Four Deals to Talk About Today

The Indians Sign Carl Pavano for one year at $1.5 million.
You can actually hear Yankee fans cackling in the background. But this may be a great deal for the Indians. And it has to be because the Fan has listed the Indians as the projected winner of the American League Central division. Seriously, though, the Indians could be getting Pavano at just the right time.

The Yankees history with Pavano is well documented. Everyone knows what happened and how Pavano came to become the lightening rod for derision from the Yankee Stadium faithful. But even if Pavano is a .500 pitcher this year with say a 13-13 record and posts an ERA in the low 4 area, the Indians will have a bargain. If Pavano can somehow get back to the form that made him 18-8 for the Florida Marlins in 2004, then the Indians will have made a major coup.

And there is little or no risk involved for the Indians. If Pavano succeeds, then incentives in his contract will still be below market price. If he fails, then it's only $1.5 million for one year. This seems like a stroke of genius for the Indians and in the tradition of all underdogs, one can't help but root for Pavano to put his Yankee (self-inflicted) nightmare behind him.

The A's are reportedly close to a deal with Giambi.
If the reports are accurate, the A's would get Giambi for about $4 million with an option for 2010 at $6 million. Giambi is going home to where he started as a player, and he is going at the end of his career for a lot less money than he is used to making. But Oakland is where Giambi had the most fun in his career and really enjoyed his years playing there. Stories seem to indicate that he was never comfortable in New York and its business-like atmosphere made it hard for his personality.

All this points to Giambi having a productive year and having fun like he did in the past. Though the saying goes that you can never go home again, it is possible that Giambi will revert back to his "hit to all fields" approach he maintained while with Oakland and forget about pulling everything like he did in New York. If he manages to pull that off, the A's could get a steal of a deal here.

The only problem with the signing is what becomes of Jack Cust and former uber-phenom, Daric Barton, who played 140 games with Oakland last year and showed little of the promise the franchise had for him. Is his playing time done? Will Cust DH or will Giambi? If it's Cust, will Giambi cost the A's too much in the field? It will be interesting. But at least Oakland's offense should be much improved.

The Rockies receive Jason Marquis from the Cubs for Jose Vizcaino.
This straight up deal does not make any sense for the Cubs. Perhaps Lou Piniella could not take another year of Marquis playing around with the corners of the strike zone and walking 70 batters a year, but Marquis is a decent and durable starter who has been fairly consistent over his career. Not only that, but he has improved on his ability to keep the ball in the park. To trade that straight up for Jose Vizcaino, a relief pitcher who wants and always demands an important role though his statistics have never shown his ability to own those roles, seems ludicrous.

The Cubs save about $4 or $5 million on the deal, but at what cost? Where are the 200 solid innings coming from to replace Marquis? It doesn't appear to this point that Jim Hendry is having a very good off season. First, he loses the productive, versatile and dynamic Mark DeRosa and replaces him with Aaron Miles, then he signs Milton Bradley instead of the cheaper and safer Pat Burrell (or Bobby Abreu). No. Not a good off season for Mr. Hendry. But, time will tell. Rob Neyer still thinks they are good enough to maintain most of their 97 wins and still win a weak division. We'll see.

The Dodgers are close to a deal with Trevor Hoffman
Reports are citing that the Dodgers have made an offer to Trevor Hoffman, the all time Save leader. The Dodgers currently do not have a closer and Hoffman should fill that vacancy. But will it be the Hoffman of the first half of last season (where he got killed), or the Hoffman of the second half where he posted a 1.59 ERA after the All Star game?

Hoffman is now 41 and while that age is not out of reach for someone like Hoffman, each year brings him closer to the end of the road and a team can't ever know when the road leads off a cliff. Hoffman is one of the good guys and so is manager, Joe Torre. It's difficult not to hope that this deal works out for both of them.