in the young pitching that the Jays have. And finally in another article from the Sun, Paul Godfrey admits that there was initially "sticker shock" from seeing the price tag on Vernon Wells' contract offer but after seeing the market, the Jays understood it was the move to make. Buster Olney states that the Jays aren't targetting Penny, speculates that Adam Loewen could interest the Jays (there's an obvious statement) but that the two teams are probably not a fit. The most interesting rumour being reported is a 3 way between the Mets, Jays and A's involving Rios, Heilman, Milledge and Blanton.

State of the team

The press conference was pretty tame, Vernon Wells really looked appreciative of the commitment made by the Jays and seemed awestruck of the money given to him, although his agents had predicted this type of market. Ted Rogers had an interesting comment and one that I think was directed not only as a general message about Canada but also to Jays fans who think that they overpaid Wells. The comment's point was to the fact that Canada as a whole needs to start the necessary price to acquire the resources we need and to keep them around, including what the Jays did with Vernon Wells. Other interesting points during the conference:

• The figure seems to be exactly what Wells and his agents had identified back in October
• Ricciardi stated that there was some wiggle room to be creative for pitching
• Rogers admitted to not being the baseball man of the organization and then went on to make comments that he felt comfortable with the pitching staff and what not.
• The Jays are pushing this commitment thing, Godfrey went on about it, think it will be the slogan? "Committed to winning?", I would probably prefer "You know we're not winning the division but we're committed to trying"
• No one asked about trade rumors or Rios/Johnson's status...

This move by the Jays is actully being met with positivity even with writers who aren't usually Ricciardi fans such as Dayn Perry. Dave Perkins also likes the deal but then goes on to state that the Jays have lost ground because of the starting pitching. The rumors have started to come out that Rios would be the trade bait...Buster Olney, who also liked the deal, reports that the Jays are shopping him. He mentions Penny, Blanton and an interesting Rios/something(like a young starter maybe?) for Heilman and Milledge. That would be interesting because it would be a downgrade in the OF but an upgrade with the pitching where the Jays need it.

Possibly dissapointing news as JD Drew's physical has raised a red flag and the deal may not happen with the Red Sox. I think this would kill what could have possibly been the worse deal this off-season, and that's saying a lot. And finally, I'm finishing up Feeding the Monster, and it is a great read, i'll do a review in the next few days if ever I sit down long enough.

Vernon Wells is the Jays CF for the next 8 years

Well it looks like the Jays will have a press conference on Monday to announce that they have agreed to a 7 year deal with Wells for $126 million. The contract is quite backloaded...and starts for the 2008 season, includes a no trace clause and an opt-out after four season. Here are the details:

• 2008: 0.5 million contract + 8.5 million signing bonus
• 2009: 1.5 million contract + 8.5 million signing bonus
• 2010: 12.5 million contract + 8.5 million signing bonus
• 2011: $23 million
• 2012-2014: $21 million each season
• Bonuses of $250,000 for MVP, $200,000 for World Series MVP, $150,000 for league championship series MVP and $100,000 for receiving the most votes in his league in All-Star game balloting.

It's a massive deal but he probably would have had more if he tested the free agent market...the Jays have him locked up and now have a nice core of locked up players. TO's great...

Dice-K and Vernon

• Buster Olney has a great article on the Boston/Dice-K situation that played out over this week. I really wonder if Boston has anything left to try to go get a closer or if they're done. That pitching staff looks good up to the closer position at this point.
• Ken Rosenthal states that it is almost a done deal with Vernon Wells. Olney also states that it looks like Wells would accept a contract extension with the Jays while Griffin says that this amount will not be enough. In the Rosenthal article it is mentioned that the Jays may trade one of their extra outfielders for some pitching. I'd advocate this move even though we might lose a very special talent simply because corner outfielders are maybe one of the easiest positions to replace AND the Jays top two prospects are outfielders.
  
