Transaction of the Day: 12/20/14 - 12/26/14

This was an abbreviated week transaction-wise because apparently the general managers of all 30 teams took off work from Christmas Eve through Boxing Day. Either that or the guy who updates MLB.com's official transaction column is on vacation since there has been no activity since Wednesday 12/23/14. We'll see if things start to trickle in after the holiday weekend, but I'm not going to stress too much about it. All the hard-working baseball executives should spend the last few days of 2014 with families enjoying the holiday cheer, not scrounging around the free agent market trying to improve their teams. There's still plenty of time for that before next season starts - much to the chagrin of baseball fans everywhere.

This week will also probably be my last time doing this project for a little while, because as soon as the calendar flips over to the new year, I will be concentrating most of my attention to transferring my 2014 40-Man Rosters document into a new one for 2015. I know none of you have seen a full version of this document (most of the charts and lists I post are screenshots of specific parts of it), but this year I'm limiting the scope to three types of players: 1) anyone who played in the MLB in 2014, 2) anyone on a team's 40-Man Roster, and 3) anyone who was invited to Spring Training on a minor league deal. I'll still keep it up to date over the course of the season, but ignoring all the random minor league signings who somehow popped up in my database should hopefully make things a little more manageable. Who knows, maybe if I'm proud of the layout and the content, I'll even share the whole thing as an open source document somehow.

So now that you all have that to look forward to, let's get right into the player movement:

McGehee rejuvenated his career in Japan in 2013

Saturday 12/20/14
- Miami Marlins trade 3B Casey McGehee to San Francisco Giants for P Kendry Flores and P Luis M. Castillo

Believe it or not, this was not the day's only transaction involving an NL West team adding a third baseman from an eastern division team. About 500 miles south of San Francisco, the Padres continued their torrid offseason by bringing in former Red Sox prospect Will Middlebrooks in exchange for a song (i.e. backup catcher Ryan Hanigan, just recently acquired from the Rays in last week's Wil Myers deal). I chose to highlight the Giants' trade not only because McGehee outscored Middlebrooks by more than 5 times the fantasy points in 2014 (1,450 to 256), but also because it's the first (and so far only) addition made to a roster that won the World Series last year. (And also because it features a player who I referenced in last year's edition of my Players Added to the 40-Man Roster post.) A couple more moves will unfold later this week (see below), but it's not inconceivable that SF GM Brian Sabean might be content trotting out basically the same 88-win team that won it all last year. Granted Casey McGehee is a step down from Pablo Sandoval in many respects, whether or not you agree that the latter player was worth the 5 years / $95 million that the Red Sox are shelling out for his services, but the former player does fill the most significant hole in the lineup left by free agency. Check out the next two moves below and then we'll talk about what the overall trends look like.


Monday 12/22/14
- San Francisco Giants re-sign RP Sergio Romo

As is fairly typical of an offseason Sunday, no transactions were recorded on the 21st. And what's more, except for Romo's signing (which was first reported five days earlier by MLB Trade Rumors), the rest of the day's transactions involved sending player outright to Triple-A. San Francisco's bullpen already looked strong before this move, with Santiago Casilla having established himself as the team's Kyra Sedgwick down the stretch last year and the promise of a full season from Hunter Strickland. If former closer Romo's ego doesn't prevent him from excelling in a setup role (which it didn't during all those years he played second fiddle to Brian Wilson), then I can see him as a candidate for a solid performance.

Jake Peavy displays "a competitiveness...
that [he] can't hold back."

Tuesday 12/23/14
- San Francisco Giants re-sign SP Jake Peavy

Remember how the Giants bullpen was already looking strong? Well the Peavy signing allows either Yusmeiro Petit or Tim Lincecum to join that group as a super-long-relief option (providing Matt Cain can return to form, or even just health). Not to make everything about the A's, but it's interesting to compare and contrast the two Bay Area teams: both went 88-74 last year, enough to make the playoffs via a Wild Card spot, and both are run by a couple of the most respected general managers in the game right now. But it's there that the similarities end, especially in terms team-building philosophy. I mentioned that Casey McGehee is the only new player that the Giants have added this offseason; well, across the Bay Bridge, Billy Beane has already made a whopping 14 new additions to Oakland's 40-man roster and counting. And we're not even halfway through the offseason.

