As of now, the bulk of the MLB offseason activity is complete. The majority of the major free agents have signed. And if a blockbuster trade was going to take place, chances are it would have happened by now.
Five weeks remain between now and some of the most optimistic words in baseball:
“Pitchers and catchers report.”
Before then, there are some things that still need to sort themselves out. While most of the MLB offseason is over, these storylines still need some sort of resolution.
The 2012-13 MLB offseason has had its share of surprises.
One of the biggest surprises this offseason was the Los Angeles Angels signing of Josh Hamilton to a five-year, $125 million contract.
Surprising because, it seemed the Angels were relegated to bystander status after spending a combined $317 million on the Albert Pujois and C.J. Wilson contracts during the 2011 offseason.
Surprising because, the Texas Rangers allowed Hamilton to leave the club and join an AL West rival.
That wasn’t the only surprising move this offseason.
Who could have expected that teams such as the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Kansas City Royals would become key players in the postseason transaction market?
What about the New York Yankees? Where have they been this offseason?
Who would you add to or take off this list?
Here are the 10 biggest surprises of the MLB offseason.
Let the debate begin!
The Philadelphia Phillies have an outfield full of talented yet inexperienced players, and many fans want to see the club sign or trade for a proven veteran in order to balance the roster.
But would this be a smart move?
First, let’s look at the talent still available in the market. According to MLBtraderumors, there are still a decent number of outfielders unsigned, but only a few could offer value to the Phillies.
Scott Hairston, Austin Kearns, Delmon Young and Kosuke Fukudome are left in the free-agent pool and might offer the team some limited help. But with this group of available talent, the Phillies should slowly tiptoe away from any deals.
Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reported Ruben Amaro Jr. is looking for a potential outfielder to sign in order to stir competition among players, much like restaurant owners who overstaff servers. The better server earns more shifts.
Now this is not a bad theory, but it is an unnecessary one. Philadelphia has a nice foundation of young players in the outfield, who may be successful for many seasons.
The Phils should also stay away from trades before the season begins. Yes, there are big names mentioned like Justin Upton, but the club would have to give up a lot of talent for a player of his caliber—talent the team cannot afford to lose.
The club could potentially look at another reliever, but overall, the roster should be set for spring training. It’s time to let the kids run out and enjoy a major league season at full speed. With the youth in the outfield and aging veterans manning the infield, the Phillies have a nice balance in the lineup.
Darin Ruf, Domonic Brown and newcomer Ben Revere all have potential to be big players in the league, but need to take their games to the next level and own their positions.
Now, if at midseason the Phillies are terrible, mediocre or pushing for the playoffs, that would be the time for a trade. Under those circumstances, at least the youngsters would be given a chance to prove their abilities—and the club would be able to properly evaluate their talents.
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According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, left-handed pitcher Dontrelle Willis has signed a minor league deal with the Chicago Cubs—the team who originally drafted him in the eighth round in 2000.
The 2003 National League Rookie of the Year had originally retired from baseball in July.
Willis, who turns 31 next week, last pitched professionally for the Baltimore Orioles‘ Triple-A affiliate in 2012. He gave up eight runs in only 6.1 innings pitched and subsequently retired.
Ever since leaving the Florida Marlins—who he last pitched for in 2007—Willis has suffered from constant injuries and has struggled to regain form.
The two-time All-Star, however, was lightning earlier in his career.
Willis led the league with 22 wins, seven complete games and five shutouts in 2005 while finishing second in Cy Young Award voting. He also led the league with 35 games started in 2007—though he also was the leader in earned runs as well.
Though Willis’ current mindset seems to be focused on returning to baseball, he’s also no stranger to erratic behavior—as well as erratic pitching.
After his horrific outing with the the Orioles’ minor league affiliate last year, Willis was placed on the restricted list for two months and later filed a grievance against the ball club after it demoted him to the bullpen.
He also hasn’t had anything lower than a 4.98 ERA since 2008 and has averaged 8.2 walks per nine innings in that span.
Has his short time away from the game given him enough time to clear his head and focus on pitching?
Whether or not it has, this decision comes with little risk to the Cubs and could pay dividends if Willis can show a glimmer of his prior self.
What do you think? Will he be able to come back from five years of obscurity?
