2005-2006 Off-Season Signings thread

[MFS62]

From Rotoworld:

[Frayed Knot]

Brett Tomko to the Dodgers for 2 years

Rondell (RonDL) White to the Twins for 1

[smg58]

Maybe Rondell can stay healthy if he DH's fairly regularly. Or, maybe not.

[nymr83]

i was a fan of Nakamura and thought he'd be good if given the chance. oh well.

[Guest GYC]

The Dodgers continue to build a team of old and/or subpar players that could easily win the NL Worst:

]Mark Bellhorn - 2B - Padres Padres signed second baseman Mark Bellhorn, who had been with the Yankees, to a one-year, $800,000 contract. Bellhorn becomes the favorite to replace Mark Loretta as the Padres' second baseman, although Josh Barfield could still claim the job with a strong spring. Bellhorn will do a decent job of getting on-base if he bats second for the Padres, but he might not bat much higher than .240 and he'll also struggle to hit for any power at Petco Park. He probably won't have a lot of fantasy value. Dec. 22 - 6:39 pm et

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Plus another ex-Boston guy.

[smg58]

Josh Barfield is one of the Padres' top three prospects and had over 500 AB last year in AAA. I could see Bellhorn as a useful sub, but blocking Barfield? I'd be stunned if they do that.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Matt Lawton and his 10-day suspension are signed by the Mariners. Toims were not disclosed. Seattle General Manager Bill Bavasi said. "Blah, blah, blah."

[MFS62]

I'm not sure whether this goes in the Rico Brogna thread or this one, but WFAN is reporting that the Mets have signed ex-Met Endy Chavez to a one year, $500 K contract.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Jose Vizcaino resists Jeff Kent's gravitational field and signs with the Giants.

[DocTee]

Nats grab LHP Mike Stanton for a year...

[Frayed Knot]

The seemingly up again/down again Kevin Millwood inks a major deal with the Texas stRangers: [u:f3bacb6967]5 Years[/u:f3bacb6967] @ $60 million.

That's 3 seperate 5 year contracts for pitchers this winter: Burnett, Ryan & Millwood ... as the pendulum swings back toward longer deals once again. Apparently, CH Park, Darren Dreifort & Mike Hampton weren't enough to scare people or were too long ago for folks to remember.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The Rangers were seemingly having such a non-stupid off-season.

[seawolf17]

They're desperate for pitching; so they picked up Adam Eaton and Kevin Millwood. I think that puts them in a pretty good place.

[Guest Edgy DC]

They were desperate for pitching when they signed Chan-Ho Park also.

[smg58]

Millwood's much less of a flyball pitcher than Park, so they at least learned something from the Park fiasco. I don't know if Millwood is really good enough for this kind of contract -- I look at his decent WHIP and HR totals from last year and wonder how his ERA could possibly be so low. So he may or may not be an upgrade over Rogers for the Rangers, and Eaton may or may not be an upgrade over Chris Young. That's a lot of money spent to hopefully break even.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Burnitz has finalized his deal with Duquorioles.

If Duque actually pulls off the rumored deal of Tejada for Mark Prior, Rich Hill, and Corey Patterson (doubtful), I might have to stand and applaud.

[Valadius]

Joe Randa is close to signing with Pittsburgh, a one-year deal.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Nationals sign RHP Ramon Ortiz to a 1-yr deal.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The Yanikees signing of Octavio Dotel is official --- which, along with Mguel Cairo, adds two ex-Metzgers to their roster. I think Juan Padilla projects as the only ex-Yankee (six games in 2004) who looks to make the opening-day Mets roster.

[DocTee]

Looks like former Met Jeromy Burnitz will spur Duke and the O's to join Duke and the Bucs...

[DocTee]

Phils "bolster" staff with 15 game loser (and steroid bannee) Ryan Franklin, he of the 5.10 ERA in 2005.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Has Cairo to the Yankees become official yet? I remember he was pending a physical, which was supposed to take place after the New Year.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Cairo deal is official (heh-heh)

Peter Gammons suggests that Burnitz "spurning" the O's was actually about phlunking a physical.

[Guest Edgy DC]

It's hard to imagine the Buccos swiping a free agent from the O's without extenuating circumstances.

[Elster88]

Who would spurn a city in favor of Pittsburgh? Who would spurn a team in favor of the Pierats?!

[Centerfield]

JT Snow signs with the Red Sox.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2282818

[Frayed Knot]

Leiter inks a minor league deal w/the Yanx.

"I'm not dead yet!"

[Guest old original jb]

The PeeRatays small market ways aside, Pittsburgh is a lovely city--in fact I would call it the Paris of Western Pennsylvania.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Pittsburgh is lovely.

But it's not Paris!