Winter Meetings

George White gets the biggest deal of the day, taking a 175 million, seven year deal with Bay Area.  Silvanos Tonka, coming over from the Elven League, received contract offers by sealed bids.  It should surprise nobody that once the bids were unsealed, Brad once again stood tall, menacing, and goateed with the winning bid.  Tonka will receive 162 million over 7 years.


Hawaii broke out some of their hoarded revenue sharing funds to sign Derek Seitzer for 6 years and 120 million.  This matches the deal received by former Hounddog Jered DeMario.  Seitzer will see 56 million of that in his first season.  Andy Roughton gets almost as much (114 over 6) to pitch for Springfield.


Other pitching contracts:
Joseph Smith Langford 5/60 to NY Knights
Eric Rodriguez 4/54 to Toronto
Joel Camels 3/36 to Toledo


Brad also gave out the largest multiyear deal ever to a closer, signing Jon Papelbrad for 8 years and 100 million.  Green Day, also in the market for a closer, get Steve Kepler for 5 years and 57.5 million.


The Florida Penguins take perhaps the best position player in second baseman Joey Howell, for 6 years and 96 million.  Some compare Howell to Robinson Cano, without the short right field porch of Yankee Stadium.  He's a regular .320 hitter with enough pop to hit 15-20 homers, plays very good defense and can steal a bag.  The best shortstop, Alex Guerrero, gets 7 years and 119 million from Detroit.


George Frog, who had a .400 OBP last year, sticks in Toledo for 78 million over 6 years, and Bob Brady will get 72 million over 6 from the Knights.  Penguins pick up veteran Otto Tingley for 2 years and 12.5 million.


Chicago resigns 50 steal man Alfonso Gorin for 4 years and 40 million, and then solidifies their rotation by trading reliever Jon Mexico to Miami for lefty Jason Curry.


Bud McNamara, age 41, heads home to Orlando for 5 million, where he expects to be the DH.


Reggie Stocker, the number 1 overall pick in 2008, was mostly a disappointment to the Snow Sox.  He hit 31 homers with 109 RBI as a rookie, but never matched those numbers over the next 5 years.  All is forgiven though, as Detroit pays for potential to the tune of 110 million over 6 years.  Miguel Fernandez, a power hitting, strong throwing right fielder who will swing at anything, gets 90 million over 5 years.


Some more signings:
SS Orlando Veras, Charlotte, 4/36
SS Jim Concepcion, Springfield, 5/62.5
DH Leroy Brown, Springfield, 3/42
CF Eddie Cedeno, Charlotte, 4/50
3B Mike Conner, Alaska, 3/21
3B Elvis Dixon, Phoenix, 2/14
3B Justin Headley, Texas, 3/21
3B Dennis Affleck, Charlotte, 3/21
3B Chris Gruber, Louisville, 3/15
1B Andy Moore, Texas, 3/30
DH Ho Chi Fat, NY Knights, 3/30
2B Rey Nunez, Phoenix, 4/40
1B Hal Glover, NY Cobra, 1/7


The New York Cobra then pull off a shocking trade, dumping the salary of Ricky Buckley to Texas.  Buckley was traded along with minor league shortstop David Walker for minor league infielder David Jackson and reliever Vince Everts.  Buckley had fallen out of favor with manager Juan Biras, who thinks backup Juan Biras did less to lose in the playoffs last season.