Kuzul

Jorge de la Rosa‘s situation this offseason came down to the simple philosophy of supply and demand.

The number of quality starting pitchers available this offseason was in short supply, so the demand for the limited amount of these pitchers goes through the roof because teams are desperate for any arms they can find these days.

De la Rosa, at best, is a No. 3 starter on a decent to good club. Yet, because of the short supply on the market, there were about six to seven teams interested in his services.

After weighing his many options, de la Rosa choose to stay with the Colorado Rockies.

The Rockies re-signed him to a two-year, $21.5 million contract. The contract also includes a $10.5 million player option for 2013 and an $11 million club option for 2014.

In my free agent primer, I had de la Rosa as the biggest bust of this winter. I wrote at the time that “de la Rosa was a ham n’ egger for years, has one good year in Colorado (2009), and now might get $30–40 million over three or four years? No thanks.

Sure he throws in the upper-90′s, but he has made 30 plus starts just once in his career and has way too many control issues for my liking.”

I was right about the dollar figure he was going to get and my thoughts on him haven’t changed since I wrote the column back in early November.

He toiled in mediocrity with the Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals for five years before being traded to the Rockies in the spring of 2008.

In three years with the Rockies, de la Rosa has a 4.49 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 4.1 BB’s/9 and 8.9 K’s/9 in 436.2 innings pitched.

He had his best season in a Rockies uniform two years ago; a 4.38 ERA and 193 K’s in 185 IP.

De la Rosa is a great tease: He’s a lefty that averages 93 mph on his fastball and has a legit slider and change; however, his potential has outweighed his productivity at the major league level.

He’s the type of pitcher who will strike a batter out out on three beautiful pitches and then walk the next two on nine.

When I talk about de la Rosa, it sounds like I am talking about Oliver Perez.

However, de la Rosa hasn’t reached a Perez level of pitching yet. That was a compliment to de la Rosa by the way.

I have seen Perez have meltdowns of epic proportions. I have watched de la Rosa a lot over the years, and I haven’t seen completely meltdown—at least not yet.

The Rockies are going to pay de la Rosa at least $32 million based on what they think he can do rather than what he has done. Those signings rarely work out.

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I am starting to wonder if the Los Angeles Dodgers are really interested in the players they have signed recently or they are just trying to keep as many players away from their division rivals as humanly possible.

Over the weekend, the Dodgers swiped Jon Garland away from the San Diego Padres and on Monday, the Dodgers took Juan Uribe from the San Francisco Giants.

Uribe signed with the Dodgers on Monday

The Dodgers signed Uribe to a three-year, $21 million contract. The 31-year-old 2B/SS/3B hit .248/.310/.440 with 24 home runs in 575 PA’s for the Giants in 2010.

I am really not sure what to say about this contract.

I don’t see how the Dodgers can justify giving a guy a three-year contract, who is in his 30′s, has a .300 career OBP, and who’s OPS dipped about 100 points from 2009 to 2010. I almost feel this is a “Larry Brown” type deal.

If you remember, after Brown had two huge interceptions and was named MVP of Super Bowl XXX (or as I like to call it “The Adult Video of Super Bowls), the Oakland Raiders gave him a ridiculous contract. It was a contract really based on that one game.

It seems to me, Dodger GM Ned Colletti watched the 2010 postseason, saw Uribe’s two huge HR’s and decided to give him a deal that is well above his market value. Now I will say Uribe has more of a track record than Brown, but not enough to warrant a three-year deal.

The sad part about this deal is that because of the length and dollar figure associated with it, nobody will talk about how this is an upgrade at second base for the Dodgers. The Dodgers’ former starting two-bagger, Ryan Theriot is a nice little player, who has a place on a Major League roster. It just shouldn’t be in the starting lineup.

Uribe is an upgrade over Theriot and can do some things well like hit the occasional HR and play above average defense at three different positions. I just wouldn’t have given him three years and $21 million to do it.

On a side note, I will be curious to see how much money Bill Hall gets this winter. Hall had a .772 OPS, which was higher than Uribe’s and can play about six positions on the diamond.

I might be wrong on this one, but I highly doubt he gets anywhere close to $21 million.

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I am going to have to admit, I didn’t see this signing coming at all.

