Season Preview: AL East

With Spring Training well under way and the first games starting very soon, I figured it was a good time to take a look at my own predictions for the league, and the changes the respective teams have made.

Last Year’s Records
Tampa Bay – 96-66
New York – 95-67
Boston – 89-73
Toronto – 85-77
Baltimore – 66-96

Notable Additions

Baltimore – Derrek Lee, Mark Reynolds, Vladimir Guerrero, J.J. Hardy, Justin Duchscherer

Boston – Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Bobby Jenks, Dan Wheeler

New York – Russell Martin, Rafael Soriano, Pedro Feliciano, Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Eric Chavez

Tampa Bay – Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, Adam Russell, Cesar Ramos, Felipe Lopez, Sam Fuld, Chris Archer

Toronto – Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch, Juan Rivera, Scott Podsednik, Brett Lawrie, Rajai Davis

Notable Losses

Baltimore – Kevin Millwood, Julio Lugo, Ty Wigginton, David Hernandez, Kam Mickolio

Boston – Adrian Beltre, Victor Martinez, Anthony Rizzo, Casey Kelly, Bill Hall

New York – Javier Vazquez, Andy Pettitte, Lance Berkman, Kerry Wood

Tampa Bay – Carl Crawford, Matt Garza, Rafael Soriano, Carlos Pena, Grant Balfour, Joaquin Benoit

Toronto – Vernon Wells, Shaun Marcum, John Buck, Miguel Olivo, Scott Downs

Who are the Faces of their Franchise? AL East Edition

The recent signing of Eric Chavez by the Yankees and trade request by Michael Young got me thinking: which players are truly the face of their franchise right now?

Generally, this is most likely someone who is among the highest paid players on the team, and usually one of the best players on the team as well. It generally seems to be a position player, but some teams may have a pitcher as the face of the team. And of course, there’s always the possibility that a team simply doesn’t have one player who stands out from the rest. With that, here’s my thoughts on each franchise:

Trade Review: Shaun Marcum to the Brewers

The Winter Meetings hadn’t even officially kicked off and there had already been two trades, one gigantic one, and another which is a pretty decent sized one as well. I already wrote up the Adrian Gonzalez trade, but another one that came together pretty quickly on Sunday evening was the Brewers’ acquisition of Blue Jays’ starting pitcher Shaun Marcum in exchange for 2B prospect Brett Lawrie.

Season Previews in Review: American League East

Back during Spring Training, I took a look at each team and made predictions about how each team would do and how I thought their season would go. This was the first year doing this, and I figured now was a good time to take a look back and see how it went. I’ll be going a division at a time, starting with the American League East.

Baltimore Orioles

Predicted Record: 70-92            Actual Record: 66-96

It was a tale of two seasons for the Orioles, as they spent the first half of the season clearly as the worst team in all of baseball. Nothing seemed to go right for the team, and it ended up costing manager Dave Trembley his job before too long. This left interim skipper Juan Samuel to try and right the ship, while the Orioles also continued to look for his (and Trembley’s) replacement. By the August 31^st trade deadline, the team had managed to ship just one of its movable pieces for prospects with Miguel Tejada being traded to the Padres. But they had also hired Buck Showalter to manage the team, and the team has already seen a drastic improvement. This record would have actually been much further off if not for the late-season turnaround.

Original Draft Series: #4 – Toronto Blue Jays

For those that missed the guidelines I am using for this series of posts, you can find them here.

Team #4: Toronto Blue Jays

General Managers(since 1994)

Pat Gillick (1994): 55-64
Gord Ash (1995-2001): 541-575
J.P. Ricciardi (2002-2009): 642-653
Current GM: Alex Anthopoulos

Team Performance

Playoffs			Division Finish
WC	League	Playoff App	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Last
0	0	0	0	1	9	3	3

All information is drawn from Baseball Reference.

