Off-Season Signings

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Brewers sign Graig Counsell to 2 years at $2.8 mil. per year. Brewers hold a $3.4 mil. team option for 2009 with a $400 K buyout.

[Guest sharpie]

Stop the presses. Royce Clayton the Jays for 1 year/$1.5 mil.

[metirish]

Red Sox sign Japanese pitcher

[Guest sharpie]

Ray Durham re-ups with the Giants, 2 years at $14 million.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

sharpie wrote: Ray Durham re-ups with the Giants, 2 years at $14 million.

Rats

[metirish]

That's great value for money with Durham....

[nymr83]

good deal for the Giants imo.

[smg58]

I agree. Given the year he had and the state of the market, I'd have assumed it would take at least three years and $27M. It's possible that Durham simply wanted to stay in SF, because I can't imagine that's his market value. It's certainly an offer I'd have tried to beat.

[DocTee]

SF lands Rich Aurilia: 2 years, $8 and Dave Roberts: 3 years, $18 million

[smg58]

A couple more relative bargains the Giants, although it's not clear where Aurilia will wind up playing.

[metirish]

Sabean is having a great off-season....

[smg58]

Roberto Hernandez and Aaron Fultz officially get one-year deals with the Indians.

Kevin Millar gets $2.75M to spend another year in Baltimore.

ESPN is reporting Jose Guillen to the Mariners for a year at $5M, plus a bunch of incentives and an option.

[Frayed Knot]

I agree that the Durham deal was good, but it looks at odds next to the one for Roberts.

Durham = 2 x $7 ..
2Bman, plays pretty much every day, had 63 XBHs!! (26 HRs), comes off a season w/.293/.360/.538, probably declining glove & speed skills
35 y/o last week

Roberts = 3 x $6 ...
a mostly corner OFer (some CF) w/33 XBHs (2 HRs), near identical (non-SLG) stats .293/.360/.393, still real good speed (49 of 55 SBs)
35 y/o in May

I like that first deal a whole lot more than the second. Roberts has been a patch-in player for years at this point (SF will be 5th team since '01) so I'm at a loss to figure the need to lock him up to nearly age 38.
Aurilia too I could take or leave but, as mentioned, not sure where he's playing or how he rates a 2-year deal.

[Guest cleonjones11]

Mets close to Julio Lugo for 2B

[nymr83]

hmm, platoon with Valentin or is he being supplanted after being resigned?

[MFS62]

That could have a ripple effect throughout the roster.
Lugo to second
Valentin to the bench (also read he could play left field)
Easley to the outfield (in addition to infield)

So, what happens to Milledge?
To the outfielder they got from SD?

I'm smelling trade in the winds.

EDIT - saw JD's analysis in the second base thread. It seems to work out ok, as long as they don't d

Later

[metirish]

Newsday says that Boston is expected to announce soon that they signed Drew to a five-year, $70-million contract......seems crazy so I won't believe it till I see it.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Tanyon Sturtze to the Braves!

[Guest Edgy DC]

Jose Guillen to Seattle for a year plus an option.

Along with Ibanez, Sexson and Beltre, that could be a lot of unbridled power.

[metirish]

From a blog on ESPN..

] The Mets have signed former Mariners pitcher Clint Nageotte to a minor-league contract, with an invitation to spring training; the Phillies signed former Mets, Indians and Brewers reliever Kane Davis to a minor-league deal; and the Royals signed former Devil Rays No. 1 pick Dewon Brazelton to a minor-league contract.

[nymr83]

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Tanyon Sturtze to the Braves!

the over/under on the Mets homerun total for 2007 just went up

[Frayed Knot]

I remember Nageotte's name from the prospect discussions from a few years back.
Guess his star has fallen a bit since or else he wouldn't be so available but there was some worthwhile talent there at some point.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Nageotte: Some beefy whiff numbers in the minors (and too many walks).

[metirish]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Free agent right-hander Vicente Padilla has reached a preliminary agreement on a $34 million, three-year contract with the Texas Rangers, a baseball source said Monday night.

The deal is contingent upon Padilla passing a physical exam, which is expected to be administered in the coming days.

Padilla, a 15-game winner for the Rangers last season, will fill the No. 2 spot in the rotation behind fellow right-hander Kevin Millwood. Padilla attracted interest from several National League clubs, but Texas moved quickly after losing Adam Eaton to the Philadelphia Phillies in free agency.

The 29-year-old Padilla was 15-10 with a 4.50 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 200 innings in 2006. He had spent the previous five seasons in Philadelphia. Padilla is 66-61 in eight major league seasons.

[smg58]

Given the Eaton deal, that's great for the Rangers. I wonder how that will affect the Rangers' interest in Zito.

[metirish]

Apparently the Mets made him a 3 or 4 year offer..so Jayson Stark blogged on ESPN from the meetings.

[metirish]

The Cardinals announced a five-year deal with 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter on Monday, locking him up through the 2011 season for about $65 million. The deal also includes a club option for 2012 that would bring the total value to $77 million.


It's no wonder Boras waits till the game plays it self out before his guy gets signed....

[smg58]

That's a good price for Carpenter. I'd have no problems making that offer to Zito, and Carpenter is a better (if older) pitcher.

[metirish]

Several reports have the Rangers offering Zito 6 years at over $100 million.

[soupcan]

Gosh that's a lot of money.

Hmmmm, if I'm Barry Zito do I take all the money I can and lock myself into a team that hasn't sniffed the playoffs in years and probably won't any time soon even with me or do I take less money and maybe less years to play for a better team in a better market (which would give me additional financial opportunities)?

Either way I'm gonna be filthy rich and my kids and grandkids will be set for life. What's the difference gonna be - maybe $10-$20 million from one offer to the other?

Wow, $10-$20 million is a LOT of money to turn down and maybe I could be the guy that is able to take that not-so-good team to the playoffs.

Tough choice.