Angels Baseball Opening Day

Angels Baseball Opening Day

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Big Moves Continue at Winter Meetings

The 2006 winter meetings of baseball executives and agents continue to yield new homes for big name players. A slew of deals have gone down over the past couple days, including a couple blockbusters.

The Boston Red Sox have signed outfielder JD Drew to a five year, $70 million deal. If the Sox think they’re getting Johnny Damon back or anything remotely close, they just threw lots of money away. Drew will continue to be a very solid player, but he’ll remain a hair below the “superstar” status Damon achieved while playing for the Red Sox. While I’ve never seen or heard of Drew “dogging it” in the field, he simply doesn’t exume the passion of a maximum effort player. And if the Red Sox are expecting money to change Drew’s approach, the Sox have made a serious mistake. I believe that Drew will continue to be a solid player, but he won’t quite be worth this huge contract.

The Red Sox remained busy, signing Julio Lugo to a four year, $36 million contract. The Red Sox really switched gears on this deal, first saying they wouldn’t pay Lugo $8 million a year to play shortstop. But apparently Lugo was worth that and more to someone high on the Red Sox food chain. Lugo could very well provide the Sox the leadoff hitter they struggled to find after Damon left last year. However, $9 million a year is an awful lot, especially since Boston just came off the Edgar Renteria debacle. However, since Lugo played quite well in his stint with the Devil Rays, he should be fine in the AL East. Still it would’ve merely been an OK signing at $8 million a year, so it’s only a fair signing at $9 million a year. $9 million a year is creeping towards Miguel Tejada money, but we all know what Tejada is capable of…and Lugo is no Miguel Tejada. There’s no way even a great defensive shortstop with limited power potential can possibly be worth that kind of contract.

The Padres stole one from the Dodgers, or so they thought. The Pads acquired the services of veteran pitcher Greg Maddux for one year at $10 million. He has a player option for next season worth $6 million to $10 million, depending on how many innings he pitches. From the standpoint of getting Maddux, it’s a good deal for the Padres. He should be able to pitch above average ball in their pitcher friendly park, and he’s a relatively low injury risk even at this late stage of his career.

Unfortunately the primary reason the Padres signed Maddux was to keep the Dodgers from retaining him, and that move has backfired. Not retaining Maddux freed up the money for the Dodgers to sign top flight starter Jason Schmidt to a 3 year, $47 million deal. This is actually a good deal for Los Angeles, as many agents feared that the 34 year old Schmidt would be looking at a four or five year deal. Schmidt is a proven horse in the rotation, and the Dodgers have a much better relief staff than the Giants have had in recent years, so there’ll be less of a tendency to stretch Schmidt beyond 6 or 7 innings.

Speaking of the Dodgers bullpen, the Dodgers came away with maybe the biggest bargain of the off season by resigning closer Takashi Saito to a one year deal worth $1 million. Saito was 24 for 27 in save opportunities with outstanding stats in 2006, and will most likely be the Dodgers’ closer on Opening Day. Saito’s 37, so age may be of some concern, but he showed no ill effects to the longer schedule during his first full season in the majors. Saito and setup man Johnathan Broxton will likely anchor a solid Dodger bullpen in 2007.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Indians bolstered their bullpen by signing veteran reliever Joe Borowski to a one year deal worth $4.25 million with a $4 million team option for 2008. Borowski pitched well as the Florida Marlins closer last season, and will most likely be the Indians Opening Day closer. While he won’t be among the elite closers, Borowski will get the job done. As long as his elbow isn’t in the media anymore, this will be a good signing for the Indians.

Finally, the New York Mets have strengthened their pen via trade. The Mets have traded starter Brian Bannister to the Kansas City Royals for reliever Ambiroix Burgos. Burgos has been an excellent setup man and a mediocre closer over the past couple seasons for the Royals. Bannister made six starts for the Mets before a leg injury ended his season. I think the Mets came out far better in this trade than the Royals did. The Mets will primarily use Burgos to setup Billy Wagner and to close on days that Wagner’s unavailable. And as long as Burgos isn’t the primary closer, I believe he will be very good. However, while Bannister posted respectable stats in his stint with the Mets (2-1, 4.26 ERA in eight total appearances), he had significant control problems, even in the minor leagues. The Royals coaching staff hasn’t shown much of a knack for turning around pitchers with bad habits, so I don’t see this working out very well for them.

That’s all for now, but deals are flying fast and furious as the winter meetings draw to a close. As the meetings wind down, we’ll cover all the last minute deals, trades, and negotiations at To the Point and Back!

About the Author

Author Robert Griggs is an avid follower of baseball. He is a die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fan so you can be sure to see many articles like this one in the future. Mr. Griggs currently writes for the commentary website: http://www.tothepointandback.com. If you would like to check out more of his works, feel free to do so.
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Naomi Judd was born on January 11th of what year?

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Country – 1946
Fun – Fendi
Really Tough – Lamaze
Sports – Niclas Fasth of Sweden
Sports Trivia – Red Sox
Super Tough – Rodney Ontario
Survey Says – DMV
Trivia Bytes – 12
Name something people put in water. – ICE

Anaheim Angels Baseball Brian Fuentes closes the game on opening day vs the Oakland A’s.

It is very easy to get into the habit of pulling off the ball. This is especially true for power hitters. Have you ever seen a power hitter hit a home run and thereafter, he can’t couch the ball? What happened? The home run took him out of himself. So as he pivots, he is also pivoting his head. Read the rest of it here: Click Here