Free Agent Contracts

Free Agents Contracts
Reference: Boston.com
(great details on how many dudes got rich this winter)

Another questionable move by Red Sox

2B Mark Loretta has signed with Astros for one-year, $2.5 mil. Red Sox let go of a good fielder & a career .299 hitter in Loretta. It's a significant risk to bank on rookie, Dustin Pedroia to be an everyday 2B and not an automatic out at the bottom of the lineup. For the price of >$4mil., Red Sox should have kept Loretta, who is a likable guy in the club house, too, and hope to grow Pedroia into a full-time 2B over a full season at the big-league level. Another thing about "team chemistry", wasn't there a rumor about bringing back Kevin "Karaoke Guy" Millar and build the World Championship-grade club house atmosphere again? They should have got Millar for a cheap pocket change of $2.75mil. as a DH/1B/cheerleader. Red Sox is using the "Evil Empire" model of club house style now with all the free agents and hot shots. Boston need the blue collar dirtdogs, like Trot & Millar!!

As a Boston Dirtdog, I'll miss Trot (da original dirtdog, drafted & been with BOS longest up to '06) & Mr. CowboyUp, Millar.

Why do the Yankees need Mientkiewicz?!

Doug, aka "the ball-stealer" or "WHIPPED", is a gold-glove 1B who doesn't have much pop and average OBP at this point of his career. NYY already has a decent 1B fielder in Andy Phillips and Mr. All-Bat, No-Glove, Jason "Juice" Giambi-(no). New York must doesn't like or expect much from Phillips to sign a defensive 1B who can't even provide much offense in Mientkiewicz. Other teams should inquire about Phillips, whose OBP is an attractive tool (proven at the AAA-level, at least), although, all these years he wasted in the Yankees organization makes him no longer a young man at 29. All the Mientkiewicz signing was just a waste of $1.5 mil. Yankees could have used that money to upgrade their men's rooms (trust me, they need that "clean-up")...

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org.	Level		Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	HBP	IBB	SH	SF	DP	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1999	Staten Isl	NYPL	22	Nyy	A-		3b	64	233	35	75	11	7	7	48	3	3	37	40	3	1	0	3	4	.322	.417	.519	936
2000	Tampa	FSL	23	Nyy	A+		3b	127	478	66	137	33	2	13	58	2	0	46	98	2	0	0	8	9	.287	.346	.446	792
	Norwich	East	23	Nyy	AA		3b	7	28	5	7	2	1	0	3	1	0	3	11	0	0	1	0	1	.250	.323	.393	716
2001	Tampa	FSL	24	Nyy	A+		2b	75	288	43	87	17	4	11	50	3	3	25	55	3	1	1	10	6	.302	.353	.503	856
	Norwich	East	24	Nyy	AA		2b	51	183	23	49	9	2	6	25	1	0	21	54	0	2	0	2	6	.268	.340	.437	777
2002	Norwich	East	25	Nyy	AA		2b	73	272	58	83	24	2	19	51	4	3	33	56	3	2	0	4	6	.305	.381	.618	999
	Columbus	IL	25	Nyy	AAA		2b	51	205	32	54	11	1	9	36	0	1	10	46	0	0	1	1	8	.263	.296	.459	755
2003	Columbus	IL	26	Nyy	AAA		2b	17	67	7	14	4	0	2	5	0	0	5	17	0	0	0	0	4	.209	.264	.358	622
2004	Trenton	East	27	Nyy	AA		3b-1b	10	42	8	15	2	1	4	16	3	0	3	1	0	0	0	2	0	.357	.383	.738	1121
	Columbus	IL	27	Nyy	AAA		1b-dh	115	434	83	138	19	6	26	85	2	1	51	60	2	5	1	5	18	.318	.388	.569	957
	NY Yankees	MLB	27	Nyy	MLB	log - sp	3b	5	8	1	2	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	.250	.250	.625	875
2005	Columbus	IL	28	Nyy	AAA		3b-1b	75	300	60	90	14	1	22	54	2	0	36	61	3	3	0	1	15	.300	.379	.573	952
	NY Yankees	MLB	28	Nyy	MLB	log - sp	1b	27	40	7	6	4	0	1	4	0	0	1	13	0	0	0	0	1	.150	.171	.325	496
2006	NY Yankees	MLB	29	Nyy	MLB		1b	110	246	30	59	11	3	7	29	3	2	15	56	0	0	0	2	9	.240	.281	.394	675
Major League Totals - 3 Season(s)								142	294	38	67	15	3	9	35	3	2	16	70	0	0	0	2	11	.228	.266	.391	657
Minor League Totals - 7 Season(s)								665	2530	420	749	146	27	119	431	21	11	270	499	16	14	4	36	77	.296	.363	.516	879

Red Sox STILL needs a closer

Joel Pineiro?!

He is NOT the answer for a team that is serious about making the playoff. C'mn, BoSox!!

Red Sox should have taken a chance on Gagne for cheap (considering their payroll & how much they spent on Matsuzaka & other questionable FAs).

Boston needs to look into some bottom-level arms like
Felix Rodriguez,
Chris Reitsma,
Cliff Politte,
Matt Mantei (whom BOS may not be interested realistically),
Dustin Hermanson &
Matt Herges

And DON'T even think about the remote possibility of young Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarman turning into K-Rod this season; they have much work to do in the minors before becoming solid relievers.

Off-season Thoughts on Blue Jays

Yahoo!'s Tim Brown sums up off-season moves by teams:

Quick look of Blue Jays' off-season move thus far:

Big Additions:
Frank Thomas, DH
Greg Zaun, C
(Vernon Wells, OF --resigned BIG TIME for BIG MONEY)

Big Losses:
Ted Lilly, SP
Justin Speier, RP

Like Brown mentioned, TOR didn't do anything to improve its rotation and lost much strength overall with Lilly & Speier's departure. Signing Wells to a long-term extension was rather their 3rd option on their priority list. Losing bid of Meche & Zito (whom TOR wasn't very interested in, but they should have been) hurt a lot. There are some 2nd-rate scrubs in the free agents pool for Blue Jays to improve their rotation & bullpen. However, most big-name pitchers are signed. Blue Jays may be looking at another ~85 wins season in '07 missing the playoff, unless Halladay & Burnett are healthy all-season and perform at All-Star level.

CowboyUp's original plan for Blue Jays in the off-season.