AL East Offseason Moves

Post by  – Pigpen

Done with the National League, we kick of our review of the American League with a look at the perennial juggernaut: The East.  Lists were originally published by MLB Trade Rumors.

Orioles

• Acquired/Re-signed: Chad Moeller, Michel Hernandez, Armando Gabino, Craig Tatum, Kevin Millwood, Mike Gonzalez, Garrett Atkins, Chris Lamb, Frank Mata, Alfredo Simon, Mike Hinckley, Ross Wolf, Chris George, Scott Moore, Josh Perrault, Miguel Tejada.
• Lost: Sean Henn, Jeff Fiorentino, Danys Baez, Radhames Liz, Chris Ray, Steven Johnson, Bob McCrory, Chris Waters

The O’s first move this offseason was landing Texas workhorse Kevin Millwood, trading former closer of the future Chris Ray to get him.  A fine addition for the O’s as their pitchers only averaged 5.4 innings per start last season, whereas Millwood went 6.4.

Without a viable backend bullpen option left (goodbye Sherrill, Ray, and Baez), the O’s turned to former Brave Mike Gonzalez.  Why, exactly?  This team is not going to compete next year whether they have Mo Rivera, or me closing games for them.  Maybe they’re not hoping to compete next year; but rather, in 2011, when their young studs (Markakis, Jones, Reimold, Wieters, Tillman) and a few of these guys could form a really solid roster.

As I’ve said before, Garrett Atkins stinks.  Thankfully the O’s plan to play him at 1st in light of…a Miguel Tejada reunion!  Are we excited?  Tejada enjoyed success in Houston, but ONLY in Houston.  On the road, he was terrible.  That said, a one year deal gives Josh Bell another season in the minors before presumptively manning the hot corner for years to come.

Red Sox

• Acquired/Re-signed: Tim Wakefield, Jeremy Hermida, Robert Manuel, Tug Hulett, Marco Scutaro, Scott Atchison, Fabio Castro, Ramon A. Ramirez, Boof Bonser, John Lackey, Mike Cameron, Stephen Fox, Nate Spears, Fernando Cabrera, Bob McCrory, Edwin Moreno, Angel Sanchez, Darnell McDonald, Michael Lennox, Wang-Yi Lin, Juan Bonifacio, Roberto Feliz, Gil Velazquez, Jose Iglesias, Jason Varitek, Victor Martinez
• Lost: Chris Carter, Takashi Saito, George Kottaras, Billy Wagner, Jason Bay, Hunter Jones, Jose Alvarez, Joey Gathright, Alex Gonzalez, Brian Anderson, Chris Province, Jorge Jimenez, Armando Zerpa, Jeff Bailey, Javier Lopez

With all the buzz in NYC about the Yankees’ homer-friendly park, it appears the Red Sox are focusing on pitching and defense (per Bill James).  Along these lines, the Red Sox added John Lackey, Mike Cameron, and Adrian Beltre, letting Jason Bay walk, and moving Mike Lowell to the bench.

The Sox signed Lackey for A.J. Burnett money.  While Lackey has generally been a bit more valuable than Burnett, his huge workloads, recent injury history, and lack of big strikeout totals have to scare you a bit when thinking about 4-5 years down the road.

After failing to trade Mike Lowell, the Red Sox snapped up Adrian Beltre on a 1 year deal.  I love this move for them – not only does he improve their defense, getting out of SafeCo and into Fenway should boost his offensive numbers.

In addition to the Lackey signing, the other big news was letting Bay walk and replacing him with Cameron.  While the Red Sox had a deal in place to keep Bay, he apparently failed their physical.  Another notch in the Mets’ belt.  Cameron will be an upgrade in center of Ellsbury – who, in turn, will be an upgrade over Bay in left.  Will this shake Ellsbury’s confidence?  Maybe.  Also, there’s an argument to be made that Cameron (solid defense, mediocre offense) is equally as valuable as Bay (solid offense, terrible defense).

Boof Bonser and Jeremy Hermida are the kind of addition that smart teams make.