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According to ESPN’s Buster Olney and the Los Angeles Times‘ Dylan Hernandez, the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to sign left-handed free-agent pitcher J.P. Howell to a reported one-year deal.
Howell, who turns 30 in April, had 3.04 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 50.1 innings pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays last season.
Howell missed the entire 2010 season and part of 2011 due to shoulder surgery, but had two solid seasons with the Rays in 2008 (2.22 ERA with 92 strikeouts in 89.1 innings pitched) and 2009 (2.84 ERA with 79 strikeouts in 66.2 innings pitched).
The former 2004 first-round pick (31st overall) is also a native Californian and a former USC Trojan.
He will join a Dodgers team that has not been afraid to spend this offseason and looks to be taking the place of the departed Randy Choate, who signed a three-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals this offseason.
Will Howell come back to his prior form with a Dodgers team that looks to be the favorite in the National League West?
Time will tell.
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Two years ago, the New York Yankees made a bold move at the trade deadline.
They acquired long-time slugger Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros for unknown prospects and at the time, it seemed like a steal of a trade.
In the 37 games that he played for with the Bombers, Berkman was hardly the slugging hitter that was advertised, as he hit .255 with one home run and nine RBI.
However, according to Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, the Yankees are interested in the free agent again.
The #Yankees are interested in Lance Berkman, but it’s not clear whether he’d consider a return to NY given the Texas teams’ involvement.
— Ken Davidoff (@KenDavidoff) January 4, 2013
Berkman did hit well for the Yankees in the 2010 playoffs, as he hit .312 that October for the Bombers.
After he left the Yankees to become a free agent, Berkman went back to the All-Star slugger that we all knew as a member of the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals in 2011, hitting 31 home runs with 94 RBI and finishing seventh in the N.L. MVP voting.
Berkman was limited to just 32 games in 2012 due to knee injuries that required surgery.
Some people thought that Berkman might in fact retire at the end of the season, but he is drawing a lot of interest from different teams.
Aside from the Yankees, Berkman has interest from the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles and his old team, the Houston Astros, who are now part of the American League for the first time.
The Astros would make sense given that Berkman spent 12 years of his career there, and even though they have signed Carlos Pena, the team remains interested in him.
Astros GM Jeff Luhnow confirms for FOX 26 Sports that he has been in contact with Lance Berkman yesterday & today & talks are continuing.
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) January 4, 2013
Mark Berman of FOX 26 in Houston has confirmed that the Rangers do in fact have an offer on the table for Berkman to be their DH in 2013 and would love to have him in their lineup.
Rangers Pres. Nolan Ryan confirms he has an offer on the table 2 Lance Berkman. “We r looking 4 a DH. We feel like he would fill that bill”
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) January 4, 2013
With the Yankees losing out on Raul Ibanez to the Seattle Mariners, they too need a DH for 2013, which is why their interest in the 36-year-old makes sense.
When healthy, Berkman is a switch-hitter who can not only DH, but play first base and the outfield, although given his knee issues from 2012, DH duties would be best suited for him.
Personally, I think it’ll be tough for the Yankees to lure Berkman back to the Bronx given that two teams from Texas are heavily interested in him.
The one thing the Yankees do have in their corner is one of Berkman’s good friends and former Astros teammates, Andy Pettitte.
Berkman and Pettitte played together from 2004-2006 in Houston and then again with the Yankees in 2010 and Pettitte could influence Berkman to come back for one more try with the team.
It’s a long shot, and given how the first try with the team went, it’s an incredible long shot.
But you never know with the Yankees, and if they feel a desperate need for a bat like Berkman, they might be willing to spend a little more on a one-year deal.
Stay tuned, Yankees Universe.
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Since the conclusion of Game 4 of the 2012 World Series, it’s been non-stop action in the front offices of MLB franchises.
Teams have been working diligently to improve their clubs for 2013 and beyond through free agency and trades. Thus far, an MVP award winner—Josh Hamilton—and two Cy Young Award winners—R.A. Dickey and Zack Greinke—have switched homes.
Many of the top free agents on the market have been signed, but there are still plenty of impact players remaining—and the mystery team is always in the mix to land a star.
Let’s take a look at the notable additions and subtractions of each team and grade them on how well or poor their offseason has gone so far.
