December 19, 2004
Week in Review
Audio version of this post.
Although the winter meetings ended early in the week, the action continued fast and furious as GMs signed free agents and constructed trades for both the present and the future.
Some big names moved this week starting with the top pitcher available, Pedro Martinez. The Mets became his sugar daddy agreeing to pay the fragile hurler more than $50 million over the next four years. There is speculation about the health of Martinez's shoulder, but for the 16 games he starts at Shea this season, I suspect the park will be brimming to capacity. Fannies in the seats means dollars in the Mets pockets.
The Red Sox countered by paying the rent; shortstop Edgar Renteria, that is. The NL star gets $10 million a year coming off a poor season. Why the Sox think he's that much better than Cabrera, I'm not sure. I guess they needed a shortstop real bad. They also picked up Matt Clement, one of the better starters on the market this season. Looks to me like they saved about $10 million dollars per year vs. signing Nomar last season and Pedro this off-season.
The Mariners opened up the vault as well, signing Richie Sexson to enough money to enjoy the champagne room for a long time. More importantly, they landed what I feel is the free agent of the off-season, Adrian Beltre. The Dodger third baseman had a breakout season at age 25, leading the majors in home runs. The Mariners are getting him right in his prime, and if 2004 was any indication, they're getting a great deal.
It's pretty clear that there is a change in the way the clubs view free agents this season. The worry about insurance companies only covering three years has vanished as four seasons seems to be the term of choice this off season. And the money is there. While there hasn't been anything like a Manny Ramirez or Alex Rodriguez contract yet, prices are definitely up this winter. And with Carlos Beltran lurking in the mist, we still don't know how the high clubs will go this round. Clearly, though, with a year of good attendance and the interest the Red Sox generated with their World Series win, the owners appear very confident about the state of baseball finances.
Plenty of players were changing teams via trades, too. The Brewers started the week off getting Carlos Lee from the White Sox. It's my opinion that Milwaukee made out well in this trade, as the White Sox got Scott Podsednik, who's best days are being him, and Luis Vizcaino, a pitcher prone to the gopher ball. US Cellular is a good park for long ball hitters. The Brewers are making good moves this off-season.
The Yankees, Dodgers and DBacks are in the middle of putting together one of the biggest deals I've ever seen. Ten players are involved to bring Randy Johnson to the Yankees. The deal has been sent to Bud Selig, so we'll hear in a day or so if it really goes through. Once again, however, the Yankees are trading what little future they have for a win this season.
The trades of the week, however, go to the master himself, Billy Beane. Beane had been quiet the last couple of seasons; he did pick up Jose Guillen at the trade deadline in 2003 and sent his catcher to the Padres last winter. This week, however, he made everyone take notice as he sent two of his three aces to the NL and gathered six talented youngsters.
Tim Hudson joins the Braves and will anchor the rotation along with bullpen refugee John Smoltz. Mark Mulder will look for the truth in St. Louis. In return, Beane gets two fireballing relievers, two young starters with great minor league stats, a super 19-year-old catching prospect and a great defensive outfielder who may turn out to be a pretty good hitter. As a reader commented, Beane appears to be stock-piling catchers. Since good offensive catchers are hard to find, it's not a bad idea. In the future, the Athletics will have the backstops to sell to fill their holes. It's great to see the master at work again.
Posted by David Pinto at
07:18 PM
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