Special K-Rod

As day two of the winter meetings is coming to a close the Mets were the big winners today. K-Rod was the best closer on the market and the Mets signed him to a very good contract for both parties. The Mets get a guy who has saved 88% of his games the past 3 seasons. Also he is still young. It just seems like he's been around forever. It does not take a baseball genius to figure out the Mets collapse the past two years coincided with injuries to Billy Wagner. At 37 mil for 3 years the Mets have a guy in the prime of his career for a very economical contract. As for K-Rod he will only be 30 when his Mets contract will be up setting himself up for another big payday when the market for closers will probably be better. If he stabilizes the 9th inning now the Mets can go about reconstructed the rest of the pen. I'm hoping they can sign Juan Cruz. Cruz averaged 12.4 strikeouts per 9 innings last year. And he can pitch more than one inning. I'm fairly confident Aaron Heilman will be dealt. Reading various sources it seems he is still a valuable commodity. So hopefully Omar will take his time and make the best deal possible for him.

Staying on the closer theme Kerry Wood appears headed to Cleveland. 2 years with an option for a 3rd. No finances disclosed yet. Once Joe Borowski went down last year they went throught alot of closers. Jensen Lewis did a nice job at the end of the season. IF!!!!!!!!!!! Wood is healthy he has dominant closer written all over him. The Tribe are still close enough in the AL Central to contend. Especially since the division champion White Sox are being dismantled. Its not hard to picture Cleveland fighting for the division championship. And if thats the case Wood could be a major piece of the puzzle. A la Brad Lidge


In a minor trade. Baltimore sends Ramon Hernandez to Cincinnati for Ryan Freel and minor leaguers(no real prospects). The Reds were in desperate need of a catcher. Paul Bako is certainly not the answer. Hernandez hit 15 HRs last year. Also being a veteran should help the young Reds pitchers. As for Baltimore I don't believe this move is about getting Freel. Saying Freel is injury prone is like saying Disneyworld get tourists. If he stays healthy and Baltimore gets anything from him its a bonus. As I see it there are two positives for the Os. First the minor one is they get to dump some salery trading Hernandez. And the major moving Hernandez opens the job for Chris Wieters. If you have not heard of him yet, now will!


About the only other bit of news to discuss is Casey Blake signs with the Dodgers 3 years 17 mil. Blake is a very useful player who can play just about everywhere. He was very underrated last year after the Dodgers traded for him. Manny got all the attention but Blake was very productive. It seems all good teams have guys like Blake. The Dodgers now have to decide on Manny and if they are going to enter the CC sweepstakes. With San Diego wanting to have a payroll around 40 mil., Colorado rebuilding and the Giants with a weak linup the NL west may be a two horse race with Arizona and LA.

Is it my immagination or has the market for starting pitchers reached irrational levels? And I'm not even talking about CC. I heard Derek Lowe has a offer on the table for 67 mil for 4 years. Do the math thats over 16 mil per for a 36 year old pitcher. I like Lowe but at that price tag let the Yanks and Red Sox fight it out. Then there is AJ Burnett. When you watch him pitch he looks like he has the potential to throw a shutout on any given night. BUT his numbers are not even close to the money thats being talked about for him. And it seems everyday somebody else is interested. At last count I've got Atlanta, St. Louis, Boston ,Toronto and of course the evil empire. Now lets not forget Burnett has a career filled with injuries. He may turn out to be a 15 game winner but he may just also easily turn into Carl Pavano