Yankees

• Acquired/Re-signed: Andy Pettitte, Jamie Hoffmann, Curtis Granderson, Mike Rivera, Boone Logan, Javier Vazquez, Nick Johnson, Javier Herrera, Jon Weber, Trent Lockwood
• Lost: Josh Towers, Hideki Matsui, Brian Bruney, Ian Kennedy, Austin Jackson, Phil Coke, Arodys Vizcaino, Melky Cabrera, Michael Dunn, Kanekoa Texeira, Cody Ransom

Just re-sign Damon already.  While the Yankees don’t need him to make the playoffs, he would be another nice bat come September/October, and can easily be replaced by Brett Gardner late in meaningful games.

Vazquez is the perfect addition to eat innings (10 straight years of 198 IP or more) in a rotation with Andy Pettitte and Joba Chamberlin/Phil Hughes (one of whom will presumptively not be in the bullpen).  Further, bad luck last time led to a 2nd half breakdown in NYC in 2004.

Granderson going to kill it in that park.  Classy player and a great addition.

I think the Yanks made the right move letting Matsui go – he’s clearing in the twilight of his career.  While I know they’ve coveted Nick Johnson for a long time, I’m just not sold on him actually being all that valuable.

Rays

• Acquired/Re-signed: Kelly Shoppach, Rafael Soriano, Richard De Los Santos, Jason Cromer, Jeff Bennett, Joe Bateman, Winston Abreu, Carlos Hernandez, Chris Richard, R.J. Swindle, Ryan Shealy, Joe Dillon, Jairo De La Rosa, Gabe Kapler
• Lost: Mitch Talbot, Akinori Iwamura, Gregg Zaun, Jesse Chavez, Michel Hernandez

Shoppach an upgrade, but duplicative of what Navarro can do (read: neither can hit righties).  Rafael Soriano was a great addition, who they essentially got for Aki Iwamura (Iwamura was traded for Jesse Chavez, Jesse Chavez was then traded for Soriano), who they didn’t need.

Recent rumors about adding Orlando Hudson, and moving Ben Zobrist to right field, don’t sit well with me.  Zobrist is a great fielder at second.  While he also plays a solid right field, as an infielder, he is one of the most valuable properties in all of baseball.  Despite his reputation, O-Dog has dropped off defensively.

I agree with Rob Neyer, give Winston Abreu a chance.

Want to hear an amazing stat?  The Rays’ starting rotation will earn about $9 million combined next season (Garza: $3.35M; Shields: $2.5M; Price: $1M; Niemann: ~.75M; Sonnanstine: ~.75M).  That’s less than Ben Sheets will make next season, and he didn’t throw a single pitch in 2009.

Blue Jays

• Acquired/Re-signed: Sean Henn, Jarrett Hoffpauir, John McDonald, Mike McCoy, Alex Gonzalez, Zech Zinicola, Raul Chavez, John Buck, Joey Gathright, Lance Broadway, Kyle Drabek, Brett Wallace, Travis D’Arnaud, Brandon Morrow
• Lost: Marco Scutaro, Joe Inglett, Roy Halladay, Michael Taylor, Johermyn Chavez, Brandon League, Wilfredo Ledezma, Bill Murphy

Big losses for the Jays this offseason, though, as Keith Law notes regarding the Jays’ farm system and the Halladay and Rolen deals, “without those four prospects (Kyle Drabek, Zach Stewart, Brett Wallace, Travis d’Arnaud), the Jays might have ranked last.”

Drabek looks like an ace to me, though I’m not sure about flipping Michael Taylor for Brett Wallace – to me, Wallace profiles as the next Lyle Overbay now that he’ll be a first baseman.

Scutaro’s strong season netted the Jays draft picks (though the Lackey signing pushed the non-supplemental pick into the 2nd round), which is more than they could have hoped for when they acquired him for Kristian Bell and Graham Godfrey 2 years ago.

An even more remarkable stat: The Blue Jays’ starting rotation will only earn $2.5M!

The move for Brandon Morrow was solid – he needed a change of scenery after being handled horribly by the Mariners over the past few seasons.

Recap: The O’s are going no where in 2010 and probably spent more money than they should have.  The Red Sox made significant improvement to the defensive side of the ball, but I really question their lineup – there’s not one scary hitter in there.  The Yankees are a juggernaut, adding Javy Vazquez and Curtis Granderson to a team that would have made the playoffs without either of them.  The Rays look like a playoff contender, but are clearly hamstrung by payroll issues (and that bad Burrell deal).  The Jays are going to be bad and I don’t like talking about them.