Minor moves, but at least it's moving

As baseball leads up to the winter meetings Dec. 9-12 in Orlando, teams have begun to make some trades and other moves.
The latest free-agent signings were RHP Dan Haren to a 1-year contract with the Dodgers and the Cardinals' confirmation that their signing of SS Jhonny Peralta is official.
The Padres made two trades that might not amount to more than rearranging the furniture.
They sent RHP Brad Brach from the middle of their bullpen to the Orioles for RHP Devin Jones, who was 5-7 with a 5.64 ERA mostly in Double-A this year. Brach has appeared in 109 major league games over the last three seasons.
San Diego also traded OF Jaff Decker and RHP Miles Mikolas to the Pirates for Double-A OF Alex Dickerson. I've seen Decker and Mikolas play in Double-A. A former first-round draft pick, Decker has totaled just 71 home runs and a .268 average in the minors. Mikolas, who appears to throw fairly hard, spent some time in the majors in 2012 and recorded 26 saves for Triple-A Tucson this season. Dickerson was the Double-A Eastern League's rookie of the year with a .288 average, 17 homers and 68 RBI at Altoona.
As part of adding two players to its 40-man roster, Pittsburgh designated 1B/OF Garrett Jones for assignment. Another player battling Decker for playing time will be OF Andrew Lambo, who slammed 32 homers between Double-A and Triple-A and also will be tried at first base in 2014.
The Nationals traded LHP Fernando Abad to the Athletics for OF John Wooten. Abad has a 1-14 major league career record, with a 4.56 ERA. Wooten batted .257 with 20 homers at low Class A Beloit.

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Both of my fantasy football teams won by more than doubling my opponents' score. In the scoring plus yardage league, I'm just 5-7 and in a three-way tie for sixth lace two games out of fourth. That league's regular season ends after next week, so I can only move down. In the scoring-only league, I'm 7-5 and tied for third, two games out of first with five to play. Our playoffs coincide with the final three weeks of NFL playoffs.
In the Pittsburgh office pool, I was 7-8, still 16 games off the lead and seven games out of the money. I might need two unbelievable weeks to qualify for one of the top three spots in a year when my performance has been very believable.

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My fantasy hockey team gave up most of the goaltending points I'd picked up over the weekend. I had two goalies playing Monday, but not especially well. Neither James Reimer nor Steve Mason won. My skaters came out plus-1 but didn't do much except for playing enough to build up my ATOI to take over second place in the category. I'm still about 10 points out of second in the 10-team league.
Oh, I also turned down a trade that would have sent Corey Perry from my team to the one in second place for an inferior forward and a goalie not as good as the ones on my current roster.

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In basketball, I did sweep all eight categories last week, which ended Sunday, to move up to eighth in another 10-team league. If I win this week by at least a 5-3 margin, I would improve to seventh. That's where I stand after the first day. Carmelo Anthony had a big scoring day, and George Hill was good in just about everything. One of my centers, Dallas' Samuel Dalembert, is nursing bruised ribs. He didn't start, played just 18 minutes and manged 2 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks. I had to watch him and the Mavericks lose to Denver.

Will McCann turn out better than Martin for Yankees?

The big baseball news is the same item, but in two or three different ways. 1) The Yankees signed C Brian McCann to a 5-year, $85-million contract. 2) The news was not broken by one of the horde of writers on the Yankees beat, but by the Dallas Morning News' estimable Evan Grant. No doubt his source was close to the Rangers, who lost out in the bidding. We could have seen that coming, because talk in Texas was about McCann as a DH/backup to C Geovany Soto. 3) The last time the Yankees signed a free-agent catcher, Russell Martin, that didn't work out well for New York. But when Martin then signed with Pittsburgh, he received a lot of credit for his work with a young pitching staff and helping the team to its first playoff berth -- first winning season, even -- in 21 years. That leads to the question of whether Yankees manager Joe Girardi, a former catcher valued for his defense, isn't a good judge of his younger counterparts, or is too demanding of them -- as Angels manager Mike Scioscia might have been with Mike Napoli -- or perhaps there was conflict between Girardi and Martin. (Just googled Girardi Martin; it the only apparent possibility above was the "too demanding" part, but more likely misplaced relative frugality played a bigger role. Still, it's difficult to believe New York couldn't afford $15 million over 2 years for Martin.) Anyway, the Yankees never seem to have a shortage of DHs (unless their third baseman isn't let off the hook), so we can expect McCann to catch a lot.
Received a text from Michael -- a Cardinals fan, but a friend anyway -- about how St. Louis will be even stronger this year. Before he told me about the reported imminent signing of SS Jhonny Peralta, I replied that their infield could be a concern. I was thinking in terms of losing David Freese's bat, and shifting Matt Carpenter's shaky defense to third base. Peralta is by no means a defensive upgrade It's a good thing the Cards won't have a lot of lefties giving up ground-ball singles through the left side of that infield. Peralta does make their lineup even more formidable. But for an example of how important defense is in the postseason, we can look past the Cardinals to the Tigers' recent history.
Another reported signing would have the Angels continuing to retool their bullpen by signing RHP Joe Smith. He's a useful piece and an improvement. But 3 years and $15 million for just another guy named Joe Smith?
The Rangers quietly resigned RHP Colby Lewis to a minor league contract. He hasn't pitched in a year and a half because of a succession of injuries. I saw some of his rehab starts last year and can't report a lot more than he looked quite a bit better than RHP Brandon Webb in his tragically ill-fated comeback attempt. Lewis was a valuable part of the team's rise to contender status, and an easy guy to root for. However, after coming into the off-season talking about LHP David Price, Texas will need more than a successful return by Lewis in the middle or bottom of its rotation.

