You could call Jeff Karstens many things. You could call him underwhelming, decidedly average, fragile, or HERP-DERP just to highlight a few options. Our friends at Productive Outs like to call him the River Wizard. That’s my favourite name for Jeff Karstens. You could also call him a Pittsburgh Pirate, again. As Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported, the Pirates have agreed to terms with Karstens on a one-year, $2.5 million deal.
Unlike many of his free agent peers who continue to wait for a new contract, Shaun Marcum is not tied to draft pick compensation. The Brewers’ decision to forgo extending the right hander a qualifying offer, in theory, should have given a jolt to his free agent stock. It has not. Like Kyle Lohse, Shaun Marcum waits.
Much of Marcum’s lack of employment prospects this winter could probably be tied to the two months he missed in 2012 with elbow tightness. That and the fact that he didn’t pitch nearly as well in 2012 as he did the previous two seasons. While Marcum’s strike out rate was in line with what we’ve come to expect, his ground ball rate sunk to a career low (35.4%) and his HR/FB rate (10.6%) was the highest it’s been since 2008. His FIP took a substantial drive north to 4.10 from the 3.74 and 3.73 he finished the 2010 and 2011 seasons with, too.
Perhaps there’s a break in the bad news for Marcum, though. According to Jon Morosi, interest in Marcum may be picking up a little. The Fox Sports reporter tweets that Marcum is drawing interest from the San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Texas Rangers. Let’s play matchmaker for Marcum and these three prospective employers.
Kelvim Escobar has not pitched since 2009 due to a series of shoulder problems, but the right hander is one step closer to completing a comeback with the news of a one-year deal with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Buenas tardes, quiero compartir con Uds esta buena noticia…. Acabo de firmar con los @brewers contrato de #MLB por 1 año
— kelvim escobar (@kelvimescobar) January 10, 2013
You didn’t think the Pittsburgh Pirates were going to sit around and allow the Boston Red Sox to be the only team dealing with damaged goods this winter, did you? The Pirates were believed to be close to signing free agent left-hander Francisco Liriano to a two-year deal, but as Rob Biertempfel reports, the Bucs’ agreement with the pitcher may be in jeopardy.
The good news is that Liriano’s right arm is not the one he uses to issue walks, surrender home runs, or strike batters out with. That’s a good thing, right? The bad news is that Liriano represented the Pirates biggest non-Russell Martin acquisition of the offseason. We could discuss how lobbing a two-year $12.75 million contract at a pitcher whose market could otherwise be described as tepid is a shite move to being with, but this is the Pirates and somebody had to pick up the slack left behind by Erik Bedard, Jeff Karstens, and Kevin Correia. This is the sad face of mediocrity.
As Biertempfel indicates, the Pirates will continue to talk with Liriano’s agent, but there is nothing imminent at this point.
Source: The Nats have agreed to terms with Adam LaRoche on a two-year deal.
— Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) January 8, 2013
Well well. After much dancing and playing hard to get and foreplay and heavy petting and trepidation, it appears the Washington Nationals and Adam LaRoche will indeed go all the way. Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports the Nats and LaRoche agree to a two-year deal worth $24 million with a mutual option for 2015 and $2 Mil buyout.
The first baseman comes off a strong season in DC, one in which he hit 33 home runs and posted a .361 wOBA in his age 33 season. It will be interesting to see if what kind of options might attach a third year to this deal. LaRoche and his camp wanted it bad, hard to envision them simply walking away from any type of carrot for an extra guaranteed year.
Despite being something of an outspoken critic of the American League and its style of play, it seems Lance Berkman is less critical of doing what it takes to continue living in the swanky style to which he became accustomed.
Though he made some retirement noise this off-season, the Rangers ponied up the required dough to get Lance Berkman back on the field, reportedly reaching a one-year deal with the former Astro, Yankee, and Cardinal for $10 million, with a vesting option based on plate appearances for 2014.
A sadish day for Blue Jays fans as the club’s all-time leader in appearances, Jason Frasor, agrees to terms on a one-year contract with the Texas Rangers. While Frasor is no Koji Uehara or Mike Adams, he is still a decent depth addition to an already deep bullpen.