Position	Name	Acquired	Years with Org.	Stats with Organization	Left?
C	J.P. Arencibia	2007 – 1st Rd (21)	3	6 gm, .217/.217/.522, 2 HR, 4 RBI	Currently with Org.
1B	Casey Blake	1996 – 7th Rd	3	14 gm, .256/.293/.385, HR, RBI	Selected off waivers by IN – 5/23/00
2B	Orlando Hudson	1997 – 43rd Rd	8	1 Gold Glove 462 gm, .270/.328/.418, 35 HR, 201 RBI, 19 SB	Traded to ARI – 12/27/05
3B	Michael Young	1997 – 5th Rd	3	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Traded to TEX – 7/19/00
SS	Felipe Lopez	1998 – 1st Rd (8)	4	134 gm, .240/.293/.399, 13 HR, 57 RBI, 9 SB	Traded to CIN – 12/15/02
LF	Reed Johnson	1999 – 17th Rd	8	610 gm, .281/.342/.410, 42 HR, 234 RBI, 28 SB	Released – 3/23/08
CF	Vernon Wells	1997 – 1st Rd (5)	13	3 All Star Appearances, 3 Gold Gloves, 1 Silver Slugger 1367 gm, .279/.328/.472, 215 HR, 794 RBI, 89 SB	Currently with Org.
RF	Alex Rios	1999 – 1st Rd (19)	10	2 All Star Appearances 809 gm, .285/.335/.451, 81 HR, 395 RBI, 112 SB	Selected off waivers by CHW – 8/10/09
DH	Adam Lind	2004 – 3rd Rd	6	1 Silver Slugger 475 gm, .271/.323/.470, 76 HR, 270 RBI	Currently with Org.
SP	Shaun Marcum	2003 – 3rd Rd	7	35-24, 3.83 ERA, 559.2 IP, 451 K, 178 BB	Currently with Org.
SP	Roy Halladay	1995 – 1st Rd (17)	14	2003 AL Cy Young Award, 6 All Star Appearances 148-76, 3.43 ERA, 2046.2 IP, 1495 K, 455 BB	Traded to PHI – 12/16/09
SP	Ricky Romero	2005 – 1st Rd (6)	5	24-17, 3.95 ERA, 358 IP, 294 K, 148 BB	Currently with Org.
SP	Brett Cecil	2007 – 1st Rd (38)	3	18-11, 4.35 ERA, 240 IP, 105 K, 45 BB	Currently with Org.
SP	Chris Carpenter	1993 – 1st Rd (15)	9	49-50, 4.83 ERA, 870.2 IP, 612 K, 331 BB	Released – 10/9/02
RP	Brandon League	2001 – 2nd Rd	8	7-10, 4.09 ERA, 202.1 IP, 154 K, 73 BB	Traded to SEA – 12/23/09
RP	Mark Hendrickson	1997 – 20th Rd	6	12-9, 4.94 ERA, 195 IP, 97 K, 52 BB	Traded to TAM – 12/14/03
RP	Alfredo Aceves	Int’l FA – 2001	1	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Purchased by Mex. League – 4/24/02
RP	Casey Janssen	2004 – 4th Rd	6	14-19, 4.12 ERA, 268.2 IP, 163 K, 70 BB	Currently with Org.
RP	Kelvim Escobar	Int’l FA – 1992	11	58-55, 4.58 ERA, 58 SV, 849 IP, 744 K, 394 BB	Left via Free Agency – 10/26/03
CL	Brandon Lyon	1999 – 14th Rd	3	6-8, 5.40 ERA, 125 IP, 65 K, 34 BB	Selected off waivers – 10/9/02
BN	Cesar Izturis	Int’l FA – 1996	5	46 gm, .269/.279/.388, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 8 SB	Traded to LA – 12/13/01
BN	Aaron Hill	2003 – 1st Rd (13)	7	1 All Star Appearance, 1 Silver Slugger 748 gm, .273/.328/.429, 85 HR, 350 RBI, 22 SB,	Currently with Org.
BN	Travis Snider	2006 – 1st Rd (14)	4	161 gm, .248/.318/.434, 20 HR, 66 RBI, 6 SB	Currently with Org.
BN	Gabe Gross	2001 – 1st Rd (15)	4	84 gm, .226/.316/.326, 4 HR, 23 RBI	Traded to MIL – 12/7/05
BN	Kevin Cash	Amateur FA – 1999	5	101 gm, .173/.222/.262, 5 HR, 29 RBI	Traded to TAM – 12/12/04

June Amateur Draft

The Blue Jays have done better than just about any team with finding and maintaining first round talent. Last year’s rotation featured 3 first round picks (Halladay, Romero, and Cecil), and this season’s lineup features 3 starters from the first round as well (Hill, Snider, Wells). The only position where they are particularly weak is catcher, simply because J.P. Arencibia has not been called up to stay and start yet for the Jays. The key with the Blue Jays has to be their ability to develop pitching, as shown by Marcum, Halladay, Romero, and Cecil. There were even more pitchers who have been at least serviceable in the Majors who were not included because I simply ran out of room. Clearly, not all the moves have been winners (Carpenter, Lyon, Rios), but the team has done extremely well all the same.

