Kuzul

On the one hand, the moves made by Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane this winter seem out of character for a team that had a payroll of $61.9 million in 2013. The team has spent money to bring in an experienced closer in Jim Johnson and also signed free-agent starter Scott Kazmir.

The $32 million dollars of investment may not sound like a lot when it is compared to the spending of the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers this winter. But two of those teams reside in the AL West with the A’s and will likely continue to spend this season and next. 

What Oakland has done again is look at the market of players and their potential values.

The Baltimore Orioles viewed Johnson as too expensive an option for a team looking to save money this winter. Johnson is projected by MLB Trade Rumors’ Tim Dierkes to make $10.8 million this season through arbitration and then become a free agent. Johnson was traded to the A’s in a deal reported by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal.

Instead of viewing Johnson’s one-year commitment as a negative, Beane has chosen again to view it as a strength. Johnson could be the piece to push the A’s over the top this season or he could be the piece to dangle at the trade deadline and get a huge return.

Oakland will be losing Grant Balfour and they are replacing him with a better pitcher. The cost was only Jemile Weeks, a player who never reached his potential in Oakland after a strong beginning in 2011. 

Selling a closer who has thrived in the tough AL East during his career and would only require a team to pay the remaining $5 million or so on his contract makes Johnson an extremely valuable commodity this summer. Six to eight teams could be in the market for someone like Johnson at the deadline. 

The 30-year-old Johnson is coming off of two seasons of 50-plus saves for the Orioles and should benefit moving into Oakland’s spacious stadium.

Signing Kazmir was first reported by ESPN’s Jim Bowden. The deal allowed the A’s to trade Brett Anderson to the Colorado Rockies in a move that was reported by Fox Sports’ Rosenthal.

Any move done by Oakland is done in conjunction with another move in mind. Anderson was a risk due to his injury history and his remaining $9.5 million salary. Trading Anderson now let Oakland get from underneath the majority of Anderson’s remaining salary, allowing the A’s to spend that money on the more dependable Kazmir. 

Kazmir pitched almost as many innings last season (158) as Anderson has pitched over the past three seasons (163). It is easy to understand why Oakland would want to move Anderson’s contract, especially after having spent $10.25 million over the past three seasons with very little return. Kazmir has had his injury struggles as well, but his fastball velocity seemed to return last season. 

Acquiring Kazmir also means that Oakland might be able to flip him during the the two-year contract, something the A’s always seem to be open to doing if it makes the team better.  

It’s not that Oakland is constantly looking to save money. The A’s are just looking to spend money on players who are more likely to return that investment. It’s how Oakland has managed to stay one step ahead of the MLB landscape. 

*Information used from Cot’s Baseball Contracts/Baseball Prospectus, Tim Dierkes/MLB Trade Rumors, Ken Rosenthal/Fox Sports, Baseball Reference, Jim Bowden/ESPN

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It’s fair to wonder if the New York Yankees could have already resolved all of their pitching needs before the Masahiro Tanaka posting situation is completed.

The New York Daily News’ Mark Feinsand tweets that the posting process for Tanaka will last until January 24. Being proactive with the free-agent starting pitching market would have given the Yankees all of the freedom and flexibility that they could have wanted.

Instead they are in limbo, waiting on Tanaka. 

If the Yankees had chosen to move in a different direction this winter, they could have taken the $153 million they spent on Jacoby Ellsbury and turned that money into signing two free-agent starting pitchers. Feinsand was the first to report the Ellsbury signing. New York would also have had the money left over to sign a closer.

There are three top-tier starters on the market besides Tanaka. Ervin Santana, Matt Garza and Ubaldo Jimenez all make sense for New York on some level. The Record‘s Bob Klapisch tweeted that the Yankees weren’t interested in Garza or Jimenez, but that could be posturing.

If the Yankees were aggressive, they could make the group similar three- or four-year offers. All three pitchers have received interest from around MLB, but they are stuck waiting while the Tanaka situation is resolved. If presented with a better option than waiting for Tanaka to pick a team, the agents for these starters might be willing to get something done now.

By trying to sign two of the three pitchers now, the Yankees would dramatically improve their rotation over the group that ended last season.

For example, if the Yankees signed Garza and Santana, they would have two younger arms to add to an older group of CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and the younger Ivan Nova. Garza wouldn’t require the Yankees to sacrifice any draft-pick compensation.

