Adam Eaton is going to the Phillies for $24M over three years. It’s an interesting harbinger of the contracts to come–that isn’t far out of line of all the $21/3 contracts that have been signed in the last couple of years. Eaton is a bit of an injury risk, I suppose, but there’s nothing else keeping his value down. Aside from the obvious cases–Barry Zito, Andy Pettitte, and Jason Schmidt–the only pitchers on the market who may get bigger deals that Eaton are Gil Meche and Ted Lilly. It would be fascinating if the market for pitching remained as people predicted, while the market for hitters exploded.
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David Dellucci signed a similarly sane deal to go to Cleveland: he’s getting $11.5M over three years. Given Casey Blake’s versatility, Eric Wedge can play the hot hand with a number of players, including Dellucci, Blake, Jason Michaels, Shin-Soo Choo, and Ryan Garko.
It looks like it’ll be Gregg Zaun, and not Rod Barajas, who serves as the Blue Jays catcher next year. Apparently the Barajas talks hit a snag, and Zaun stepped right back in. That means Barajas may be headed to one of Zaun’s earlier targets: San Francisco, or a backup job in New York or Boston.
Speaking of catchers, I’m sure you’re all relieved to know that Chad Moeller found a job for 2007. He got a major-league deal to join the Cincinnati Reds, which is Wayne Krivsky’s way of saying, "Jason LaRue, you suck!" Interesting how Brewers backup catchers stick around in the division: if Gary Bennett stays with the Cardinals, two of the worst backup catchers in baseball will be former Brewers in the NL Central.
By Jeff Sackmann
