Archive for the ‘Trades And Signings’ Category

Rays Offer Tenure, Re-Sign Kyle Farnsworth for One Year

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Tampa Bay Rays, Trades And Signings on Jan 24, 2013


Kyle Farnsworth is a victim. A victim of his own reputation and his own early career foibles. A victim of gentle fun had at his expense, thanks to the brilliant Dugout. In reality, Kyle Farnsworth is a really good pitcher and has been for some time. 2012 saw Kyle Farnsworth post his fourth consecutive FIP under 3.50, though it was an injury-shortened campaign.

The Rays don’t need to spend big to build a strong bullpen, they just need to find buy-low candidates and fix or regress them. Farnsworth’s off year in 2012 made him a buy low guy, even if he was in-house.

An incentive laden contract worth at most $3MM? Even the Rays can afford that. Not a bad piece of business from the team that builds cheap bullpens better than anyone.

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Rosenthal: Braves Closer to Acquiring Justin Upton, Randall Delgado Part of Package

Posted by Scott Lewis under Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Trades And Signings on Jan 24, 2013

Continuing coverage of Justin Upton Watch Part IV is brought to you by twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal:



It appears as though the Justin Upton saga is coming to a close. Further to Rosenthal’s information, Jon Heyman tweets that the players in the deal have been agreed to and we’re waiting on physicals to make this official. ZOMG the National League East. Check back on the reg for what promises to be a day full of Justin Upton news.

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Pilot Returns Justin Upton Trade Switch to ON Position

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Atlanta Braves, Justin Upton, Trades And Signings on Jan 23, 2013


There is a reason these Justin Upton trade rumors refuse to go away. Reason being, Upton is likely to be traded before his Arizona Diamondbacks head to Spring Training. After the Seattle Incident, it would be quite difficult for the team and player to continue on as if nothing happened.

The other main reason for this endless process of teases and innuendos relates back to Arizona GM Kevin Towers, who doesn’t exactly operate within the “cone of silence” many of his contemporaries adopted. Towers has a reputation for being forthcoming with information – at least not running circles and wasting effort on misdirection.

Now it appears a Justin Upton trade draws close once again, with the Atlanta Braves figuring prominently in the discussion?

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DeLOLmon Young or PhilLOLies, You Pick

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Philadelphia Phillies, Trades And Signings on Jan 22, 2013


Did I miss something? Did they add not one but TWO designated hitter spots to the National League. How did this happen? I write about baseball for my job, you’d think a news flash like this would catch my eye.

But for real, Delmon Young, what? There are no bad one-year deals but there are bad players who don’t have the best reputation in the clubhouse who make a lot of outs, so maybe that tips things away from that old canard?

No matter, the veteran Phillies added two players with zero defensive value for the 2013 season, both of whom failed to post 90 wRC+ in 2012. Big things in Philly, you guys. The Darin Ruf dream must wait to live another day.

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Blue Jays Sign Secret Weapon Mark DeRosa

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Toronto Blue Jays, Trades And Signings on Jan 22, 2013

Showcasing his best remaining MLB skill

Mark DeRosa was, once, a very good baseball player. Mark DeRosa contributed greatly to a 97 win team during his final season with the Chicago Cubs, in 2008. Then he was traded to the Cleveland Indians where he was decidedly less good and decidedly more hurt. Then has traded again, this time to the St. Louis Cardinals. They, too, were a good team, even though DeRosa was not especially good during his time in St. Louis.

Mark DeRosa then joined the 2010 San Francsico Giants where he barely played. But the team was good! The Giants won the World Series thanks in no way to Mark DeRosa, who got to do a bunch of hanging around but very little actual playing after early May. But he was there and then they won. One more injury-shortened year in San Fran before he joined the Washington Nationals on a cheap, one-year deal.

Once again, DeRosa barely played but the Nats were great, reaching the playoffs for the first time in “franchise” history.

The team release announcing the Blue Jays signing of Mark DeRosa to a one-year, $750000 MAJOR LEAGUE contract now makes so much sense. Mark DeRosa has a role in baseball at this point of his career – Mark DeRosa is the mascot to the stars.

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Pirates Finally Reach an Agreement with Francisco Liriano

Posted by Scott Lewis under Trades And Signings on Jan 21, 2013

The Pittsburgh Pirates have reached an agreement with Francisco Liriano on a two-year contract. The Pirates had a deal in place for the free agent left-hander in December, but an injury to his right shoulder put it on hold temporarily. The new deal is effectively the same as the original agreement, although Liriano assumes some risk in the event that he misses time with due to his existing ailment.

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Colorado Rockies Hellbent on Building Hilarious Rotation

Posted by Scott Lewis under HardBall Talkin', Trades And Signings on Jan 21, 2013

The Minnesota Twins were in a league of their own this offseason in terms of assembling the lousiest starting pitching rotation in recent memory. The Colorado Rockies just couldn’t let them have it.

The Rockies signed free agent right hander Chris Volstad over the weekend and inked 41-year old Miguel Batista to a minor league deal as well. Hold on to your hats for a moment, though, as it appears the Rockies may be intent on putting together the rotation that time forgot. Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post reports that the Rockies are “aggressively pursuing” Carl Pavano and Derek Lowe. Renck also notes, compounding the LOL-factor tenfold, that the Rockies failed to land such prized free agent hurlers as Kevin Correia, Aaron Cook, and Kyle McClellan.

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