Relievers Find Homes (or not)
More minor league deals:
Cliff Politte has signed with the Indians. I would imagine he’ll start the year in Triple-A, but as veteran insurance for a 11th or 12th pitcher goes, teams could do a lot worse.
Kerry Lightenberg has signed with the Reds. He’ll also probably end up in Triple-A, and he’s an example of how teams could do worse than Politte.
Dustin Hermanson tried out for several teams, but the Phillies were unimpressed. That leaves the Reds. If you want to do worse than Politte or Lightenberg…well, here’s your man. Wayne Krivsky, get on the phone!
By Jeff Sackmann
www.BrewCrewBall.com
Reds Sign Bronson Arroyo Through 2010
According to Baseball Digest Daily, the Reds and Bronson Arroyo have agreed to a two-year contract extension through 2010 with a club option for 2011. RotoWorld has the financial details.
Arroyo will make $3.8MM in 2007 and $3.95MM in 2008 under a deal signed with Boston before he was traded. PECOTA says Arroyo will be worth about $15.5MM for 2009-10. BP’s system finds him most comparable to Jack McDowell, minus the middle finger thing. I wonder if PECOTA matched up the fact that they’ve both put CDs out.
Reds Sign Bronson Arroyo Through 2010
According to Baseball Digest Daily, the Reds and Bronson Arroyo have agreed to a two-year contract extension through 2010 with a club option for 2011. RotoWorld has the financial details.
Arroyo will make $3.8MM in 2007 and $3.95MM in 2008 under a deal signed with Boston before he was traded. PECOTA says Arroyo will be worth about $15.5MM for 2009-10. BP’s system finds him most comparable to Jack McDowell, minus the middle finger thing. I wonder if PECOTA matched up the fact that they’ve both put CDs out.
Reds Lock Up Harang
The Reds and Aaron Harang have agreed to a four-year deal through 2010 with a club option for 2011, according to Baseball Digest Daily. I believe that buys out two years of free agency.
Details: the contract is worth $36.5MM including the fifth year buyout. Seems like good value to me.
Reds Lock Up Harang
The Reds and Aaron Harang have agreed to a four-year deal through 2010 with a club option for 2011, according to Baseball Digest Daily. I believe that buys out two years of free agency.
Details: the contract is worth $36.5MM including the fifth year buyout. Seems like good value to me.
Reds Acquire Kirk Saarloos
I personally didn’t deem this one worthy of a post, but what the hell. The Reds acquired 27 year-old groundballer Kirk Saarloos for minor leaguer David Shafer. Saarloos will battle Matt Belisle and Homer Bailey for the fifth starter job. Bailey should prevent Saarloos from getting more than ten starts in ’07.
Shafer’s work at Double A equates to a tolerable relief performance in the bigs (something like a 3.50 ERA and 1.35 WHIP with a strong groundball rate).
Jim Callis of Baseball America offers his take on Saarloos and Shafer.
The weird thing is that I already had a category for Saarloos on this site. He was rumored in a Milton Bradley trade a year ago.
Reds Talking To Chris Reitsma
David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that 29 year-old reliever Chris Reitsma will not be returning to the Braves on a lesser contract. Yesterday we learned that the Marlins are not involved either. Six teams have made offers to Reitsma, and he’s well into negotiations with the Reds.
Reitsma formerly pitched in Cincinnati before he was traded to the Braves in March of 2004. He had elbow surgery in July and hopes to be ready by spring training. I’m no doctor, but I know that is different than Tommy John. Even in the midst of recent struggles, Reitsma has always gotten groundballs. He could be a setup candidate for the Reds or even force his way into an unstable closer situation.
Reds Acquire Jeff Conine
According to Marc Lancaster, the Reds have acquired 40 year-old outfielder Jeff Conine from the Phillies. I guess he was expendable given the Phils’ acquisition of Jayson Werth.
Conine is owed $2MM in 2007. He joins a crowded Reds outfield that already contains Adam Dunn, Chris Denorfia, Ken Griffey Jr., and Ryan Freel. Oh, and they have to fit Josh Hamilton in there all year if they want to keep him.
Perhaps Conine will team with Scott Hatteberg at first base and face lefties. Though Conine’s .269/.352/.419 line against southpaws the last three seasons doesn’t blow anyone away.
Weathers to Stay with Reds?
Hey all you Hot Stove addicts,
Chris Hurst here. Tim asked for my help this week in posting some hot rumors for you all. I should probably introduce myself first though. While I don’t have any blogging experience, I am a Journalism student at Emerson college in Boston, and have done extensive radio and TV work. Baseball is my life, and my blood is Phillies red. I guess I’m also obligated to give a shout out to all the guys at www.philliesphans.com and the Eagles Message Board, the two places with the best Phillies talk on the web, outside some great blogs.
Speaking of the Phils, one of their relief options may be coming off the table. MLB.com is reporting that David Weathers is reported close to re-signing with the Reds for 2 more years, in a deal worth about $5MM total. Weathers was decent last year, going 4-4 with a 3.54 ERA, but after the break, he had a 1.64 ERA in 29 appearances.
by Chris Hurst
Lots of signings
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.
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