International Free Agency

The Blue Jays have not done a whole lot in the international markets, instead choosing to spend their money on draft picks. That said, there really isn’t a lot to like in terms of international free agents here. Kelvim Escobar is really the only player who has become any kind of success in the Majors, with Aceves limited to middle relief only.

Overall Grade

A. The Blue Jays have done poorly in the international markets, but with the amount of talent they have been getting out of the draft, it wasn’t really necessary to have. They’ve established themselves as one of the premier teams when it comes to identifying and developing pitching talent, but don’t get near enough credit for it. In addition, they have also managed to develop Major league starters at nearly every position on the diamond, with some solid players left in reserve as well. They are clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the teams to this point.

Trade Review – Roy Oswalt to the Phillies

The saga has finally wound itself up, with SP Roy Oswalt accepting a trade on Thursday afternoon and waiving his no-trade clause. I am including the trade made between the Astros and Blue Jays in this writeup because I think it speaks to the true value of the trade.

Philadelphia Phillies acquired SP Roy Oswalt (and $11 M cash)
Houston Astros acquired SP J.A. Happ and minor leaguers OF Anthony Gose and SS Jonathan Villar

Houston Astros acquired 1B Brett Wallace
Toronto Blue Jays acquired OF Anthony Gose

The Phillies

Clearly, the Phillies get another ace to put up at the top half of their rotation, and with Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt making up their top 3 starters, they look very strong if they make it into the playoffs. This wasn’t exactly what everyone had imagined as the pair of aces if the Phillies were to acquire Halladay last offseason, but it is still very formidable. By getting the $11 M, they have essentially been paid the cost of Oswalt for 2011 (he is owed $23 M through next season), and make the idea of giving up good players a lot more bearable. For them, Happ, Gose and Villar are the price it takes to make another run at a World Championship. The Phillies also did very well here in my opinion in that they were able to hold onto some of their higher end prospects like Jarred Cosart, Trevor May, and Jonathan Singleton.

The Astros

The Astros had pretty much been put in no-man’s land, and did surprisingly well here considering that fact. Happ is going to be at worst a #3 starter in the Majors in my opinion, and has shown some success previously. Minor leaguer Jonathan Villar is a very raw shortstop prospect, who looks like a speed guy to this point. He has 38 steals so far this year in 100 games in Single-A. The plate discipline concerns me quite a bit: 26 walks to 103 strikeouts in those same 100 games, but he’s still a very young prospect (only 19 at the time of the trade), and there’s a lot of upside there.

By acquiring Brett Wallace from the Blue Jays, they got a player who is a lot more major league ready than Gose, and can slot in as the replacement for Lance Berkman following the season. Berkman is on a team option for 2011, which will almost certainly be bought out instead of exercised ($2 M buyout versus $15 M salary). I find it extremely telling that the kid has now been traded 3 times in the past calendar year, as he was a part of the Matt Holliday trade and also the Roy Halladay trade group as well. Wallace has hit very well in the PCL this season, posting a .301/.359/.509 line with 18 HR and 61 runs batted in.

The Blue Jays

Anthony Gose, just 19 years old, trends to be a definite speedster out there as well. He stole 76 bases last season in a full season and has 36 so far this season as well. Another player who could struggle with poor plate discipline (32 walks vs. 103 strikeouts), but still has hit .263/.325/.385 at High-A Clearwater. I like this move for the Blue Jays, as it appears that they will be unable to move free agent to be Lyle Overbay, and were able to make a move of Wallace to get a player who has a high ceiling but who is also unlikely to arrive for another couple of seasons.

Overall, this trade was made with the hope that another pennant will be had by the Phillies, and I was actually surprised at how close the Phillies have gotten to the Braves in the last week. The Astros, considering all the limitations and cash issues that were surrounding moving Oswalt, did pretty well to get the players that they did. The one thing that really does concern me quite a bit about the Phillies is that they have already committed $143 million to a total of 17 players who are under contract for 2011. It seems to me like they could either end up spending similar amounts to the Yankees or have to find some serious bargains to help fill the roster. The biggest bonus for the Astros appears to be only having to pay the $11 million of the $23 million owed to Oswalt.

