Kuzul

Like most people, as soon as the season ended, I made my free agent predictions for the top free agents from Cliff Lee, to Aubrey Huff.

My predictions are not wild, or bold, but were based on which teams needed key players, and which teams would retain some of these players.

Throughout the 2011 Off Season, we’ve seen big free agent acquisitions from teams we would never guess would be in the running, and some teams who seemed to have been hibernating through the Winter Meetings, and beyond that.

The season hasn’t started, but the main part of free agency is pretty much over, so I decided I’d look back at my Free Agent Predictions, my justifications, and what actually happened.

Also, as a bonus, I’ll give my projection for that player, along with a grade for the acquisition.

Some top free agents are not on this list, as I couldn’t make predictions for everyone at the time.

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If you have been following the Washington Nationals’ offseason, you are aware that the team has now entered Phase Two.

If not, here is an explanation of what exactly Phase Two entails by Nats GM Mike Rizzo from Jayson Werth’s introductory press conference: “It kind of exemplifies phase two of the Washington Nationals’ process. Phase one was scouting and player development, building the farm system. Now it’s the time to go to the second phase and really compete for division titles and championships.”

Phase Two started with a bang—a $126 million bang, at that.

Unfortunately, it ended with a dud. As shocking and exciting as the Jayson Werth signing was, the Nationals’ front office has to be disappointed with their failure to find a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher, an offseason goal set by Washington’s brain trust.

Again and again the Nationals’ targets landed elsewhere, and the team was forced to settle on a trade for Tom Gorzelanny. While Gorzelanny may not be the ace Washington was looking for, he will provide the Nats with an extra arm in case of an injury, a luxury the Nats have not had since the move to Washington.

The Nats failure to land a front-line starter may have actually been a blessing in disguise. After Cliff Lee, the 2010 crop of free agent pitchers was relatively weak, and overpaying—whether it be in the form of money or prospects—may have stunted the teams development.

As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were the 1927 Yankees, for that matter.

With Strasburg set to return in 2012 and Bryce Harper likely to make his major league debut in the same year, it would be foolish for the Nationals to put all their eggs in one offseason’s basket, especially an offseason preceding a transition year, which the 2011 season will be for the club.

The goal of any offseason should be to improve the team, and the Nationals have done that. Will it manifest itself in an improvement on last year’s 69 wins? I don’t know, but the franchise is in a better place than it was this time last year, that is for sure.

Yes, Washington overpaid for Jayson Werth, but they had to. And the effects of that deal will be felt for offseasons to come.

One, the Nationals obviously have a good relationship with Scott Boras, who represents some of the game’s biggest stars, which may give them the inside lane on his clients in the future.

Two, the Nationals are now officially players in the offseason—exemplified by the rumors that the Nats were close to signing the crown jewel of the offseason, Cliff Lee.

Lastly, the Nats’ front office has now shown that they are willing to spend, which will help keep players like Ryan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg—a Boras client—in Washington.

In Part 2—or should I say Phase 2—we’ll look at more of the Nationals offseason moves and their impact on the 2011 Nats.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Philadelphia Phillies shocked the entire baseball world when they signed Cliff Lee last month to a $120 million contract. Ever since the fans in Philadelphia have been anxiously awaiting the start of the season. With the addition of Cliff Lee to their already-stellar rotation consisting of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels, the Phillies will be unstoppable and their opposition has the daunting task of facing two of the four aces every series.

Although the Phillies have seen the departure of fan favorite Jayson Werth, who signed a huge $126 million contract with division rival Washington, they have Domonic Brown and Ben Francisco to fill the void successfully. While the Phillies’ outfield has less depth with the departure of Werth, fans will be eager to see what Brown and Francisco can do.

The Phillies fans are ready to watch their team start the 2011 season and potentially make it to the World Series once again. After losing to the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS this past October, the Phillies have much to prove to themselves: one with their rotation, and two by avenging their NLCS loss.

Expectations could not be higher for the Phillies and I believe they will live up to them.

These are the reasons why 2011 will be a magical year to remember.