• It's looking more and more likely that Marcus Giles will go play with his brother in San Diego...so Jays fans can stop thinking about it
• I'm heading to Toronto this morning and luckily I have a new book in hand. I guess this will count as my weekly book recommendation for any baseball fan.
  It's Feeding the Monster : How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top, a book about the John Henry era in Boston. It's pretty interesting reading about all the crap Henry and co. had to go through to even purchase the team (or in Henry's case A team since he was selling the Marlins to Loria and trying to purchase in succession the A's, Angels and Red Sox). It's a good easy read as of yet and full of little tidbits I was not aware of so check it out.
  

Busy times

Well I updated the AL East off-season review. By looking at it, the Orioles become scarier although we've seen them improve like this before but the team actully looks solid from top to bottom. They've quietly been one of the most improved teams this off-season. The re-design is underway, I hope to get it done this week but who knows...In case you haven't heard the Red Sox have finally signed Dice-K. This looks like it will be another tough season for the Jays...

Colorado/Houston trade + Winter Meetings Wrap-up

Afternoon update, the Red Sox are flying with D-Mat back to Boston, which makes it seem that a deal got done today! Alright there was a big trade yesterday involving 5 players and quite possibly one of the best starters on the trade market...let's run through it. Starting with what the Astros receive

Jason Jennings: Solid, solid 27 year old starter! He has been good in Colorado and had a career year last year with an ERA+ of 127 in 212 innings, although it didn’t help his 9-13 record. Not much you can say, he was an even more valuable commodity in this market and the Rockies maximized their return.

Miguel Asencio: The 26 year-old barely pitched in the Majors last season (3 games), he’s been with 3 different organizations already and will now attempt to start for the Astros. Not exactly a prospect, i'm thinking he'll get a shot at the bullpen…


Willy Taveras: 25 year old centre fielder was made expendable by the Carlos Lee signing…I guess. The Astros don’t have THAT much so that they can give him up but to acquire a starting pitcher in this market, it might be worth it. He regressed at the plate last year (OPS+ of 72 down from 77). He’s got good speed and stole 33 bases while getting caught only 9 times last year (78.5) which added about 5 stolen base runs to his team’s total. He has no power but he’s a good leadoff type hitter if he can work on his walks. He may love the spaciousness of Coors Field.

Jason Hirsh: Apprently he is the key to this deal, he struggled last year during his first stint in the Majors. The righthander was the number one prospect for the Astros according to Baseball America last year. His ERA+ was 75 in 44 innings last season…let’s hope he isn’t intimidated by the Coors Field air.

Taylor Buchholz : A young 25 year old starter, did not pitch great last year but has good potential, he was once their top prospect back in 2003 after being part of the Billy Wagner deal. Had an ERA+ of 77 in 19 starts for 113 innings. Got some good strikeout numbers, and K/BB…maybe best suited for a relief role however the strikeout ratio will help in Colorado.

• Early morning news that the Jays have tendered contracts to all their arbitration players, meaning that McD, Clayton and Smith all will have major league deals
• More info on the Wells contract offer from Jeff Blair
  

So a lot of you have asked...how were the Winter Meetings? They were cool, quite interesting to walk around. This year, the Winter Meetings were spread through two hotels that were connected at DisneyWorld called the Swan and Dolphin.
That big triangular one is the Dolphin, that hotel was where all the major league activity was along with the trade show. The farther one is the Swan where the Job Fair happened. Essentially, in the lobby of the Dolphin the media hung out and waited for scoops or for someone to walk through. It didn't happen often!!! An agent would come down to send a message through the media but the Major League staff essentially avoided traffic and stayed upstairs. When Barry Bonds came, he came QUITE early in the morning so that he would not be bothered. All in all, it was interesting to be there but I'm not sure that media outlets will keep sending the amount of journalists that were sent because in this new modern age, they don't gain much by being there.

I have three items from the winter meetings that I'm thinking of putting up for a contest or if someone gets me a job with a Major League team, I'm willing to trade them for that. Any thoughts on contests or anything? It's a hat, ball and a luggage card...should be updates through out the day depending...

