What's The Buzz From the Baseball Winter Meetings?

[Baseball Furies]

Wow, the Marlins just signed Mark Buerhle to a 4-year, $58 million deal. That's a lot for this veteran. Ken Rosenthal is now saying that CJ Wilson will sign with the Angels. Crazy. The pieces are falling. Will Pujols re-sign with the Cardinals? Where will Prince go? The pieces are starting to fall into place and at big, big prices.

Over $14 Million a year for a slightly better version (if even that) of John Garland?! Pure idiocy. Must be nice to have money to burn. Wouldn't a few more dollars (if even that were necessary) have netted you a better pitcher in C.J. Wilson?!

[Navel Lint]

Wow, the Marlins just signed Mark Buerhle to a 4-year, $58 million deal. That's a lot for this veteran. Ken Rosenthal is now saying that CJ Wilson will sign with the Angels. Crazy. The pieces are falling. Will Pujols re-sign with the Cardinals? Where will Prince go? The pieces are starting to fall into place and at big, big prices.

Over $14 Million a year for a slightly better version (if even that) of John Garland?! Pure idiocy. Must be nice to have money to burn. Wouldn't a few more dollars (if even that were necessary) have netted you a better pitcher in C.J. Wilson?!

Probably not. I think Wilson will be had in the 6yr/$90-100M range. The thing is, it could be the Marlins that pay that price.

[Captain Hook]

Wilson signed with the Angels for $75-77 million for five years

[Ryan C]

Yu Darvish revealed on his personal blog that he will be posted for major league teams on Thursday.

Now that Pujols and C.J. Wilson (and Buehrle) are off the board, teams who missed on Pujols will turn their eyes towards Fielder obviously.

Darvish now becomes the top arm on the market. Maybe landing Darvish has been Nolan Ryan's plan all along - but they will have to be the highest bidder to get the chance to sign him. This will be the next big news of the day.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Yu Darvish revealed on his personal blog that he will be posted for major league teams on Thursday.

Now that Pujols and C.J. Wilson (and Buehrle) are off the board, teams who missed on Pujols will turn their eyes towards Fielder obviously.

Darvish now becomes the top arm on the market. Maybe landing Darvish has been Nolan Ryan's plan all along - but they will have to be the highest bidder to get the chance to sign him. This will be the next big news of the day.

This one is going to be fun to watch with the Yankees needing another arm, the Red Sox not afraid to dip into the bidding, Texas definitely interested and maybe even Seattle. His numbers from Japan are off the charts, but he's also been very good in international competition. Plus watching him pitch, his style is very orthodox if you will and he has a solid 95 mph fastball with a good curve and slider. This guy really looks like he could step in and be a very solid MLB pitcher right away. It's hard not to see him being a Top 25 fantasy starting pitcher, maybe Top 20. Should be fun to watch.

[Winston's Empire]

I can't believe how little has come out so far / lately regarding Prince Fielder. Does anybody have any info about any offers or potential interest in the big guy?

[Captain Hook]

I can't believe how little has come out so far / lately regarding Prince Fielder. Does anybody have any info about any offers or potential interest in the big guy?

Nothing was going to happen with Prince until Pujols signed and the market was more clearly defined. The Brewers will of course try and retain him but there are several clubs with interest but no offers (at least publicly known) on the table.......YET

[Winston's Empire]

I can't believe how little has come out so far / lately regarding Prince Fielder. Does anybody have any info about any offers or potential interest in the big guy?

Nothing was going to happen with Prince until Pujols signed and the market was more clearly defined. The Brewers will of course try and retain him but there are several clubs with interest but no offers (at least publicly known) on the table.......YET

Ya, thats about what I got too. Will be interesting to see how this develops, but I think the Mariners, Cubs, Rangers, Brewers, Orioles, Nationals, Blue Jays, Marlins, and wait for it..... the Houston Astro's (Moving to AL West Next year and New Owner) will make up his market when its all said and done. I still think the big guy will get the 7 - 8 Years / $20 Million+ Per Year he is seaking.

[Captain Hook]

Miami has already stated they won't be in on Fielder and Houston won't be either.
Most of the rest are viable in one way or another.
While I think Texas should land him (would be great in Arlington), I think the Cubs might try and get this done.

