NL West

Dodgers – The Dodgers lost Shaito to the Red Sox and he was sure to be the set up man for Broxton this year pending he didn’t get hurt again.  I don’t know if fans realize that Shaito is 36 years old and has had Tommy John surgery in the past.  The man pitched in Japan for over 10 years then decided to try his luck in MLB in which he was at times unhittable.  Guiermo Mota will now fill that set up roll for Broxton.  Mota is a nomad in the league being on 6 teams in 10 years.  Although he is always moving around this guy can still pitch and will fit the set up roll nicely I believe.

A good signing by the Dodgers was 2B Orlando Hudson.  The O-Dog was out on the FA market for awhile and his value dropped significantly.  He is a 3-time gold glover at second base from 2005-2007.  Hudson solidifies the Dodgers defense up the middle and as long as he stays healthy he has 18 HR 70 RBI potential.

FINALLY the Dodgers agreed to terms with Manny Ramirez on a 2-year/$50 million.  This signing dragged on for months after Manny rejected two other contract offers from the Dodgers.  He batted .396 as a Dodger last year so you knew the Dodgers weren’t going to let him go so easily.  Also he brought excitement to Dodgers Stadium and put people in the seats.  Without Manny that would not have made the playoffs and Manny writers gave him votes for MVP in the NL last year even though he only played 53 games for them!  If you extrapolated Manny’s stats from last year in the NL he would have been MVP and would have hit somewhere around 51 HRs, drive in 151 runs and score over 100 runs.  WOW.

Diamondbacks – The D-backs are definitely looking for their new SS Felipe Lopez to revert to his All-Star season in ’05 for Cincy.  He scored 97 runs that year and had 62 extra base hits.  23 HRs and 85 RBI are pretty solid numbers for a National League shortstop.  Most NL shortstops are often used as sacrifice bunters and not known for hitting homers, excluding Hanley Ramirez of course.  In ’08 Lopez only had two sacrifice hits and two the year before that.  For a team like the Diamondbacks who struggles offensively (Connor Jackson was the only player to bat .300 or better and stood at exactly .300) he needs to get his bunts down and move runners over.  The Diamondbacks were 13th in the NL in batting at .251 and Felipe Lopez won’t really help with that and they were middle of the line in OBP at .327.  This is an area he can hopefully improve on.  Lopez showed signs of hitting his prime at 28 when he hit .385 for the Cardinals in 43 games last year.  Unfortunately for the Cardinals he walked away for a one year deal.  Last year Lopez also played 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF and RF which will be a big boost to the Diamondbacks defense.
Down in the dessert the Diamondbacks also got Scott Schoeneweis in a trade for RHP Connor Robertson.  Schoeneweis had a decent year last year for the Mets and pitched in 73, 56.2 innings.  His ’08 ERA of 3.34 was the lowest of his career excluding ’05 when it was 3.32.  Schoeneweis is pretty old but he brings a veteran presence with him to the locker room.  I look for him to get two or three outs per game, he won’t be much help any longer than that per outing.

Rockies – At least the Rockies got SOMETHING for free agent to be Matt Holliday.  Not a chance they were going to resign him so they went out and got a new closer (maybe), Huston Street along with RHP Greg Smith and OF Carlos Gonzalez.  Both saw Major League time last year and Smith (2005 6th round pick) went 7-16.  Gonzalez batted .242 in 302 AB.  I think Street is comparable to replace Fuentes in Coores field and should record about 30 saves but right now Many Corpas is in the lead for the closers position to start the season.  This was definitely a good move on the Rockies part because at mid season not many teams would have wanted Holliday for just half the season unless a contract extension was in the works.  Street is under contract until the end of this year and arbitration eligible in ’10. The Rockies OF right now looks like this: LF, Seth Smith; CF, Ryan Spilborghs; and RF, Brad Hawpe.  For playing at Coores Field this looks like one of the most powerLESS OFs in the majors right now.  These three starters combined for 35 HRs last year.

Giants – The best off season move the Giants should have made would have been to sign Lincecum to a 30 year deal (he could pitch until he is 54, right?) and have him name his price.  The Giants would have to make a secret “no stepping foot out of San Fransico” clause though just so he doesn’t get any ideas of leaving but this is just hypothetically speaking.

Bob Howry is a career reliever; he has never started a game in his life.  He has pitched at least 42 innings each year for 11 years (except for 2003 when he was injured with the Red Sox).  That is pretty consistent if you ask me.  Howry carries with him to the Giants a career .245 BAA and a 2.73 K/BB ratio.

San Fran also signed Edgar Renteria.  I expect a big year out of him and see his average climbing to at least .290 compared to .270 last year.  In his two seasons in the AL his highest BA was .276 and his OBP hasn’t been over .335.  Renteria has been an all-star five years in his thirteen year career; none of those years were while he was in the AL.  Renteria has averaged 84 R, 159 H, 63 RBI and 30 2Bs per year; not to mention he won a WS with the Marlins in 1997.  He will hold his own at SS and will definitely be an upgrade offensively but a significant downgrade defensively.  It’s pretty hard to replace the 2nd best defensive SS of all time (number one is Ozzie “The Wizard” Smith).

They did sign Randy Johnson for a bargain at 1 year/$8 million.  He will put people in chairs in San Francisco and at 44 the man can still pitch.  Even if Johnson makes 25 starts that is still better than throwing another Jonathan Sanchez out there for 25 starts with an over ERA over 5.  Also think about the veteran presence he brings to one of the youngest staffs in the majors with Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez (and possibly Lowry).  This will definitely prove to be a good signing for the Giants even if we don’t notice it in the standings.  I don’t need to throw out any stats because everyone should know what Randy Johnson is about and how at 44 he still makes hitters look foolish with that slider.

Padres – Who cares what they did, they may be the worst team in the majors along with the Pirates (it’s a coin flip).  How could you let someone like Trevor Hoffman go?  I know he is getting up there in age (he will be 41 by the first week of the season) but he still has a wicked change up and he spent his whole career with the Padres, except for 28 games his rookie year with the Marlins in 1993.  How much longer did they thing he was going to play?  They should have signed him for one year just out of respect because in all likely hood he will retire after this year.  Hoffman went on to sign a one year deal with the Brew Crew for $6 million and a possible $1.5 million in incentives.  Hoffman has 554 career saves (which ranks #1 of all time and more than 50 saves ahead of Mariano Rivera at #2) to go along with a 2.78 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, .224 BAA and a 9.13 K/9 in 15 seasons.