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?

Welcoming Michael Cuddyer to the NL and other ramblings

Once again, there were plenty of signings and developments that took place this week and of course, I must mention one in particular first. I can't help it.

While I will use any excuse to talk about Michael Cuddyer (and to ogle him), since he was arguably the week's biggest signing, I have a legit reason to now. Yesterday Cuddyer signed a 3-year/$31 million deal with the Rockies. While I'm sure this move will make my pal Craig Finn (avid Twins fan that he is) sad, I'm glad that he is finally in the NL. Not only that, but he's in the same division as the Giants, which means I may finally get to see him play in person next season! So it's a great move, in my opinion. I just hope that Cuddyer can stay healthy for the duration of his contract, mostly because he's just lovely. At least to me.

To switch from a player the Twins lost to a new player they gained, Josh Willingham of the A's signed with the Twins for a 3-year/$21 million deal.

I'm sure the A's will miss him quite a lot, but the Twins will be even happier to add him to their roster. There had been quite a lot of talk about just where Willingham would end up and I'm glad it was with the Twins. It might not make up for losing their longest-tenured player (Cuddyer), but it will certainly help.

Part of me feels like a "bad" baseball fan that I'm not nearly as interested in where Prince Fielder will be next season as most baseball people are. It's not that I don't like Fielder; I think he's a great player. I'm just not really invested in who his future team will be. According to insiders though, it seems as if the Cubs are the most likely of his suitors at the moment, followed closely by the Mariners. I think the Mariners need him more and they would have a solid DH on their hands as well. Moving on...

The most puzzling signing of the week, for me, has to be Dontrelle Willis signing with the Phillies. Granted, it's only a one-year contract, but the move seems like an odd one. Willis is not the pitcher he once was, and chances are, he probably won't be in the future. The logic seems to be that Willis would make the transition into the Phillies bullpen and perhaps end up as a reliever. I can't imagine he would be used much as a starter though, given how few innings he's pitched in the last few years. However, I'm still of the opinion that he was robbed of the Cy Young when he had that amazing season with the Marlins. That time is long gone though. I digress.

Why would the Braves want to get rid of Jair Jurrjens? That's a question I've been asking all week. He was one of the most impressive pitchers of the 2010 season, at least in the NL. It seems the Braves have been in talks to do a trade with the Orioles for Jurrjens and Martin Prado. Sure, Jurrjens had a rough last part of the season, but the first half was so good that you would think the Braves would want to hold on to him. To me, he's far too young and has far too much potential to trade him now. But that's just my opinion.

The final development I want to mention involves a player who, for whatever reason, I've never liked. My dislike of Jason Varitek is completely inexplicable. I rooted for the Red Sox when they finally won a World Series in 2004. I thought they had a fantastic team. But I wasn't necessarily rooting for Varitek. According to reports, he's still in consideration to continue catching for the Red Sox in 2012. Is it likely that he will? I doubt it. I don't blame him for wanting to continue playing; he's been a staple of the Red Sox for a pretty long time. It's just that, personally, I don't see what the big deal about him is.

My opinion of him makes me sad though, because he is a catcher. I usually like catchers. This is the girl who loves Bengie Molina, Brian McCann, Buster Posey and Joe Mauer. Come to think of it, the only other catcher I really don't like besides Varitek is Mike Napoli. And that's mostly by virtue of the fact that he's with the Rangers, so it's nothing personal. It can't be personal with Varitek either, really. It just is what it is; I'm not proud of it. We all inexplicably dislike some people, and those feelings are especially silly when you dislike someone you've never met and likely know little about. Alas.