Continuing our look around the divisions at what spots on whose rosters are being contested: Chicago White Sox The most obvious competition in camp is for the fifth rotation spot, where a notionally healthy and genuinely expensive Cal Eldred will do his level best to prove he deserves one-third as much patience as Jaime Navarro…
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Agreed to terms with RHP Brad Clontz on a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration. [2/17] Signed OF Turner Ward and RHP Jim Corsi to minor-league contracts with NRIs to spring training. [2/20] Bringing in Clontz and Corsi helps to create a broader competition in camp for the right-handed setup and middle-relief jobs. Neither of…
This week, let’s take a look at some of the position battles for the teams in the division, whether the fight is for a starting job or just a spot on one of the rosters. Chicago Cubs For a bad team that won’t be contending, there really isn’t that much up in the air. Among…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Signed RHP Mark Petkovsek to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration. [2/10] It’s nice to see a guy like Petkovsek, who didn’t make the majors to stay until he was almost 30, finally get a payday of sorts. While he did have the benefit of finally being left alone in a single role with…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Signed LHP Kent Mercker and RHP Eric Weaver to minor-league contracts with spring-training NRIs. [1/26] Signed IF Carlos Garcia to a minor-league contract with a spring-training NRI. [1/31] Signed SS Benji Gil to a minor-league contract with a spring-training NRI. [2/1] Signed DH Todd Greene to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration. [2/4] Given…
You’re probably just as tired as I am of a winter full of old saws. Right now, two in particular strike me as silly, particularly in tandem: "these days, rosters are already sewn up, and spring training is just there to get people ready," and "everyone has to have an established closer to win." That…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Signed OF Orlando Palmeiro to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration. [1/18] Signed IF Archi Cianfrocco and RHP Brett Hinchliffe to minor-league contracts with spring-training NRIs. [1/19] Signed RHPs Tom Candiotti and Steve Mintz to minor-league contracts with spring-training NRIs. [1/24] Bringing in both Hinchliffe and Candiotti underscores how desperate the Angels’ starting pitching…
We’re in a big-offense era, and what position is historically a big offensive position? First base. It wouldn’t be easy to select three American League teams at random and find weak or wide-open situations at the cool corner. But in a random convergence, the AL Central has three such teams all by itself. Most of…
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Signed RHP Matt Mantei to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration; signed RHP Mike Morgan to a minor-league contract, with a spring-training NRI. [1/14] Is anyone amused that the D’backs seriously underestimated Mantei’s salary expectations, crippling the effort to get him signed to a multi-year deal? Given his spotty health record, this may actually…
Superficially, it appears there’s been a lot of fireworks and retooling in the AL East, but what have the teams in the division really accomplished? This is the division that hosts the World Champs, which you would think would be incentive for the others to improve. Yet when you revisit this winter’s activity, you see…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Signed LHP Greg Cadaret to a minor-league contract. [1/5] Signed 2B/3B Scott Spiezio to a one-year contract, and IFs Pat Kelly and Jason Bates to minor-league contracts. [1/7] Unless Keith Luuloa convinces a Disney exec that Sneezy was the Hawaiian-American dwarf, Spiezio has a lock on the Angel second-base job. There are a…
Looking for the Lost Transaction Analysis? Click here. ANAHEIM ANGELS Non-tendered INF Andy Sheets, making him a free agent. [12/20] Sheets went from being a very useful utility infielder for the Padres to a completely worthless regular for the Angels, with the added upset that getting him to replace Gary DiSarcina last spring cost the…
Amidst the chaos of a Prospectus autumn it came, destined to be buried deep on a hard drive, next to the Excel 95 version of a long-forgotten office pool. As with so much lost treasure before it, a long and arduous search was undertaken, a search by men strong of breath and wide of waist….
Looking for the Lost Transaction Analysis? Click Here. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Signed SS Tony Womack to a four-year contract extension. [12/12] Acquired RHP Brad Clontz from the Pirates for a PTBNL. [12/13] Acquired SS Luis Ordaz from the Cardinals for CF Dante Powell. [12/15] Talk about hedging your bets: the Snakes give Tony Womack a few…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Exercised their options on CFs Garret Anderson and Jim Edmonds for 2000. [10/7] Designated RHP Pep Harris and 2B/SS Justin Baughman for assignment; outrighted LHP Steve Mintz to Edmonton. [10/11] Outrighted RHPs Pep Harris and Steve Sparks, 2B/SS Justin Baughman, 1B Chris Pritchett, OF Matt Luke, and C Steve Decker to Edmonton. [10/13]…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Announced the resignation of GM Bill Bavasi, and shunted him off to a position as special assistant to team president Tony Tavares. [10/1] Any chance Bill has an evil twin, Scuzzie? Scuzzie would have no moral qualms about fixing this team’s problems. Tim Belcher under contract? Not if he tragically disappears during a…