This Week In Hot Stove: December 4th

Hot Stove season has started and it could be a wild off-season for many teams. The economy took a dive this year, but will salaries? Who won the trades this week? Who signed with a new team? I'm here to help talk about the significant trades and signings the week before the Winter Meetings take place in Indianapolis.

Mets sign SS Alex Cora to a one-year deal - I don't see the significance to this signing, if anything it's a weak security blanket in case Jose Reyes doesn't come back or re-injures himself.

Phillies sign C Brian Schnieder to a two-year deal - It's no secret that the Phillies are looking to upgrade this position, but Schneider could be a nice platoon option at catcher.

Cleveland trade C Kelly Shoppach to Tampa Bay Rays for player to be named later - I believe Tampa Bay won this trade hands-down. Shoppach had a rough '09 season, but if you look at his '08 totals, they were great. Cleveland has a lot of young catching talent, so he was expendable. I look for him to be a nice player for the Rays going forward.

A's re-sign RHP Joey Devine - Devin is often injured and has never reached his potential. I don't think he is going to get there with as many injuries he has suffered in his short career.

Atlanta Braves sign LHP Billy Wagner to a one-year deal - The Braves had trouble closing games out and they really didn't have one solid closer for the last couple seasons. If Wagner can stay healthy, he could have a nice season for Atlanta.

Phillies sign 2B Placido Polanco to a three-year deal - This signing is a little weird. They are wanting Polanco to play third-base, so this signing means that Pedro Feliz will be on another team next season. Polanco is a nice player, but I'm not sure what he gives you at third-base.

Oakland trades RHP Jeff Gray and two minor-leaguers for C/3B/LF Jake Fox, 2B Aaron Miles, and cash considerations - You can see my take on this trade by reading this story.

Mets sign C Chris Coste and Henry Blanco to one-year contracts - The Phillies basically trade catchers with Schneider signing with Philadelphia. This signing proves that the Mets are looking to platoon this position.

Braves sign RHP Takashi Saito to a one-year contract - I really like this signing since they have added Bill Wagner to the pen. Saito can be a nice setup guy and with their starting rotation, Atlanta is building a bullpen to match.

Red Sox sign Marco Scutaro to a two-year contract - It looks like Boston may have cured its search for an able shortstop. I like this signing, it's not flashy, but he's good defensively.

Mariners sign Chone Figgins to a three-year contract - Figgins is a nice player, but they are signing him for $9 million per year. I like him, but I'm not sure if I like him that much. I look at the Mariners roster and I don't see where the power will come from. Figgins can get on base, but who will drive him home?

Look for a lot of activity to happen next week....

Cubs Trade Jake Fox To Oakland

The Cubs received a gift this year, their prospect Jake Fox, a converted catcher, began lighting up the minor leagues. He was hitting the cover off the ball for power and average. A few injuries happened and the Cubs brought him up, but he has no real position on the team since Alfonso Soriano plays in left field. The Cubs had to trade him this off-season, did they get value for Jake Fox?

The deal was that Oakland sent RHP Jeff Gray, minor leaguer OF Matt Spender, and minor leaguer RHP Ronny Morla to the Cubs for Jake Fox, 2B Aaron Miles and cash. If you just look at the trade, this yields nothing instantly for the Cubs. This trade is addition by subtraction. Miles was very bad last year and they can get him off the books, which saves a roster spot and cash for a possible off-season second baseman signing. A lot of people think that they might go after a guy like Orlando Hudson or maybe going after Mark DeRosa again.

Jake Fox fits into what Billy Beane is all about, he's a guy who will walk and hit for a high average. His ceiling could be Jack Cust with a better average. Jeff Gray is a player that the Cubs will use instantly, he was in 20 games last year for Oakland and had an ERA around 3.50. Morla is a very young prospect that could turn into something in a few seasons and Spencer is a nice prospect that could end up being a nice outfield prospect in a year or so, his highest minor league level is currently AA.

I think this is a nice trade, but not a trade that most Cubs fans would want. They are used to huge splashes in free agency and trades. They hated the Mark DeRosa trade last year, but the Cubs got three very good pitching prospects in the deal and time could favor the Cubs in that trade. Jake Fox was one of the trade pieces that Cubs had in a very small prospect pool. Chicago doesn't have many prospects to trade, so they are a bad trading partner for most teams. I think the Cubs needed to get rid of Miles and the only way they could was to include Fox in the deal.

What The Cubs Need To Do This Off-season

Now that the Yankees have won the World Series and the season is officially over, it's time for Cubs fans to start thinking about what the team needs to do this off-season. Can the Cubs do anything internally to upgrade their bullpen? Can they afford to wait on their high-priced player to contribute or should they deal them to a team for prospects and re-build? We identify some needs, some players that need to go, and some free agents that Tom Ricketts need to sink some money into.

