Jason Kipnis Gets 6-Year Extension Before Home Opener

Just before the Cleveland Indians celebrate 20 years at Progressive Field during their home opener this afternoon, the team announced Jason Kipnis would be sticking around for a while.

The gritty, All-Star second baseman, who turned 27 on Thursday, has agreed to a six-year, $52.5 million contract extension, keeping him in Cleveland through the 2019 season with a club option for 2020.

This, along with the recent signings of Michael Brantley and catcher Yan Gomes, as well as free agents Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn last year to multi-year deals, show the team wants to compete now, not just in the future. That's pretty big news for a club who hasn't won a World Series since 1948.

Kipnis batted .284 with 17 home runs and 84 RBIs last season, stealing 30 bases to lead the Indians in runs, hits, RBIs, steals, and also hotness.

[Let's Go Tribe]

San Francisco Giants Make Matt Cain Filthy Rich

Matt Cain has been handed the largest deal for a right-handed pitcher in the history of baseball.

The San Francisco Giants agreed on Monday to a $127.5 million, six-year contract with Cain, who wanted to remain in the Bay Area, where his career began. He had this to say about his choice to stick around:

"This is a decision that was made pretty simple for [my wife and I]. It was a process and it was a negotiation. It was good for my family and I to go through all of that, to be able to know this is probably going to be our lifetime as a Giant, that’s pretty cool for us."

Texas Rangers Give Derek Holland and His Mustache 5 Years, $28 Million

Derek Holland and the Texas Rangers agreed to a five year, $28 million deal on Tuesday, keeping the pubescent-looking lefty in Arlington through 2016.

The 25-year-old Holland went 16-5 last season, pitching lights out, two-hit ball over 8.1 shutout innings against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 4 of the World Series. In fact, in 12 postseason appearances over the past two years, he is 3-0 with a 3.82 ERA. Not too shabby I suppose.

With Neftali Feliz moving to the rotation to join Colby Lewis, Alexi Ogando, Matt Harrison, and the offseason addition of Yu Darvish, Rangers fans can barely remember that straight edge prankster they once loved to pieces.

Holland could have become a free agent in 2015, but had this to say on that very topic:

"I know I gave up that stuff, the three years, but to me it’s all about being in Texas and wearing that Texas uniform and going back and getting some championships. I’m very excited to be a part of this. We’ve got an unbelievable team. We’ve got upcoming stars coming up through the organization, and I want to be part of that, as well. I want to show them what it takes to be up here. That’s my main objective is to carry out what I’ve been doing, continue to work hard."

He went on to say that the most important thing on his to-do list is purchasing a home in Dallas. And some cowboy boots and a giant belt buckle, of course. I mean, just look at him.

[ESPN]

Holy Crap Prince Fielder Got a Nine-Year Deal from the Detroit Tigers

First and foremost, we are not happy to be back in Minnesota after a long vacation in Florida. It's disgusting here. But we missed you.

Second, we'd like to ponder why on earth the Detroit Tigers would give a fatass like Prince Fielder a nine-year deal worth $214 million. Just kidding... kind of.

The Tigers agreed to sign the free agent first baseman on Tuesday out of nowhere, adding some more pop to the middle of their lineup with the already hard-hitting Miguel Cabrera in there. This, just days after announcing designated hitter Victor Martinez would miss a bunch of the 2012 season with an ACL tear he endured during offseason conditioning.

Fielder, who batted .282 with 230 home runs and 656 RBI over seven seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, now owns just the fourth $200+ million deal in baseball history with his $23.78 million a season beaten only by Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee, and Albert Pujols, among active players.

While several teams, such as the Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals, had thrown their hats into the Fielder bidding ring this winter, Detroit was no where to be found. General Manager Dave Dombrowski and owner Mike Ilitch even denied having any interest in signing him whatsoever. Liars. But having Prince in the lineup makes them even more of a favorite to repeat the AL Central title this season and possibly win their first World Series since 1984. They made a run at it last season after winning their division by 15 games, but ended up losing to the Rangers in the ALDS.

