CC Sabathia, SP – NY Yankees – 7 years, $161,000,000
A.J. Burnett, SP – NY Yankees – 5 years, $82,500,000
Ryan Dempster, SP – Chicago Cubs – 4 years, $52,000,000
Francisco Rodriguez, RP – NY Mets – 3 years, $37,000,000
Raul Ibanez, LF – Philadelphia – 3 years, $31,500,000
Rafael Furcal, SS – LA Dodgers – 3 years, $30,000,000
Kerry Wood, RP – Cleveland – 2 years, $20,500,000
Edgar Renteria, SS – San Francisco – 2 years, $18,500,000
Casey Blake, 3B – LA Dodgers – 3 years, $17,500,000
Brian Fuentes, RP – LA Angels – 2 years, $17,500,000
Jamie Moyer, SP – Philadelphia – 2 years, $13,000,000
Juan Rivera, RF – LA Angels – 3 years, $12,750,000
Kyle Farnsworth, RP – Kansas City – 2 years, $9,250,000
Nick Punto, SS – Minnesota – 2 years, $8,500,000
Jeremy Affeldt, RP – San Francisco – 2 years, $8,000,000
Randy Johnson, SP – San Francisco – 1 years, $8,000,000
Willy Taveras, CF – Cincinnati – 2 years, $6,250,000
Cesar Izturis, SS – Baltimore – 2 years, $5,000,000
Mike Lincoln, RP – Cincinnati – 2 years, $4,000,000
Arthur Rhodes, RP – Cincinnati – 2 years, $4,000,000
Ramon Vazquez, 3B – Pittsburgh – 2 years, $4,000,000
Felipe Lopez, SS – Arizona – 1 years, $3,500,000
David Ross, C – Atlanta – 2 years, $3,000,000
Doug Brocail, RP – Houston – 1 years, $2,750,000
Bob Howry, RP – San Francisco – 1 years, $2,750,000
Daniel Cabrera, SP – Washington – 1 years, $2,600,000
Chan Ho Park, RP – Philadelphia – 1 years, $2,500,000
Alan Embree, RP – Colorado – 1 years, $2,250,000
Mike Hampton, SP – Houston – 1 years, $2,000,000
Horacio Ramirez, SP – Kansas City – 1 years, $1,800,000
Russell Branyan, 3B – Seattle – 1 years, $1,400,000
Joe Nelson, RP – Tampa Bay – 1 years, $1,300,000
Mark Loretta, 2B – LA Dodgers – 1 years, $1,250,000
John Bale, SP – Kansas City – 1 years, $1,200,000
Adam Everett, SS – Detroit – 1 years, $1,000,000
Jorge Julio, RP – Milwaukee – 1 years, $950,000
Tony Clark, 1B – Arizona – 1 years, $800,000
Joey Gathright, CF – Chicago Cubs – 1 years, $800,000
Greg Norton, LF – Atlanta – 1 years, $800,000
Aaron Boone, 3B – Houston – 1 years, $750,000
Jason Michaels, OF – Houston – 1 years, $750,000
Trever Miller, RP – St. Louis – 1 years, $500,000
Mike Lamb, 3B – Milwaukee – 1 years, $400,000

Which players are the best of the remaining free agents? Here are the best of the baseball free agents still available.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

-The Kansas City Royals have signed Kyle Farnsworth to a two-year contract. Farnsworth, who split 2008 with the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees, joins a Royals bullpen which has been given a makeover this winter.

-The Detroit Tigers have traded Matt Joyce to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Edwin Jackson. Joyce will have a chance to start for the Rays in the outfield, while Jackson will likely be given a spot in the starting rotation for the Tigers.

-The Cincinnati Reds have signed Arthur Rhodes to a two-year contract.

-The Colorado Rockies have signed relief pitcher Alan Embree to a one-year deal.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Thomas and the A’s wasted no time, as Thomas was in the lineup for the A’s on Thursday. Oakland responded positively, beating the Minnesota Twins 11-2. Thomas batted cleanup and had two walks and a run scored.

While Thomas is batting just .159 on the season, the A’s are confident that the 39-year-old will be able to turn it around. Last season, Thomas struggled in the first half of the season but shined after the All-Star game. In 252 at bats after the All-Star game, Thomas hit .306 with 12 homers and 52 RBIs.

Thomas seemed happy with his first showing as a new member of the A’s. Said Thomas to the Associated Press: “I didn’t feel out of place. It really felt like I just left. I’m happy to be back. I’m happy to shake the rust off today because they pitched me tough. I’m sure their game plan was not to give in because they knew I missed a whole week, so they threw some sliders and breaking balls and ran the ball in on me. I’m just happy we got a big win.”

Thomas played for the Blue Jays in 2006 and had 39 homers and 114 RBIs, while batting .270.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons from Frank Thomas’ previous stint with the A’s.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

On the season, Thomas was batting .167 with three homers and 11 RBI for Toronto. The 39-year-old Thomas had started slowly the last few years before turning it up as the season went along. Toronto didn’t want to see if history would repeat itself and instead let him go.

The Blue Jays will likely rotate a number of players at DH now, most notably Matt Stairs. Stairs struggles in the field but he’s capable of swinging a big bat.

Watch as Frank Thomas hits his 500th career homer:

Where will Thomas end up? Despite his age and his slow start to the season, many teams will be interested. A return to the Oakland A’s is a possibility. The Seattle Mariners could use an upgrade at DH. The Texas Rangers were interested in Thomas a few years ago and could again make a run.

Thomas will end up somewhere, the questions is whether or not he’ll get a fulltime gig as a team’s DH. If he doesn’t, Thomas would likely retire before accepting a limited role.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Normally you would be expecting a post from Geoff, well he’s taking a bit of a break for the week. And I, TD have been asked to fill his enormous shoes for the time being. I guess you’d want to know a bit about me first, well as I’ve stated my name is TD and I blog over at rain-delay.com. You may have seen me here in the comments here and there.

Anyways I’ve been pulled out of my off season hibernation, I mainly blog the Braves and the Mariners.

So let’s get to it shall we.

It seems that the prodigal son has returned home.

On Monday, the Braves signed Pitcher Tom Glavine to a 1 year 8 million dollar deal, in what could possibly be his last season in Baseball. Honestly I’m not sure where I am on this, in one sense it’s good to see Tommy back in a Braves uniform for one last run on the other what kind of expectations are going to be heaped on Glavine. Right now he’ll sit 3rd in the rotation, behind Smoltz and Hudson which is a good place for him seeing that Chuck James shouldn’t have been 3rd last year (4 or 5 would have been a lot better). The wildcard in this is, Mike Hampton. Just typing that name makes me shiver, it seems like years and years since I’ve seen him pitch.

And from all accounts, the Braves are counting on him to be the #4 guy, leaving the 5th spot open to guys like Chuck James , Jo-Jo Reyes, newly acquired Jair Jurrjens among others fighting out for that last spot in the rotation. If James or Reyes does it, it’ll be 3 southpaws in one rotation, something I haven’t seen before to be honest.

There’s only a few things I expect from Glavine in his return to the Braves.

1. That he keeps his ERA below the 5 mark, low 4’s would be nice.
2. And that he can eat some innings.

Head over to TalkingChop.com, Martin has some great quotes from a few of the Mets blogs. My favorite is that they’re saying the “Tom Glavine wasn’t a true Met.”..

Gosh, where have a heard that before when it comes to a New York Baseball team?

Post from: Knuckle Curve