If you need any further proof that baseball is making a dramatic shift from building a team with slugging DH-types to pitching and defense, all you need to do is look into what the A’s are doing in Oakland.

As we all know, A’s GM Billy Beane was the focal point of the book Moneyball. The “Moneyball” philosophy was to build a team around sluggers, who walked a lot and of course, hit for power. Speed and defense was not part of the equation.

Now that is all changing. Beane is building a team in Oakland that is becoming–in a word–athletic.

Crisp will be throwing punches for the A's in 2010

Recent case in point–the signing of OF Coco Crisp. Yesterday, the A’s signed Crisp to a one-year, $4.75 million contract. There is also a club option for $5.75 million for 2011.

Crisp, along with speedster Rajai Davis and Ryan Sweeney should give the A’s a very athletic outfield in 2010.

I had the opportunity to watch Crisp play every day as a member of the Boston Red Sox from 2006-2008 and I really felt sorry for the guy.

Crisp looked like a breakout star in 2005 when he hit .300 with 16 home runs and 15 stolen bases with the Cleveland Indians. Crisp really started to look like a breakout star when he got off to a great start in Boston hitting .333 in April.

Then Crisp broke his finger and it was all down hill from there.

Crisp never recovered from that broken finger in Boston and he never lived up to expectations. Jacoby Ellsbury started to emerge as the center fielder of the future in Boston and Crisp was shipped off to Kansas City for reliever Ramon Ramirez.

Crisp’s one year stay in Kansas City was uneventful as best. Crisp played in only 49 games for the Royals hitting a pedestrian .226. His season was cut short when a shoulder injury ended his season.

Crisp is healthy now and should be the A’s starting center fielder in 2010 with Davis moving to left. Scott Hairston will either move to the bench or be traded. There doesn’t seem to be a spot for him on the A’s roster right now.

Crisp will be 31 next year and has a lifetime .277 average with 137 stolen bases in eight major league seasons

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Update: According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Braves will pay $2 million plus incentives in 2010. Are you kidding?

This is such a steal for the Braves. I hate to keep picking on the New York Mets, but put this deal in this prospective.

The Mets are paying Alex Cora $2 million in 2010 to be a nice guy. The Braves are paying Glaus $2 million in 2010 to be their starting first baseman and hit 20-25 home runs. Unreal.

It’s a safe bet to say Glaus will give the Braves over $2 million worth of production in 2010.

Original Post:

The Atlanta Braves needed a right-handed power bat and a first baseman. In one signing today, they accomplished both.

According to FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, the Braves have signed Troy Glaus to a one-year contract. Terms of this deal have not been disclosed yet, but it seems to be a very incentive-laden deal.

Glaus is the Braves' new first baseman

I really like this move by the Braves.

I had Glaus as my second best low-risk, high-reward hitter of the offseason. Here is what I wrote about Glaus in my free agent primer:

“Glaus is relatively young at 33 and just two years ago hit 27 home runs and had an .856 OPS. Can he play third at this point in his career? Probably not.

But he can probably play first or DH and still be a power threat at a very low-cost.”

Glaus will play first for the Braves and be the right-handed power source they have needed in that lineup. Glaus has only played six career games at first base in his 12 career, so there is some risk on whether or not Glaus can make the adjustment from first to third.

However, I have a theory on that. My theory has always been if you can play third, then you can play first and if you can play second, then you can play short.

I don’t foresee a problem with Glaus making the adjustment.

The signing of Glaus ends the Adam LaRoche era in Atlanta, yet again. The Braves didn’t look into re-signing LaRoche because he was reportedly asking for too much money. I think LaRoche and his agent really messed this one up.

Atlanta was LaRoche’s best chance on getting what he determined as “fair market value.” Now that Atlanta is out of the picture, where is he going to go where a team is going to pay him what he thinks he is worth? I don’t see it happening.

My guess is LaRoche is going to wait and wait and end up signing a one-year deal with a team he has very little interest in playing for. LaRoche really overplayed his had with this one.

I will say LaRoche ends up with the Kansas City Royals to replace the departed Mike Jacobs.

Glaus is a career .255 hitter with a .359 OBP and 304 home runs in 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, and St. Louis Cardinals.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

I don’t think so.

The criticism in some corners is that the A’s already have two outfielders with similar skills in Ryan Sweeney and Rajai Davis, and also have Scott Hairston and newly acquired Michael Taylor crowding the outfield for playing time, plus Aaron Cunningham and Travis Buck at the back of the mix.

The A’s need plenty of outfielders because the guys they have are not without doubts.  I think Ryan Sweeney has to have a job to lose unless he is just terrible in Spring Training.  After Sweeney, though: Coco Crisp — Can he stay healthy? Rajai Davis — is he for real? and Michael Taylor and Aaron Cunningham — are they ready?

As for Scott Hairston, well, he has value as a right-handed hitting platoon player and pinch-hitter.  He has a career OPS against left-handed pitchers of .867 and a career OPS against right-handers of .702.  Scott got too much playing time last year and had a feeble .653 OPS in 233 AB’s with the A’s, after a much better start in San Diego.  It’s a good thing for the A’s in 2010 if they have enough outfielders that they can keep Hairston hitting mostly against left-handers.