This move also keeps the Fielder name in the Tigers organization, which is pretty neat. His father, Cecil, nailed 51 longballs with Detroit back in 1990 after playing 15 years of Japanese ball. Senior played with the Tigers into the 1996 season while his young son hit bombs during batting practice. More importantly, Fielder finally leaving the National League to become the DH he was always meant to be.

[Detroit Free Press]

Scary Fernando Rodney Bullies Tampa Bay Rays into Giving Him a One-Year Deal

It's no secret that Fernando Rodney scares the crap out of us. In fact, we're pretty sure that he frightened the Tampa Bay Rays into giving him a one-year contract worth $2 million on Wednesday. The deal even has a club option for 2013. Hot Stove in Tampa Bay!

Let's be serious here for a minute. The right-hander's 4.50 ERA with the Los Angeles Angels last season doesn't exactly scream, "show me the money."

Rodney, who turns 35 in March, has seen his value sink drastically over the past two seasons. After signing a two-year, $11 million deal with the Halos back in 2009 as a free agent, he went on to provide the team with just 17 saves in 28 chances and compile a 7-8 record. He is a career 22-38 with a nice bloated 4.29 ERA over parts of nine seasons with the Angels and Detroit Tigers and has notched 87 saves in the past decade. What an athlete.

At least he can look forward to competing with Kyle Farnsworth in Tampa for the closer's job, which should be no competition at all. Because if Farny gets a job before you do, you have absolutely no business in the big leagues, pal.

[ESPN]

Chicago White Sox Trade Carlos Quentin to San Diego Padres

Sometimes when players are traded, they get all upset about where they end up and who they'll miss. In Carlos Quentin's case, he's pretty excited.

The Chicago White Sox traded the All-Star outfielder to his hometown San Diego Padres this weekend, and when he got the call he was conveniently already in town.

This is also good news for the Padres, who sucked it up in the National League West last season. They finished worst in their division at 71-91, 23 games behind his former team, the NL West-winning Arizona Diamondbacks. Padres general manager Josh Byrnes, who traded Quentin from Arizona to Chicago four years ago, is happy to have him back:

"Trading him is pretty high on my list of regrets. That group in Arizona had a lot of talent. Carlos always stood out for his intensity and his style of play. Having a chance to get him back became very appealing here this offseason."

Quentin, who batted .254 with 24 home runs and 77 RBI last season while playing right field for the White Sox, is expected to start out in left for San Diego in 2012. He's also expected to do wonders for the Padres' collective offense, since he's nailed 20 homers in each of the last four seasons, including 36 in 2008.

The White Sox acquired two minor league pitchers in the deal: right-hander Simon Castro and left-hander Pedro Hernandez.

[Associated Press]

John Danks Gets $65 Million, Five-Year Extension from Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox agreed to give John Danks a five-year contract extension worth $65 million on Thursday, keeping the starting pitcher on the South Side until 2016.

The 26-year-old lefty, who more or less sucked last season, went 8-12 with a 4.33 ERA in 2011. Obviously, this prompted general manager Ken Williams to give him an immediate $2 million raise for $8 million next season and then $14.25 million in each of the final four years of the deal. Perhaps he's crossing his fingers that Danks will return to his 2010 form, back when he won 15 games for the club.

Never mind his career 4.03 ERA... his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 3:1.

Then again, maybe the organization felt it was time to start panicking after losing their ace, Mark Buehrle to the Miami Marlins via free agency during the winter meetings. After all, Danks would have become a free agent after next season and for goodness sake, they wouldn't want that.

I mean, just look how excited he is.

[ESPN Chicago]


Speaking of the White Sox, this little fan must have been on Santa's naughty list.

