The Roy Hobbs League

Chapter 3, in which I mock wholck, and some big contracts finally get signed.  Happy reading.

Hartford leads off with the signing of LF/RF Corban Pall.  Although coming off of a down year, Pall is the one thing that I always have finding in this game which is a prototypical leadoff hitter.  He is a good OBP guy and can steal a few bases.  Nice pickup for $31M/4.

Iceman picked up SP Ricardo Perez, who should make nice value pickup.  Playing in SD should turn him into a league average or better player for just $11.4M/3.

The Surf Sharks were busy today, signing OF Bret Watson for $5.4M/2 years and relief pitchers Cam Shouse and Ruben Sanchez for a combines $4M for next season.  Shouse looks like an especially good pickup.  (Am I the only one that just realized that we have both Surf Sharks and Bull Sharks in this world?)

Milwaukee made a couple of good moves in SP Wayne Cintron $21M/3 and 1B Julian Saturria $5.5M/2.  The Saturria signing is especially nice as he can still rake lefties and is respectable against righties as well.

I have been mostly ignoring teams resigning their own free agents, but I have to give Kona props for bringing Edwin Jones back home to Seattle for a max deal.  He is a true stud at the plate and at 28 should be worth the money through the whole contract.

Not to be outdone, Hotdog handed out his own huge contract to SS Angel Jose.  It was for the max for 4 years.  Probably good to avoid that fifth year as Jose will certainly be past playing short by then, and is questionable now due to poor range.  Could be a gold glove winner at third though, and the bat will play anywhere.

Chicago signed 2B Dante Kim to a $7.2M/2 deal.  This one is a bit of head scratcher.  Kim looks to be much better suited to a corner OF spot than second, and has very little track record as a ML hitter, but did put up nice numbers in AAA, and has enough power to knock out a few in Wrigley.

Cheyenne made a big splash with the signing of SP Lenny Springer for $59M/5.  Springer dosen't over power hitters, but is very effective and should be able to be an innings eating beast.

I do not normally advocate big $$ signings for DHs, but jcairns picked up a good one in Ryan Puckett, and the$16M over 3 years should pay off nicely.

Huntington reeled in a couple of decent relievers for less than $5M for next year in Joe Rogers and Humberto 'Night of the Huntington Undead' Romero.

When asked about spending $47.5M for 5 years of RP Frank Hong, Erffdoggs owner wholck responded "We don't need no stinking bargains."  While he going to pitch some very high quality innings in Philly, he sure isn't going to pitch very many of them.  They also made a nice signing of 3B Diego Lira $20M/4 who should bounce back with some nice all around numbers in Philadelphia.

Along with resiging a couple of their own FAs, Las Vegas brought a couple of low-priced new faces to Sin City.  3B Clayton Lee $7.8M/2 should be worth the money and 1B Hector Ortiz looks like real buy at $5.1M/2.  He is murder on lefthanders.

Honolulu brought in long-time Hobbs great Elvis Greenburg to man 3rd.  A great buy for$5M/2, Elvis still has the sweet swing that gives him an outside shot at 3000 hits for his career.

Warrior made a good deal with SP Tony Mercedes, inking him to a $2.7M one year deal.  At 37 he still has the stuff to be effective.

Slick fielding SS Bengie Delgado will call Florida home for the next 2 years.  $5M may be kind of steep for his Mendoza-like hitting, however.

Montreal made two moves, bringing in SP Henry Mirabelli for $17.4M/3 and RP Dioner Ortiz for $5M/2.  Ortiz looks like a good pickup, but Mirabelli's age and DL history does not bode well for ramonesfan.  Rachet up those training and medical budgets.

Once in KC's low minors, Julius Banks was blindfolded as a stunt to see how well he pitched and his control improved.  Not saying that The Gatsbys should try that, but it is something to keep in mind.  I kid tomfool, but that 47 control has kept Banks from becoming a great RP.  Given his track record, I might have given that $7.6M/2 to another pitcher.