Marcus Thames is one of the biggest power hitters that people have never heard off. He has spent the last 6 years toiling away for the Tigers, after starting his career with the Yankees and Rangers. He doesn't provide much besides power, and is probably best served as a platoon player. Let's look at how he does against left handed pitchers:

2006 - .238/.331/.846, 8 HR/148 PA

2007 - .310/.341/.586, 5 HR/91 PA

2008 - .234/.296/.581, 13 HR/135 PA

2009 - .257/.347/.457, 4 HR/124 PA

Career - .256/.326/.516, 40 HR/691 PA

In a typical season, a full time starter will have 600-700 plate appearances. So essentially, if Thames faced lefties for an entire season, he would hit 40 homers.

I've heard some people mention that Thames could be the next Russell Branyan, getting more playing time and making use of it. However, Branyan had a much better walk rate and could play more often because of the abundance of right handed pitchers in the league.

Even though he may not be the next Branyan, Thames will make a GM look very good this offseason if he is signed as a platoon player who can fill in at DH, and play LF and 1B if needed.

RANGERS ACQUIRE CHRIS RAY FOR KEVIN MILLWOOD

Yesteday, the Rangers traded Kevin Millwood to the Orioles for reliever Chris Ray. Texas will pick up $3 million of Millwood's remaining $12MM salary to help the Orioles offset his cost compared to Ray's. Ray made 850k last season, and is eligible for arbitration for the second time.

The Rangers allowed Millwood's option to vest last year, making him a player they could (but didn't want to) afford to keep. The Orioles showed interest early, and even with my complaints, they made the move for Millwood anyway (I know, why would they ignore me?).

Millwood always seems to have some kind of injury issue, but managed to pitch 198.2 innings last year. He ended the year with a 5.57 K/9, 3.22 BB/9, and a 4.80 FIP. Ray pitched 43+ innings for the Orioles, striking out 39 batters and walking only 23. Ray's FIP came in at 5.36, with a xFIP of 4.72. Ray has a crazy windup and release point, to go along with a mid-nineties fastball.

I posed a question to my twitter followers, asking if I was the only person out there who still likes Chris Ray. Former Beyond the Boxscore head Sky Kalkman told me I was, as did reader Aaron T. Our own Daniel Moroz said this about Ray:

I love watching him pitch. His stuff looks nasty, but the results never quite matched up. I still have more faith than most.

Good to hear I'm not totally crazy.

I'm not sure I understand why the Orioles dealt for Millwood. They aren't in a position to make the playoffs this year, and spending $9 million on a starter is not going to help anything. That money could be spent on their scouting department, allowing them to continue to draft well and develop talent. I suppose the Orioles may be looking to flip Millwood at the deadline for prospects, and it if that is the case, this deal is looking better.

Good move by the Rangers to get something for Millwood, as Ray could fill in as closer if needed, but looks to be the 7th innings man for the time being.

Hey all. I apologize for not giving you the winter meetings coverage today. I only planned on being away this afternoon, but my schedule got all screwy and there wasn't much I could do to rectify it.

I will try to make it up to you with some nice pieces going up Thursday morning.

Also, I may not be around Thursday for winter meetings coverage. Things are still up in the air, so no guarantees on breaking news tomorrow.

-Zach

Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN at the end of the winter meetings. After 20 years at ESPN, Gammons leaves the network he helped make so powerful to join MLB Network as an analyst. It's a multi-year deal. He will also work for NESN. At a time of year where movement of big name baseball players is commonplace, this could be one of the biggest moves. And it involves a baseball analyst. For the time being, Peter Gammons has trumped all the rumored moves of Matt Holliday and Jason Bay.

Gammons' move cements MLB Network's place as the baseball channel. With Gammons' presence, MLB Network becomes the channel baseball news and information. An already strong station just became stronger. Gammons strengthens an already strong roster of on-air personalities. Along with Gammons, MLB Network boasts what is an all-star lineup of baseball insiders. Gammons joins a roster of insiders that includes Jon Heyman, Ken Rosenthal, and Tom Verducci. MLB Network's on-air personalities also include talented analysts and commentators. The majority of MLB's top insiders now work for MLB Network.

It appears that a three-way deal between the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Tigers is getting close to being a reality, according the multiple sources.

Jon Heyman says that the Yankees would receive Curtis Granderson, the Diamondbacks would get Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy, and the Tigers would bring in Max Scherzer, Daniel Schlereth, Austin Jackson and Phil Coke. Steve Gilbert confirms Heyman's story.

From the basics of the deal, it looks like the D'Backs are giving up a bit too much, but they obviously value Jackson over Max Scherzer.

The Yankees look to be coming off pretty well, not having to give up Hughes, Joba or Mike Dunn.

The Tigers get a slew of attractive players, with Austin Jackson possibly stepping in immediately and filling Grandy's shoes. Scherzer is the real prize, with Schlereth and Coke as good throw in options for their bullpen.

UPDATE: Joel Sherman says the Yankees won't be able to pull off a deal for Granderson without a third team getting involved. Looks like the Yankees need to make sure the D'Backs are happy in order to make this work, so they better be catering to their every need in Indy.