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If there’s one time of the sports year that everyone watches like a hawk, it’s MLB free agency.  From November until late January (sometimes longer), fans lose sleep over which teams top free agent players will sign with.

Some of these decisions pay great dividends, like C.C. Sabathia when he signed with the New York Yankees.  Other times, players regret locking themselves into long-term deals, like when Adrian Beltre signed with the Mariners.

Thus, let’s take a look at this past season’s free agency class.  Specifically, the players that picked the wrong teams.

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In the 2010 season, the first basemen of the Philadelphia Phillies, Ryan Howard, spent a great deal of time on the disabled list.  When doing the math by analyzing the innings played, it shows that Howard played in about seventeen fewer games in 2010 than he did in 2009. 

Of 162 games, missing seventeen games does not sound like that much. Howard usually plays well over 150 games per year.  In 2008, Howard started 156 games and 155 in 2009.  With the injury, Howard only started 139 games in 2010.

Even with missing so much time during the 2010 season, he still produced numbers better than most other players in baseball.  Of 1000+ baseball players, Howard produced numbers good enough for him being tied at 14th rank with the number of home runs. He was 11th in the number of runs batted-in. 

Howard was also ranked 49th for on-base percentage, 25th in slugging percentage and 29th in OPS.

Howard had a very productive season in 2010, although it was certainly not his peak year, that we can blame on the time he missed from injury. 

He did hit for an average of .276 with 31 home runs and 108 runs batted-in.  His on-base percentage was .353 and his slugging percentage was .505 with 152 hits and 59 walks.  He also had 157 strikeouts, which is at a ratio of about a two-percent improvement.

Howard’s numbers were good enough, even with missing all of the time from injury, to be the best and most productive first basemen in the NL East Division.  When comparing Howard to the other first basemen in the NL East, the only player that can actually challenge Howard’s numbers, according to the stats of 2010, is Adam LaRoche.

LaRoche, who was not in the NL East in 2010, batted for an average of .261 with 25 home runs and 100 runs batted-in.  His on-base percentage was .320 with a slugging percentage of .468.

However, LaRoche was still lagging behind the numbers of Howard even though Howard started about 17 less games than usual and less games than LaRoche had played. 

When comparing Howard to LaRoche, it is easy to see that Howard will provide more offense to the team.  Howard beats LaRoche in batting average, home runs, RBIs, on base percentage, slugging percentage and stolen bases. Although neither are particularly a threat to run. 

On the defensive side of the field, they were both credited with the same number of double plays.  LaRoche had a few less errors, but you can expect the same from these two players defensively.

Howard and LaRoche produced similar numbers in 2010.  Although Howard did not beat LaRoche’s numbers all that significantly, that wouldn’t have been true if we were talking about a season that Howard played the entirety of. 

Either way, Howard is the most productive first basemen of the NL East, followed by LaRoche.  The other three first basemen follow these two further down the line.

The New York Mets have Ike Davis and the Florida Marlins have Gaby Sanchez for their role in first base.  These two players are coming off of productive 2010 seasons, but they cannot compare to the top, Howard or LaRoche. 

The Atlanta Braves have Freddie Freeman for first base, but it is hard to speculate how he will fair in 2011 since he is only 21-years-old and has only had 24 major league at bats. 

In those at bats, he had four hits including a double and home run, but only an average of .167. Seeing how Freeman will fare in 2011 will be interesting, but as of right now, I will predict that he will not produce numbers that can compare to Howard, which I think is a pretty safe prediction.

Davis batted for an average of .264 with 19 home runs and 71 RBIs.  He had an on-base percentage of .351 and a slugging average of .440.  Sanchez had an average of .273 with 19 home runs and 85 RBIs.  He had an on-base percentage of .341 and a slugging average of .448.

As these numbers show and Howard continues to prove, he is one of the best offensive producers in baseball, and he is, undoubtedly, the best first basemen that will be found in the NL East for at least the 2011 MLB season. 

If Howard stays healthy, which would be safe to presume about this season, he will certainly shine above the rest of the NL East at first base and most other players in baseball like he has in seasons past.  Howard can afford to play less then 15 games than usual, and still reign towards the top of offensive productivity.