88 wins is a respectable baseball season in this age of parity. It's not guaranteed to get you to the playoffs, but for most cooler-headed GM's (i.e. Sabean) it's not a performance that requires you to dismantle your entire team and rebuild from the ground up. Actually, rebuild is the wrong word here, because of the connotation that it requires some period of non-contention before a team becomes relevant again: reassemble is probably the best way to describe what Beane is trying to do for the 2015 A's. He's definitely made his team younger and cheaper (the Billy Butler signing notwithstanding), but he's definitely leveraged most of the team's star power in order to do so. Whereas Brian Sabean has made his team more... similar to last year's team. Keep in mind though that the 2015 Giants look fairly similar to the 2012 Giants who also won the World Series. And both teams' pitching staffs look similar to the 2010 Giants, yet another group of world champs. So maybe Sabean's plan allows for some year-to-year inconsistency while setting the organization up for an overall decade of dominance, while Beane is content to reshuffle his deck whenever he grows tired of the current group of personnel. We'll see what happens as time goes on.

Transaction of the Day: 12/13/14 - 12/19/14

Even though I'm sure all 30 general managers were exhausted following a whirlwind winter meetings, there was actually a meaningful transaction over this past weekend. That's right, on Saturday the Twins finally landed the free agent pitching target they were considering since last offseason when Ervin Santana decided to take a one-year deal with the Braves to rebuild his value after declining a qualifying offer from Kansas City.

Monday 12/15/14

- Chicago Cubs sign SP Jon Lester

While we had heard that this was a done deal several days before it was confirmed on MLB.com, this is an impactful enough move that it bears highlighting despite the fact that we all new it was coming. Pundits everywhere claimed that Lester's signing would jump start the pitching market, and in a sense they were right: since news broke that the former Boston ace came off the books, we've seen such "tier 2" guys such as A.J. Burnett, Ervin Santana, Brandon McCarthy, Edinson Volquez, Justin Masterson, and Brett Anderson sign with new teams, while Francisco Liriano and Jake Peavy re-upped with their 2014 clubs. True, the other two top free agent targets - Max Scherzer and James Shields - are still available, but their respective agents (Scott Boras and PSI Sports Management) will likely drag out their sagas for as long as possible.

In addition to reuniting Lester with his former employer in Boston (Theo Epstein), this signing also emphasizes a change in organizational philosophy for the Cubs, who are making some big moves with an eye to contend relatively soon. This is an easy shift to make, with such impact players as Javier Baez, Jorge Soler, and Arismendy Alcantara already in the majors and top prospects Kris Bryant and Addison Russell waiting in the wings. We'll just have to see if they can contend with the continuation of Pittsburgh's feel-good story and Cardinals continuing to play baseball "the right way."

Honorable Mentions: Arguably the top two infield options came off the board on the same day the Lester signing was announced. Chase Headley will return to the Yankees, the team with which he ended his 2014 campaign, pushing the highest paid steroid taker in baseball Alex Rodriguez to the full time DH role. And Jed Lowrie will return to the Astros, the team from which he was traded to the Athletics prior to 2013 (only now they're in a different league).

Tuesday 12/16/14

- Chicago White Sox sign LF Melky Cabrera

In the wake of big news from the north side of Chicago, the White Sox made yet another big splash, pulling in the top free agent outfielder left on the market. Melky's veteran switch-hitting bat will play well beside former Arizona prospect Adam Eaton and former Detroit prospect Avisail Garcia, and should push Dayan Viciedo into the same reserve role that he had to start 2014. His time with the Blue Jays has pretty much washed away any questions about his steroid-enhanced production, as it did with Nelson Cruz, but while I would still be a little worried, even midrange power will play better in US Cellular Field than whatever Toronto is calling their stadium these days. I don't know if this signing pushes Chicago ahead of the Tigers as AL Central favorites, but they're certainly better with Cabrera than without him.

Honorable Mentions: The Dodgers bolstered their rotation behind Kershaw, Greinke, and Ryu by signing Brandon McCarthy, who pumped up his value with a big second half of 2014 with the Yankees. The Royals replaced Billy Butler's production at DH with free agent Kendrys Morales, who will be able to play a full season thanks to his lack of qualifying offer stigma. And the Angels acquired OF/DH option Matt Joyce from the Rays for relief pitcher and former Olympian Kevin Jepsen.

