While the Winter Meetings in Dallas have proven to be more about establishing a foundation for deals to be made at a later date, there was some action that took place that could allow for some major chips to begin falling. News of the day (which is a relative term when Albert Pujols is a free agent) revolved around the Marlins continued attempt to imitate the New York Yankees this offseason by signing Mark Buehrle to a four-year deal. This is huge because in Buehrle they gain a perennial All-Star and stalwart left-handed veteran to anchor their rotation. He becomes a major addition behind Josh Johnson and his true value will come in stopping any sustained losing streaks the Marlins may incur. We have to keep in mind that even with the signing of Reyes this is still a very vulnerable offense. Reyes’ legs are still an issue, Logan Morrison will need to make strides and Gaby Sanchez needs to put together two solid halves in order for this thing to work.
While things were getting hammered out with Buehrle, Jose Reyes, who just signed a six-year pact with the fish, was being introduced. One of the most telling reasons for his departure from New York was his statement that he “felt wanted” in Miami. While I know this is a determining factor at any level for an athlete I don’t think Reyes fully understood two things. First, the toll his injuries took on the team as they waited on leg injury after leg injury was a lot more massive than he might realize. Whether he wants to believe it or not, he is a catalyst and he needs to make things happen at the top of the order. When he plays he does just that; but when you can only depend on him for an average of 98 games per season it takes its toll. Financially the Mets just don’t have it right now. They’ve albatross contracts to David Wright, Johan Santana (remember him?) and Jason Bay still on the books and they are all coming off of sub-par, injury riddled seasons. In the case of Santana both. Not to mention the Wilpon’s ongoing legal troubles involving Bernie Madoff and already declining attendance it doesn’t make things easy on a now financially strapped team to give another player almost $18 million per season.
More Notes:
- FoxSports Jon Morosi tweeted the Mariners are interested in Jamie Moyer and Jeff Francis. I say try not to be so interested.
- Speaking of the Mets, they made a few moves acquiring Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco to deals as well as trading Angel Pagan to San Francisco for Andres Torres and pitcher Ramon Ramirez.
- Mark Buehrle’s deal is for a reported four-years/$58 million dollars.
- Huston Street was traded to the Padres for a player to be named later
- Hanley Ramirez, a day after griping about moving to third base, is reported to have no issues with the move. Except for that whole defense part.
