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Author: Tim Dierkes

Offseason In Review: San Diego Padres

By | at February 28, 2011 11:00pm CDT

The Padres are next in our Offseason In Review series.

Major League/International Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Trades and Claims

Notable Losses

Summary

Despite nearly making the playoffs in 2010, the Padres cashed in their best player by sending Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox as the first baseman entered his contract year.  Like the Marlins with Dan Uggla and the Rays with Matt Garza, Padres GM Jed Hoyer built a team to win in 2011 despite a major subtraction.

I didn't expect Gonzalez to be traded this offseason, as he is coming off shoulder surgery and the Padres had some goodwill from their surprising 90 win season.  With Gonzalez set to earn just $6.3MM in 2011, the trade was not financially motivated.  Instead, Hoyer must have been bowled over by the haul of prospects offered by Boston.  The Gonzalez trade seems a tough sell to the fan base, as Hoyer could have waited to assess his team at the trade deadline or just resolved to taking two draft picks after the season – similar to what the Brewers chose to do with Prince Fielder.  In Hoyer's defense, Fielder did not have Gonzalez's trade value, and waiting to trade Gonzalez meant risking getting much less in return.

The dropoff in offensive production at first base could be surprisingly small if Hawpe and Cantu are used wisely in a platoon and perform at their 2008-09 levels.  The bar for offense at almost every other position is very low if the Padres just aim to improve on last year's 4.10 runs per game.

Hudson

The Padres' relatively pricey new-look middle infield of Hudson and Bartlett should provide better performance on both sides of the ball for two years.  The Padres haven't gotten even a .325 OBP out of a middle infield spot since Mark Loretta in 2005.  The Padres have Chase Headley and Ryan Ludwick penciled into a couple of offensive-minded positions, and they're looking from big improvements from both.

Hoyer dealt from a position of strength to acquire Bartlett and Maybin, as MLBTR's Mike Axisa explained in December.  The Padres had one of few bullpens that could withstand some losses; they still have Heath Bell, Mike Adams, and Luke Gregerson to turn games into six-inning affairs, and there are positive vibes around bounceback pickup Qualls.

Qualls was just one example illustrating Hoyer's buy-low strategy this offseason.  Harang, Hawpe, Cantu, and Maybin are four other acquisitions who fell to the Padres because of down 2010 seasons.  Maybin, with the biggest upside, cost the most in Webb.  The Padres gave up five seasons of control of the hard-throwing righty. 

With the loss of Gonzalez, few will pick the Padres to win the NL West in 2011.  For Hoyer's revamped team to contend, pitching will again be key.  The Padres have a young, interesting rotation led by 23-year-old Mat Latos and still boast one of the league's top bullpens.  And as questionable as a Padres lineup without Gonzalez sounds, the offense could still top its 2010 output.

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Offseason In Review San Diego Padres

Offseason In Review: Tampa Bay Rays

By | at February 25, 2011 11:00pm CDT

The Rays are next in our Offseason In Review series.

Major League Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Trades and Claims

Notable Losses

Summary

Free agency hit the Rays especially hard this offseason.  Their expected losses were known well in advance, but it's still a daunting list.  The Rays saw almost their entire bullpen sign elsewhere, watched Crawford ink a megadeal with a division rival, and traded a few regulars for good measure.  The fascinating part is that Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman still put together a team that will compete in baseball's toughest division.

Just to underscore the Rays' losses: 11 members of the 2010 team signed Major League contracts elsewhere this winter, most of them as free agents.  Teams committed $238.05MM to the group over 24 contract years.  The eleven departed players will earn about $67MM in 2011, roughly $25MM more than the Rays' entire payroll.  On the plus side, the losses of Crawford, Soriano, Balfour, Benoit, Choate, Hawpe, and Qualls will result in ten extra draft picks within the top 75 in June.  You have to wonder if Hawpe and Qualls denied their arbitration offers due to handshake agreements beforehand, which MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith alluded to in January.

Damon

Despite ranking sixth in the AL in on-base percentage and eighth in slugging, the Rays' 2010 offense placed third at 4.95 runs per game due to exceptional hitting with runners in scoring position.  2011 brings offensive changes at first base, shortstop, left field, and designated hitter.  Of the four positions, only left fielder Crawford actually produced at the plate last year.  I think the dropoff from Crawford to Damon will be outweighed by improvements at the other three spots.  The Rays' timely hitting of 2010 will be tough to replicate, but the Damon/Manny tandem brings a pair of strong OBPs to the offense at the least.  Certainly there is a defensive loss in left field, but going from Bartlett to Brignac at shortstop is an improvement.