WINNER: Phillies

Team Preview – Toronto Blue Jays

Roster Makeup
Lineup		Pitching Staff
Pos	Name	Role	Name
C	John Buck	SP 1	Ricky Romero
1B	Lyle Overbay	SP 2	Brett Cecil
2B	Aaron Hill	SP 3	Marc Rzepcynski
3B	Edwin Encarnacion	SP 4	Shaun Marcum
SS	Alex Gonzalez	SP 5	Brandon Morrow
LF	Travis Snider	Bullpen
CF	Vernon Wells	CL	Jason Frasor
RF	Adam Lind	RP	Jeremy Accardo
DH	Randy Ruiz	RP	Jesse Carlson
Bench		RP	Kevin Gregg
OF	Jeremy Reed	RP	Brian Tallet
OF	Jose Bautista	RP	David Purcey

Additional roster information can be found at MLB Depth Charts.

Off-Season Transactions
Key Additions			Key Losses
Pos	Name	How	Pos	Name	How
SP	Brandon Morrow	Trade (SEA)	SP	Roy Halladay	Trade (PHI)
C	John Buck	Free Agency	RP	Brandon League	Trade (SEA)
RP	Kevin Gregg	Free Agency	SS	Marco Scutaro	Free Agency

Top Prospects: Brett Wallace (3B), Kyle Drabek (P), Zack Stewart (P)

2009 Review

The Blue Jays always seem to be not quite close enough to competing. They finished 2009 with a 75-87 campaign, which led to the firing of general manager J.P. Ricciardi after 8 seasons. Ricciardi and the Blue Jays spent most of the season listening to trade rumors surrounding SP Roy Halladay, which appeared to be a distraction overall. But the team definitely had some bright spots. 2B Aaron Hill lead the team with 36 HR, as he was healthy for the full season for the first time in a while. RF Adam Lind finally developed into a good middle-of-the-order hitter, powering 35 HR and a team-leading 114 RBI to go with a .305 batting average. SP Roy Halladay went 17-10 with a 2.79 era, leading a very young, but potentially very good pitching staff.

Injuries played a major part in the Blue Jays season, with 2 starting pitchers missing the entire season (Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan). However, rookies Brett Cecil, Marc Rzepcynski, and Ricky Romero all came up and stepped right into the rotation. Perhaps the most unusual moment came in August when RF Alex Rios, placed on waivers like nearly everyone else on the roster (as is standard at the time of year), was claimed by the White Sox. The Blue Jays took that opportunity to rid themselves of a rather large contract, and got just the relief from Rios’ salary in return.

Team Outlook for 2010

The Blue Jays are always going to be a second-tier team in comparison to the Yankees and Red Sox, but they have done well to position themselves in terms of the future. The Halladay trade netted them an excellent pitching prospect in Kyle Drabek, a high-level 3B prospect in Brett Wallace, a solid catching prospect in Travis d’Arnaud, and also acquired another good young arm in Brandon Morrow in a separate trade. This is in addition to the already good young arms of Brett Cecil, Ricky Romero, Shaun Marcum, and Dustin McGowan. While the team no longer has a bona fide #1 starter in Halladay, they did well to get as good of a return as they did considering he was only under contract for 1 season and had a full no-trade clause.

The Blue Jays should be helped with full seasons from OF Travis Snider, 3B Edwin Encarnacion, and SP Brett Cecil. However, they did lose a large amount of offense from SS Marco Scutaro and C Rod Barajas that wasn’t particularly replaced in the lineup. I think this is a team that will continue to develop this season, and unfortunately will not really be in the AL East race for very long. They simply don’t have enough offense from this lineup to compete with the top hitting teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Rangers), and don’t have enough top-tier pitching to compete with the top pitching teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners, Tigers).

Fantasy Outlook for 2010

2B Aaron Hill and RF Adam Lind are really the cream of this crop, as the Blue Jays have quite a few players who are better real-life players than fantasy players. I don’t expect Hill to repeat the home run total he had last season, but 2B is still very shallow and Hill is a definite starter in all leagues. Nearly all of their starting pitchers are high-risk, high-reward types due to the fact that they are all very young still. If I were to pick one out of the group, it would probably be Ricky Romero, as he’s shown the most success while with the big club to this point.

