Jorge Cantu is likely to stay in a Marlins uniform in 2010, MLB.com's Joe Frisaro is reporting. Cantu's coming off of a couple of decent seasons in Florida after being pulled off the scrap heap by the Fish in 2008, so this sort of news should be unsurprising. Of course, when talking about the Marlins and keeping people around, one can't take anything for granted.
This move is likely made possible by the Marlins' plan to trade Dan Uggla, who's looking at a substantial raise on his $5.35 million salary in arbitration this spring. Cantu, on the other hand, made $3.5 million last year and will probably be looking at a smaller raise in his second year of arbitration.
The Nationals learned Friday that the knee injury suffered by Stephen Strasburgwill not require surgery to repair. It's instead been diagnosed as a dislocated knee cap. As painful as that sounds, there's no ligament damage and the Nats' phenom will only require rest and some rehab to get the knee back up to full strength, though he'll still miss Saturday's Arizona Fall League championship game.
Considering those that witnessed the injury firsthand saw Strasburg crumple while playing long toss on Thursday and reported hearing a popping sound (often a telltale sign of ligament damage), this is obviously great news for the Nats. I can't even fathom following up a 103-loss season with a serious knee injury to the highest-paid draft pick in baseball history.
In the six weeks since the Mets' disastrous season has ended, lots of people have opined on how to fix the Mets. One person who'd like to chip in to the conversation is Jason Marquis. The Mets need to add a starter and, well, what do you know! Marquis is a free agent starter! After adding those two together, the Staten Island native has gone ahead and declared himself a "perfect fit" for the Mets.
Marquis had a nice enough year for the Rockies in 2009, notching 15 wins, a 4.04 ERA, and his first career All-Star nod. He's not a bad pitcher. He'd make a nice enough fit for a contender looking for a back-end starter to eat some innings and not embarrass himself. For a team like the Mets that trotted out Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, Oliver Perez, Tim Redding, and Livan Hernandez after Johan Santana, well, I dunno if I'd call him a "perfect fit."
If that is the case, that means that Schmidt's All-Star career will end with a whimper. After signing a three-year, $47 million contract with the Dodgers prior to the 2007 season, two shoulder surgeries limited Schmidt to only 10 starts in Dodger blue. Because of the injuries, he missed all of the 2008 season and huge chunks of 2007 and 2009.
The nature of his contract and the amount of time missed to injury (Schmidt ended up being paid almost $5 million per start in LA) are what a lot of people associate Schmidt with now, but there was certainly more to his career.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
The Reds are at a crossroads. They've compiled some nice young talent at the major league level with guys like Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, and Johnny Cueto (plus the injured Edinson Volquez) and they have some prospects close to the big leagues in Drew Stubbs and Yonder Alonso, but that might not be enough to get them quite over the top in 2010.
This winter the Reds have to decide what to do with their roster. Should they keep some of their older, more expensive players and gun for what might be a weak division, or should they sell off on the veterans and try to rebuild a core around the younger guys before they leave town?
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
The Pittburgh Pirates wrapped up their record 17th consecutive losing season last month by avoiding 100 losses with a rain delay. During the season, they traded away four Opening Day starters, plus two starting pitchers and two of their better relievers. It might be easy to say that the Pirates have their work cut out for them this offseason if they want to avoid losing season No. 18.
It's not quite that straightforward, though. The team does have a pretty solid core of youngsters, so anything they do this winter has to be accomplished without blocking players like Lastings Milledge and Andy LaRoche from getting at-bats so that the team can accurately assess just what they have in those players.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
The Cardinals increased their win total from 86 to 91 in 2009, and in so doing they won the National League Central going away. They had both the presumptive NL MVP (Albert Pujols) and two of the top candidates for the NL Cy Young (Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter) on their club.
Despite that very good season, there were promptly dumped out of the playoffs in three games by the Dodgers, and they suddenly find themselves facing an uncertain offseason with key free agents and the contract of a certain once-in-a-generation first baseman looming over everything. To say this offseason is important for the Cardinals would be an understatement.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
If I wanted, I could copy and paste the main points of the Brewers "Footprints in the Snow" from last year and they'd still be valid. After losing CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets, the Brewers failed to address their pitching woes and dropped from 90 wins and the wild card to 80 wins and a long winter.
Their offseason this year should follow a similar track, only now with the added pressure of Prince Fielder's ticking free agency clock. The Brewers are experiencing the worst feeling a small-market club can; that of the window closing. What can (or will) GM Doug Melvin do to avoid squandering his team's chances?
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
After hanging in contention until early August, the Astros bottomed out with a 23-36 finish in the season's final two months. That culminated in Cecil Cooper's firing and Brad Mills' hiring. The squad Mills inherits is full of both veteran players and holes that will make it hard for him to returnthe team to where owner Drayton McLane thinks it belongs -- the top of the NL Central.
That's because the Astros are currently caught in Ed Wade Purgatory. He can do just enough to keep his veteran squad in pseudo-contention, but probably not quite enough to get them into a real playoff race. That won't stop him from trying, though.
That's an understandable stance since Looper wasn't great in Milwaukee in 2009 (he won 14 games, but had a 5.22 ERA and poor peripherals) but it really leaves the Brewers with Yovani Gallardo, Manny Parra, Jeff Suppan, and probably Dave Bush (he's seen by some as a non-tender candidate now that he's entering his last year of arbitration and will likely be due a raise on his $4 million 2009 salary, but that seems unlikely with Looper's salary off the books) as starting pitchers right now. Melvin better have some plan in mind or things are only going to get worse for the Brewers' pitching staff.
Jorge Cantu is likely to stay in a Marlins uniform in 2010, MLB.com's Joe Frisaro is reporting. Cantu's coming off of a couple of decent seasons in Florida after being pulled off the scrap heap by the Fish in 2008, so this sort of news should be unsurprising. Of course, when talking about the Marlins and keeping people around, one can't take anything for granted. 
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The Brewers will not pick up 