One could argue that Jeremy Hellickson is actually an upgrade over Garza in the rotation despite the former's inexperience in the Majors.  I imagine the Rays would have preferred to maintain the depth, but felt the need to reallocate Garza's money.  Friedman still made a big score in plucking five players out of the Cubs' farm system in the trade.

Even if the Rays had committed the $62.6MM required to retain Soriano, Benoit, Balfour, and Wheeler, the group obviously would not have been good for another 227 innings of 2.10 ball in 2011.  Can Friedman's new ragtag bunch manage an ERA under 4.00 this year?  It's anybody's guess, but Benoit, Balfour, and Howell were not considered relief aces when they first came to Tampa Bay.  And as manager Joe Maddon explained recently, no one was penciling the 2010 crew in as the league's best pen a year ago.  The 2011 bullpen is packed with sleepers.  As I mentioned in the Twins offseason in review, if you have to skimp on one area, let it be the bullpen.  

Given the impossible position Friedman was in, I liked the Rays' offseason.  The Rays did a lot with the $12.5MM spent on big league free agents and assembled an interesting group of minor league deals.  Even with an $80MM payroll the Rays probably would not have won the Crawford bidding, though they might still have Garza as well as more certainty in the pen.

Photo courtesy Icon SMI.

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Offseason In Review Tampa Bay Rays

Teams Monitoring Nick Johnson

By | at February 25, 2011 3:16pm CDT

Teams seeking a midseason on-base percentage boost would be wise to keep an eye on free agent Nick Johnson.  After signing a one-year deal with the Yankees in December of 2009, Johnson appeared in only 24 games before a wrist injury ended his season.  Two surgeries later, Johnson is "heading in the right direction" according to his agent Rex Gary.

Gary told MLBTR Johnson has been working out at Athletes' Performance Institute since October and clubs are monitoring his progress closely.  The first baseman/DH is not expected to be ready for the start of the season and is not able to swing a bat at full bore currently.  Still, Gary expects Johnson to be ready "early in the season."  The agent added that Johnson will need some time in the minors, as he hasn't played in a game since May 7th of last year.

Johnson, 32, has a .401 career on-base percentage in nine seasons for the Yankees, Expos, Nationals, and Marlins.  He's battled injuries throughout his career, but should still be an asset when he's able to play.

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Offseason In Review: Oakland Athletics

By | at February 24, 2011 2:55pm CDT

The Athletics are next in our Offseason In Review series.

Major League Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Trades and Claims

Notable Losses

Summary

Once again, the Athletics failed to reach agreements with top free agent targets, falling short on attempts to sign Hisashi Iwakuma, Lance Berkman, and Adrian Beltre.  In an earlier post, I explained that Oakland missed on these players for a classic reason: they didn't offer the best contracts.  As ESPN's Jerry Crasnick explained, the A's chose to make modest, incremental upgrades to the offense, and did so by taking the decision out of the player's hands.  Two winters ago they acquired Matt Holliday, and this offseason they did the same by trading for DeJesus and Willingham.

Replacing Cust with Matsui at DH is not necessarily an upgrade, but Cust only accounted for about half of the plate appearances for the A's at that position last year.  The A's come out ahead overall, at about half the price of Berkman.

Willingham

The A's didn't get much offense from the many players appearing at their outfield corners last year, so DeJesus and Willingham add much-needed production at reasonable salaries.  While neither player is a classic slugger, it's not easy to add a couple of .380 OBPs.  GM Billy Beane surrendered several interesting players to rent DeJesus and Willingham, though I wouldn't call the price exorbitant.

Even without Iwakuma, the A's had strong starting pitching depth in the first four spots.  For a mere $2.5MM they added projects Harden and McCarthy.  It's hard to find fault with such low-risk signings.  McCarthy in particular was a hot commodity after teams watched him throw in the Dominican Winter League.

Moneyball comes to the silver screen this year, but I don't think Beane signed Balfour and Fuentes with some kind of cutting-edge market inefficiency in mind.  In fact, signing free agent middle relievers to multiyear, top-dollar deals has proven to be one of the least efficient strategies out there.  After missing out on primary targets, the A's simply felt spending on the bullpen was the best remaining way to improve their team despite the risk involved.  "They're too good to be out there, and we had money to afford them," Beane told Crasnick. Why did the GM shift from overstocking the rotation with a $30MM+ commitment to Iwakuma to bulking up the pen with an $18.6MM expenditure on Balfour and Fuentes?  Perhaps they simply did not like Carl Pavano and the other remaining starters.  I haven't seen any evidence that their Iwakuma bid was insincere.

