There you have it: my All-Free-Agent teams. My takeaways? There's some talent here, but not much. This isn't the kind of class that changes the balance of power in the league. There are no franchise-altering bats and only one or two pitchers who should genuinely move the needle. If you need depth, you may be in luck. If you need bodies capable of breathing and filling out your Triple-A roster, you're in outstanding shape. If you're looking for...
With the hitters now out of the way, let's turn our attention to the pitchers. Unlike the position-player crop, this class actually has some depth. It also has something else every free-agent class needs: a handful of pitchers who are about to get paid like aces despite not actually being aces. As always, pitching is baseball's most renewable resource right up until you need it, at which point teams start handing out contracts that make...
As we prepare for free agency to begin, the league is once again gripped by the familiar emotions of the offseason: excitement that every owner is about to land "their guy," disappointment that the class is somehow even thinner than advertised, and the creeping realization that several of these contracts will look like radioactive waste by the trade deadline. Still, hope springs eternal. Every winter, someone talks themselves into a career...
Your esteemed writer here, bored while we wait for free agency to begin and therefore helping one of my favorite owners find a new home for OF Paul O’Neill. Acquired for Brian McRae and Tony Womack, O’Neill has apparently spent approximately five minutes in Toronto before being shopped "for probably less than you would think." Ignoring, for the moment, the obvious question of why he was acquired in the first place if the intention was...
I said I'd be back for the big trades. This is not a big trade. But it is a funny one. The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired Deion Sanders from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Dante Powell and Brad Clontz, with Detroit agreeing to eat money in each of the next two seasons. And before we break down the players involved, let's acknowledge the real winner here: The rest of the league. Because Dante Powell and Brad Clontz have spent the last...
Around league circles, our colleague Graham Wexler has earned a reputation as something of a prophet. Every offseason, Wexler publishes his annual mock draft. Most years it provides a few laughs, a few arguments, and maybe a handful of correct predictions. This year, however, Wexler appeared to possess knowledge that bordered on the supernatural. The Chronicle's draft expert opened the draft a perfect six-for-six. Six selections. Six correct...
With the draft beginning today, best of luck to the teams making what they hope will be franchise-altering decisions. For some organizations, the next few days will represent years of scouting, planning, debating, and second-guessing finally coming to a head. For others, it will be another opportunity to convince themselves that this time they have found the missing piece. The pressure is immense. General managers, scouting directors, and front...
You wanted feisty. You got it. Because somehow Todd Zeile spent roughly nineteen minutes as a member of the Chicago Cubs before being shipped off to the Colorado Rockies for a 1997 third-round pick and a 1998 fourth-round pick. Nineteen. Minutes. At this point I'm not even sure Todd Zeile had time to learn where the clubhouse was. Let's start with Colorado. Because this side is easy. The Rockies needed a catcher. Todd Zeile is a catcher. The...
I've heard the complaints. Too many A's. Too many teams winning trades. Too much optimism. Well congratulations. The Chicago Cubs and Charlotte Knights have finally broken me. The Cubs have traded catcher Chris Hoiles, while eating a staggering $400,000 of the $500,000 remaining on his contract, to the Charlotte Knights in exchange for catcher Todd Zeile and a 1998 third-round pick. And after staring at this trade for far longer than I care to...