Red Sox Rotation

Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in a month.  The Red Sox are trying to erase the memory of last September's collapse by bringing in new management (in the front office and at the field level) and by hoping that most of last year's returnees can wipe away September and return to top-form.  Let's start with the rotation.

1.  LHP Jon Lester:  Lester has emerged as the true ace of this staff, going 15-9 with a 3.47 ERA and 182 strikeouts in 191.2 innings pitched.  That's pretty much a standard season for Lester, although the innings total and strikeouts are down.  Hopefully he can get his strikeouts and longevity back up and return to his 2010 form.  Regardless, the Red Sox should expect another strong season from their ace.

2.  RHP Josh Beckett:  In a lot of ways Beckett had the best season of his career last year.  He made 30 starts, pitched 193 innings, had a 2.89 ERA, and posted 175 strikeouts.  He didn't get much run support and only went 13-7, but that's really the only negative and more or less outside of his control.  Beckett hasn't posted back-to-back strong seasons since he came to Boston, but new manager Bobby Valentine is hoping that he can right that wrong in 2012.

3.  RHP Clay Buchholz:  2011 was a lost season for Buchholz due to injury, but when he was healthy he was strong, posting a 3.82 ERA in 82.2 innings pitched.  The Red Sox are hoping that he can bounce back next season and maintain his performance on the mound.

4.  RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka:  Dice-K is also trying to bounce back from a lost 2011 season.  He only made seven starts, and in those seven he was roughed up pretty badly.  If Boston expects to win they really can't have Dice-K pitching the way he did last season.  And his health is still a question mark.

5.  RHP John Lackey:  Lackey performed below expectations after Boston signed him before the 2010 season, but after last year he's starting to look like the definition of a free agent bust.  He had minor injury problems which really aren't much of a concern, but his real problems were with performance.  He posted an ERA over 6.00 in 28 starts.  That's not acceptable, especially if Boston wants to avoid another late-season collapse.

6.  RHP Daniel Bard:  Bard's a setup man.  Valentine expects him to be a setup man.  So does everyone else.  But he used to start in the Minor Leagues.  With Bobby Jenks returning and new acquisitions Andrew Bailey and Mark Melancon the bullpen should be strong, or at least deep.  And with so many question marks with the first five in the rotation, the odds of Bard starting have gone way up, to the point where he is now regarded as the first line of defense in case of injury or ineffectiveness.

7.  LHP Andrew Miller:  Miller spent quite a bit of time in Boston last season, making 12 starts.  He also made 12 starts at Pawtucket.  He was lights-out at AAA, but not so much in Boston.  Having said that, it becomes apparent that Miller is really only here for depth.  But he is well-liked in the organization and should get a fair-shake in Spring Training.  He'll be the first one recalled if the Red Sox need a lefty.

8.  LHP Felix Doubront:  Doubront spent some time on the Minor League disabled list last season.  He had rehab assignments in both the New York-Penn League and the Eastern League, but spent most of the year at Pawtucket.  All told, he made 18 starts in the Minors and was lights-out when healthy.  But a September call-up that saw Doubront pitch in 11 games out of the bullpen for Boston was a disaster.  He'll probably end up in AAA unless he opens some eyes in the Spring.

9.  RHP Stolmy Pimentel:  Pimentel spent last season between AA and the Carolina League.  He wasn't particularly impressive in either stop, treading water in A-ball and getting dominated at AA, averaging over one earned run given up per inning pitched.  Despite his ineffectiveness, the Red sox still thought highly enough of him to put him on the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule V Draft.  But he's probably going back to AA and won't be in the Majors anytime soon.

10.  LHP Drake Britton:  Like Pimentel, Britton was added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule V Draft.  And like Pimentel, the Red Sox are hoping he turns the corner soon.  Last season at Salem, Britton posted a 6.91 ERA in 26 starts.  He figures to start the season at AA.

