Well, the World Series is almost over, so now what are Baseball People going to do now? That's right! They are going to look to this thread for updates from others fan. 

First up to report is that Justin Smoak, formerly of the Seattle Mariners, was placed waivers after loosing his starting job mid season, and was claimed by Toronto. 

If you have any other news to report, then post it here. 

Local Mods : Sticky Please? 

   No news here posted yet? Well, the latest signings are coming from the Boston Red Sox, landing two free agents, pending physicals. Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval are the two signings. Ramirez' deal looks to be 4 years at $88 million, with the option for a 5th year. The Panda's deal looks to be a 5 year deal going for a round $100 million over that time.

   In Detroit, Victor Martinez was resigned to a 4 year deal worth $68 million. I'm glad we're keeping him around, because I think that it's unlikely we can even compete as well as last year, V-mart is necessary for us to get anywhere far. 
   
   Finally, Seattle seems to be closing on an extension with Seager worth ~$100 million over 7 years. Still no confirmation, but it's out there.

patar4097 :

Red Sox made two big signings and we could be closing in on Lester as well at 6/7 years and about 120-130 million.

And that's not counting trades that WILL happen (Cespedes is almost certainly being traded).

All I have to say about the news today is BOOM MOTHERf***ERS!!!

Hanley Ramirez is gonna be a beast. Sandoval is gonna hit doubles for days.

Looking forward to this.

patar4097 : Seager? That's good news. Seattle is finally starting to be willing to spend some money, and Seager is a key part if we want another chance at a post season run. This is good news. 

legacyme3 : If I'm not mistaken, a while ago you mentioned Hanley was one of your favorite players? 


I was actually really hoping the Mets could sign him, or trade for Cespedes, but I guess none of that can happen now.

zanderlex :

He is. I was sad when we traded him to the Marlins for Beckett and Lowell.

Now? I'm over the moon. The prodigal son has returned home.

Anyways... Cespedes is available, and we're actively trying to trade him, because we have no room for him. Our lineup right now is this.

C - Vazquez
1B - Napoli
2B - Pedroia
SS - Bogaerts
3B - Sandoval
LF - Ramirez
CF - Betts/Castillo
RF - Castillo/Betts
DH - Ortiz

Cespedes doesn't have a spot in the lineup.

Our goal is to pick up pitchers. So if you have good pitchers available, Cespedes could definitely be in play for you.

-----

On the note of Seager... I did some research. I thought the deal was already confirmed? Am I missing something?

legacyme3 : The original plan for the Mets was to offer Niese for Cespedes, but now that they signed Cuddyer, all the Mets are looking for now is a half time outfielder.

zanderlex :

Even if that were true, Niese wouldn't be nearly enough.

Niese is kind of crappy, and wouldn't survive in the AL East. We're looking more at guys like Iwakuma from Seattle or Latos from Cincy.

legacyme3 : Last I heard, it was still just reports on Seager. Nothing confirmed yet, as far as I know. 

   Well, the Winter meetings are done, and a lot of deals have been completed. The Cubs were able to grab Lester for 6 years, which was the biggest splash. Some other moves involved the Red Sox doing quite a bit of movement with their rotation. They now have Masterson, and also traded for Porcello and gave up Cespedes to get him. Some other moves involved Kemp being traded to the Padres, Billy Butler signing in Oakland, and Reynolds going to the Cardinals.
 
   One of the most active teams lately was the White Sox. They picked up Melky Cabrera for 3 years, they signed David Robertson and Jeff Samardzija. Melky should be a great addition to help out Abreu in the middle of the lineup. I still think at this point, I don't see them winning the division or anything, but they are much better after what they've done so far.

   At this point, Scherzer and Shields seem to be the best remaining free agents. I think Max is clearly the better pitcher, but whoever would end up signing him, whether it be the Giants (which they seem to be leading for Shields, so probably won't happen) or the Dodgers are going to be paying a lot for him. Apparently, his agent is trying to get him around $200 million, which seems to be substantially higher than the Tigers were willing to offer him.

legacyme3 : I know this is late, but I'm posting it for the sake of keeping this thread updated since we talked about it earlier. 

Seager signed a 7 year deal worth 100 Million with Seattle. Link

patar4097 :

You are a Tigers fan, right?

Thanks for giving us Rick Porcello, for an average corner OF, a terrible reliever, and a prospect who is about 4 years away.

Porcello is a guy I've wanted the Sox to get for a while, and I'm pleased the price was so cheap.

legacyme3 : I personally would have been okay with the deal if we were already locked up with Scherzer. This year's rotation is going to be a lot worse for us without two of our good starters. At least we didn't bomb this trade as bad as last year's Fister trade, getting something of value. 

This had been terrible so far for the Mets, missing out on everything. They probably won't even go for Kang anymore and all we will get all year is Cudyer and Mayberry.

patar4097 :

You didn't really get any value. Cespedes is the only piece of any value, and he has some big downfalls.

For one, he's strictly a dinger or bust guy, he has no OBP skills, has trouble in the OF (smart teams won't take the second extra base, because of his cannon arm) and worst of all, cannot be offered a QO at the end of the season (he's a free agent, and his contract doesn't allow for QOs).

Basically, he'll be there for a year, leave, and that's that. You draft pick compensation, nothing.

Meanwhile, Porcello can be tendered a QO, so if he does leave, we'll at least get a decent draft pick.

legacyme3 : QO? What's that? Quality Offer? 

thing1 :

Qualifying Offer. It can be extended to any player who is a Free Agent except players who have it written into their contracts.

It is usually around 14 or so million dollars and is a one year offer.

If they accept it, they are put back on the team for that price.

If they do not, they remain a free agent, but have a draft pick attached to their value (an example of a player who was a free agent who refused the QO, and signed elsewhere is Pablo Sandoval).

Very few players ever accept the QO, because the value of a draft pick in MLB is not nearly enough to keep a team from signing a win now player if they are in win now mode.

It seems most people are very excited about the Nick Markakis signing here in Atlanta. I've heard he has neck surgery sometime this week though to repair a bulging disk in his neck. Hopefully it goes well, but everyone is real happy with this guy so far.

I have also heard some rumors about Justin Upton being traded to San Diego. San Diego has been spending big time money so far this offseason. They may end up being a dark horse contender for a playoff spot next year.