AGRI Biz

When I woke up this morning, I had two thingsùI had a job and I had the idea to write a post titled, öIf Jason Bay 'Moves On,' What Will the Red Sox Do?ö By 2:00 in the afternoon, I was told I no longer had a jobùat least until after December 31 and the Red Sox have perhaps already figured out how they are going to replace Jason Bay. To be ...

Last night at 11:59 pm EST, marked the deadline for major league teams to offer players with less than six years service time contracts. These players are often referred to as tendered or non-tendered players. Here is the list of players last night who were non-tendered a contract:   Kelly Johnson, Atlanta Braves In my free agent primer , I had Johnson has my biggest non-tender sleeper. I think he has a lot ...

Bad news today for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. As first reported by ESPN.comÆs Jorge Arangure Jr., Angels relief pitcher Jose Arredondo will undergo Tommy John surgery, and will miss the entire 2010 season. Arredondo will have the surgery in January. This is just another blow to a once powerful Angels bullpen. If there was one thing you could count on in baseball from year to year, it was that the ...

Who knew that Brian Schneider was such a trend setter. Thanks to him, mediocre catchers everywhere are getting two-year contracts. Latest exampleùJason Kendall. The Kansas City Royals late this afternoon signed Kendall to a two-year deal to be their starting catcher in 2010. Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, but it is expected that Kendall signed a deal somewhere in the neighborhood of $4 million. The Royals are one of ...

Is it me or do the Chicago White Sox spend more time on trying to improve their bullpen than any team in baseball? I feel like they are always trading for or signing relief pitchers. Today, the White Sox added yet another relief pitcher to the mix. MLB.comÆs Noah Coslov has reported the White Sox have signed J.J. Putz to a one-year, $3 million contract. The deal also includes $250 thousand ...

Following the model that made the Cleveland Indians very successful in the 90Æs the Colorado Rockies are locking up their young players. The Rockies have already locked up Troy Tulowitzki, Ubaldo Jimenez, Brad Hawpe, Aaron Cook, and Jeff Francis. And now they have locked up another young talent. The Rockies, today, locked up 26-year-old catcher Chris Iannetta for three more years. The Rockies signed Iannetta to a three-year, $8.3 million contract with ...

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. In 2004, Bobby Crosby was the darling of baseball. He had just won the American League Rookie of the Year award and looked like another prized draft pick of GM Billy Beane. Five years later, Crosby is signing a one-year, $1 million contract to a backup infielder for one of the worst teams in baseball. Crosby today signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Pittsburgh ...

It's been a puzzling offseason so far for Houston AstrosÆ GM Ed Wade. He makes a good move in trading for Matt Lindstrom, then he makes a horrific move in signing Brandon Lyon to a three-year deal, and now he makes a good value move. ItÆs like for every two steps forward, he takes one step back. Today, Wade inked former Philadelphia Philly third baseman Pedro Feliz to a one-year, $4.5 million contractùa ...

Finally, finally the Tampa Bay Rays get their closer. The Rays have needed a closer for the past two years and now they finally have oneûand I believe a good one. According to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com , the Rays have acquired RHP Rafael Soriano from the Atlanta Braves for RHP Jesse Chavez. The Rays will pay all of SorianoÆs salary. They could go to arbitration or work out a multi-year deal. I ...

I am going to call Barry Meister this morning and ask him to represent me at my next salary negotiation at work. Meister is the agent for Brandon Lyon and right now is the smartest guy in the room. For those of you who are not aware, Lyon signed a three-year, $15 million contract with the Houston Astros last night. This is a great day for Lyon and a sad, sad day for ...