ATM report--Yankees signings; trades

[nyy26wc]

1) The Yankees have a 2 PM press conference to announce the Jason Giambi signing.

Giambi easily won the AL Babe Ruth Award, which is Baseball Immortals's version of the MVP, hitting .660 SLG, .477 SLG, 1.137 OPS, 105 RCAA, .850 OWP, 12.62 RC/G, 172 RC in 154 games. It was the 2nd consecutive year Giambi had a 1.000+ OPS, 100+ RCAA, 10.00+ RC/G and a .800+ OWP. Only 10 player shave reached those figures at least twice in their careers--

1 Babe Ruth 10
T2 Lou Gehrig 7
T2 Ted Williams 7
4 Rogers Hornsby 4
T5 Mickey Mantle 3
T5 Jimmie Foxx 3
T7 Barry Bonds 2
T7 Ed Delahanty 2
T7 Jason Giambi 2
T7 Ty Cobb 2

2) The Yankees have reportedly signed free agent LF Rondell White to a 2 year, $10 million contract, pending him passing his physical.

White's a good player, when he plays. But, he's a star in the area of getting hurt. He's only had 100+ G and 500+ PA 3 times in his career and only had 396 and 357 PA over the past couple of years.

White hit .529 SLG, .371 OBA, .900 OPS, 14 RCAA, .619 OWP, 6.67 RC/G, 59 RC in 95 games in 2001. He had career highs in SLG and OPS, while he just missed in OBA. White has a .835 career OPS, compared to his league average of .776 and positional average of .780, 58 RCAA and 15 RCAP.

Since I'm going to need to be able to spell out these words at some point(s) during the season, let me practice now--The Yankees have placed LF Rondell White on the 15 day DL.

3) The Redsox traded CF Carl Everett to the Rangers for P Darren Oliver.

After .969 OPS/45 RCAA and .959 OPS/37 RCAA seasons in 1999-2000, Everett dropped to .438 SLG, .323 OBA, .761 OPS, 1 RCAA, .508 OWP, 5.24 RC/G, 60 RC in 102 games in 2001. He has a .826 career OPS, compared to his league average of .778 and CF average of .774, 71 RCAA and 52 RCAP.

Despite his drop in production, Everett still had a positive RCAA. It's unknown who the Redsox will end up using as his replacement, but it's unlikely that they will end up with someone with as much potential to have a good year as Everett has.

The Redsox get a stupidity award for taking Oliver back in the deal. While losing Everett could backfire, giving him away for free would have been a better move than compounding things by acquiring Oliver. Oliver had a 6.02 ERA and -26 RSAA in 2001, with his 7.42 ERA/-27 RSAA season in 2000 and 5.73 ERA/-17 RSAA performance in 1998 showing that his awful pitching wasn't a fluke.

4) The Mets signed free agent OF Roger Cedeno to a 4 year, $18 million contract.

Cedeno hit .396 SLG, .337 OBA, .733 OPS, 2 RCAA, .512 OWP, 77 RC in 131 games in 2001. He has a .736 career OPS, compared to his league average of .780 and positional average of .782, 13 RCAA and -2 RCAP. Starting in 1996, Cedeno's had a positive RCAA in each even year and a negative figure in each odd year.

5) The Pirates traded P Todd Ritchie to the Whitesox for P Kip Wells and Sean Lowe.

Ritchie had a 4.47 ERA and -3 RSAA in 33 starts in 2001, which was his 3rd year with a negative RSAA in his 5 year career. But's never been below -5. Ritchie has a 4.37 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.59, and 10 RSAA.

Wells was a top prospect, but hasn't lived up to his billing yet. He had a 4.79 ERA and -3 RSAA in 40 games (20 starts) in 2001 and has a 5.14 ERA, compared to his league average of 4.59, and -9 RSAA. He doesn't turn 25 until April.

Lowe had a 3.61 ERA and 14 RSAA in 45 games (11 starts) in 2001. It was the 2nd time in the past 3 years that Lowe had a double digit RSAA, but he's also never had positive figures in back to back years. Lowe has a 4.56 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.59, and 7 RSAA.

5) The Mariners re-signed free agent P Norm Charlton to a 1 year, $1.25 million contract.

Charlton had a 3.02 ERA and 6 RSAA in 44 games in 2001. He has a 3.71 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.11, and 43 RSAA.

6) The Diamondbacks signed RF Jose Guillen to a 1 year, $500,000 contract.