Travis Buck has fallen away profoundly since he looked like an incipient star at age 23, when he posted an .851 OPS in 82 games in 2007.  I can’t see anyway he doesn’t start the season at AAA Sacramento, unless he is THE BEST hitter in A’s Spring Training.

If I were the A’s, I’d want to go into Spring Training with extra outfielders.  If they find they have one too many, there will be teams needing another outfielder due to injury or under-performance by the end of Spring Training and continuing through the trade deadline.

Signing of Mark Teixeira, AJ Burnett, CC Sabathia: $423.5 million

2009 New York Yankees Payroll: $208,097,414 million

Bringing the World Series Championship to New York: Priceless

Cost of Priceless World Series: $25.69 million

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the cost of the Yankees 2009 run to the championship cost the Yankees over $25 million in luxury tax. In all seven seasons that the luxury tax has been in place, the Yankees have paid luxury tax. You hear that KC Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, that prospect you sign, you can thank the Yankees this year for!

Compared to last year, the Yankees paid $26.86 million in luxury tax. You know, I am of the mind to say that if you have the money and there is something you want, you should go after it. So, I in no way feel bad for the Yankees going after what they want last year and this year (if they do make a big splash). If they have to pay a little tax on what they did this year, so be it.

Considering that this year will be less than $201 million, the luxury tax will be less than this year one would think…

The gents over at the Nats Blog’s tour around the Winter Meetings and the offseason continues, and your intrepid reporter here contributed once more, writing on the Kansas City Royals. Check it out and enjoy the dulcet tones of my writing.

[The Nats Blog]

The 1984 Topps ‘1983 Highlights’ 6-Card Subset – Card #3

Headline – ‘Quisenberry Sets Record With 39th Save Of Season’

Text on the back -  Anaheim, California, September 13, 1983: Royals’ reliever Dan Quisenberry tonight set a major league record by recording his 39th save of the season.  The former mark of 38 saves was established by John Hiller of Detroit in 1973.  Dan entered tonight’s game with one out in the 9th inning.  He retired the two batters he faced to preserve Royals’ 4-3 verdict ve. California Angels.

25 years later – 38 saves is a nice number, but the new threshold for greatness is 50.  So far 50 or more has been accomplished 11 times.

The offseason started.  We waited.  The offseason progressed.  We waited.  Our free agents filed.  We waited some more.  The GM meetings ended, and still we waited.  The Winter Meetings started, and we waited.  Things looked bleak.  Were we destined for waiting through the entire offseason? Would we open 2010 without a single big addition? Was Theo Epstein all talk but no game?

Not a chance.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the newest member of the Boston Red Sox: John Lackey! Five years and eighty-five million dollars later, we signed the dude who helped usher us out of the playoffs.  But that’s okay with me.  I’d much rather be on the throwing end of the first-pitch-strike machine than on the receiving end.

This is good.  This is very good.  Think about it: a Lester-Beckett-Lackey starting rotation.  That rotation, my friends, will win championships for sure.  Seriously.  Put those three names in a sentence and you’re talking about what is perhaps the most formidable starting rotation in all of Major League Baseball.

Let’s talk about the contract, because we need to get this out of the way.  Eighty-five dollars is a lot of money to spend on a pitcher, but it’s not something we haven’t done before.  We spent at least that amount on Dice-K, between the “right-to-talk” fee and his salary.  The difference is that there’s no negotiating fee here; it’s all going in Lackey’s pocket.  He’ll earn seventeen million per season.  Make no mistake: that’s a lot.  And I know what you’re thinking: now we’ll have to deal with the pulling of the payroll card.  And you’d be right.  But here’s the kicker: technically that card can’t be pulled.  Looking at 2009, the Yankees obviously had the highest payroll.  We weren’t even second or third.  We were fourth, behind the Mets and Cubbies.  And if you look at the disparity between our payroll and the Yanks’, it’s quite considerable.  And even after we start sending Lackey’s paychecks, that’ll still hold.  But wait; there’s more.  Look at the top twenty-five player salaries for last season.  You’ve got A-Rod at the top making thirty-three million (which is ridiculous, by the way), followed by Manny Ramirez, followed by Derek Jeter, followed by Mark Teixeira.  The Yankees are represented six times on that list; the other teams are the Dodgers, Mets, Astros, Tigers, Cubs, Angels, Giants, Braves, Rockies, Mariners, and Phillies.  You will notice that Boston does not appear once on that list.  Not once.  John Lackey will change that, but he won’t even make the top ten.  He’d be somewhere around thirteenth, maybe fourteenth.  Which puts us in league with teams like the Giants, Mariners, Rockies, and Phillies.  Not necessarily the names that first come to mind when you think of big spenders.  All this is to say that just because we’re going to have someone on that list doesn’t mean we’re like the Yankees, even though there will be plenty of people out there who would like to make that claim.  (By the way, just in case someone also tries to convince you that this is exactly like New York signing AJ Burnett for five years and roughly eighty-two million, I would urge you to remember that AJ Burnett was not, is not, and never will be John Lackey.  There is a huge difference, one that will be made painfully obvious to New York in due time.) It just means our general manager is a genius, because not only is this pitcher actually good, but we get him without shipping all our top prospects off to Anaheim.  Thanks, Theo! In you we trust.

