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The Arizona Diamondbacks and Kelly Johnson have agreed on a contract for next season worth a little north of $2 million pending a physical. He had been non-tendered by the Braves earlier this winter.

Johnson is expected to be the opening day second basemen for the Dbacks, surpassing Ryan Roberts on the depth chart.

Last year was difficult for Johnson who lost his starting job at second base in Atlanta and finished the year with a .224 average to go with 8 homers and 29 RBI.

Johnson’s best year came back in 2007 when after returning from an elbow injury that cost him the entire 2006 season he went on to hit .276/.375/.457 with 15 homers and 68 RBI while moving from the outfield to second base. He’d follow that up with a solid 2008 season but never seemed to get it going last year for the Braves and eventually lost his job to Martin Prado.

Ryan Roberts figures to be his stiffest competition for playing time at second base in Arizona. Roberts, a journeyman though out the minors, hit .279/.367/.416 last season in 305 at-bats after collecting just 27 at-bats in his three previous stints in the majors.

Popularity: 8% [?]

After wavering about signing a high end outfielder the Mets eventually caved and have agreed on a four year deal with Jason Bay worth $66 million, or an average of $16.5 million.

The Mets had bee n in talks with both Bay and Matt Holliday about filling their left field spot.

Angel Pagan who hit .306/.350/.487 in 383 at-bats last season with 8 homers and 32 RBI now moves into the position as the teams fourth outfielder.

Bay finished last year with a .267/.384/.537 line and compiled his second season of 100-plus RBI as he finished with 119 aided by 36 homers.

With the transformation from Fenway to Citi Field it’s likely Bay’s numbers could see a small dip but at 31 years of age Bay still has plenty of years of hitting the ball well and playing sub-par defense ahead of him.

With the exception of left field the Mets didn’t have much to address on the offensive side of the ball entering this winter so barring the always rumored trade of Luis Castillo it’s likely the Mets are done adding impact players to the lineup.

Clearly on paper the Mets were expected to do better then the 70-92 record they put up last season but that didn’t factor in costly injuries most notably Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado.

Daniel Murphy, who had far better second half, figures to improve going forward while expecting David Wright to be held to 10 homers and 72 RBI again would be foolhardy.

It’s difficult to project the Mets based on last year. Without the heart of their lineup they finished 12th in runs scored in the NL and last in homers. Oddly the Mets actually led the NL with a .270 batting average and were 7th in OBP but their 12th place rank in slugging made it difficult to score.

In addition only Mike Pelfry (10-12, 5.03) made more then 30 starts last season and Livan Hernandez (7-8, 5.47) actually made 23 starts for the club. Here’s the current depth chart of Met pitchers and their number of starts last season Johan Santana (25), Pelfry (31), John Maine (15), Oliver Perez (14) and Jonathan Niese (2).

It’s safe to say that the Mets are due for improvement this year but to what degree.

What do you think? Does Jason Bay push the Mets into contention? Is he just another example of what money can buy? Is the quartet

of Reyes, Beltran, Wright and Bay one of the best in the majors? Will Bay help the team avoid a late season collapse?

Popularity: 7% [?]

Josh Anderson remains a free agent. The dynamic outfielder with amazing speed on the base paths spent last season split between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals.

Anderson entered spring training with the Atlanta Braves but after the team opted to go with Jordan Schafer in center field traded the outfielder to Detroit for reliever Rudy Darlow.

While receiving the most playing time of his career, Anderson easily set career highs with 283 at-bats, 24 RBI,13 walks and 25 stolen bases in 30 attempts but in finishing the season with a .240/.276/.304 line things are looking down. In fact it’s fair to say Anderson took a big step back as in 2008 he finished the year with a .294/.338/.426 line in 136 at-bats with the Braves.

It’s quite certain that Anderson will receive a contract offer from someone and for all we know there could be genuine interest from teams looking to add Anderson. Anderson figures to just receive an invite to spring training with no guaranteed money on the table so the wait likely has more to do with finding the team that offers him the best chance at playing time.

Below is Anderson’s season average for a full season of play.

Considering he’s not going to get an everyday gig  Anderson would appear to be a solid outfield option for most teams as a fifth outfielder who can play all three positions. His speed on the base paths would be of use to many teams.

Of course the knock on Anderson is he’s a bit stretched in center and isn’t much of a source for power or walks.

Whether Anderson is a major league option will be decided during spring training as it’s hard to believe anyone would sign Anderson with the intent of using him on the 25 man roster all season without him first proving himself this spring.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Yesterday I noted that Dave O’Brien won’t let the trade rumors around Dan Uggla die and went ahead and commented on them as something that would potential help the Braves in 2010.