Free Agency

night update: there's lots going on so why wait till the morning
first and foremost: This article claims that Wells has been offered a monster(!!!) 7 year package by the Blue Jays that would pretty much keep him around for life.

• The Braves have made both Marcus Giles and Chris Reitsma free agents. Giles would look good in a Jays uniform but I think it's unlikely. Reitsma could also be interesting, he's coming off surgery but if he's not too expensive he could be the setup man.
• Eric Gagne has signed with Texas. I'm happy he'll be able to continue his career but Texas reportedly gave him a guaranteed $8 million for next season. That's a lot for a guy with his arm trouble, of course he is a Boras client.
• The Jays signed both Matt Stairs and Jason Smith today. The interesting thing is that Stairs got a minor league deal(with $850,000 if he makes the team) and that Smith got a flat $500,000. So Stairs will have to play his way onto the team.
• Finally, Jason Jennings has been traded to Houston after their failure to re-sign Andy Pettitte, this trade will be analyzed here tomorrow!
  

Well first the good news, after this second wave of signings, the avg cost per VORP for both categories has gone down! So either general managers are getting smarter or the first round of prestige signings that increase ticket sales increased their contract cost. It seems as though some guys fell through the cracks because of other reasons than their offense...Aurilia, Durham, Dellucci, Lieberthal and even the Lofton signing. Keith Law actully talks about what a bargain Lofton is as compared to Mr. Matthews. The Dodgers signing of Luis Gonzalez seems like one that could really bite them certainly when you think of the players he is blocking at this point. You can take a look at the data here.

Tuesday morning

Today should be a busy day on here, expect the free agent tracker to be updated, the AL East off-season and possibly a new GM article. Not too much action around the League but the AL East is keeping busy...

The Orioles have signed free agent outfielder Jay Payton, formerly of the A's. The contract is for two years at $9.5 million per season. It's not a bad deal, Payton plays all three outfield position and is mostly a contact guy. The Orioles seem pretty deep in the outfield now so it will be interesting what decisions they take.

The Red Sox are having a lot of fun negotiating with Scott Boras for Matsuzaka ...apparently he's refusing to counter their offers and the deadline is quickly approaching. I don't think the Sox would overpay and I seriously think they'd let him go back to Japan without a contract...Will they turn their attention to the Rocket for one last launch? Buster Olney wonders whether Matsuzaka even knows what Boston is offering or if Boras is chasing the dollars. The super-agent is quite scary when it comes down to it, it seems that Boras has too much power in his player's decisions and may be doing what's best for the players' wallets but not involve the players' full interests.

Monday Morning Ant Brigade

Well I'm back in beautiful Canada, I'm missing the sun already even though the ground is not white. I know that there's been a lack of updates while I was gone but I hope everyone understands...to make up for it this week should be a big week for the site. The re-design should happen this week, there will be a new GM analysis, I will update the FA sheet and the AL East moves and I'm working on getting a new domain for everything! If anyone has any requests let me know, i've enjoyed the e-mails whether they've been constructive, complimentary or critical.

• ESPN has an article discussing the Jays wanting to keep Wells through '07. Good news for all Wells fans although Ricciardi is quite non-committal about it...
  
• The news and rumors should be a bit quieter now as we enter the Christmas period...leave people time to check out the Iverson trade talk.
• John Sickels posted his preliminary list of Top 20 Jays Prospects and it can be discussed with him before he publishes his book to help him rank the players. I like his analysis of the Jays system, two great hitters at the top followed by many flawed pitchers who have one good/great quality. I think he undervalues Chip Cannon, but that may be because he's been one of my fav prospects...

S-a-t-u-r-d-a-y

Well it's windy here in Florida, and the winds of change have not yet stopped blowing in the Majors. The Cubs are continuing their spending spree by bringing in Jason Marquis today and the Yankees have signed Andy Pettitte and that will probably mean a Rocket Yankee comeback. Meanwhile in Jays land, the question is: how to address the pitching staff? Indications have it that they're in sign or get traded talks with Wells and if they don't get a deal done, he could very well be traded.

