In 2008, it was the Tampa Bay Rays that shocked the baseball world as they won not only the AL Eastern Division, but they also made their first appearance to the World Series before losing to the Philadelphia Phillies.  They did all that with a total payroll of just under $44MM, building the team with players from their minor league system (Evan Longoria), signing players from Japan (Akinori Iwamura) and making a mid-season trade that added a pitcher (Matt Garza) who made a huge impact the rest of the way.

Coming into 2009, there’s talk that the Rays are just as talented, if not more so, than their 2008 team and they could be good enough to repeat as AL Eastern Division Champions.  However, don’t think the Yankees or Red Sox will just hand them the trophy. 

The New York Yankees missed the playoffs in 2008 for the first time since 1993.  A trend that owner George Steinbrenner does not want to become a habit.  So, the Yankees’ front office has been busy this off season, signing right-hander A.J. Burnett to a 5-year $82.5 MM contract, left-hander C.C. Sabathia to a 7-year $160MM contract but he’s eligible to opt out of the deal after 2 years, meaning C.C. could say C Ya if he just doesn’t fit in New York.  They also signed first baseman, and former Texas Ranger, Atlanta Brave and Anaheim (yes I said Anaheim) Angel Mark Teixeira to an 8-year $180MM contract, bringing the total to a whopping 20 years and $322.5MM, on just three players.  Can you say “World Series or Bust,” for the Yankees, not to mention that they’ll usher in the 2009 season in the New Yankee Stadium.

The Boston Red Sox, who usually try to keep up with the Yankees as far as off season signings, have done the complete opposite.  Instead, re-signing first baseman Kevin Youkilis to a 4-year $41MM contract to keep him in Boston especially since he’s a fan favorite as well as a one year deal for young closer Jonathan Papelbon ($6.25MM).  The only big names the Red Sox landed were long time Atlanta Brave John Smoltz (1-year $5.5MM) and former Dodger Brad Penny (1-year $5MM), two pitchers who could really make a difference in a rotation already loaded with young talent like Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester along with veteran right-handers Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield.  Adding guys like Smoltz and Penny should make for a very deep rotation and one that could allow them to leave the Rays and Yankees in the dust.

If the Rays are better than their 2008 counterparts, it could spell trouble for the high dollar Yankees and Red Sox.  The Rays are a younger, faster squad who boast young pitchers like ALCS MVP Matt Garza, James Shields and Scott Kazmir to go along with the Rays’ #1 draft pick a few years ago, and a guy who could impress his way to the big leagues this year, David Price.  The only big name addition to the squad from 2008 is former Phillies’ outfielder Pat Burrell who signed a 2-year $16MM deal.  Though Burrell does have his share of strikeouts, he’s one of those guys who can bring a lot of power to the Rays’ lineup as well.

Rounding out the AL East, the cellar dwellers, the Baltimore Orioles.  They shouldn’t factor into this race this season and it might be awhile before this team is a contender once again.  They are making the right moves to improve their team, bringing guys like left-hander Mark Hendrickson, catchers Greg Zaun and Chad Moeller and shortstop Ceasar Izturis.  Are they the moves that will improve them this season?  Maybe, but not enough to stay with the Rays, Yankees or Red Sox for more than a month of the season.  In the future, as their minor league system and their draft picks begin to pay off, then we’ll see the Orioles become more than just an afterthought.

With the Rays coming into 2009 the defending AL East and ALCS Champions, the Yankees bringing three big free agents and the Red Sox with possibly the best pitching in baseball, it should be a fun ride…right to the end.

With all of the madness of baseball’s offseason seemingly over, us baseball fans can finally start looking forward to Spring Training next month when pitchers and catchers report to camp followed by position players a few weeks later.

It’s already been a crazy offseason with the Yankees shelling out big bucks for left-hander C.C. Sabathia, right-hander A.J. Burnett and 1st baseman Mark Teixeira.  Randy Johnson dawned a new uniform as he’ll be joining the starting rotation for the San Francisco Giants, it’s the 2nd team he’s played for in the NL West besides the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team he won the World Series with several years ago.  Barry Bonds still hasn’t found a team that wants him, I hope he’s not surprised by that.  Jason Giambi, surprisingly enough, is back in Oakland after departing there to join the New York Yankees after the 2001 season, most likely he’ll fill the DH role on an occasional basis, although it’s currently occupied by young Jack Cust at the moment and possibly a little 1st base if the need arises.  Oh, and noone wants to play for Team USA in the 2nd Annual World Baseball Classic, except for Chipper Jones and Derek Jeter, God forbid a player put his country first before the money and the TEAM he plays for and gets paid from.

