Oldschool41 : I was actually talking about the Red Sox giving him the much...but...

legacyme3 : It looks like the Red Sox are taking on Victorino for the same 3 year/39 mil contract they gave napoli...Would they really have any room for Hamilton?

trouble982 :

There is but it'd be difficult.

Basically Ellsbury would be traded for pitching and theyd sign Hamilton or Ross to play right field.

Regardless I love the signing of Victorino. It's fantastic because it finally gives us flexibility in the speed department. Nice to have someone who can run.

Just need a quality arm and this is a team that can compete for the division.

legacyme3 : I agree, the Victorino signing is a solid move. Might I ask what pitcher you might get for Ellsbury?

trouble982 : Oh. I'm guessing the Sox could offer that much for Hamilton. I'm not sure what Hamilton would think about playing for the Sox thou.

Oldschool41 :

Cliff Lee of the Phillies.

Or...

Prospects from any team.

Lee is available and he's been had for less than Ellsbury. So a straight up trade of the two makes perfect sense to me.

legacyme3 : Cliff Lee is my favorite pitcher currently in the league...I really hope he doesn't play for the Red Sox , though it'd be better than the yanks.

Oldschool41 : Most of those players are in a go where the money is mentality, and I would guess that includes him.

I think the irony there is that he used to be a Red Sox staple.
So, the cardinals managed to sign one guy so far.  I'm disappointed, and I hope we get a starting second baseman soon.

Phillies overpaid for Ben Revere.

Vance Worley AND Trevor May. Wow. Good job Twins.

Red Sox signed Koji Uehara. Fantastic. Best bullpen in the AL East.

The LA Dodgers have finalized their deal with Zack Greinke. Greinke will get $147 million over his six year contract, with an option to opt out in three years. The Dodgers also signed left hander Hyun-jin Ryu, but I couldn't find specifics. The KC Royals acquired James Shields from the Rays, for prospects. The Royals also got Wade Davis. The Phillies also got Michael Young, the former Texas Ranger. He will be playing third base for Philly. The Seattle Mariners signed Jason Bay to a one year deal. And, because I'm a Tigers fan, I have to say that they signed backup catcher Brayan Pena to a one year contract.

The Rays robbed the Royals in that trade. I don't know if I trade 6 years of Myers for 2 of Shields and 3 of Davis... but then the Royals add in Odorizzi, Montgomery, and that third base prospect whose name escapes me but may well end up a steal if his first year numbers are any indication.

Stupid Royals.

Now the Yankees signed Youkilis to a one year signing. The 12 million dollar deal will be completed, pending a physical. Now that's just wrong, signing the former Red Sox player.

patar4097 : Wouldn't be the first time the Yankees got a Red Sox player (I'm not comparing Youkillis to Ruth; just the situation of Yankees getting Red Sox players).

How much you want to bet that Dickey after hearing how much Greinke got from the Dodgers will be raising his price value?

Oldschool41 : Especially considering the fact that Greinke isn't worth anywhere as much as he's getting paid, that will probably happen. But it sounds like maybe not, because Dickey wants an offer, and apparently the Mets aren't doing much, or anything about it.

patar4097 : It's hard to say because there's never been a pitcher like RA Dickey before. Even though knuckleballers tend to pitch into their forties, there's so few of them that have made it that far that it's hard to say. Also, RA throws harder than most knuckleballers. However, he is the Cy Young winner and he's shown nothing but great pitching each of the last three years. He deserves a pay raise I'd say.

How about that Reds-Indians-D'Backs trade? I never understood why the D'Backs throw their players under the bus and then try to trade them when their value is already low. I'm not a fan of the way Kevin Towers does business. Anyway, the Indians got a nice, young pitcher with upside and 6 years of team control and Stubbs. I like it for them. I don't know how I feel about Choo in CF, but I like that deal for the Reds too. The D'Backs from what I hear seem to think that Didi will be the next Jeter or something. They could have done better had they made it less obvious they had doubts about Bauer.

NotJon :

I saw the trade and laughed.

The Reds got talent and gave little away. Win.

The Indians traded off Choo high snf got a controllable young pitcher back. Win

The Diamondbacks traded away a top pitching prospect and got back a mediocre defensive shortstop. I'd have given them Iglesias for Bauer... why didn't they call us?

legacyme3 : Yeah. Amazing how many great pitchers the D'Backs have traded in the last few years. Scherzer, Parker, now Bauer?

Looks like the Dodgers are getting Skip Schumaker from the Cardinals. They traded minor league shortstop, Lake Lemmerman to get him.

Well apparently the Angels have signed Hamilton to a 5 year, 125 mil contract.

I'm a bit surprised. I kind of thought Hamilton would get more money. But I guess the idea of playing with Pujols had a bit of an influence on him.

Looking at what the Angels did last year in signing Pujols and Wilson, and how they messed with their starting pitching n order to afford Hamilton, I feel like it could very well be another close, but not close enough, season for the Angels. Although, it appears that Texas is considerably weaker than the past few years, and you can never count Oakland out. Seattle is a better team, but still a couple years from being a real threat so I look to Seattle to be scrapping for a division in the next 2 or 3 years. For now though, it appears that the Rangers, Athletics and Angels will be scrapping it out for top spot in the division.

The reason why I don't give the Angels the edge in the division is because their starting pitching just isn't solid enough, unless they end up signing Jackson or someone of equal ability. I have those 3 teams being a game or 2 apart come the end of the season, unless injuries play a big part in any of their runs. I predict 2 of those 3 teams make the playoffs (one getting a wild card spot).