The 29-year-old Jimenez has a career record of 82-75 with an ERA of 3.92 and has made over 30 starts in each of the past six seasons. Garza, who has just recently turned 30, has a career record of 67-67 and has struggled to stay healthy in recent seasons. Garza did pitch well during his three seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays dealing with the AL East. The 31-year-old Santana has the best stuff of the three pitchers and has the most career wins with a record of 105-90.

If the Yankees signed two starters and still wanted to remain in play for Tanaka, they could simply look to move Nova to fill a long-term need at shortstop, outfield or second base if need be. Nova would have a lot of immediate value on the trade market and would allow the Yankees to bring in a younger position player or two, something the franchise desperately needs. 

By trying to sign two of the Garza, Jimenez and Santana group, the Yankees could still have money left over fill vacancies at the back end of the bullpen and the middle infield.

Signing a closer like Fernando Rodney or Grant Balfour would have been insurance for David Robertson as he assumes the closer mantle from Mariano Rivera. The Baltimore Orioles recently backed out of a two-year deal with Balfour worth $15 million. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal has a complete recap of the botched signing here.

The Yankees are considered to be the favorites for Tanaka, and the New York Post‘s Joel Sherman breaks down the competition for New York here.

If Tanaka signs elsewhere, the Yankees need to make sure that they are not left out of the starting pitching market completely.

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The New York Yankees made a big splash during the early stages of free agency by signing free-agent center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury to a seven-year deal worth $153 million. It was a deal that was first reported by the New York Daily News‘ Mark Feinsand with the financial information later confirmed by Feinsand.

Ellsbury is a good player, but he is unlikely to be productive enough to give the Yankees a good return on their investment over the course of the entire contract. Ellsbury is being paid like he is a $20 million-a-year player, but his production over his career doesn’t warrant that type of investment. 

The Ellsbury signing is made all the more curious due to the fact that the Yankees already had a comparable player on their roster in Brett Gardner. While Gardner may not be the exact equal of Ellsbury, the gap between the two players is not vast. New York is going to pay a ridiculous premium for a slight player upgrade, more than five times more than the player it already had under team control. 

The 30-year-old Gardner is only 18 days older than Ellsbury. Both players are used to playing in the competitive AL East. Gardner’s career slash line of .268/.352/.381 is not too far off from Ellsbury‘s line of .297/.350/.439, as Ellsbury‘s higher slugging numbers are somewhat inflated by his near-MVP season in 2011 when he hit 32 home runs.

On the basepaths, Gardner has an 80 percent success rate stealing bases while Ellsbury is closer to 84 percent. Defensively, according to Fangraphs, Gardner has a career UZR/150 of 23.0, while Ellsbury sits at 10.2. 

Ellsbury is scheduled to make $21.1 million in 2014, the first season of his new seven-year deal. Gardner is projected to make $4 million by MLB Trade Rumors’ Tim Dierkes next season. Ellsbury had a 5.8 WAR last season while Gardner had only a 4.2 WAR. But Gardner actually has a higher WAR over the past four years, coming in at 15.7 over Ellsbury‘s 14.8. 

Injuries have obviously had a big impact on Ellsbury‘s career numbers with the Boston Red Sox and injury concerns can’t be discounted moving forward. Ellsbury has shown that he is a tough player, but he has played in only 59 percent (384-648) of Boston’s schedule over the past four years. 

The numbers for both players are very comparable across the board and that’s the problem: New York reached for a player when it didn’t need to. 

In retrospect, the Yankees would have been better served looking at extending Gardner to a contract that would have paid far less than what New York just spent on Ellsbury. New York could have then taken the money that the team just spent on Ellsbury and improved other areas of the roster, specifically the pitching staff and infield. 

Ellsbury was the shiny new toy this winter, and New York has struggled recently when it comes to signing the right big-name free agents. It has repeatedly placed name recognition over value in its decision-making process. Gardner is a good enough player to have provided New York with the production it needed short-term and long-term.

The Yankees wanted Ellsbury, but he didn’t fill an immediate need on their roster. For a team looking to get back on top, spending big money on the wrong player is a surefire way for the Yankees’ long-term struggles to continue.

 Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, Fangraphs

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The New York Yankees have been on a shopping spree this winter, committing $300 million in new contracts to players such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran, Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts among others as well as re-signing Hiroki Kuroda and Derek Jeter. 

What’s notable in it’s absence is that the Yankees have failed to address their biggest area of need this offseason—the pitching staff. Other than re-signing the excellent Kuroda to another one-year deal, New York has been surprisingly slow when it comes to addressing the team’s many pitching needs while focusing almost entirely on the offense to this point. 

New York’s offense scored only 650 runs in 2013, more than 200 runs fewer than the world champion Boston Red Sox. For a team that prided itself on its offensive stars like Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, it was a startling fall for the franchise and sign of things to come. 

It seems New York has now focused all of its attention on Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka, having already made contact with the pitcher’s agent Casey Close according to Newsday‘s Marc Carig.

Tanaka represents everything New York needs and lacks right now—star power, potential and youth. The 25-year-old Tanaka would be the bridge on the Yankees staff, transitioning the staff from older Yankees groups to a newer generation. 

New York has many holes to fill on the 2014 pitching staff due to the retirements of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. The Yankees have also lost starter Phil Hughes and reliever Joba Chamberlain to free agency. Both Hughes and Chamberlain were once projected as the future of the Yankees pitching staff. Now both players will find themselves trying to salvage their careers in the AL Central. 

What remains of the Yankees pitching staff is in a constant state of transition and potential decline. CC Sabathia comes saddled with serious signs of decline and a minimum remaining $76 million on his contract through 2016.

Sabathia had a career-high ERA of 4.78 in 2013 with the highest WHIP of his career at 1.37. Sabathia takes the ball every fifth day and is a workhorse in every way imaginable. He may simply be showing signs of pitching 200-plus innings in each of the past seven seasons. 

Kuroda would serve as the perfect mentor for the young Tanaka. Kuroda would be able to cushion Tanaka’s immersion into MLB through his own experience of coming to America in 2008.

The downside to Kuorda is that he will turn 39 before he even throws a pitch in 2014, and he has shown signs of fatigue over the past two seasons. Kuroda has been a model of consistency for the Yankees, posting virtually identical numbers during his two seasons in New York. 

Ivan Nova has been something of an enigma over the past three seasons, but he finally seemed to find himself last season, giving the team a 9-6 record with a 3.10 ERA while pitching out of the Yankees rotation.

He finally started to resemble the pitcher who burst onto the scene in 2011 and posted a 16-4 record with the Yankees. The 26-year-old Nova is a crucial piece to the Yankees pitching staff moving forward. 

Looking at the Yankees immediate landscape, Tanaka is a crucial potential piece to the team’s future. New York needs to add a high-end starter who could potentially supplant Sabathia as the team’s ace and give the team the type of performance that Yu Darvish has given the Texas Rangers since his posting. 

The amount that the Yankees have spent this winter won’t mean much if they don’t seriously address the pitching staff, whether it is making a full-court press for Tanaka or making a push toward Matt Garza, a veteran of the AL East. 

Plenty of closer options remain on the market, allowing New York to protect David Robertson in the bullpen. New York could bring in a veteran like Fernando Rodney or Grant Balfour to augment the back-end of the bullpen. 

Adding quality pitching is the way to get the Yankees back up on top of the AL East. So far, the Yankees seemed to have forgotten that fact.

Stats and relevant information provided by Baseball-Reference.com and Marc Carig of Newsday. 

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This is what the Arizona Diamondbacks have been waiting for. Masahiro Tanaka will be posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles after a contentious battle with MLB over the posting fee. It was news that was first reported by the Japanese media outlets Sponichi and Nikkan Sports and then later confirmed by the Kyodo News’ Jim Allen.

Arizona desperately needs a front-line ace quality starting pitcher to lead their rotation. This is a potential opportunity for the D’Backs to acquire a 25-year-old stud pitcher, one who might develop into an ace in America.

Tanaka‘s numbers in Japan last season were stunning; 24-0 record with a 1.27 ERA. Tanaka has been pitching in the Japanese league for seven seasons and has a career record of 99-35 with an ERA of 2.30. 

The deal to post Tanaka seemed like it would be in jeopardy from the very beginning after NPB and MLB came to an agreement to modify the posting system to post Japanese players reported in this article from the Japan Times.

