I'm not a fan of Jhonny Peralta. Just wanted to start off with that. It's a selfish reason, since he hit the ball that caused Derek Jeter to shatter his ankle in Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS and consequently caused him to miss the overwhelming majority of the 2013 season. Also, he accepted a 50-game suspension for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal this past year, so there's that as well. And for all our efforts to show MLB that we, as fans, are not accepting of cheaters and liars, teams around the league are showing us that they don't give a damn about our feelings when they have a chance to sign a player. So, the Cardinals announced last night that they've agreed to terms with Peralta on a 4-year, $53 million deal that has negative implications for the fans, for St. Louis's reputation, and most of all, for Pete Kozma. Kozma looked absolutely dreadful in the Cards' World Series run this past season, committing 2 errors in a Game 1 against the Red Sox that they never really recovered from, losing 8-1 (and, as we all know, the Red Sox unfortunately won the Series in 6 games, but if I pretend that it didn't happen, for me, it didn't happen). Of course, the loss isn't entirely on Kozma, but it opened a few eyes. Pete has never been good with the bat (I'll choose this time to point out that neither has Jhonny, but his .303/.358/.457 last year were all career highs or close enough), but his defense has always been his saving grace. Doesn't appear to be that way anymore. Peralta figures to be a more solid presence both in the field and in the lineup, but nobody really appears to be happy about it.
The baseball offseason has been pretty busy so far, but there aren't big signings or trades every day, so in these slow-news times, we've got to focus on the smaller deals that don't get as much fanfare as the bigger ones. With that in mind, the Mets announced a few days ago that they signed former Athletics outfielder Chris Young to a 1-year deal worth $7.25 million. Young used to be an All-Star caliber player when he was with the Diamondbacks, when he and fellow former D-back Justin Upton made a sufficient 3-4 combo in the lineup, pre-Goldschmidt. After being traded to Oakland, though, he became the odd man out in an outfield that consisted of Yoenis Cespedes, Josh Reddick, and Coco Crisp. He only appeared in 107 games in 2013, close to a career low, and aside from runs, triples, and stolen bases, every offensive stat he put up was the worst of his moderately short career in the majors. While Young is naturally a center fielder, he'll most likely play in a corner spot, since the Mets have Juan Lagares manning the middle spot and doing quite a nice job with it. This appears to be a bargain signing, but one that could end up paying dividends for the Amazin's on offense; Young did slug 32 homers in 2007 and 27 in 2010. If he can regain his 25-homer power, he would be a nice complement to David Wright and (fingers crossed) Ike Davis.
Continuing with our "Nothing's really happening right now" vibe, the Indians signed David Murphy to a 2-year pact for $12 million, which might be something of an overpay for the long time Ranger. It's true that he's never been a big power guy, which for a left fielder is something we've sort of come to expect, but he manages to get on base at a pretty nice clip, with a career OBP of .337 in 849 games over 8 season, as well as 2 seasons in which he managed a figure over .350. He's never been a full-time player, playing in a career-high 147 games for Texas in 2012, and with an already crowded outfield in Cleveland (with Michael Bourn, Drew Stubbs and Michael Brantley all holding down starting jobs), it's doubtful he'll see more time as a starter than he will as a defensive replacement, pinch hitter, or erstwhile DH (which is also pretty crowded, with the ageless Jason Giambi still in the mix, as well as Nick Swisher and Carlos Santana getting time there as well to keep them fresh). Is a guy like that worth $12 million over 2 years? Well, considering the market, maybe. Still feels like an overpay to me, though.
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