All this leads me to be so excited for the baseball season.  In the coming month or two, I’ll start throwing out my predictions for the year, who will finish where, what their record will be, who the players to look out for are and a few other topics that we’ll cover as Spring Training opens up in Arizona and Florida. 

Here are just a few story lines to follow, at least I will be.  I’m sure people are wanting to see how spending the big bucks is going to work for the Yankees or if it’s going to end up like the past eight years, no hardware, no championship, money wasted, though that is music to my ears personally.  How about the Tampa Bay Rays and the amazing run they had last season, though it came up short against the stronger Philadelphia Phillies?  Can they re-group and make another run or was this just a one year, one hit, wonder kind of thing?  What about the NL West, as bad as it was last season, can they possibly get better or will that division continue to struggle to keep all 5 teams above .500.  Who will be the new owner of the Cubs when the sale is complete and what will that mean for them, will they be able to spend the kind of money the Yankees spend and will it finally be the end of “the curse.”  Will the Angels still be the best in the AL West, a runaway champion, or have the Oakland A’s made the right moves during this offseason to keep up?

Those are just a few of the interesting stories we’ll be following all year long.  But, as for right now, I’m just anxiously awaiting the start of Spring Training, where all of us baseball fans can dream big, even if we know that the dream is as good as it’s ever going to be.  One can hope for a World Series trophy, but in my case being a San Diego Padre fan, I know that’s just not realistic.  But hey, a man can dream right?

The boys of summer are coming…are you ready?

It looks as if one of the biggest free agents out there has made his decision on where he’s going to continue his career, and it’s in a Yankee uniform.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees have come to an agreement on a 7-year deal that is reportedly worth $160MM.  Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman had flown to San Francisco to meet with Sabathia and had face-to-face meetings with the big left-hander for the past three days, prompting Sabathia to decide to make New York his next baseball home.  With his signing, it takes the Yankees out of the running for 1st baseman Mark Teixeira, who they had been rumored to have interest in.

The question now becomes, does this make the Yankees better?  I think a lot of baseball fans, Yankee fans especially, think it absolutely makes them better though I’m not so sure.  The one thing that I do think works in the Yankees favor is, they’re not signing an over the hill, past his prime, pitcher like they did when they brought in Randy Johnson and then Roger Clemens mid-season.  Sabathia is 28 years old and has his best years ahead of him, but I think 7 years may be a little more than the Yankees should have offered, though I’m sure that was the only way they were going to land him.  Keep in mind, though, Sabathia has an opt out clause in this contract that allows him to leave after the 2011 season…that could prove very interesting in a few years.

The good side of this deal for the Yankees is, Sabathia is going to be a work horse.  This is a guy that threw a career high 253 innings in 2008 and who came off a previous career high of 241 innings in 2007.  They’re going to get a guy who can take you deep into games and take a lot of pressure off the bullpen, which is something the Yankees need.  This is the kind of signing the Yankees needed to make or they’d be watching Boston and Tampa run away from them in the AL East.

They still have work to do on their 2009 team, they are in no way done making moves.  Though they’ve address one part of their rotation, they are still left with Chein-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain and Sabathia as their top 3, then you can look at Ian Kennedy and Philip Hughes, but with Hughes’ injury he’s a big question mark right now.  The other name being tied to the Yankees is former Red Sox and Dodgers’ outfielder Manny Ramirez.  According to some sources close to Hank Steinbrenner, he apparently is considering a run at signing him, but where do you put him when you already have Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera and Xavier Nady occupying those three spots?  I can’t see them dealing Damon or Cabrera, but Nady very well could be expendable.

The Winter Meetings will conclude Thursday night, but there could be a lot more to come before GM’s, agents and players depart Las Vegas.  Stay tuned….

According to several sources, the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs could be close to a deal that would send right-hander Jake Peavy to the Windy City.

There have been several versions of this deal written as far as what players would be involved and if there is a third team involved.  According to Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union Tribune, the Philadelphia Phillies may be that third team, but the Baltimore Orioles could be involved as well.  San Diego Padres’ General Manager Kevin Towers confirms that, though a deal is not done or has not been agreed upon, they have the list of names they want it’s just a matter of the teams agreeing to them.  “There’s a package there that would satisfy us.  Will they end up doing it? I don’t know.”

