Renewals and signings

[nyy26wc]

1) The Dodgers renewed the contracts for utilityman Mike Kinkade and P Eric Gagne.

After starting his career with 5.15 ERA/-10 RSAA and 4.75 ERA/-14 RSAA seasons (he also pitched in 5 games in 1999), Gagne had a 1.97 ERA/16 RSAA in 77 games in 2002. He has a 4.02 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.40, and 0 RSAA in 135 games.

2) The Angels re-signed SS David Eckstein and renewed the contracts for DH-1B-C Shawn Wooten and P John Lackey.

After a .712 OPS/-10 RCAA as a 26 year old rookie in 2001, Eckstein hit .388 SLG, .363 OBA, .752 OPS, 7 RCAA in 152 games in 2003.

Lackey had a 3.66 ERA/8 RSAA in his first 18 major league starts, as a 23 year old rookie.

3) The Phillies re-signed P Brett Myers to a 1 year contract.

Myers is a highly touted youngster who had a 4.25 ERA/-4 RSAA in his first 12 major league starts, as a 21 year old.

4) The Yankees re-signed DH-1B Nick Johnson, INF Erick Almonte, OFs Juan Rivera and Marcus Thames and Ps Jason Anderson, Randy Choate, Brandon Claussen, Jorge DePaula and Alex Graman to 1 year contracts.

5) The Diamondbacks re-signed INF Alex Cintron, C Robby Hammock and Ps John Patterson, Mike Koplove, Andrew Good, Beltran Perez, Greg Aquino, Brandon Webb and Jose Valverde to 1 year contracts.

Patterson is expected to be the 4th starter. After having 5.85 and 4.23 ERA's in AAA the past couple of years, he had a 3.23 ERA/4 RSAA in his first 7 major league games (5 starts).

6) Mets bullpen coach Rick Waits will have open heart surgery this week. He was hospitalized after suffering chest pains on Saturday.

7) The Mariners re-signed P Joel Pineiro to a 1 year, $450,000 contract.

After a 2.03 ERA/18 RSAA in 17 G/11 GS as a 22 year old rookie in 2001 (he also pitched in 8 games in 2000), Pineiro had a 3.24 ERA/19 RSAA in 37 G/28 GS in 2002.

8) The Brewers re-signed CF Alex Sanchez, C Javier Valentin and Ps John Foster, Wayne Franklin, Mike Matthews, Ruben Quevedo, Luis Vizcaino and Matt Kinney to 1 year contracts.

After starting his career with a .569 OPS/-5 RCAA in 30 games in 2001, Sanchez hit .358 SLG, .343 OBA, .701 OPS, -3 RCAA in 112 games in 2002.

9) The Royals re-signed SS Angel Berroa, OF Dee Brown and Ps Runelvys Hernandez, D.J. Carrasco, Darrell May and Chris George.

The good news for the Royals is, since Berroa is replacing Neifi Perez, if he's terrible enough to have a -40 RCAA season, that's still an improvement. The bad news for the Royals is, if his 2002 season, his first in AAA, wasn't a fluke, he's definitely capable of a -40 RCAA season.

10) Twins MGR Ron Gardenhire says he's almost certain that Jacque Jones is going to hit leadoff.

After -17 RCAA/.781 OPS and -6 RCAA/.751 OPS seasons, Jones hit .511 SLG, .341 OBA, .852 OPS, 20 RCAA in 149 games. He still has to prove that wasn't a career year and he has a .797 career OPS, compared to his league average of .774, and -9 RCAA in 547 games.

11) The Giants re-signed INFs Cody Random and Deivis Santos, C Edwards Guzman and Ps Ryan Jensen, Kurt Ainsworth and Joe Nathan to 1 year contracts.

Jensen, who also had a 4.25 ERA/-1 RSAA in 10 games in 2001, had a 4.51 ERA/-13 RSAA in 32 games (30 starts) in 2002.

12) Rockies SS Juan Uribe's stress fracture in his foot could keep him out until June. MGR Clint Hurdle says Jose Hernandez is going to take over at SS. So, the candidates for 3B become Chris Stynes and Greg Norton, and with Stynes expected to only compete at 3B, that means the 2B competition becomes Pablo Ozuna, Ron Belliard and Brent Butler.

13) The Rockies renewed the contracts for Uribe, OF Ben Petrick and Ps Jason Jennings, Shawn Chacon and Brian Fuentes.

Jennings, who also made 7 starts in 2001, had a 4.52 ERA/10 RSAA as a 23 year old rookie in 2002. Even though his season wasn't as good as Austin Kearns, Brad Wilkerson, Mike Crudale and his quality was comparable to Mark Prior (despite Jennings having a big IP edge--meanwhile Prior's probably got a much better future, but that's not relevant at the moment) and Tim Spooneybarger, facts never stop the BBWAA from giving awards to the wrong players.

14) Dodgers P Masao Kida was hospitalized after a traffic accident. According to a team spokesman, he should be OK.

Hideo Nomo and Kazuhisa Ishii's interpreter was critically injured in the accident. But, he is now expected to make a full recovery.

15) The Marlins re-signed OF Brian Banks and Ps Tim Spooneybarger and Oswaldo Mairena to 1 year contracts.

Spooneybarger had a 2.63 ERA/9 RSAA in 51 games as a 22 year old rookie in 2002.

16) The Braves re-signed C Johnny Estrada, INF Mike Hessman and P Jung Bong to 1 year contracts.

Estrada had a .619 OPS/-2 RCAA in 99 games with the Phillies over the past 2 years.

17) The Devil Rays renewed the contracts for 2B Brent Abernathy, 3B Jared Sandberg, OFs Jason Tyner, Damian Rolls and Carl Crawford and Ps Joe Kennedy and Travis Phelps.

After a .710 OPS/-4 RCAA in 79 games as a 23 year old rookie in 2001, Abernathy hit .311 SLG, .288 OBA, .599 OPS, -26 RCAA in 117 games in 2002.

After a .545 OPS/-11 RCAA in 39 games in 2001, Sandberg hit .444 SLG, .305 OBA, .749 OPS, -5 RCAA in 102 games in 2002.

After a 4.44 ERA/1 RSAA in 20 starts as a 22 year old rookie in 2001, Kennedy had a 4.53 ERA/-2 RSAA in 30 starts in 2002.

[Max Power]

Mets bullpen coach Rick Waits will have open heart surgery this week. He was hospitalized after suffering chest pains on Saturday.

While I sincerely wish him nothing but good luck and a rapid recovery, really, not kidding - - I do have to playfully add that this is baseball karma at work. His last win of the 1978 season caused me to have moments of heart failure on 10-2-78.

Rick, if you would have tanked that game, Bucky never would have earned that now famous middle name................and, we probably would have been spared his appearance in the Dallas Cowgirls TV movie..............

[hmrsf]