Destiny of MLB affected in off-season moves
Kevin Bonneville
Despite getting off to bit of a slow start, the MLB off-season has picked up steam with little over a month to the start of Spring Training.The team that has made the biggest noise during the off-season so far has been the Yankees with their near half a billion dollar spending spree on CC Sabathia, Mark Teixiera and A.J. Burnett.
Sabathia is only one-year removed from his Cy Young award season and is coming off the best season of his career with Cleveland and Milwaukee.
The 28-year-old Sabathia and Burnett give the Yanks two power arms that they haven’t had in years.
Teixiera, who was expected to resign with the Angels, will provide New York with another potent bat and help a team that struggled scoring runs at times last year.
The two other contenders in the American League East, the Red Sox and the defending AL Champion Rays, have also made some splashes since the end of the season.
The Sox have signed John Smoltz, Rocco Baldelli, Brad Penny and Takashi Saito. All four, however, come with major injury concerns as evident by the contracts that were structured by Boston.
Tampa Bay signed Pat Burrell to a two-year, $16 million deal. Burrell will provide the Rays another bat into what is turning into one of the best lineups in all of baseball.
The team also signed Joe Nelson, which will help the back end of a bullpen that struggled in the playoffs.
Down by the bay, the Athletics have quietly have made two of the biggest moves of the off-season.
They traded for Matt Holliday, who has been one of the most feared hitters in the National League over the past couple of years with the Rockies, and Jason Giambi, who returns to Oakland after spending the last seven seasons with the Yankees.
Brian Fuentes was signed by the Angels as their new closer, which was the biggest of the remaining moves in the American League.
In the National League, the biggest move so far was made by the Mets when they signed closer Francisco Rodriguez.
Some scouts are concerned with the number of innings that K-Rod has thrown in recent years and his decreasing velocity.
As a backup plan, in case Rodriguez struggles, the Mets traded for JJ Putz and two other players from the Seattle Mariners.
The Braves and the defending World Champion Phillies have also been busy this off-season.
Atlanta traded for Javier Vazquez and just recently signed Derek Lowe to help out a struggling rotation. The fighting Phillies signed Raul Ibanez to replace Burrell in left field and also signed Chan Ho Park to add an arm to a great bullpen.
The lovable Chicago Cubs lost their closer Kerry Wood to the Cleveland Indians, but gained two relievers in Kevin Gregg and Luis Vizcaino in two separate trades. Chicago also signed the talented, but troubled Milton Bradley, who will play right field. The team remains in talks to try and acquire Padres ace Jake Peavy.
Out West, the Giants have had the busiest off-season. They signed ex-D’Back Randy Johnson, who will be the number three starter in an ever improving rotation, and Edgar Renteria, who will replace Omar Vizquel at shortstop.
The D’Backs, due to financial restraints, have been quiet since the end of the year. The team signed Felipe Lopez to replace Orlando Hudson at second base and traded for Scott Schoeneweis to be the lefty specialist out of the bullpen.
Rumors have also swirled that the team might be interested in signing Ben Sheets at a discounted price, but it remains to be seen if the team will be a serious potential buyer in getting the former Brewer ace.