11.  RHP Brandon Duckworth:  Duckworth is a Minor League veteran who spent last season at Pawtucket, posting a 3.97 ERA in 21 starts.  He never got a recall from Boston last year, but he impressed a lot in the organization and was brought back for 2012.  He should stick with the team and will probably be the first right-hander to get a recall from Pawtucket, especially if there is a need in the rotation.

12.  RHP Doug Mathis:  Mathis is a Minor League veteran who the Red Sox

13.  RHP Charlie Haeger:  Haeger is a Minor League veteran who throws a knuckleball. Haeger started last season in Tacoma but was released.  He was picked up by Boston late in the season and sent to Portland, where he pitched well.  Haeger is well-liked in the organization and his knuckleball remains unique and intriguing.  He could get a recall at some point in time in 2012.

14.  RHP Chorye Spoone:  Spoone is a former top prospect from Baltimore who will only be 26 this season.  He spent last season between AA and AAA in Baltimore's system before leaving as a six-year Minor League free agent.  Spoone still has potential but Boston will probably have a leash on him.  He's almost guaranteed to start the season in AAA.  Last year he posted a combined 4.50 ERA in 122 innings pitched.

15.  RHP Carlos Silva:  Yes.  This is the same Carlos Silva who last pitched in the Majors for the Cubs in 2010.  He's been given a tryout by the Red Sox this year, but don't expect him to last long.  He shouldn't stick with the club past Spring Training.  He pitched in the Yankees system last season and was injured for most of it, making only four starts at AAA.

The Red Sox rotation is iffy.  Aside from Lester, there are questions everywhere.  Beckett hasn't had back-to-back strong seasons in Boston yet.  Buchholz and Dice-K are trying to return from injury (and Dice-K has never really been anything more than a solid pitcher anyways).  John Lackey is just plain terrible.  Daniel Bard has never before been a starter.  And there isn't much in reserve in the Minor Leagues. 

Mets make Cedeno Signing Official

The Mets have officially agreed to terms with SS Ronny Cedeno on a one-year, $1 million deal.  Cedeno batted .249 with a .297 OBP last season in 413 at-bats with Pittsburgh.  The Mets expect to announce the signing of OF/2B Scott Hairston later this week, who has yet to pass a physical.

Cedeno's best season came in 2010, when he batted .256 with eight homers in 468 at-bats with Pittsburgh.  GM Sandy Alderson plans to sign more pitchers to provide both rotation and bullpen depth at Buffalo.

Cedeno has been signed to serve as a utility man behind SS Ruben Tejada and the second baseman (whoever that person is), but LeRoy believes he is a dark horse candidate to win the starting shortstop position over Tejada, who will more likely serve as a utility player.

Yankees Acquire Pineda, sign Kuroda

Pitching has been on the Yankees' wish list for the entire off-season, and, truth be told, for about two years the Yanks have always seemed to be at least two or three pitchers short.  Owner Hal Steinbrenner has been looking for top-line pitchers without sending his payroll over $200 million for the entire winter.  In a span of 24 hours, the Yankees acquired two pitchers.

The Yankees acquired RHP Michael Pineda in a trade with the Mariners and signed RHP Hiroki Kuroda as a free agent.  The Yankees consider these two acquisitions to the be the thing that will push them over the hump in the AL East, and they are again naming themselves as favorites for the AL pennant.  The Yanks sent C/DH Miguel Montero - who had been penciled in as the team's third catcher and starting DH -  and RHP Hector Noesi - who was set to compete for the fifth starter's job - to Seattle for Pineda.

The Mariners and Yankees had been fine-tuning this deal for weeks, trying to improve upon their rotation that was plagued last season by RHP A. J. Burnett and RHP Phil Hughes.  Pineda has a good strikeout-to-walk ratio, is only 23, makes $415,000 per season, isn't arbitration eligible until after the 2013 season, and will be under team control until 2016.  The Yankees rotation now looks like this:  1.  LHP C. C. Sabatha, 2.  Pineda, 3.  RHP Ivan Nova.  Those are the only guaranteed spots.  Hughes, Burnett, Kuroda, and RHP Freddy Garcia will battle for the last two spots in the rotation and, presumably, at least one spot in the bullpen.  The ultimate loser may be released in Spring Training.