Wednesday 12/17/14

- Miami Marlins sign LF/1B Michael Morse

For a team looking to surround its start player with strong win-now pieces, Garrett Jones is not your ideal first baseman. And for Florida native Michael Morse, fresh off a World Series title, going back to play in his home state seems like a good fit. Since the Marlins have three quality outfielders already, Morse's defensive range in the outfield is unlikely to be tested. He's shown that he's a fierce competitor who can benefit a club not only with his powerful bat but also with his infectious personality. Call me old fashioned, but intangibles are important, and I'll bet if the clubhouse in Miami is a fun place to play, the team will perform all the better.

Thursday 12/18/14

- Los Angeles Dodgers trade OF Matt Kemp and C Tim Federowicz to San Diego Padres for C Yasmani Grandal, P Joe Wieland, and P Zach Eflin

If you thought this trade looked out of place when it was first reported, I don't blame you. Of the five good outfielders the Dodgers could have inserted into their starting lineup, I'd say Kemp was not the first or even second most likely to be traded, given his monster salary and fan-favorite status in Los Angeles. And at the time he didn't look anything like the one piece San Diego needed to jump from the middle of the division into contention. Little did we know that new GM A.J. Preller was not even close to finished overhauling his roster.

Honorable Mentions: Both the A's and the Padres continued their fervent offseason activity with a swap of All-Star catcher Derek Norris (the last vestige of the Gio Gonzalez trade with the Nationals) for promising young righty pitchers Jesse Hahn (who made his debut last year in his only season with San Diego after being acquired from the Rays last offseason) and R.J. Alvarez (who was ranked six slots higher than his trade partner on his former team's organizational prospect list at #7).

Friday 12/19/14
- Tampa Bay Rays traded RF Wil Myers, C Ryan Hanigan, P Jose Castillo, and P Gerardo Reyes to San Diego Padres for C Rene Rivera, P Burch Smith, and IF Jake Bauers
- Washington Nationals traded OF Steven Souza Jr. and P Travis Ott to Tampa Bay Rays
- San Diego Padres trade P Joe Ross and PTBNL (IF Trea Turner) to Washington Nationals

I saw one pair of comments on the MLB Trade Rumors page for one of San Diego's myriad crazy deals that best describes how this offseason is going (and of course I now wish that I had taken a screen shot):

Commenter 1: This is madness.
Commenter 2: THIS IS PRELLER!

New Padres GM A.J. Preller has indeed led a 300-esque charge into the trade market this season, taking an unheralded mediocre team team and turning it into something relevant, at least for the headlines if not the actual baseball season. I wouldn't be surprised if the former Rangers executive and Cornell graduate conducts all his trades while wearing nothing but a loincloth and red cape. As you will see in the following paragraphs, there was a lot of activity to end this transactional week, but I picked this deal to highlight because of the convoluted nature of all the moving parts involved. The most interesting aspect of this deal might not even be the former Rookie of the Year changing hands, but that the majority of the commentary I've read about it names the Nationals as the biggest winners. That's because shortstop prospect Trea Turner won't even become eligible to be traded until June, hence the Player To Be Named Later tag. At first glance, this trade looks like a head-scratcher for the Rays, but I wouldn't blame them for scratching their heads a little after their entire front office jumped ship.

Honorable Mentions: Because acquiring two All-Star caliber outfielders in two days isn't enough, San Diego also orchestrated a blockbuster deal to acquire one year of Justin Upton's services from the Braves. All it cost them was two of their top 10 prospects going into 2014: middle infielder Jace Peterson (who could slot into second base next to Andrelton Simmons rather quickly) and injured pitcher Max Fried (who also was named a top 50 prospect by MLB.com last offseason). Because what use is it hiring a new general manager if he's not going to empty your farm system for a shot to win now? Because it worked so well for Billy Beane last year...

Also, the Phillies decided to part ways with their face of the franchise shortstop Jimmy Rollins, shipping him to Los Angeles to complete the Dodgers' middle infield makeover. This deal was on the table for more than a week because the key piece that Philadelphia would to get in return - pitching prospect Zach Eflin - had yet to be acquired in the previous day's Matt Kemp trade. This marks the second time this offseason that the Dodgers have acquired a high ceiling young pitcher and then immediately traded him away for a middle infielder. 