The biggest change to the system was the cap on the posting fee paid to Japanese teams. The most teams can bid now would be $20 million, opening the market for almost any team in baseball to make a bid.

It was a change to make the system more fair and to stop large market teams like New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers from using their financial muscle to scare off other teams. 

Now, any team can bid $20 million for the opportunity to sign Tanaka, even the D’Backs. It’s a far cry from the $51.7 million posting fee paid for Yu Darvish and the $51.1 million posting fee paid for Daisuke Matsuzaka.

The D’Backs have been linked to Tanaka all winter, stating the player is the number one priority in this tweet by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. Arizona general manager Kevin Towers told the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro the team would be willing to sign Tanaka to a long-term deal. 

It seems from the very beginning of free agency that Arizona had formulated their off-season plan to chase Tanaka.

The D’Backs face an enormous challenge to lure Tanaka to the desert over other more attractive destinations, including the Yankees. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman has a breakdown of the eight teams that will most likely be in direct competition with the Yankees for Tanaka‘s services. 

The D’Backs need to be all in, here.

This can’t be a situation where the team talks about Tanaka all winter and then comes up short in the bidding process and say they gave it the best shot. Going back to a free agent starter like Matt Garza would be a tough sell if the team has been lukewarm on signing him to this point. 

The starting point for a deal with Tanaka will likely be in the $100 million range, something the D’Backs need to be prepared for. There would be plenty of risk to a large deal with Tanaka, but adding Tanaka to a rotation that already includes Patrick Corbin and potentially Archie Bradley would be much improved over last season.

Arizona can sell the NL West as a better landing spot for the young Japanese pitcher, a division with larger ballparks and no designated hitter to face. The D’Backs have also shown a willingness to travel, as next season’s trip to Australia displays in this article by MLB.com’s Paul Hagan.

Tanaka would be a huge marketing opportunity for Arizona, one that would increase the D’Backs national and international recognition across the globe. 

The opportunity is there and Tanaka can be signed. Are the D’Backs up to the challenge? That’s the quesiton.

Information used from Sponichi, Nikkan Sports, Jim Allen/Kyodo News, Baseball Reference, Japan Times, Ken Rosenthal/Fox Sports, Nick Piecoro/Arizona Republic, Joel Sherman/New York Post, Paul Hagan/MLB.com

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The Arizona Diamondbacks finally acquired the slugger that the team coveted, completing a deal for Mark Trumbo, a rumor that Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal had first reported yesterday.

The completed deal for Trumbo involves the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago White Sox. It was first reported and then confirmed as complete by The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro. ESPN’s Keith Law was the first to report the D’Backs talks with the Angels had expanded to include a third team.

The D’Backs gave up a lot to make the deal happen. Tyler Skaggs was supposed to be a key component of the D’Backs rotation moving forward but hit a bump last year in his road to the major leagues. Instead of giving newly installed pitching guru Dave Duncan an opportunity to work with the 22-year-old lefty this spring, the team included him as part of the package for Trumbo.

The other part of the team’s package was traded to the White Sox in the form of Adam Eaton. It has to raise eyebrows that the organization soured so quickly on Eaton after making him sound like he was the spark-plug that the team had been missing going into last spring training. Only an injury kept Eaton from making he big club out of spring training, something that was lamented as part of the D’Backs struggles last season. Eaton struggled in his 250 at-bats last season, posting only a .314 OBP, but has shown great ability in the minors to get on base.

Getting back Trumbo will provide the D’Backs with home runs, runs batted in and a young, cost-controlled player. But, the D’Backs will be playing him out of position in the outfield where he has struggled in his career. Arizona has also traded much of their depth for a 27-year-old player with a .299 career OBP and a player who has shown that he might be the second coming of Mark Reynolds. The power will be there, but can Trumbo develop into a better hitter?

Now, two more young players have been dealt, continuing an alarming trend where the D’Backs seem to be displaying very little patience with struggling prospects, but they seem to continually give the benefit of the doubt to veterans like Trevor Cahill, Brandon McCarthy and Miguel Montero. Arizona has already dealt lefty prospect David Holmberg last week in order to facilitate moving Heath Bell and his contract out of town. MLB‘s Steve Gilbert reports that the D’Backs will be getting two prospects back in the deal.