I thought if Jon Garland was going to sign with a team over the Thanksgiving weekend, it would have been with the Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres or even the New York Mets. I didn’t see him signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers at all, but he did.

The Dodgers signed Garland to a one-year, $5 million contract with an option for 2012. The 2012 option kicks in for $8 million if Garland pitches over 190 innings in 2011.

Those of you who have followed this site on a consistent basis know that I have always liked Garland. Last offseason, I had him as the best low-risk, high-reward pitcher in my free agent primer, and all he did was sign with the Padres and produce a 3.47 ERA, 6.1 K’s/9 (a career high) and 52 percent groundball percentage (fifth in the National League).

The reason I was surprised he signed with the Dodgers is because LA already had four quality starters in their rotation. They re-signed Ted Lilly and Hiroki Kuroda to go along with Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley.

The Dodgers really didn’t need Garland, but now with him, they have perhaps the deepest rotation in the NL. Other teams like the Philadelphia Phillies have the names at the top, but don’t have the depth at the bottom.

Even with Garland, I still think the Dodgers rotation is behind the San Francisco Giants in the division. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner one one team is just absurd.

Garland isn’t a sexy name and his peripherals clearly don’t wow anyone, but he always gets the job done, eats a ton of innings and there won’t be too many fifth starters who will be as reliable as Garland. Plus, on top of that, the Dodgers stole him from division rivals San Diego and Colorado.

At just $5 million, Garland is a nice little signing for the Dodgers.

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I love when players and agents use their degrees from Common Sense University. It’s not often these degrees are used, so when they are it brings a smile to my face.

After a couple of failed trips in the American League, it was pretty clear that RHP Javier Vazquez belonged in the National League. For what ever reason, when Vazquez pitches in the AL, he turns into the ghost of Daniel Cabrera.

So when it was announced on Sunday that Vazquez signed with the Florida Marlins, I thought, here’s a guy who used his degree from Common Sense University. Regardless of what happens during the regular season, this is a good initial signing by the Florida Marlins.

The Marlins signed Vazquez to a one-year, $seven million contract according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com. The deal includes a no-trade clause and the Marlins can’t offer him arbitration after the 2011 season.

As we all know, Vazquez was a disaster last season with the New York Yankees. He had a 5.32 ERA and towards the end of the year, he was a complete non-factor in the Yankees’ playoff push.

The Marlins are hoping that a return to the NL revitalizes Vazquez and he can enjoy some success again. They would love for him to return to his 2009 Atlanta Braves form.

Take a look at Vazquez’s career splits in the AL and NL:

As you can see, not only did I use his new Marlin colors to illustrate the difference in Vazquez’s performance in the AL and NL, but he is better across the board in the NL.

I don’t think Vazquez will be as good as he was in 2009 with the Braves (2.87 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 9.8 K/9) and I don’t think he will be as bad as he was with the Yankees last season. I think he will fall somewhere in between.

Somewhere in between means an ERA in the high-three’s, 2.5 BB’s/9, and about 7.8 K’s/9 in 190–200 innings pitched. That’s not a bad season by anyone’s standards.

Vazquez should slide in nicely in the No. 3 or 4 spot in the rotation behind Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco and Anibal Sanchez. Chris Volstad will round out the very deep rotation for the Marlins.

Vazquez joins John Buck, Ryan Webb, Omar Infante, Mike Dunn and Edward Mujica as significant pieces the Marlins have added this offseason. Despite their flurry of moves, I still think the Marlins are a third place team in the NL East. They are still a very weak defensive team.

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I keep thinking to myself that Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has something up his sleeve. I keep thinking to myself there has to be a reason why he just Victor Martinez go without much of a fight.

I keep thinking these things to myself because with Martinez officially a Detroit Tiger, the starting catcher for the 2011 Red Sox is Jarrod Saltalamacchia. I have a hard time believing that a team with World Series aspirations and a team that has question marks at short, third, center, right and the bullpen will go with Saltalamacchia as their catcher in 2011.

Let’s call it like it is—Saltalamacchia has been a complete bust at the Major League level. It was Saltalamacchia, not Elvis Andrus or Neftali Feliz, who was the key piece in the 2007 trade that sent Mark Teixeira to the Atlanta Braves.