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Basketball -- My full-court press with 9 of the 10 positions in my lineup filled Saturday worked well. They combined for enough assists, led by Ricky Rubio's 8, to move me from 6 behind to 6 ahead. That meant that I'm now ahead in all eight categories. Just two players from my Saturday lineup are playing again today, but I've moved up all three players from my bench.
Tuned in the Mavericks-Nuggets game on my TV in time to see Dallas complete a comeback from being 12 down at the end of three quarters, then lose that lead and end up with a 102-100 loss as Dirk Nowitzki's 20-footer at the buzzer went off the iron. Samuel Dalembert, one of my fantasy centers, didn't miss a shot from the field in his two weekend games. Unfortunately, he had no official attempts Saturday.

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Hockey Night in My House was a good one. All but one of my 15 spots for skaters was filled, and they reversed the current trend by finishing the night plus-4. They also averaged enough minutes to pull me past the former third-place team in ATOI. Even better, both of the goalies in my lineup won their games, allowing me to pick up another half-point on the team I was pursuing. Even better, James Reimer and Steve Mason gave up a total of three goals. Their efforts added a point in wins, another for GAA and 2 for save percentage. In total, I gained 6 1/2 points and had an 8-point swing to move into third place with a 7 1/2-point cushion. Another night like that could put me close to second place. That's more than I can hope for, but steady progress over the next couple of weeks could get me there. It's still close in a number of categories; I could easily drop back a point or two in some of those.
On Sunday, none of my goalies will be playing. Just five of the skaters on my roster will be in action. I have all of them in my lineup. Even though three of them are from Ottawa and have hefty minus ratings this season, they're going against the struggling Hurricanes. But if some of them come up negative again, I'll be searching the waiver wire. You're on notice, Jason Spezza, Clarke MacArthur and Milan Michalek.
I did make one move this morning. With Francois Beauchemin on IR, I claimed free-agent D Jan Hejda. He's able to help primarily in ATOI (he averages more minutes than Beauchemin) and plus/minus (at plus-14 he would replace Beauchemin as my highest-rated player).
Important key in any daily fantasy league: Keep up with it.

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Football. I resist the urge to look at my lineup multiple times during the week. At most, I'll do that three times: 1) Monday night/Tuesday morning, when all the games are finished and waiver claims might be needed. 2) Thursday morning, to make sure I'm set with anyone who would be playing that night and pretty much to get my lineup in order (make waiver claims, make sure I'm covered for anyone on a bye week). 3) As late as possible Sunday morning, so I can have the latest updates on who's not playing or hurting. It makes no sense for me to look -- say, now at 7:20 a.m. -- when I might have to change things again in a few hours. Besides, I'm not always awake at this time.
Another important key: I have struggled during bye weeks over the last few years. I'm resolving to avoid any player during the week when six teams are on a bye. I'd make an exception for someone like Peyton Manning or Calvin Johnson, but if you have to replace three or four players from your bench or among available free agents, you're almost certain to be in trouble.

Freese for Bourjos looks like a winner

I'll try to keep this short. I'm tired after getting home from Jazz-Mavericks. Well done, Samuel Dalember!
OK, I'll talk basketball first. I'm now ahead 7-1 in this week's competition, which I believe runs through Monday. I trail only in assists, by 6. I have set my Saturday lineup, which will have either 9 or 10 positions manned. I moved Victor Oladipo into the starting lineup to help with the assists. I also picked up Cavaliers C Anderson Varejao, who even has a couple of assists per game, when I waived recent acquisition Gerald Wallace. I'd like at least to maintain this lead, which would jump me up to eighth place and in a position to be in the first division within a couple of weeks.

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Next up, baseball.