Kuroda has been all-but-guaranteed one of those last two rotation spots, who the Yankees have been courting since last off-season (they also attempted to acquire him via trade last July).  The barrier here was that Kuroda's asking price - $15 million - was considered too high.  With the off-season starting to get late (pitchers and catchers report in a month) and the market shrinking Kuroda's price fell to within the Yankees' range.

Kuroda, who had a 1.21 WHIP and had a good K/9 ratio and will be 37 this season, will make $10 million with the Yankees this year.  The Bombers have made it no secret that they will plan to trade Burnett this Spring, but that will be difficult given the $32 million that he is owed.  Pineda, on the other hand, produced swings and misses on 12 percent of his pitches last season.

The Mariners were able to part with Pineda and 19-year-old RHP Jose Campos because they are deep in young pitching and shallow on offense, a situation which they hope will be helped by the acquisition of Montero.  Montero had a .996 OPS last season in the Majors and has been an animal at the plate throughout his Minor League career.  The Yankees were reluctant to part with Montero, who they expected to start this year.

But Steinbrenner believed that the need for pitching was greater than the need for offensive production.  Right now, the Yankees plan to use a revolving door at DH, led by 3B Alex Rodriguez, and have been talking to free agent 1B Carlos Pena and DH/OF Johnny Damon, both of whom have experience as a DH.  With seven starting pitchers in the fold, the Yankees could also make a trade to acquire a low-grade DH.

The Yankees are flaunting these two deals as the ones which put them back on top, but let's be realistic.  You lost two of your "best" young players in Montero and Noesi (though neither of them have reached their potential) and in return you got one good young pitcher and another who's in low-A ball.  Kuroda should be a nice sign, but he's going to be 37 next season and here's LeRoy predicting that he will be viewed as a $10-million-bust by November 2012.  Montero was said to be the next Mike Piazza, will Pineda be worth that?  The AL East and the AL Pennant, that's what Steinbrenner says this rotation will bring the Yankees.  Well the pennant has to be earned in the playoffs, so that's premature.  And by the way, it wouldn't be that much of a surprise to see the Yankees finish in third place in the East this season, with or without this rotation.

Yankees sign Preston Mattingly as Minor League free Agent

The Yankees have signed OF Preston Mattingly to a Minor League contract.  Mattingly batted .232 with five home runs and 29 runs batted in last season in the Minor Leagues in the Dodgers organization.  He has not been invited to Spring Training.

He is the son of former Yankees player and coach and current Dodgers manager Don Mattingly.  His brother, Taylor Mattingly, also played for the Yankees in 2003 after being drafted in the 42nd round that year.

Martinez Claimed on Waivers by Houston

OF Fernando Martinez has been claimed on waivers by the Houston Astros.  Martinez was waived two days ago after being designated for assignment.  Martinez, a former top prospect, batted .227 with one home run and two runs batted in last season.  Houston, who had the worst record in the Majors last year, was the first team eligible to put in a claim for Martinez.

LHP Daniel Ray Herrera, who was waived along with Martinez, cleared waivers and will remain with the team with the Buffalo Bisons and is expected to report to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.  Herrera was eligible to become a free agent if he cleared waivers but opted to stay with the Mets.

Martinez and Herrera were waived to make room on the 40-man roster for IF Ronny Cedeno and OF Scott Hairston.

Larkin elected to Hall of Fame

It finally happened.  We knew it was going to happen with this weak ballot.  A hugely unworthy player was elected to the Hall of Fame.  I could see why Larkin would get a lot of support from a certain subtext of BBWAA voters, as he was a 12-time All-Star.  In the minds of a lot of people that is an indication that he was a dominant player in his era.  But with some of the dumbass moves that voters have made in selecting All-Stars it doesn't resonate much with me.  Now we have elected a player with a batting average lower than .300, less than 2,500 hits, less than 200 home runs, and less than 1,000 runs batted in into the Hall of Fame.  Who's next?