UPDATE: Ed Price tells us that the Tigers and D'Backs are just waiting on the Yankees to sign off on the deal. The Yanks are expected to let them know by 2pm EST, which is a mere 25 minutes from now. This is getting good.

UPDATE: Joel Sherman says that the medical records are being looked at. Looks like this may be just moments away from happening.

UPDATE: Deal is done, according to Heyman. As long as medical records check out, this trade is happening.

UPDATE: Want the fantasy impact? Well, it's up at RotoGraphs.

Even with baseball's free agent frenzy kicking into high gear in Indianapolis there is other baseball news out there. On Monday, manager Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Both are deserving of the call. Another man who is also deserving again fell short of election. Marvin Miller, the executive director of the MLBPA from 1966-82, fell two votes short of election. Miller received seven of the nine committee votes needed for election. This is the third time Miller fell short by a close margin. He also fell short in 2003 and 2007 (under a different voting format). In 2008, Mr. Miller received three votes under the new committee format. The Veterans Committee is comprised of seven current or retired baseball executives, two Hall of Fame players, and three veteran baseball writers.

For those unaware of Miller and his contributions to MLB, he made the MLBPA the powerful players' union it is today. Legendary broadcaster Red Barber summed up Miller's importance to baseball. "Marvin Miller, along with Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson, is one of the two or three most important men in baseball history." In 1968, Miller negotiated MLB's first collective bargaining agreement, which increased the league minimum salary from $6,000 to $10,000. He also had arbitration added to the CBA in 1970. Miller is the reason why independent arbitrators and not the Commissioner, a man selected by the owners, resolve contract disputes. 

With Marco Scutaro off the market, Felipe Lopez and Orlando Hudson are now the big name middle infielders available for signing. Neither Lopez nor Hudson were offered arbitration from their clubs, so the teams signing them will not have to surrender any draft picks. Let's compare these two players, shall we?

2008:

Hudson - .305/.367/.450, 8 HR, 4 SB, .358 wOBA, -7.6 UZR/150
Lopez - .283/.343/.387, 6 HR, 8 SB, .320 wOBA, -8.1 UZR/150

2009:

Hudson - .283/.357/.417, 9 HR, 8 SB, .342 wOBA, -3.7 UZR/150
Lopez - .310/.383/.427, 9 HR, 6 SB, .356 wOBA, 7.6 UZR/150

Career Stats:

Hudson - .282/.348/.431, .340 wOBA, 2.6 UZR/150
Lopez - .269/.338/.400, .325 wOBA, 2.6 UZR/150

2010 Fan Projection:

Hudson - .288/.360/.408, 8 HR, 6 SB, .341 wOBA, -2.3 UZR/150, 2.6 WAR
Lopez - .286/.358/.382, 7 HR, 8 SB, .330 wOBA, 1.4 UZR/150, 2.5 WAR

That is a lot of data to wade through, so looking at the 2010 projection is the easiest thing to do.

Evan made it official, MVN is shutting down.

Some of MVN's blogs will be moving to Bloguin, and I'm interested to see the full list once Evan releases it.

For those of you thinking that I knew this was going to happen and that's why we left, you are half right. While I didn't have any info to back it up, I had a feeling this was coming during the last part of the season. Turns out, I was right.

Believe me, I'm not here to make light of this situation. It's never a good thing when blogs or a network go down, because it provides less opportunities for bloggers starting out to prove themselves and build an audience.

Losing MVN is not necessarily a good thing, but I can't say I didn't see this coming. Best of luck to all former MVN bloggers, and I hope to see a whole lot of you here at Bloguin!

Tim Brown is reporting that Pudge Rodriguez has signed a two-year, $6 million deal with the Nationals, this coming only minutes after the arbitration deadline.

Pudge hit .249/.280/.384 with the Astros and Rangers last year. Even with a very down offensive year, Pudge was supposedly worth this contract. I don't buy it. Even if he was worth it last year, will he be in two seasons? I highly doubt.

Very, very strange deal by the Nationals. Yes, they needed a catcher, but this is a little bit out there. Good for Pudge to get what he could.

UPDATE: Heyman confirms it. This is too weird. Also of note, the Rangers will get a comp pick for this. Still cannot believe this is happening.

In a long expected move, Adrian Beltre is declining arbitration from the Mariners, putting the Type-B free agent on the market.

Beltre was injured for most of 2009, but put up a .265/.304/.379 line with a wOBA of .305. Beltre garners most of his value on defense, ranking as one of, if not the best defensive third baseman out there.

Beltre is likely to improve on his 2009 offensive numbers, with fans projecting a .273/.326/.470 line with 23 homers in 2010.

I like Beltre, but have heard he is asking for an exorbitant amount of money. While he may be worth ~$15 million if healthy, I would hesitate to give Beltre more than a three-year, $25 million contract.

The Red Sox, Orioles, and Cardinals will all be in on signing Beltre this offseason, with the Giants as another possibility.