Other pitcher signings, non M's related...

by ppl4life on Jan 12, 2007 1:46 PM PST

Jerome Williams & Brandon Claussen both signed with the Washington Nationals today. Williams incentive laden minor league deal and Claussen straight minor league deal.

Here is the story...
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-nationals-moves&prov=ap&type=lgns

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Ugh

Bowden is actually having a pretty solid offseason bottom barrell shopping and ripping off our GM. More of a fan of Claussen than Williams though.

by Trent on Jan 12, 2007 1:53 PM PST reply actions

Jason Johnson signed with Seibu

one-year deal, 350 million yen

I'm really curious how he and the team will handle his diabetes. I don't think there's been a guy pitching while wearing an insulin pump there either.

Marinerds - a different daily dose of baseblog.

by Deanna on Jan 12, 2007 2:07 PM PST reply actions

I had no idea

about his diabetes. And bad enough he has to wear an insulin pump?

There was an article recently - I think in Nature Immunology or something - they're making progress on creating transgenic cows that secrete human insulin from their mammary glands. Pretty good news for diabetics who like milk, and actually not a very difficult thing to do. Oh, and an Iowa lab apparently knocked out the gene that codes for the mad cow disease protein. Um. Yeah. Anyhow...

Best of luck to JJ though. I really thought he would be a good cheap pickup for us this winter. I just can't believe someone can go from pretty good to useless so quickly, so last year must have been a lot of bad luck.

Is that a lot of yen?

by Bearskin Rugburn on Jan 12, 2007 7:09 PM PST up reply actions

It converts to about $3 million

But it's a hell of a lot for a player over there. Kazumi Saitoh, who's easily the best pitcher in Japan, is only getting 250 million yen next year (about $2 million).

Marinerds - a different daily dose of baseblog.

by Deanna on Jan 12, 2007 10:23 PM PST up reply actions

uh oh

Think he's getting in over his head? I understand players there are regarded differently than here, and a with a contract that is that big, in relative terms, I'm sure they'll expect a lot from him.

by Bearskin Rugburn on Jan 13, 2007 6:22 AM PST up reply actions

Yes and no.

They always expect a lot from their "foreign helpers". But in the same vein, if the foreigner screws up, there's also a sort of "oh, what do you expect, he couldn't adjust to living in Japan" copout about it, though there will probly also be a "why are we are paying him a lot of money to suck?" attitude.

funny part is, I'd like to think Jason will actually do just fine over in Japan. His minor league numbers look like he'll transfer decently, it looks like he can throw a ton of innings, and if he does do well it'll be great PR for Seibu.

Marinerds - a different daily dose of baseblog.

by Deanna on Jan 13, 2007 12:27 PM PST up reply actions

Isn't that the equivalent of an arbie contract?

Rather than a free agent one?

by Graham MacAree on Jan 13, 2007 6:52 AM PST up reply actions

Yes. No. Contracts in Japan are screwed up.

Marinerds - a different daily dose of baseblog.

by Deanna on Jan 13, 2007 12:35 PM PST up reply actions

Wow

Bowden post Guzman signing has been quite smart.

by Matthew on Jan 12, 2007 2:09 PM PST reply actions

No kidding

Jerome Williams
Brandon Claussen (minor league deal)
Chris Snelling
Emiliano Fruto
Ray King (minor league deal)
Jason Simontacchi (minor league deal)
Robert Fick (minor league deal)
Tim Redding
Mike Restovich
Joe Thurston
Colby Lewis
Jesus Colome (minor league deal)

and I'm sure I'm missing a few.

by Trent on Jan 12, 2007 2:18 PM PST up reply actions

Kearns and Felipe Lopez

by Matthew on Jan 12, 2007 5:38 PM PST up reply actions

Bowden is on a roll

I never thought I'd say that, unless it was in the context of disgruntled-Nats-fans-put-hated-GM's-face-on-toilet-paper type stories.

So has every cheap minor league guy favored by LL or USSM officially been snapped up yet?

I'd also like to see a side-by-side at the end of the year on the total VORP/ERA+/WS/FIP of the Nats signings and some of the mid-tier free agents that got paid this off-season.

by marc w on Jan 12, 2007 2:18 PM PST reply actions

just wondering...

does anyone remember what happened between JD Drew and the Sox? they had to renegotiate their deal, I beleive, because he faile his physical, but I don;t recall them agreeing on anyhting.

by Bearskin Rugburn on Jan 12, 2007 7:22 PM PST reply actions

In theory

he has an agreement with the Red Sox. They are running him through a variety of medical tests and are tweaking the verbage in his contract to eliminate any chance that the Red Sox might be stuck with him if his shoulder breaks down.

I'm sure the deal will get done, it's just a matter of knocking out the contract terms. A lot of players still haven't physically signed their contracts this offseason even though they've made verbal agreements and attended press conferences.

by Trent on Jan 13, 2007 10:31 AM PST up reply actions