Free Agency in Review(So Far)

With the Free Agency period of the KJNL dying down, lets take a look at the action the past several weeks.
Free Agency Winners-
-To be a free agency "winner" i'm looking for good, cheap signings that fill your needs. Just because your not listed as a winner doesn't mean your a loser or did badley, it just means I think another team knocked it out of the park.
-Cincinnati Reds-The Reds had several cheap, small singings that could be overlooked. They signed Miguel Batista, Kevin Correia, and Josh Fogg all together for a whopping 6,162, 500. Thats 3 arms in the rotation for the price of one in Jon Garland or Pedro Martinez's case. Also relating to that signing, the Reds didn't have a 4th and 5th starter going in to the auction. They picked up Troy Percival, even though they probably overpayed for him, to close while Brad Lidge is out as well.
-St. Louis Cardinals-While they missed out on big name stars like Eric Chavez and Adrian Beltre, St. Louis really improved. They signed SS Y. Betancourt, C A.J. Pierzenski, and SP Greg Maddox to name a few of the big signings. St. Louis's line-up, while still not great, was in shreds a few weeks ago, and these signings really help.
-Seattle-While I may be a little biased, I think Seattle was a winner as well. Aside the Hernandez signing, were Seattle through 5 million to Hernandez to sit on the bench, the Mariners did some good things dealing with depth. Going into the auction they had one of the best line-ups in the league, but some of the worst depth. The additions of Eric Chavez, Ramon Hernandez, and Jon Garland(to the pitching staff) makes Seattle an viable pick to win it all.
Losers-
-I'm writing my opinion, do not freak on me if your on this list!
-Arizona Dimondbacks(formally SF)-This team had the first franchise pick, they piced TB, becuase they were cheap. He then sold off most of his picks for cash, expanding his already huge cap room. Then, when FA starts, and he can fianlly use his 60,000 dollars or so to just crush the auction, he doesn't bid on one player.
-Chicago White Sox-This team through money out everywere and didn't even land a major player. He payed Tim Wakefield, for example, 2 million dollars. Wakefield may not even start due to Jon Lester and Clay Bucholtz.

Biggest Hitter Signings-
Bobby Abreu-Abreu signed a 14 million dollar deal with the Cleveland Indians. I don't like the signing personally, I think it's to much money for a fading player who might put up some nice numbers. Even if he does play well, you can find 100 RBI adn 20 HR most cheaper elsewere.
Kosuke Fukudome-Fukudome signed a 13.5 million dollar deal with the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs had to outbid the Red Sox, and possibly almost hit thier ceiling(they stopepd bidding on Abreu at 13 million) before Boston pulled out. Fukudome is an extremly risky signing due to hes never played an inning as an MLB player.
Biggest Pitcher Signings-
Pedro Martinez-Martinez, whos getting older, signed a 9 million dollar deal with Cleveland. Pedro could be really good, or hurt himslef again. While a stint on the DL wouldnt hurt Cleveland cap wise, it certenly hurts when the 9 million could have been spent elsewere.
Jon Garland-Garland, coming off a bad year, got 6 million from Seattle. Garland will challenge Jamie Moyer and Shaun Marcum for the 5th spot in the rotation. Even if he doesn't start, hes one hell of a back-up now that hes in LAA.

Overpayment Of The Year: Kosuke Fukudome-Chicago Cubs. While the addition of Fukudome helps, and his contract does drop to 6 million dollars next season, he's still overpayed. Fukudome has never played for a US team ever, who knows if he'll be a total bust? In this case, an expensive bust? Abreu, who cost only a bit more, would have been a much safer option, and thats saying something due to Abreu is old and injury prone.

Steal OF The Year: Boof Bonser-Cleveland Indians. What!? Clam down, most players this off-season were payed what, or more, than they deserved. With Silva and Santana out of the real Minnesota Twins, Bonser will move to the head of the rotation. He should see decent run support and get at least 6-10 wins, and at under a million, thats not bad.

The auction was a good one, and its still going on.