Mark DeRosa Still Plays Baseball, Signs with Washington Nationals for One Year

In the midst of rebuilding with several attempts to finally become contenders in the National League East, the Washington Nationals have signed Mark DeRosa out of free agency. This isn't quite as big of news as the Gio Gonzalez trade, but we thought at least Mark deserved some credit for persuading a team to pay him to play for them.

The 36-year-old utility player spent last season with the San Francisco Giants batting .279 in 86 at bats. Not a lot of action there at all after having surgery on two separate occasions in last two years for recurring problems with his left wrist. Considering players use their wrists all the time to do all sorts of things... like hit, catch, throw, and high five, this is never good.

Texas Rangers Win Yu Darvish Sweepstakes for a Ridiculous $51.7 Million

Remember the Daisuke Matsuzaka hype back in 2006 when everyone thought he invented some new pitch called the "gyroball" that defied space and time? Remember when the Boston Red Sox boasted the highest negotiation bid at $51 million, ended up signing him, and he wound up just being a normal Japanese guy who wasn't any better than John Lackey?

Yeah, so you can understand our skepticism when it comes to Yu Darvish, the newest pitching sensation to possibly hit Major League Baseball. We're not saying he's no better than John Lackey -- that would make the team who literally paid millions of dollars to simply talk with him pretty stupid -- we're just saying we hope he's worth it.

New York Mets Finalize Two-Year Deal with Frank Francisco

Frank Francisco has agreed to a two-year contract worth roughly $12 million with the New York Mets, who clearly think he's worth more than the $4 million he made last season with the Toronto Blue Jays. Silly Mets.

The right-handed reliever went 1-4 with 17 saves and a 3.55 ERA as the Blue Jays closer last season, his seventh in the big leagues. He had one of his better seasons with the Texas Rangers back in 2009 when he saved 25 games, but his ERA has improved the last two years.

Francisco, a 32-year-old strikeout machine, has appeared in at least 50 games in each of the last five seasons. He has 302 strikeouts since '07, which ranked in the top five among American League relievers. After the All-Star break, he was 7-for-7 in save opportunities for Toronto with a 1.37 ERA, a roll the Mets are hoping continues into next season.

He may be most remembered for an incident in 2004 when an altercation broke out in the stands of Oakland Coliseum during a game between the Rangers and Athletics. Francisco launched a chair, which happened to hit a woman right in the face and break her nose. He was arrested of course. Oddly enough, then-Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers was also involved in the incident. Ah, those were the days.

[MLB]

Jason Kubel Joins Arizona Diamondbacks for Two Years, $15 Million

Jason Kubel has left Target Field for Chase Field, signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday for two years, $15 million. This is a nice little raise for Kubes, who made just $5.25 million last season with the Minnesota Twins.

The hard-hitting outfielder, who will now play alongside center fielder Chris Young and right fielder Justin Upton, has spent all seven of his big league seasons in Minnesota. He batted .273 with 12 home runs and 58 RBI in 99 games last year as an outfielder and designated hitter, but was limited by left foot sprain, just one of many long trips to the disabled list over his career. Regardless of his being rather injury prone, he was still a fan favorite in Minnesota.

Kubel, a career .271 hitter who will turn 30 next month, should fair well in Arizona's hitter-friendly ballpark and add some depth to their outfield rotation. Especially when he's healthy. He's expected to be the Diamondbacks' everyday left fielder, effectively replacing Gerardo Parra, while also doing some work at the infield corners.

While Parra is much better defensively -- actually he's rather outstanding and won a Gold Glove at the position last season -- I guess Kubel's left-handed bat might have a little more pop in the long run. Again, when he's healthy.

[ESPN]

Jimmy Rollins Stays with Philadelphia Phillies for Three Years, $33 Million

Jimmy Rollins isn't going anywhere Philadelphia Phillies fans, so you can pipe down now.

The animated shortstop has agreed to stick around for another three seasons to the tune of $33 million in a deal that includes a vesting option for a fourth year. Of course, the contract completion depends on a physical, which I'm sure Rollins will pass with flying colors.

