Here And There

More small deals.  I like the Royals’ decision to give Rick Ankiel a one-year deal at $3.25 million.  Ankiel really isn’t much of a centerfielder, but he can play the corner outfield positions well, and he’s still young enough (30 in 2010) that he could have another year with the bat like 2007 and 2008.  Given that the Royals don’t have a lot of money to throw around, Ankiel’s not a bad risk for what they had to spend.

With DeJesus, Podsednik and Ankiel as their primary outfielders, the Royals may not get enough offense out of their outfielders in 2010, but at least they’ll be able to catch the ball.  The Royals’ pitchers need all the help they can get.

In what constitutes an admission that it was one of the worst free agent contracts in baseball history, the Angels sent Gary Matthews, Jr. and $21.5 million to the Mets for mediocre relief pitcher Brian Stokes.  Even with all that cash, neither Buster Olney nor Rob Neyer like this deal for the Mets.

My opinion of the trade is more agnostic.  Gary Matthews, Jr. isn’t good, but he’s only costing the Mets a $1 million a year for two years, and a relief pitcher who’s marginal at best.

Brian Stokes had a 3.97 ERA last year, which isn’t terrible, but that was pitching relief in one of the best pitchers’ parks in the National League, and his ratios weren’t good.  Stokes is already 30 years old and his career major league line is as follows: 5.02 ERA, 190 innings pitched, 228 hits, 80 walks and 24 HRs allowed, and 121 Ks.  The Mets won’t have to dig deep to find another right-handed middle reliever who can give them what Stokes gave them in 2009.

In a potential move I hate, the Twins, who’ve had a very quiet off-season, are reportedly interested in signing Jim Thome.  He’s a big name, but he just doesn’t fit at all into the Twins roster.  The Twins already have left-handed hitting Jason Kubel, who’s a full-time DH signed to a reasonable contract, which means that any at-bats Thome would get as a Twin would likely mean even fewer opportunities for Joe Mauer to get in a few games at the DH.  The more games Mauer plays at any position other than catcher, the better.

Thome might have some value pinch-hitting in the late innings for the Twins’ middle infielders, but I suspect they’ll have to pay him a lot of money for not a lot of at-bats.  As such, signing Thome is unlikely to be a good use of the Twins’ limited financial resources.

In a similar move, the Padres signed Matt Stairs to a minor league contract.  The Padres were pretty awful last year, finishing in fourth in the NL West, a full 20 games behind the first-place Dodgers.  A player whose uses are as limited as Matt Stairs (he can’t do much more than pinch hit at this point), doesn’t make a lot of sense to me for a team like the Padres that’s still rebuilding.

That being said, Stairs will probably have two or three crushing pinch-hit HRs against the Giants in 2010.

The Rockies resigned Jason Giambi, which is a very similar move to the one the Padres made.  The difference, however, is that Giambi is a couple of years younger than Stairs, and, more importantly, the Rocks won 92 games in 2009.  They can better afford to sign a limited role player because the two extra wins he might mean over the course of the season are a lot more valuable to a team expected to contend than one that isn’t.

The Phillies will apparently sign Jose Contreras to a one-year contract for 2010.  I haven’t seen the amount reported yet, which makes it hard to evaluate the move properly.  However, Contreras, despite taking his lumps with the White Sox in 2009 (5.42 ERA), still had pretty good ratios (131.2 IP, 53 BBs, 106 Ks), so he’s not a bad risk to take a one-year deal, even given his advanced age.

Finally, Miguel Tejada is returning to the Orioles on a one-year $6 million contract.  The reports have it that Cesar Izturas will remain at SS, with Tejada playing third, and recently signed Garrett Atkins playing first.

I’ll be amazed if Atkins hits well enough to help the O’s playing first, which means that signing Tejada makes the Atkins signing a waste of money.  Also, given that Miguel will be 36 in 2010, I would not be particularly surprised if he has the kind of 2010 with the bat that 37 year old Melvin Mora had in 2009.  Everybody gets old someday, and Tejada’s grand total of only 43 walks drawn in 2008 and 2009 combined makes me think he’s due for a bad year.