Two interesting articles today from the T.O. newspapers:

• The Star has an article stating that Lilly may not have come back because he does not see eye-to-eye with Gregg Zaun. Therefore, if Wells is traded it may all lead back to Barajas backing out of his contract
• The Sun meanwhile has comments from Buddy Bell criticizing for his honest comments about Gil Meche.

Tomorrow, I shall be back in the great white north. The mistakes on the articles will be cleaned up as I will test them with every browser and I will be posting a new GM analysis soon. There will also be a re-design of the site coming up quickly!

Friday Morning Update

So the Jays left the Winter Meetings without a starting pitcher, although who would want to give Gil Meche the money that is being given to AJ Burnett? Steve Phillips named the Jays the losers of the Winter Meetings for not being able to acquire a starter. It hurts but I would've cringed all season if Meche was going out there for $11 million a season. The Jays don't seem to be in the Zito hunt so call me dissapointed...

At least we know that Meche chose a team where he had a chance to make the playoffs, it's not like he just jumped onto the worse team in one of the toughest divisions, if not the toughest...I love JP's comments in this article about dodging a bullet and Meche saying winning is important then going to KC.

Unfortunately, the last two spots in the Jays rotation will now go to 2 of Towers, Janssen, Taubenheim, Marcum or McGowan. Or potentially worse...there could be a trade...let's look at the rumors(and there will be plenty)

• Wells to NY Mets? I think that's just Omar dreaming, they don't have a starter to give up...
• Wells to the Dodgers for Penny and prospects? This makes more sense, Penny has been consistently good and LA has a nice crop of youngsters. But still...it's Vernon Wells!!
• Wells for Garland?
• Reed Johnson for Jason Jennings?
  

I hope that Vernon does not go, and that they can work something through Johnson and Jennings. That would however leave the team without a leadoff hitter (Rios?) and leave Lind or *gulp* Stairs in LF...Well I'm going out to enjoy the sunshine, I hear it's snowing back in Ontario...pity. Saw the Lightning win 8-0 last night in one of the most beautiful offensive displays I've ever seen.

update from Florida

Well it was a good time at the Winter Meetings, we have now moved on to Tampa to go watch some hockey! Only a Canadian would be excited to go to Florida to watch hockey...I've been e-mailed saying that in certain browsers the Articles graphics screw up, will look into it whenever I get home. There's also a site re-design coming and most probably our own domain name!

Enough with the boreing stuff. Why the heck did the Jays sign Matt Stairs? I'm not sure he'll be a positive contributor for them and if I see him once in the outfield, I think I'll snap. I like the guy a lot but with Thomas at DH and Overbay at 1B, I don't see Stairs as much more than a late inning pinch hitter and maybe 20 starts. Hopefully he did not cost too much.

The Lilly signing with Chicago hurts but I believe JP and co. were ready for this, they will move on to Meche and if negotiations get too costly go with the trade route. Tough break tho, certainly that Lilly's compensation is only a sandwich pick.

Winter Meetings update

Not too much to report that hasn't been reported. Spoke with Lilly's agent today who says there are more teams in the mix than just Chicago and Toronto and that they will NOT wait for Zito to sign to set the market. The lobby is crazy, with 100 journalists milling about waiting for news and surging anyone who walks through the lobby. The respect given to Peter Gammons is absolutely incredible. Lugo should sign with the Sox VERY soon and there doesn't seem to be a Manny deal. As for the Jays, same ole same ole with Lilly/Meche...if anything interesting happens, I'll let everyone know. Wish me luck, i have interviews tomorrow!

Licensing corner

McFarlane Toys are showing off their next series of figures and good news for Jays fans…Troy Glaus will be one of them. There will also be a Robinson Cano figure along with four others.

