Cardinals signed second baseman Adam Kennedy, who had been with the Angels, to a three-year, $10 million contract. Cardinals signed RHP Kip Wells, who had been with the Rangers, to a one-year, $4 million contract. Cardinals re-signed catcher Gary Bennett to a one-year, $800,000 contract with a mutual option for 2008. Cardinals signed infielder-outfielder Eli Marrero to a minor league contract.
I can just see the faces of Red Sox executives now..... they block the Yankees and now the Yankees bid 25 million to talk to a #4 guy. Don't they have enough of those guys? Maybe they thought it would panic the Red Sox into actually signing Matsuzaka......
If it keeps them from giving Ted Lilly, or Gil Meche, or Jeff Suppan $40M dollars, then it's a good move. I'm a little surprised they bid so much, I guess the Hanshin market is pretty profitable.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6217540 The worst deals this off-season ... so far Dayn Perry / Special to FOXSports.com Posted: 13 hours ago Baseball teams are in possession of a verdant and expansive grove of money trees. What other explanation could there be for what we've seen transpire this winter? Baseball owners, showing the fiscal restraint of Dennis Kozlowski on a meth bender, have doled out some of most jaw-dropping contracts in history. They've given ill-advised deals to stars (Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee), near-stars (Juan Pierre), mid-grade afterthoughts (Randy Wolf, Adam Eaton) and erstwhile waiver fodder (Gary Matthews Jr.). So sorting out the worst of the worst is a taxing endeavor. Nonetheless, we're here to do just that. What follows are the five absolute worst free-agent signings of the off-season. Oh, and for good measure we're reveal the only contract of the winter that's actually sensible for the most part. Onward ... The worst 1. Gary Matthews Jr., CF, Angels, five years, $50M This is a guy who was acquired off waivers in 2003 and signed to a minor league contract as recently as 2004. Matthews is coming off a nifty season for the Rangers, but there are a couple of reasons for concern. One, his production was built upon a fluky .313 batting average compiled while playing half his games in one of baseball's best parks for hitters, and, two, his numbers last season are at odds with the rest of his career. Defensively, he makes the occasional circus grab, but overall he's a mediocre glove man in center. He'll come back to earth with the bat, continue to lose range as he ages and not come even remotely close to returning value on the dollar. 2. Juan Pierre, CF, Dodgers, five years, $45M Juan Pierre has long been solidly overrated, and this ill-considered contract only reinforces that notion. His speed helps him make up for the fact that gets poor reads and takes bad routes in the outfield — on balance, he's nothing special with the glove. Pierre steals a lot of bases, but, in terms of his success rate, he's just a couple of ticks above the break-even point. So he's not contributing that much with his wheels. With the bat, he posted solid OBPs in his first two seasons in Florida, but most years he's not reaching base at an acceptable clip (which makes him a poor option for the leadoff spot). Oh, and his power is nonexistent. He'll create lots of outs at the plate, and he won't make up for it in the field. For five years. 3. Carlos Lee, OF, Astros, six years, $100M (Donna Carson / Associated Press) Lee is a solid right-handed power source who will enjoy hitting in Minute Maid. However, he's a disaster with the glove, and "El Caballo" will be 36 years old by the time this contract ends. That last point is important because Lee isn't the type of player who is likely to age well (that's to say, he's not exactly the embodiment of ascetic reserve at the buffet table). So he's going to be beyond horrible in the field by the time this contract winds down, and, of course, the Astros won't be able to stow him away at DH. It's also worth noting that Lee, despite toiling for his entire career in parks that benefit right-handed hitters, has slugged better than .500 only twice. 4. Adam Eaton, RHP, Phillies, three years, $24M Eaton in his career has been on the disabled list six times (he's averaged fewer than 100 innings pitched in each of the last two seasons), and he's never posted a sub-4.00 ERA (although he's spent almost his entire career in the run-suppressing environs of Qualcomm and Petco). Even if he does defy the odds and manage to stay healthy for the life of this deal, he's going to be victimized by the tendencies of his new home park. Expect lots of homers allowed and lots of time on the DL. 5. Nomar Garciaparra, 1B, Dodgers, two years, $18.5M On the whole, Garciaparra had a solid season in 2006. However, he faded badly in the second half (.229 AVG/.286 OBP/.408 SLG after the break), and it's worth noting that Dodger Stadium, since the foul territory was reduced a couple of years ago, is no longer a pitcher's haven. He'll forever have injury concerns and platoon issues, and he's 33 years old. To boot, he hasn't adapted well to first base, and his offensive numbers, relative to his new position, won't be anything special. The best (and there's only one ...) 1. Moises Alou, OF, Mets, one year, $8.5M In this overheated market — and when you're the deep-pocketed Mets — a one-year, $8.5-million pact is basically free. Alou has poor fielding range these days, and he's gimpy. However, he can still rake (.304 AVG/.371 OBP/.548 SLG over the last three seasons). The Mets badly need better production from the outfield corners, and they also badly need help against left-handed pitching. Alou betters them — by a lot — on both counts. This deal is further evidence that Omar Minaya has developed into one of the smartest GMs in the game today.