Prediction for 2010

The Blue Jays are in a semi-rebuilding mode at this point, as they have quite a few young players at the Major League level. I don’t believe that they will compete for the AL East crown this season, and could potentially see more movement if they can get a good return on players like Lyle Overbay, Jason Frasor, and Jeremy Accardo. But watch out for them in the coming seasons as they should improve under new general manager Alex Anthopoulos.

77-85, 4th in the AL East

Free Agency Review – Relief Pitchers

Today I’m finishing up my series of reviews of this offseason’s free agent class, talking about the relief pitchers of the class.

All salary data from ESPN.com’s Free Agent Tracker
All 2011 free agent information from MLB Trade Rumors’ 2011 Free Agent List

Left Handed Relievers
Name	Old	New	Years	Total $
Mike Gonzalez	ATL	BAL	2	$12 M
Billy Wagner	BOS	ATL	1	$7 M
John Grabow	CHC	CHC	2	$7.5 M
Darren Oliver	LAA	TEX	1	$3.5 M

Notable Remaining Free Agents: None

This group of lefty relievers did well, as both Gonzalez and Wagner received high dollar contracts that I, for one, did not really see them getting out of the teams that they did. Gonzalez seems like he was a good signing for the Orioles, as he can help to stabilize the bullpen for the very young rotation they have. Wagner was a bit of an unusual signing, as he was a type-A free agent. The Braves could have kept either Gonzalez or Rafael Soriano without having to give up the draft picks, but felt that Wagner was a better fit instead. That said, there is a certain swagger that Wagner can bring to the club that I don’t think either Gonzalez or Soriano would provide.

Right Handed Relievers
Name	Old	New	Years	Total $
Jose Valverde	HOU	DET	2	$14 M
Fernando Rodney	DET	LAA	2	$11 M
Rafael Soriano	ATL	ATL/TAM	1	$7.25 M
Kevin Gregg	CHC	TOR	1	$2.75 M
Takashi Saito	BOS	ATL	1	$3.2 M
J.J. Putz	NYM	CHW	1	$3 M
Octavio Dotel	CHW	PIT	1	$3.5 M
Rafael Betancourt	COL	COL	2	$7.55 M
Matt Capps	PIT	WAS	1	$3.5 M
Kelvim Escobar	LAA	NYM	1	$1.25 M
LaTroy Hawkins	HOU	MIL	2	$7.5 M
Brandon Lyon	DET	HOU	3	$15 M

Notable Remaining Free Agents: Kiko Calero (FLA)

Lots of closers in this group. The Rodney signing was interesting to me, as it signals either one of two things: Rodney isn’t that concerned about being a closer, as he could probably have gotten a job as one with a number of teams, and 2)the Angels have very little faith as Brian Fuentes as the closer. Either way, definitely something to be watched. Washington, Houston, Detroit, and possibly Pittsburgh all got closers off of the free agent pool this year. The other interesting trend was the musical chairs game played by some of the teams, with Valverde and Lyon essentially trading spots, and deciding that the player they don’t know is going to be better than the player they do.

This weekend’s posts: Fantasy Previews of 1B and 2B

Free Agency Review – 2B/SS

Yesterday, I went over this offseason’s free agent catchers, first basemen, and third basemen. Today, the middle infielders.

All salary data from ESPN.com’s Free Agent Tracker
All 2011 free agent information from MLB Trade Rumors’ 2011 Free Agent List

Second Basemen
Name	Old	New	Years	Total $
Placido Polanco	DET	PHI	3	$18 M
Orlando Hudson	LAD	MIN	1	$5 M
Freddy Sanchez	SF	SF	2	$12 M

Notable Remaining Free Agents: Felipe Lopez (MIL)

The thing that really stood out to me about the 2B free agents was the fact that Hudson, for a second year in a row, had to wait until nearly Spring Training to find a job. Minnesota is a good fit for him, as he’ll probably slot in near the top of the order and provide some excellent defense up the middle. I also thought it was interesting that Polanco decided to go to Philadelphia, and change positions to move to 3B to do so. I also wonder how much longer Felipe Lopez will be available as a free agent. He seems like too good of a player to still be without a job of some sort, especially considering his ability to play multiple positions in the infield.