The three-time All-Star and 2007 National League MVP, who became a free agent for the first time ever this offseason, has spent his entire 12-year career in Philadelphia ever since being selected in the second round of the 1996 amateur draft. Old school.

J-Roll, 33, has been one of the fan favorites for many years. When he's not turning double plays and batting .268, he can be found at a variety of charity events for the Jimmy Rollins Family Foundation which raises money to support young adults living with arthritis while also advocating the prevention of child abuse by providing a portion of charitable donations to Prevent Child Abuse.

When he's not being generous and awesome, he's hanging out with teammate Ryan Howard doing all kinds of weird stuff...

Josh Willingham Passes Physical, Joins Minnesota Twins for 3 Years, $21 Million

The Minnesota Twins have finalized their contract with free agent Josh Willingham, signing him to a three-year, $21 million deal on Thursday.

This plugs a nice gaping hole in the Twins outfield since they made the unbelievably brilliant move of trading Delmon Young to the Detroit Tigers last season. Furthermore, Michael Cuddyer can't make up his mind on whether to stay or go, so the team decided to take action.

Man, he looks serious in that photo. It's nice to see Willingham preparing himself for another sub-.500 season with another craptastic ball club.

The 32-year-old outfielder is expected to add some power to the middle of the lineup after batting .246 with a career-high 29 homers and 98 RBI for the Oakland Athletics last season. Ah, contract years.

Willingham is more or less the exact same player as Cuddyer, who the Twins can pretty much kiss goodbye after this signing... This is a shame for Twins fans and mildly exciting for whichever team's faithful get to cheer on his dimples next season. Adorable.

Also, Josh Willingham is damn sexy, so there's that.

[ESPN]

Aramis Ramirez Finalizes $36 Million Contract with Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers finalized their three-year, $36 million deal with Aramis Ramirez on Wednesday, giving their lineup some much-needed pop for the next few seasons. The contract also includes a mutual option for a fourth year, just in case Ramirez isn't actually in the twilight of his career as we suspect.

The 33-year-old third baseman spent the last eight seasons with the Chicago Cubs, his brand new division rival and mortal enemy. However, don't expect him to take out a full-page ad in the Tribune or Sun-Times, or for any Cubbies faithful to be seen burning his jersey on Youtube... he wasn't exactly a deity.

Ramirez was a big contributor to any wins the Cubs did have though, batting .306 with 26 home runs and 93 RBI in 2011. His power at the plate is a welcome sight for Milwaukee, considering the loss of big bats Prince Fielder to free agency (and possibly to the Cubs) and Ryan Braun to an imminent 50-game suspension for suspected cheating. We'll keep you posted on whether or not he wins his appeal, which by the way, will never happen.

This seems like some kind of white flag by the Brewers, since their interest in Ramirez didn't peak (at least not publicly) until the whole Ryan Braun fiasco went down. The veteran might not exactly be a last resort, but he certainly wasn't in the middle of their radar up until last weekend. Is this a signing born in desperation, or will the Brew Crew be happy with their new hot corner?

[ National Post]

Philadelphia Phillies Boggle Our Minds, Sign Dontrelle Willis to One-Year Deal

Monday's signing of Dontrelle Willis by the Philadelphia Phillies for one year, $1 million is a bit surprising. In fact, we don't see the point in it whatsoever.

The 30-year-old lefty went 1-6 with a nice, round 5.00 ERA last season with the Cincinnati Reds, who saw just about enough of that. I mean, really. Willis is going to round out their pitching staff? It's like they're just making it rain to show off at this point.

Apparently he is expected to pitch out of the bullpen for the Phillies, which should be interesting considering he's enjoyed just three relief appearances in nine career seasons. It's not 2005 anymore guys. So not only is Willis happy to be signing with a contender of all things, he's more than likely thrilled to be pitching at all.