Transaction of the Day: 12/6/14 - 12/12/14

This past weekend, as was the weekend before, was a player movement dead space, with the only notable transaction being the deal that catcher Adam Moore (who played nine games for the Padres last year) signed to play in the Cleveland Indians' minor league system. It's always possible that more deals from that time period will make their way to MLB.com's official transaction page between now and the foreseeable future - remember the screen shot from last week's post that showed just one transaction that weekend? Well, there's been a retcon of sorts. Nothing too exciting went down, but the point is that even in today's info-centric society, you can't trust everyone to always update their sources in real time.

But the good news is that the Winter Meetings happened this past week, and the moves made therein have officially and unofficially set the pace for the entire offseason. Let's take a look at them now:

Monday 12/8/14
- Oakland Athletics trade 1B/OF Brandon Moss to Cleveland Indians for 2B Joe Wendle

The fire sale in Oakland continues as a very versatile and very talented offensive force follows the best third baseman in the game out the door for a somewhat meager return. A lot was made of Moss's power outage in the second half of last year, but he has since had surgery to repair the problem, and he'll certainly offer more with the bat than Cleveland's other former Athletic first baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher. With Michael Brantley and Michael Bourn entrenched in 2/3 of the outfield and Carlos Santana showing that he's not in fact a third baseman, I could see Moss taking the brunt of the Tribe's time in right field with Swisher, David Murphy, and Ryan Raburn duking it out for DH at bats. (Assuming of course that Indians GM Chris Antonetti doesn't make another trade or free agent signing.)

When the Indians first came up in connection with Moss, as an A's fan I was hoping that the slightly more exciting middle infield prospect Jose Ramirez might be involved. The switch hitting Dominican shortstop (who made the big leagues in 2013 and exceeded his rookie limits last year) is two years younger than Wendle and ranked three spots better in MLB.com's pre-2014 rankings of Indians prospects (8 to 11). But Oakland needs someone to play second base and the left-handed hitting Delaware native shows somewhat more promise than Eric Sogard, if not nearly the same level of personality. And rumor has it the A's have another deal in the works to acquire a shortstop...

Honorable mention today includes the Diamondbacks signing Yasmany Tomas to a six-year deal that could become a four-year deal if the Cuban slugger chooses to opt out after the 2018 season. It's a big move to be sure, given the recent success of such Cuban stars as Jose Abreu, Yasiel Puig, and Yoenis Cespedes, but we in the transaction-obsessed world knew it had been completed since late November and I didn't feel right giving a spot in this illustrious feature to a piece of relatively old news.

Tuesday 12/9/14
- Oakland Athletics trade SP Jeff Samardzija and P Michael Ynoa to Chicago White Sox for 3B Marcus Semien, SP Chris Bassitt, C Josh Phegley, and IF Rangel Ravelo

Did I mention a fire sale? This move I understand more than the trades of Moss and Donaldson since the Shark has only one year left of his team control tank before he leaves for the open seas of free agency, where his prey will change from opposing batters to General Managers and team owners. And seeing as Oakland's return in this deal includes a promising catcher, I wouldn't be surprised if All-Star Derek Norris or concussion victim John Jaso are the next to fall victim to Billy Beane's trade-itis. We'll talk more about the White Sox in the next transaction, but it's difficult to evaluate what the A's are doing since they're clearly far from done tinkering with their roster. I understand dealing from a position of strength - namely power hitting and rotation depth - but now that both those strengths have become weaknesses, I don't see a clear direction. But that's why I write about baseball on the internet and Billy Beane and David Forst craft actual MLB rosters with real human beings.


Wednesday 12/10/14
- Chicago White Sox sign RP David Robertson

Continuing their strong push towards relevance, the White Sox have added a proven closer to replace the unexciting and unreliable committee that rose from the ashes of last offseason's trade of Addison Reed to the Diamondbacks. Chicago has now made a meaningful acquisition to supplement their starting pitching, relief pitching, and starting lineup, with Adam LaRoche replacing the now retired DH platoon of Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko. And we also shouldn't forget the waiver claim of Rob Brantly, a former starting catcher for Miami who will either light a fire under Tyler Flowers or threaten to eat into his playing time. I don't know if this club has added enough pieces to a mediocre core to compete with the rest of its division, but you have to give them props for trying.


