Off-Season Awards

By Charles Curtis 

As soon as the smoke cleared, the champagne sprayed, the cigars smoked, and the season ended with the Florida Marlins as World Champions, baseball fans realized that this offseason would be significantly different than past winters. The teams that don't have nine-figure payrolls are beginning to dream of a ring. The Kansas City Royals? They're excited about this coming year. The San Diego Padres? They're looking to wheel and deal. And those big spenders? Well, they're still spending. The Yankees and the Red Sox are playing Cold War II, while the division rival Baltimore Orioles erased Albert Belle's contract from their payroll and are spending money like it's going out of style.

So with that in mind, I'd like to hand out some hardware for the moves that have (or in some cases, haven't) been made. Though the offseason is still young, there are still big names out there, but the free agent signings and trades thus far will definitely make an impact on this coming season. And the winners are ... 

The Head-Scratcher Award: This one goes to two NL East clubs who made a couple of moves that leave us a little perplexed. 

Last season, The New York Mets had a five-tool shortstop by the name of Jose Reyes who showed flashes of brilliance in his time with the big club. Naturally, the Mets' first offseason move was to sign ...a five-tool shortstop?!? Japanese import Kazo Matsui has the potential to be the next Ichiro. Or he could end up as the next Tsuyoshi Shinjo, a bust. Mets GM Dan Duqette believes that "Little" Matsui can work well with Reyes, who he convinced to move to second base. The two young infielders could become a phenomenal ten-tool double-play combination.  

I'd also like to hand out a trophy to the Mets' division rival, the Atlanta Braves, who proceeded to lose Greg Maddux, Gary Sheffield, Javy Lopez, Vinny Castilla, and Shane Reynolds at the beginning of the winter. So they go out and acquire the greatest college player who never fulfilled his potential in J.D. Drew. Then they replace Maddux with ...John Thomson (?), a guy who pitched 217 innings last year and won 13 starts with an ERA of 4.85. Not bad, but not Maddux. Here's hoping that Chipper, Andruw and Russ Ortiz won't be left scratching their heads wondering why they aren't NL East champs once again.  

The Fingers Crossed Trophy: And now, for the team that will be sitting on pins and needles, I present the Anaheim Angels. 

After a mediocre season last year following their thrilling World Series win over the Giants, the Angels' front office decided that they want the team to contend again. So they went out and signed Kelvim Escobar (13-9, 4.29 ERA) for $6.25 million and Bartolo Colon (15-13, 3.87 ERA) for about $12.5 million a year. That may sound like an improvement over a staff that included inconsistent pitching from former World Series heroes Jarrod Washburn and John Lackey, but Escobar has yet to prove himself as a starter in the majors. He finally showed some power in a starting role for Toronto during the last half of the season, but his career numbers indicate that he has to prove he's worth investing in. And Colon's numbers dipped by his standards, though he ate up innings last year (242, to be exact). Couple those two signings with a two-year, $6 million dollar contract for a one-year wonder (Jose Guillen), and Anaheim fans may worry a bit that this trio will underperform.  

The Toronto Blue Jays are a runner-up for this one, as their acquisition of pitching consisted of a player we left for retirement (Pat Hentgen) and a young gun who hasn't won over 11 games in his career (Miguel Batista), but the Blue Jays' explosive offense will certainly increase both pitchers' win totals and give them plenty of run support. And a Cy Young winner on this team never hurts; they've still got Roy Halladay, and now the Blue Jays will become a real threat in the AL East. 

The Best Bang for Your Buck: There are quite a few of these out there, as salaries have somewhat decreased this off season. With all the players getting one-year, one million dollar deals, I picked a few that will be worth more than that. 

David Wells, along with the rest of us, believes that he's not the savior for the San Diego Padres, but the team made away with a guy who went 15-7 last year. I think he's still got a little steam in him, and so do the Padres. He may turn out to be worth more than the $1.25 million he's got in the minor-league deal.  