This directly affects our ability to sign Jason Bay.  It means we don’t have the ability to sign Jason Bay.  Once it became obvious that he was looking for an offer we just couldn’t provide, we diverted our attention, and finances, elsewhere.  Basically, we took the money we would’ve used to re-sign Bay and used it to land Lackey.  Who will play left field? Mike Cameron, who signed a two-year deal worth about fifteen million, which would probably have amounted to less than one year’s worth of Bay’s salary.  So Cameron and Lackey were basically a package deal.  We spent so much money on Lackey, we didn’t even have enough left over to sign Holliday, so we had to make do.  And I personally would rather have Lackey and Cameron than Bay for five years.  There are two ways to win: pitching and offense.  Right now the Sox have both.  Without Bay, our offense will take a hit, but Lackey will make up for that in pitching.

Besides, Cameron has his advantages.  He’s ridiculously consistent; no matter what team he’s on or league he’s in, he’ll give you around twenty homers, eighty RBIs, a .250-ish average, and an OPS in the neighborhood of .800.  And he’s patient; he saw 3.96 pitches per plate appearance last year, almost identical to Bay’s 3.99.  He may not steal as often as he used to, but he’s still better than Bay on the basepaths.  And let’s not forget one of his most significant assets: his defense.  Cameron is a phenomenal outfielder.  While it is true that he’s played out his career in center (three Gold Gloves in that position), ability is ability, and if we move him to left, I think he’ll adapt nicely.  Either way, we need the defense.  Let’s face it: we weren’t exactly excelling in that area last year, and I don’t think I need to remind anyone the significance of good defense in our win in 2004.  I’m just saying.  Defense, at this point, seems to be the name of our offensive game.

Incidentally, Roy Halladay is also off the market, gone to Philly just like he probably would have had JP Ricciardi been able to hammer out a deal at the trade deadline.  Cliff Lee goes to Seattle to complete the deal.  Also, the Lowell trade is currently stalling due to Lowell’s thumb injury.  Really? The thumb injury? The hip isn’t the issue; it’s the thumb that’s holding up the deal? It’s not even an injury; it’s a sprain! And he started all three games of the ALDS with it! Along this vein, talks with Adrian Gonzalez yielded nothing; the Padres don’t want to deal him before the season starts.  Rest assured, however, that if they decide to shop him, calls will be made.  Meanwhile, it turns out that Beltre wouldn’t be such a bad alternative.  His defense is solid as a rock, not to mention the fact that his production on the road is through the roof compared to Lowell’s.  And finally, the 2010 season starts with and in Boston.  The first game of the season will take place on April 4 at Fenway; we’ll play the Yanks.  This is going to be epic, even if the schedule won’t be.  We have a game on Sunday night, then two days off, then the rest of that series with New York in Boston and then it’s off to Kansas City (who has the All-Star Game in 2012 which, try as I might, I just can’t seem to forget).  To make matters worse, it’ll be broadcast on ESPN2.  I would be so much more annoyed if I weren’t so psyched that we’re inching closer and closer to next season.  You know baseball’s around the corner when you started talking about opening schedules.

The Bruins lost to the Flyers yesterday.  Great.  We’re now four points behind the Sabres.  On the upside, the Pats bested the Panthers with a cool 20-10 score.  On a different note, I’ll be taking a break for about two weeks.  Aside from the Flyers game, life is good in Boston sports.  Life is most definitely good.

Sox Tea Party

After a weekend of work and play, it’s time to see what all happened while we went Christmas and Hanukkah shopping…

Who Signed?

Rafael Soriano was signed to a $7 million contract – and then traded by the Braves to Tampa for reliever Jesse Chavez.  Soriano immediately upgrades the closer role in Tampa, a problem all of 2009.  [FanHouse/SI]

Houston inked reliever Brandon Lyon to a three year, $15 million deal.  Lyon isn’t bad – he’s dependable, but is he really better than Grant Balfour?  $3 million better for the next three years?  (See his deal below.)  [SI]

The new third baseman in Houston is former Phillie Pedro Feliz – one year, $4.5 million.  [SI]

Scott Olsen got an incentive-filled deal with the Nationals – coming off a disappointing season and shoulder surgery.  [ESPN]

Jason Kendall – who looked like he aged four years at the plate last year – signed a two year deal with the Royals.  (See John Buck, below.)  By the way – Miguel Olivo might not return.  The Royals confuse me.  [SI]

Meanwhile, the Royals signed Brian Bannister and Kyle Davies to one-year deals.  [SI]

The Royals non-tendered catcher John Buck, but he signed with Toronto for $2 million pending a physical.  [ESPN]