Not only is Howard the most productive first basemen, but he is also the top producer of those who remain in the NL East Division. With the rosters currently set the way they are in the NL East, with all players included, Howard was second with the number of home runs and first with RBIs.

In the NL East, Howard is one of only three players with over 100 RBIs, where the rest of the RBI leaders did not cross 85 RBIs last season.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

As the 2011 Major League Baseball season is just over two months away, it’s appropriate to start thinking about the key pieces for every team this season.

While we saw the Giants win the World Series with a pitching-heavy formula, their championship counterparts, the Texas Rangers, road Josh Hamilton’s bat the majority of the way there.

Every team has high expectations coming into the season, and here is a list of players who will have to produce in order for their teams to meet them.

Be prepared for some surprises, as several big-name players have changed teams.

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There are two things that drive the modern day baseball player: winning a championship and signing a lucrative free agent deal. Jayson Werth accomplished the first goal as a member of the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies World Series championship team, and now he has achieved the second goal with a huge free agent deal with the Washington Nationals.

Unfortunately for fantasy owners, Werth is not going to be worth as much now that he has left the friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park and the protection of the Phillies line-up. 

The question is just how far will Werth’s value fall now that he has changed teams. He will no longer have Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hitting in front of him, which will result in him getting walked more. Opposing pitchers will not give him as many pitches to hit now that he and Ryan Zimmerman are the only two legit threats in the line-up. Adam Dunn’s presence would have given Werth more value; instead the team will likely rely on a young and untested player to play first. 

When Werth signed the huge long term deal with the team, many baseball writers and agents were outspoken to the fact that Washington paid too much for the outfielder. While we think Werth is a talented player who has a proven track record, the record was earned under very special circumstances in Philly. 

It is likely that a novice manager will draft Werth simply based on 2010 stats, expecting another 30/30 season with 100 runs scored and an RBI total approaching 100. That manager will most likely be disappointed by the all-star break and will likely either trade Werth at a discount or outright drop him to waivers.  

For the more advanced Roto player, I recommend looking elsewhere when building your outfield in 2011. Werth is a decent talent, however, without the variables he enjoyed in Philly he will not be a top 20 outfielder this season. Wait for the rookie manager to waste his high pick on Werth, and then pick him up off waivers mid-season. He will still have some value down the stretch; it just won’t be close to his value in years past.

This article was originally published on www.kramericasports.com, the home of free fantasy news, rankings, and advice.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Jayson Werth really loves No. 28. He feels such attachment to it, in fact, that when he sat down at the negotiating table with the Washington Nationals, he and his agent demanded that a clause in the contract guarantee him that jersey number. The Nats obliged, much to the dismay of first baseman/outfielder Mike Morse, who wore the number in 2010.

Baseball history is littered with strange clauses like these: When a team wants to get a deal done quickly or is truly desperate to win over a free agent, they frequently throw in strange incentives to make their offer more appealing. Werth loved his uniform number, which might seem odd, but wait until you see what sealed the deal for these other 10 players.

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This past off season in baseball has been one full of player movement, with Jayson Werth kicking off the big dollar December by signing a contract full of zeroes with the Washington Nationals. Many players followed suit soon after.

A lot of players have changed teams, and many teams have changed their fortunes for it, but it is hard to say what this will all amount to on the baseball field as of right now.

One thing we can do, however, is look at each team’s signings and whittle down which were the best and worst signings for each.

So, here I spent hours to find out which signings were the best for each team, and which were the worst.

Without further ado, let us start off with the Arizona Diamondbacks…

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The 2010-11 MLB offseason is nearing its end, and most players of note have now been signed to contracts. There are some free agents lurking around, mainly in the DH department, such as Vladimir Guerrero and Manny Ramirez, but nearly all position players have found a home at this point.

Now that the big names are signed, it is time to look back at the offseason moves. Some were genius plays by teams, others looked ridiculous. This is not the place for that. Instead, I will be looking at the most overrated moves. Which moves were hyped to no end, yet will not make much of a difference for the teams that made them?

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