Crack of the Bat
by Patrick Ebert

Yankees set the market, again
The free agent period has been open for roughly four weeks now, and prior to the record signing of free agent left-handed pitcher CC Sabathia teams have been slow to make moves. It often takes one player to sign before other pieces fall into place, as other highly-sought free agent pitchers such as A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe wanted to see where and what Sabathia ended up with before setting the bar for themselves.

Despite rumors of the current economic crisis possibly suppressing this year’s free agent activity, recessions don’t seem to effect the New York Yankees, who signed Sabathia to a record breaking seven-year, $161 million deal. The Yankees reportedly are not done making their mark, as they entered the offseason intent on drastically improving their starting rotation, and may end up signing other high profile arms such as Burnett, Lowe and Ben Sheets.

While the Yankees have received some criticism for bidding against themselves, since no one outside of the Milwaukee Brewers had made an offer to Sabathia (and the Brewers’ offer wasn’t anywhere close to the Yankees), they did have quite a few contracts come off of the books. Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi represented a significant chunk of the team’s 2008 payroll. Pettitte is the only member of this quartet that could end back with the team, if he doesn’t join Mussina and Greg Maddux by retiring after a very impressive career.

Nick Swisher was already added to the team and Mike Cameron will be next, addressing two needs defensively and in the starting lineup. Manny Ramirez could be one of their next targets, but the Yankees are more likely to continue to address their pitching needs first.

With a new stadium set to open, the Yankees should continue to score runs in bunches, and with a re-vamped pitching staff they stand to be the team to beat in 2009.

Buyer Beware
There are reports that the Washington Nationals have offered free agent slugger Mark Teixeira an eight-year, $160 million offer. Teixeira has made it clear that he would prefer to play closer to home on the East Coast, and playing in DC would be as close to home as he could get.

The Orioles are also involved, reportedly offering a seven-year, $150 million deal, and the Red Sox are also rumored to be involved for the free agent’s services. Don’t count out the Yankees, even if most of their focus is on pitching, and the Angels also are quietly still in the running.

Signing Teixeira would be a huge mistake for the Washington Nationals, who finished the 2008 season as the worst team in baseball and don’t appear to be anywhere close to competing. They have some nice young talent on the way, but those pieces are still a few years away from contributing, and there isn’t enough talent currently on the big-league roster that would suggest they could have a break-out season similar to the Rays this past year.

Such a deal would be similar to Alex Rodriguez when he signed with the Texas Rangers. Yes, such players immediately inject excitement into the team and their fan-base, but players do not sell tickets. Winning does, and one player in the game of baseball cannot turn around the success of a team on his own. If he were to end up in Washington, such a deal could cripple the franchise, and likely could cost General Manager Jim Bowden his job in a few years.

The Orioles are also better off with their plan to continue to build from the bottom up. They did recently clear the path for Matt Wieters by trading Ramon Hernandez to the Reds, and Wieters along with Teixeira would give the O’s and intimidating one-two punch in the middle of their lineup, but they need some of their talented young pitching to surface and succeed at the big-league level before they consider dropping that kind of money on a player like Teixeira.

Landing in Boston makes more sense to me, as the Red Sox already have more than enough pieces to make a difference, and would have arguably the most fearsome lineup in baseball if they added Teixeira, which would allow Kevin Youkilis to move back across the diamond to third base. Plus, this would give Teixeira a much better chance to win, if that is one of his own priorities.

If Jason Varitek ends up re-sigining with the Red Sox, with whom Teixeira is close with as former Georgia Tech alums and fellow Scott Boras clients, that may make his decision a lot easier.

Queens Closer
While the Yankees made starting pitching their top offseason priority, the cross-town Mets made sure to address their bullpen needs. First, they signed free agent closer Francisco Rodriguez to a three-year deal. Next, they traded for the Mariners closer J.J. Putz and intend to make him Rodriguez’ set-up man.

Rodriguez set the record for saves in a season in 2008 with 62, breaking Bobby Thigpen’s record of 57 set in 1990, and Putz was arguably the most dominant closer in the game from 2006 to 2007, even if his individual save totals weren’t as gaudy. There is some risk involved with Putz, who had some elbow issues this past year, and he may never throw as hard as he once did, but the Mets really didn’t have to give up much to get him.

With their bullpen significantly improved, the Mets can turn their focus on their starting staff, and may do their best to retain free agent starter Oliver Perez. They too are reportedly in the mix for Derek Lowe among others, but may have to settle for a lesser-named commodity if they’re not willing to out-bid the Yankees and even the Braves, the two teams that appear to be the most prepared to spend top dollar on the best arms available.

Quiet on the West Coast
After significant signings in recent years that include Jason Schmidt, Barry Zito and Vladimir Guerrero, things are awfully quiet on the West Coast.

CC Sabathia made it clear all along that he wished to return home to California, but none of the teams stepped up to even make an offer. The Dodgers are trying to find a way to keep Manny Ramirez with the team, as Derek Lowe appears bound for a team in the East, and the Angels are dealing with possibly losing both their star closer in Rodriguez and their best run producer in Teixeira. The Giants would be better off building young, having felt the effects of an old, over-priced roster that has led the team to not enjoy a winning season since 2004.

Signing Ramirez would likely limit other moves the Dodgers could make, still feeling the effect of signing players such as Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones to big-money deals only to see them drastically under-perform.

The Angels likely have money to spend, but if they lose out on Teixeira they’re unlikely to turn their attention to Ramirez. They may pursue close Brian Fuentes to help make up for the loss of Rodriguez, but they do have an impressive amount of young talent that could step up to fill some of the voids that are expected to be made this offseason.

This could create a perfect opportunity for other teams in both Western divisions to step up and make a run. The Oakland A’s appeared to get a sense for this earlier this offseason when they acquired Matt Holliday, and they may continue to add key pieces as they pursue Rafael Furcal and Randy Johnson.

While the Angels should still be in contention along with the A’s, the National League West seems to be more up for grabs.

With the Diamondbacks reluctant to spend any money on anyone, the Dodgers appear to remain the favorite, although that won’t seem as certain if they are unable to keep Ramirez. The Padres of course are having a fire sale, while the Rockies and Giants probably both are better off waiting for a better year to strike.

Draft Compensation
Since the free agent activity has been slow, the comp picks have been equally slow to materialize. We do know that a maximum of 22 free agents can effect the draft order via first-round supplemental picks.

Sabathia, Rodriguez and Jeremy Affeldt are the only three players that will already garner their 2008 club’s compensation picks, with the Brewers gaining the Yankees first-round pick and a sandwich pick, the Angels gaining the same from the Mets, and the Reds will obtain a sandwich pick for Affeldt after he signed with the Giants as a Type B free agent.

I intend to break down the raw draft order at this time next week, when a lot more free agents are expected to be no longer available.

The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.