Big day in the hot stove baseball league

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Big day in the hot stove baseball league

Last night the Seattle Mariners signed first baseman Richie Sexson and in less than 24 hours made another splash by signing third baseman Adrian Beltre. This should help them defensively with two solid gloves at the corner infield positions.

Sure Richie Sexson strikes out alot but he hits for power and with Ichiros high on base percentage and speed, Sexson should drive in a fair amount of RBI's. Adrian Beltre IMO should have been the NL MVP this past year and is on his way to becoming a young star in AL.

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Former St Louis shortstop Edgar Renteria has agreed to a $40 million, four-year contract with the Boston Red Sox. Kinda ironic since he grounded out for the final out of the World Series against the Red Sox.

Boston replaces their open SS spot with an all star who is as solid as they come at short and hits has a career .289 average with some speed and some pop in the bat.

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My NY Metropolitans signed (Diva) Pedro (Who's your daddy?) Martinez to a 4 year $53 million dollar contract. It no doubt makes them a stronger pitching staff and will attract alot of Latin fans to Shea Stadium. Also gives the Mets some balls and credibility to go in to this season.

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Atlanta Braves made a last week announcing that John Smoltz will be moving back to the starting staff. Today they made a splash by trading for one of the Oakland A's big three. They got a young ace, in Tim Hudson . In return for the young star Billy Beane gets some young talent to make him competitive both this year and in the future by getting outfielder Charles Thomas and pitchers Juan Cruz and Dan Meyer.

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Three way deal involving the LA Dodgers, NY Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks.

- NY Yankees send Javier Vazquez and two minor-league prospects, catcher Dioner Navarro and third baseman Eric Duncan, to the LA Dodgers.
- The LA Dodgers send pitchers Brad Penny and Yhency Brazoban and outfielder/first baseman Shawn Green to Arizona Diamondbacks.
- Arizona Diamondbacks send pitcher Randy Johnson to the NY Yankees.

A great deal for all parties. Some minor details have to be worked out with Green and Johnson's no trade clauses.

This makes the NY Yankees the starting pitching advantage over the Boston Redsox going in the season in the AL East. The Diamondbacks get a power bat in Green to replace Richie Sexson who signed with the Mariners and a nice young starting pitcher to plug into the staff. Same goes for the Dodgers who are making a habit of collecting Yankee pitching rejects and resurrecting their careers, as well as young third baseman to replace Beltre in a year or two.

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