Mets agree to a deal with Sanchez

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How do Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine rank among alltime teammate combinations? How about Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz? What about the Barry Bonds/Jeff Kent combo, along with Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio? Keeping with that theme, how about whether Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams are among the alltime great up the middle combinations and what is interesting about Jorge Posada's including among all time great up the middle combos? The answers to these questions, and so much more, can be found in my upcoming player comments book. Preorders are currently being taken, while the offer for free copies of the ATM reports archives as a gift for preordering expires at the end of the year.
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1) The Mets agreed to a contract with free INF Rey Sanchez. The deal will be finalized on Monday, after he takes a physical.

After -37 RCAA/.637 OPS and -34 RCAA/.637 OPS seasons, Sanchez hit .345 SLG, .318 OBA, .662 OPS, -11 RCAA in 107 games with the Redsox. He has a .649 career OPS, compared to his league average of .766, and -204 RCAA in 1274 games.

Sanchez is a perfect example of how a player can use an above average batting average (.275 vs. .270 average) to hide what a bad offensive career he's had. In his 11 years in the majors (excluding his 13 games as a September callup in 1992), Sanchez has 9 years with a double digit negative figure, has been better than -8, had 3 years worse than -20 and was under -30 in back to back seasons.

2) The Royals signed free agent C Mike DiFelice to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.

After -14 RCAA/.682 OPS and -17 RCAA/.504 OPS seasons, DiFelice hit .362 SLG, .297 OBA, .660 OPS, -6 RCAA in 70 games with the Cardinals. It was his 3rd consecutive year with a sub .300 OBA and 5th time in his 6 year career (and 6 out of 7 if we're going to include a 7 PA cup of coffee in 1996). DiFelice has a .649 career OPS, compared to his league average of .775, and -72 RCAA in 422 games.

3) The BlueJays signed OF Mike Colangelo to a minor league contract.

After starting his career with a .717 OPS/-2 RCAA in 50 games in 2001 (he also played 1 for the 1999 Angels), Colangelo hit .217 SLG, .240 OBA, .457 OPS, -3 RCAA in 20 games (26 PA) with the A's. He has a .675 career OPS, compared to his league average of .775, and -4 RCAA in 71 games.

4) The Cubs signed 1B Chris Pritchett to a minor league contract.

Pritchett had a .570 OPS/-11 RCAA in 61 games with the Angels and Phillies, in 1996 and 1998-2000.