- A's sign Coco Crisp. Crisp decided to stick close to his West Coast roots by reupping with the A's rather than the defending champion Cardinals who were rumored to have pursued Crisp heavily. The A's have shed the Moneyball stigma in regards to SB here of late and now are one of the more aggressive teams on the basepaths. Crisp gets on base with regularity and given the current makeup and lack of pop in the A's lineup I fully expect Crisp to be among the league leaders in SB once again.
- Rays sign Fernando Rodney. Another classic Rays signing. Presumed over the hill veteran with a sketchy track record brought in on the cheap. In recent seasons the Rays have seemed to hit more often than not on the back in of the bullpen options. Perciaval and most recently Farnsworth come to mind. Given Farnsworth's solid season last year I don't anticipate a change but should the wheels come off look for Rodney to be first in line. At this point Rodney is a forgotten thought in all setups outside of League only.
- Cubs send Carlos Zambrano to Marlins for Chris Volstad. Great real life move for both teams. The Cubs had no choice but to rid themselves of the ticking time bomb even at the 15Mil+ they are paying to accomplish this. In return they get the unspectacular Chris Volstad who at the very least should eat up some innings out of the 4th or 5th spot in the rotation. Volstad is relegated to two start/streaming duty in likely every format. In Zambrano the Marlins certainly get the more dynamic of the two pitchers. However over the last two seasons those outings are coming further and further apart. I know I have been guilty of overvaluing Zambrano in the past based on these occasional outings of brilliance. The "if he can only put it together" thought of thinking I suppose. In reality that time will never come. To fragile emmotionaly and as the years and innigs have piled up his skill set has seemed to deminish along the way. Most will likely take late fliers on Zambrano given the aforementioned thought process but he should be relegated to two start/streaming status in standard mixed and a draft date selection in League only formats.
- Cubs send Andrew Cashner and Kyung-Min Na to Padres for Anthony Rizzo and Zach Cates. I could be biased here but what another brilliant move by the new Cubs front office. Rizzo is a top 50 prospect in all of baseball with in all publications I have seen and a Top 20 overall in the majority of them. Over the last two seasons his power has developed and at this stage he looks to be a solid .290+ hitter with 25-30 HR pop. Put those totals in the 3rd-5th spot in the lineup and your looking at a potential 180 run production total for years to come. In the immediate future Rizzo will begin the season in Triple A while Bryan LaHair projects to be the Cubs Opening Day 1B. For the Padres this is just another deal in what has been a very active and in my opinion a hit and miss offseason. I loved the Latos move but combine this with the Quentin acquisition I just don't see the purpose. Cashner certainly has a very solid arm but long term I see nothing better than a 4th or 5th starter who upon occasion will pitch a gem. His lack of control could develop I suppose but if it doesn't your looking at a late inning option out of the bullpen. In theory the ceiling for Cashner is likely a Closing role. With that said can you think of one closer in all of baseball that you would trade for a middle of the order bat? I can't. Neither Na or Cates has much projected value best case scenario for both is a Bench gig for Na and relief work for Cates at some point down the road.
1 comment:
agreed that it was another positive deal for my beloved cubbies. rizzo could be a cornerstone for the years to come at a vital position both for o and d.
however, i believe that cashner can become what latos was to the padres with the help of the petco park factor. the padres had a crowd at first with the addition of yonder.
the quentin deal makes no sense to me whatsoever.
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