Two years ago, he was a closer – now, J.J. Putz is an eighth inning guy in Chicago for one year at $3 million.  There are a lot of incentives, too.  [SI]

Kevin Correia will stay in San Diego, signing a one-year, $3.6 million deal.  [ESPN]

Arizona signed Augie Ojeda and Blaine Boyer to one-year deals.  [SI]

The Braves signed outfielder Matt Diaz for one year at $2.55 million. [ESPN]

Grant Balfour signed with Tampa – one year, $2.05 million.  [SI]

Milwaukee gets one more year with Craig Counsell – who remains a valuable utility player at 39.  [MLB]

Esteban German remains in Texas for 2010.  [MLB]

The Cubs tendered offers to eight players, (Jeff Baker, Mike Fontenot, Koyie Hill, Ryan Theriot, Tom Gorzelanny, Angel Guzman, Carlos Marmol and Sean Marshall) with Neil Cotts likely heading to arbitration.  [MLB]

The Dodgers tendered offers to nine players (go read the article), including Chad Billingsley, Andre Ethier, Jonathan Broxton and Russell Martin.  Everybody gets a raise in LA!!!  [MLB]

Who Got Let Go…

The Braves non-tendered outfielder Ryan Church and second baseman Kelly Johnson.  [MLB]

Boston non-tendered outfielder Brian Anderson.

The Mets non-tendered four players, including pitchers Tim Redding and Lance Broadway, as well as outfielders Cory Sullivan and Jeremy Reed.  [ESPN]

Despite hitting 20 homers in little more than a half season, Johnny Gomes was non-tendered by the Reds.  He might still sign somewhere, but let’s face it – he’s a DH.  [ESPN]

Chien-Ming Wang is a free agent, and apparently disappointed that the Yankees didn’t stay with him…  Since injuring his ankle running the bases, Wang has REALLY struggled. [ESPN]

Matt Capps, closer for Pittsburgh, was caught off guard – he was non-tendered by the Pirates.  [MLB]

Jose Arredondo, about to have surgery, will not have an Angels contract for 2010.  [MLB]

Jack Cust (Oakland), Ryan Garko (San Francisco), Mike MacDougal (Washington), D.J. Carrasco (Chi Sox), Clay Condrey (Philadelphia), Alfredo Amezaga (Florida) join a LONG list of free agents.

Here’s a good summary of who is now available…  [SI]

For a complete list of transactions, you can always go here…  [MLB]

What’s the Hold Up?

Jason Bay may not return to Boston – the hold up appears to be the duration of the contract.  Bay wants five years; Boston is offering four.  [ESPN]

Mike Lowell’s injured thumb is stalling an agreement between Texas and Boston.  Boston would (a) get catcher Max Ramirez – a good prospect and (b) pretty much pay for Lowell to play in Texas where he would play first, DH, and backup Michael Young at third base.  [ESPN]

The Cards made a pitch to Matt Holliday and hope to have an answer this week.  [FoxSports]

Happy Birthday!

One of the more famous names in baseball history, Bill Buckner, turns 60.  Billy Buck was a hustler – played through injuries, used to complain about every called strike or close play at first base.  He was unfortunately humbled by that error in the 1986 World Series and his career degenerated quickly after that – though he was showing signs of age at the time.  He had a lot of hits – 2715 of them – and used to be fast.  Something tells me that he’s probably mellowed a lot over the last 20 years…  I’d love to buy him lunch.  Happy Birthday, Billy.

Others celebrating with cake, cards, or remembrances include: Honest John Anderson (1872), Maurice “The Comet” Archdeacon (1897), Toothpick Sam Jones (1925), Ken Hunt (1938), Ken Hill and future Hall of Famer Craig Biggio (1965) – I loved Biggio who was an amazingly versatile athlete, Dave Nilsson and Scott Hatteberg (1969), Angel Guzman (1981), and Josh Fields (1982).

Afterthoughts…

Peter Gammons thanks everyone for the memories at ESPN.

John Buck; Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Lexington Legends Hall of Fame catcher John Buck wasn’t unemployed for long. One day after being non-tendered by the Kansas City Royals, Buck signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Jayson Stark of ESPN.com first reported the signing. Buck hit .247 with eight home runs and 36 RBI in 59 games for the Royals in 2009. In six years, Buck has hit .235 with 70 home runs and 259 RBI.

During the inaugural 2001 Lexington Legends season, Buck led the team to the South Atlantic League championship after batting .275 with 22 home runs and 73 RBI.

Josh Anderson; Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The arbitration deadline has come and gone and several new free agents are now available to major league teams, including two Kentucky alumni. Find out which former Bluegrass players are looking for new teams and what others will be sticking around in there previous homes below:

• Dick Kaegel of MLB.com reports the Kansas City Royals non-tendered a couple of former Lexington Legends in catcher John Buck and outfielder Josh Anderson. Anderson is a Somerset-native and played collegiately at Eastern Kentucky University.
• The Marlins offered a contract to Louisville-native Dan Uggla. All indications still point toward the Marlins moving Uggla before Spring Training.
• UK-alum Joe Blanton was tendered a contract by the Phillies.
• The Astros did offer contracts to Legends Hall of Famers Hunter Pence and Wandy Rodriguez.

