Day 3 moves at the Winter Meetings
-Rockies acquire reliever Wilton Lopez to the Astros for pitchers Alex White and Alex Gillingham. Apparently the trade with the Phillies fell through and the Astros found a different trade partner for Lopez. Lopez appeared in 64 games with a record of 6-3 and an ERA of 2.17. He also compiled 10 saves and 9 holds last season. He will be the setup man for Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt and can come in for spot saves when Betancourt needs a day off.
-Rays acquire shortstop Yunel Escobar to the Marlins for infield prospect Derek Dietrich. Escobar stats lines from last season were .251/9/51/.300/.344/.644. This is the second time Escobar has been traded this off season. He was involved in the megatrade between the Jays and Marlins last month. The Rays needed to find offense and hope that Escobar can provide some from the shortstop position. Derek Dietrich had stat lines of .279/14/75/.324/.429/.753 between single A and Double A last season. He has only played professionally for 3 seasons so he is a couple of seasons away from making it to the big leagues.
-Giants re-signed second baseman Marco Scutaro to a 3 year deal worth 20 million dollars. Scutaro had stat lines of .306/7/74/.348/.405/.753 with the Rockies and Giants last season. He became a key contributor in the Giants playoff run last season. Scutaro was named the NLCS MVP and tied the record with most hits in a championship series. This will be his last big payday as he will be 40 years old at the end of this contract. With this move the Giants have signed three free agents that played key parts to winning the World Series: Scutaro, Jeremy Affeldt and Angel Pagan.
-White Sox signed infielder Jeff Keppinger to a 3 year deal worth 12 million dollars. Keppinger had stat lines of .325/9/40/.367/.439/.806 with the Rays last season. At the surface these look like great stats but he only played 116 games. In his 8 year career he has only played in over 130 games in a season. The White Sox plan on using him as their primary third baseman. So he will need to play in more than 130 games to deserve such a large contract.
-Diamonbacks signed catcher Will Nieves to a 1 year deal worth 800 thousand dollars and signed third baseman Eric Chavez to a 1 year deal worth 3 million dollars. Nieves had stat lines of .301/2/8/.330/.410/.738 with the Rockies and Diamondbacks last season. He only appeared in 32 games last season between the two clubs. Nieves will provide a veteran to backup starting catcher Miguel Montero. Chavez had stat lines of .281/16/37/.348/.496/.845 with the Yankees last season. He provided a veteran bat off the bench for the Yankees. He was thrust into the starting lineup when Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira were injured last season. The Diamonbacks have solidifed their bench with these two moves.
-Orioles signed outfielder Nate Mclouth to a 1 year deal worth 2 million dollars. Mclouth had stat lines of .241/7/20/.314/.380/.694 last season with the Pirates and Orioles. In 55 games for the Orioles Mclouth hit all 7 of his home runs and batted .268. He led the Orioles in Postseason RBIs and had key hits in the games leading up to the playoffs. After this signing it seems as though the O’s will no longer be in the hunt for outfielder Nick Swisher.
-Mariners signed outfielder Jason Bay to a 1 year deal worth under a million dollars. Bay had stat lines of .195/8/20/.237/.299/.536 with the Mets last season. Earlier this off season the Mets and Bay agreed to part ways. He will still receive all the money he is owned over the next 4 seasons. This is not the impact bat Mariners fans were hoping for. From 2004-2009, Bay averaged 30 home runs and 99 RBIs. During his Mets tenure, Bay averaged 9 home runs and 41 RBIs. He was plagued by concussions and a field were the dimensions were too big for anyone to put up decent power numbers. Bay is a low risk high reward type player. It’s a risk the M’s are willing to take to improve the weakest offense in the major leagues. I don’t think this will be the last outfielder the Mariners sign this off season.
-Cardinals sign reliever Randy Choate to a 3 year deal worth 7.5 million dollars. Choate appeared in 80 games while posting an ERA of 3.o3 for the Marlins and Dodgers last season. He only appeared in 38.2 innings pitched and had 20 holds between the two clubs. Choate will team up with Marc Rzepczynski to form a very formidable late inning lefty combo out of the bullpen.
-Angels sign reliever Sean Burnett to a 2 year deal worth 8 million dollars. Burnett appeared in 70 games and posted an ERA of 2.38 with the Nationals last season. He compiled a record of 1-2 with 31 holds. Burnett will team with Scott Downs to be the lefty bridge to closer Ernesto Frieri.
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