Maholm more than a bargain for Dodgers

Thoe pitching pieces are beginning to fall into place.
A day after the Diamondbacks signed free-agent RHP Bronson Arroyo, the division-rival Dodgers agreed to terms with free-agent LHP Paul Maholm.
Los Angeles reportedly was one of Arroyo's suitors, and Maholm represented a fall-back position.
I'm here to say that the supposed loss of Arroyo actually will be to the Dodgers' benefit. Arizona is paying $23.5 million over 2 years for Arroyo, who will be 37 this season. Maholm, 31, is an injury risk, but LA is obligated to him only for 1 year and $1.5 million.
There's no way Arroyo can be more than 10 times more valuable than Maholm. I don't expect the former Red Sox/Reds pitcher to be able to make a difference to unseat the Dodgers at the top of the NL West.
To make room for Maholm on the roster, Los Angeles placed LHP Scott Elbert on the 60-day disabled list, which doesn't count against the 40-man limit. Elbert is recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The Cubs avoided arbitration with RHP Jeff Samardzija by signing him to a 1-year, $5.345-million contract.
Elsewhere, arbitration decisions are beginning to be handed down.
Padres RHP Andrew Cashner, who broke through to win 14 games in 2013, won his case and will receive $2.4 million in 2014. Indians RHP Vinnie Pestano won't be a millionaire just yet. He lost in arbitration, and will be paid $975,000.
Perth, Mayaguez win winter titles
The Canberra Cavalry came closer than expected, but still lost the Austalian Baseball League best-of-three Championship Series in two games. Two one-run games. The host Perth Heat took the Claxton Shield -- the ABL's answer to the NFL's Lombardi Trophy -- for the third time in four years.
For Perth, Warwick Saupold (Tigers organization) pitched two hitless innings to save Saturday's 2-1 victory for winning pitcher Brian Baker, who last pitched in the U.S. in the Brewers organization. Catcher Allan de San Miguel (Rockies) singled to give the Heat a 2-0 lead in the sixth inning. Shortstop Joey Wong (Rockies) was the Championship Series MVP.
Los Naranjeros de Mayaguez from the Mexican Winter League won the Caribbean Series final game 7-1 Saturday over Los Indios de Mayaguez, representing Puerto Rico.Catcher Sebastian Valle hit a grand slam in a six-run sixth inning. Chris Roberson hit a solo homer in that inning.
The game had been scoreless until that inning. RHP Joel Pineiro allowed just three hits in five innings for Puerto Rico, but the bullpen gave up eight hits and seven runs over the next three innings. Winning pitcher Juan Delgadillo allowed four hits and struck out five.
Puerto Rico, which hasn't won the series since 2000, defeated Los Navigantes del Magallanes of Venezuela 2-0 Friday to advance to the championship game. The Puerto Rican team's runs both were unearned. Eddie Rosario's two-run bloop single in the seventh inning followed two errors by Venezuela shortstop Eduardo Escobar, a Twins prospect.
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Basketball. It's still 8-0 heading into the final day of this week's competition. On Saturday, Ricky Rubio threw in a surprising 25 points for the Timberwolves and Team Fresh Prints. Just slightly less surprising was Gerald Green's 25-point performance for the Suns and TFP. For Sunday, I have eight players active, and I should do all right unless each of them shoots 3-for-18 or something like that.
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Hockey. I haven't seen the official standings through Saturday yet, but it appears that the second-place team picked up a point to move nine points ahead of my 67 heading into the two-week-plus Olympic hibernation.
My lineup included two goalies whose team was playing, but neither of them were in goal. Thus, they didn't hurt me. But they didn't help me either. It appears that during this break I will be 3 wins, .223 (a huge gap) in goals against average and .034 in save percentage away from picking up a point in each of those categories.
On this surprising night, my former Avalanche players combined for plus-6 of my team's plus-7 performances. There were a few minuses in the lineup, but a player I saw in person, Brenden Dillon, was plus-1 in the Stars' 2-1 victory over the Coyotes.
I'm now 19 assists and 14 PPP behind the second-place team, but his players have a combined 63 games more than mine. So he could have to reduce his lineup by three or four players a day or take a week or two off at the end of the season. The first-place team also now has more games played than mine. I've used skated in seven more than he has, but he has used goalies 13 times more.
Important key: Don't see the Olympic break as a vacation. I've always tried to take stock of my fantasy baseball teams during the All-Star break, when the stats stand still. That used to be three days, now it's four. This Olympic break will be something like 16 days! Take some time to see where you can pick up points and formulate strategies to do just that. Scour the list of free agents. Think about trade scenarios. Note your league's trade deadline; I think my ESPN league's deadline is Feb. 28. Possibly most important, keep track of injuries and which players are likely to come back after the break. You can pick up useful players, possibly even star-caliber players, for little or no investment.

