The MLB Off-Season Vol. 1

It’s the most wonderful time of the year; a time when people from all around come together with one common goal. That goal is to make their baseball team better. Of course I’m talking about the MLB off-season. With the winter meetings coming to a close, we have already seen a good amount of movement throughout the league.

Of course the biggest deal seen this off-season so far is the 3-team 7-player trade between the Yanks, Tigers, and D-backs. The rich get richer by the Yankees acquiring 28-yr old CF Curtis Granderson, who is coming off his first All-Star season (30 HR/71RBI). This makes me sad because I used to like Curtis, and now I cannot. The Tigers get a handful of talent including, RP Phil Coke, RP Daniel Schlereth, prospect OF Austin Jackson, and most notably, skilled righty SP Max Scherzer. By giving up Scherzer and Schlereth, the Diamondbacks receive two young, seemingly solid starters in Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy. Both of whom should do pretty well in the unpredictable NL west.

Another deal on the verge of completion (based on physical exams) is one that will send Red Sox 3B Mike Lowell to Texas in exchange for C/1B Max Ramirez. Assuming everything goes as planned and both players pass physicals, the Red Sox would have to eat $9M of the $12M Lowell is due this year. Despite only playing a total of 17 games in his career, this wouldn’t be the first time Ramirez is involved in a trade for a former all-star. He was previously traded for Bob Wickman and then Kenny Lofton two years later. With Lowell leaving town the Red Sox are in pursuit of 30-yr old 3B Adrian Beltre, who has not since lived up to his 2004 season with the Dodgers when he was 2nd in MVP voting. It appears that the only other competition for Beltre is the Seattle Mariners, who had him for the past five seasons. Now if the Sox can’t get Beltre it is a possibility that they would take another look into the option of trading for San Diego’s power hitting 1B Adrian Gonzalez.

Sticking with the Red Sox, (because I like them) they made some good, and funny, acquisitions in the past few days. The first of which is the signing of RP Ramon Ramirez, only reason this is funny is because the Sox already have a RP Ramon Ramirez. According to GM Theo Epstein the new RamRam is going as “The Deuce”, a quality nickname no doubt. I like the Deuce, either that or “Number 2”(in the voice of Dr. Evil) would work as well, so long as people don’t call him poop. The Sox also acquired RHP Boof Bonser. Bonser, who has spent the last four years on the Twins, was up on the shelf for all of last year while recovering from surgery to repair a slightly torn labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder. More importantly, throughout his entire career Boof Bonser has been a perennial star for The Fightin’ Funny Names*. The Sox got Bonser in a trade with Twins for a BLOG player TO BE NAMED LATER.



*The Fightin' Funny Names is a fantasy baseball team I make every year that combines all the players with funny names that I can find. Former Fightin' Funny Names include the likes of Yorvit Torrealba, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Hiram Bocachica.