There are several names being thrown around and there are different scenarios that could play out with this deal, so it’s premature to say who’s going where just yet.  What we do know to this point is Peavy would be sent to the Cubs, the Padres are looking at getting Felix Pie who they’d flip to Baltimore for young left-hander Garrett Olson, the Padres would also get 2nd baseman Mark DeRose who they would then send to Philadelphia for young pitching prospects.  The other names that could be headed to San Diego are pitchers Sean Marshall, Michael Wuertz and Angel Guzman as well as Kevin Hart.

At this point, who gets the better end of this deal?  Would it be San Diego, who stands to get a lot of pitching help from both Chicago and Baltimore, if in fact the Orioles are involved?  Would it be the Cubs, who would be getting one of the better young pitchers in the game in Jake Peavy?  Until this deal is complete, it’s going to be up for debate until all the players involved start to make an impact on their respective teams.

There is a underlining story in this deal for the San Diego Padres.  If they are able to finalize the deal to send Jake Peavy to Chicago, it frees up money for them to re-start talks with long time closer Trevor Hoffman who they ended talks with a few weeks ago.  It’s not that the Padres desperately need Trevor back, they are more than happy to hand the role over to right-hander Heath Bell, Hoffman’s setup man for the past two seasons, who is more than ready to become the team’s closer if the Padres are not able to come to an agreement with Hoffman.

Day 2 of the Winter Meetings should be an interesting one and maybe we’ll see this trade finalized, maybe it’ll have to wait another few days.  Even if this deal isn’t agreed upon today, there are still several other interesting story lines to follow to keep us rumor fans salivating.

It looks like Greg Maddux has thrown his last pitch in the big leagues. 

According to a message sent from the office of his agent, Scott Boras, Maddux will annouce his retirement at the Winter Meetings next week.  A press conference with Maddux, his family and Boras will be held at the same hotel where the meetings are taking place.

Even after 23 seasons, Maddux still doesn’t cease to impress.  In his final start, pitching for the Dodgers against the Giants, it was vintage Maddux as he gave up just one run on two hits over six innings pitched.  If there was ever a way to finish a career, going out on the kind of game that only Maddux could throw, that was it.

Instead of me sitting here writing a long article on the career of the future Hall-of-Famer, I’ll let his accomplishments speak for themselves:

355 Career Wins (8th all time)

355-227 Career Record (.639 winning percentage)

3.16 Career ERA

8 Time All-Star

4 Cy Young Awards (1992-95)

18 Gold Gloves

Won at least 13 games in 20 straight seasons

This is the Greg Maddux that a lot of us saw growing up, through his many years with the Atlanta Braves with Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, then having some great years with the Chicago Cubs, moving on to the San Diego Padres and finally the Los Angeles Dodgers.  This is, and will always be, one of the greatest pitchers of all time.  What’s more amazing to me, he didn’t kill batters with speed, but it was with finess and location.

1:40pm

Update on the Giants deal with Edgar Renteria

Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle adds some new information to the Renteria’s 2-year deal with the Giants.  It includes a $9.5MM option for 2011 as well as a $500K buyout.  He can also void the option and take the buyout if he’s traded during the length of the contract.

1:19pm

Update on Khalil Greene trade to St. Louis

It wasn’t known at first what players were being sent to San Diego in a deal that sent shortstop Khalil Greene to the Cardinals but MLB.com’s Corey Brock is reporting that right-hander Mark Worrell will be one of the players going to San Diego.  The other player will be named at a later date.

Worrell went 3-3 with a 2.15 ERA in 58.2 IP with the Memphis Redbirds in 2008.

Nationals interested in Royals’ Greinke

According to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, the Nationals are apparently interested in trading for Royals’ starter Zach Greinke.  Royals’ GM Dayton Moore had interest in outfielder Jeff Francoeur at one time but that interest may not be as strong as it once was.

12:26pm

Jack Wilson not dealt to Tigers

Contrary to an earlier report, the Tigers have not acquired Pirates’ shortstop Jack Wilson.  Dejan Kovecevic talked to Pirates President Frank Connelly who said the Tigers did make an offer but there was no deal agreed to.  Besides that, Wilson and his agent would have to approve a trade to Detroit and they haven’t had anything brought to them for approval.

Rosenthal’s latest:

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports:

- The Yankees and Dodgers could rekindle talks at the Winter Meetings regarding Robinson Cano.  It’s been said that the Yankees are asking for outfielder Matt Kemp.

- The Cubs have been talking daily to the Padres about Jake Peavy but Rosenthal doesn’t believe that the Orioles are the third team involved in the trade.

- The A’s are the front runner to land free agent shortstop Rafael Furcal but are also targetting veteran left-hander Randy Johnson.