Skaggs and Holmberg can be added to pitching prospects Jarrod Parker and Trevor Bauer as players the organization has given up on very quickly and dealt. The D’Backs seem to be struggling to develop young pitchers to be ready at the major league level immediately.

Top prospect Archie Bradley will have a tremendous amount of pressure on him to reverse this trend with the franchise. Bradley will need to be good from the start in order to live up to the hype and expectations that are likely to be added to him. It’s a tough spot to put the young hurler in.    

D’Backs general manager Kevin Towers clearly looks to be operating like a man trying to save his job while living up to his gunslinger reputation as someone who is constantly looking to make trades. This trade feels forced, like something that you do when you want to show that you are doing something. While having an open-minded general manager is good, having one that continues to display very little patience might not be the best thing for the long-term continuity of the franchise.

Trumbo might help the D’Backs in the immediate short-term, but it will likely be a minor improvement. The question now becomes: Will Towers be around long enough to see the deal payoff?

Information used from Ken Rosenthal/Fox Sports, Nick Piecoro/Arizona Republic, Nick Piecoro/Arizona Republic, Keith Law/ESPN, Baseball Reference, Steve Gilbert/MLB.com

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The Arizona Diamondbacks want to protect slugger Paul Goldschmidt, but trading for Mark Trumbo is not the answer. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal was the first to report the rumor that Trumbo might be in play between the D’Backs and the Los Angeles Angels.

This is the same Trumbo who currently sports a sub .300 OBP for his career. The 27-year-old Trumbo would provide power but little else to the Arizona lineup. This isn’t a young prospect, this is a player who will be turning 28 before Opening Day next season. 

Rosenthal later followed it up with a tweet that said that the D’Backs were “pushing” for Trumbo along with other teams. Teams will be looking at the fact that Trumbo has hit 95 home runs combined over the past three seasons and will be under team control until the 2017 season. 

Trumbo has also played the majority of his four major league seasons at first base, meaning the D’Backs would likely be plugging him into left field. Trumbo is a below-average fielder who would immediately impact the D’Backs outfield defense in a negative manner. 

It’s expected that the D’Backs would be sending pitching back to the Angels with Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown reporting that talks for Trumbo might be centered around Trevor Cahill and Tyler Skaggs. Trading Cahill would make some sense from the D’Backs point of view, moving close to $20 million off of the books owed to Cahill over the next two seasons. 

Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto is likely to have interest in Skaggs because ironically enough, Dipoto was the D’Backs interim general manager who acquired Skaggs and Patrick Corbin as part of a deal for Dan Haren back in July of 2010. Skaggs was supposed to be the centerpiece, but Corbin has become the pitcher that everyone thought Skaggs would be at this point.

For the D’Backs, it’s hard to see if there is a plan in place at this moment. Trading Justin Upton last year only to turn around and trade for Trumbo a year later doesn’t make much sense. Trumbo is an imperfect fit in the desert, a limited hitter and fielder who will be asked to protect the D’Backs best hitter. Unless the D’Backs believe they can improve Trumbo‘s at-bats, Goldschmidt will likely be pitched around all season with Trumbo batting behind him.

Upton may never have fulfilled the potential that was projected for him, but he is still a better overall player than Trumbo, one who filled many of the needs the D’Backs are currently looking for this winter. Upton’s combined WAR over the past three seasons is 11.0 compared to Trumbo‘s 7.7 WAR. 

Trading Cahill would also be another acknowledgement by D’Backs general manager Kevin Towers that he missed on another player evaluation, this time by trading top prospect Jarrod Parker to the Oakland A’s for Cahill back in December of 2011.

If the D’Backs are really looking to add a power-hitting outfielder, they should be looking at a player like Corey Hart. Hart’s career slash line is .276/.334/.491 with 154 career home runs. Hart missed all of 2013 due to knee surgery, but if healthy, would provide a much better player to add to the roster and will likely have to take a one-year deal to prove his health.

It sounds like something might happen with Trumbo as MLB‘s Alden Gonzalez tweets that there is a “good chance” Trumbo is traded during the Winter Meetings. 

If Trumbo lands with the D’Backs, it will create only more questions.

Information used from Ken Rosenthal/Fox Sports, Baseball Reference, Rosenthal/Fox Sports, Tim Brown/Yahoo Sports, Alden Gonzalez/MLB

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The Seattle Mariners are back. That’s the main message that one can take away from their signing of Robinson Cano. The deal was first reported by ESPN Deportes‘ Enrique Rojas. 