Uggla isn’t going to hit .300 or win the NL MVP and sure he strikes out a good amount.

I simply said he was quite an offensive upgrade over Cabrera whose biggest value to the Braves is as a trade chip and provided reasons why this trade could work/happen for both sides.

Being honest here I think Cabrera is actually a downgrade from Jeff Francoeur and the numbers support that.

Here’s also an interesting stat.Which I have to give credit to this guy for.
I checked it and it’s accurate.

Last season Prado’s UZR/150 at second base was -3.6 which was the best in his young career.  Most people believe this to be more indicative of how well he can play the position.  Now compared with Dan Uggla, who’s career UZR/150 is -2.9, Prado’s best season is still worse than Uggla’s average season.

Uggla may have had a UZR/150 of -9.6 last season but just a year ago it was 2.0 and while he’s not likely to be that good or bad in 2010 he’ll probably fall somewhere between which is more or less where Prado would end up.

Given that Chipper Jones’ 133 games played at third base were his most in the field since the 149 he put up in 2003 in left field it’s important that the Braves an some options in the infield. Throw in Troy Glaus’ history of being Troy Glaus and you see where I’m going.

So with all that being said you add a big bat, you get to use Prado where ever the leaky hole shows up in the infield and throw him in the outfield a few times.

The reason Uggla may be of more value to the Braves is he plays second base where guys like Nick Swisher and Xaiver Nady are purely corner outfielders who can play first base which leaves you with a problem should something happen at second or when Chipper Jones needs to take time off.

Either way it should be interesting to see how things shake out.

Popularity: 9% [?]

According to WIVB in Buffalo the Bills have contacted former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis. Weis is reportably interested in the position most recently held by Dick Juron.

Juron was let go two weeks ago after a 24-33 record that spanned the 2006-2009 seasons. Perry Fewell has been coaching the Bills with the intern title.

In five seasons at Notre Dame, Weis went 35-27 but produced just one bowl victory in three chances and  finished this season with four staright losses to Navy, Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Stanford.

* * *

File me as a bit surprised. I didn’t think Weis would go from fired Notre Dame coach to NFL head coach. I figured Weis, who is a respected offensive mind, would have his pick of offensive coordinator positions but this is a step up from that.

Weis’ biggest knock while at Notre Dame is that he never recruited and developed defensive personnel but with the structure in the NFL being what it is (ala Weis wouldn’t have to focus on the defense and could leave it to a coordinator and after all a GM does ultimately

pick the players), and the Bills being as bad as they are offensively you think that a marriage of the two wouldn’t be as bad as it first looks.z

Popularity: 8% [?]

In an article highlighting what he believes to be an unfinished off-season thus far David O’Brien noted that the Braves have at-least $7 million left in their budget, which matches up with what everyone has been saying following the trades of Rafael Soriano and Javier Vazquez.

O’Brien, like many Brave bloggers, kept the name Xavier Nady in the mix as an option to play the corner outfield and first base. He also threw in the name of Marlins second basemen Dan Uggla whom the Braves had been linked to earlier on this winter.

The speculation of O’Brien is that the Braves could flip Melky Cabrera to the Marlins in exchange for Uggla.

Uggla is a massive upgrade over Cabrera as the track records of the two suggest, he also would eat away most of the remaining money left in the Braves budget but would in essence finish off the roster.

Most teams would find it difficult to trade away Uggla (.243/.354/.459, 31 HR, 90 RBI) but the Marlins are trying to shed some money themselves and at the end of the season there was even speculation that the team would non-tender him to avoid his contract.

Aside from the financial standpoint there are other reasons the Marlins could trade Uggla. The Marlins see Uggla as a bit of a defensive liability, he had a rift during the season with star Hanley Ramirez and the team does have Chris Coghlan on the roster. Coghlan was the 2009 NL Rookie of the Year after he hit an impressive .321/.390/.460. While Coghlan played just one game at second base in 2009, he spent 246 of his 288 minor league games at the position and is seen as an upgrade over Uggla. So in other words the Marlins already have a replacement for Uggla on their big league roster.

The Braves though would have to decide what to do with Martin Prado. Prado appeared in 63 games at second base last season, but also appeared at three other positions. It’s also unclear if the Braves like Prado at second base or as a versatile infield option who would provide Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus days off in addition to Uggla.

I didn’t mix any words after the Braves traded Vazquez to the Yankees for Cabrera and prospects. Obviously if the Braves are able to land Uggla or another accomplished slugger (for Cabrera) it takes away the sting of that trade. Of course this is all speculation on my part at this point.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Mitch Jones was signed to a minor league deal by the Braves on Thursday. Despite being 32 years old Jones got his first taste of the big leagues last season when he went 4-for-13 in 8 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers acting primarily as a pinch hitter.