Thursday 12/11/14
- Los Angeles Dodgers trade 2B Dee Gordon, SP Dan Haren, and SS Miguel Rojas to Miami Marlins for SP Andrew Heaney, RP Chris Hatcher, CF Enrique Hernandez, and C Austin Barnes
- Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim trade 2B Howie Kendrick to Los Angeles Dodgers for SP Andrew Heaney

December 11, 2014 is a day that will go down in transactional history as one of the most hectic exchanges of the whole 2015 offseason. In addition to the two-part blockbuster trade mentioned above, the 2014/2015 Rule 5 Draft took place, with more than 13 players involved. Not only that, but last Thursday also saw the Detroit Tigers acquire two All-Stars: Yoenis Cespedes to play LF and Alfredo Simon to start the games that would've been started by Rick Porcello, who went to Boston in the first deal. (The Reds got Eugenio Suarez, who is less of a shortstop of the future type than Jose Iglesias sans shin splints.) And not to ignore the free agency side of things, the Red Sox also brought in some help for Porcello in the form of Justin Masterson, a product of the Boston farm system and buy-low candidate who could bounce back in a big way.

But the deal above between the Dodgers and the Marlins and the Angels says so much about what a transaction can be. Breaking this down as if it were a straight three way trade, we'd see the Dodgers and Marlins getting pieces from each other, then the Dodgers getting something else from the Angels in exchange for something from the Marlins. So right away it seems like there is a piece missing: something going from the Angels to the Marlins. So we'll have to break down the deal further, and in real time. Two of those pieces were productive starting second basemen (Howie Kendrick and Dee Gordon), another was a top 30 prospect heading into 2014 (left handed pitcher Andrew Heaney), and one was a veteran starter who only wanted to pitch in southern California (Dan Haren). So one could reasonably believe that if Miami would rather have traded for Kendrick than Gordon, they could have done so, seeing as they possessed the only trade chip it would have required to obtain him... until they flipped the prospect to the Dodgers. Could it be that they liked that Gordon was available for two more years? But then why did they just acquire two pitchers that will be eligible for free agency after 2015 (not just Haren, but their other Thursday trade target Mat Latos will go into arbitration the final time this year)? Or was the Heaney for Kendrick deal not on the table when it was Kendrick going to Miami? Or did the new Dodgers tricksy front office just pull a fast one? It's an important reminder that you have to consider not just the personnel and financial elements to a trade, but also the timing in which it takes place.


Friday 12/12/14
- Arizona Diamondbacks trade SP Wade Miley to Boston Red Sox for SP Rubby De La Rosa, SP Allen Webster, and IF Raymel Flores

We finish out the week with yet another addition to Boston's 2015 rotation, only this one was acquired with young pitching depth rather than young outfield depth. Wade "Miley being" Miley completes a five-man group with Clay Buchholz the only one on the team to start last year. (Porcello, Masterson, and the midseason acquisition from the Cardinals Joe Kelly are the other three.) That's not to say that the above rotation will be the final product of the offseason; James Shields and Max Scherzer are still out there, and even without their most recently traded left fielder, GM Ben Cherrington still has such veterans to deal as Shane Victorino, Allen Craig, and Daniel Nava, not to mention young phenoms like Rusney Castillo, Mookie Betts, and (still) Jackie Bradley Jr.

Also this day, a couple of free agent pitchers from the so called second tier signed today: Francisco Liriano went back to the Pirates and Jason Hammel went back to the Cubs, by way of a half season with Oakland. Which brings us to Hammel's trade mate in Oakland, Jon Lester. You may not see his name in this post, because the deal has yet to be officially recognized by MLB (.com at least), but Lester agreeing to sign with the Cubs was the domino that will allow the remainder of this year's most exciting transactional action to happen. Look for the announcement and my commentary in next week's recap!

Rule 5 Draft 2014/2015

Remember two weeks ago when a bunch of minor league players were called up to their major league clubs to protect them from eligibility in the Rule 5 Draft? As part of that process, many hundreds more players were left unprotected, 13 of which were selected in this morning's Rule 5 Draft. Again, even though the draft itself took place in the last days of 2014, I'm including 2015 in the title of my post because the roster moves in question here will affect the 2015 season. And unlike the 100+ players who were added to the 40-man roster in November, most of these 13 players should affect their 2015 teams since they have to stay on the 25-man roster all season or risk being returned to their former teams.