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports that the deal is for $240 million over 10 years. While the years and the numbers are stunning, they are almost besides the point. The Mariners are telling MLB that they are back to being a relevant franchise again.

The Mariners vastly overpaid for Cano, but they know that. It was the only way that Cano was going to leave the New York Yankees. This is about setting a new tone for a franchise, one that has drifted toward mediocrity and irrelevance over the years outside of Felix Hernandez.

Seattle has the money to make this type of deal without crippling the franchise long term based on a new $2 billion television deal that Forbes’ Mike Ozanian breaks down here. The Los Angeles Dodgers, for example, have spent heavily since signing their new television deal last season. 

Having prospects and a highly ranked farm systems is great, but no one was watching or talking about the Mariners last season. On Friday, everyone was talking about Seattle, talking about the deal, talking about other moves that the Mariners might be able to pull off this winter.

I would compare this deal to when the Boston Red Sox signed Manny Ramirez after the 2000 season. The Red Sox signed Ramirez to an eight-year deal worth roughly $160 million. It was a deal that no other team was offering. When the deal was announced, it immediately put a buzz back into the city of Boston and started the Red Sox back toward being a contender. Boston eventually won a World Series in 2004.

The Mariners remain an untapped gem of a franchise in a great market that hasn’t been able to reap the benefits of not having to compete with an NBA or NHL franchise for consumer dollars. The fact that attendance was dwindling shows that the product on the field wasn’t very exciting or interesting.

Last year, attendance was 1.76 million people, the third season in a row that attendance has been below 2 million. It’s a far cry from 2002 when the Mariners led the American League in attendance at 3.5 million, more than twice as much as they drew last season. 

Signing Cano is just as much about what he can provide off of the field than what his numbers might look like at the end of this deal. As great as Hernandez has been for Seattle, it is really tough to have a pitcher be the face of the franchise.

Other free agents will now take Seattle more seriously when the offer a deal. Corporate and business partners might be far more likely to invest now that the team has a daily face of the franchise.

Cano’s success in New York is something that can be sold as promise for the Mariners. Cano’s brand comes with him winning a World Series in New York, receiving MVP votes during six different seasons, five-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger and a two-time Gold Glove winner. 

I am normally against teams signing players to this type of contract—there is normally just too much downside. In this case, I understand the reasoning behind it. Seattle wanted back in to the AL West, back to being in the playoff conversation, back to its fanbase having hope in spring training again. 

If Cano’s contract results in the Mariners becoming relevant again, then it will be well worth it.  

Information used from Enrique Rojas/ESPN Deportes, Jon Heyman/CBS Sports, Baseball Reference, Mike Ozanian/Forbes and Baseball America.

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Jon Heyman of CBS Sports has tweeted that the Boston Red Sox have signed free-agent catcher A.J. Pierzynski to a deal. 

Sean McAdam of CSN New England reports that the deal is only for one year. The Red Sox’s ablity to sign Pierzynski to just a one-year deal is somewhat of a surprise, given the recent run on catchers receiving multi-year deals this winter. It’s a good low-risk move for the Red Sox. 

The 36-year-old Pierzynski, who will turn 37 this month, is coming off of a down season with the Texas Rangers. Pierzynski started to show some signs of decline, most notably posting the lowest OBP (.297) of his career in 2013 with the Rangers. He still managed to hit 17 home runs and knock in 70 runs, meaning that he should provide solid offense for the Red Sox. 

Durability has been one of Periznski’s career strengths, as he has appeared in more than 120 games in each of the past 12 seasons. The Red Sox know that Pierzynski will play through minor injuries during the course of the season. 

However, Pierzynski’s plate discipline may be an issue, with the veteran catcher only walking 11 times in 503 at-bats last season. The Red Sox like to work the count against opposing teams, meaning Pierzynski could be an odd fit in that regard. 

There are three immediate takeaways from the deal from the point of view of the Red Sox.

First, Boston must feel that top prospects Blake Swihart and Christian Vazquez are both getting very close to being able to help at the major league level next season, with Vazquez potentially reaching the majors during the second half of next year. Both prospects provide a tremendous amount of upside, with the 23-year-old Vazquez’s defense being viewed as MLB-ready right now. 

