Even More Wheeling and Dealing

The trades and signings are flying fast and furious as we approach the Holidays.

After trading Kevin Millwood, the Rangers signed Rich Harden to a one-year deal guaranteeing Harden $7.5.  There’s a mutual option for a second year, but what really matters is that the Rangers are only on the hook for one season.  Harden is a high-reward-high-risk pitcher, great when he’s healthy, but rarely healthy for an entire season.  At this point in their careers, I’d rather have Rich Harden and Chris Ray than Kevin Millwood for the same money.

Also, in a note that may be of some interest to Giants’ fans, the Orioles threw into the Millwood deal as a player to be named later, now-former Giants prospect Ben Snyder, who was just selected by the O’s in the Rule 5 draft.

Snyder pitched well at AA Connecticut in 2009, with a 2.88 ERA and 86 walks as against 38 walks in 97 IP.  However, he missed some time after getting struck in the head with a line drive around early August, and I’m doubtful that his performance at AA Connecticut, which is a terrific place to pitch, translates to a major league ready player.  The Rangers will have to keep Snyder on their roster all season long or offer him back to the Giants at half the Rule 5 draft price.

Next, the Rangers acquired 3Bman Mike Lowell and $9 million of his $12 million 2010 salary from the Red Sox for 25 year old catcher Max Ramirez.  Ramirez has a tremendous (for a catcher) career minor league OPS of .889 in 1,768 career ABs.  However, he only had a .659 OPS at AAA Oklahoma City in 2009, his first significant playing time at the AAA level.

The Red Sox also acquired Boof Bonser from the Twins for a player to be named later or cash considerations.  Bonser missed all of last season with shoulder problems, but I’m sure the Sox like his 317 career major league strikeouts, as against only 125 walks, in 391.2 innings pitched.  Like trading for Max Ramirez, this is clearly another Money Ball move by the Red Sox.

The Astros gave Pedro Feliz a one year $4.5 million contract.  I think they’ll regret it, because it’s too much money to pay for a guy who is likely to be a big liability with the bat in 2010.

Houston has also agreed to a three-year $15 million deal with reliever Brandon Lyon.  Too much money over too many years for a good-year-bad-year pitcher like Lyon.

The Braves have apparently traded reliever Rafael Soriano to the Rays for reliever Jesse Chavez, the player the Rays obtained from the Pirates in the recent Akinori Iwamura deal.  The Rays will apparently sign Soriano to a one year deal for around $7 million before the trade is completed.

Soriano has pitched extremely well the last four seasons, but he has a history of elbow problems, having undergone Tommy John ligament replacement surgery in 2004 and having had a second elbow surgery in 2008.   I assume that Soriano will either compete with the Rays’ 2009 closer J.P. Howell for the 2010 closer role, or he will set up Howell.

If you’re interested, here are the 2009 Rule 5 Draft results.  Aside from losing Ben Snyder, the Giants selected right-handed pitcher Steven Johnson from the Orioles’ organization.  He had a fine 2009 campaign split between A+ (about 2/3) and AA (about 1/3), going 12-7 with a 3.41 ERA with 154 Ks, 62 walks and 126 hits allowed in 145.1 IP.  He will be only 22 years old in 2010.

Johnson is an excellent Rule 5 selection, but it remains to be seen whether the pitching-deep Giants are willing to carry him on their major league roster for the entirety of the 2010 season.

The A’s took 25 year old AA reliever Bobby Cassevah from the Angels’ system with the ninth pick of the Rule 5 draft, in a move I really don’t understand.  Cassevah has a career minor league ERA of 4.33 with 190 Ks, 147 walks and 279 hits allowed in 270 innings pitched.  Those are not numbers that suggest this player has any kind of major league future.  The A’s must think that they know something no one else knows: perhaps some mechanical flaw they think they can correct which will turn Cassevah into a star.

Meanwhile, the A’s released reliever Santiago Casilla to make room for Cassevah.  Casilla pitched poorly in 2009 out of the A’s bullpen, but he was a servicible bottom-of-the-bullpen middle reliever in 2007 and 2008.  Casilla will be 30 next year, being a another Dominican player who lied about his age when he signed his first professional contract.  His release may be a form of come-uppance, although I expect he’ll have no trouble finding a AAA slot with another organization for 2010.  All it takes is a couple of good months in AAA, and you’re back in a major league bullpen.

The Pirates signed Bobby Crosby to a one-year $1 million deal.  After looking like a budding star his first two seasons, Crosby stopped hitting after 2005.  It will be interesting to see if now that he’s out of Oakland, his bat will suddenly come to life again.  At any rate, he’s certainly a low-risk proposition for the Pirates.

The Pirates also signed former Giant pitcher Vinnie Chulk to a minor league deal.  Perhaps we haven’t seen the last of Vinnie Chulk.