I like what the A's did at DH and the outfield corners, though moving money to relief extravagances was less than ideal.  They were unable to upgrade at third base, but the A's can't be faulted for the weak market at that position.  It stands to reason that the Athletics have cash on reserve to spend on a midseason hot corner addition, though they'll be at the mercy of the trade market and dealing from a poorly-rated farm system.  The current offense looks better than last year's, though the improvement is mitigated if you don't think their front four starters can post 700 innings of 3.17 ball again.

Photo courtesy Icon SMI.

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Athletics Offseason In Review

Offseason In Review: Florida Marlins

By | at February 24, 2011 8:00am CDT

The Offseason In Review series continues with the Marlins.

Major League Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Trades and Claims

Notable Losses

Summary

The Marlins had barely made a ripple in the free agent waters since the 2004-05 offseason, but this winter president Larry Beinfest and GM Michael Hill broke out the checkbook.  They made early November strikes for Buck and Vazquez, and also dealt away Uggla, Maybin, and Miller in a four-day span that same month.  The Fish are pushing payroll over $50MM for the first time since '05, but did they spend the extra money wisely?

Buck What was more surprising – that Buck scored an $18MM deal, or that it was with the Marlins?  Buck is a useful catcher, though a .247/.299/.484 line got him non-tendered by the Royals after '09.  In 2010 with Toronto, Buck reached a career high in playing time and hit for average for the first time in his career, but didn't seem to become a drastically different player than the one Kansas City cut loose.  Clearly the Marlins viewed Buck as a notch above the available catchers, with Victor Martinez out of their price range.  I imagine they assigned a premium to Buck's intangibles and felt they needed the leadership.

I can get behind the Vazquez gamble, even though the price was on the higher end for a reclamation project.  He turned down multiyear offers to play close to home.  Maybe Vazquez's velocity won't come back in 2011, but perhaps a return to the NL means 200 innings of 4.00 ball from the 34-year-old righty.  It's possible that after so many years of starting every fifth day, Vazquez just couldn't get back on track once the Yankees skipped starts and sent him to the pen.  I also like the addition of Shawn Hill, who seems like a poor man's Justin Duchscherer.

Choate is a strong bet to continue shutting down lefties, though his agency deserves a nod for snagging a second year.  I like Choate more than Will Ohman, who received $1.5MM more.  Buck, Vazquez, and Choate are all represented by ACES, a firm that also pounced on the Tigers' desire to act early by getting strong deals for Brandon Inge, Jhonny Peralta, and Joaquin Benoit.

The Marlins also bucked their traditional minor league free agent approach to bullpen-building.  Aside from signing Choate, they added big arms Dunn, Mujica, Webb, and Richardson through trades.  It seems early to give up on Maybin, who turns 24 in April and has yet to reach arbitration.  Even Beinfest admitted Maybin "never really had the sustained time in the big leagues to show what we think he was capable of doing at the time of the trade [with Detroit]."  In Florida's defense, they received two controllable relievers for a player who could simply flame out in San Diego.  The price for a guy like Webb might have risen as the offseason progressed and free agent relievers started signing for good money.  The Marlins will turn to Chris Coghlan in center field, a position he's never played as a pro.     

Florida's free agent spending was made possible in part by trading Uggla to the division-rival Braves after he wisely rejected a four-year, $48MM extension offer.  I found the return for Uggla to be disappointing for the Marlins, who could have kept him for $10-11MM for 2011.  They lose about 25 home runs out of the second base spot, and Infante is a year away from free agency as well.  Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said that "the home run hitters didn't win enough games for us" as justification for the power subtraction.  The Marlins may have felt that they'd be better served redistributing Uggla's money toward pitching and defense.  And if they weren't necessarily willing to offer arbitration to the slugging second baseman after the 2011 season, they risked getting no players in return.  

The Marlins deserve credit for hammering out an extension with Nolasco, buying out a free agent year from their number two starter.  With Josh Johnson, Nolasco, Vazquez, and Anibal Sanchez, the Marlins have a formidable front four.  

A year after signing zero Major League free agents, the Marlins committed over $27MM to three this offseason.  Beinfest and company focused on Buck's leadership, Vazquez's innings, and upgrading the bullpen, with the expectation that they'll still have a strong lineup one through seven without Uggla.  The Marlins may not be considered the NL East favorite, but their top-shelf young talent makes them a sleeper for 2011.

