MLB Free Agents 2012: 14 Most Underrated Signings of the Offseason

There was a lot of movement this winter in baseball. The Los Angeles Angels and Miami Marlins stole the show by pouring millions of dollars into new impact players. Prince Fielder jumped ship to the American League to pair up with Miguel Cabrera in the heart of Detroit.

Sure, all big moves. But for the amount of money shelled out in those cases, it makes sense. How about the little guy? Who made moves in free agency this offseason that will go largely unnoticed or underrated?

Well, I've got 14 such signings for you. Don't sing my praises just yet — wait until these players prove something with their new teams in 2012.

Without further adieu...

Francisco Cordero

Cordero was dropped like a hot potato by the Reds despite incredible success as their closer over the last four seasons. Cordero has 327 career saves and 150 of them came in Cincinnati. One team's loss is another team's gain.

The Toronto Blue Jays were smart to jump in and snag Cordero before anyone else could. Funny enough, Cordero will start the season setting up Sergio Santos in the Jays' bullpen. Santos has a lot of talent, so I don't expect Cordero to be closing there anytime soon.

This is an underrated signing because Cordero is a great closer and a great reliever in general. If Santos struggles or goes down, Toronto has another automatic closer with tons of experience waiting in the wings.

Juan Rivera

In 62 games for the Dodgers last season, Rivera drove in 46 runs and hit .274. That was more than enough to convince L.A. to re-sign the 33-year-old slugger for another season. And for all the people that ripped on the move, the Dodgers' front office will get the last laugh.

Why? It's a fool-proof move. Rivera always catches flak despite being a .277 career hitter who averages 20 home runs and 80 RBI over his career. People forget this guy was slowed by injuries, not a lack of production. And if he goes down again, Jerry Sands is more than capable of filling that spot.

Hitting behind Matt Kemp and surrounded by Andre Ethier and James Loney, Rivera is going to produce big again. He may eclipse the 20HR/80 RBI mark in that lineup, and if the Dodgers get that kind of production out of their fifth or sixth hitter for just $4.5 million in 2012, that's a bargain.

Bartolo Colon

The Oakland A's put on a free-agency circus this offseason, and signing Colon was certainly a part of that. But don't forget, Colon wasn't a total waste last season for the Yankees. He still won eight games for them, and that's all you can reasonably expect out of him these days.

Colon is 38 years old, but clearly has good stuff as indicated by his 2005 Cy Young award. And in typical A's fashion, they signed him for just $900,000. If Colon can hold down a spot in the end of the rotation and get them eight wins at that price, it's a fine move.

The expectations with this signing aren't extremely high. But the A's aren't expecting to be extremely competitive in 2012 either. Adding a veteran presence to a rotation filled with young guns can't hurt and if they end up getting some production out of him, it's a bonus.

Hiroki Kuroda

One of the Yankees' replacements for Colon is Hiroki Kuroda, who my Dodgers stupidly let walk. Kuroda has been one of the better unknown pitchers in baseball for a few years now. His years in L.A. never yielded more than 13 wins in a season, but his career ERA is 3.45 and his win totals are absolutely skewed by the run production he wasn't receiving.

Kuroda can be a little bit inconsistent, but with the support of a strong lineup, he should increase the win totals. Kuroda's bread and butter is deception, as he comes at hitters with a bit of an unorthodox windup before releasing a slew of junk balls at the hitter.

He's also got good location on his fastball and is a very, very smart pitcher. Adding Kuroda and Michael Pineda to the staff behind C.C. Sabathia in New York is one of the reasons I think American League teams should be wary of that new-look rotation.

Josh Willingham

To say the A's will miss Josh Willingham's bat in their lineup this year is an understatement. He was the only bat in the lineup for most of last year. And the Twins took notice. They probably figured if Willingham can mash in that lineup, he can do real damage in one with a potentially healthy Joe Mauer.

And he will. He's been almost a 30 HR/90 RBI guy his whole career (27 HR/88 RBI average) and drove in nearly 100 runs (on the A's of all teams!) in 2011. Willingham is still relatively young at 33, and while he won't play fantastic defense or even flirt with hitting .300, he is productive. And that's what really matters.

Willingham is a smart, professional hitter who doesn't waste at-bats. He comes through in scoring situations and will drive in those clutch runs you need late in games. Besides, it never hurts to have a lot of right-handed pop in the middle of your lineup.

Jonathan Broxton

Stop laughing, I'm serious about this one! Look, Broxton imploded with the Dodgers. Everyone remembers that. But did you know before he took over the closer's role that he was arguably the best setup-man in the game?

Broxton is mentally fragile and can't handle the closer's role as well as a team would like. But in Kansas City, all he's asked to do is pitch the eighth inning and get the lead to Joakim Soria. Before he became a full-time closer, Broxton nailed down a mid-2.00's ERA and a ridiculous K/9 rate.

He's a power guy and he's going to get big strikeouts, just as long as it's not one of the last three outs. I'll take Broxton all day in the eighth inning with that triple-digit fastball. The Royals may have struck gold with this move.

Carlos Beltran

This one, I'll never understand. Maybe it was just up here in the Bay Area, but some Giants fans were ripping Beltran apart last season. I guess he was supposed to be the savior of a godawful lineup and hitting .323 in 44 games wasn't enough.