We shouldn't be at all surprised by Larkin's election.  Without a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer on the ballot the next-closest guy was probably going to get elected.  Based on percentages from 2011, that player was Larkin.  He finished third last year behind 2B Roberto Alomar and RHP Bert Blyleven (who were both elected) with 62.1 percent of the votes.  But I have to admit that I was a bit surprised by the significance of the jump.  He went from 62.1 percent to 86.4 percent in one year, a 22.3 percent jump.  I didn't think the ballot was thin enough that that many of the writers would vote for Larkin as the only viable candidate, which is what appeared to have happened.  I also thought, and I will always contend, that there were many other more deserving candidates on this ballot, and on any other ballot, than Barry Larkin.

Who were some of those players?  Well, let's start with the obvious and the most controversial.  The most impressive player statistically is undoubtedly 1B Rafael Palmeiro, who finished his career with over 3,000 hits and over 550 homers.  The second-most impressive candidate is probably 1B Mark McGwire, who hit over 550 home runs in his career.  But both of those players have been directly linked to the performance-enhancing drug scandal, with Palmeiro being labeled as a PED user by former teammate DH Jose Canseco, failing a steroid test in 2005, and being named in the Mitchell Report, and with McGwire being caught using a then legal and over-the-counter but now-illegal PED, failing a steroid test in 2001 having his name leaked by the New York Times in 2009, being named by Canseco, being named in the Mitchell Report, and eventually admitting to using in an interview with Bob Costas.  Those two players haven't gotten much support and most of the writers don't want to vote for them, I get that.  I disagree with them on both cases, but I get it.

But what about some of the other players?  1B Jeff Bagwell, who hit over 400 home runs in his career, got a fairly-impressive 56 percent of the vote.  Bagwell wasn't ever considered to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer and I expected that he would have a long wait in store, but compared to Larkin I thought he was much more deserving.  RHP Lee Smith had over 450 saves in his career and should have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer a long time ago, but he only got 50.6 percent of the vote.  OF Tim Raines stole over 800 bases in his career, but he only got 48.7 percent of the vote. 

Those were the top-of-the-line, scandal-free candidates in my opinion (although Raines was known to use cocaine at times in his career).  But what about the mid-level, but still-worthy candidates?  Well DH Edgar Martinez retired with a career .300 batting average and over 300 home runs, but he only got 36.5 percent of the vote, probably due to the fact that he was "only a DH."  1B Fred McGriff hit 493 home runs - that's seven short of 500 for those of you who can't do basic math - and he only got 23.9 percent of the vote.  OF Larry Walker retired with a career .300 batting average and over 300 home runs to go along with eight Gold Gloves in the outfield, but he only got 22.9 percent of the vote.  I know that Martinez is being penalized for being a DH, and Walker will be slighted for years to come because he spent the ,majority of his career in Colorado, but I honestly can't come up with any reason about why McGriff is getting so little support.

McGwire got 19.5 percent of the vote and Palmeiro came in with 12.6 percent of the vote.  OF Dale Murphy, who finished his career with 398 home runs, was sandwiched between them with 14.5 percent of the vote.  In my opinion, a player like Murphy is a tertiary player who would have to wait for many years (possibly a full 15) to be elected but still a Hall of Famer nonetheless. 

The only returning player voted off of the ballot was OF Juan Gonzalez, who hit over 400 homers in his career but has been linked to PEDs, though nothing concrete has ever developed.  I guess that doesn't matter anymore.

I viewed Larkin as being less-worthy than all of the above-mentioned players, although I refuse to fault the BBWAA for not voting for either McGwire or Palmeiro.  Larkin would not have been able to crack my top ten.  But if I didn't vote for McGwire or Palmeiro he would have.  So I realize how he could have garnered more than 22 percentage points in additional votes from last year.

