Jeff Banister of Texas wins AL Manager of the Year. Joe Maddon of Chicago takes NL Manager of the Year. Angels sign IF Cliff Pennington to a 2yr deal. 2016 will be David Ortiz's final year.
Was bound to happen. Greinke and Kershaw both being so good meant that the vote would be split, even before Arrieta had the best second-half of any pitcher in MLB history. Cam Maybin's career comes full circle as ATL trades him to DET for P Ian Krol and P Gabe Speier (both lefties). Maybin was a top-10 prospect in all baseball back about ten years ago when the Tigers traded him and Andrew Miller to the Marlins for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Mariners DFA former #2 overall 2011 pick Dan Hultzen. Hultzen was one of Seattle's big three pitching prospects (Hultzen, James Paxton, & Taijuan Walker) but hurt his shoulder, underwent surgery, and was battered around after returning. Really a shame. Athletics DFA former SP AJ Griffin. Griffin struggled to return from TJ surgery this past season.
Twins traded Aaron Hicks to Yanks for John Ryan Murphy... Win rights to negotiate conctract with Korean slugger Byung-ho Park. Really hate seeing Hicks go with the kind of season he had but we need depth at catcher and Murphy is young and could be the starting catcher for a long time if it works out. Apparently we have Sano working on his outfield game right now. Looks like we are keeping Plouffe.
Had to happen only because of that absurd Wilson Ramos trade from a few years back. Ramos was supposed to supplant Mauer at C when Mauer inevitably moved to 1B. Sano has to move to the OF or to DH...his frame is wayyyy too big to be a shortstop and probably too big to play the hot corner. He looks like a younger version of David Ortiz in terms of figure so I think that will ultimately lend itself to DH or 1B....I'd bet they would try and have him at 1B if they didn't have Mauer there for the next three years at $23,000,000 per. Twins can win the AL Central by 2017/2018 if they can start to collect good pitching.
I bet Jose Berrios makes his debut this season for the Twins, so he'll definitely add something to their rotation. We need to go out and get an ace though. We really haven't had a true ace since Johan Santana and that was almost 10 years ago. If we had some consistency at the top of the rotation we could be a wildcard team this next year.
I forgot about Berrios. I was sure he was going to get a September cup of coffee in the bigs this past season but I'm intrigued with what he can do. Either way they still need like three more starters even if Berrios pans out, because Ervin Santana is a short-term fix. Funny you mention Johan...did you know that Ervin Santana's name is actually Johan? His real name is Johan Santana but he changed it back in '03 to not be confused with the former Twins' ace (still love that changeup...man was he good).
I liked what I saw from Tyler Duffey when he got his call up. He was really a middle reliever, but we used him as a starter since we were so short handed. I think he had a stretch where he went 6-2 with an ERA below 3.00. Trevor May and Kyle Gibson could be good pitchers, too but they haven't shown any consistency at all. Not sure what we'll do with Ricky Nolasco, but that crazy contract we gave him really backfired on us.
JA Happ signs with Toronto for 3yrs/$36mil. Late last week the Blue Jays had also acquired starter/swingman Jesse Chavez from Oakland in exchange for Liam Hendriks.
Barry Bonds will be named the new hitting coach of the Marlins, marking his return to baseball eight years after he was forced out of the game as a player.
Overpay. $30mil a year is arguable for a generational hitter like Miguel Cabrera, but pitchers are a different beast entirely.
A's trade P Drew Pomeranz and RP Mark Rzepczynski to San Diego for 1B/DH Yonder Alonso and LHP Jose Torres. Mark McGwire named the Padres' new bench coach as well. AJ Ellis gets a new 1yr deal worth $4.5mil with the Dodgers. Orioles sign Vance "The Vanimal" Worley for 1yr/$2.6mil. Orioles also acquire 1B/OF/DH Mark Trumbo from Seattle for C/1B Steve Clevenger. Trumbo likely replaces Crush Davis in the Baltimore 2016 lineup. Mariners sign OF Nori Aoki and former Phillies RP Justin de Fratus. Bob Geren named the Dodgers' new bench coach, leaving the Mets to take the position. Former Yankees pitcher Esmil Rogers signed the richest deal for a foreign player in KBO history, signing a 1yr/$1.9mil deal with the Hanwha Eagles. Rumor has it that Zack Greinke will go either to the Dodgers or the Giants for a minimum of $192mil over 5-6yrs, going as high as $210mil over 6 years. Phils claim OF Peter Bourjos on waivers.
Lackey to the Cubs makes sense for both sides and he was on STL last year so there's a connection there anyway. That rotation should be good once again. Looks like Arrieta-Lester-Lackey-Hendricks-Hammel. Pretty solid and they didn't have to overpay for Price, Zimm, or Greinke. $16mil per for 2yrs isn't bad for Lackey considering he played for something like $600k last year. Speaking of which, SHOCKER SPECIAL OF THE OFFSEASON RIGHT HERE: Zack Greinke signs with the Diamondbacks, 6yrs/$206mil. DBacks also still in negotiations with Mike Leake. Their rotation now sits as Greinke-Corbin-Bradley-de La Rosa-Ray. Signing Leake would allow them to push Corbin to relief and limit his innings for this upcoming season. Mets GM Sandy Alderson battling cancer. Wondering to myself if the Dodgers will now overpay for Cueto or if they'll realize Kazmir is the better bet on a short-term (2-4yr) deal vs 6-7yrs for Cueto who will get at least what Zimmermann got from Detroit.
Oh, also, the Hiroshima Carp will post star pitcher Kenta Maeda, 27, during the winter meetings. He is the best pitcher in Japan currently and is on par with Yu Darvish in terms of skill level and talent as a starter.
Greinke to the D-backs. How 'bout that? They haven't spent that much money in any off-season in the past 8 years combined.