The Cubs have a lot of dead weight on their roster. They have used a lot of money to sign high-priced players that haven't lived up to their potential. Alsonso Soriano, Milton Bradley, Kosuke Fukudome, and Carlos Zambrano didn't have great seasons last year and their combined payroll is most than many small market teams. Their pitching staff, especially their closer position, was very rocky and Carlos Marmol completely imploded with a WHIP around 1.50 for most of the year.

Let's start off with players that are free agents from the Cubs. Kevin Gregg, Reed Johnson, Rich Harden, and John Grabow all are free agents this off-season. First off, let Gregg walk, he wasn't good on back-to-back days and he played himself out of the closer role. I would also agree with letting Harden leave as well, there are some nice 4th and 5th starters in this free agency pool that could step in and go more than five innings. Harden put extra burden on the bullpen to close games and many of the games Harden would give up a lot of runs the last inning of work. I would say to re-sign Grabow and Johnson to contracts. Grabow is a nice left-hander that could be a possible closer candidate. You would have to give him at least a three-year deal, but I would be okay with that, he showed promise with the Cubs. Reed Johnson would be a nice two-year player as a platoon with Fukudome in center. He is nice off the bench and pinch-hits very well.

Tom Ricketts needs to spend money to make this Cubs roster a contender. You have at least one more year of Pinella as your manager and you need to stack the deck. As a new owner, you will need to make a splash, so your first move should be to sign Mark DeRosa and get him back on the Cubs. The biggest mistake that they made was trading him away. They did get a few nice minor-league pitchers that will probably be on the 40-man roster this next season, but throw the check book at DeRosa. He probably wants at least a three or four year deal, but try and get him for $10 million a year. They shouldn't care what it costs, it will bring all the Cubs fans together and support Ricketts as the new owner. DeRosa can play nearly every position and if there is an injury, like last year's injury to Aramis Ramirez, it won't cost the Cubs games with DeRosa filling in. If you go another season with Aaron Miles and Jeff Baker as your options in case of an injury, you're going to be hurting.

The other free agents that you need to look at are Bobby Abreu (who they should have signed last year), Chone Figgins, Justin Duchscherer (could be a nice, cheap option as a 4th starter), Randy Wolf, Ben Sheets, and Miguel Tejada (if he would agree to a one-year deal). Abreu will be looking for a huge contract and will probably be out of the Cubs price range. Figgins would also be looking at a huge contract and it would be a multi-year deal, it could be risky, the older he gets, the more his speed could diminish. Justin Duchscherer was out all year recovering from surgery, but his 2008 season was amazing. I know he has injury concerns now, but they could get him at a discount. I would love if they signed him, his upside would be tremendous. Randy Wolf is dependable and you know what you get with him. His upside would be last season when he was coasting through games with an ERA around 3.00. He could have played himself get into nice contract, so the Cubs may have to outbid a few teams if they really want him. I listed Ben Sheets because I think he still has something left in the tank. Who would have thought that Sheets and Jake Peavy would be in baseball no-man's land, if you add in Brandon Webb, those were the best three pitchers in the league just two seasons ago. You could get Sheets cheap, I would love this signing. Miguel Tejada is the last on my list and rumors have been floating around since he was in Baltimore of a possible deal/signing with the Cubs. If the Cubs were more of a contender, he would sign a one-year deal, but it doesn't look like they are on the short-list to win the World Series next year, so it would be unlikely.

The Cubs need to do their best to move some player this off-season. Milton Bradley would be the best candidate for this to happen, mostly because of his attitude and the fact that they still owe him more than $20 million over the next two seasons. Some rumors are flying around a trade with the Blue Jays for Vernon Wells, but I don't see how that makes sense. Wells is a nice player, not great, but he is signed to an ungodly contract. Wells still has five years left and $107 million dollars left on his deal, but the rumor is that the teams would split the contract in half. I still don't see this happening for the Cubs, since they have received plenty of interest from other teams and the Blue Jays would have to sweeten the deal.

Jake Fox is another player that has to be moved before next season. If the Cubs were in the American League, Fox has the ability to be their franchise designated-hitter for many years, but unfortunately he doesn't have a position on the Cubs. If they could move him for a nice young starter, it would be in the Cubs best interest to make that deal. The Orioles have a nice stash of young pitchers and we all know how the Cubs love to make trades with the Orioles. I can see this happening, even though I wrote many posts about how the Cubs need to stop trading with bad teams and getting little in return.