[Winston's Empire]

The Marlins said they won't be, but who thought they would be offering Pujols $275 Million?!
Houston, I would agree is very unlikely, but they have to have a reason to get people to come to that park and they need a building block. After they trade Wandy and Carlos Lee, who do they have left that is even recognizable to anybody outside of a 15 Team - NL Only League Owner?
The Cubs are the overall favorite in my opinion too, I just want them to make it happen soon before the Angels coming looking for a backup at DH or something!

[Greg Ambrosius]

This is a real interesting trade made by the DBacks and A's. Arizona now has a very deep rotation with some great prospects coming up soon. They could afford to give up Jarrod Parker, but he's a good one. A's trade for a good arm. Who has the scouting report on Parker and can he contribute right away?

From MLBTradeRumors.com: Diamondbacks have acquired pitchers Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow from the Athletics for minor leaguers Jarrod Parker, Collin Cowgill and Ryan Cook, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links) and Steve Gilbert of MLB.com (Twitter).

The Diamondbacks will also receive cash from Oakland, tweets Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.

The centerpiece of the trade for Arizona is Cahill, a right-handed starter who has logged more than 175 innings in each of his three seasons as a Major Leaguer. The groundballer (53.3%, per Fangraphs) will turn 24 in March and is under team control four at least four more seasons, per the terms of a multiyear extension he signed with Oakland in April. That covers his three years of arbitration eligibility and one year of free agency.

Breslow, a lefty reliever, kicked around earlier in his career before latching on with the A's the past three seasons. Breslow has posted a career 3.80 FIP, and with no significant lefty/righty splits, he should will likely be used as a swing lefty out of Kirk Gibson's bullpen in 2012. He is eligible for free agency after 2013.

[Captain Hook]

Parker is an excellent young pitcher and I thought (as did several others here) that he would be in the DBacks rotation next spring. That said I see the club's point in getting a pitcher the same age who already has three years of experience given they have a window of opportunity to continue to stay atop the NL West standings.

Arizona has several good young arms almost ready - likely their 1st round pick from last year Trevor Bauer will be a contributor in 2012 - if not in March then later in the year - he is Very Good. Tyler Skaggs may be just a year behind and they have a few more, so they were definitely dealing from an area of strength there.

Cowgill is a good OF but Arizona has other prospects and no immediate openings.

[Captain Hook]

Greg - here is a scouting report from ESPN's Keith Law on Parker

Parker is the real return here for Oakland, a six-foot right-hander with a golden arm, 91-96 on the four-seamer with a new two-seamer at 90-92 and a plus changeup at 80-82; his slider hasn't been as sharp since his 2009 Tommy John surgery, but the two-seamer can get him groundballs and the changeup is going to miss a lot of bats. He needs time to continue to build arm strength and work on locating both fastballs, as well as the art of setting up hitters. In Oakland, with a big ballpark and good defense behind him, he'll be in good shape to continue his development and perhaps even accelerate it, with the eventual ceiling of either an ace of a very good No. 2 starter, probably two or three years down the road.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog/_/n ... -trade-mlb

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg - here is a scouting report from ESPN's Keith Law on Parker

Parker is the real return here for Oakland, a six-foot right-hander with a golden arm, 91-96 on the four-seamer with a new two-seamer at 90-92 and a plus changeup at 80-82; his slider hasn't been as sharp since his 2009 Tommy John surgery, but the two-seamer can get him groundballs and the changeup is going to miss a lot of bats. He needs time to continue to build arm strength and work on locating both fastballs, as well as the art of setting up hitters. In Oakland, with a big ballpark and good defense behind him, he'll be in good shape to continue his development and perhaps even accelerate it, with the eventual ceiling of either an ace of a very good No. 2 starter, probably two or three years down the road.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog/_/n ... -trade-mlb

Thanks Perry. I know in Arizona there was talk about Parker definitely being the No. 5 guy in the rotation and everyone seemed high on him. I've never seen him pitch, but I certainly could understand Oakland's desire to swap for a guy they will now have for 5-6 years. This totally makes sense from Arizona's standpoint too and their rotation will be mighty good this year and maybe the best in baseball a year from now. Good trade both ways.

[Greg Ambrosius]

This is an interesting take on the Rangers' financial situation, which affects how they approach Fielder and Darvish:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Prin ... ter-121211

So where does Fielder go if the Rangers, Cardinals, Marlins and Brewers are out of the picture? Cubs? Nationals? I still can't see him going to Seattle. Thoughts?