For the next week or two I’ll give grades for each transaction and each team. If I miss anything, please let me know. We’ll start in the American League East:
Baltimore Orioles
Ryan Freel for Ramon Hernandez: B-
Freel will bring some versatility. Hernandez just blocked Wieters.
Mark Hendrickson for one year, $1.5 million: F
Terrible deal. Hendrickson is not even an effective innings eater.
Rich Hill for PTBNL: B+
If Hill can stop walking batters, he might live up to his potential.
Cesar Izturis for two years, $5 million: B-
Izturis will do wonders for the Baltimore starting staff.
Felix Pie for Scott Olson: B
Olson wasn’t working, and Pie has more upside.
Koji Uehera for 2 years, $10 million: B
It’s hard to say how Uehera will adjust to the bigs. Considering how well he pitched in the WBC a few years ago, he should fair well for Baltimore.
Ty Wiggington for two years, $6 million: B
Wiggington exceeded everyone’s expectations last season. He won’t contribute like that again, but Baltimore got a bargain here.
Greg Zaun for one year, $1.5 million: C+
Zaun is nothing more than a stopgap. He will try to teach Matt Wieters the ways of the Jedi.
Overall: B
They improved their team this offseason, but the might be better off rebuilding instead.
Boston Red Sox
Rocco Baldelli for one year, $500,000: B
Baldelli just needs to get healthy.
Josh Bard for one year, $1.7 million: B-
Bard brings decent offensive production for a backup, but can he handle Wakefield?
Mark Kotsay for one year, $1.5 million: C-
They already signed Baldelli and they have better options in the minors.
Brad Penny for one year, $5 million: C
Pitching in Fenway will not help his numbers.
Takashi Saito for one year, $1.5 million: A
Since Saito joined MLB in 2006 he has not had a single-season ERA over 2.50. The reliever is 37, but at this cost, the Sox can’t complain.
John Smoltz for one year, $5.5 million: A-
Smoltz had arm problems in 2008 and he likely won’t be ready in the spring. If he can bounce back from the injury, the Sox will easily have the best starting staff in baseball.
Ramon Ramirez for Coco Crisp: B
Crisp was only blocking Ellsbury. The Sox got Kansas City to take his contract and that’s all they could really ask for
Jason Varitek for one year, $5 million: D
Varitek had a 73 OPS+ last season. Even his “intangibles” do not justify those numbers.
Overall: A-
The good outweighs the bad. Signing Baldelli, Saito, and Smoltz were great deals.
New York Yankees
A.J. Burnett for five years, $82.5 million: C-
Five years for an injury-prone pitcher.
Damoso Marte for three years, $12 million: B-
Good reliever, fair contract.
Andy Pettitte one year, $5.5 million: B+
Pettitte settled for less than what other teams were willing to give him. A bargain for the Yankees.
C.C. Sabathia for seven years, $161 million: B
New York got their ace. Gave up another huge contract.
Nick Swisher for Wilson Betemit, Jhonny Nunez, and Jeff Marquez : B+
A good player had an off year and the Yankees capitalized on it.
Mark Teixeira for eight years, $180 million: B
The best first baseman not playing in St. Louis came at a steep price.
Overall: B
The evil empire returns. With the money they spent, they got the best players on the market, just not the best deals.
Tampa Bay Rays
Pat Burrell for two years, $16 million: B+
$8 million per year and he doesn’t have to play the field. Win-win.
Lance Cormier for one year, $675,000: B-
Pitched well last season, gives the Rays some depth.
Matt Joyce for Edwin Jackson: B+
The Rays have pitching to spare. Trading an overachieving pitcher for their future right fielder is not a bad deal.
Gabe Kapler for one year, $1 million: B-
Fourth outfielder extraordinaire.
Joe Nelson for one year, $1.3 million: B-
Another decent arm for the bullpen.
Brian Shouse for one year, $1.55 million: B-
The veteran is still an effective LOOGY in his late thirties.
Overall: B+
The Rays did not have to do much this offseason except let their youngsters mature. Instead, Friedman signed one of the top free agents on the market to DH.
Toronto Blue Jays
Overall: F
The Jays had a good team last year, but they failed to improve upon that team this offseason. The pitching is still their, but they desperately need to improve their infield. Snider needs to put up big numbers if they want to make up for the deficiencies at shortstop.
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