- Rosenthal confirms the Phillies did make an offer to Derek Lowe, but says it’s a backup option if they can’t sign Jaime Moyer.  If they aren’t able to retain Moyer, look for the Dodgers to show interest.

11:28am

Braves confirm offer for Burnett

Atlanta Braves’ GM Fran Wren confirmed that they have an offer on the table for free agent right-hander A.J. Burnett.  The deal is apparently for 4 years and $15MM annually with a 5th year option.  I can’t imagine that Burnett is gonna jump at the deal, but we’ll see.

11:15am

Giants’ deal with Renteria complete

The San Francisco Giants and free agent shortstop Edgar Renteria have finalized a 2-year $18.5MM deal according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal.

Tigers acquire Jack Wilson

The Tigers have completed a trade from Pittsburgh that will send shortstop Jack Wilson to Detroit.  It’s not known what the Pirates are getting in return.

10:36am

Buster Olney has a blog out this morning…here’s just a few things he’s covered thus far.

- Could Manny Ramirez and his agent, Scott Boras, accept the Dodgers offer of arbitration?

- The Cubs could be considering Adam Dunn and may be willing to sacrifice defense for his offensive production.

- The Cubs and Padres have “a basic framework in place” that would send Jake Peavy to Chicago in a deal that is apparently centered around Josh Vitters but any finalization of a deal would have to wait until the sale of the team is complete. 

NOTE: Keep your eye on the Angels, the Padres and Angels have dealt with each other before and Peavy would definitely love the chance to stay in Southern California.  There hasn’t been much talk about the Angels getting involved, but noone saw them coming when they landed Torii Hunter either.

- The Atlanta Braves may push right-hander A.J. Burnett for an answer before C.C. Sabathia signs.  Though, the Braves know if C.C. signs first, Burnett won’t be as cheap.

- Olney believes Rafael Furcal will sign with Oakland

9:22am

Derek Lowe receives offers from 2 teams

According to Tom Massarotti of the Boston Herald, Derek Lowe has received contract offers from two teams, one of which is the Philadelphia Phillies but the other is NOT from the Red Sox or Yankees.  However, in the same article, Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman has flown to California to meet with Scott Boras, the agent for Lowe which could lead to an offer for the free agent right-hander.

8:52am

Yankees update

The New York Yankees are confident they are the only serious suitor for the services of C.C. Sabathia as there is still a $40MM gap between their offer and the offer from the Milwaukee Brewers.  If the Yankees do end up inking Sabathia, they will probably turn their focus to Derek Lowe and Andy Pettitte instead of Mark Teixiera and Manny Ramirez.

The Yankees are also willing to give a 5th year vesting option to right-hander A.J. Burnett, but the Braves should land him if they are in fact willing to give Burnett a full 5-year deal as was reported earlier. 

Andy Pettitte has made it known that he will not take a pay cut from his $16MM he received in 2008.  The Yankees have made a 1-year $10MM offer.

Mariners make Putz available, sign Branyan

The Seattle Mariners have apparently made their closer J.J. Putz available and they’re already getting interest from the NY Mets who are expected to talk to Seattle about Putz during the Winter Meetings that get underway on Monday.

The Mariners signed 33-year old outfielder Russell Branyan to a 1-year deal, though the terms of the deal aren’t known.  He’s a good backup option as long as he doesn’t face left-handers.

Red Sox looking at bench additions

The Boston Red Sox are looking to add to their bench and could be interested in names like Willie Bloomquist, Jay Payton and Mark Loretta.

6:38am

Padres deal Khalil Greene to St. Louis

The Padres have dealt long time shortstop Khalil Greene to the St. Louis Cardinals.  The Padres will get two relief prospects back in the deal which will clear $6.5MM from the Padres’ payroll.  Could it improve the chances of retaining Jake Peavy?

Giants ink Renteria

In a deal that was reportedly “close” yesterday was completed late last night.  Edgar Renteria took the physical with the Giants and should be announced at a press conference soon.  The Giants had been in negotiations with Rafael Furcal, but they weren’t sold on giving the 4-year deal he and his agent were asking for. 

This is a solid move for the Giants and one that should give them a definite improvement both offensively and defensively.

Braves close to a deal with Dave Ross

The Atlanta Braves are close to a 2-year $3.5MM deal with catcher Dave Ross.  He should bring an improvement to a backup catching roll that struggled for the Braves in 2007, hitting a combined .114 (13-for-114) with just 2 HR’s.

The Braves sure aren’t wasting any time improving their ballclub from 2007, already making a trade for starter Javier Vazquez and possibly working on a 5-year contract offer for right-hander A.J. Burnett.