I won't try to make a lineup out of these guys since only five of them are position players, so instead let's focus on the ranked prospects as of last year. The only Rule 5 pick who made MLB.com's top 100 going into 2014 was former Astros outfielder Delino DeShields. Despite the fact that Houston's GM doubted the son of the former Major Leaguer with the same name would be selected, DeShields Jr. will find himself playing on the opposite side of the Lone Star State in 2015. This transaction - representing the first player that the Rangers have added to their big league roster this offseason - will give Texas its fifth 2014 top 100 prospect, setting them up nicely to contend towards the end of Yu Darvish, Shin-Soo Choo, and Prince Fielder's massive contracts.

DeShields is one of three players lost by Houston - the others being pitchers David Rollins and Jandel Gustave - but not all three players ended up on the teams that drafted them (technically described as a waiver claim by MLB.com). It's common practice for a team to pick up a player in the Rule 5 Draft, which occurs in reverse order based on 2014 standings, then trade him to another team lower in the order that wouldn't normally have access to him. This is how the A's got ahold of power hitting 1B/OF type Mark Canha, the highest fantasy scoring player selected in this year's proceedings. It's currently unclear whether Canha will form part of a 1B platoon with Ike Davis, play some left field along with Sam Fuld and Craig Gentry, of whether he'll be flipped in another patented Billy Beane blockbuster trade.

Aside from DeShields, none of the people in this group are household names, even in my baseball-obsessed household. I had heard some rumors surrounding former Atlanta's former #6 ranked prospect J.R. Graham and former Mets starter Logan Verrett (he was joined in Baltimore by Jason Garcia via a trade with Houston, making them the only team to come away with two Rule 5 players) from the above link in Delino Jr.'s paragraph. Also Sean Gilmartin is no stranger to offseason moves, having been traded for Ryan Doumit a year ago next week. The most impressive pitcher, fantasy points-wise, is Daniel Winkler who put up very impressive numbers in Colorado's minor league system, although he managed just 12 starts last year and hasn't risen past the AA level despite being 24 years of age.

Now that we've taken a look at the players involved in this year's Rule 5 Draft, let's look back at last year's for the sake of comparison. Looking at the evidence, I might have overstated the impact that some of this year's Rule 5 crop might have on 2015. Of the nine players selected last year, five never even reached the majors, one of whom (Brian Moran) was unceremoniously returned from the Angels to the Mariners after the season. Adrian Nieto, the only position player to see time in 2015, spent the season as backup catcher for the White Sox, showing that there's some hope for Oscar Hernandez who was acquired to help fill the Miguel Montero-sized void in Arizona. Tommy Kahnle had the best 2014 season of any Rule 5 pick and he was merely a serviceable reliever for the Rockies. But major league ready talent is hard to find, and clubs will get it any way they can.

One way that teams have been acquiring major league talent at a record pace is during the Winter Meetings going on now. As anyone who even remotely follows the Hot Stove League knows, the action is almost too feverish to keep up, so tune in this weekend for my weekly transactions update feature, which I'm very excited to continue given all the moves and signings going on. Until then, keep watching the transaction column!

Transaction of the Day: 11/29/14 - 12/5/14

When MLB Trade Rumors publishes their Week In Review series - a great weekly summary of all the notable transactional news that's going on during the offseason - the site does so on a Saturday to Friday schedule. So that's what I'll do with this new feature that I had been thinking about for a while but never implemented until now. Who knows, this might be the only time it's implemented ever, but you gotta try, right? So what I'm doing is looking back at this past week, looking at every day in that week, and giving my thoughts about a particular transaction or roster move that otherwise stood out above the rest of the moves made that day. And just maybe we'll have some fun along the way.

Saturday 11/29/14
Detroit Tigers sign P Rafael Dolis

By rights, this is not a transaction that should even be noted in the record books, although the player does appear in my 2014 40 Man Roster database. The Capricorn out of the Dominican Republic was invited to Spring Training by the world champion San Francisco Giants in the 2014 Offseason, but was subsequently released before he saw any big league action. It only appears on this list because it was the last official transaction made in the final two days of November. However, going back just one day, as you can see, gives us access to one of the most impactful moves of the 2015 Offseason so far, Billy Beane's trade of Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays. For reasons involving my health, I choose to reserve judgment on this one at this time, so let's press on into the month of December.