Tom Ricketts has a lot to think about this off-season. A lot has been written if the Ricketts family can afford to add to the payroll and it has been a mixed bag of responses. They want to put the profits back into the Cubs and improve the facilities, but before you do that, make one push to get this team to the elite level. They did a great thing by signing Rudy Jaramillo as their hitting coach, he did some great things for the Texas Rangers. These are the things that the new owner needs to do to improve the team. Build the team around fundamentals and get these high-priced players to get back to hitting and pitching and doing everything right. I don't know what the window of is on this team to be good, but it's closing. Zambrano could bite the head off of a pitching coach any day, you never know.

2009 MLB All-Overachiever Team

Due to injuries and roster changes, there are always guys who perform way better than expected. In 2009, there were plenty of those players who could have either helped your fantasy baseball team or your real life team. These players are all players who came out of nowhere or players who everyone gave up on, but have done a great job so far in 2009. Here is my 2009 All-Overachieving Team, did I miss anyone?

This team is full of players on the Tampa Bay Rays, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Rays haven't transferred these players having career years into a playoff spot, but the other teams are at least in the discussion to earn a playoff spot this season. Is this a coincidence? I doubt it, if a player overachieves, the team will benefit from winning games that they may have not won if that player wasn't contributing at such a high level. Likewise, if you have these players on your personal team, you are probably near the top of your fantasy baseball league.

Catcher - Rod Barajas - He hit 11 homers and had 49 RBIs all of last season, but he may nearly double those numbers in 2009. He is already sitting at 18 homers and 64 RBIs with a batting average comparable to last season at .241. He has had much better seasons than Geovany Soto and Russell Martin, who were expected to do much better this season than Barajas.

First Base - Kendry Morales - Mark Teixeira left for the Yankees and the Angels needed a first baseman to fill the offensive void that he left. Kendry Morales was their answer with 30 homers, 98 RBIs, and currently batting .307 so far this season. He is a great find for the team and he should be there for a long time for the Halos.

Second Base - Ben Zobrist - After Akinori Iwamura went down early in the season with an injury, the Rays were scrambling for a long-term replacement for him. Ben Zobrist was a utility player who bounced around between Triple-A and the Majors and they picked him to fill in. He has had a career year and he's been a key to the Rays success this year. He has hit 23 homers, drove in 72 runs, stole 16 bases, and is slugging .517 so far this season. They would be hard pressed to move him next season when Iwamura is 100% healthy from his injury, it should be his job now.

Shortstop - Jason Bartlett - Speed and defense was hit game, but this year he has added some power and boosted his batting average by 50 points. He has hit 14 homers this year, after hitting one all of last season. He has also soared his batting average up to .331 and stole 24 bases for the Rays this year. He has been a big surprise and his defense has helped them stay in games.

Third Base - Mark Reynolds - He has always shown power at the plate, but hasn't ever hit for average, let alone steal bases with consistency. He has done all of that and managed to already hit 41 homers while hitting for .271 and stealing 22 bases. He is the lone bright spot for the Diamondbacks this year.

Outfield - Garrett Jones - He was a career minor-league player and as soon as the Pirates called him up, he has been a hitting machine. He has already hit 19 homers, drive in 38, and has batted .304 in only 247 at-bats this year. Not only has he been hitting, he has also stolen 9 bases, this was totally unexpected from Jones this year or ever.

Outfield - Juan Rivera - He only received around 250 at-bats in 2008, but didn't put up any numbers to brag about, but in 2009, it's a different story. He has hit 22 homers, drove in 79 runs, and is hitting .292. He has been a big key in the Angels locking up the AL West title, since they weren't expecting these kind of numbers from Rivera.

Outfield - Jake Fox - I would file him next to Garrett Jones in this category. Fox didn't have a great 2008 in the minors, but at the beginning of 2009, he was leading the minors in homers and the Cubs had to bring him up. He has already hit 10 homers with 39 RBIs in only 178 at-bats. They have to find a regular position for him, because his bat has been on fire.

Starting Pitcher - Jason Marquis - He was the fifth starter for the Chicago Cubs for the last two seasons, but he never pitched very well for the team. He did pitch well for St. Louis, previous to the Cubs, but he failed to make the post-season rotation with either the Cardinals or Cubs. If the Rockies make the playoffs, Marquis will definitely make the rotation and he could very well be the anchor. He currently 15-10 with a 3.65 ERA for Colorado this year. He has never had explosive stuff, but he has pitched smart this year and is having a career year.

Starting Pitcher - Barry Zito - He's currently 9-12, but I added him to this roster because he has been so bad the last two years. His ERA is currently 3.99 and the last 30 days, he has a 2.36 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and three quality starts. If he can pitch like this the rest of the way, the Giants could be making their way to the playoffs.

Starting Pitcher - Jorge De la Rosa - He started the season very bad, but has made up for lost time by winning nearly every game since. He is 14-9 with a 4.37 ERA and has 170 strikeouts. Over the last few months, he has been averaging more than a strikeout per inning and has lead the Majors in wins. This turnaround in the middle of the season is amazing and he could be in the Cy Young conversation if he didn't start out so poorly.

