With the Baseball Winter Meetings quickly approaching we have seen a flurry of offseason transactions around the majors. Friday was particularly busy as two big free agents left the Yankees, the Astros made a signing, J.P. Arencibia found a new home and more.
First off the big news is obviously Robinson Cano’s 10-year $240 million deal with the Mariners. How big? We dedicated an entire article to it, not just a keep recap like here. Click here to read it.
Cano wasn’t the only Yankee free agent with a new home, as Curtis Granderson inked a four-year $60 million deal with the New York Mets. Granderson, now 36 years old, suffered through an injury plagued 2013 season that limited him to just 61 games. He hit .221/.317/.407 in that time with seven home runs. In 2012 Granderson was healthy but he wasn’t much better. There are some serious questions on signing a player for this term and money who appears to be in serious decline. In his career though hes a .261/.340/.488 hitter.
One Yankee decided to stay with the club, as Hiroki Kuroda signed a one-year deal worth $16 million plus bonuses. The 39-year-0ld starter was 11-13 last year, but his record doesn’t really represent how well he pitched. He was a victim of some low run support in New York as he had a 3.31 ERA and 1.16 WHIP over 201 1/3 innings last year.
The Houston Astros signed starter Scott Feldman to a three-year $30 million contract. Feldman, 30, had a 12-12 record and a 3.98 ERA and 1.18 WHIP with the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs last season.
The Texas Rangers have signed Blue Jays castoff J.P. Arencibia to a one-year deal worth $1.8 million. Arencibia is expected to back-up Giovani Soto. He certainly has power with 62 home runs over the last three years, but hit just .194/.227/.365 last season.
The Orioles signed Ryan Webb to a one-year $4.5 million deal. It is noteworthy that the Marlins let Webb become a free agent as they did not want to pay him the $1.5 million he would have likely received in arbitration. Webb, 27, had a 2-6 record, a 2.91 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 54/27 K/BB ratio in 80 1/3 innings over 66 appearances for the Marlins last year.
The Washington Nationals have signed outfielder Nate McLouth to a 2-year deal worth $10.75 million. The 32-year-old hit .258/.329/.399 with 12 home runs, 36 RBIs, 70 runs scored, and 30 steals in 146 games for the Orioles. With Denard Span, Jayson Werth, and Bryce Harper as the Nationals starting outfield, the question becomes where does McLouth fit in? Thats an awful lot of money for a typical fourth outfielder, so one must wonder if another move is coming or how the Nationals plan to get him into the lineup.
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