The 21-year-old Swihart is likely being groomed to become the everyday catcher for the team, but that might not occur until 2015, at the earliest. Swihart looks like he could be the whole package, combining offensive potential with improving defense. 

The second takeaway is that the Red Sox were only interested in bringing back Jarrod Saltalamacchia on their terms, likely a two-year deal with a hometown discount. With the free-agent deals recently signed by Carlos Ruiz and Brian McCann already this winter, Saltalamacchia should have better options available on the free-agent market. 

The 28-year-old Saltalamacchia is easily the best catcher remaining on the market. Now that he knows he is not returning to Boston, his market should become much clearer during the upcoming winter meetings. 

It’s a disappointing end to Saltalamacchia‘s time in Boston. Saltalamacchia was a productive and improving player with the Red Sox, but he seemed to struggle during the postseason and the defensive flaws in his game become more pronounced. Boston made the decision to move on from Saltalamacchia‘s potential. 

Lastly, Boston looks likely to go into next season starting the year with a platoon between Pierzynski and David Ross, giving Boston two experienced, veteran catchers to lead the pitching staff.

Pierzynski has a career .290 batting average against right-handed pitchers and a career .322 hitter at Fenway Park in a small amount of at-bats. Prospect Ryan Lavarnway will again come to spring training having to open some eyes if he is not included in a deal this winter. 

If Pierzynski can produce anything close to his career slash line of .283/.322/.428 for next season, the Red Sox would take that immediately for the 2014 season. 

The bottom line is that Boston obviously valued roster flexibility and short-term contract length by signing Pierzynski, a blueprint that served them very well last season.

* Information from Jon Heyman/CBS Sports, Sean McAdam/CSNNE, Baseball Reference, Sox Prospects

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Arizona Diamondbacks closer Brad Ziegler isn’t a household name or even one of the best players on his own team. But Ziegler’s comments in the wake of the St. Louis Cardinals signing of Jhonny Peralta, first reported by CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, were desperately needed by the game. 

The media, MLB and the fans can complain about PEDs and cheating in sports as much as they want, but real change will only come about if current and former players continue to speak out and be the long-term guardians of baseball. 

That’s why Ziegler’s comments are so important to the game. After hearing of Peralta’s signing, Ziegler sent out a tweet that read “It pays to cheat…Thanks, owners, for encouraging PED use.”

It was exactly what needed to be said. Peralta’s contract sent a terrible signal through the sport, making it look like Peralta ended up being rewarded for cheating. Other players are going to see the money involved and think Peralta benefited from cheating the game. 

It’s telling that the 34-year-old Ziegler, a player who might be tempted to extend his career by using PEDs, is trying to protect the sport while other, more talented players are trying to squeeze the sport dry. Ziegler had to wait until he was 28 to get his chance at the majors. Wonder how many players jumped ahead of him by using PEDs. 

We have already seen a huge shift from MLB and the players association in the past year, with both organizations working together to clean up the game and hold the players accountable. This past year’s Biogenesis scandal was handled to the point where 13 of the players involved were presented with the facts and were given 50-game suspensions to begin serving last season. 

The Biogenesis scandal was one of the first moments that players in the game were openly critical of other players who had been caught. This article from Chris Greenberg at the Huffington Post contained many strong comments from current and former players, including Ziegler, about the suspensions. In the past, it seemed like players were reluctant to comment on PED suspensions. 

In another tweet, Ziegler acknowledges that the 50-game suspension is not enough of a deterrent and that it will need to be fixed. It will have to be bargained between the owners and players, but players need to face much stiffer penalties in the form of games lost and loss of income to make this a real deterrent. Trading 50 games worth of paychecks for a free-agent payday is an easy trade. 

Hopefully MLB will continue what they have started by working with the players to rebuild the integrity of the sport. The recent suspensions have been a good start in that direction, but they are only the first step. 

Peralta‘s new contract pays him more than $15.5 million next season, more than twice what Ziegler has made in his entire career over six seasons. If you are looking at real reasons why players cheat and why there is resentment in the game, it might come down to something as simple as that. 

It’s pays to cheat. Hopefully, Ziegler will look back on that phrase one day and think that baseball has changed. 

Information used from Jon Heyman/CBS Sports, Baseball Reference, Brad Ziegler/Twitter, Chris Greenberg/Huffington Post.

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