Jones spent the rest of the 2009 campaign as a part of the Dodgers Triple-A club where he hit a minor league leading 35 home runs and finished with a .297/.364/.651 line.

It wasn’t the first time Jones had mashed the ball at the minor league level. In the past three seasons as a member of the Dodgers farm system he compiled OPS’ of 1.099, .942, and 1.015 while hitting 70 homers or roughly a homer every 11 at-bats. Before joining the Dodgers in 2007 Jones was a member of the New York Yankees farm system. With the Yankees Jones’ compiled strong minor league numbers but was unable to crack the big leagues.

Jones however has been bothered by high strike out totals in fact he’s struck out 29.6% of his official at-bats at the  minor league level.

The Braves however aren’t looking at Jones as an outfielder. They are looking for Jones to be a pinch hitter. Considering the struggles the team had at the position last season, most notably with Greg Norton, and the potential for Jones has to get a hold of a pitch or two he could prove to be of value to the club.

Jones isn’t made of the same stuff as Julio Franco or Keith Lockhart, batters whose days have long went by. However if he can make me forget the days of Greg Norton last season I’m on board.

Popularity: 10% [?]

While the names haven’t fallen in their column the last two winters you have to give the Baltimore Orioles credit for at-least making strong efforts to bring quality players to their organization.

Today the club announced they had finalized a deal for reliever Mike Gonzalez worth $12 million over the next two seasons. With incentives the deal could be worth as much as $14 million.

While he began the season as the Atlanta Braves closer he eventually settled into an eighth inning role for the club and finished with a 2.42 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 90/33 K/BB  while converting 10 of 17 save chances. The Orioles will hope Gonzalez is ready to take on their closers role for a full season.

The risk with Gonzalez is that least season was his first full season of work since 2006 and of course he’s coming off a season of a career high 80 appearances. Gonzalez underwent Tommy John surgery during the 2007 season.

Thus far this winter the Orioles have addressed a need at the top of their rotation and at the back end of their bullpen. Kevin Millwood being acquired from the Texas Rangers and now signing Gonzalez both add players who had fine 2009 seasons but could either regress significantly or even miss a large part of the season with injury.

I wondered for a bit if the Orioles were better off taking their lumps again in 2010 or if perhaps acquiring these players made the team better. Considering the club was a disappointing 64-98 last season and the seats are becoming emptier and emptier by the year the Orioles owe it to their fans to at-least try to put a contending club on the field again.

Obviously the club can’t financially compete with New York or Boston, but then again few can. Baltimore isn’t too bad off economically and with a decent core of players and some positive things happening in 2010 they could find themselves back to being a contender as early as 2011.Contrary to belief you can’t keep losing games and get better, the Orioles finishing in the 65-70 win range again this coming season does little to create confidence in the players or the coaches. Another coaching change isn’t the answer here.

Millwood and Gonzalez could push the teams win total to 70 alone if nothing changed from last season. The earlier signing of Garret Atkins should improve the production at third base and of course adding another season of big league experience to their core of young position players and with some help from the back end of the rotation, a full season out of Brian Bergesen and you have to start to think that the Orioles aren’t too bad of a team.

I could be making a bold statement here but I don’t see any reason even in the AL East that this Oriole team could reach for 78-to-82 wins this season. Avoiding a late season meltdown will likely be the difference in this club being over or under .500 on the year. They probably won’t have enough to keep the fans excited about a Wild Card chance this season but they should do their best to give the rest of the AL East fits.

Popularity: 3% [?]

The Chicago White Sox continued to add relievers to their roster as they claimed right hander Freddy Dolsi formerly of the Detroit Tigers.

Dolsi had been placed on waivers by the Tigers in order to clear up roster space following the blockbuster trade that sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees. He put up a 1.69 ERA in 10 2/3 innings with Detroit this season and in 47.2 innings in 2008 had a 3.97 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP.

The 26 year old from the Dominican Republic had compiled a 3.54 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP in 226.1 innings over six seasons in the Tigers minor league system.

Dolsi isn’t much of an option for the White Sox in the late innings at this point but with Bobby Jenks trade rumors still in the air and a group of lackluster relievers vying for the remaining spots in the White Sox pen he figures to have a pretty fair shot of making the club this spring. At worst he’s someone the White Sox can stash at Triple-A and call up later in the season.

Popularity: 5% [?]

If the report of Ken Davidoff of Newsday is to be believed then the Bronx Bombers are in the mist of finalizing a one year deal worth $5.5 million with former first-baseman Nick Johnson.

Popularity: 6% [?]