MLB Bullets Never Prospers

I guess that whole "Nobody has any good reason to hate the Cardinals" thing has gone out the window, huh?

• The St. Louis Cardinals found their new shortstop as they signed free agent Jhonny Peralta to a four year/$52 million deal.
• There were two kinds of reactions to this move. Mike Axisa says this is part of a series a brilliant moves by the Cards to remake their infield without sacrificing any of their strong farm system.
• Jay Jaffe thinks the Cardinals fixed their biggest problem by replacing Pete Kozma with Peralta.
• Matthew Pouliot thinks the deal makes the Cardinals a whole lot better, although he notes that they are putting their faith in the defensive numbers that show that Peralta is a much better shortstop in his early 30s than he was earlier in his career, when those same numbers said he was terrible.
• On the other hand, Diamondbacks reliever Brad Ziegler is sick to his stomach about this.
• What Ziegler is referring to, of course, is that Peralta was one of the players suspended for 50 games in connection with PEDs and the Biogenesis scandal. Ken Rosenthal (and Ziegler, no doubt) say that Peralta's $52 million means it pays to cheat. Ziegler is a player representative and he's says that they're going to have a look at increasing the penalties for cheats like Peralta.
• The Tigers, for their part, never considered bringing Peralta back.
• That wasn't the only move the Cardinals made. They traded David Freese and Fernando Salas to the Angels for Peter Bourjos and Randal Grichuk.
• Dave Cameron thinks this is a great trade for the Cardinals as he feels Bourjos will have more value going forward than Freese. Freese will hit more, but Bourjos is the best defensive outfielder in the game these days.
• Even though Freese grew up in the St. Louis area, he's happy to be going to Anaheim and reuniting with Albert Pujols. Even though Freese denies it, Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said the pressure of playing in front of his hometown was tough on Freese.
• The Angels also signed reliever Joe Smith to a three year/$15 million contract.
• Rob Neyer asks what anyone who hasn't been watching Indians games over the past five years is asking: Who is Joe Smith? The answer is that he's a good pitcher who has the results of a great pitcher over the past few years. The Angels should expect to get a good reliever and not a great one.
• The Angels are also interested in free agent pitchers Bronson Arroyo and Bartolo Colon. Colon, of course, won the Cy Young Award with the Angels in 2005.
• It's amazing that the controversy over the Cardinals moves have pushed the biggest free agent signing of the year down this far. But the Yankees have made their first big splash in the free agent pool, signing catcher Brian McCann to a five year, $85 million deal.
• David Schoenfield thinks McCann is a perfect fit for the Yankees.
• Emma Span likes the deal for the Yankees. They may have overpaid, she notes, but that's not really a problem for the Yankees.
• Jon Tayler, on the other hand, agrees that the Yankees had to sign McCann but he thinks the deal comes with considerable risks. McCann is having more and more troubles hitting left-handed pitching and he has shown signs of being unable to catch up with a fastball in recent years.
• Phil Rogers gets ridiculous and puts McCann in a long line of great Yankee catchers: Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey, Thurmon Munson and Jorge Posada. Really, the only one of those four that McCann is in the same league with is Munson, who was always a little overrated. But maybe McCann gets extra points for bringing along his copy of baseball's "Unwritten Rules" along with him from Atlanta.
• The Yankees aren't done, of course. Other free agents they are rumored to be pursuing are Carlos Beltran, Stephen Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Shin-Soo Choo and Hiroki Kuroda. One they aren't currently talking to is Robinson Cano, with whom they are still far, far apart in negotiations. Many of these players are likely backup plans if Cano signs elsewhere.
• Speaking of which, there was a rumor that Cano's people talked to the Tigers on Friday. Or not. That's the way it goes with rumors.
• As far as Kuroda goes, the Yankees are more optimistic than they used to be that he'll return to the Bronx. Kuroda may want to return to Japan to finish up his career, however.
• Tom Verducci notes that Alex Rodriguez said nothing, at least officially, at his arbitration hearing. He's the first player to ever appeal a PED suspension and not testify in his own behalf before an arbitrator.
• Another big free agent signing: Jose Molina stays in Tampa Bay for two years/ $4.5 million.
• Outgoing St. Petersburg mayor Bill Foster is convinced the Rays not only want to leave St. Pete, they don't want to stay in the Tampa Bay area. So maybe Molina should just rent for now.
• Chris Young signed with the Mets for one year/$7.25 million.
• Ike Davis wants to stay a Met, but he knows it's very possible that he's going to have to leave Flushing.
• The Dodgers signed Dan Haren for one year/$10 million. That's a nice pillow.
• The Red Sox have called the Dodgers about Matt Kemp. Nothing serious yet.
• The Rangers re-signed Colby Lewis to a minor league deal.
• Joel Hanrahan is coming off Tommy John surgery and is looking to pitch for a new team next season.
• Executives from NPB are flying over to meet with MLB officials and try to resolve the impasse over the posting system. The current system is bad for the players and the MLB owners while being incredibly good for NPB owners.
• Ryan Braun will switch to right field if that's what the Brewers want him to do. I'd hate to see the size of his contract if he were a free agent this offseason. Ziegler would probably drop dead.
• Astros owner Jim Crane is suing former owner Drayton McLane for fraud. Crane claims that McLane misrepresented the value of the troubled CSN Houston channel.
• Finally, a nun who had attended almost every Rangers home game for decades after the team moved to Texas in 1972 has died. She will be buried in a Texas Rangers casket, paid for by the team. Her fellow nun who attended the games with her will get the same casket after she passes on.