[ESPN]

St. Louis Cardinals Stick with Rafael Furcal and Skip Schumacker, Ditch Ryan Theriot

The St. Louis Cardinals worked on some odds and ends early this week, choosing to sign Rafael Furcal and Skip Schumaker to two-year deals and letting go of the sucky Ryan Theriot.

Schumaker signed on for two years, $3 million after batting .283 in 117 games for the reigning World Series champs last season. He went on to hit .381 in the postseason with the lone RBI in a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5 of the National League division series... yes, that would be the game in which Nick Punto ripped off Chris Carpenter's jersey. While Schumaker roamed the outfield on five separate occasions in 2011, the 31-year-old is most comfortable at second base, where he made 89 starts last year.

Ramón Hernández Inks Two-Year Deal with Colorado Rockies

Veteran catcher Ramón Hernández managed to pass a physical for the Colorado Rockies Monday morning, making their two-year agreement official and hooking up some depth behind the plate.

The 35-year-old Venezuelan backstop, who played the last three seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, enjoyed a solid season last year when he hit .282 with 12 homers and 36 RBI over 91 games. The terms of his new deal have not been disclosed due to team policy and apparently no one gives a crap enough to leak them.

Over 13 major league seasons, Hernández has played with four different organizations, not counting Colorado. The 2003 All-Star, who owns a career .990 fielding percentage, was in luck this offseason since the Rockies traded catcher Chris Iannetta to the Los Angeles Angels for right-hander Tyler Chatwood late in November. However, Hernandez will have his work cut out for him when he competes for a starting job this spring with youngsters Wilin Rosario and Jordan Pacheco.

Good luck, buddy! In other words, if you bet on sports don't bet on Hernández being the Rockies' starting catcher in 2012.

Albert Pujols Gives St. Louis Cardinals Fans Some Kindling Other than His Jersey

After one hot mess of a woman was recorded setting her Albert Pujols jersey on fire in her bathrobe on Thursday, I'm sure many other distraught St. Louis Cardinals fans followed suit. However, the former face of the franchise has given them some new kindling for their burning pleasure: a heartfelt open letter via the newspaper.

Upon leaving the only team he has ever known in favor of sunnier skies and a 10-year, $254 million contract, Pujols (who stated in 2009 that "money isn't everything") demanded the attention of Cardinal Nation one last time. Along with his loving wife Deidre, he took out this full page ad on Friday in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

We Love Matt Moore Almost as Much as the Tampa Bay Rays Do

Matt Moore is awesome and also happens to have alarmingly perfect teeth, making him a deadly combination that is downright irresistible.

After a brief but incredibly impressive big league debut last season, the Rays have decided he's worth keeping around for a guaranteed $14 million over the next five seasons with club options that could be valued at roughly $40 million over eight years.

The heat-throwing 22-year-old lefty kicked off his major league career back in September and finished the regular season going 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA in three appearances, including one start. He went on to start Game 1 of the ALDS, in which he was lights out over seven shutout innings to beat the Texas Rangers and become the youngest pitcher to ever start and win a team’s first game of the postseason.

Moore will join a strong rotation that already includes David Price, James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis and Jeff Niemann. Not too shabby, and there's no doubt these guys will remain competitive in the ridiculous American League East.

Moore was pretty shocked when the Rays approached him about the long-term commitment:

Los Angeles Angels Sign C.J. Wilson for Five Years, Steal Winter Meetings Thunder

The Los Angeles Angels have had a pretty good day. In fact, they just stole the stage from the talent-hoarding Miami Marlins.

After snatching up Albert Pujols in one of the gaudiest bidding wars in the history of baseball, the Angels also snagged top free agent pitcher C.J. Wilson Thursday morning at the winter meetings in Dallas.

The left-hander will earn $77.5 million over the next five seasons in Anaheim, joining what has now become the most ridiculous rotation in the American League with Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, and Ervin Santana. Holy crap that's a lot of aces. Hopefully Wilson can figure out how to pitch in the postseason.