Winning the Winter, part 4

A baseball transaction lightning round for all the other baseball fans who stay up all night listening to Alkaline Trio.

11/26: Giants sign RP Javier Lopez, 3 years, $13M. 4 mil a year for a lefty specialist? This is just like Pence and Lincecum, signs that Brian Sabean would rather overpay to keep his own than put some thought into finding a better solution. Oh, and he's 36 years old. Good luck with that.

11/26: Mets sign OF Chris Young, 1 year, $7.25M. He's never been much for walks or not striking out, but the numbers say he's say he's a strong defensive outfielder and he's got some power. I'm not sure the Mets are in a place where marginal wins make a difference, but plugging Young into left field will make them a better team. Maybe a lot better, given his defensive prowess. With this and his upcoming moves, Sandy Alderson will force me to ask a question I thought I had a year to answer: Are the Mets sneaky contenders?

11/26: Reds sign UT Skip Schumaker, 2 years, $5M. The perfect Dusty Baker player: he can play almost anywhere, he swings at everything, he doesn't hit for power, he hustles like nobody's business. Too bad the Reds fired Baker after the season. This is actually a fair deal for what Schumaker brings, but what he brings approaches zero value.

11/27: Angels sign RP Joe Smith, 3 years, $15.75M. Smith did good work for the Indians the past few years, but as I said before, good organizations don't give 5 million dollars to relief pitchers these days. They develop them and get them for league-minimum deals. I guess since the Angels are in full go-for-it mode, they could have done worse than signing Smith. There's more good news coming in this series for Angels fans, so I won't totally dismiss this move. It does make them better, albeit at a high price.

11/29: Giants sign SP Ryan Vogelsong, 1 year, $5M. The delightful "Back from Japan" comeback story is over. Vogelsong is just another righthanded pitcher on the wrong side of the age curve now. Lucky for him, he's a Giant. We know what that means. Have some money, Ryan Vogelsong!

12/2: Blue Jays sign C Dioner Navarro, 2 years, $8M. I give props to Toronto's front office for recognizing a need and addressing it, but I'm still skeptical that Navarro can replicate his .856 OPS from last year's part time play with the Cubs. He's not that old, and he's hit at least reasonably well everywhere he's gone. So I guess it's fine. Someone has to catch when Dickey isn't on the mound, after all. Might as well be a decent hitter.

12/2: Rays sign C Jose Molina, 2 years, $4.5M. Jose's middle name is Benjamin, and his brother Benjamin's middle name is Jose. I officially do not understand this world. Anyway, the Rays got a good deal here. Jose brings a lot of value on pitch framing and defense, and he should split time evenly with their new acquisition. (Analysis coming soon!)

12/2: A's trade IF Jemile Weeks and a player to be named to Orioles for RP Jim Johnson. So the sabermetric mecca that is Oakland is going to pay 10 mil for a closer this year? Looks that way. This is a good pitcher they've added, but it's a big chunk of change for a team like the A's. But they won the division in 2013, this makes them better, I won't question it. Maybe Lew Wolff realized what he's got in Billy Beane and decided to support him a little. For Baltimore, it's a good move as long as they turn around and use that money to sign/trade for a good player. I have my doubts.

12/2: Tigers trade SP Doug Fister to Nationals for RP Ian Krol, UT Steve Lombardozzi, and minor league SP Robbie Ray. Here's another one for the WTF file. Fister's a valuable starting pitcher whose value will only rise with the move to the NL, and he's got a couple years of team control left. Krol and Lombardozzi are replaceable players, and Ray's a bit of a wild card. Supposedly, Tigers honcho Dave Dombrowski knew what he wanted to acquire for Fister and didn't really solicit competing offers. The whole thing is kind of a head-scratcher. As this was Detroit's first follow-up move to the Fielder trade, suffice to say I would not be a happy Dave if I were a Tigers fan.

That's it for this time around. Next time we'll start to get into the real December craziness that the Hot Stove League has brought us.