The one where I get to brag a bit about my baseball knowledge...

Before I get to some of the recent (or possibly upcoming) trades, extensions and acquisitions from the past week, I need to talk about the MLB Network show Baseball IQ for a minute. Now I fully acknowledge that when it comes to players from more than, say, twenty years ago, I don't know much. Obviously I should change that and I fully plan to. However, when it comes to players (especially pitchers it seems) from the last ten to fifteen years, I know a lot for someone who turns 30 this year. 

The show Baseball IQ has a decent age demographic range when it comes to their contestants - generally between 30 and 50. The average seems to be about 40. I've noticed after watching just a few episodes though, that most of these contestants are not as knowledgeable about players from the past decade. This completely baffles me. For instance, a recent episode asked both contestants to name the ten relief pitchers with the most saves from 2011; not really a tough category, one would think. Not so for these two guys! Without looking it up, I was immediately able to name Heath Bell, JJ Putz, Brian Wilson, Craig Kimbrel, John Axford and Jonathan Papelbon. One of the contestant's guesses was Houston Street. I wish I were joking. And the other guy could only name three. If this were league specific (AL or NL) I would understand the challenge, but this category was wide open. 

Another example was to name a Marlins pitcher with at least one postseason win. One guy's guess was Dontrelle Willis, which while incorrect, was at least a good guess. No one said Josh Beckett. And there I was, yelling, "JOSH BECKETT!! HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT?!" The final example of some contestants' ineptness was when they were asked to name the pitchers with the most wins in the National League since 1961. No one said Curt Schilling. Does no one remember that he spent some time in the NL? Could I name the pitchers on that list from the 70's and 80's? Not so many and not very easily. But remembering Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, yet missing Schilling is ridiculous. So either I'm way too into baseball for my own good, or they need to pick better contestants for this show. Another option is to not include the 2000's in any category. But then nothing would be left for me. Let's hope this show ups its game on its contestants, so to speak. Ok. Rant over. Moving on...

Poor AJ Burnett. It's never been easy for him, especially not in the last two seasons. Although, as a Giants fan, it's nice to konw that fans for another team can experience a Barry Zito-like situation too (ace pitcher gets signed for millions, then tanks). Due to the Pirates starting rotation woes, the Yankees have been in talks with Pittsburgh to trade AJ Burnett. Not to be mean, but Pittsburgh's pitching issues must be really grave to want AJ Burnett. I suppose if Kevin Corriea (former Giant and major cutie) doesn't get healthy again, they are just forced to grasp at straws. If Burnett were even a bit younger I'd say this wasn't ERA suicide for Pittsburgh, but he's not exactly 28 anymore. 


From New York's standpoint, this move makes perfect sense - they finally have locked in a pretty solid starting rotation and don't need the extra baggage. And regardless of how Michael Pineda works out, New York has one or two back-up starters. That's a pretty enviable position to be in for any team, especially one that has a long-standing explosive offense. The other side of that coin, of course, is that New York's explosive offense is getting older, much like Philadelphia's offense is. 

Probably the biggest news from the last week in acquisitions is the A's signing Cuban Yoenis Cespedes to a 4 year/$36 million deal. There seems to be a theme this offseason, in terms of unlikely teams signing big name (or possibly big name) players. The Angels signed Pujols; the Marlins signed Reyes; the Tigers signed Fielder. Now the A's are joining that list by signing Cespedes. Of all the teams in need of a potential big hitter, it's the A's. No question.  They dumped their best pitchers early on this offseason, no longer having Gio Gonzlez, Trevor Cahill or Andrew Bailey. I still didn't see a reason why the A's wanted to so quickly part with such talented pitchers. Perhaps we will never know. But I'm glad for the A's that they finally made an upgrade offense-wise. 

Of course, who knows how Cespedes will do in America, just as the Rangers have no idea how Yu Darvish will do, but expectations are high for this outfielder. I can think of fewer teams at this point who need this kind of acquisition, though that doesn't necessarily mean I will be watching the A's any more closely than I have in the past few years. As mentioned before, you get rid of a young, cute group of pitchers and you've lost me. On the other hand, one could deduce that because the A's have had a string of young, cute pitchers (starting with Barry Zito back in the early 2000's) in recent years, there could be yet another group of them in the not-too-distant future. This fan can only hope.

I was happy when I found out that the Indians signed Asdrubal Cabrera (or "strudel" as I affectionately call him) to a one-year deal for $4.55 million. It would have been a big mistake to sign him for much less. I consider him to be one of the best shortstops in the game, and his younger age makes his potential even greater for being excellent long-term. I think he gets a lot less credit than flashier shortstops like, say, Elvis Andrus. It also doesn't help that he's with the Indians, and something tells me he won't be there for the long haul. But right now, he's the kind of player that provides a bright spot on a less-than-stellar team. That's worth something.

Speaking of the Rangers and flashy players, Nelson Cruz signed a 2-year/$16 million extension this past week. Of all the players on the Rangers, as a Giants fan, he's the closest to my heart. After all, he provided the final strike-out that cemented the Giants World Series win in 2010. And I must admit, it was pretty satisfying seeing him miss catching David Freese's game-tying hit in last year's World Series. That moment reiterates what I find so overrated about Nelson Cruz - he's not exactly the best player defensively. If a team is willing to shell out $16 million for an outfielder, he should be more solid than Cruz seems to be. Then again, I feel the same way about Mike Napoli and he's a Ranger too. Could this be a theme? Possibly.


As previously mentioned, there were some other trades/acquisitions that took place recently that I just don't care much about - pitcher Jeremy Guthrie being traded from the Orioles to the Rockies in particular. There's always something to not cover, isn't there?