2012 MLB Winter Meetings and Offseason

[koodledrum]

Great, just what the AL East needs, another frickin knuckleballer right after we get rid of the last guy! (suppose it'll be fun to watch Boston suffer this time round though!)

[Masqerader]

Jays land Dickey and sign him to a 2/25mill deal, pending physical

[VanillaO]

Not sure how I feel about the Dickey trade...

[kidsafe]

Not sure how I feel about the Dickey trade...

You should feel awful about it if you're a Mets fan, possibly okay if you're a Mets front office guy looking toward rebuilding, and ecstatic if you're a Blue Jay anything. Dickey is a great deal at $25/2yr for 2014-2015.

[Irony]

You should feel awful about it if you're a Mets fan, possibly okay if you're a Mets front office guy looking toward rebuilding, and ecstatic if you're a Blue Jay anything. Dickey is a great deal at $25/2yr for 2014-2015.

Mets get two rather good prospects, one of which will probably start for them. Plus a pitcher with some upside.

[VanillaO]

My concern is more with giving up one of the best catching prospects in baseball in the last 10 years for a pitcher who may not pan out in the AL. A year ago, everything was pointing to Arencibia being the starter until d'Arnaud was ready to take over. A month ago, they were contemplating dangling Arencibia to the Rangers and starting d'Arnaud this year... Arencibia at the plate is meh for a catcher, probably a little below average compared to the rest of starters... Behind the plate, he's not so good.

[draynay]

I think at this point I am happier to have a team spending big on guys like Greinke than I would be if my team had spent $75 million on Victorino, Dempster, and Stephen Drew

[koodledrum]

I don't doubt that both the Jays & Red Sox know what they're doing to be honest, although what I do doubt is that the Jays will suddenly become contenders overnight, I think a lot of "noise" is made by the fact the Yankees appear to be regressing and some people say the Rays have too, but not so badly as to be overly worried about Jose Reyes! Dickey is a whole different ball game because he's a knuckleball pitcher, he was awesome last year but that's never a guarantee of success.

The Dodgers, well to be honest if I phoned up saying I was on the market for 4 years $100m I'm pretty sure they'd jump at me this year... Dangerous thing lurching from bankruptcy to having a shedload of cash, I wonder if they maybe have a little rush of blood to the head in this case because they've been spending like it's going out of fashion and their payroll is gonna be stellar for atleast another 3+ years!

[Rennadrel]

The Jays are favoured to win the World Series next year with 8-1 odds. The Angels and Dodgers are second at 17-2 odds. I think the AL East got more interesting but nothing is guaranteed. Also, Arencibia is not that bad at the plate and the Jays got another catcher who will probably start games that Dickey is pitching in, since he has worked with him for some time now. Plus Arencibia can hit pretty well and if he can get up to a .250 hitting average, he will be worth having on the team. I think he still has time to improve behind the plate as well.

[Skarsguard]

I hope the Angels spend enough to catch up to my A's this year.... I mean there overly expensive payroll didn't even get them a playoff spot and landed them 3rd in the west.

[Amsden]

I hope the Angels spend enough to catch up to my A's this year.... I mean there overly expensive payroll didn't even get them a playoff spot and landed them 3rd in the west.

Well they seem to love signing Rangers as they become FAs. So in 5ish years they will be the 2010 Texas Rangers...XD

[kidsafe]

I hope the Angels spend enough to catch up to my A's this year.... I mean there overly expensive payroll didn't even get them a playoff spot and landed them 3rd in the west.

Better record than the Tigers though, who got swept out of the World Series. Divisional play and the current postseason system have to end, especially with the additional wild cards...

[draynay]

Angels made an interesting trade, sending Morales to the Mariners for Jason Vargas

Vargas is a solid lefty and this pretty much torpedoes any trades that would've involved Trumbo and makes room for Bourjos to play, plus the Mariners will lose a lot so hopefully no celebratory injuries for Morales

[Skarsguard]

Mariners wasn't bad last year they just happened to be in the best division in baseball. I think if they played in the NL last year there record would have been a bit better.

[Amsden]

Rangers sign A.J. Pierzynski. Well at least filled one position of need, after this off season I'll take it.

[koodledrum]

Ibanez apparently back to Seattle on a 1 year deal.

[mrbadxampl]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...0977--mlb.html

Indians apparently have reached a deal with Swisher, 4 years/$56mil, option for a fifth year worth $14mil depending on plate appearances and a physical...

Travis Hafner is making me feel very twitchy about this deal...

[koodledrum]

Swisher is nothing if not durable, usually good for about 150 games over the course of a season, he's also a good personality around the clubhouse, but it doesn't excuse the fact he's weak in the postseason & his defence is average at best, he was a liability in RF at Yankee Stadium where if your average little league RF can throw it in from the warning track! $14m a year is shafting the Indians big time, sure he'll hit home runs, sure he'll be a goof & lighten the clubhouse, but that's about it.

[draynay]

the market is pretty nuts, with Victorino getting $13mil a year, still, Swisher is getting almost as much as Upton, but he is an Ohio guy, so that might help him as a draw/new face of the team, since they're getting a makeover, at least they can have one piece that fans can hopefully be happy with and durability is probably the biggest issue the way the middle of their lineup unfolded the past 5 years

[conscript]

The Braves are bringing back their Screaming Savage logo apparently. Can't wait to see how long it takes before the organization apologizes and pulls all merchandise featuring the racist logo.

And apparently the Tampa Bay Rays have not only now dropped the Devil, they've dropped the fish too and Rays must now mean light rays.