{"id":15089,"date":"2012-12-02T10:40:20","date_gmt":"2012-12-02T10:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=15089"},"modified":"2012-12-05T21:13:22","modified_gmt":"2012-12-05T21:13:22","slug":"players-moving-and-staying-put","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=15089","title":{"rendered":"Players moving and staying put"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>All and sundry will be heading to Nashville next week for the annual MLB Winter Meetings.<\/p>\n

The transaction rumour mill will go into overdrive as a large gaggle of baseball reporters spend several days standing in a hotel lobby with little else to do other than writing and talking about potential trades and free agent signings.<\/p>\n

Often the real news to rumours ratio is very low, but if this past week is any indication then there may be a fair bit of business completed.<\/p>\n

Centrefield takes centre stage<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Atlanta Braves have made the biggest free agent signing of the off-season so far by coming to terms<\/a> on a five-year\/$75.25m (\u00c2\u00a3181k per week) contract with former Tampa Bay Rays centrefielder B.J. Upton.<\/p>\n

Upton is a divisive player as he is often seen as possessing the talent to be a great player whilst his performances so far amount to him being merely a good one. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always struck me as being an unfair assessment. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the consistency that you would ideally like to see, but that leads many to focus on the things he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do well rather than all of the good things that he does do.<\/p>\n

He offers a solid mix of some power, speed and fielding ability (he does make the odd mistake on balls he should catch, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a better fielder than some give him credit for) and that combination alongside his age – 28 years old \u00e2\u20ac\u201c gives the Braves a good chance to get a decent return on their investment throughout the duration of his contract. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something of a rarity in a market where teams act as if the only way to sign a leading free agent is\u00c2\u00a0by accepting that they will have to\u00c2\u00a0overpay\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0player during the\u00c2\u00a0last few years of the contract.<\/p>\n

The Braves are one of several teams this off-season with a vacancy in centrefield. No sooner had Atlanta taken one of the primary targets off the board then the Washington Nationals made their move by completing a trade with the Minnesota Twins for Denard Span. He will be flanked by Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth in Washington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outfield next season, with the Netherlands\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Roger Bernadina hopefully (from the European baseball fan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective) staying on the roster as the main fourth outfielder.<\/p>\n

The number one centrefield option on the market now is former Brave Michael Bourn. It was rumoured that the Philadelphia Phillies could be the team to grab him, although in the last couple of days they have been more strongly linked with former San Francisco Giant Angel Pagan.\u00c2\u00a0We’ll see how\u00c2\u00a0interest in those two players\u00c2\u00a0develops during the Winter Meetings.<\/p>\n

Relievers: mixed reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two teams showed two different approaches to adding players to their bullpen this week.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Angels made the smart move by signing Ryan Madson<\/a> to a one-year contract that starts with a base salary of $3.5m and could be worth $7m depending on days on the Angels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 roster and games played. Madson missed all of the 2012 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery so there are no guarantees on how he will perform for the Angels in 2013, but the deal represents an excellent low-risk, high reward contract.<\/p>\n

Madson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arm injury was a blow for the Cincinnati Reds as it ruined the smart one-year contract they agreed with the closer over the past off-season.\u00c2\u00a0 He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pitch a single inning for the Reds, but at least they had the insurance of taking the blow of an injury for one year and then moving on.\u00c2\u00a0 For some reason, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve overlooked that benefit this offseason and signed Jonathan Broxton<\/a> to a three-year\/ $21m (\u00c2\u00a384k per week) contract.<\/p>\n

There is a large amount of evidence to show that the performances of all but the very elite relief pitchers can vary dramatically from season-to-season, especially when factoring in the ever-present risk of injuries.\u00c2\u00a0 Broxton is a good case in point. He had an impressive 2009 season with the Dodgers, but took a step backwards in 2010 and then missed most of the 2011 season through injury. He pitched 58 innings last year split between the Kansas City Royals and the Reds and he did a decent job, although his strikeout rate (7 K\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s per 9 innings) was nothing special for a leading reliever and his average fastball<\/a> is now three miles per hour slower than in his 2009 heyday (94.7 MPH from 97.8).<\/p>\n

Put it all together and expecting him to stay on the mound and consistently perform well over the next three years looks a very risky gamble. The move is expected to lead to Cuban flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman moving into the rotation though, so there may be some residual benefit to the deal.<\/p>\n

Angels and Braves make a trade<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Angels and Braves didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop rejgging their rosters with their respective free-agent signings and instead completed a trade that sees starting pitcher Tommy Hanson heading to Anaheim for reliever Jordan Walden.<\/p>\n

Hanson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stock has fallen over the past year due to concerns about the state of his shoulder that draw even more attention to his unusual semi-shot-put delivery. The Braves have a host of options for their rotation so decided to move Hanson on, saving themselves $4m in the process and picking up a reliever with a blazing fastball who also has an unorthodox pitching motion. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an interesting trade where both teams are taking a bit of a flyer on a risky talent.<\/p>\n

Two Yankee pitchers return whilst a catcher leaves<\/strong><\/p>\n

As expected, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera will be donning pinstripes again in 2013. The veteran pitchers both agreed terms with the New York Yankees on one-year contracts and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probable \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if not completely certain \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that these two Yankee legends will be competing in their final season (Pettitte has already retired once, of course).<\/p>\n

However, they will not be staring into home plate and taking signs from Russell Martin. The Canadian catcher was a free agent and decided to accept<\/a> a two-year\/$17m contract offer (\u00c2\u00a3102k per week) by the Pittsburgh Pirates.\u00c2\u00a0 It makes a good story to say the Pirates jumped in and outbid the Yankees, yet New York knew Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s limitations and only wanted him back on their terms.<\/p>\n

His year-on-year decline from an excellent 2007 campaign is there for all to see<\/a> and his 2012 season at the plate was very similar to the .218\/.300\/.392 batting line with 23 home runs that the Pirates received combined from their catchers Rod Barajas and Michael McKenry in 2012.<\/p>\n

He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an upgrade on Barajas and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to hope it works out well for the Buccos \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if ever there was a team deserving of some luck, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as optimistic as you can be about the signing.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the Yankees will be on the lookout for a new catcher as their internal options amount to back-ups and prospects not yet ready to take on the Big League role.<\/p>\n

Staying \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWright\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 here in New York<\/strong><\/p>\n

The week wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just about players finding new teams; it was also about a couple of players extending their stay at their current home.<\/p>\n

After Evan Longoria signed his extension<\/a> with the Tampa Bay Rays, David Wright made it a good week to be a third baseman by signing a new contract with the New York Mets, ending weeks of speculation that he may follow Jose Reyes in being the next \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcface of the franchise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to become a face from the past.<\/p>\n

The Mets signed Wright<\/a> to a seven-year\/$122m extension that, when adding on his $16m salary for 2013, means they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re committing $138m to him over the next eight seasons (\u00c2\u00a3207k per week). \u00c2\u00a0After a disappointing 2011 season, Wright bounced back with an excellent 2012 and despite the innate risk in signing anyone for such a length of time, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the sort of cornerstone player that makes such commitments more understandable, especially in New York.<\/p>\n

Even though the Mets\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 owners have had their money struggles of late, the Mets are a big-market team that should not need to completely unload themselves of all financial commitments to rebuild. Knowing that Wright will not be leaving may be as good as the news gets for Mets fans this offseason, but he can be a big part of their team competing once again within the next couple of years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plenty of deals leading into the Winter Meetings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[553],"class_list":["post-15089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb-2","tag-mlb-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15089"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15106,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15089\/revisions\/15106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}