Last night at 11:59 pm est was the deadline for major league teams to offer players with less than six years service time contracts. These players are often referred to as tendered or non-tendered players.

Here is the list of players last night who were non-tendered a contract:

Kelly Johnson, Atlanta Braves. In my free agent primer, I had Johnson has my biggest non-tender sleeper. I think he has a lot to offer a team.

In 07′ he had an .831 OPS and in 08′ he had .795 OPS. In 09′, he was put in Bobby Cox’s doghouse. I think he could have a bounce back 2010 if given the opportunity. He would make sense with the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, or the Minnesota Twins.

Jack Cust, Oakland A’s. Cust is a classic “Moneyball” player–lots of walks, lots of strike outs, lots of home runs, and can’t play defense. Cust hit 22 out of his 25 HR’s last year against right-handed pitching.

Cust could sign with a team as a left-handed power hitter off the bench.

Garrett Atkins, Colorado Rockies. Atkins was non-tendered a contract on his birthday. That hurts.

Atkins’ OPS has dropped four years in a row and now can probably latch on to a team as a backup 1B/3B off the bench. He could be a fit with the Twins.

Wang was non-tendered last night

Chien-Ming Wang, New York Yankees. Wang really hasn’t been the same since he hurt his foot running the bases in Houston a year and a half ago.

At 29, Wang should have something left. I would say there is a 75 percent chance he ends up with the Dodgers and Joe Torre. The other 25 percent says he ends up with the Yankees on a minor league deal.

Jonny Gomes, Cincinnati Reds. All Gomes did with the Reds in 2009 was hit 20 HR’s and had an .879 OPS in just 98 games–now he is out of a job.

Gomes crushes left-handed pitching (.914 OPS in 2009) and it wouldn’t shock me if he returned to the Reds on a discounted deal in 2010.

Jose Arredondo, Matt Brown, and Dustin Moseley, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I am very surprised the Angels would give up on this 25-year-old. It was reported yesterday that Arredondo would need Tommy John surgery and would miss the entire 2010 season.

A team will sign him and store him away until he is ready in 2011. He is too good of a talent not to be given a chance.

D.J. Carrasco, Chicago White Sox. Carrasco had a 3.76 ERA with the White Sox in 2009, but his peripherals weren’t great–9.9 hits/9, 1.41 WHIP.

There is a shortage of pitching in baseball, so he should get a chance somewhere.

Ryan Garko, San Francisco Giants. When Garko slugged 21 HR’s in 2007, he looked like he could be a very good first baseman for a long period of time.

Garko was traded to the Giants near the July 31st trading deadline last year and really provided no offense for the Giants. He hit .235 with just two HR’s in 40 games.

Ryan Langerhans, Seattle Mariners. Langerhans played in 38 games with the Mariners last year and hit just .218. He has always been a good OBP guy.

Brian Anderson, Boston Red Sox. Anderson was once a top prospect with the White Sox. Now he is a fringe major league player.

Brian Bass, Baltimore Orioles. Bass had a 4.90 ERA in 48 games out of the pen for the Orioles in 2009. He is probably looking at a minor league contract.

Neal Cotts, Chicago Cubs. Cotts had Tommy John surgery in July of this year. He will probably be ready to pitch again in the 2011 season.

Alfredo Amezaga, Florida Marlins. Amezaga played all three OF positions and SS for the Marlins in 2009. He is a career .251 hitter over eight seasons in the major leagues.

Raul Chavez, Toronto Blue Jays. Chavez hit .258 in 168 AB’s with the Blue Jays in 2009. I am sure he will get a two-year contract somewhere as that is the trend for mediocre catchers these days.

Clay Condrey, Philadelphia Phillies. Condrey–no relation to Dennis Condrey of the Midnight Express tag-team back in the 80’s–has posted an ERA below 3.26 the last two years.

Gabe Gross and Shawn Riggans, Tampa Bay Rays. Gross, the former University of Auburn QB, hit .227 in 115 games for the Rays in 2009. Gross should get a bench job somewhere.

Mike MacDougal and Scott Olsen, Washington Nationals. MacDougal found a second life with the Nationals in 2009 and ultimately became their closer.

MacDougal had 20 saves and a respectable 3.60 ERA, but his one-to-one walk to strike out ratio is not impressive at all. He should get a chance with a small market team.

Injuries and some off the field issues have really hurt Olsen’s career so far. Since everyone loves a lefty, he should get a minor league deal.

Tim Redding, Lance Broadway, Jeremy Reed, and Cory Sullivan, New York Mets. Redding has pitched eight years in the majors and has never been good. This might be the end of the road for him

Like Brian Anderson above, Reed was once a top center field prospect. He might get a job as a defensive replacement somewhere.

Mark DeFelice, Mike Rivera, and Seth McClung, Milwaukee Brewers. I like McClung–especially as a reliever. Once the Brewers were forced to put him in a starting role last year that’s when all hell broke loose.

McClung should get plenty of interest as a reliever.

