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The New York Yankees have made small signings this year, especially after they missed out on the Cliff Lee Sweepstakes.

Players include Russell Martin, Luis Vizcaino, and Pedro Feliciano.

And if you look at it in a positive way, this is still a similar lineup compared to the 2010 team when they reached the American League Championship Series.

Adding to that, there is money that can be spent on even more signings, which can be critical.

But for now, here is the projected lineup and starting rotation of the New York Yankees, for the 2011 season.

Please read this Joe Girardi. Please.

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Rich Harden rejoined his former team, the Oakland Athletics on a 1 year deal. The contract is known to be worth $1.5 million.

Harden, now 29 years of age, started his major league career at 21 with the Athletics.

He looked like he would have a bright future as the ace of the team after his 1st full season, collecting 11 wins and an ERA just under 4.00 back in 2004

But injuries limited him his time in Oakland, as he was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2008. He did finish the year with an ERA of 2.07, but only started 25 games.

In fact, 2004 is still his only year of his career when he started at least 30 games.

Last year, with the AL Champion Texas Rangers, he had an ERA of 5.58, with limited time being healthy. He was designated for assignment this offseason after his poor performance.

Harden’s 62 walks in 92.0 innings didn’t help, either.

But Billy Beane’s A’s give him another shot: either it’s as a reliever or a #5 starter. The #5 spot is still open, due to the fact that the team could not sign Japanese pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma this offseason, even after they had 30 days of exclusive negotiations. 

Perhaps he’ll be a better pitcher as a reliever: using his fastball for 1 or 2 innings, and blow hitters away. It can also reduce his chance of injuries.

It will all be decided at spring training.

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The Kansas City Royals agreed to trade starting pitcher Zack Greinke to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for five players, reports ESPN.

The deal would involve the Brewers giving up Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi.

In return, they get 2009 Cy Young winner Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt, along with some cash.

This deal certainly makes sense for both teams.

Kansas City sure isn’t in a position for a playoff run with Greinke, so they might as well have gotten prospects for maybe five years in the future.

Escobar, a 24-year-old shortstop, completed his first big league season just this year, finishing with an average of .235. On the positive side, he has hit 10 triples. This guy still has the potential to become an above-average everyday shortstop.

Lorenzo Cain is the main part of this deal, being a big time prospect. He hit .317 last year between Double A and Triple A. Add 20 stolen bases and a .400 OBP, and you’ve got something special.

Odorizzi is a pitcher that is at the Single A level as of right now, pitching to a 3.43 ERA.

Jeffress jumped throughout the Brewers organization, between Single A, Single A-plus, and Double A, posting a 1.26 ERA at Double A to finish the season.

This opens up a more positive future for Ned Yost and his club.

On the other side, Betancourt is just an average everyday shortstop, posting a .259 average and driving in 78 RBI.

And as you know, Zack Greinke will solidify the rotation along with another newly acquired Shaun Marcum.

Greinke might end up like Roy Halladay, who thrived even more in the National League with a Cy Young Award to his resume.

Also, Milwaukee isn’t a place with New York style media, making it a good place for Greinke, considering the fact that he deals with social anxiety disorder.

The Brewers aren’t in the rebuilding stage, either unlike the Royals.

It’s a win-win trade for both clubs.

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The most prized free agent player on the market this season, Cliff Lee, has reportedly been offered a seven year deal by an unknown team.

The New York Yankees have been reported to have offered Lee a six year contract averaging $23 million annually.

The Texas Rangers are known to have offered a five year deal. 

The Washington Nationals probably don’t have enough money after signing Jayson Werth to a $126 million contract.

So, who is this mystery team?

One possible answer is the Los Angeles Angels, who seem to be strong runners for big time free agents this offseason. 

And who knows, the Boston Red Sox are always in the mix when the Yankees are.

All in all, we do not know who the team is, but it is the longest contract offer.

This team might have just raised the price tag on maybe the best pitcher in the league today.

Lee is 32 years old, so his age is a factor, but his most recent stats do not show it:

1. W-L: 12-9
2. ERA: 3.18
3. BB Allowed: 18
4. IP: 212.1

One thing is for certain here: This isn’t going to be a quick negotiation.