What an asshole. Between this and the downplaying of Glavine during the playoffs, he's becoming a dick.
Pretty funny that his criterion is making the playoffs when the Phils had a better record than the Cards, and the Cards almost had one of the most historic collapses in history.
I'm surprised he came out and said that to the media. He should be angry, though, he deserved it. Probably not the best way to handle that frustration.
The Red Sox have signed Japanese P Hideki Okajima and former Met Joe McEwing. The Brewers will make an offer to 3B Jeff Cirillo. The Blue Jays have inked SS Royce Clayton to a 1-year deal worth $1.5 million. P Joe Borowski flunked his physical, nullifying a multiyear deal with the Phillies. The Mariners could look into bringing back P Freddy Garcia. The Devil Rays have signed 1B Hee Seop Choi to a 1-year deal and an option for 2008. The Indians could have made a multi-year offer to P Keith Foulke. C Mike Liberthal hopes to sign with the Dodgers as a backup to Russel Martin. The Rockies have no plans to trade OF Brad Hawpe. Blue Jays OF Vernon Wells has been omitted from all 2007 ticket advertisements. The White Sox could send 3B Joe Crede and P Freddy Garcia to the Angels for OF Chone Figgins and P Ervin Santana.
Amazing that your team can win the WS and you personally can put up MVP type numbers and it still turn out to be a bad season from a PR point of view. The "injury" early in the year knocked Pujols off the pedestal of "at least he's clean" and his comments over the course of the season have revealed him to be a jerk rather then the "nice guy" image most of us had of him before the season started.
I don't see Manny going anywhere but I do like the signing of Okajima since he'll be some bullpen help and it doesn't hurt that he's a lefty also.
That would be a horrible deal for the Angels. I don't like Figgins much but Crede is gonna want a big payday and the dropoff from potential and results from Santana to Garcia is huge.
Also I just noted that someone called Alou the best signing of the off-season. That notion is rediculous. He's injury prone, old and blocking the path of youngsters like Milledge. Granted its only for a year so I don't think its a terrible signing at all but to call it the best free agent signing of the year is rediculous. The Frank Thomas deal is also worse then Carlos Lee, because at least with Lee by the time he's 34 will only have 2 years left on his deal. Even if he is terrible defensively there will be an American league team with money that will need a bat, see that he's only a two year commitment and make it worth the Stros while to trade him. Thomas on the other hand getting a two year deal at 9 mil per is nuts when you consider the injury risk he poses and the fact that the reason why his numbers were nuts is because he got hot in the second half. Bluejays should've saved there money and just give Wells the contract he deserved already.
In the market this year, we got the best deal so far. 1. It fills a hole in the outfield. 2. It improves our lineup vs lefties, which we sucked at last year. (Alou was top 3 in the league) 3. We have someone good hitting with power, behind Wright. 4. If he is injured, we always have great Endy off the bench.
I can't say that giving an aging 40 year old 9 million dollars is the best deal. I didn't kill it like some others did on the FAN expecting bigger things. It is a smart signing, but its still 9 million for a 40 year old outfielder who might only play 100 games or less.
I hate that MetsBlog guy with a passion but he's correct about the Alou deal. Also how is it blocking the path of Milledge? Assuming he gets out of the doghouse it will be Alou in LF and Milledge in RF. If he can't beat out Shawn Green for the starting job then he's probably finished as a Met.
