Let's start in Los Angelos, or Anaheim, where ever they are, where the Angels came to agreement with Howie Kendrick on an extension. Kendrick signed a 4 year deal for $33.5 million. The deal buys out Kendrick's last year of arbitration, and ensures that he won't hit the open market after the season, where he would have gotten more money. Kendrick is coming off of his best season, hitting for the most power in his career (.179 ISO), and putting of an on base percentage slightly better than league average (.338).
Like a lot of Angels' hitters we've seen in recent years, Kendrick makes a lot of contact, doesn't walk much, and needs to hit for a high average to keep his on base percentage respectable. His BABIP last season was in line with his career average (.338 in 2011 vs .339 for his career), and his career high 18 home runs helped to offset a career high 20.4% strikeout rate.
Kendrick has never been a big walker (4.2% career walk rate), but many thought that he would contend for batting titles while he came up through the minors. He'll need to continue to make good contact, and continue to have a high BABIP while maintaing his newfound power to continue to be his all-star production, but since he'll only earning a little over $8 million a year, he doesn't need to be anything more than league average to hold up his end of the deal. Of course, the Angels have high hopes for the near future, and wouldn't mind if Kendrick's 2011 season was a sign of things to come.
Over in Cub land, the tiny bears came to terms with Paul Maholm on a one year deal with an option for 2013. Maholm is a nice back end option for a team who doesn't have big plans for 2012. He pitched a career low 162.1 innings in 2011, but should be able to give the Cubs 180 or so decent innings in 2013.
Maholm is a pitch-to-contact ground ball pitcher pitcher though, and relies on his defense to help him. The Cubs, as you might know if you watched them last year, led the league in errors and have an atrocious defense. The loss of Aramis Ramirez and a little maturity from Starlin Castro should help improve the infield defense, but I would't expect them to rate above average at the end of the season.
The Reds continued their aggressive offseason when they signed Ryan Madson late Tuesday night. Madson got a one year deal for $8.5 million. The deal is a steal for the Reds, but I think it's also a wise move for Madson. In an offseason flush with closers, Madson saw his window for a lucrative long term contract all but close. By getting a one year deal, he gets a big one year payday, while also allowing himself to "prove" himself to be a closer. It shouldn't matter, but Madson did only have one year as a closer. Teams may not have trusted his limited track record as a ninth inning guy. With the Reds, he should spend the year racking up saves, and improve his free agent status for next offseason, where he should be the number one option.
Pitching in Great American Ballpark shouldn't be a big deal for him. It's not that dissimilar from his old home in Philadelphia, and his peripherals indicate that he should be able to succeed. He strikes out over a batter per inning (9.6 K/9 since 2009), while now walking many (2.4 BB/9 since 2009), and gets a fair amount of ground balls at 47%. I don't think pitching in a band box will hurt him. Looking around the National League Central, he won't have to face Albert, Prince, or the Reds offense. Sure, Andrew McCutcheon, Lance Berkman, Matt Holliday, and two thirds of Ryan Braun will still be around, but it's not a terrible division for a pitcher to join.
For the Reds, they solidify the back end of their bullpen, which now includes Sean Marshall, Bill Bray, Nick Masset and possibly Aroldis Champman along with Madson. While Mat Latos and Johnny Cueto are good front end options, their rotation does have a lot of question marks behind them, and a strong bullpen should provide good support for them. Dusty Baker just needs to realize when to give his starter the hook, something we haven't seen him do in the past.
Also for the Reds, since Madson's status was changed from a Type-A free agent to a Modified Type-A in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, they won't lose a draft pick for signing him, instead Philadelphia will get a pick ahead of Cincinnati in the coming draft along with a sandwich pick between the first and second round. Whereas Philadelphia lost their first round pick for signing Jonathan Papelbon before the new CBA went into effect. The Reds also stand to gain a first round an sandwich pick in the 2013 draft if Madson leaves after the coming season.
As for Prince Fielder, I think he's waiting until the Yu Darvish situation settles out. With the Cubs getting Anthony Rizzo, Pujols not committing to Miami and instead going to Anaheim, Fielder has seen his market dry up. Washington has been in on him for most of the offseason, but I think if Fielder wanted to go there, it would have already happened, or we would have at least heard rumblings of the two camps closing in on a deal.
Instead, I think Prince wants to go to Texas. The Rangers have always been the best fit for him. They have a heavily right handed lineup which would benefit greatly from another lefty in the middle of it. The jet-stream to right center could allow Prince to hit 50 home runs a year. And the Rangers, for all of their offense in recent years, have been batting Mitch Moreland ninth in the lineup, which in unacceptable for a team who's been to two straight World Series.
If Darvish does sign for something close to "Daisuke Money" (5/$52m), the Rangers might still be able to make room in their budget for Prince. The combination of the posting fee along with their new TV contract not kicking in yet though, might not allow them to make a large commitment to Prince. Although they should be seeing additional revenue just from the pennants they've won in the past two seasons. Whether or not Prince ends in in Texas, it might be his due diligence to wait for Darvish to sign, and be sure he's not leaving anything on the table.
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