And how about Todd Walker? On a Chicago Cubs team with real potential this year, he's going to be a very important piece of the puzzle with veteran leadership and his clutch hitting (see last year's playoffs). And yet he's getting paid a paltry $1.75 mil after knocking in 85 RBIs in the powerhouse Red Sox lineup.  

The "What Were They Thinking?!": This is an easy one: Arthur Rhodes as the new Oakland A's closer? Isn't there a formula Billy Beane uses to calculate pitching as well as he does hitters? Apparently not.  

The "Wha Happen'?" Award: To borrow a line from "A Mighty Wind," that's the question on everyone's mind, as most teams set out this offseason to find their version of the Marlins' signing of Ivan Rodriguez. Except that Pudge is sitting at home again. He's without a contract for the second offseason in a row, an afterthought even after he rallied the Fish to a storybook World Series championship. While we may be asking this question about Vladimir Guerrero, we'll be hearing about his signing in a few weeks. We may be waiting months until a team decides to take a chance on Pudge. But how much of a chance is he? He did hit a solid .297, driving in 85 runs. Those may not be the numbers he had in Texas, but he was absolutely smoking in the playoffs. He'd be a hit on a team that came one game away from the Series, such as the squad that lost to those very same Marlins, led by that very same I-Rod.  

This award also goes to the Minnesota Twins, picked apart by vultures who saw that "the small market franchise that could" would not be able to afford to keep their big names. So they lost (deep breath) "Everyday" Eddie Guadardo (the closer), LaTroy Hawkins (the eighth inning insurance), Eric Milton (when he's healthy, he's on), A.J. Pierzynski (one of the most consistent catchers in the AL), and promising young hitter Dusty Mohr. Say goodbye to Cinderella. 

The Reggie Sanders Award: This one goes to the guy who makes the most impact with a one-year contract over his head. In a surprise win, the prize goes to ...Reggie Sanders. Yes, I noticed that he received a two-year deal from the Cardinals, but Reggie will make a huge impact even though he still can't get the big bucks for it. Sanders is a boost from J.D. Drew, who was traded to the Atlanta Braves. On a terrible Pirates team, Sanders was able to drive in 87 runs and hit 31 dingers. Imagine how many he'll drive in surrounded by hitters like Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, and Edgar Rentaria. 

The Arms Race Award: So you just missed the World Series (or the playoffs altogether) because of a few blown saves and a lack of late-inning magic. So this winter, you bring in the big guns to put the finishing touches on a team. While the Yankees have made strides to clean up their messy bullpen with the acquisition of former closer Tom Gordon and dependable presence Paul Quantrill, this award goes to the Philadelphia Phillies.  

The Phils started the off-season by trading for Billy Wagner, one of the top five closers in the majors. Then they added Tim Worrell, who had a terrific season last year replacing Rob Nenn in San Francisco, saving 38 games. If that wasn't enough, they signed former closer Roberto Hernandez to a cheap one-year deal. And these three become part of a very formidable bullpen that includes Rheal Cormier (1.70 ERA in 65 games), Terry Adams (2.65 ERA in 66 games), and Dan Plesac (2.70 in 58). Phantastic. 

Best Picture: As much as the Baltimore Orioles have vastly improved their offense with Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez, their pitching staff is a mess. I still won't give them this award even if they sign Vlad Guerrero. They'll turn into last year's Blue Jays this season with that pitching staff. The Phillies come close, but no cigar.  

The award goes to the Boston Red Sox. They picked up Curt Schilling to create a Yankees-like rotation of Pedro Martinez, Schilling, Derek Lowe, and Tim Wakefield. They picked up the best free agent closer on the market in Keith Foulke. I even like their signing of Pokey Reese for $1 million. While the hinges almost came off in the possible A-Rod deal, I believe that could have screwed up their team chemistry too. If GM Theo Epstein can instill his confidence back in Nomar, they still have a lineup than can crush the ball, even if David Ortiz, Bill Mueller and Kevin Millar don't repeat their career high performances.  

But the offseason isn't over yet. These awards could change hands with other teams entering the fray. For now we play the waiting game until March.