Because of various injuries and well, sucking, “Salty” hit just .243/.309/.383 with 19 HR in 721 PA in a Ranger uniform. Every time the Rangers gave Salty the ball, he would drop it like Jackie Smith in Super Bowl XIII.

Salty was traded to the Red Sox exactly four years to the day he was traded to the Rangers, and of course landed on the DL. He landed on the DL with a leg infection, came back and then landed back on DL with a torn ligament in his left thumb.

At some point, a player like Salty goes from super prospect to prospect to I can’t believe he never made it. Right now, Salty is in the “I can’t believe he never made it” phase of his career.

Salty will be 26 when the season starts, and the whole prospect thing has passed him by. I think the Red Sox are sorely mistaken if they think he can just all of a sudden blossom into a serviceable Major League catcher.

Unfortunately, the Red Sox don’t have a lot of options at catcher besides Salty in 2011. There is talk of bringing Jason Varitek back, and as much as I have enjoyed him over the years, that ship has sailed.

The other free agent options out there include Rod Barajas, Bengie Molina, Miguel Olivo and A.J. Pierzynski. Pierzynski is probably the best option out of that group, but I don’t see him anywhere else besides on the Chicago White Sox.

Epstein has really backed himself into a corner with his catching options for 2011. If Saltalamacchia doesn’t pan out, he will be just another in a long list of recent low-risk, high-reward players that didn’t work out in a Red Sox uniform.

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My 2010 preseason National League MVP pick: Hanley Ramirez

The 2010 National League MVP: Joey Votto

Monday was a big day for “Joey’s” across the world. After years of having Joey Harrington, Joey Buttafuoco, and even failed NBC sitcom “Joey” as their standard-bearers over the years, they needed a hero.

It looks they got one in Cincinnati Reds’ 1B Joey Votto.

Votto capped off a tremendous 2010 season by winning the National League MVP award on Monday. Votto received 31 out of 32 first-place votes to become the twelfth Red to win the award. St. Louis Cardinals’ 1B Albert Pujols finished second and Colorado Rockies’ OF Carlos Gonzalez finished third.

I was talking to my resident Cardinal fan Tom and he was quite surprised that Votto won by such a large margin over Pujols. I would have to agree with him on that one.

Votto had a great year, but it wasn’t like his year was head and shoulders better than Pujols’. That part was a little surprising.

Votto winning the award was not.

Votto led the NL in OPS (1.024) and Runs Created (144). He also finished third in HR’s (37), second in Batting Average (.324), and fifth in WAR (6.2).

If we take a look at Votto’s numbers from 2010, they look awfully similar to the ones he put up in 2009.

His 2009 and 2010 seasons are very close and you could see this coming from Votto. The biggest difference between Votto’s 2009 and 2010? Injuries. Votto missed 31 games in 2009 mostly because of an inner ear infection.

Because he played for a mostly uncompetitive Reds team for the first two years of his career, not many casual baseball fans knew who Votto was.

Now that the Reds made the playoffs in 2010 and Votto won the MVP award, he is on the cusp of becoming a household name. If he continues on this pace — and there is no reason not to believe he won’t — Votto will be on the same level as a Pujols, a Kevin Youkilis, or a Mark Teixeira.

The American League MVP award will be announced tomorrow.

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I know I am about week late with this, but with a busy work schedule and all the other things that went on in baseball last week, I couldn’t get to it.  I just wanted to comment on the St. Louis Cardinals re-signing RHP Jake Westbrook.

Kudos on both sides on getting this done.

Westbrook is a perfect fit in St. Louis

Kudos to Westbrook and his camp on knowing where his bread is buttered. As we have seen in the past with this retread pitchers in St. Louis, they don’t realize where their bread is buttered. Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver, and Joel Pineiro I am talking to you.

After coming over from the Cleveland Indians in July, Westbrook had a 3.48 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, and a 62 percent Groundball Percentage in 75 innings. The last stat is why Westbrook is a perfect fit St. Louis.

A groundball pitcher plus a legendary pitching coach who emphasizes pounding the strike zone and throwing groundballs plus facing weaker National League lineups equals success. At the age of 33, Westbrook has the chance to be very successful in a Cardinals’ uniform in 2011 and 2012.

