Well, the dream of Jason Bay returning to Fenway has officially died today. He's accepted an offer from the Mets for 4yr/$66M with a fifth year option. Boston was only short six million dollars that would push the organization into the luxury tax category. Bay was nothing short of stellar in Fenway and should be a phenomenal at CitiField. Bay hit .267 with a record 36 HRs and 119 RBIs. I expect nothing short of this from him in Citi.
OF Matt Holliday could be close to a return with the Cards. It's rumored to be a 7-8 year offer worth $100+M. The talks have heated up in recent days by both sides. Where does this leave the cap for bringing back Albert Pujols? With both back for 2010, I think it's safe to say the NL Central is wrapped up.
The Phillies have announced their "mystery reliever": Danys Baez. Baez (4-6 4.02ERA) didn't have very much luck last season in the O's bullpen, but he did pitch 71.2 innings. The Phillies don't have a strong bullpen right now and this certainly doesn't strengthen it.They signed minor leaguer Tagg Bozied as well. Bozied has had surprising numbers in the minors throughout his career, but has had some major injury setbacks.
The Giants have signed back utilityman Juan Uribe. Uribe hit .289 with 16 HRs and 55 RBIs in 122 games. He won't be getting that much playing time, but should still be able to produce effectively. In playing multiple positions, his fielding percentage wasn't under a .960. The Giants have a great loooking team for 2010 and I think will be the wild-card definitely. They did it without acquiring Dan Uggla, who I'd be stunned if he didn't end up with the Braves.
The D-Backs ended speculation and agreed to terms with 2B Kelly Johnson on a 1yr/$2.3M deal. Johnson (.224, 8HRs, 29RBIs) had a rough 2009 spending time on the DL and losing the starting job to Martin Prado. Arizona should be a chance to redeem himself and get a better deal in 2011(if he doesn't choose arbitration) or 2012. Nick Piecoro of the Arizon Republic thinks this could make Augie Ojeda expendable.
The Cubs said no to Scott Posedenik and Rick Ankiel and yes to Marlon Byrd. MLB.com's Carrie Muskrat finds the deal worth over $15M @ 3 years. Byrd hit .283 with 20 HRs and 89 RBIs last season in Texas. This should play out well in 2010, but expect the next two years for his numbers to drop-off. Looking at his batting records, he consistenly goes down in most categories the longer he's with a team.
Rumors and Notes:
The Mets aren't close to signing C Bengie Molina. Torralba could be the solution with Miguel Olivo's impending Rockies agreement. They havent given up hope on 1B Carlos Delgado either. Joel Piniero could be the next deal the Mets make?
Johnathan Frasor is on the Cubs radar.
2009 was a season full of everything a baseball could hope for(minus another Yankees WS). There were big deals at the deadline (Jake Peavy, Matt Holliday, Cliff Lee etc.), big performances ( Utley's 5 HRs in WS, Burehle's perfect game, Sanchez's no-hitter, etc), milestones ( Ichiro's hits, Ellsbury steals, Randy Johnson's #300, Pudge passed Carlton Fisk in games at catcher postion, Jeter passes Gehrig), and memories of games we attended. 2009 showed us the bad in baseball, too. Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games with performance enhancing drugs (female fertility, really?). If that wasn't enough, a report linked he and David Ortiz (many have wondered where his swing went?) to PED's. There were the lowly Pirates and Indians who fire-saled the entire team (The Reds werent in on this?!?). Josh Hamilton's feel-good story curbed this season. Nick Adenhart was tragically killed in a car accident after his ML debut. Countless old-timers of baseball died this year.
We had pleasant surprises this season ( see Florida Marlins, Angels ALDS, Royals first month of the season, Juan Pierre, Rockies late-season surge to make the play-offs, Texas Rangers). To counteract those, we had some let-downs ( see Tampa Bay Rays, Royals season, Pirates,Indians, and Mets). opefully, 2010 can provide us with another great season and memories like Eric Bruntlett's unassisted triple play! Happy New Year!
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