Shortstops
Name	Old	New	Years	Total $
Marco Scutaro	TOR	BOS	2	$12 M
Orlando Cabrera	MIN	CIN	1	$3 M

Shortstop was extremely shallow this offseason. Miguel Tejada was available to play shortstop, but it became clear that no one believed he can be a starting major league shortstop any longer. Beyond Scutaro and Cabrera, nearly all the remaining players who could play shortstop were backups, or simply defensive specialists. Scutaro’s $12 M contract was easily the largest, both in terms of years and dollars. Clearly, by signing Scutaro, the Red Sox decided that they don’t believe Jed Lowrie is a Major League shortstop, either. Cabrera surprises me again this season, as he had a season that was pretty consistent with his career averages, and yet somehow continues to have difficulty finding a job via free agency.

Tomorrow’s free agent positional review: The Outfielders

Free Agency Review – C/1B/3B

All week, I will be recapping the free agency signings this offseason, by position. Today’s group: Catchers and Corner Infielders (1B, 3B)

All salary data from ESPN.com’s Free Agent Tracker
All 2011 free agent information from MLB Trade Rumors’ 2011 Free Agent List

Catchers
Name	Old	New	Years	Total $
Bengie Molina	SF	SF	1	$4.5 M
Miguel Olivo	KC	COL	1	$2.5 M
Ivan Rodriguez	TEX	WAS	2	$6 M
Jason Kendall	MIL	KCR	2	$6 M
Gregg Zaun	TAM	MIL	1	$2.15 M
John Buck	KC	TOR	1	$2 M
Brian Schneider	NYM	PHI	2	$2.75 M
Yorvit Torrealba	COL	SD	1	$1.25 M

Notable Remaining Free Agents: Rod Barajas (TOR)

There really wasn’t a lot of available jobs for catchers this offseason, as realistically 5 jobs were vacated by free agents. Bengie Molina probably did the best, in my opinion, as he got the highest annual salary ($4.5 M), and managed to go to a team that has a very good prospect waiting in the wings. Of some concern was the fact that Molina had an even better offer on the table from the Mets, and turned it down anyway. Ivan Rodriguez was probably my favorite signing for a specific team, as he should be a real help to the Nationals rotation and lineup with his experience, and his winning track record. Nearly all of these signings are of the low-risk, high-potential variety, and no really big contracts either.

First Basemen
Name	Old	New	Years	Total $
Adam LaRoche	ATL	ARI	1	$6 M
Aubrey Huff	DET	SF	1	$3 M
Nick Johnson	FLA	NYY	1	$5.75 M
Troy Glaus	STL	ATL	1	$1.75 M
Jason Giambi	COL	COL	1	$1.75 M

Notable Remaining Free Agents: Russell Branyan (SEA), Carlos Delgado (NYM), Hank Blalock (TEX)

This year’s crop of free agent first basemen really didn’t have a lot of high-end talent, with Branyan and LaRoche probably having the best seasons of any of the players available. As a result, we saw exclusively 1 year contracts for most players, and some still looking for work. Branyan is really the biggest surprise, although his published demands early on during the offseason may have scared away a lot of teams. Next year’s class of 1B free agents is extremely strong, including Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman, Derrek Lee, and Carlos Pena. This may also have contributed to the lack of long contracts, as teams may not want to tie up the position for next season’s bonanza. Another group of lower-risk, higher-potential contracts that if they don’t work, will not really cause any problems for the teams that signed them.

Third Basemen
Name	Old	New	Years	Total $
Mark DeRosa	STL	SF	2	$12 M
Adam Kennedy	OAK	WAS	1	$1.25 M
Chone Figgins	LAA	SEA	4	$36 M
Adrian Beltre	SEA	BOS	1	$10 M
Melvin Mora	BAL	COL	1	$1.3 M
Garrett Atkins	COL	BAL	1	$4.5 M
Pedro Feliz	PHI	HOU	1	$4.5 M
Miguel Tejada	HOU	BAL	1	$6 M

Notable Remaining Free Agents: Joe Crede (MIN)

3rd base actually had some solid free agent signings, with some big dollars as well. Beltre got the highest annual salary at $10 M from the Red Sox. That contract actually seemed like a bit of a surprise, as the Red Sox still have Mike Lowell who will now be relegated to bench duty. Figgins was the cream of the crop of this group, and got a well-deserved $36 M contract from the Mariners. The other signing I really found interesting was the Miguel Tejada signing. Tejada has never played 3B before, but will be moving to the position in his return to the Orioles. It looks like a really good value signing for the Orioles, and provides some more veteran leadership in the Orioles clubhouse.