Things Read in Others Moms' Basements - Around the NL East 12.04.10

Well, this has been a busy week. Gone are a few familiar faces, arriving are a few new ones. And for almost all of the teams in the NL East this week, with the passing of the deadline to tender or non-tender arbitration eligible players, there's a lot of movement in baseball. I'm ecstatic to see that Eric Hinske will be back for another year, and I'm optimistic about Scott Linebrink, but regardless of the debating, I'm feeling melancholy to see Matt Diaz's time in Atlanta come to a close.

Welcome back to another week of Things Read in Other Moms' Basements.

GO HOKIES.

Javier Vazquez signs one-year deal with Marlins - MLB
Our old friend is now going to become our new adversary, as he signed a one-year deal with the Fish. $7M and full no-trade clause, and Javy is happy to be very close to Puerto Rico. Evidently, this is one of those cases where we throw last year out the window and reserve judgment until the start of the season, since as we very well know, he's capable of being a different beast in the NL East.

Tendered and non-tendered - Sun Sentinel
Tendered: Anibal Sanchez (duh), Ricky Nolasco (duh), Clay Hensley, Burke Badenhop, Leo Nunez (our b*tch), and Edward Mujica. Guys who were non-tendered: RP Jose Veras, and a no-brainer, Ronny Paulino, since John Buck will outright replace him. The funny thing about Paulino is that regardless of where he may or may not land next year, as long as he is on a Major League team, he still has to sit out the remaining eight games of his 50-game suspension for substance abuse.

Chris Coghlan, center fielder - MLB
This'll be good. Never played CF in the majors before, and coming off knee-surgery. I get the impression this is going to turn into one of those scenarios like Alfonso Soriano playing CF for the Cubs, and Suzuki Ichiro trying out CF for the Mariners. Hint: both ended in failures, and required the acquisition of a defensive WARG guy to take over, and the supplanting of someone.

John Baker to be relied upon as LHB off the bench - Fish Bytes
Recent Tommy John surgery will prevent him from really throwing for a year, but that doesn't mean he still can't swing a bat. He won't be doing any catching duties in 2011, but he'll be spending a lot of the year coming off the bench to pinch-hit.

Ruben Gotay signed to minor league deal - Sun Sentinel
Former Brave, Met and Royal, Gotay signs with the Fish with hopes to be another utility infielder option, along with Omar Infante. His last Major League action was in 2008 with Atlanta, and spent all of last year in the Cardinals' AAA squad.

Sucks to be Andrew Miller - Fish Stripes
Traded to the Red Sox, and immediately non-tendered afterward. Can't feel good.

Introducing "Patience and Power" - Marlin Maniac
In reference to Logan Morrison's supposed patience, and Mike Stanton's obvious power. I'm not going to lie, the only reason I really linked it, it because it reminded me of the short-lived WWF tag team of Hercules and Paul Roma, "Power and Glory."

K-Rod pleads guilty to assault - MLB
That's a no-brainer. What isn't though, is that new GM Sandy Alderson has stated that he's going to be the closer next year. I would've been impressed if he wanted to make a splash and found ways to sever ties with K-Rod, Oliver Perez, and Luis Castillo, but I guess not.

Mets "deep into talks" with Chris Young - MLB
What does that even mean? Deep into talks? It sounds like phone canoodling, where boyfriends ask their girlfriends what they're wearing right now, but regardless, the Mets are interested in bringing the 6'10 starting RHP to New York after the Padres got tired of all his injuries and let him fly. Oh yeah, they're also interested in former Rockies pitcher, Jeff Francis.

Tendered and non-tendered - MLB
Tendered contracts were three huge no-brainers, and the most valuable players for the 2010 Mets: Mike Pelfrey, Angel Pagan, and R.A. Dickeyface. I'm not surprised at the non-tendering of John Maine, who spent most of the last few years plagued by injury, but I am a little surprised to see that Chris Carter was non-tendered, considering his average play in limited capacity, which was better than lots of their prior options. RP Sean Green was also non-tendered, for essentially the same reason as Matt Diaz - the cost would've been higher than the team wanted to pay. Stupid collective bargaining agreements.

Pedro Feliciano refuses arbitration, becomes free agent - MLB
Pros: Saves the Mets roughly $4M, nets them a draft pick. Cons: They don't really have a lefty in the bullpen anymore. Unless you count the recently signed to Minor League deal, Mike O'Connor. Of course, they can always sign Hideki Okajima, who was recently non-tendered by the Red Sox, to be the obligatory Japanese guy out of the Mets bullpen for 2011.

Or, just move Oliver Perez to the bullpen and be a $12M LOOGY - NY Daily News
Hey, at this point, if the Mets can get any outs out of Oliver Perez, I say, do it.

