Baseball Winter Meetings: Winners and Losers
Stan McNeal - SportingNews.com
Dec 10, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS -- Determining winners and losers after the winter meetings is like handing out midterm grades. Plenty of time remains to turn things around.
But enough happened at the meetings to determine who is heading in winning -- and losing -- directions.
Winners
Yankees. Center fielder Curtis Granderson makes the World Series champions younger, more athletic and better in the field. Bringing back lefthander Andy Pettitte for another year is a good thing, too. Worth noting: Detroit traded Granderson in large part because his contract is too big. On the Yankees, Granderson's $5.5 million salary will be $1.25 million less than their 10th highest-paid player (outfielder Nick Swisher).
Tigers. General manager Dave Dombrowski said he wanted four major league-ready players in return for Granderson and righthander Edwin Jackson. "Otherwise, there is no deal," he said. He got four potentially very good major leaguers: a hard-throwing starter in Max Scherzer, a hard-throwing reliever in lefthander Daniel Schlereth, a lefthanded reliever who could start in Phil Coke and -- here's the clincher -- the Yankees' top prospect in Austin Jackson. If Jackson is ready to play every day in center field, as the Tigers are counting on, Detroit should remain in contention in the AL Central while gaining the financial flexibility that comes with adding four players still years from the free-agent market.
Free agent closers. When news broke that Brandon Lyon signed with Houston for three years and $15 million, you can be sure that celebrations ensued in the camps of Jose Valverde, Fernando Rodney, Mike Gonzalez, J.J. Putz and any other free agent reliever who has pitched in the ninth inning. The way the relievers' market is unfolding, the Rays were wise to work out a deal with the Braves for Rafael Soriano on Wednesday night. Before Soriano's decision to accept arbitration was official, teams already were knocking on Atlanta's door.
Brewers. Whether they overpaid for lefthhander Randy Wolf with a three-year, $29.75 million deal is debatable. Whether they improved the majors' worst rotation is not. Wolf, 33, is coming off arguably his best season and should have no problem making Milwaukee forget Braden Looper, whose 2010 team option was declined. (Note to anyone who values wins over ERA: Wolf was 11-7 with a 3.23 ERA in 2009; Looper was 14-7 with a 5.22 ERA). Adding setup reliever LaTroy Hawkins will prove just as important if he comes close to his '09 numbers (2.13 ERA in 65 outings).
Orioles. It is a stretch to call a team a winner when it still needs a first baseman, third baseman and closer, but Baltimore at least made a stride in the right direction by trading for righthander Kevin Millwood (and getting the Rangers to chip in $3 million to help pay his salary). Millwood is what the Orioles need to lead their rotation: an innings-eating veteran with plenty of experience pitching in a hitter-friendly park. Remember this: Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail rarely misses on trades.
Losers
Angels. Even if they are able to re-sign righthander John Lackey, the Angels won't be improved. They only will soften the sting of losing the player they really needed to keep -- leadoff hitter Chone Figgins. The fact that Figgins signed with Seattle adds to the pain. By the time the Mariners are done spending, they could be the new favorites in the AL West. "They're positioned very well to be a very, very strong contender in our division, and we're going to have to play well," Angels manager Mike Scioscia admitted.
Johnny Damon. The Granderson acquisition puts the Yankees in a position to make Damon a take-it-or-leave-it offer. They might like him, but they no longer need him.
Astros. They are replacing Valverde and Hawkins with Lyon and the inconsistent Matt Lindstrom. That isn't what you consider an upgrade.
Padres. This is how the other half lives: If the Padres don't come to terms with top starter Kevin Correia in the next day or so, they will try to trade him. If they can't move him, they are likely to dump him before Saturday's non-tender deadline. Why? His salary could rise all the way to thereabouts of $3 million in arbitration.
Stan McNeal is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at smcneal@sportingnews.com.
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