There weren't many worthy newcomers to the ballot this year.  3B Vinny Castilla, OF Tim Salmon, 3B Bill Mueller, RHP Brad Radke, C Javy Lopez, 2B Eric Young, OF Jeromy Burnitz, OF Brian Jordan, LHP Terry Mulholland, 3B Phil Nevin, OF Ruben Sierra, and SS Tony Womack were all voted off of the ballot on their first try.  Burnitz was a nice player with a ton of power, but he failed to get to 1,000 RBIs in his career in spite of his tremendous home run production.  Castilla and Sierra were probably worthy players, but they didn't crack the top ten on my ballot or on many others.  The rest were completely undeserving altogether.

And then there's the other bonehead support for players like Larkin, but even less-deserving than him.  RHP Jack Morris jumped up 13.2 percent to top out at 66.7 percent on this year's ballot.  Morris finished his career with less than 300 wins, less than 3,000 strikeouts and nowhere near 300 saves (to his credit he was never a relief pitcher) with a career ERA of 3.90.  That's a pretty good ERA to retire with, but is that alone worthy of Hall of Fame consideration.  I say no.  And think about this for a second.  How many pitchers with ERAs of 3.90 do you remember winning a CY Young Award?  Probably not many right?  Right.  SS Alan Trammell somehow managed to get 36.8 percent of the vote and 1B Don Mattingly amazingly garnered 17.8 percent of the vote once again.  Mattingly is getting the benefit of the doubt because he played for the Yankees, however obscene it might be.  I don't know where Trammell's support is coming from.

OF Bernie Williams got 9.6 percent of the vote, the only newcomer to the ballot who didn't get voted off on his first try.  Williams doesn't deserve any support at all, either, but, like Mattingly, he played for the Yankees and is getting the benefit of the doubt.

I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that next year's ballot is set to include 2B Craig Biggio (3,000 hits), OF Barry Bonds (700 home runs, 500 stolen bases), RHP Roger Clemens (300 wins, 4,000 strikeouts), OF Kenny Lofton (600 stolen bases), C Mike Piazza (.300 batting average, 400 home runs), RHP Curt Schilling (3,000 strikeouts), and OF Sammy Sosa (600 home runs), and is easily the best ballot the BBWAA will have seen in years.  The bad news is that it will be especially tainted with Bonds (federal conviction), Clemens (federal indictment), and Sosa (failed test and Canseco allegations) all linked to PED use.  The other bad news is that with a ballot this packed with worthy players - especially untainted players like Biggio - is that players like Bagwell and Smith will probably lose support as opposed to gaining it.

Mets Designate Herrera, Martinez for Assignment, sign Three to Minors Deals

The Mets have designated LHP Daniel Ray Herrera and OF Fernando Martinez for assignment.  The moves were completed to make room on the 40-man roster for the recently re-signed OF Scott Hairston and newly-acquired IF Ronny Cedeno.  The Mets have ten days to trade the two players, but they have opted to expose both of them to waivers in an effort to retain them at Buffalo.  If Martinez clears waivers he will be sent to Buffalo.  Herrera would have to be outrighted if he clears waivers and would have the option of becoming a free agent.  Last season Herrera went 0-1 with a 4.66 ERA and five strikeouts in 18 appearances out of the bullpen.  Martinez batted .227 with one home run and two runs batted in.

The Mets have also agreed to terms with RHP Miguel Batista and RHP Miguel Cabrera to minor league contracts and have invited them to Spring Training.  Neither one of them really has any orthodox chance of making the team but will be on call at Buffalo if an injury occurs to one of the five starters in New York's rotation, and depth is a good thing in that regard.  LHP Johan Santana is continuing to recover from left anterior capsule surgery.  RHP R. A. Dickey is spending his off-season mountain climbing and there is a fear that he may be injured there and he is also coming off a leg-muscle injury last season.  LHP Jon Niese ended last season on the disabled.