Lee, Williams, Catalanotto, Barajas, and Roberts

Tim sends his best from Cancun and wishes everyone was with him.

Not!

They are still trying to find their honeymoon hotel so he's not quite sure when he'll be back. And, no, he didn't send any Cancun beach shots. Dang..

Speaking about vacations, how about the Astros signing Lee at $100m/6? Wow. My take is this - the power starved Astros obviously felt they were one player away and Lee happened to be available. He'll probably hit 40 home runs despite all the talk about his lack of power after April last year. Don't forget Minute Maid is full of hot air.

The Astros also jumped on Woody Williams at $12.5/2. I suppose this is a message to Astros fans that Pupura doesn't expect the Rocket to resign. Just a guess. At 40-years old, Williams is a huge risk of course.

The Rangers signed Frank Catalanotto to a $13.5m/3 year deal today too. Dan Szymborwski at the Baseball Think Factory believes it is a solid deal for the Rangers, and I agree.

MLBTR's reader eeleye99 was kind enough to offer up that the Blue Jays are reportedly ready to sign Rod Barajas as their every day receiver around $6m/2. Nice catch eeleye99 - thanks.

Another MLBTR reader - Rayman, found that Dave Roberts is reportedly picking the Giants over the Brewers. Kudo's for the find Rayman. 

At The Plate has started compiling all the teams top 10 prospects by publication. They have done a great job of this for several years now. You might want to bookmark the site.

Bucco Blog has indicated that the most sought out pitcher on the Pirates staff this winter has been southpaw Tom Gorzelanny. There have been rumors that the Braves wanted Gorzelanny and Maholm for LaRoche, and today Tracy Ringolsby, the award winning columnist of the Rocky Mountain News, has indicated that a Rockies Brad Hawpe trade has been discussed with the Pirates who will only give up Maholm. I assume they also want Gorzelanny in any package. I love Tracy's writing - the guy is flat out kewl.

Interestingly, Ringolsby is also reporting in that article that agents are complaining that the Rockies didn't offer enough to Francis in his latest $13.5/4 year deal. I suppose the agents had to find a way to say the "C" word this year, despite the soaring value of contracts so far.

Have you ever read the The Carbolic Smoke Ball blog? OMG - it is Hilllll ar ious.

By Jake at Bucco Blog

Comments

[eeleye99]

I put this in other blog. But.

a marginally important signing for the Jays...Barajas is everyday catcher next year.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061124.wspt-jays-24/GSStory/GlobeSportsBaseball/home

[bravesrule14]

that Smoke Ball thing was hilarious, but anyway the Braves rumour about LaRoche 4 Maholm and Gorzelanny is interesting. i just wonder if the Braves were to trade LaRoche, would the Braves sign a free agent like Hillenbrand or put Scott Thorman at first base? wat do u think Jake

[Jake]

bravesrule14 - I think the Pirates simply planted a seed in case Jones is dealt. Perhaps the Braves would look for a player like Kotchman in the deal and then spin one of them off at the Pirates.

In any case, I don't see Atlanta doing anything with LaRoche until they have a qualified replacement of equal or better value in hand.

[bravesrule14]

Jake- thanx for that it makes me feel a whole lot better. i recently saw on mlb.com that the Padres are close to signing Tony Graffanino as there everyday 2B. does this mean that Giles is staying in the ATL

[Rayman]

The Carbolic Smoke Ball. I've never heard of it before, but it's funny.

[Rayman]

Dave Roberts to the Giants:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=535007

[bravesrule14]

so i guess this means that the Brewers will be trading for a centre fielder this year

[Rayman]

Well Kenny Lofton is still floating out there. And so is Steve Finley IIRC.

[eeleye99]

Does this mean Bonds is on his way out?

[eeleye99]

Why do my quotes never go in?

Does this mean Bonds is on the way out?

[bravesrule14]

bonds was on the way out either way, but this is definantly interesting. Bonds could come back, but i see him DHing for a team like the A's or the even the orioles after they missed out on Lee

[eeleye99]

I don't see Bonds going anywhere else at all. I predict he will go back to the Giants for "less" money, even though I still think he'll be overpaid. Who else would take him?

[start_wearing_purple]

I'm betting on either the A's or the Orioles. Hell Baltimore just needs to bring fans back to the stadium, even if most of them are there to boo bonds and throw syringes at him.

[wihargo]

barry bonds is a deal at 15 million a year. If I was some rich owner, I'd want him on my team just to piss everyone off. If the local "toy department" had a problem, that's the idea.

[wagunk27]

What do you think the chances of Jim Hendry working out yet another deal with the Pirates? Jones seems to be on the block and his contract is looking more and more attractive to teams not looking to spend much money..he has 2 years and about 10-11MM left on his contract and could be flipped for Gorzelanny and Maholm if a prospect was included coming from the Cubs organization.

[ejruiz777]

Pierre and Matthews Jr. got $9M and $10M respectively for 5 years each... Lee and Soriano each got $17M for 6 and 8 years respectively... I don't even want to imagine what Andruw is going to get, either from the team that trades for him now or in the open market next offseason. My guess is 7 years and $133M. The only thing that is certain is that he won't be in a Braves uniform for the start of 2008. How sad...

[eeleye99]

I thought the same thing about Vernon Wells. He'll get "Beltran money" straight up.

[nrmax88]

i dont know how many times this has to be said before people understand. You cant compare a contract from 2 years ago to one this year. The market is so much different. Its like saying i cant believe a pack of cigarettes cost 1 dollar back in the day, and now they are 5.50. Its just the way it is. I wouldnt be at all surprised to see vernon wells grab 20 mil a year next season. That being said, I think beltran would have cracked the 20 mil a year mark as well this year if he was a free agent. Its all relative to other signings of this offseason though. Sorianos huge deal pumped the whole market way up. In 97, when Piazza signed a 7/91 deal, it was one of the biggest contracts (if not the biggest, im really not sure), in MLB at that time. This was for one of the best hitting catchers to ever play the game. 13 mil a year. Nowadays people are offering up 13 mil a year to a number 5 starter, or a utility infielder(sarcastic). Sure its ridiculous when you think about it this way. Its just the way it is, as more and more guys sign with teams, the guys who remain free agents, obviously become more needed and his price tag goes up. It only makes sense. This is why you have to compare contract signings from within the same year, not to mention the fact that this is an incredibly weak FA year. Imagine Beltran, Jones, Wells, Vladdy, Manny, Crawford, Berkman all on the market together. Sure they would still make a lot of money, but would not be being overpayed such as soriano and lee were, because if you miss out on one of these guys, you just move to the next one, and so on and so forth. When there is a wealth of talent, you dont need to pay top dollar and beyond for one guy, like this year when there were really only 2 star OF guys available. See my point? You can wait it out and if you keep throwing around money, get one big guy to fill a hole without over paying ridiculously for him.