Kudos to the Cardinals and their staff for bringing back Westbrook at a reasonable cost. A two-year, $16.5 million contract for a pitcher like Westbrook is a pretty fair deal.

With Westbrook sliding into the No. 3 or 4 spot in the rotation on a regular basis, the Cardinals have one of the deepest starting rotations in the National League. Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, and Westbrook is a very formidable rotation.

It’s a rotation that should help the Cardinals compete with the Cincinnati Reds for supremacy in the NL Central. I do think the Cardinals need to figure out a way to make their lineup more balanced in order to reclaim the top spot from the Reds. Right now, their lineup is very top heavy.

Westbrook has a 4.29 ERA, a 1.37 WHIP, and a 59 percent Groundball Percentage in 10 seasons with the New York Yankees, Indians, and Cardinals.

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Like George Costanza, the New York Mets are doing the opposite these days.

With Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel running the show, the Mets had an undisciplined, laid-back, laissez-faire and for the most part dysfunctional organization.

Now they are doing everything they can to try to find the complete opposite of the things that went on over the past couple of seasons.

First, they hired Sandy Alderson as their GM. Alderson is a well-spoken former Marine who has had a tremendous amount of success running franchises in Major League Baseball. Alderson is also in the process of revamping the Mets’ minor league system and finding the Mets a new manager.

Alderson’s search has led him to Terry Collins.

According to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, the Mets have hired Collins to be their next manager. Collins received a two-year deal from the Mets.

Collins is known for being a no-nonsense disciplinarian who runs a tight ship in his locker room—essentially the complete opposite of Manuel.

Collins has previous managerial experience with the Houston Astros and Anaheim Angels. Over six seasons, Collins had a 444-434 win-loss record, and his teams finished second five times.

Collins was fired in 1999 as manager of the Angels after 133 games when Angel players went to management and asked that Collins not be brought back. That has to be a little concerning if you are a Met fan.

Hopefully Collins has changed over the years, but if he hasn’t, he will be two years and out as Mets manager. As I have said many times before, baseball is not so much an X’s and O’s sport as football or basketball. The No. 1 job of a baseball manager is to run the clubhouse and have the respect of the players in that clubhouse.

If Collins can’t do that, he will be toast in New York.

I am not sure if Collins can turn the Mets around with their current roster in just two years, but he is certainly an interesting hire to say the least. I say interesting because why only give him a two-year deal?

Clint Hurdle got a three-year deal from the Pittsburgh Pirates. John Farrell got a three-year deal from the Toronto Blue Jays. Eric Wedge got the similar treatment in Seattle.

Why did Collins get one year less? I wonder if Collins is a stopgap manager.

Based on the Mets’ current roster, the Mets won’t have financial flexibility until 2012 and complete financial flexibility until 2013. That’s when Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez, Francisco Rodriguez and Carlos Beltran will be off the books.

Unless Collins gets an extension, he won’t be around to mold a team of his own. I wonder if he is in a Buck Showalter New York Yankees situation. Collins comes in, brings stability to the franchise, his micro-manager act runs a little thin with the organization and then someone else comes in to take the ball and run with it.

I will say Collins manages the team for two years, and Wally Backman will take over in 2013. I think the Mets will give Backman a better job in their minor league system, let him get some more seasoning under his belt and then give him the job after Collins leaves.

Collins beat out Bob Melvin, Backman and Chip Hale for the Mets’ gig.

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For the Oakland A’s it was just a simple matter of numbers. Anyway they sliced it, seven outfielders for three spots just didn’t work.

When a team has a surplus of talent at one position, they usually try to trade some of that talent to fill needs elsewhere. That’s what the A’s did earlier in the week.

The A’s traded OF Rajai Davis to the Toronto Blue Jays for RHP Trystan Magnuson and RHP Daniel Farquhar. I dig this trade by the Jays.

First, Davis adds some needed speed to the slow-footed Jays’ lineup. The Jays finished dead last in the American League in stolen bases and Davis should help them immensely in that category.

The Jays stole 58 bases as a team in 2010. Davis stole 50 by himself. As long as Davis can continue to get on base he should steal anywhere from 50 to 60 bases in 2011.

