Around MLB '12-'13 (offseason signings, trades, rumors, ect)

[jr lucosa]

http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/33909/20121215/phillies_reach_$18m_deal_with_mike_adams/

6m per seems to be the going rate for decent relievers this year.

At 3yr/18 million that's to pricey for me from a Brewers perspective, but if they would have given money to any reliever, Adams is the guy i'd have liked Melvin to go after.

Until J.P. Howell signs somewhere i'll hold out hope that he could be coming this way, but yeah 3/18 seems to be the norm for good relievers this winter and that's a bit expensive for the Brewers imo.

[humanrefutation]

I am strongly opposed to making that type of investment in a reliever.

[coolhandluke121]

Relievers will be much more important for the Brewers than in a normal season because they will have to limit the innings of their young starters. They will obviously try different starters throughout the season, too, but there will still be a few who emerge as season-long starters and you can't expect 6+ innings out of them all year.

I would pay relievers $6m per year if they can give you the innings to justify it. I think the crew has that need. A single reliever doesn't win you a lot of games, but great bullpen depth does. I wouldn't mind paying $20m for a great bullpen because I think that can get you just as many wins as a $20m star slugger. Just don't give them a lot of years.

[crkone]

Relievers will be much more important for the Brewers than in a normal season because they will have to limit the innings of their young starters. They will obviously try different starters throughout the season, too, but there will still be a few who emerge as season-long starters and you can't expect 6+ innings out of them all year.

I would pay relievers $6m per year if they can give you the innings to justify it. I think the crew has that need. A single reliever doesn't win you a lot of games, but great bullpen depth does. I wouldn't mind paying $20m for a great bullpen because I think that can get you just as many wins as a $20m star slugger. Just don't give them a lot of years.

Relievers aren't reliable year to year though, especially when changing teams. The only thing the Brewers need is a lefty reliever.

[LUKE23]

Dickey to Toronto for d'Arnaud and Syndergaard, the Jays #1 and #3 prospects. Horrendous trade by Toronto.

[Kerb Hohl]

Yeah we talked about it briefly the page before. I'm not a fan really at all for Toronto but it helps them this year I guess. And as much as I don't like trades like this, Dickey became very good last year once he figured everything out. He is a knuckleballer that can throw some heat. So, he can be an effective 3/4 starter if that velocity declines probably for another 5 years.

[ReasonablySober]

If you're the Bluejays, don't you think you could get more for your #1 and #3 prospects than a 38 year old pitcher looking to make an average of $10 million a year?

[coolhandluke121]

Relievers will be much more important for the Brewers than in a normal season because they will have to limit the innings of their young starters. They will obviously try different starters throughout the season, too, but there will still be a few who emerge as season-long starters and you can't expect 6+ innings out of them all year.

I would pay relievers $6m per year if they can give you the innings to justify it. I think the crew has that need. A single reliever doesn't win you a lot of games, but great bullpen depth does. I wouldn't mind paying $20m for a great bullpen because I think that can get you just as many wins as a $20m star slugger. Just don't give them a lot of years.

Relievers aren't reliable year to year though, especially when changing teams. The only thing the Brewers need is a lefty reliever.

Some are. It's not just all about looking at stats from year-to-year. Scouting plays a role, too. Some relievers get lucky and others are good, and it's a scout's job to look past the stats (which are based on limited innings) and figure out what's really going on.

The "two starters per game" approach is interesting, too. Weren't the Brewers trying that in the minors last year? Carry an extra pitcher and use the bullpen more as if it's the playoffs? It's intriguing.

[Kerb Hohl]

If you're the Bluejays, don't you think you could get more for your #1 and #3 prospects than a 38 year old pitcher looking to make an average of $10 million a year?

Devil's advocate. If 2012 Dickey is sustainable given that he's mastered his knuckleball, he'll provide the same yearly value at the same price as Zack Greinke for those 3 years they have him instead of the 1.5 the Brewers did.

Not saying I believe he will reproduce what he did last year but something to chew on. I dunno, I guess it'll be tough for him to be a ~3.10 FIP guy the rest of the way but if it's sustainable then maybe he is.

[El Duderino]

If you're the Bluejays, don't you think you could get more for your #1 and #3 prospects than a 38 year old pitcher looking to make an average of $10 million a year?

Devil's advocate. If 2012 Dickey is sustainable given that he's mastered his knuckleball, he'll provide the same yearly value at the same price as Zack Greinke for those 3 years they have him instead of the 1.5 the Brewers did.

Not saying I believe he will reproduce what he did last year but something to chew on. I dunno, I guess it'll be tough for him to be a ~3.10 FIP guy the rest of the way but if it's sustainable then maybe he is.

That's the whole key to this trade.

Dickey wasn't some one year wonder as some have implied. Fangraphs wrote an article comparing the last three seasons of Dickey and David Price, pointing out that the production has been nearly identical. That said, there is more reason to worry that Dickey could struggle commanding his knuckleball at such a high level than other elite starters with more traditional great stuff.

If though he can remain say a 3.00 ERA guy while eating tons of innings, he'll help give Toronto a good shot at finally making the playoffs again given the AL East is good, but not the monster it usually is. Plus, Dickey will only make 30 million over the next three years, while a guy like Greinke makes 25 million per.

I feel for the Blue Jays. The AL East is usually such a brutal division that it makes it really hard for a franchise like Toronto to not just win the division, but also the wild card because the unbalanced schedule forces them to play so many games against other AL East teams.

[jakecronus8]

On the surface it looks bad but its hard to blame Toronto. In a division with the Yankees, Sox, Rays, and now even Baltimore your window is tiny.

[humanrefutation]

Knuckleballers like Dickey can pitch into their early-to-mid 40s, too. Age isn't as big of a factor with him.

[jr lucosa]

It will all come down to if he's the same guy in Toronto that he was in New York.

Like el dude pointed out, he's actually been a very good pitcher for three years now, what concerns me is not only is he a knuckleballer but until he was in his mid 30's he could hardly crack any ML rotations. I would feel better about it as a Jays fan if he had been solid since he was say, 27 or 28 years old instead of 36. I mean he made his ML debut in 2001, not 2010. It is possible that when he got to NY they found something mechanical or otherwise that he/they fixed and being a knuckler he could be very solid for another 5 years or so.

The only huge jumps in his numbers last year compared to the two before were K/9 and wins. Otherwise he's been pretty consistent for a while now.

[Kerb Hohl]

The Brewers have agreed to a $50K contract with Dominican outfielder Geraldy Martinez, according to the Dominican Prospect League. Martinez, 17, hits from the right side of the plate and "hits the ball hard gap to gap with true power from [his] pull side," according to the DPL website.
Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#1Z7IKruicHPy3GiD.99

[Kerb Hohl]

Jason Vargas for Kendrys Morales.

Vargas is lucky (for one more year) that he went to a pretty good pitcher's park. Still won't be good for him but if he gets traded to the AL East or signs there he's going to be pushing a 5 ERA. His splits are incredible.

[mlloyd10]

Cubs get Edwin Jackson 4/52

[Kerb Hohl]

Rakuten Eagles To Sign Casey McGehee
By Ben Nicholson-Smith [December 21 at 10:33am CST]
10:33am: McGehee obtained a $1.5MM guarantee, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). The deal includes easily attainable incentives that can bring the value of the contract past $2MM.


Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#0KE7pjMlTslr4r2B.99

[Turk Nowitzki]

That's probably more than he was going to make in the MLB next year.

[ReasonablySober]

[El Duderino]

That looks more like a video game pitch.