MLB Mlb Transactions

If there's one common theme to take note of when teams are deciding who to protect on their 40-man rosters, it's that the list of names usually contains high-upside pitchers with good arms.

This year was no different. Each team made their best effort to leave none of their top arms exposed.

Some of the names added seemed like foregone conclusions -- many top prospects unquestionably required protection for the Rule 5 draft. Others, however, may not be household names. The addition of the lesser known or lower-level players can speak volumes about just how highly an organization regards certain obscure talents.

According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, the Cubs and veteran relief pitcher John Grabow have agreed to a two-year contract. The 31-year-old lefty came over to the Cubs in a midseason trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates -- a team with whom he had previously spent his entire six-season career.

In 75 appearances in 2009, Grabow compiled a 3.36 ERA. He's a valuable commodity in late innings, not only because he's tough on lefties, who hit just .222 against him last season, but because he's nearly equally tough on right-handers -- who hit .238 against him.

The Brewers will not pick up Braden Looper's $6.5 million option for next year, Tom Haudricort of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting. They'll have to buy his deal out for $1 million, and it's all being done in the name of financial flexibility for the team to pursue more pitching on this winter's free agent market, according to GM Doug Melvin.

That's an understandable stance since Looper wasn't great in Milwaukee in 2009 (he won 14 games, but had a 5.22 ERA and poor peripherals) but it really leaves the Brewers with Yovani Gallardo, Manny Parra, Jeff Suppan, and probably Dave Bush (he's seen by some as a non-tender candidate now that he's entering his last year of arbitration and will likely be due a raise on his $4 million 2009 salary, but that seems unlikely with Looper's salary off the books) as starting pitchers right now. Melvin better have some plan in mind or things are only going to get worse for the Brewers' pitching staff.

Ken Griffey Jr. is returning to Seattle for at least one more season.

The story was originally reported by ESPN and confirmed in a statement by the team Wednesday afternoon.

The future Hall of Famer agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Mariners that's similar to the one he signed prior to the 2009 season. Griffey returned to the city he became a star in last year after spending nearly a decade in Cincinnati and hit .214/.324/.411 with 19 homers over 117 game for the Mariners.

With the season wrapped up, we can collectively turn our attention to off-the-field topics. As always, there is plenty to be discussed with the Hot Stove already burning. As each team turns their attention to 2010 there a number of questions to answer. How will each trade and free-agent signing impact the clubs involved? Which prospects, like Washington's Stephen Strasburg pictured on the right, can fans look forward to next year?

MLB FanHouse's Frankie Piliere examined all those questions and more, after the jump, in a live chat on Wednesday afternoon.

Piliere, who spent the last three seasons working as a scout, most recently in the professional scouting department for the Texas Rangers this year, now serves as a National Baseball Analyst for FanHouse.

The Red Sox made a flurry of contract decisions on Monday as they hurtle headlong into the Hot Stove season. Boston picked up its 2010 option on Victor Martinez, and declined options on longtime catcher and captain Jason Varitek and knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield, renegotiating a two-year extension with Wakefield at a low average annual value.

There's little surprise about Martinez or Varitek.

The former, a catcher/first baseman who will make $7 million next year, was acquired at great cost in talent from the Indians at the trading deadline this year, and he excelled in the Boston pressure cooker, hitting .336 with 41 RBI in 56 games. The latter, a New England fixture and the heart and soul of two championship teams, has seen his production dip over the last few seasons.

The Red Sox declined a $5 million team option on Varitek, but he can still return in 2010 if he picks up his $3 million player option, and there are indications that he will.

Carl Crawford will be in a Rays uniform next season, his last before he is eligible to be a free agent.

Tampa Bay made it official Monday by picking up its $10 million option on the speedy left fielder, who is the longest tenured player in franchise history and holds a number of all-time clubs records, including for hits, stolen bases, RBI and games played.

Crawford bounced back from an injury-marred 2008 to hit .305 with 15 home runs and 60 stolen bases this season. He also won MVP of the All-Star Game this year.

CHICAGO -- The confetti from their championship parade not fully cleaned up, the Yankees are not yet prepared to address their offseason moves.

"I don't see anything happening here in Chicago," general manager Brian Cashman said Monday after checking in to the Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport for baseball's GM Meetings. "I have the feeling we'll be a little bit more cautious than anxious."

And Cashman made it clear that just because Hideki Matsui was MVP of the World Series does not make it more important for the Yankees to keep him. In fact, the Yankees probably prefer not to have a player who can only DH, as seems to be the case with Matsui because of his knee problems.

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CHICAGO -- The annual Elias rankings are out, determining which free agents could result in draft-pick compensation for their former teams.

Free agents are classified as Type A, Type B or not at all. The compensation applies to free agents offered arbitration by their former club by the Dec. 1 deadline or to those who sign before then.

If a team signs a Type A free agent, its first-round pick goes to the former team -- unless that pick is in the top 15, in which case a second-round pick goes to the former team. The former team also gets an extra pick between the first and second rounds.

If a team loses a Type B free agent, it gets an extra "sandwich" pick.

The types are calculated based on statistics over the 2008-09 seasons.

After the jump, the lists of Type A and B free agents:

In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down offseason moves from a scouting perspective.

It hasn't taken long for the Hot Stove to get heated up as we roll past the World Series. Some key players have already been locked up and some high upside trades have already gone down. What do these moves mean for each club involved and how will the players dealt respond to their new homes? Just as significant, how important will the prospects dealt turn out to be?

From Mark Teahen headed to Chicago, to the Carlos Gomez for J.J. Hardy swap, to Bobby Abreu's new deal with the Angels, each move had a distinct impact. Perhaps the most interesting of these, however, was Jeremy Hermida being shipped to Boston. For the price of a pair of young lefties, the Red Sox took a gamble that may prove very worthy.