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Let’s face it: The Washington Nationals has always been the dark horse in chasing big-name free agents over the years.

There was Mark Teixeira, who signed an eight-year, $180 million deal.

There is still former Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee, who is chased by the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees. But every time they are mentioned, so are the Nats, though it doesn’t look like they’re going to sign him.

But finally, Washington has made a big move. They have a new $100 million man.

General manager Mike Rizzo announced today they have agreed to terms with veteran outfielder Jayson Werth to a seven-year, $126 million deal.

Werth was on of the two best outfielders this year on the market with Carl Crawford. That’s no small statement.

The Washington Nationals are going to make be legit contenders in a couple of years. But Werth just guaranteed it in just five. If you still don’t believe it, maybe this list of players will show you:

1. Jayson Werth: five-tool player.
2. Ryan Zimmerman: great bat, arm and glove.
3. Ivan Rodriguez: mentor to young catchers, handles pitching staff well.
4. Josh Willingham: dependable 20 home runs per season.

There are many more players, especially with big potentials such as Roger Bernadina, Ian Desmond and Nyjer Morgan.

The four listed players are the ones the team is to be built around with.

Not to mention, have you heard of guys like Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper?

There’s also Jason Marquis rebounding from his injury-filled season in 2010.

All-in-all, this team has many positives, and it’s going in a good direction towards winning: in pitching and offensively.

Getting back to Werth, let’s see what he has done over the last three years. He has hit 87 home runs, and drove in 251 RBIs. Even with the good bat, he has thrown runners out with his strong accurate arm, and has robbed hits with his great glove. Let’s just also add he has stolen 53 bases during that time.

He is just a great player overall at the age of 31. It’s not like he is in his mid-30s where you don’t know what you are going to get.

Werth will certainly fill the hole left by slugger Adam Dunn who signed with the Chicago White Sox just a couple of days ago.

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It’s no surprise that the Chicago Cubs are looking for an everyday starter at 1st base, especially after they lost Derrek Lee in a trade.

They also lost Micah Hoffpauir after he signed with the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan. Hoffpauir was the front runner for the starting job.

But also adding to this, the Cubs have not won a World Series in over 100 years, making them more desperate to acquire a dependable bat.

There are many candidates for the job, with a good free agent market at 1st base this offseason. But here are the closest possibilities.

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Right handed pitcher Javier Vasquez agreed to a one year deal with the Florida Marlins.

It was reported that Vasquez had turned down a multi-year deal from another team, which only shows he wants to make himself a front of the rotation guy again, and get a great offer after 2011.

But for now, the deal is known to be somewhere around $7 million, according to baseball insider Ken Rosenthal.

Vasquez, 34, joined the New York Yankees early this year, hoping to carry over his dominant stuff  from the Atlanta Braves to the American League. He failed, posting a 5.32 ERA which is certainly not impressive.

But now that he will be back in the National League, it looks as if Vasquez can regain his 2009 form, where he finished 4th in the Cy Young voting. That year, he finished at 15-10, with an ERA of 2.87. Notice the fact that all the other interested teams in Vasquez were all National League teams: the Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, and the Chicago Cubs.

This all makes sense for the Marlins.

The team’s priority this offseason was to add depth to the entire team, and this agreement helped.

Also, Vasquez is an experienced veteran, so this was an excellent addition to the young staff.

This $7 million deal was possible, after the Marlins let go of slugger Dan Uggla to the Atlanta Braves. At least there was some positive side to that.

Florida now has added two veterans, Vasquez and catcher John Buck. They had also received a good hitter in Omar Infante and a bullpen upgrade in Mike Dunn.

The best guess at this point is that Florida will go for a playoff run, and if that does not work, they will trade some of the players, like they did with Cameron Maybin, or Uggla and get even more prospects for the future.

It looks as if this team is up this, but it’s hard to tell this early. Only time will tell.

Javier Vasquez just needs to pass a physical, and this great deal will be official.

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Detroit Tigers General Manager, David Dombrowski, has already signed two free agents to help the team that finished at .500 in 2010, which was a huge disappointment.

You had Jim Leyland as the manager, so it was even a bigger, busted team.

All-Star catcher Victor Martinez was signed to be the middle of the order guy, and help protect slugging Miguel Cabrera in the lineup.