Starting Pitcher - Scott Feldman - In 2008, Feldman had an ERA over 5.00 and was bouncing around between the rotation and bullpen. Nolan Ryan started him in a throwing program this off-season and he has benefited from this the most. He is currently 16-4 with a 3.46 ERA and is in the AL Cy Young discussion. He has been a huge reason why the Texas Rangers have been in the AL Wild-Card race this late into the season.

Starting Pitcher - Joel Pineiro - He has been struggling since he had one good season in Seattle. In 2008, he had an ERA over 5.00 and looked like he could lose his rotation spot this year. He isn't flashy and he doesn't strike many guys out, but he is currently 15-10 with a 3.21 ERA, more than the Cardinals were bargaining for in 2009.

Relief Pitcher - Darren O'Day - He was an unknown, but in 2009 he has came out of the bullpen and has helped keep leads for his starting pitchers. He has pitched 51 innings and has 51 strikeouts, while sporting a 1.76 ERA and an impressive WHIP of 0.98. He has single-handedly brought the Rangers bullpen from embarrassing to impressionable.

Relief Pitcher - Trevor Miller - Miller has always been a power pitcher out of the bullpen, but this season he has kept the ball down and kept up his strikeout rate. He has a 1.80 ERA with a 0.88 WHIP and has recorded 41 strikeouts in 40 innings of work. The Cardinals bullpen has been great as a whole, but Miller has kept up the pace and more.

Relief Pitcher - LaTroy Hawkins - Maybe I discount what Hawkins can do because he was so horrible with the Chicago Cubs. The 2009 version of Hawkins has been very good and has been a jack-of-all-trades for the Houston Astros bullpen. He has a 2.38 ERA in 56.2 innings of work so far. He has plenty of holds on the year and has filled in as the closer, scoring 11 saves.

Closer - David Aardsma - Aardsman was bad, bad, bad in 2008 with an ERA of 5.55. After Brandon Morrow doing horrible as the closer at the beginning of the year, the Mariners gave Aardsma a shot and he has ran with it. He has 34 saves, 73 strikeouts in 62.2 innings, and an ERA of 2.15. He wa a closer in college, but hasn't had many chances in the pros to keep a job. I believe he has done a great job with the Mariners and it should be his job to lose in 2010.

Are The Cubs Finally Making A Run?

The Cubs may not be making any huge trades over the next 24-hour period, but their current players have finally started to hit. What would happen if Milton Bradley actually starts to produce for the Cubs? Can they keep pace with the Cardinals, who added Mark DeRosa and Matt Holliday over the past couple weeks? Geovany Soto and Ted Lilly are both on the DL, but with Ryan Dempster and Aramis Ramirez coming off, this could be the beginning of a nice second-half of the season.

Alfonso Soriano, who has battled a leg injury for most of the season, has finally started to swing the bat well. They moved him down to the sixth spot, and since then, he has been hitting .383 with 5 homers and 15 RBI. I'm not sure if the move down in the order sparked this offense, but resting during the All-Star break could have added to his numbers. I like him hitting behind Ramirez, Fox/Hoffpauer platoon, and Bradley, they have all found their numbers have increased. Ramirez has had an extra base-hit in 9 straight games and Bradley hit is eight homer of the season this afternoon. If they get their pitching in order, maybe they can keep pace with the Cardinals. Adam Wainwright and Cris Carpenter are the only Cardinals who has pitched well after the All-Star break, with Ryan Franklin finally looking human. If the Cubs can get a mid-level bat or someone like John Grabow over the next day, it could help their cause.

Geovany Soto has not had a great season this year, but he is expected back in a couple weeks from an oblique injury. He started to hit well before his trip to the DL, but I like the way Koyie Hill has called games for the pitching staff. Randy Wells has looked great and even Kevin Hart has looked like a professional over the last two weeks. It wouldn't be the end of the world if Soto is out longer than expected, but I would like him to get a couple weeks of regular season activity at the end of the season, if the Cubs make the playoffs, I don't want him rusty.

The rest of the league are scouring the league for trades, but the Cubs can't afford to do that, nor should they do so. If their line-up starts to hit to their potential and Zambrano doesn't eat someone's face off, they will be in the race. The Cubs don't have any blue-chip prospects other than Josh Vitters, who they hope will develop into something great. He's a third-baseman, so he'll either be an insurance policy for Aramis Ramirez, or a possible position change to first base, if Derrek Lee's performance begins to decline.

I have really turned the wagons around the last few days concerning the Cubs season. If the Brewers get desparate and trade their lot of prospects away for Roy Halladay, I could head back the other way, but it looks like Doc Halladay isn't headed into these parts anytime soon.