No matter what happened last season, Beltran seemed to have been tabbed as over the hill, finished, etc. Well, over the course of last season between San Francisco and New York, he finished at .300/22/84. In the Cardinals' lineup he will at least duplicate those stats this year.

Granted, Beltran is no Albert Pujols. He won't ever replace that production. But he can bring you a good glove in the outfield, a stolen base threat when fully healthy and enough of a swing between Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman to put some runs up on the board.

Aramis Ramirez

Finally, the man on the title slide is gettin' a little love. Similar to Beltran, Aramis Ramirez is NOT done yet. Injuries may have slowed him in recent seasons, but he still was the best offensive third baseman in the N.L. in 2011.

His .306/26/93 line can reasonably be expected to be attainable in Milwaukee hitting in front of Ryan Braun. He could even surpass those numbers. Let's be real, this signing won't make Brewer fans miss Prince Fielder any less, but it is a huge boost that I think a lot of people are underestimating.

The Brew Crew thrust themselves right back into the picture at the top of their division by signing this big bat. Ramirez is a smart veteran — he knows situational baseball and he's going to put the ball in play with runners in scoring position.

Fernando Rodney

Like the Rays needed any more help on their pitching staff. One of the richest pitching teams got richer this winter by signing Rodney, a situational extraordinaire. Rodney has experience closing, setting up and just plain coming up for a big strikeout.

He's a power pitcher and will K around eight guys per nine innings. His ERA has never been spectacular, but he's pretty consistently dependable, as long as he's used in the right situations. And with the plethora of options Joe Maddon has in Tampa Bay, it will be hard to misuse him.

Rodney will have a smaller impact than most guys on this list, but he's still definitely worthy of inclusion. Outsiders may see this move as pointless by the Rays, but when Rodney gets some huge outs in key situations down the stretch this season, Tampa fans will be the ones laughing.

Octavio Dotel

Dotel is a master of disguise. He will be suiting up for the Detroit Tigers this season, presumably in a seventh or eighth-inning role. It's his 14th big league season. Guess how many teams he has now played for over the years? Thirteen. That's right, it's his 13th organization in 14 years.

So clearly, Dotel knows how to adjust and deal with adversity. But deeper than that, Dotel is just a solid reliever. He had some brilliant years in Houston earlier in his career, and since then he's consistently put up an ERA in the mid-3.00's with a lot of strikeouts.

He's got some good off-speed stuff and played on the World Champion Cardinals in 2011. Dotel has logged innings in every round of the playoffs in his career, so he'll be a valuable addition to the playoff-bound Tigers in 2012.

Juan Pierre

Here is another player who I think gets unfair criticism. I still regret that my Dodgers gave up on him too soon. Anyway, Juan Pierre may be the most underrated outfielder that was signed this season. I understand why — the guy doesn't put up eye-popping numbers on the surface.

But look deeper. What Pierre lacks in batting average (still a career .296 hitter) and power (give the little guy a break!), he makes up for in speed, averaging 51 steals over a typical 162-game season. As an added bonus, Pierre is only 33 and already has over 2,000 hits.

The Phillies won't use him as much as the White Sox have for the last couple seasons, but he'll get some time. And when he does, he'll get on base, steal bases and score runs. Don't be surprised to see Pierre at age 40, about 200 hits shy of 3,000, pointing and laughing at you for not noticing.

George Sherrill

George Sherrill is far removed from his 2008 All-Star season, but he's still got some nasty southpaw stuff. He has thrived at different times in his career both as a closer and a set-up man. Last year, after a rough go in 2010, he bounced back with the Braves and began to show signs of life again.

So why is Seattle's move to sign him this winter underrated? Well first of all, the Mariners can use all the help they can get. Why not give this guy a shot? Worst case scenario, it's a failed $1 million experiment. Best case scenario, he continues to get back to his old self and becomes an above-average reliever again.

You can never have too much bullpen help, especially from someone who has closing experience. If Brandon League gets hurt, it's got to be nice for the M's to know they have a guy that they could call upon who has been there before.

Edwin Jackson

I could have put Jackson or new teammate Gio Gonzalez on this slide and I would have felt the same way. Both very solid, underrated moves made by the suddenly-scary Washington Nationals. Jackson is also well-traveled, as the Nats will be his seventh team in 10 seasons.

What Jackson lacks in career numbers, he makes up for with electrifying stuff. When put in the right situation, Jackson can be nearly unhittable for a couple starts. I think he'll thrive in Washington as the No. 3 or No. 4 guy.

Not only does Jackson have nasty pitches, but when the time calls for it, he knows how to deliver in the clutch. In last year's playoff run for St. Louis, while he wasn't spectacular, Jackson still got them a huge win in the World Series.

Manny Ramirez

Yep, that's right. Not because he'll necessarily start hitting 400-foot home runs again, but for the intangibles he's going to bring to this young team. Not only is Manny already a mentor to Yeonis Cespedes in Oakland, but you can't deny the experience he brings.

Manny is one of the greatest right-handed hitters of this generation, something a couple positive tests won't take away from him. PEDs do not make a swing that silky smooth or an eye that patient and picky. Manny signed for pocket change, and will be huge for inspiring work ethic and professional at-bats in an offensively-stagnant team.

Ask any former teammate or manager. They have never met anyone that works harder than Manny, despite his on-field goofiness. If the A's get even a little bit of production from Manny this season, it was worth every penny.