The most recent news that I saw this morning when I got in my office was that Colorado has extended an already lengthy contract to their uber-talented SS Troy Tulowitzki. There is no denying his talent, but locking ANYBODY up for ten years in a game where one wrong pivot, or one high and tight fastball can end a players career seems a little over the top. The interesting part is that it's not like Tulo is an ironman either, he has shown a proponence injuries over the course of his career. If he does stay relatively healthy, and by that I mean avoid any major injuries, it should be a great deal for Colorado, because guys with his talent and at the position he plays do not come around often. I have always been a fan of Tulo, mostly because he plays the game so hard, and you can tell he loves what he does. Maybe Hanley Ramirez can learn from this, but I doubt it.
I won't sugar coat it, the Dodgers messed up bigtime giving Juan Uribe a 3-year $21MM deal. Just another example (see Aubrey Huff) of a guy capitalizing on the spotlight of September and October. He posted several career high's, and his OBP is slightly above his batting average. I believe this is a gross way to overpay for a player who doesn't really offer a team any type of significant dynamic other than his ability to play multiple positions. The only real way Uribe could come close to keeping his value is if he plays SS, but with Furcal there for at least 2011, Uribe will most likely be used at 3B to platoon with the aggressively aging Casey Blake. That trade is looking better and better for Cleveland.
I see where the Florida Marlins are coming in signing Javier Vazquez to a 1-year $7MM deal with a full no-trade clause. In essence, the trade clause is meaningless because he is coming off of a bad year and if he were to get off to a bad start, his value would be zero. If he gets off to a good start, it's unlikely that Florida would trade him anyways due to the weakened lineup with the loss of Dan Uggla. Not only that, but if Vazquez has a bounceback year, he may choose to re-up with Florida at the end of the year, or they can let him walk and take the draft picks. With that said, I have a completely different perspective on the signing. My scouting report on Vazquez is this: it caught up. All those innings have taken a toll on his shoulder and I do not see him making large strides this year or any time in the future. The drop in veloctiy is one thing (not getting above 88MPH in most games last year), but his overall stuff looks flat. It was my impression that his arm was actually injured, but now that he has gone through a physical with Florida, it leads me to believe that this just may be the beginning of the end of Javier Vazquez as an effective MLB pitcher.
Another move by the Rockies was to re-acquire LHP Jorge De La Rosa. A 3-yr deal is about right, and this was a clear case of the imapact that his Type-A designation had.. which totally benefits the Rockies because their pitching staff is in rough shape. I am interested to see if they go after Brandon Webb, because any person with common sense can see how effective he would be in that stadium if he can regain his stuff. I have heard that it's not going all that well however. .
One last thing:
The Twins won the bidding rights to Japanese infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who they apparently want to play 2B to fill the void that Orlando Hudson is leaving via free agency. I watched some video on Nishioka, and he has a good stroke. He probably will have an issue with offspeed pitches down and away, as MLB pitchers have much better command and stuff. He stays far back on the ball and seems to explode out of his batting motion, so that will be interesting to watch.
Winter meetings are this week.. I expect to hear about a couple big trades maybe in the works. Keeping my eyes peeled!
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