The international amateur free agency game is a lot more fun than its domisticated big brother is right now. The White Sox appear close to ponying up 11 million dollars and a 40 man roster spot to 19-year-old Cuban defect Dayan Viciedo. If that comes to be, the Sox will have tapped into the same resource that landed them Alexei Ramirez not even a year ago, and Kenny Williams remains one of the most inconsistent general managers in the league.

Viciedo is a 19-year-old third  baseman (who also played some right field) who defects after playing at the top Cuban level since age 16. Some have proclaimed him, "The Cuban Babe Ruth", and while that might be a stretch, Viciedo is an interesting prospect nonetheless, and while it is a bit hard to project his performance (and whether the price is justifiable), we can at least discuss the move in pure processes form.

Viciedo would be a top 10 selection in the amateur draft, assuming he grades out as well as recent selections like Mike Moustakas and Josh Vitters. His price is almost four times what Vitters received, but keep in mind; this is on the open market. Moreso, it is only one million less than what Jon Garland made in 2008. Moving forward, is there anyone who would take Garland over Viciedo?

With such, I must applaud the White Sox. Especially for paying the price to acquire Viciedo and amateur talent overall, even while they're seemingly going to trade one of their older bats in order to free up some major league payroll. Some teams would've taken the 11 mil, kept their elders intact and signed another free agent or two and focused only on the now. Thankfully, we aren't talking about Ed Wade or Houston, but instead a sometimes sly, sometimes straight up questionable Kenny Williams.

Whether Viciedo is the next Adrian Beltre or not is irrelevant. Sure, it makes Williams look better if he is, but either way the move is a smart one. Spending money on good amateur talent is a lot smarter than spending money on mediocre veterans.

However, if you do vote, please explain why you chose that option. It's not a trick question either.

Per the Heater; Jake McGee, Wade Davis, and Dale Thayer.

I've changed my stance on Thayer since StatCorner's minors section launched and alerted me that Thayer got quite a good chunk of swinging strikes (11.5%). The "book" on him was that his stuff was marginal. My apologies to all those who were Thayer backers since the beginning who I, foolishly, took a scouting view on.

McGee will miss part of (if not most) of 2009 recovering from UCL/Tommy John surgery. Upon his return some indications have been that he'll slide into a relief role down the road, but for now who knows. Davis could be the man to knock Andrew Sonnanstine out of the rotation. Timetable unknown.

Jayson Stark:

• Want a nominee for the most hotly pursued free agent under the radar? How about Raul Ibanez? He'll turn 37 in June, but we've counted at least a dozen teams that have expressed some degree of interest in him.

That group: Mets, Phillies, Cubs, Cardinals, Nationals, Braves, Royals, Rays, Blue Jays, Rangers (if they can't re-sign Milton Bradley), Angels (if Teixeira, Juan Rivera and Garret Anderson all go elsewhere) and Ibanez's old team, the Mariners. The Mets, Cubs, Cardinals, Braves and Mariners have him at the top of their position-player shopping lists.

He won't be looking for any eight-year deals. And when we asked an official of one team what makes Ibanez so attractive, he gushed: "Character. Proven run producer. In better shape than a lot of 25-year-olds. And he'll play hard every day, every game, every second he has the uniform on."

You don't say...

via LookoutLanding

Two middle relief transactions...

Given that he spent 2008 in the minors, I'm a little surprised that the Athletics gave Schroder a major league deal. That's not an indictment on Schroder's talent, but rather seemingly a form of overpaying, or perhaps bidding against yourself. Two similar moves I can recall are Scott Dohmann in 2007 (with the Rays) and Randy Choate (2008 with the Brewers.) Dohmann pitched for the Rays Triple-A team in most of his time with the organization, and Choate was a Triple-A mainstay last year.

Neither of those situations will affect Schroder though. A 30 year old, Schroder has spent his career in the Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos organization and appeared in more than 60 games for the big league club. Schroder gets a good amount of swinging strikes and groundballs, both pluses. Schroder hasn't recorded a tRA over 3 at a level with more than 10 IP since 2006, his initial trip to the majors. Schroder throws primarily fastballs along with a slider and change-up.

Moving forward, Schroder's probably going to look a lot better than some alternatives on the free agent market.

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Miller was better last year than his mass numbers will indicate. A move back to the National League Central should give Miller's swinging strikes a bounce to his Houston numbers. Coming from someone who saw most of Miller's 2008 appearances let me stress this to the Cardinals:

DO. NOT. PITCH. HIM. VERSUS. RIGHTIES. EVEN. IN. LOW. LEVERAGE. SITUATIONS. See, that's much better. Miller throws a mid-80's fastball, a slider, and a change. His stuff doesn't play well to righties at all (you wouldn't have guessed otherwise) so as a LOOGY he'll be fine.

Miller was a Type-B free agent, so the Rays will receive a supplemental pick. 

Or not.

The Cardinals also signed Ian Ostlund to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. Ostlund was one of my "F.A.T: LOOGY" profiles so kudos to the Cardinals, no risk, potential reward move there.

Official Royals Website:

Crisp aims to provide winning mentality

Center fielder, and possible leadoff hitter, believes he's a good fit in KC

Bahahahahahahhaha.

That is all.

Some poor sap is going to look at Shields ERA in 2007 compared to 2008 and think he magically became 0.30 runs better. The truth is, Shields really didn't make too much progress in 2008. His strikeout rate dropped by one per nine (and his swinging strike percent dropped from10.6% to 9.6%) and his walks increased slightly. Shields did curb the gopherball issues slightly, which almost certainly accounts for his FIP change; from 3.86 down to 3.82. Otherwise, there's a ton of symmetry between the two seasons.

tRA's blip is to be expected, since Shields had a large percentage of balls put into play. tRA* regressed Shields unintentional walk rate and line drive percentage. So the good news is that we know exactly what we're getting from Shields, and the better news is that he's pretty damn good.