Monday 12/1/14
Pittsburgh Pirates acquire 2B Sean Rodriguez from the Rays

Not a lot of movement occurred on this date, and this quick snap trade for a utility player with power was the only transaction involving major league ready talent. The fact that it cost the Pirates only a PTBNL and an underperforming former prospect (first baseman Gaby Sanchez was DFA's to create roster space) makes it a model of efficiency as well. I'm even more excited about Rodriguez, given the 2014 breakout of the other guy on his team with true utility skills: new everyday third baseman Josh Harrison.

Tuesday 12/2/14
List Of Non-Tendered Players, 2015 Offseason

Tuesday was the deadline for teams to offer (tender) a contract to their arbitration eligible players, thus many players were deemed expendable that day. Because I'm a sucker for a good list, I've linked to MLBTR's comprehensive one. But here are a few standouts: Former MVP vote recipient Kris Medlen and fellow Braves pitcher Brandon Beachy. Former 50 game suspension recipient Everth Cabrera and other former starters Justin Smoak, Juan Francisco, and Eric Young. Several of these players were brought back to their old clubs via minor league deals, but those are transactions for another day.


Wednesday 12/3/14
Atlanta Braves sign RF Nick Markakis

As the saying goes, you have to replace Jason Heyward somehow. And the Braves found their replacement in the form of a veteran contact hitting right fielder with a good, if not exactly deserved, defensive reputation. Much and more has been said about the Glen Cove, NY native's perceived and real defensive value, but more importantly, this move says a lot about the Atlanta's plan re: being competitive in the near future. Trading a potential star like Heyward almost always signals a rebuilding effort, and that coupled with trade rumors circling around the wrong Upton to want to get rid of would seem to confirm the thought. But the four year, $44 million deal given to Markakis seems like a win-now move. Maybe they'll make a run at Jon Lester and try to unseat the Nationals in 2015.

Honorable mentions from this day: Torii Hunter for returning to Minnesota to potentially end his career with his original club. And the Braves again for betting on the chance that dethroned closer Jim Johnson's star hasn't completely fallen.

Thursday 12/4/14
Seattle Mariners sign DH Nelson Cruz

After the free agent outfielder market was set with Markakis, the Cancer astrology team's star slugger (and another victim of a 50 game suspension) blew it wide open, signing for the same four years as the former Orioles starter, but for $18 million more total dollars. This move fills a very deep hole in Seattle's lineup with a player who could very well be a late-blooming offensive wizard, or he could be another Baltimore one-season wonder (cf. Chris Davis and his disaster that was 2014). Cruz almost certainly definitely won't be worth the money during the later years of this deal, but at least now Robinson Cano has some right handed protection in the lineup.


Friday 12/5/14
New York Yankees sign RP Andrew Miller

Lots of action took place in New York today, and by lots of action, I mean two actions. The second, chronologically speaking, was the third high profile four year deal announced in three days. This one happened to be the largest ever contract given to a non-closer reliever, and it seems unlikely that Miller, who has exactly one season of at least +1 WAR under his belt, will be asked to be David Robertson's successor for the illustrious Yankees' ninth inning. On the financial side, since Miller was by far the best left handed relief option on the market, it makes sense that he signed his deal before even such established closers as Francisco Rodriguez, Rafael Soriano, and the aforementioned Robertson.

The other action involved trading for Derek Jeter's replacement at shortstop, Didi Gregorius, one of the coolest names in the sport, from the Diamondbacks. This was a good move for Arizona to deal from a position of excess, since they already have Chris Owings and Cliff Pennington capable of manning short. New York gave up a back end of the rotation starting pitcher, which means we can't rule GM Brian Cashman out from making a big splash on the free agent pitching market. Will Max Scherzer be this year's Masahiro Tanaka? Only time will tell!


By next week, we'll see if I'm still up to continuing this feature, but for now, I'd say this was a pretty eventful week in baseball for a week where there were no baseball games. Who knows how the market will develop as the offseason goes on!?

Thoughts About The Walking Dead Midnale

I started watching The Walking Dead in January of 2013 when I was on hiatus and looking for a show to get into. This was during the Season 3 midseason break, so the first two seasons were available on Netflix. I was blown away by the stark efficiency of the six-episode first season, but then felt like it struggled to maintain its consistency over twice as many episodes in Season 2. After feeling like I had to binge-watch three episodes in order to experience one episode's worth of content, I wasn't too eager to get caught up to watch in real time, so I waited until the next year when the next season was available for instant streaming.