Photo courtesy Icon SMI.

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Miami Marlins Offseason In Review

Offseason In Review: Chicago Cubs

By | at February 18, 2011 11:00pm CDT

The Cubs are next in our Offseason In Review series.

Major League Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Trades and Claims

Notable Losses

Summary

The mandate for Cubs GM Jim Hendry this winter: turn a bloated fifth-place team into a contender for 2011 despite limited payroll flexibility.  The Cubs were in sell mode last summer, but Hendry switched back to a win-now approach this offseason.  Let's sift through the transactions.

Ramirez was awful for the first two months of 2010, driving his value so far down that he didn't dare test the free agent market.  If he can return to career levels in 2011, the Cubs might just be compelled to choose his $16MM club option for 2012 over a $2MM buyout.  Overall it's a positive to have him penciled in for another season, given the weak market for third basemen.

Pena replaces Derrek Lee at first base on a standard-issue Boras Corporation make-good contract.  If Pena finds his first National League season to his liking at age 33, perhaps he can ride a 35 home run season to a big free agent deal. 

Pena's one-year term opens up the possibility of the Cubs bidding on the big names next winter: Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, and Adrian Gonzalez if his rumored extension isn't finalized for some reason.  A $140MM payroll would allow the Cubs to sign any of these sluggers, as they'd be under $110MM in 2012 commitments even with Ramirez and accounting for arbitration raises.  Still, I doubt the Cubs are thinking about next year's free agents whatsoever at this point.

Back to 2011: the Cubs were able to augment their bullpen on the cheap, with Wood's $1.5MM deal drawing comparisons to Andre Dawson's blank check offer.  Wood doesn't need to win an MVP award, though - he just needs to give the Cubs 50 solid innings and keep the walks down.  Wood will be setting up Carlos Marmol, whose odd statistical profile didn't prevent the Cubs from buying out his last two arbitration seasons and one free agent year for $20MM.  Marmol's 15.99 K/9 was the highest in baseball history among pitchers with 25 innings in a season, and it followed that he was stingy on hits and home runs.  But like Wood, Andrew Cashner, and John Grabow, he struggled with walks.  It's easy to dream on the back end of the Cubs' bullpen this year, but this seems to be an especially volatile bunch.

Garza

Hendry's big splash was the addition of Garza.  It wasn't clear Garza would be made available at the outset of the offseason, but the Rays seemingly held a covert bidding war and cashed the righty in for a big chunk of the Cubs' farm system.  Baseball America ranked the Cubs' system eighth in baseball prior to the deal, but the Rays now have the Chicago prospects formerly ranked #1, 4, 10, and 16.  In Archer, Guyer, and Chirinos, the Cubs surrendered prospects almost certain to play in the Majors soon.  The Cubs restored a touch of depth with the signings of Cuban players Silva and Cabezas as well as the Gorzelanny trade.

As you'd expect, the Cubs paid dearly for three years of Garza, who posted a sub-4.00 ERA over about 600 AL East innings over the last three seasons.  Garza has the stuff and reputation of a #2 starter, even if his strikeout rates in '08 and '10 don't quite match up.  It wasn't surprising to see the Cubs move Gorzelanny, though even with the lefty's inconsistency he might have been nice to have around with Carloses Zambrano and Silva not considered reliable.

The team's minor league signings focused on players who had already been in the organization.  They also coaxed Looper out of semi-retirement, and the Cubs are probably hoping he or Casey Coleman is Gorzelanny's equal as a sixth starter.  In the Cubs' perfect world, Andrew Cashner would beat out the less exciting rotation candidates, pushing Silva or Randy Wells to the pen.

Despite a rookie-filled second half last year, the Cubs are going for it in '11 with Mike Quade at the helm for his first full season.  Hendry chose to pay the price in prospects as opposed to cash, after watching the Brewers do the same on a more exaggerated level.  The Cubs enter 2011 as an expensive underdog in the NL Central, but with enough young talent and wild cards to make things interesting.

Photo courtesy Icon SMI.

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Chicago Cubs Offseason In Review

Offseason In Review: Pittsburgh Pirates

By | at February 14, 2011 10:35pm CDT

The Pirates are next in our Offseason In Review series.

Major League Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Trades and Claims

Notable Losses

Summary

The Pirates ramped up their free agent spending this offseason, adding three significant big league contracts and plenty of interesting players on minor league deals for new manager Clint Hurdle.  GM Neal Huntington also cut ties with a trio of disappointing arbitration eligible players in Duke, Milledge, and LaRoche.

