Matt Garza to the Cubs, Saito to the Brewers<\/strong><\/p>\nIt wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t all joy for the Rangers this week either as their pursuit of Matt Garza came to an unsuccessful conclusion.\u00c2\u00a0 The Rays turned down Texas\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 offer and traded the starting pitcher to the Chicago Cubs instead for a bundle of prospects, partly to clear a space in the rotation for Jeremy Hellickson and partly to top up their supply of young players: ever important in the battle against the free-spending Yankees and Red Sox.<\/p>\n
In acquiring Garza, the Cubs have added an established pitcher for the next three seasons and made the National League Central even more of a battle than it was already shaping up to be.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Garza joins former Rays teammate Carlos Pena and Kerry Wood in a trio of free-agent signings that have genuinely improved the Cubs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 roster into one that could be in the mix if Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano return to form and Carlos Zambrano carries on from his late-season \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCalm not Crazy Carlos’ performances.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a big \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcif\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, but the Cubs will be paying those three a combined $52,475,000 in 2011 regardless, so they may as well give it a shot.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the Brewers have carried on improving their pitching staff, which undoubtedly needed improving, by signing Takashi Saito to a one-year contract.\u00c2\u00a0 Saito will turn 41 in February, but his performances for the Braves last year (11.5 K\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s per nine innings) showed there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still plenty of life left in him.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s slated to be a set-up man, with John Axford continuing as the Brewers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 closer.<\/p>\n
Renteria signs with the Reds<\/strong><\/p>\nWhere does all this leave the Cincinnati Reds?\u00c2\u00a0 They will go into the season with the confidence that being the reigning division champs brings, but retaining that title will be even harder than winning it in the first place.<\/p>\n
Spending $2.1m on Edgar Renteria, with the possibility of another $900k in incentives, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the sort of move that will put fear into the hearts of their opponents, despite his 2010 World Series MVP award still being fresh in the mind.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Brewers and Cubs had a lot of ground to make up on the Reds from 2010 and have looked to reduce that gap through the offseason so far, while the Reds are tinkering around the edges rather than making major additions.\u00c2\u00a0 Add the Cardinals into the discussion and it could turn out to be a four-way race.<\/p>\n
Contract extensions for Uggla and Gonzalez<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Atlanta Braves traded for Dan Uggla earlier this offseason with the intention of signing the former Marlin to a contract extension.\u00c2\u00a0 They duly signed their new recruit to a five-year contract worth $62m this week.\u00c2\u00a0 The Florida Marlins wanted to keep Uggla but were only prepared to offer him a four-year contract, hence their decision to trade him to the Braves rather than see him leave as a free agent at the end of the season.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the many sub-plots in the NL East over the next five years will be whether the Marlins were wrong not to go that extra year with Uggla.<\/p>\n
Another contract extension that will be judged in years to come is the decision by the Colorado Rockies to sign Carlos Gonzalez to a seven-year deal worth $80m (subject to a physical due to take place this coming week).\u00c2\u00a0 The rising cost of acquiring impact players as free agents or via trades has encouraged teams recently to agree contracts with their best young players covering their arbitration years and buying out some free agent years in the process.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Rockies have acted quickly following Gonzalez\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outstanding 2010 season, in which he finished third in the NL MVP voting process.\u00c2\u00a0 Will it prove to be too<\/em> quickly?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 It was only Gonzalez\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first full season in the Majors, after two half-year stints in 2008 and 2009.\u00c2\u00a0 Was that a sign of things to come or an early peak, helped out by the most pronounced home-road splits of any player in the Majors?\u00c2\u00a0 The Rockies have placed an $80m bet on the former.\u00c2\u00a0 Check back in seven years\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 time to see if that was the correct decision or not.<\/p>\nSuch is the difficult life of a General Manager.<\/p>\n
The week ahead<\/strong><\/p>\nIt could be a week of pitching moves in the American League.<\/p>\n
The Twins are hoping to re-sign Carl Pavano, the Yankees are still waiting to hear if Andy Pettitte is retiring or returning, while the Rangers will continue their pitching search after missing out on Lee, Garza and Zack Greinke in recent weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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![\"MlbHlSq\"](\"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/wp-content\/MlbHlSq.jpg\" "\\"MlbHlSq\\"")
It has been a busy start to 2011 as the early days of January have produced a number of notable bits of transaction news in MLB.<\/p>\n