There's always a job for a middle-of-the-road lefty

The Rangers and Mets made blip-on-the-radar news this weekend. Not a bad time for lefties either.
Texas signed LHP Rafael Perez a minor league contract with a chance to compete for a spot in their bullpen. He's a sidearmer effective against his kindred left-handers. Kind of like a southpaw Darren O'Day from the Rangers' glory days. Texas had Michael Kirkman in its bullpen most of last season. I'm fairly confident the Rangers could do better with Perez, who pitched only in the minors in 2013.
With LHP Derek Holland out for half or more of this season, Texas reportedly has been exploring signing LHPs Paul Maholm or Bruce Chen. Maholm had some success when the Pirates were really bad. Chen has pitched for just about everybody, including parts of two seasons for the Rangers, and brings a high-end personality to a clubhouse. He even pitched well as a swing man for Kansas City last season.
Texas also avoided arbitration by signing one-year contracts with RHPs Neftali Feliz ($3 million) and Alexi Ogando ($2.625 mill). That's probably more than $10,000 per pitch for the pair who were hurt most of last year. Ogando was on the DL three different times. Feliz took more of the long-term approach by not pitching in the majors until September.
The Mets signed LHP John Lannan, who could be their fifth starter, and are bringing back SS/utility infielder Omar Quintanilla. Each would go to spring training with a minor league contract.
Another guy, or perhaps I should say just another guy, is trying to make a comeback after being out of pro ball last year. The Mariners have agreed with LHP Joe Beimel on a minor league deal. Not sure why they think he suddenly might know how to pitch.
The list of teams that reportedly have offered RHP Masahiro Tanaka more than $100 million for six years shows that the Diamondbacks want to become major, big-market player. The other teams on the list are the Yankees, Dodgers, White Sox and Cubs. Hey, the Cubbies could win 70 games with Tanaka on the staff.
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Basketball. It's still 7-1 going into the last day of the week.
I'm down by six 3-pointers, and think I have sufficient leads in the other categories unless my shooting percentages go down significantly (which always can happen).
Team Fresh Prints has five players going Sunday, to four for my opponent. However, three of his players are guards, but one is Rajon Rondo, whom we shouldn't expect to play much for a while.
I also have three guards in action, but I'll need good performances from Gerald Green, Victor Oladipo and Marco Belinelli to have a chance to sweep the week.
Covered the Trail Blazers' devastation of the Mavericks tonight. Mo Williams, who comes off Portland's bench in much the same way that he comes off my bench, had a good game with four rebounds, three assists, two steals and eight points, but didn't hit any 3s.
A player to watch for Dallas is Devin Harris, who played for the first time this season. He could give them a legitimate point guard, but tonight he had just six points in 17 minutes and missed two free throws.
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Hockey. Can't say much because I dropped a point and had poor performances in my Categories That Shall Not Be Named. On the down side, there are four other teams creeping up close behind me in goalie wins. Let's put it this way, they're closer to me than I am to the team ahead of me.
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Football. After being eliminated from the AMFL playoffs last week, I have no fantasy football teams active.
I'm pretty sure I'm out of contention in the Pittsburgh pick-'em playoff pool. Don't remember whether I told you my strategy for this week in the hypothetical bet-a-thousand pool. I'm putting $1,400 on the Broncos at (I believe) minus-7 1/2 and $100 on the 49ers at (I think) plus-3 1/2. A Denver win could at least narrow the gap between my $1,600 and the $3,700 that leads the pool. If the Patriots and Seahawks cover, I'd at least be left with $100 that I could double with a winning Super Bowl bet. Of course, it's not real money unless I finish in the top three (maybe top six, don't remember) and then I'd win just a percentage of the $10 entry fees put into the pool. I'm currently 18th among about 60 in the pool.