TOP 5 (+1 Bonus) FREE AGENT RESIGNINGS
Konerko broke out with perhaps his biggest season ever after a couple of years of mediocrity. At age 34, he scored the highest OPS of his career (.977), missed his career highs in average by .001, in homers by 2, and in RBI by 5. His 5.0 WAR eclipsed his previous career mark by 1.5. He made his fourth All-Star team (as a bonus 39th man selection, or whatever, but still). The White Sox rewarded him with a 3-year deal AND a big bat to protect him in the lineup (see #7 of the previous entry).
Huff was by far the biggest bat on a San Francisco team that won the World Series mostly on the strength of pitching - he led the team in homers, RBI, and OPS. He also contributed by manning both corner outfield spots when his team was in need. He'll have at least two more years with the Giants (plus a possible third year with a team option), and with no significant offensive upgrades (despite an offense nicknamed "Torture" by Giants fans, they only managed to add aging shortstop Miguel Tejada and hold on to aging leftfielder Pat Burrell) Huff looks to continue as the team's brightest star at the plate for quite some time.
After being acquired in 2009, Pavano stuck around for a full season with Minnesota and worked wonders. Rejuvenating a career that almost stopped short with the Yankees in 2005, Pavano pitched even better than his breakout 2004 season (which netted him that big contract with New York in the first place), leading the league with both 7 complete games and 2 shutouts. How the 34-year-old managed so many innings and wins with such a (relatively) low strikeout rate (3.16 for every walk) we may never know... but the Twins are banking on him to repeat the feat for two more years.
Any year you can hang onto perhaps the best living relief pitcher has to be considered a winner, even though Rivera, a lifelong Yankee, wasn't likely to sign anywhere else. The Yanks stuck with Rivera's $15 mil per annum price tag for two more years, the same they'd been paying him the previous three. Some may question whether 60 innings a year is worth so much money - and we all know that saves are the most overvalued statistic in all of baseball - but there's also that tangible intimidation factor and the relative assurance of an 8-inning game for those 60 or so games in which he does appear.
Perhaps no one was more useful off the bench last year than Thome was for the Minnesota Twins. They've got him back for a year at age 40, but the only question is where to put him. He got a chance to play last year when first baseman Justin Morneau went down with an injury, but he's back at first base, All-Underrated team member Michael Cuddyer and imminent arbitration case Delmon Young occupy the outfield corners, and Jason "The Future" Kubel is the full-time DH. I don't know if he'll earn his $3 mil as a full-time pinch-hitter, but his '011 salary, as low as it seems, is a full 100% increase from what he was paid in '010, which should give you some idea of his value.
And finally, what list of resignings would be complete without the product of the year's most talked about negotiation period, Captain Derek Sanderson Jeter, Shortstop, Esq.? He only squeaks by on a bonus pick because a) he wasn't really that productive last year, b) he's in his mid-30s and likely won't stay at his customary position for long, and c) I really didn't want to revisit those agonizing few weeks towards the end of 2010 when it looked like Cap'n Jetes might be seen wearing anything other than pinstripes.
So that's pretty much it. A lot more action in the finding-a-new-job market than in keeping-your-old-job. The best honorable mention is the aforementioned Pat Burrell, who isn't even slated to start for the Giants, pending Mark DeRosa's return to relevancy. As you'll see next time, there was much more news in the trade department...
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