[jamus23]

2/1/2082 and 2/2/2081

Washington makes the big early splash, signing closer James Smith to a three year, $4.9 million contract. This was followed by the signing of 24 year old SS Santiago Pina, who put up a .735 OPS with 12 homers last season, to a 4 year, $5.2 million deal.

Also on the 2nd, Hartford signed speedy, slap-hitting RF Richard Herb to a 3 year, $3.2 million deal.

2/3/2082

Miami replaced Richard Herb by signing Dennis Fernandez to a 2 year, $3.5 million deal. Fernandez is 33, three years older than Herb, is just as fast, but has more power.

2/4/2082

Knoxville grabbed slugging LF Joshua Kier for a 3 year, $6.4 million deal. Kier is 28, and just posted an .876 OPS, 33 HR, 111 BB season.

2/6/2082 and 2/8/2082

Rochester was the next team to make a splash, though not necessarily a good one, signing 28 year old SS Anthony Champ, who hit 21 HR last season, to a 3 year, $3.9 million deal, and then the 34 year old LF Allen Costner to a 5 (!) year, $3.7 million contract. Costner put up a .754 OPS with 18 HR. The Champ contract is fine, but 5 years to a guy like Costner is absurd. It may not be the worst contract doled out, but I'm getting ahead of myself...

2/9/2081

Sacramento emerged with the prize of the offseason, signing Carl Strothers to a 5 year, $7.1 million deal. This is a fine deal. Strothers is among the most talented pitchers in the game, and is in the prime of his career.

2/10/2081

Denver brought back catcher Michael Grace on a 1 year deal for $700,000. And effort was made to sign Cendejas, but he went to Harrisburg for $990,000 for one year.

This news, however, paled in comparison to two other signings.

Denver's archrival, Tucson, announced the signings of 1B Thomas Stallman (4 years, $7.5 million) and 3B Robin Vega (3 years, $2.3 million). Stallman is 28 years old, and posted an OPS of .841 with 30 HR and 118 BB. Vega is 25 years old, and posted a .791 OPS with 35 HR.

2/12/2082

In what is likely to be another bad contract, Harrisburg signed closer Edward Lovejoy to a 3 year, $6 million deal. That deal wouldn't be so bad if Lovejoy wasn't 35 years old.

2/15/2081

In another deal of utmost importance to Denver, number two rival Memphis announced the signing of 2B Eric Phillips to a 3 year, $5.8 million deal. This is rather disheartening. While Denver has been standing pat this offseason, 2 of the 3 biggest free agent hitters, plus another very good one, have gone to the primary rivals of the Broncos. This should certainly make things interesting this season...

2/17/2081

And finally, what is likely to be the worst contract of the offseason. Harrisburg, having already thrown a ton of money at a 35 year old closer, decided to try and top that. Harrisburg signed pitcher Josue Gorman to a 4 year, $7.7 million deal. Gorman was once the best strikeout pitcher in the league, but he always flirted with shaky control, and served up lots of homeruns. He's going to be 36 in May, and age has taken its toll. He is still a decent K pitcher, with 182 last season, but his control is largely shot- he walked 107 batters- and he just isn't that effective anymore, posting an ERA of 5.09, while allowing an NL-leading 64 HR. Worse, the team he pitched for last season, Sacramento, has a stadium that is slightly favorable to pitchers, especially in terms of homeruns. Harrisburg's stadium is the opposite, favoring hitters slightly.

This is not a good contract, no matter how you look at it.


3/2/2082

Denver signed three players to minor league contracts. Infielder Patrick Chason, who played for Denver last season, and a pair of relief pitcher, right-hander George Treadway, and left-hander Bobby Villanueva. The pitchers are 33 and 32, respectively.