Transaction Oracle: 2012 ZiPS Projections - Detroit Tigers

The Tigers aren’t really a 95-win team - there are a lot more players likely to have worse seasons than better in 2012 - but while the Tigers would have an issue repeating in the AL East,

there aren’t any teams in the AL Central that are all that scary.  The team’s top-heavy and has some depth issues that need to be taken care of prior to the season as they can’t simply

enter another season with Brandon Inge at 3rd and Ryan Raburn is a Plan B or C starter, not a Plan A one.

Another starter ...

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Transaction Oracle: Royals - Acquired Sanchez

Kansas City Royals - Acquired P Jonathan Sanchez and P Ryan Verdugo from the San Francisco Giants for OF Melky Cabrera.

I count many Giant fans as friends. I can't imagine that any of them are happy at the moment. If the name Aaron Rowand doesn't come up in discussing this trade I'd be shocked.

Strictly on the basis of play in 2011 the Giants get the better of this deal, but that's a silly basis to make the deal. Cabrera is young enough that his excellent play last year could be a new talent ...

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Transaction Oracle: Phillies Sign Thome

Philadelphia Phillies sign 1B/DH/PH/3B (I kid) to a one year/ $1.25 million contract. I'm slightly surprised that he's coming back.That last appearance for the Indians at third base seemed like such a nice ending to one heck of a ride. But the man can still hit and I'd much rather have Thome as Ryan Howard insurance, DH in the AL games (and if all goes according to plan, the World Series) and primary pinch-hitter than Ross Gload for instance. Yes, Thome comes with issues. Can he still handle ...Read More...

Transaction Oracle: Diamondbacks - Signed Blanco

Arizona Diamondbacks - Signed C Henry Blanco to a $1.2 million contract with a 2013 mutual option for $1.24 million.

I'm not sure that the re-signing of a 40 year old backup catcher to a one year deal merits comment. In general that is.

First of all, Blanco played pretty well last year (.250/.330/.540 -- yes, Voros' Law applies of course. We are talking 112 plate appearances) and he's put up an 89 OPS+ over his last 616 plate appearances -- and was very good against the running game (46% ...

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Transaction Oracle: 2012 ZIPS Projections - New York Mets

Obviously not a great year for the Mets at 77-85, but if you just went by the tenor of the media reports, thanks to the Wilpon/Madoff turmoil, you'd think the Mets played like the 1993 edition that went 59-103. The team spent most of the year, playing "sort of OK-ish" and while never really in any kind of risk of being relevant, weren't Astrotastic horrible.

The pitching staff is interesting in that while it was one of the worst in the league (the 89 ERA+ was 15th of 16 teams in the ...

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Transaction Oracle: Yankees - Signed Sabathia

New York Yankees - Signed P C.C. Sabathia to a 6-year, $142 million contract.

Well that was something of a letdown. I think most of us were poised for a lot of posturing and a lengthy negotiation that in the end would see CC re-signing with the Yankees.

Did he leave anything on the table either in terms of length of contract or dollar per year? Could be, but I'm skeptical that he left a lot. In effect he signed for 5 years at $117 million (but with a potential $5 million buyout at the end) ...

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Jim's Lab Notes: Please Excuse the Mess

It's update time. The season is over and a slower news cycle is upon us. It's time for me to roll up my sleeves and work on the site. First up is the transition of our Content Management System (CMS) from Expression Engine's 1.x series to its 2.x series. I had hoped to accomplish this upgrade last March but, unfortunately, some of the third-party scripts the site uses had not yet been updated to the new version, my personal life was much too busy and, frankly, I did not have sufficient funds to ...Read More...

Transaction Oracle: Indians - Acquired Lowe

Cleveland Indians - Acquired P Derek Lowe from the Atlanta Braves for P Chris Jones

It's not exactly news that Lowe was surplus to requirements in Atlanta. His health record has been exceptional – rarely missing a turn since becoming a starter a decade ago.

The problem is that he's 3 years removed from being an impact player. His upside is probably league average and I'd be more than a little surprised if he's that good. 39 year old pitchers in a decline phase are not what you'd call good ...

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Transaction Oracle: 2012 ZiPS Projections - Philadelphia Phillies

Not a whole lot of surprises here. A ton of hitters that played in the organization get projected this year, mostly because the team employed a massive number of semi-familiar names this year. Brent Clevlen! Rich Thompson! Tagg Bozied! A lot of the minors looked a bit like the 2004 waiver wire in your fantasy baseball league.

The starting pitching made up for a lot of sins in the form of an overrated offense and should continue to do so, even if they can't bring Roy Oswalt back at a ...

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Transaction Oracle: 2012 ZiPS Projections - Chicago Cubs

Epstein! That's pretty much the big news in Cubs baseball the last month. It's still hard to tell what direction exactly Epstein will take the Cubs, but it's likely that the list of players employed by the Cubs in 2012 will look very different than the list of players below. Epstein wasn't brought in with giant sacks full of money in order to politely churn Jim Hendry's assemblage of awesomeness.

On the plus side, the Cubs aren't really as decrepit a team to rebuild as the Houston ...

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