Reliever Joaquin Beniot was the first addition this offseason for the Tigers. He had an ERA of 1.34 in 60.1 innings, so it couldn’t hurt to add the guy to the bullpen.

It seems like it all makes sense, right?

Wrong, especially when you sign a catcher that struggles mightily on defense to a 4 year, $50 million deal. Basically, you can just think that you signed a Designated Hitter: a spot which can be used to rest guys or acquire a cheaper power bat, such as Russell Branyan.

Since the contract is already agreed upon, shouldn’t the Tigers even think of helping Martinez with his defense, to get the best out of him?

But already, reports of Martinez being used primarily as a DH already made mlb.com.

Now let’s look at Joaquin Beniot.

Like I said before, it can’t hurt to add him, but he, too, like Martinez isn’t worth what he’s getting: a 3 year, $16.5 million contract.

Even with his low ERA last season, the next lowest ERA he has ever had is 2.85, and that was in 2007. Not only that, he missed all of the 2009 season.

One great year can’t clearly determine what kind of performance Benoit will give, especially with missing the entire season before the good one. 

Basically, it’s a gamble.

But who knows what can happen in baseball? Benoit might give a below 3 ERA over the next three years, with Martinez hitting 25 home runs, driving in 100 RBIs over the next four years.

All in all though, Dombrowski’s moves made so far this offseason is questionable, and it’s only November.

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After reports of New York Yankees Shortstop Derek Jeter turning down a 3 year, $45 million deal, general manager Brian Cashman told Jeter and his agent Casey Close to test the free agent market.

Criticism fired from all directions at Cashman.

Life long fans couldn’t believe that Cashman could let the face of their franchise, a captain, talk to other clubs about possible deals.

Neither could I.

However, this all makes sense in the end.

If you look at Jeter’s stats, his batting average dropped from .334 to .270. Don’t get me wrong, a .270 hitter with an excellent glove isn’t a bad baseball player, but when you get $15 million, that’s overpaying.

Some might say that you can’t put a tag on Jeter’s leadership and his presence in the clubhouse.

But, if you think about it, do you think any other team in baseball would pay a 36 year old player that is declining, more than $15 million per year for multiple years? Especially when he has strong ties to his former team and won’t get the best out of him?

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say the Los Angeles Angels sign Jeter to a 3 year $75 million deal (this will never happen), since that was what Jeter had wanted and that was the only option he had. Jeter isn’t going to be a Manny Ramirez, but he won’t certainly be able to perform as best as he can. Obviously, there’s a better chance he will like playing in New York and will play better.

All in all, Cashman’s move was smart. His thoughts are that after Jeter sees what kind of market is out there for him, he’ll realize that $15 million for at least more than 2 years is good enough and he will sign with the Yankees (or maybe increase the annual salary just a bit). Did you actually think Jeter will leave the Yankees just because of money? If so, it means Jeter probably had some scripts for his interviews when talking passion for this team.

There is one flaw though. Jeter is going to retire someday, so why not offer him at least more than 5 years on his new contract?

That’s the only question I have, but this whole thing with Cashman playing chicken with Jeter, isn’t bad for the team.

Maybe even better.

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You might not know it, but Javier Vazquez has been one of the most dominant pitchers in Major League Baseball since 2000.

He has pitched for the second-most innings with 2,320.1 innings, and is second in strikeouts with 2,122.

Vazquez cost the Yankees $11.5 million with the most awful year of his career this season: 10-10, 5.32 ERA, 157.1 IP, 32 HR.

With the Atlanta Braves in 2009, he was fourth of the National League Cy Young Award voting. He looks to regain that form by rejoining a rebuilding National League team, perhaps the Washington Nationals.

First of all, with the stats he had with the Yankees, he probably won’t get more than a $4 million-per-year contract. The Nationals certainly will be able to get him even with one of the smallest budgets in the league.

Second, he will be 35 years old heading into next season.

A contending team certainly would not want a home run happy, aging pitcher with less guarantee than a younger arm.

The Washington Nationals are far from contenders, and they need a durable starting pitcher. However, will they want a pitcher with an ERA of five that wins 10 games a season? They’ll accept him gladly.

Vasquez himself stated interest in pitching in the Nation’s capital. Two words: perfect fit.

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