Mark Worrell and Jackson Quezada, San Diego Padres. I can honestly say I have never heard of Jackson Quezada before. I am not even going to try to lie and write like I know something about him.

John Buck and Josh Anderson, Kansas City Royals. Buck looks like a better player than he is. In eight seasons with the Royals, Buck hit .235 with seven HR’s in over 2,000 AB’s.

Matt Capps and Phil Dumatrait, Pittsburgh Pirates. After having solid 2007 and 2008 seasons, Capps really fell off in 2009. Capps had a 5.80 ERA and registered the highest BB/9 rate of his career (2.8/9).

Capps should see interest

He also registered the highest K/9 of his career as well (7.6/9). Perhaps Capps just needs a change of scenery. Once he finds that change of scenery, expect Capps to be a set-up man not a closer.

Dumatrait was once a first-round pick of the Red Sox back in 2000. He has a 7.06 ERA in three major league seasons.

Adam Miller, Jose Veras, and Anthony Reyes, Cleveland Indians. What a sad story Adam Miller is. As late as 2008, Miller was the Indians’ top prospect. But a hand injury has pretty much stopped his once promising career.

Veras could end up back with the Yankees on a minor league deal. Veras pitched with the Yankees for four years compiling a 4.47 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP in 103.2 innings.

There are a lot of players on this list who can help a team in 2010. Now that the non-tenders are on the market, I think we will see activity really pick up.

I think a lot of teams were waiting to see who was non-tendered before they made a move.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

John Buck; Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The deadline for Major League Baseball teams to tender contracts to arbitration eligible players is tonight at midnight. Many of the eligible players will be tendered a contract, but those who don’t will become free agents. One player with Kentucky connections who is virtually guaranteed to be non-tendered today is Lexington Legends Hall of Famer John Buck. Buck was the catcher on the inaugural Legends team and has spent his first six professional seasons with the Kansas City Royals. The Royals signed veteran catcher Jason Kendall Friday to take Buck’s starting spot.

You can see the arbitration-elgible Kentucky alumni here.

Update: Kendall’s contract is officially for two-years and $6 million total. Kendall will get $2.5 million in 2010 and $3.5 million in 2011. Kendall can also make $250 thousand in incentives.

This deal is getting worse by the minute.

Original Post

Who knew that Brian Schneider was such a trend setter.

Thanks to him, mediocre catchers everywhere are getting two-year contracts. Latest example–Jason Kendall.

The Kansas City Royals late this afternoon signed Kendall to a two-year deal to be their starting catcher in 2010. Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, but it is expected that Kendall signed a deal somewhere in the neighborhood of $4 million.

Kendall signed with the Royals

The Royals are one of those teams I have followed closely for about 20 years and moves like this drive me nuts. What is the point of signing Kendall?

Kendall has no value what so ever. He can’t help a team win and all the Royals continue to do is sign these below average players to contracts and keep spinning their wheels.

Mike Jacobs, Kyle Farnsworth, Jose Guillen, Willie Bloomquist, Yuniesky Betancourt (via trade) and now Kendall have all been brought in by GM Dayton Moore over the last couple of years. The reality is, they should have never been brought in at all.

The Royals need to get better by drafting better and scouting better. They are not going to get better by throwing money around to players who have no value.

Just because you spend money, it’s not going to get the fan base excited. Fans today–and especially Royal fans–are too smart for that. A fan base gets excited when you sign players who they believe can help their team win.

And here is the kicker with Kendall–he is not even better than what the Royals had last year. With this signing, the Royals have actually gotten worse.

I know Miguel Olivo doesn’t walk. Okay, I get that. But in 2009, Olivo had a .781 OPS, hit 23 home runs, threw out 28 percent of the baserunners running against him, and had a WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of 2.2.

Kendall on the other hand in 2009, had a .636 OPS, hit two home runs, threw out just 20 percent of the baserunners running against him, and had a WAR of 1.2.

And one last thing–Olivo is four-years younger than Kendall. If the Royals wanted a fringe catcher for 2010, why not just work on re-signing Olivo?

Oh wait, that would make too much sense.

For what it’s worth, Kendall will be entering his 15th season in the major leagues and has played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland A’s, Chicago Cubs, and Milwaukee Brewers.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

The Royals just signed catcher Jason Kendall to a two-year deal for what is reported to be around $4 million guaranteed.  Was this a good move in light of the fact that the Royals refused to exercise their mutual option on Miguel Olivo for $3.3 million for the 2010?

Kendall’s OPS numbers the last three seasons were .610, .651 and .636 — pretty poor.  Olivo’s were much better at .667, .722 and .782.

However, Olivo’s on-base percentages are just terrible.  I looked at Kendall’s and Olivo’s OBP and OPS on the road over the last three years combined, in order to take into account that the Royals play in what has generally been a very good hitters’ park.  Kendall’s three-year road totals are .320 and .649, while Olivo’s road totals were .276 and .726.

Does a slugging percentage 121 points higher make up for an on-base percentage 44 points lower?  That’s a good question, and one I don’t really know the answer to.   It probably depends in part on where the player bats in the line-up and whether the line-up as a whole needs more power or more guys on base.