The 2013 offseason has been relatively busy for the Chicago Cubs.
Despite the fact that the Cubs are still in a rebuilding phase, they went out and signed starting pitchers Scott Baker (h/t ESPN Chicago) and Edwin Jackson (h/t ESPN Chicago).
Scott Baker will be looking to bounce back in Chicago after missing some of 2011 and all of 2012 with an injury.
Edwin Jackson was brought in to help round out Chicago’s rotation and eat up some innings for the next four years.
Now, general manager Jed Hoyer would be smart to go out and sign Shaun Marcum.
But why?
They’ve already signed two starting pitchers this offseason and Marcum probably won’t help carry them to the postseason this year.
He would, however, provide another stable arm to help improve Chicago’s starting rotation.
Marcum has posted an ERA of 3.70 or lower in each of his past four seasons (spanning from 2008-2012, as Marcum did not play in 2009).
His WHIP has been below 1.20 in three of those four years, and his record comes in at 42-26 over that span.
The 31-year-old would also add another veteran presence to the Chicago Cubs, and could remain an effective pitcher for the next several years—especially if the Cubs are able to compete by 2015 or 2016.
With his statistics, Marcum would also jump Edwin Jackson (whose ERA and WHIP have both been higher than Marcum‘s) for the second spot on the Cubs’ depth chart.
If Chicago thinks it’s wise to bolster their rotation this offseason, signing Shaun Marcum would be just as good of a move as the signings of Baker or Jackson as it seemingly shows no downside whatsoever.
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Somehow this winter Mike Napoli, a man who has played 511 of his 727 career games as a catcher, is being revered as a free-agent first baseman.
Either that is a shining example of how versatile of a player Napoli is, or an indictment on how poor the free-agent market is in terms of first basemen this winter.
If you chose the latter, you’re correct.
The Boston Red Sox have already deemed Napoli worthy of a three-year and $39 million contract. Well, sort of.
I should say that they’ve deemed a healthy Mike Napoli worthy of such a contract.
In recent weeks, questions have arisen surrounding the health of his hip, specifically, the pen has yet to meet paper in four weeks because the Red Sox want language in the contract to protect them should Napoli become sidelined due to a preexisting hip injury.
While those contract negotiations have been running at a snail’s pace, the Red Sox have been kicking the tires on other first base options, specifically Adam LaRoche, as described by ESPN Boston.
Don’t worry Red Sox Nation, Napoli is still a priority, though.
Who then would represent a better option for a team like the Red Sox?
Let’s take a closer look.
Heads or tails? Heads, Adam LaRoche goes to the Boston Red Sox. Tails, he goes to the Washington Nationals. You choose—at least that’s what it seems to have come down to this offseason.
Adam LaRoche just came off an awesome season with the NL East Champion Washington Nationals.
In his ninth year in the big leagues, the first baseman hit .271 with 33 home runs, 100 RBI, 76 runs scored and recorded 155 hits in 571 at-bats. He also won a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger Award and finished sixth in National League MVP voting.
The question is: Where will he go next season?
The Nationals have shown interest in bringing LaRoche back, but according to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson, the two parties are still nowhere close to an agreement. LaRoche is looking for a three-year deal, and the Nationals aren’t willing to offer more than two.
The Red Sox, who have shown interest in LaRoche ever since Mike Napoli showed signs of a potential hip issue, are another possible destination. However, according to Peter Gammons, the Red Sox don’t want to surrender a draft pick or—like the Nationals—commit to a three-year deal.
One thing is for certain though: Both teams need to make a decision soon.
The Nationals could go with either Michael Morse or Tyler Moore at first, but Manager Davey Johnson made it known during the Winter Meetings that he would like to have LaRoche return to the lineup in 2013.
The Red Sox, who are in desperate need of a run-producing first baseman ever since trading Adrian Gonzalez to the Los Angeles Dodgers last season, have to either work out an injury-contingent contract with Napoli (similar to J.D. Drew and John Lackey’s deals) or pull the trigger on LaRoche.
My guess is the Red Sox will sign LaRoche to a three-year deal—with Napoli heading to either the New York Mets or Yankees. Is that a little too presumptuous?
Either way, LaRoche will sign with someone in the very near future.
What do you think—where will LaRoche end up next year?
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