Is it just me, or has the Hot Stove heated up unusually early this year? The Winter Meetings, which are coming up this weekend, are usually where the first big moves are made. But not this year. This year, we've already had a ton of major trades and free agent signings. So many, in fact, that Robinson Cano is the only big dog remaining in free agency. And his re-signing with the Yankees doesn't seem as automatic now as it did at the end of the season.
Most of these moves have been trades, some of which were surprising, but each of which either filled a need or freed up a position for an already good team.
We'll start with the blockbuster that got this whole thing going--the Prince Fielder-Ian Kinsler trade. This one absolutely shocked me. Especially after the massive amount of money the Tigers gave Fielder as a free agent just two years ago. But they've evidently worn tired of his lack of ability to do anything in the postseason, especially for that price. My guess is the Tigers also got sick of Miguel Cabrera's being a not-very-good third baseman and they wanted to move him back to first. This was obviously their chance to do that. The Rangers, meanwhile, have had the same problem for the past couple years. They had too many middle infielders, and Jurickson Profar doesn't deserve to spend another day in the Minors. Instead of making Profar an outfielder (which is what I advocated they do), they deemed Kinsler expendable. They killed two birds with one stone, since Fielder gives them the left-handed power bat they were missing last season.
This trade works out well for both teams. The Tigers got a still very good second baseman who they can insert into the No. 2 spot in the lineup ahead of Cabrera. And losing Fiedler doesn't hurt that much, since they can now move Victor Martinez up to cleanup and Torii Hunter from second to fifth. Texas, though, improved greatly. They finally found a place for Profar, finally have a first baseman, and now have one of the best 3-4-5's in all of baseball with Beltre, Fielder and Rios.
Neither one of them was done, either. Detroit's about to lock up Joe Nathan as its new closer. If you watched the ALCS at all, you know that the Tigers' bullpen was their biggest problem. An established closer is a good start towards fixing the area that needed the most improvement on that team. They also got Drew Smyly, a lefty, into their previously all right-handed rotation by trading Doug Fister to the Nationals. Fister, at the same time, gives Washington arguably the deepest rotation in the game (Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann, Fister, and Ross Detwiler). The Rangers also lost A.J. Pierzynski to Boston, but they're fine with Geovany Soto behind the plate.
In a minor deal, Texas shipped Craig Gentry to Oakland in a rare intra-division trade. The A's also got Orioles closer Jim Johnson in anticipation of Grant Balfour leaving and for some reason thought it was a good idea to give $22 million to Scott Kazmir. Chris Young also got out of Oakland, in a move that surprised nobody, seeing as he no longer had a role on that team. He's a Met now. Good move for both. A former All-Star, he's still got some value.
Another now former Tiger is Jhonny Peralta. He signed a massive free agent deal with the Cardinals that drew criticism from some, but really just serves as further proof that there's very little disincentive to do steroids. Peralta served his suspension, then got paid handsomely by somebody else. Don't hate the player. Hate the game. He joins a Cardinals team that's going to look vastly different. Chris Carpenter officially retired, which has very little actual impact. However, trading David Freese to the Angels for Peter Bourjos creates all kinds of possibilities for both teams. St. Louis is now able to move Matt Carpenter to third and insert Kolten Wong at second, and they're anticipating losing Carlos Beltran, which frees up right field. The assumption is that Allen Craig moves to right and Matt Adams becomes the permanent first baseman.
As for the Angels, they can get over their ridiculous obsession with letting Bourjos (who I think sucks) play center field and stop taking Mike Trout out of his best position. Freese is also a much better option at third base than Albert Callaspo or Maicer Izturis or whoever they had over there last season. We've said this before, but assuming everyone's healthy, the Angels have a decent-looking lineup in 2014: Trout-CF, Kendrick-2B, Pujols-DH, Hamilton-RF, Trumbo-1B, Freese-3B, Iannetta-C, Shuck-LF, Aybar-SS.
Now we move on to the team that everybody knew was going to make some major noise, despite its vow to lower the payroll, but still has a ton of question marks. I'm, of course, talking about the Yankees. They're still in limbo, waiting for Robinson Cano to decide and waiting to find out if A-Rod's suspension will be upheld and for how long. I agree with Yankee management that Cano isn't worth the money his people want. And 10-year contracts just aren't a good idea. Even with Seattle now in the picture, I think Cano will end up returning. I'll say $200 million for eight years. If he does leave, I can see the Yankees' interest in Omar Infante growing exponentially. And I've been an advocate of re-signing Mark Reynolds anyway, regardless of A-Rod's status.
The one other Yankee free agent signing that seemed inevitable was Brian McCann. Since, as they learned last year, a good catcher is an important thing to have. I also fully expect them to end up getting Tanaka, as soon as the new posting fee system is established. Whether or not Kuroda decides to return will determine if they need one or two more starters in addition to Sabathia, Nova and, presumably, Tanaka, and a healthy Michael Pineda could be the answer. That's why they got him two years ago in the first place.
But the big surprise, though, was today's acquisition of Jacoby Ellsbury. It's so reminiscent of when they plucked Johnny Damon away from Boston after the Red Sox won in 2004. On the surface, I don't think the Yankees needed Ellsbury. He's very similar to Brett Gardner. Doesn't change the fact that I'm happy to have him. And even happier he's not in Boston anymore. I didn't quite get the flirtation with Carlos Beltran, which I would imagine is over now, but the addition of Ellsbury gives them above-average defense in center and left, as well as in right when Ichiro's playing. They can also slot Alfonso Soriano as the semi-regular DH and avoid his glove.
And while I don't like the re-signing of Brendan Ryan as simply a Jeter insurance policy, and the Cano/A-Rod questions definitely need to be answered, the Yankees already look like they'll be a much-improved team in 2014. The bullpen still needs to be addressed, but the lineup is significantly better, especially if Cano and A-Rod are both back (my bet is Yes Cano, No A-Rod). For argument's sake, a Yankee lineup including Cano at second and Mark Reynolds at third would be: Ellsbury-CF, Jeter-SS, Cano-2B, Teixeira-1B, Soriano-DH, McCann-C, Reynolds-3B, Ichiro-RF, Gardner-LF.
This is all just the beginning. The Hot Stove is only going to get hotter as we get deeper into December. It doesn't quite match the thrill of the actual baseball season, but the baseball off-season can get pretty exciting in its own right. How long until pitchers and catchers?
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