CorreiaThough the signing did not generate national headlines, the Correia deal was significant for the Pirates franchise.  It had been 12 years since the Bucs signed a domestic free agent pitcher to a multiyear deal.  Why take this leap for 2011?  Correia is a sleeper, a relatively young righty who can get groundballs and hopefully supply 200 innings.  If he can regain his '09 form, he'll step in as the staff leader as Paul Maholm's Pirates tenure winds down.

The Pirates' 2011 rotation could feature Correia, Olsen, and James McDonald, all recent additions.  Duke is gone, and while Maholm is penciled in he's probably trade bait.  Huntington took over as Pirates GM in September of 2007, and for all his machinations over the last three-plus years he hasn't brought in any decent Major League starting pitching aside from Ross Ohlendorf.  Plus, the Pirates overestimated what they had by giving multiyear deals to Maholm and Ian Snell.  The next two waves of starting pitching must transform the Pirates, with McDonald, Bryan Morris, Rudy Owens, and Jeff Locke in the near-term and Jameson Taillon, Stetson Allie, and Luis Heredia further down the road.

The Pirates had to overpay a bit to secure Overbay and Diaz, though both veterans have limited upside.  In the best case Overbay hits like he did over the season's final four months (.261/.351/.458) and a Diaz/Garrett Jones right field platoon plays to each player's strength.  I can't envision either Overbay or Diaz being flipped for anything significant, so these might be respectability signings.  Those types of acquisitions haven't worked out well for the Pirates, with Akinori Iwamura and Ramon Vazquez coming to mind.

I'm more intrigued by the Pirates' minor deals.  Beimel and Veras should augment the bullpen at minimal commitments, while Marte, Fields, and Atkins were all highly-regarded third basemen in years past.  The Pirates didn't have success trying to upgrade over Ronny Cedeno at shortstop, though they reportedly checked in on J.J. Hardy, Jason Bartlett, and Brendan Ryan.  Rule 5 pick Rodriguez should have a big league future, whether at shortstop or second base.  Anything Valdez provides is a plus, since the Bucs were set to non-tender Duke anyway.

The Pirates have yet to top 67 wins in a season during Huntington's tenure, and have an active streak of 18 consecutive losing seasons.  Milledge and LaRoche were supposed to become solid regulars, but both have already been cut loose.  Formerly extended players Ryan Doumit and Paul Maholm are nearing the end of their Pirates careers as well.  Pirates fans are probably in for two or three more years of stopgap veterans, though position player talent is on the rise with Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, Pedro Alvarez, and Neil Walker.  If Huntington is to last to see Taillon's big league debut, he'll need the aforementioned second wave of starting pitching to break through to some extent in 2011.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

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Offseason In Review Pittsburgh Pirates

Oakland’s Free Agent Misses: Don’t Blame The Park

By | at February 11, 2011 8:27pm CDT

Here's agent Scott Boras talking to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports about the Oakland Coliseum last month:

"You talk to players.  It's not the city. It's not the team. It's the ballpark. And there are no fans there.  When teams recruit against the Oakland A's, they say, 'Why do you want to play in an empty park?' It's not about the organization. It's not about ownership. It's about locale."

Boras may have a point, but the Athletics' ballpark is not why they lost out on his client Adrian Beltre this winter, nor is it the reason behind the team's failure to sign Lance Berkman and Hisashi Iwakuma.

Beltre was a prime target for Oakland during the 2009-10 offseason, but he turned down a three-year, $24MM offer to take one year and $10MM from the Red Sox.  The A's offer didn't match up with Beltre's goal, which was to be paid well in 2010 and also make a one-year bet on himself and re-enter the market.  That was the right call for him, and this time around the A's topped out at a six-year, $76.8MM offer.  The five-year, $80MM deal Beltre signed with Texas, which also has a vesting option, is a much better contract.  It's not as if Beltre turned down five years and $90MM from Oakland.

Berkman spurned a two-year offer from the A's to take one year from the Cardinals, but signing with them allowed him to remain in the NL Central and play the outfield every day while also making solid money on a make-good one-year pact.  The Coliseum doesn't shoulder the blame here either, as Berkman did not view himself as a full-time DH.  As for Iwakuma, the A's seemed to be in the $4MM a year range while his agent wanted at least twice as much.  That was simply a difference of opinion on salary.  If agent Don Nomura's claim that Oakland's interest in Iwakuma wasn't sincere is true, implying they bid just to block rivals, that's a flaw of the posting system.     

