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December 23, 2009 09-10 Offseason Joe Janish

Atkins, Gonzalez, Marquis Sign Elsewhere

In case you hadn’t heard, Garrett Atkins signed a one-year, $4M contract with the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles also inked lefthanded reliever Mike Gonzalez to a two-year, $12M deal to be their closer. Too bad they play in the AL East or these signings might matter.

In other news, the Washington Nationals added veteran pitcher-cum-mentor Jason Marquis to a two-year, $15M contract that I’m happy to say was not offered by the Mets. The Nats are also on the verge of signing lefty reliever Eddie Guardado and are in talks with Matt Capps, Jon Garland, and Orlando Hudson. Suddenly, I’m starting to worry a little about those annoying Nats.

Back to the AL, Darren Oliver returned to the Texas Rangers, the Blue Jays and Mariners traded Brandons (Morrow for League), and the Angels are in “serious talks” with Fernando Rodney.

Meanwhile, the Mets are close to signing knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Yee ha.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. CatchDog December 23, 2009 at 8:04 am
    I’m thinking that today, one of the back pages of a New York newspaper will have this :

    Yanks trade for Vazquez. Mets get Dickie.

    Nuff said.

  2. isuzudude December 23, 2009 at 9:27 am
    I was thinking the same thing, C’dog. Along the lines of: Mets fans get Dick(ey) for Christmas.

    The Garrett Atkins signing should set the precedent for Carlos Delgado. If the Mets are to inquire about asking Delgado to come back for 2009, then the maximum base salary he should recieve is $4M, which I think is pretty reasonable. If Delgado thinks he can do better elsewhere, wish him luck and turn the page. Ryan Garko is still out there and would be cheaper, and probably more versatile, than both Atkins and Delgado, and could make a nice cost-effective platoon partner with Dan Murphy.

    I had thought Marquis was going to cash in much greater than he did this offseason. If Randy Wolf is making close to $10M per year, why would Marquis have to settle for $7.5M? Is being left handed really worth an extra $3M? Whatever the reason, the Nats are giving Marquis $7.5M per year to simply be Livan Hernandez, and that is to tutor the young kids and eat innings. Despite those abilities, if Marquis finishes the season with an ERA over 5.00 and a win/loss record that looks like the height measurement of an NBA power forward, which I think is very possible, suddenly that $7.5M per year salary looks a lot less desirable. And that’s why I lobbied for the Mets to stay away. Though, now I’m wondering if his signing is going to drive the price down on other similar commodities, such as Jon Garland and Joel Piniero.