Multiple stories in the news today Beginning with two quick minor moves, The Pittsburgh Pirates inked righty Josh Stinson to a minor league deal. Hes just 27, but struggled mightily in Baltimore this past season. The deal will contain an invite to spring training, but I dont believe that he will crack the opening day roster Second, the Twins re-upped on a Righty named Mark Hamburger, and that is not my autocorrect changing anything. Mark is a former prospect who got busted for PED use 2 years ago and was released. He served his suspension this season and was not bad. He will receive an invite to spring training. I dont believe he is much more than organizational depth. In foreign news the Minnesota Twins have sold Lefty Kris Johnson to the Hiroshima Carp for six figures. At first glance, I thought that it was a bit disappointing to see a player sold overseas, however, hes not getting the short end of the stick at all. He is slated to make a SEVEN FIGURE SALARY over there. Thats outstanding compared to the measly half a million he would earn over here, Its such a rough life to play in the MLB isnt it. Also, former Phillies prospect Mike Zagurski has signed overseas. I am not sure what kind of deal it will be, however, it may be good for him to get back on track while hes still relatively young. Finally 2 big stories coming out of the Bank for the 3rd day in a row. The Phillies re-signed Lefty reliever Cesar Jiminez for a third straight season. Honestly, I like this move because hes still relatively young and he pitched very well for us this year. I have been a fan of him since last year. Terms are not disclosed however, Id have to imagine about $600-700 thousand Nice cheap pick-up to compliment the Phillies already stellar bullpen! Heres what we are looking at this season in the pen. Papelbon and Ken Giles will likely split time in the 9th inning until the Phillies can find a taker for the former, and then in the 7th and 8th will be De Fratus and Diekman, both of which showed a lot this season, and in the middle relief core it seems likely to be Super Mario Hollands, Cesar Jiminez, and Im thinking Ethan Martin, for the last spot and possibly Ryan OSullivan or Colton Murray if Papelbon is traded. The Final story of the night involves another buy low move which I am not crazy over. The Phillies re-upped with Outfielder Grady Sizemore on a 1-yr/$2.5mm deal. Now, the main reason that I am not enthralled with this deal is because I wanted to trade him in August because he would have brought back a nice return of like a high upside arm and a mid-level infield prospect. The other reason is due to the fact that we have no real need for him. With Ben Revere in Center, Marlon Byrd in Right, Yasmany Tomas hopefully in left and Dom Brown and Aaron Altherr likely filling out the 4th and 5th OF spot, i just dont believe that it makes much sense. My prediction is that either Brown is a sitting duck or there is a Byrd or (Lets hope this one isnt the case) Ben Revere trade in the works. Now, despite those facts, it is actually a great deal. I wholeheartedly think that Gillick is doing all of this and is using Ruben as a puppet just to try and save face a bit, I mean, there have been no vesting options on these last few deals!! Grady could be a useful trade piece come July with his $2.5mm guaranteed.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 00:23:51 +0000
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