Kendall is  a better choice as an American League No. 9 hitter, since he’s got a better chance to get on base ahead of the top of the order.  Olivo, on the other hand, would probably be a better No. 7 hitter in either league, because some of his homeruns would come with middle-of-the-lineup guys on base.

The conventional wisdom is that Kendall is better defensively and better to handle a young pitching staff.  However, he’s definitely an offensive liability at this point in his career.  He’s cheaper, at least on a yearly basis, than Olivo would have been.  However, one can’t help but wonder if he will be yet another Royal player to lead the American League in lowest OPS among players with at least as many plate appearances if he’s the Royals’ starting catcher in 2010 and 2011.

Today, Major League Baseball held its annual Rule 5 Draft. The Rule 5 Draft takes place around this time every year at the Baseball Winter Meetings.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Rule 5 Draft, here is a great overview courtesy of Baseball America’s Alan Schwarz:

“Major league teams must protect players on their 40-man rosters within three or four years of their original signing. Those left unprotected are available to other teams as Rule 5 picks.

“Players who were 18 or younger on June 5 preceding the signing of their first contract must be protected after four minor league seasons. Players 19 and older must be protected after three seasons.

“But here’s the kicker: To prevent teams from drafting players willy-nilly, each Rule 5 pick must be kept in the major leagues the entire following season or be offered back to his former team for half of the $50,000 selection price. Few players are ready for such a jump, so only about 10-15 get picked each year. Fewer still last the whole season in the big leagues.“

Now you might be thinking why would I care about a draft were the players aren’t good enough to make a team’s 40-man roster? Well, you should care because some of the best players in the game today were taken in the Rule 5 Draft.

Santana was a Rule 5 Draft pick

Johan Santana, Joakim Soria, Shane Victorino, Josh Hamilton, and Dan Uggla are all current players who were taken in the Rule 5 Draft. Past players who were taken include All Stars George Bell, Kelly Gruber, Bobby Bonilla, and Roberto Clemente.

So as you can see, a team can definitely find a diamond in the rough in this draft.

Here is a recap of the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft:

1. Washington Nationals: Jamie Hoffmann, OF. Drafted from Los Angeles Dodgers

2. Pittsburgh Pirates: John Raynor, OF. Drafted from Florida Marlins

3. Baltimore Orioles: Benjamin Snyder, LHP. Drafted from San Francisco Giants

4. Kansas City Royals: Edgar Osuna, LHP. Drafted from Atlanta Braves

5. Cleveland Indians: Hector Ambriz, RHP. Drafted from Arizona Diamondbacks

6. Arizona Diamondbacks: Zachery Kroenke, LHP. Drafted from New York Yankees

7. New York Mets: Carlos Monasterios, RHP. Drafted from Philadelphia Phillies

8. Houston Astros: Jorge Jimenez, 3B. Drafted from Boston Red Sox

9. Oakland A’s: Robert Cassevah, RHP. Drafted from Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

10. Toronto Blue Jays: Zechry Zinicola, RHP. Drafted from Washington Nationals

11. Milwaukee Brewers: Chuck Lofgren, LHP. Drafted from Cleveland Indians

12. Chicago Cubs: Michael Parisi, RHP. Drafted from St. Louis Cardinals

13. Tampa Bay Rays: Armando Zerpa, LHP. Drafted from Boston Red Sox

14. Seattle Mariners: Kenekoa Texeira, RHP. Drafted from New York Yankees

15. San Francisco Giants: Steven Johnson, RHP. Drafted from Baltimore Orioles

16. St. Louis Cardinals: Ben Jukich, LHP. Drafted from Cincinnati Reds

17. Philadelphia Phillies: David Herndon, RHP. Drafted from Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

A couple of notes about this draft:

- Not every team had a pick because not every team had an open spot on the 40-man roster.

- The Red Sox, Yankees, and Angels had the most players taken with two each.

- The Rule 5 Draft is usually pitching centric and this year was no different. Out of the 17 picks, 14 were pitchers.

- Jamie Hoffmann was traded by the Nationals to the Yankees to complete the Brian Bruney trade.

- Benjamin Snyder was traded by the Orioles to the Rangers to complete the Kevin Millwood trade.

- Jorge Jimenez was traded by the Astros to the Marlins to complete the Matt Lindstrom trade.

- You can find the Triple-A and Double-A phase of the draft here.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Cowley: Teahen on life with the Sox now: “Every year with Kansas City I would try and convince myself we made the right moves.”

Cowley: “…. But we knew that we would have to have everything work out perfectly for a chance.’

Cowley: “The nice thing with Chicago with the team in place, guys don’t have to overachieve. They just need to do what they’re capable of doing.”

The Yankees plan to be in attendance for Arold Champman’s bullpen session in Houston next week. Several teams are said to be interested, including the Sox, Angels, O’s, Tigers, Phils, and Royals. Champman’s agent, Randy Hendricks, confirmed that the Red Sox, Yankees and Angels will all be on hand for his bullpen session.

