Victor Martinez Out For 2012

The Tigers line-up has taken a huge hit as DH Victor Martinez is out for the 2012 season, or at least until September.  He was a huge hitter for them last season, being the bat they needed to get into the playoffs and having a oWAR of 3.1, which is pretty good but the Tigers can still make the playoffs without him and win, they do that with their pitching, which is great.  The Tigers will win this division no problem still because the White Sox don’t have enough talent, Twins don;t have pitching and could be without Morneau, the Indians already have shown they are too weak and the Royals pitching isn’t there yet.  the Tigers should still win over 90 games and if they replace Martinez right, they could still do very well in the playoffs.  Martinez is a huge loss and he is the Tigers second best hitter but the Tigers can rebound with minimal damage and if he comes back at the end of the year it will be a great boost and in 2013 he could do very well too.  With this, Cabrera should probably hit third unless a top of the order guy is signed and Boesch can hit third.  Martinez shouldn’t have caught again anyways, so that’s not a concern.  His offense will be missed but I still like the Tigers a lot, and the talent on this is big in quantity and quality.  His average and OBP will be the biggest thing missed and it should effect the Tigers by 2-3 less wins than expected, so I see them at 93-94 wins.

Hot Stove: Willingham, Saito

• The Twins are about to sign Josh Willingham, who is above age 30 but still in his prime and we should expect one around 30 homer season from him as a twin.  He will also get some RBI and help the Twins get a few wins.  he’s an average fit and his defense is average too, which isn;t bad because the Twins line-up looks a whole lot nicer with him.. He’s the expect five hitter for them and will constantly show off his pop.  It’s a solid signing but the best will defiantly come this year but probably with a decent follow-up signing.  He should do well in a lot of key factors such as clutch, within the division and hitting a Target Field well.  This deal is undetermined in amount of years yet, but would be perfect and 4 is okay.
• The Diamondbacks signed Takashi Saito, and even though he’s older I still see him begin what he was for the Brewers, a great setup man a nd reliever with a low ERA.  He can do all this through 2013.  It’s a one year deal and a great fit.  Awesome and very smart move by the D’Backs, I expect the Diamondbacks bullpen to improve a ton and great stats and success from Saito, even though his ERa could rise a little in Arizona, not above 2.55.  adding Saito and Breslow to Putz will make for an easy 7-8-9

Angels Sign Albert Pujols

The Angels have signed future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols to a ten-year, over 250 million dollar deal, sure he’s overpayed but he’s the best player in baseball since Barry Bonds(and no steroids!).  First, a reflection on his Cardinal career, considering last year was his worst and he missed out on 100 RBI on the season for the first team that he would have gotten easily barring a wrist injury, he has had a great Cardinal career and dare I say this but he’s pretty close to being as good as Stan Musial was in St. Louis and if you take Pujols 11 years and compare to Musial’s it’s a toss-up, plus he won two World Series, very successful and I think I’d take Pujols over Musial, though Musial I respect a ton and was one of the greatest hitters ever.  It’s a huge loss to the Cards and it will cost them at least 10 wins and a lot more, but they will survive and maybe they will surprise me.  Here’s how Pujols Angels career should play out, years 1-6 worth the money, years 7-8 Still great but overpayed, years 9-10 still good but way overpayed.  Pujols will have a big first year in LA, not his best ever and he may still have more to come but Pujols will have a good year and bolster the Angels line-up a ton.  The angels are probably a little better than the Rangers now too and Pujols should have a great rest of his career there.  He wills till win a few more MVPs and will be feared.  He will give them a lot fo production and there is no chance he will be a bust.  He’s the best player in the MLB so the impact for now will be off the charts but in 6-8 years the deal might be a bit heavy, but a lot of good to come for Pujols and he will just hit, hit, and hit some more.  His defense will be above average and this is a great fit.  The whole line-up looks a lot better.  Expect over a 115 HR in the first 3 years of the deal and over 375 in all of it, plus a .325-ish batting average and a ton of RBI, greats stats

Dodgers Sign Jerry Hairston Jr, Close to Deal With Aaron Harang

The Dodgers have agreed to terms on a two-year, 6 million dollar deal with Jerry Hairstion Jr.  This is a bit too much money especially since he likely will regress a little from last year but he can be a super utility and at least have a pretty good 2012 for the Dodgers and he should hit well down the stretch and be a productive player and in 2013 he could be so-so.  This deal could either be very good or pretty bad but he fits well with the Dodgers and he will do a lot of things for them in 2012.  The Dodgers are also close to signing Aaron Harang as a fifth starter and he could be agreat one if he stays healthy, as a former ace who ca get his fair share of strikeouts and get outs, he can keep his ERA and WHIP down in Dodger Stadium and do well in the NL West and should have some decent stats and sabermetrics.  Harang has something left but signing him eliminates Kuroda completely and Kuroda is a big piece to lose.  My only concern is the Dodgers will be let down signing all of these older players, it could work out for a year or two and combined with Ethier and Kemp help them contend or it will end in disaster.  For now both of these are decent signings in my book.

Heath Bell signs with the Miami Marlins, DeJesus with Cubs

• The Marlins signed Heath Bell to a three-year contract and though he’s a bit over-payed, he’s a bargain compared to Paplebon and will do better than him.  He’s a very good closer and will get at least 100 saves during this contract barring injury I think.  He will be dominant and won’t see any major decline during the contract either and it’s a decent for for Bell.  He will continue to rack up saves and all of his numbers should pretty much stay the same as far as his numbers.  His stuff and pitching will be great and the Miami bullpen is looking pretty good now with an ace in it and it could be very successful and Bell should have a lot of success with the Marlins.  I see him doing a lot for them without many blown saves
• David DeJesus signed for two years, it’s a great fit, perfect amount of time and it should be a good signing.  DeJesus should rebound on his 2011 season and do well in Wrigley.  His homers and hits should rise and he’s going to be a good top of the line-up hitter and be a very good defender.  He should do best in 2012 and could be a great number two hitter.