Need to do some Christmas shopping?
This Jays hat from New Era is just awesome , they have it on the Jays shop. If I didn’t already have 9 full back Jays hats, I’d be all over it!

And has anyone seen these? Baseball cuff bracelets!!! Apparently it’s for men although the model in the picture is a girl. If anyone needs to add something to my Xmas list, this would be it!

As for books, you know my sport suggestion Lewis book, my non-sport book Freakonomics and I will reccommend baseball book?

If you haven’t seen the hilarity that ensued during the Carlos Lee signing press conference, click here. Essentially the Astros had a jersey for him that was much too small and Lee struggled with it throughout the press conference. Because nothing says we value our $100 million player like not giving him a big enough jersey!

My beloved Ottawa Lynx are becoming the Lehigh Valley IronPigs next season. I know that Lynx was not the greatest name for a ball team but IronPigs? If you need to know what an IronPig is, they elaborate here

Depodesta's reign posted, wrapped up

Oh by the way, I'm leaving Saturday for the baseball Winter Meetings so when there are updates, they'll be straight from Florida! The Paul Depodesta analysis is up and ready to go. In it there were 13 trades that were examined that came down to being categorized as 5 baseball deals, 3 player acquisitions, 2 player dumps and one role player dump. In the end, sort of surprising for a big market team but he ended up getting rid of approximately just under $8 million in first year salaries more than he took in (even when including the Shawn Green payment to Arizona). He was also successful according to VORP in his trades as he ended up acquiring about 50 runs for his team more than he gave up.

He was successful when making baseball deals; in those 5 deals he rid himself of over $6 million of first year salaries while adding 29 runs to his team above replacement level. The 3 trades he made to acquire players while giving up minor league types were successful as they added 68.9 in VORP while adding just over $7 million in salaries. Meanwhile, the two player dump salaries he made rid himself of just over $7 million in salaries also while only losing 33.8 in VORP.

• I have another book suggestion for everyone, Blind Side. It's Moneyball author Michael Lewis' new book about football that explores the workings of the sport while following the incredible story of a malnourished deserted kid who was taken in by a Christian family. The kid's story is absolutely incredible, Lewis was on Jim Rome today and the kid was deserted by his mom as one of 13 kids (from 6 different fathers) and left to fend for himself. He was taken in by someone and given all the opportunities in the world to succeed and has become a top football prospect. I picked it up today and I already enjoy it

AL East Review

Not much going on in Jays land for once is a lie...they've re-signed Jason Phillips for $500,000. The great Royce Clayton debate rages on the internet meanwhile Jays opponents have taken steps to get better. You can click on any player's name to see their statistics:

The Sox apparently got a great deal on one of their Asian pitchers, Hideji Okajima. They signed him to a 2 year deal for only $2.5 million. Epstein sees him as the setup man and occasional LOOGY. Who's their closer gonna be tho? Apparently, Papelbon will be in the rotation so there's a situation worth watching. As of yet, this is the only move by the Red Sox aside from re-signing Alex Cora for two years. They will be busy before too long though with the Manny trade possibility, signing Daisuke and Drew and whatever else they can get their hands into.

The Yanks have been really quiet since making a couple trades. As of yet they've lost Sheffield and Wright in trades along with Crosby as a free agent. They've added two relievers Chris Britton and Humberto Sanchez and re-signed Mike Mussina. They also won the rights to Japanese lefty Kei Igawa for $26 million. Rumors had them linked to Hillenbrand but the Yanks keep their cards close to his chest.

We know that they know the off-season started because they acquired the negotiation rights for Japanese slugger Akinori Iwamura. That is all...


They've been busiest. They spent over $40 million to rebuild their bullpen (Bradford, Williamson, Baez and Walker), re-signed 1B Kevin Millar and signed backup catcher Paul Bako. They also completed a trade with the Yankees trading bullpen arm Chris Britton for Jaret Wright.

• Here's an article about the sad state of the Pirates and how they got to this point.