I enjoyed the escapades in the prison well enough and The Governor is obviously a franchise-defining character, but afterwards I kind of lost interest. Until I discovered Ozzy Man Reviews on YouTube. I've been obsessed with this channel recently, so I figure I'll just keep plugging it as much as possible until my obsession passes. After memorizing the brilliant comedic overdub "Eddie Stark: Australian Dad" and burning through his Game of Thrones reviews, I noticed that there were also links to Walking Dead, Season 5 episodes. Season 5? What happened to Season 4? Oh, that's right, it was sitting there in my Netflix queueub, or list, and I hadn't been watching it.

Needless to say, if I wanted Ozzy's latest works to make sense, I would have to power through some episodes and fast. So at a whirlwind pace I sped through the group's final days at the prison, the Governor's brief solo campaign and subsequent failure to grow or change as a character, and some ripping crosscutting between storylines as our various heroes make their ways towards Terminus. I laughed along with Team Flat Top/Mullet, cried along with Carol and Tyreese and those two girls who just didn't get it, and held my breath in anticipation when Daryl lost track of Beth and fell in with the wrong crowd. Top it all off with a season finale for the ages - complete with a cliffhanger rife with overconfidence - and Season 4 was in the books. Then once I used AMC's streaming service to get caught up on Season 5, it was time to start watching with my friends on Sunday nights, when the episodes actually air (shocking, I know).

In the last two half-seasons before the Season 5 midnale (the word I've coined (I think) to describe the last episode before AMC's patented midseason break), Rick and the gang have neutralized, with extreme prejudice, two hostile groups of humans: Daryl's lie-hating merry band of outlaws and the nasty cannibals at Terminus. In the cold open, it immediately looks like Rick will continue his murderous streak with Dawn's group of corrupt cops when he rear-ends Bob 2 as he goes on his morning jog. After misquoting a lyric from a song off Taylor Swift's new album ("All you had to do was STOP!"), Rick puts Bob 2 out of his misery, proving beyond any doubt that he has no qualms about executing people he sees to be a threat.

I learned that when you watch TV live in real time, you gain insights about the program that you don't get through streaming alone. For example, when the promo for a given night's Talking Dead advertises the presence of a "mystery guest," you can be pretty sure that a character is going to die in that night's episode, and that the mystery guest will be whichever actor played said unfortunate character. Those of us who had unwittingly seen spoilers thankfully kept their mouths shut, but we were all pretty sure that the big death would be someone more important than Bob 2 or the random cop who enjoys shoving old people - even though it was pretty appropriate that he was killed when Beth shoved him into an open elevator shaft. You live by the shove, you die by the shove.

We didn't keep a tally or put any money on our guesses of who would bite the farm, but the popular consensus seemed to be Carol. She never really became part of the group again after Rick exiled her and she's had plenty of character development in the recent episodes so we'd be sure to feel the emotional sting of her departure. Plus apparently she dies really early in the comics so she's been living on borrowed time for multiple seasons. My vote was for Daryl - just something about how he said "Everyone goes home" when agreeing with Tyreese's plan in the last episode made it seem like he would be the one to not go home. Some folks objected that people would stop watching if they got rid of such a popular character, but my line of thinking was that Game of Thrones wouldn't hesitate. But then again Game of Thrones doesn't formulaic-ly kill off characters every half season.

A few people suggested Beth, but that's just because they were getting kind of sick of her constant sing alongs and weird misplaced eyebrow scars. It became fairly predictable that #RIPBeth was going to be a thing as the episode progressed since she was the main character with whom we spent the most time. And then there was that pair of scissors she slipped into her cast. It's like Anton Chekov's old rule: if you introduce a pair of scissors in the first act, someone's gonna get shot in the face in the third act. It was emotional, if not terribly shocking, that Beth took a bullet in that exchange with Dawn. My biggest disappointment was that she biffed her chance to stab the latest antagonist at point blank range. Part of me thinks she would have been more successful if she forgot the scissors and used her teeth like Rick did last season.

The middle of Season 5 seems like it got wrapped up in a nice little package. The team is back together, with a couple of new members, and they're all set to commence wandering aimlessly without Eugene's mission to keep them going. The only unresolved issue is the return of Morgan from the pilot (if you watched till the end of the credits), but what do we have to look forward to there other than another reunion? I'll still tune in next season because I've committed four and a half seasons and now it's an excuse for me to be social. I just don't know what I'll be expecting.