Guillen hit .378 SLG, .317 OBA, .695 OPS, -5 RCAA, .379 OWP, 3.89 RC/G, 15 RC in 41 games in 2001. He's had a negative RCAA every year of his 5 year career. Guillen has a .709 career OPS, compared to his league average of .774 and RF average of .818, -70 RCAA and -81 RCAP.

7) The Brewers re-signed PH-OF Mark Sweeney, who was eligible for salary arbitration, to a 1 year, $515,000 contract.

Sweeney hit .416 SLG, .347 OBA, .762 OPS, 0 RCAA, .508 OWP, 14 RC in 48 games in 2001. He has a .729 career OPS, compared to his league average of .774 and positional average of .819, -5 RCAA and -12 RCAP.

8) The average major league salary rose to $2,138,896, which is an 18% increase over 2000.

9) The Angels and Whitesox agreed on a deal that would have sent Darin Erstad to the Whitesox for OF Chris Singleton, P Jon Garland and 3 minor leaguers, before Angels management pulled out at the last minute.

10) The Redsox hired Luis Tiant as their pitching coach in A Ball and will also work for the major league team for community relations.

11) NY Newsday reports the Mets are close to signing free agent P David Weathers.

[nyy26wc]

1) According to the LA Times, "Word emerged at about 1 a.m. here that Dodger General Manager Dan Evans and Oakland GM Billy Beane were moving quickly to finalize the blockbuster transaction that would send outfielder Gary Sheffield and pitchers Luke Prokopec and Mike Trombley from the Dodgers to Oakland for Gold Glove outfielder Jermaine Dye and closer Billy Koch, sources said. An announcement could made as soon as today."

Meanwhile, the LA Daily News reports the Cardinals have met with the Dodgers in each of the past two days to discuss a Sheffield trade.

2) According to the Washington Post, the Orioles and Phillies were "tantalizingly close" to a trade that would have sent Jeff Conine, Buddy Groom, Sidney Ponson, Erik Bedard and Sean Douglass to the Phillies for Scott Rolen, Chris Brock, Kevin Jordan and a prospect. According to that report, the Orioles are turning their attention to Raul Mondesi and Mo Vaughn.

3) Rangers GM John Hart is denying rumors that the team is going to trade Frank Catalanotto to the Indians for John Rocker and Russell Branyan.

4) According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Mets GM Steve Phillips says the A's are interested in David Justice.

5) The BlueJays released C Alberto Castillo, who they had designated for assignment last week.

6) The Arizona Republic reports the Diamondbacks plan on having Miguel Batista in the rotation for 2002.

7) Braves MGR Bobby Cox says he doesn't see B.J. Surhoff as an everyday player next season.

8) Pirates INF Mike Benjamin is making slow progress after having surgery on his right elbow in June and might not be ready for spring training.

9) The A's and Whitesox have reportedly made offers for Brian Giles. But, Giles has a list of 6 teams he can be traded to and according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Giles "gave no indication yesterday that he would waive his limited no-trade clause for a chance to join either club."

Giles's list is the Padres, Dodgers, Giants, Rockies, Braves and Diamondbacks, while both that paper and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette report he may be interested in waiving the no trade clause if the Yankees or Mariners were interested.

11) According to the Chicago Sun Times, Sammy Sosa is helping the Cubs try to recruit free agent LF Moises Alou, while Alou's agent says, "Chicago is his preferred destination. Sammy's a good recruiter. Andy [MacPhail] and I have talked about this. That's all I'll say."

12) According to the Rocky Mountain News, the Giants are interested in trading for Rockies 3B Jeff Cirillo, while the Denver Post reports the Rockies should know today whether they'll be able to trade Cirillo to the Mariners.

13) According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, if the Mariners can't sign Bret Boone, "The Detroit Tigers are making it clear that they would be willing to move their starting second baseman, Damion Easley, for the right deal."

14) According to the Boston Herald, the Redsox are working on a trade that would send P Ugueth Urbina to the Dodgers and then they would try to sign free agent P Jeff Shaw. The deal with the Dodgers could involve P Luke Prokopec, who the Redsox may be interested in sending to the Reds for Pokey Reese, while the Dodgers could be trying to throw Andy Ashby into the deal.

Meanwhile, another report in the same paper, but by a different writer, says the Redsox are working on a deal with free agent P Mike Williams.

15) According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Braves GM John Schuerholz says he's interested in free agent 1B Tino Martinez, but not at the 4 year, $40 million pricetag that he's asking for.

16) Reds GM Jim Bowden says, "We're getting closer. We're working on a couple deals," while there are reports from both Cincinnati and Seattle that the Reds and Mariners are working on a Pokey Reese trade.