Cubs New Line-Up

1. SS Starlin Castro
2. RF David DeJesus
3. LF Alfonso Soriano
4. CF Marlon Byrd
5. 1B Bryan LaHair
6. C Geovany Soto
7. 2B Jeff Baker
8. 3B Blake DeWitt

Free Agent Profile: Magglio Ordonez

OVERVIEW: An aging outfielder coming off a disappointing season, I believe he still has a lot left in his tank and something to offer with his bat and he could be a bargain and have a real good 2012 and maybe 2013 to close out his career, but his defense won’t be there, not that he couldn’t play right field but he won’t do that well out there.  He will do better than he did last year and could be the hitter he was but he may also disappoint.
STATS: He could be up to a .300 hitter maybe a little better but .280 or .290 sounds way more realistic at this point.  He could belt a few homers and when given the chance to get an RBI, he will get it a lot of times.  I really like him and what he does and his stats will show it.  His defensive stats won;t be there of course and he should be a little above average sabermetricly.
FITS:
Tigers- He fits best as a Tiger and I’d really like them to re-sign him but I doubt they will re-sign him, which is to bad for both sides
Rangers- He could play left and put Hamilton in center and Cruz in right and give Gentry playing time once in a while, he could revive his career here
Red Sox- They had interest last year and he could serve as a third or fourth outfielder here and do okay
Phillies- He could give Brown so more time and give some nice production without a long time commitment
Athletics- Could fill in a roster spot and play his game minus some pop
BEST FIT: Tigers, but most realistic is the Rangers

IS HE DONE?: I say no but there is a possibility.  If he isn’t going to drop in his production the will do a fine and be just a little bit under his usual production in 2012 and he may drop some in 2013 again or he could drop a lot in production this year, which is possible but not as much.  I say there is only a 30% he’s done and he will do okay this year.

BOTTOM LINE: He’s a good option as an outfielder and could still start

Tigers Acquire Delmon Young from Twins

This could be this year’s Cody Ross.  He’s going to do exactly what he did last night and that’s get on and do good things and he won’t be anything but average out in the field.  The Tigers got rid of Cole Nelson, a guy with a small future but no success yet, so he’s a so-so guy and a player to be named later, who is probably going to be someone like Jamie Johnson.  Young is the number three hitter they needed and will act more like the 2010 Young almost right away.  His offense will be great and he will be very productive, also drawing walks.  He could really breakout with all his tools and this will a great move for the Tigers.  Magglio Ordonez will lose playing time but I still think he can get his average up and he will dow well in a part-time roll and maybe get back to a full role.  This move makes the Tigers even more of a contender and that much better and they could do very well in the playoffs with him.  Young will do good with the Tigers, I guarantee it.   I like this move for Detroit as for the Twins, they lose a good player and it could hurt them more than they think, Rene Tosoni could do very well though.
UPDATE: The Twins got Lester Oliveros, who has a big future as a really good middle reliever, it’s still a good move for Detroit but the Twins got a long-term and great arm.

How good can Casper Wells do?

This season he will be a good fourth outfielder with a lot of power who will hit decent.  His average will probably be at .270 or .275 when the season ends but when he gets hot he could get it up to .300.  In the future he could be even better but this year he should be a great back-up for the Tigers and could get close to 10 homers along with stealing a few bases.  His tools could carry him farther than most people think and even though he won’t always hit as good as he did last year he can go on streaks like that a lot.  This year he could see a lot of playing time in left field and if he gets he will take advantage on both defense and offense and he should help the Tigers a lot this season.  I see him as being a great platoon guy anywhere in the outfield someday but he could do even better.  This year he will do pretty good and do his role very good.  His numbers should look very nice at the end of the season.   I could see both him and Boesch excelling in their roles which will the Tigers a ton even though Wells isn’t quite as good as Boesch.

Fantasy Topics: Morrow and Nathan

• I believe Brandon Morrow has a chance to become a fantasy ace and do really well in all categories.  It may or may not happen this year but I would draft him because, he’s going to do good any way and he will eventually get a lot better.  If he does get better it will be later in 2011 but he will have some very good games in the first half and could be a lot higher than some rankings project.  Just watch out for him and he’s a guy I would consider drafting.  He’s going to pitch really well no matter what.  His strikeouts and ERA should be his best stats this year and he will have some struggles, but not that many.
• Joe Nathan is worth taking and by the end of the year he should be one of the top four closers again.  he can shut down anybody and not give up many runs and even if he doesn’t start the year you know he will get around 35 saves and just have a really good year.  I consider him a huge steal.

Will Podsednik go to the Angels?

I think it’s a good one year fit if he does.  He still has enough left in him for one year and they can switch him out with Bourjos and Wells every once in a while and he will hit .300 and have good production for the team but he won’t do that much on defense and he won’t have many homers and RBIs.  I like him there and he could be surprising and have a really good year.  I don’t see him declining this season and I think  the Angels have nothing to lose with signing him.  His speed will be awesome this year too.  Podsednik’s best fit is the Angels and his second best fit is the Dodgers.  He will be best this season if he hits first or near the bottom of the line-up.  He is bound for one more season or two and any team he would do good with and he’s worth taking a chance even though he won’t be really good or as good as he used to be.   He is an awesome player, especially for the Angels.