More Hot Stove Transactions

Just what everybody is jonesing for on the day the NFL playoffs start...an analysis of the most recent baseball transactions.

• Athletics trade Nick Swisher to the White Sox for Gio Gonzalez, Fautino de los Santos, and Ryan Sweeney. How many GMs are this decisive? Billy Beane concluded that his team's core wasn't good enough to compete with the Angels and so he's going to send them off for prospects and look towards the '10s. According to Baseball Prospectus, the A's are getting the Sox's first, second, and eighth best prospects for Swisher. It's a pretty good haul for a pretty good player. Unfortunately for GM Ken Williams, the White Sox were not a pretty good player away from contending. Williams hasn't done anything right in the past two seasons. The ChiSox would have been better off with the prospects.
• Royals sign Ron Mahay to a 2 year $8 million contract. Imagine you are an investor burned out crack den analogy for a moment for this one. Imagine a man who buys a burned out crack den at a government auction. Instead of renovating the floors, walls, ceilings, counters, and cabinets, his first move is to hang a $5,000 chandelier in the dining room. It's a nice chandelier, to be sure, but it would fit much better as a finishing touch in an otherwise upscale house. Royals GM Dayton Moore is that investor and Ron Mahay is the chandelier.
• Yankees sign LaTroy Hawkins to a one year deal for $3.75 million. The Yankees are actually the house that should have purchased the Mahay chandelier. Instead Hawkins should provide the Yankees with a reasonable facsimile of Luis Vizcaino's performance last season. He is a decent enough third or fourth option in a bullpen still searching for a legitimate second option. As such this contract seems appropriate. Cashman is clearly banking on someone from the Edwar Ramirez/Ross Ohlendorf/Alan Horne/J.B. Cox stockpile of second tier pitching prospects to take over as primary set-up man for Mariano Rivera. Anyway, if Latroy ends up sucking for the Yankees I will alternately refer to him as "Sadie Hawkins" and "Sophie B. Hawkins". It won't be particularly clever or relevant, but slapping a gal's name on a fella is always fun.
• Mariners sign Carlos Silva to a 4 year $48 million contract. Carlos Silva doesn't suck. That backhanded compliment is the best thing I can say for him. It's incredible that simply not sucking garners a pitcher $12 million per year on the open market.