This guy isn’t being looked at as an immediate option inside the Yankees organization, because we don’t really know how ready he is for the major leagues.

“He’s not someone right now, based on the information that we have, that I would tell you is a guy we’re looking at to pencil into our rotation in 2010,” GM Brian Cashman said.    “He’s going to do a bullpen session, so we’ll see it,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. “We’ve seen him pitch internationally, so we’ll take a look at that.”

The guy is an unproven young player with a blazing fastball that has said to be clocked at 100MPH. He’s definitely an intriguing player. An anonymous MLB executive has stated that he felt Chapman would get a deal close to the four-year, $15.1 million deal that Stephen Strasburg got for signing with the Washington Nationals.

—————————————————————————————-

Bengal Columnist: Granderson’s Good Nature Hurt His Game

Trade Fallout: Austin Jackson to Detroit

Pettitte signing is official 

Sixteen minutes with Curtis Granderson

In this entry I define the many types of sports fans and establish a categorization of the different levels of sports fans.  Nothing annoys me more than when someone says, “I am the biggest fan of (place team here),” when in fact they can not name more than two players on the team.  Therefore, I have clearly defined the different levels of fandom so that fans can understand in which level they belong, and so that they can stop kidding themselves.  There are five categories of fans: Insane, Avid, General, Fair Weather, and Couch.  Each of these groups have different characteristics that separate one from another, and all fans fit into one of these five categories.

INSANE

An insane fan achieves the ultimate level of fandom, although it is not necessarily the most desirable level.  The insane fan knows everything that has ever occurred in relation to his/her favorite sports team.  This type of fan watches every game played by this team.  He/she watches the pregame and postgame press conferences, reads scouting reports, and travels all over the country to follow the team.  His/her life revolves around the success of the team.  For example, if the team wins on Sunday, the insane fan is happy and content because of the victory.  However, if the team loses the next game, the fan becomes depressed and is unhappy in general because of the outcome.  They are difficult to talk with, as their attitude towards life in general is terrible in that moment.  This level of fandom is not desirable, because it is actually an unhappy and unhealthy way to live.

AVID

The next level of fandom is the avid fan.  Avid fans, like insane fans, know everything about their team, past and present.  They enjoy watching all the team’s games and often try to attend some of the games.  The major difference between avid fans and insane fans is that the outcome of games does not affect avid fans’ attitudes or their daily lives.  Avid fans care deeply about the success of the team, and may be upset for a day or two over a loss; however, the success or failure of the team will not define avid fans’ lives.  These people live their lives and execute daily functions as usual, even after a loss, and do not allow the outcome of the game to negatively affect their daily routine.  This level of fandom is much more desirable, as it allows people to be passionate about sports in a much healthier fashion.

GENERAL

The third level of fandom is the general fan.  General fans know a lot about their team, although the knowledge of the team usually does not extend to the past.  A general fan knows a decent amount about the current players and the current team, but rarely knows the important history of the franchise he/she follows.  General fans also have less of a vested interest in the success of their teams than insane and avid fans.  These fans might be upset directly after their team loses and for a few hours after, but they will not lose sleep because of a loss.  This is the most basic type of fan, and this group encompasses most fans.  This level allows fans to follow sports and to have fun while doing it, but these fans are not passionate enough about sports to let it affect their daily lives.

FAIR WEATHER

The next fan level is a fair weather fan.  This level represents those fans that are only fans of the team when the team is doing well.  To put this in perspective, the New York Yankees have many fair weather fans, whereas the Kansas City Royals do not.  A fair weather fan does not know very much about the team, from the schedule, to the players, to the history of the team.  This type of fan does not have a vested interest in the success or failure of the team, as these fans only follow the team when it is successful.  Such a periodic following of the team does not allow for a great sense of satisfaction or accomplishment when the team does well, because the fan has no way of knowing the pain of past defeat.  Being this type of fan can be very unfulfilling and unrewarding.  One of the greatest feelings for fans is when that team finally wins after years of losing.  Fans feel ecstatic because of the victory and because they have a frame of reference to the feeling of defeat.  Fair weather fans do not have that frame of reference and therefore can never experience the true sense of victory.

COUCH

A couch fan is the lowest and simplest level of fandom.  A couch fan has little or no vested interest in the success of the team and has no knowledge about the team.  This level is defined as couch fan because these are the fans that rarely watch games or follow the team.  The only time these fans watch the games are if they are sitting on the couch and the game happens to be on television.  For example, if someone is flipping randomly through channels after finishing homework, he/she might come across the Big Ten Network.  He/she could start watching the Penn State basketball game that is being played, with no prior knowledge that the game was being played that night.  That is the simplest example of a couch fan.  Couch fans have no knowledge or interest in the success of the team.  This level of fandom is very unrewarding, as there is no passion or energy associated with being a couch fan.  However, it is often the case that couch fans are much more honest with themselves than fair weather fans.  Couch fans do not care that much about their teams and they admit it, whereas fair weather fans often believe and want others to believe that they are in a higher fan level than they actually are.