11/3/11

Hot Stove: - Chien-Ming Wang , Andrew Brackman, C J Wilson, Dontrelle Willis, Brad Lidge


According to SI.com's Jon Heyman, the Nationals and Chien-Ming Wang have agreed to a one-year deal. The details of the contract still need to be finalized, but that should be done by Thursday. Wang, 31, posted a cool 4.04 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 11 starts this season while registering a 53.4 groundball percentage. If he can keep his sinker working and maintain his health in 2012, he should be a fine No. 3 starter for the Nationals. http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/mlb/344853/baseball-headlines?r=1

Pitcher Andrew Brackman has been released by the New York Yankees, four years after signing a contract for a $3.35 million bonus. New York drafted Brackman in the first round with the 30th pick in 2007, knowing the 6-foot-10 right-hander from North Carolina State likely would need elbow ligament-replacement surgery. He had the operation that Aug 24.  http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/11/01/yankees-release-pitcher-andrew-backman

Texas Rangers left-handed pitcher C.J. Wilson, set to hit the free-agent market on Thursday, said recently that there's a "great chance" he returns to Texas. "I like it here and I've won here," Wilson told ScoreboardDaily.com. "I've proved that I can be a good pitcher here. There have been a lot of people over the years that have said it's impossible to pitch here in Texas, and look what we did here on the rotation -- we went out and won a bunch of games and threw a bunch of innings and did stuff that no other organization can say." Wilson, who turns 31 later this month, has made a successful transition from reliever to starter the past two seasons. He was 16-7 with a 2.94 ERA in a team-high 223 1/3 innings as the club's No. 1 starter in 2011. That followed a solid 2010 performance -- 15-8 with a 3.35 ERA in 204 innings. Wilson asked the club for an opportunity to start, came into spring training in 2010 committed to winning a job in the rotation and now is one of the most consistent starters for the Rangers the past two seasons. http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/7177081/cj-wilson-great-chance-stays-texas-rangers?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Dontrelle Willis (30) – Look, he’s not a starter anymore. The sooner teams realize this the better. Despite the fact that Willis has appeared in a relief role only once in his major league career (not counting postseason play), he has posted absolutely dominant numbers against left-handed batters. In 65.2 innings in 2010, Willis posted 12.9 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 against lefties. He has even better against lefties this past season, posting 10.6 K/9 and 1.1 BB/9, good for a 10/1 K/BB ratio in 75.2 innings. I suggested that teams view Willis this way before last season’s free agent frenzy. I’ll do so again this offseason. http://www.bloguin.com/theoutsidecorner/2011-articles/november/2012-free-agent-primer-top-10-left-handed-relievers.html

Brad Lidge  Age: 35  Position: RP  2011 Stats:0-2, 1.40 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, 10.7 K/9, 1 SVs  CURRENT TEAM: PHILLIES  BEST FIT: METS  Arm trouble kept Lidge from making his first appearance until late July, by which time he had permanently lost the Phillies' closer's job to Ryan Madson. If Lidge was a bit wild (he walked 13 batters in 19.1 innings over 25 appearances), he was ultimately effective, and his strikeout rate shows that he retains excellent stuff. The Phillies chose to buy out his $12.5 million option, and that should mean that he will move on from Philadelphia after four years there -- perhaps up the road to the Mets, whose bullpen ERA of 4.33 was baseball's third highest.  www.si.com