Winter Meetings Clearing The Notebook - Gary Armida's Blog

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Gary Armida's Blog

Winter Meetings Clearing The Notebook Stuck

Posted on December 5, 2012 at 09:27 AM.

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(Nashville, Tennessee)-- Day two of the Winter Meetings saw some higher profile names sign. While the two major stars are still available, money was being thrown around Nashville as if it were printed across the way at Cooter�s Garage. Here are some items that didn�t make the coverage from yesterday.

Rockies Trade Alex White and Alex Gillingham to the Astros for Wilton Lopez.

The Houston Astros came to the Winter Meetings with the goal of adding starting pitching depth. General Manager Jeff Luhnow said, �with moving to the American League, you need depth in the rotation, having eight or nine guys ready to compete.� He started that process when he signed Phil Humber and continued it late last night when he acquired Alex White and Alex Gillingham from the Rockies. Gillingham is a 22 year old right hander who played the 2012 season single-A, compiling a 3.66 ERA in 19 starts that spanned 123 innings. He allowed a hit per inning, 2 walks per nine innings, and struck out 6.1 per nine innings. A groundball pitcher, Gillingham projects to be a back end of the rotation type and won�t be ready this year.

The acquisition of White was surprising considering he was the centerpiece in the Ubaldo Jimenez deal with the Indians. The former number one pick struggled in Colorado last season, making 23 appearances (20 starts). In 98 innings, he allowed 114 hits, 51 walks, and struck out 64 batters. The 23 year old right hander has a better Minor League track record and the escape from Coors Field could put him back on track. There is still upside and once the Astros can help White get over his Coors Field time, he can begin to learn how to pitch again.

The Rockies get 29 year old right handed reliever Wilton Lopez. Lopez may not be one of the best known names in Major League Baseball, but he has been one of the best relievers in the game. Since 2010, he has appeared in 205 games, pitched to a 2.64 ERA and has compiled a strikeout rate of 18.4% and a walk rate of 4.3%. A groundball pitcher who isn�t an elite level strikeout reliever does raise some consistency issues. Over the last two years, his FIP has been significantly higher than his ERA, suggesting he has been helped by his defense a bit. The Rockies get what looks to be a solid reliever, but given the the unpredictable nature of a reliever, they are taking a chance. Perhaps they don�t believe White will succeed in Coors so they decided to cut ties and at least get one of the better relievers over the past three years.

If that�s the case, it is understandable to a degree, but giving up on White this quickly is questionable. The Astros take the chance they have to take. They need young pitching with some upside. They may not be stars, but they could develop into dependable pitchers.

Giants Re-Sign Scutaro to a Three Year, $20 million Contract; Extend Leadership

The Giants realize that he is 37 years old, right? Scutaro had an amazing end of the season for the Giants (.362/.385/.473) and one of the best post season performances in quite some time, but he�s a 37 year old utility man. Giving him over $6 million in a season isn�t the problem, but giving him over $6 million when he is 40 years old is. It�s not like he�ll have power or the necessary range to be worth that. This seems to be a classic case of overpaying a player who generated so much good will with a hot streak. Scutaro is a good guy and has been at it for quite some time. But, consider that the Giants have invested $60 million into Scutaro and Angel Pagan. Does that seem right?

The Giants also announced that they have exercised the contract options on both General Manager Brian Sabean and Manager Bruce Bochy. Bochy was a no-brainer as he has proven to be one of the best tactical Managers in the sport. Sabean is the GM of two World Series teams, but his use of funds has been questionable at best. He�s proof that titles trump anything, even really bad decisions.

Diamondbacks Sign Eric Hinske to a One Year, $1 million contract

The 35 year old left handed hitter will provide bench depth and some leadership on the still young Diamondbacks.

They Said It...Some Quotes that didn't make the coverage

Davey Johnson on what he thinks of Astros Manager, Bo Porter: �Great. I think he'll be a great manager. I like his thought process. I think he's a good judge of talent, and I think he knows how to handle players. I had a lot of conversations about what would you do, Bo? What would you do here? What would you do there? He'd tell me something, and I might agree with him, and I'd say why? And he always had the right answer. So I think he's going to be great.�

Ron Washington on Ian Kinsler�s potential move to first base: �Right now Ian Kinsler is our second baseman. I'm not thinking about first base. But what I'm saying to the question you asked, he can be converted to anything.�

Washington on Rangers� baserunning: �No, we're going to approach the way we've always approached it, aggressively, and hopefully we can corral our erraticness that we had last year. But we're going to run the bases with reckless abandon, the way we've always done it. And hopefully through the things that didn't work out this past year, we gain experience from it. Sometimes you've got to go through bad times to get to the good times. But our approach as far as the way we're going to run bases, it will not change.�

Ron Roenicke on the Brewers having championship caliber pitching: �If they pitch the way they did last year for that short period, yes, we are. That's asking a lot for four guys to be able to do what they did two months over a six month period is asking a lot.�

Buck Showalter on his hopes of the impact of last year�s playoff run: �Guys like Manny Machado, it reminds me, when we took Jeter around and exposed him to the playoffs, even though he wasn't eligible, soak that in. You wonder, you hope that really means a lot to their career as they go forward. Derek used to say, that's just where I thought we were every year in October. Is there any other place to be. And there was a different look in a lot of our guys' eyes at that time of year. Now that they've got a taste of it, I feel real confident that they'll continue to pay the price to do the things it takes to get there.�

Walt Weiss on Coors Field: �Well, I think first of all, it's I think that the best home field advantage in all of baseball, we've got to exploit that. That's got to be part of who we are. There's some unique challenges to playing there, but the advantages are also pretty unique, and that's the thing we're going to focus on. There's been a lot of research on recovery rate at altitude and those things are factors. And again, you use all the information you have to make good decisions. But we're going to focus more on the advantages we have playing there and not and be smart about the challenges, but let's exploit the things that we can take advantage of.�

John Farrell on qualities needed to play right field in Fenway: �It's probably the toughest right field in baseball to play, just in terms of the space to cover. So that range comes into play. And yet you try to combine the best range of elbow along with offensive production. It might not be your prototypical right fielder where it's a power bat because we do value the defense in that area. That's not to exclude anyone, but defense takes a high priority, in that position at Fenway particularly.�

Bruce Bochy on his feelings of protecting catchers: �We actually not only discussed it, Tony LaRussa and I talked about that today quite a bit. I stand firm with my beliefs. I think the rules should be tweaked a little bit to make sure the runner doesn't hunt the catcher when he's not near home plate or in front of home plate, and he can't go at the runner, he has to go toward home plate. I'll continue to say this: I don't want Buster in front of the line. I know how important he is to this team. I think it's the smart way to go about it, we need him in the lineup and we'll keep working at the plays at the plate.