The Coliseum probably does hurt the Athletics' ability to lure free agent hitters.  But in the cases of Beltre and Berkman, it doesn't appear to have been the primary factor.

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Athletics

Offseason In Review: Minnesota Twins

By | at February 11, 2011 8:05am CDT

Kicking off our Offseason In Review series, the Twins.

Major League Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Trades and Claims

Notable Losses

Summary

This winter Twins GM Bill Smith signed Pavano and Thome again, albeit at larger commitments given their fine 2010 campaigns.  He cut ties with Hardy after one season, gambling on the international market with Nishioka rather than dealing with the weak domestic middle infield market.  The Twins also saw a large chunk of their 2010 bullpen sign elsewhere and chose not to sign replacements.

3961008240385_Twins_at_Rangers

By re-signing Pavano, the Twins maintained the starting pitching depth that allowed them to place fifth in the AL in rotation ERA in 2010.  Pavano has begun to shake the reputation he acquired during his Yankees stint.  Including the playoffs he's racked up 433 1/3 innings over 2009-10, so he's been a horse.  Still, Smith did well in waiting him out and limiting the term to two years.  Cliff Lee, Ted Lilly and Jorge de la Rosa were the only free agent starters to sign for three-plus years this offseason.  Pavano and Scott Baker are solid sidekicks to ace Francisco Liriano, who I do not believe the Twins are open to trading.       

At $3MM, the money committed to Thome remains reasonable.  He's primed to hit his 600th home run in a Twins uniform after turning down more than $4MM from the Rangers.  Once again Smith's patience paid off and he was able to negotiate a slight Minnesota discount.  On the other hand, a net price of $4.9MM for Kubel is fairly steep if he ends up spending most of his time as a platoon DH.  Hideki Matsui and Jack Cust are coming off better offensive seasons and signed for less.

The Hudson-Hardy middle infield combination is gone after one season, with the Twins importing Nishioka from Japan to play second or shortstop and going with Alexi Casilla for the other position.  Spending $14.3MM on a player with no MLB experience is a gamble, but it would have cost just under $6MM to retain Hardy.  Rather than simply non-tendering Hardy after another disappointing season, the Twins paired him with Harris and cleared $1.25MM in salary they otherwise would have been burdened with.  That the return was Hoey and Jacobson suggests the Hardy trade was more of a salary dump than anything else.

As MLBTR's Mike Axisa outlined a month ago, the Twins' bullpen took a big hit with the losses of Crain, Guerrier, Fuentes, Rauch, and Mahay.  In hindsight, the risk of offering arbitration to Type A free agent Guerrier and Type B free agent Rauch might have been worthwhile.  But more importantly, the Twins were wise not to commit multiyear contracts to their departing relievers.  They've got Joe Nathan coming back and another year of Matt Capps, and can piece together the rest of the pen without adding more veterans to an already tapped-out payroll.  The bullpen depth doesn't look good on paper, but Smith can always make midseason additions if no one emerges.

Like most teams, the Twins have concerns heading into Spring Training.  The bullpen must be sorted out.  A slew of key players are coming off "cleanup" type surgeries, and Justin Morneau is still recovering from last year's concussion.  Middle infield roles must be determined for Nishioka and Casilla.  And third baseman Danny Valencia must avoid a sophomore slump.  But these were not issues the Twins could have solved by opening the free agent checkbook in tandem with the division rival Tigers and White Sox.  Smith's trademark patience resulted in significant savings this winter, perhaps leaving some midseason flexibility for trades.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

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Minnesota Twins Offseason In Review

Mariners Sign Manny Delcarmen

By | at February 10, 2011 6:18pm CDT

The Mariners signed Manny Delcarmen to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training according to the team. He is represented by Jim Masteralexis and can remain under Seattle's control as arbitration eligible player in 2012.

Delcarmen, 29 later this month, posted a 4.99 ERA, 6.5 K/9, 5.5 BB/9, 1.4 HR/9, and 45.0% groundball rate for the Red Sox and Rockies in 2010. He battled back soreness and spent two weeks on the disabled list with a forearm strain, the first DL stint of his career. The Mariners will undoubtedly hope he turns back into the Delcarmen of old, the guy that struck out 8.6 batters per nine innings while walking just 3.4 per nine with impressive ground ball rates in 2007 and 2008.

The Rockies chose not to tender Delcarmen a contract in December after he earned $905K in 2010, prompting several clubs (including the Rays) to show interest in him this winter. 

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