3B David Freese should benefit from his trade to the Angels if for no other reason than he'll get to play 19 games against the Rangers. RHP Fernando Salas could fit into Los Angeles' bullpen well. Unlike many of the relievers who performed for the Angels last season, Salas at least has had a measure of success in the majors. Not enough success to make him a viable closer, or even to supplant RHP Ernesto Frieri.
Freese would fill a void at third base for Los Angeles.
Individual winners in this trade are Angels OF Kole Calhoun, who should enter 2014 as their right fielder, and Cardinals 2B Kolten Wong. He can try to make up for being picked off in the World Series by playing well as a regular next season. The plan apparently is to move 2B Matt Carpenter to third. To me, he's still another outfielder trying to play the infield.
A potential loser is St. Louis CF Jon Jay. There will be pressure to have CF Peter Bourjos, the centerpiece moving to the National League, to play in at least a platoon role. Rookie Randal Grichuk also could make his way to the majors during 2014. Another possibility is that Jay could be traded. He could be a consolation prize for a team missing out on free agent CF Jacoby Ellsbury.

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Hockey. As I prepare for bed, my team is half a point out of third place. I'm very close to that third-place team in goalie wins and ATOI (average time on ice), and could make up to a 4-point swing. Of course, my goalies would actually have to play to win. It appears that I'll be able to fill most of my 15 (?) positions for skaters. Look at me, I don't even know how many players to start. Note to self: Find out.
My apologies for being on my last legs and forgetting how to spell Anderson's last name and Grichuk's first name entirely, and for being too tired or lazy even to Google. Note: I have fixed these and caught up on my sleep.

Veteran pitchers in some demand

There is news in the Hot Stove League. Foremost was the Giants' signing of 38-year-old RHP Tim Hudson to a two-year contract for a reported $23 million. He still can pitch, as long as he recovers from this season's ankle injury. Monday's other definite signing was C Carlos Ruiz, who will remain with the Phillies for three years, with an option for 2017. His contract is worth a reported $26 million. Pending physicals, 40-year-old RHP LaTroy Hawkins would join the Rockies on a one-year, $2.25-million deal and OF/2B Skip Schumaker would become a Cincinnati Red for two years at an undisclosed salary. I'll have more coming up on Hawkins, who pitched for Colorado's 2007 National League champions and could compete for next season's job as closer with LHP Rex Brothers. Which makes sense, because Hawkins has hung around as long as almost any journeyman southpaw reliever. Speaking of lefties, the Orioles signed one, 25-year-old LHP Kelvin De La Cruz. He has had some success against left-handed batters in the high minors for the Dodgers' organization. There's no guarantee that that success would carry over into the majors. * * * While I was at tonight's 76ers-Mavericks game, I had some thoughts about fantasy basketball. Namely, that I'd never played it, didn't really know what categories were used and didn't know how valuable my plus/minus system would be in evaluating players for fantasy basketball. I'll give you results of a preliminary plus/minus study soon. No, it's not the same as the plus-minus you might see in NBA box scores When I arrived home, I looked around espn.com, where my football and hockey fantasy teams reside, and noted that a fantasy basketball draft was scheduled to begin that very minute. Just 8 of the 10 positions were filled, 9 once I signed up. So the draft was delayed another 5 minutes. During that time, a 10th team joined. The draft breezed by in about half an hour. I was in the ninth position in a snake draft, but it seemed pretty clear that I didn't make good use of the six sets of two picks close together. Of course, a modicum of preparation might have helped. When the draft ended, I looked at our league page and found out that the categories at ESPN are pretty standard -- points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, 3-point field goals made and the percentage categories of field goal and free throw percentage. I also found out that the league apparently back-dated our league to play three weeks of head-to-head competition, one "game" for each category -- and I was already in last place at 5-18-1 and trailing in this week's competition 3-4-1. The only players on my new team who were in action tonight were big men Joakim Noah, Serge Ibaka and Samuel Dalembert (who played very well for Dallas). So I did well in rebounds and blocks, but didn't have any 3-pointers, so I lost that category. Just set my lineup for Tuesday. I moved Gerald Wallace on to my active roster, replacing Victor Oladipo as one of my utility players. Wallace's team, the Celtics, is playing Tuesday; Oladipo's Orlando Magic isn't. There should be a few 3s Tuesday. Also playing for me will be Ricky Rubio, J.R. Smith, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh. The lessons already learned here are simply 1) Prepare for your draft and 2) Know the rules and all the set up/settings for your league. My fantasy hockey team started slowly too. I'll be out of last place, maybe within a week. Getting to first place could be a tall order. * * * Speaking of hockey, my team suffered Monday from not having any of my goalies playing. Not only did I lose half a point because the team tied with me had a goalie who won a game, but I also dropped 2 additional points behind the third-place team because he overtook me in ATOI. I'm still confident that I can move up in the goalie categories as well as in three skaters' categories in which I'm also fourth in a 10-team league. * * * There was no action on my fantasy football leagues Monday. RB D'Angelo Williams did not score for my scoring-only league team, which already had clinched a 33-28 victory. But Carolina's rally gave me a loss and an 8-8 record for the week in the Pittsburgh office pool that includes me. I remained 14 games out of first place, but inched up to six games out of the money with six weeks to play. I can only hope for a huge week to fuel a rally like the one I had last year.