That’s the key for Davis: Getting on base. Thanks in large part to Davis’ BB Percentage dropping from 6.7 percent in 2009 to 4.6 percent in 2010 and his BABIP dropping from .361 in 2009 to .322 in 2010, Davis didn’t get on base as much as he would have liked to in 2010.

If he can get that BB Percentage back up to seven or eight percent, he will do a lot of damage on the basepaths for the Jays in 2011.

I also also think the change in ballparks should help Davis’ BABIP. With that turf in Toronto, Davis should see some balls get through the infield that normally wouldn’t get through in Oakland.

Second, this trade should improve Toronto’s overall defense in 2011.

Davis is an upgrade over Jose Bautista in right and this move will allow Bautista to move back to third base on a full-time basis. Bautista is much better served defensively as a third baseman rather than a rightfielder even though I am not sure how much Bautista wants to play third again.

Davis should also help Vernon Wells in center as well. Davis’ ability to get to balls in right will allow Wells to cheat towards left if need be and help out Travis Snider.

For the A’s, they get back two above average prospects from the Jays and continue to stockpile young pitching.

Not only does Trystan Magnuson sound like a daytime soap opera actor or the arrogant captain of the team the Ducks are facing in the next Mighty Ducks movie, but he also had a pretty good year in Double A for the Jays. Magnuson, who is 25-years-old , posted a 2.58 ERA, 7.7 K’s/9, and 1.2 BB’s/9 in 73.1 innings in 2010.

Farquhar, who will be 24 in February, tossed to a 3.52 ERA, 9.3 K’s/9, and 4.9 BB’s/9 in 76.2 innings in 2010. Like Magnuson, Farquhar pitched in Double A last season.

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I would say the start of this year’s Major League Baseball offseason has been the strangest start we have seen in quite some time. I say this because we have seen some puzzling moves so far.

Case in point: The trade between the Colorado Rockies and Houston Astros on Thursday.

The Rockies sent SS/2B Clint Barmes to the Astros for RHP Felipe Paulino. I am really baffled as to why the Astros traded for Barmes.

I am baffled because the Astros could have acquired Barmes in a couple of weeks for nothing. It’s not like teams were banging down Rockies’ GM Dan O’Dowds’ door asking for Barmes.

Coming off a .235/.305/.351 season with eight HRs in 432 PAs in 2010 and slated to make around $4 million in arbitration, Barmes was a prime non-tender candidate in December. I really don’t understand why Astros’ GM Ed Wade didn’t wait a couple of more weeks to see what the Rockies were going to do with Barmes.

Then again, I don’t understand a lot of things Wade does.

According to various reports, Wade has already told Barmes that he will be playing shortstop for the Astros in 2010. While Barmes is a plus defensive shortstop (career 12.3 UZR at the position), he’s a guy who has hit .224 with a .618 OPS away from Coors Field in his career.

Barmes will replace the offensively challenged Tommy Manzella at short. Manzella is a no-hit, good-glove shortstop that probably would have value to a team if he played in the 60s or 70s, but in today’s game, he is useless.

Manzella is a homeless man’s Mark Belanger.

Manzella was so inept last year that he produced at a negative WAR. -0.6 to be exact. So Barmes does represent an upgrade over Manzella in that regard, but not by much. Barmes only produced to a 0.4 WAR in 2010.

In return for Barmes, the Rockies received a young, power arm in Paulino. Paulino, despite having the ability to throw in the mid-90s, has yet to find himself in the major leagues.

Paulino has a 5.83 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 8.08 K/9 and a 42.2 Groundball Percentage in 208.1 career Major League innings. The issue with Paulino is control. Paulino has walked over 4.5 batters per nine innings his career.

Paulino’s role with the Rockies has yet to be defined. If the Rockies don’t bring back Jorge de la Rosa (looking like he will sign somewhere else) or sign Kevin Millwood, Javier Vazquez or Jon Garland, Paulino could find himself in the starting rotation.

Barmes is a slight upgrade over Manzella at short for the Astros, but because of his salary and the fact that the Astros could have waited a couple of weeks to acquire him, Houston lost out on this trade.

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