Hisanori Takahashi signs with the Angels - LA Times
Figure that, a Japanese player going out to California. Two years, $5.5M, and lots of expectations, like stabilizing the Angels bullpen, and being a contingency plan for the once-great Scott Kazmir.

OPS Guy signs 4-year, $56M contract with Chicago White Sox - WaPo
The Adam Dunn saga finally comes to an end, as he finally gets his desired fourth year from the Chicago White Sox. What I'm curious about is what position he's going to play for them, what with the may or may not re-signing of Paul Konerko which would eliminate 1B, and sending him back to the outfield isn't ever really that great of a deal. Either way, regardless of what he feels about it, I'm pretty sure he's going to end up being a DH anyway.

And the biggest repercussions may come from the Franchise - MLB
Apparently, the fans aren't the only ones disappointed with the Nationals' inability to sign OPS Guy. Ryan Zimmerman, who was close friends with Dunn during his tenure has made his voice heard of his between-the-lines disappointment at the team with cryptic statements towards the direction of the team. I respectfully disagree with Zim, whom I make no secret of being a fan of, because Dunn or no-Dunn, I think the team is still headed in the general correct direction, based on the building of the team from within, on the farm. I tip my e-cap to the Nationals office for not caving into their offer, the fans' demands, and sticking to their guns, and I'm especially relieved that the Braves will no longer have to face Dunn anymore, for at least three years.

Another by-product of the Tulo deal - MLB
If I could hand-pick my own starting left-infield, it would very likely end up being Troy Tulowitzki and Ryan Zimmerman. And seeing what Tulo got, Zim has alluded to the fact that he'd love a similar deal to lock up him in Washington for the next decade. It's debatable to whether he deserves it or not, but personally, if anyone does, it's Zim, who like Tulo, is outstanding with the bat, and plays excellent defense to boot.

Tendered and non-tendered - WaPo
The Nationals had a ton of players arbitration eligible, and unlike most teams, many were tendered contracts: Zombie Jesus Flores and Alberto Gonzalez have already agreed to one-year deals, $750K, and 600K respectively. P John Lannan, P Sean Burnett, P Doug Slaten, UT Michael Morse, and OF Josh Willingham were all tendered contracts. I'm curious to what's going to happen with Willingham, who was denied a request for a multi-year deal. But non-tendered were C Wil Nieves (no room), Chien Ming-Wang (didn't even play), and Joel Peralta (Got greedy, wanted two years).

Speculation: Carl Pavano? - NDN
Having actually completed a full season with minimal injury, Carl Pavano is looking to be sold high on, and the Nationals could be interested. Maybe a move back to the NL could rejuvenate his career a la Javier Vazquez?

A no-brainer - MLB
Jayson Werth declines arbitration, doing the Phillies a favor by getting them two draft picks.

And he's meeting with, you guessed it, Red Sox - Beerleaguer
Come on, it's pretty much a forlorn conclusion that he ends up in Boston, right?

Who could replace Werth? Surely, Matt Diaz - Philly.com
I understand the happenstance of Matt Diaz's forced departure from the Braves, but it doesn't make me any less disappointed to see him leave. But to see just how much the Phillies World is apparently salivating at the idea of acquiring him for themselves is kind of nauseating. Their ideas for right field are a little puzzling, with such names as Diaz, Domonic Brown, Ross Gload and Ben Francisco being thrown out there to succeed Werth, but the realistic option is to get Diaz, and do what he does best - platoon him in left with Raul Ibanez.

Never giving up - USA Today
Despite the fact that he'll be 49 come the start of the 2012 season, Jamie Moyer will. Not. Surrender. Fresh off of Tommy John Surgery, the ageless wonder is planning on returning to baseball in 2012, no matter who he's playing for.

Ben Francisco, Kyle Kendrick tendered contracts - Philly.com
Both are logical moves, since Francisco will see a lot of time platooning or starting in right-field with Domonic Brown, or until Brown is fully ready, and Kendrick is a fully capable fifth starter.

Phillies show interest in Abobo Dennys Reyes - Beerleaguer
Yes please. In the wake of J.C. Romero's likely departure, the Phillies are looking at options like Dennys Reyes to fill the spot of bullpen lefty. In 13 years, the 34-year old tubby has bounced around to ten different teams, and guess which team he's forfeited the most home runs to? That's right, the Braves. They're reportedly interested in lefties such as Arthur Rhodes, and potential former Mets, Pedro Feliciano and Hisanori Takahashi.

How does Troy Tulowitzki's contract potentially effect Jimmy Rollins? - Phillies Nation
Always fun to think of these scenarios, how one player's massive deal effects another player of a similar position. How the most dynamic shortstop in the game, in Troy Tulowitzki effect J-Roll, who hits free agency soon? Now that I think about it, I kinda cringe wondering if Brian McCann and his agent are keeping their eye on Joe Mauer's contract when Heap hits free agency in 2014?