Chen's a good middle-of-rotation fit for KC

The latest free-agent signing is LHP Bruce Chen, back with the Royals at least for 2014.
He signed for 1 year and $3.25 million, with a mutual option for $5.5 million in '15 with a $1-million buyout. There also are incentives built in. Chen said he signed with Kansas City, even though other teams (Rangers, for example) showed interest, because the Royals said he could pitch in their rotation.
This was not a bad signing. He's a known quantity, not just another one from the pile of question marks that were considered as possibilities for the last two spots in KC's rotation behind RHPs James Shields and Jeremy Guthrie and LHP Jason Vargas.
During the last four years, Chen has won 12, 12, 11 and 9 games -- with last season's drop-off only because he spent much of the season in the bullpen. In 15 starts, he was 6-4 with a 3.61 ERA. Consider him in the safe middle-of-the-rotation mold inhabited in recent years by Jeff Suppan, among others.
Some players were signed to 1-year contracts to avoid arbitration:
Tigers C Alex Avila, for $4.15 million, with a team option for 2015
Angels 3B David Freese, for $5.05 million
Angels RHP Kevin Jepsen, for $1.4625 million. Not sure what the extra 500 bucks are for.
And there were plenty of players signed to minor league contracts to extend the box scores for early exhibition games:
OF Roger Bernadina by the Reds
C Yorvit Torrealba, Angels
OF Reed Johnson, Marlins
1B Matt Clark, Mets. The former Padres farmhand hit 25 home runs for Japan's Chunichi Dragons last year. He's either the replacement for 1B Ike Davis, or just another pretender like Davis.
SS Alex Gonzalez, Orioles. This is the soon-to-be 37-year-old Alex Gonzalez who was an all-star with the 1999 Marlins and played (poorly) at first base for the Brewers last year.
RHP Daniel Bard, Rangers. He's recovering from surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome, an ailment that seems still to be waiting for a success story such as Tommy John's to give a name to the surgery. Bard joins a growing list of Texas pitchers who won't be ready when the season begins -- such as LHPs Derek Holland and Joseph Ortiz, who will miss at least the first month because of a broken right foot caused when a motorcycle ran over it in Venezuela.
There's more on the Orioles from the Baltimore Sun. They have purchased the contract of alleged 17-year-old 1B Carlos Diaz from the Mexico City Red Devils and signed "16-year-old" Dominican third baseman Jomar Reyes. Diaz was compared to DH/1B Kendrys Morales, and Reyes to Clete Boyer, for those old enough to remember the Yankees third baseman from the 1950s and '60s. Baltimore's signees are expected to play this season in the Rookie Class Gulf Coast League, so you don't have to look for them as fantasy prospects for several years, if ever.
The Sun also reported that 3B/1B Wilson Betemit has signed a minor league contract with the Rays, and RHP Jason Hammel has signed or will sign with the Cubs, who would put him in their rotation.
* * *
Basketball. My lead is down to 6-1-1 through Friday. With only one big man active for me, my team fell behind in rebounds. Team Fresh Prints also dropped into a tie in assists, despite eight from Ricky Rubio and seven from Victor Oladipo. My one big man, Serge Ibaka, had such a big game that the Thunder didn't even need him in the fourth quarter at Brooklyn. Former President Bill Clinton saw at least some of Ibaka's 25 points on 12 for 12 shooting, and nine rebounds. I'll have a stronger lineup, especially up front, on Saturday, and hope to make up the lost ground and more.
I was at the Kings-Mavericks game, which in part was a battle between Rudy Gay's 35 points and 12 rebounds and Dirk Nowitzki's 34 points. But especially with DeMarcus Cousins injured for Sacramento, Nowitzki had a much better supporting cast. The supporting-actor nominees were Monta Ellis and Brandan Wright.
* * *
Hockey. The four forwards active for my team combined for no goals, assists or penalty minutes, and were minus-4. Thomas Vanek was the star because he was neither plus nor minus and put four shots on goal. The wonder was that my team didn't lose any points. It did, however, drop 9 1/2 points behind the second-place team, which gained a point. I'll also have more hockey lineup slots  filled Saturday.

Young cuts short his career

Announcing his retirement Friday will be 3B/1B Michael Young. And he's coming back to Arlington to do it. The 37-year-old Young had a good 14-year career, all but 2013 with the Rangers. I first saw him in an exhibition game with the Blue Jays, the team that drafted him, before they put him into a trade with Texas for RHP Esteban Loaiza.
Like Lance Berkman's, Young's career was a little short of the Hall of Fame. They both would be in the Hall of Very Good Players.
Just a thought: The Royals' trade of LHP Everett Teaford may have foreshadowed Kansas City's re-signing LHP Bruce Chen, a good guy to have on a team. He may not have reached the level envisioned for him when he was coming up through the Atlanta organization, but Chen certainly has made a lengthy career for himself. Because he's left-handed?
* * *
Hockey. My newest goalie, Frederik Andersen, picked up a win but I still lost half a point in that category Thursday. Going into the evening, three of us were tied with 35 wins. But another one of us also had one win, and the third had two wins to move 1 1/2 points ahead of us.
Saw the Devils' defense shut down the Stars and their power play to win 3-2 in overtime. You can read my edited account.
* * *
Basketball. I improved to 8-0 this week, but I'm still ahead in rebounds by only one, in both assists and blocks by eight and in field goal percentage by less than .004. I was surprised, because my three players combined for 69 points but did very little else.

Minor league free agents -- what are they good for?

Gotta love those minor league contracts.
Actually, there are a few players each year who stay in the game and get more major league playing time by agreeing to minor league contracts, which also save their new organization some money. But there are very few who make big contributions and extend their careers for a period of years.
That doesn't stop players from trying to hang on. And there are a number of free agents who have gone into that remaindered bin marked "minor league contracts," with or without invitations to spring training with the major league team. Most recently,
RHP Scott Baker with the Mariners
SS Ramon Santiago with the Reds
RHP Matt Guerrier, back with the Twins
1B/3B Chad Tracy with the Angels
Speaking of minor, here's a minor trade:
OF Carlos Peguero from the Mariners to the Royals for LHP Everett Teaford, or pretty close to nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'.
Another trend this year that could help veterans cling to their career is the old I-haven't-played-in-a-couple-of-years-but-I-miss-the-payday routine. RHP Ryan Madson, who hasn't pitched in two years, will be auditioning Feb. 7 in Phoenix for major league teams.
Arbitration season is near, which means that the sign-before-it-goes-to-arbitration season is in full swing. The Cardinals did that with 3B/SS/2B Daniel Descalso, and the Cubs with OF Justin Ruggiano. When did the Cubs get him, anyway?
No longer hanging on is 1B/DH Lance Berkman. Last winter, the Rangers gave him an offer he couldn't refuse, but for most of the season his knees wouldn't allow him to perform. It would have been nice to see him come up in a pinch-hitting role at the end of the season, but that didn't happen. Now he has retired from a highly productive 15-year career. Berkman wasn't a Hall of Famer, but he was a very good player who contributed to championship-caliber teams and was a baseball solid citizen. He will be missed.
* * *
Hockey. Just two forwards were active for my team Wednesday, and there was no change among those of us among the league's top three. My players didn't do much, but at least they both played more than 20 minutes so they didn't hurt my ATOI. Thursday's a bigger night in the NHL, which gives me a bigger roster to work with. And sue me for the preposition at the end of the sentence. But don't really, or I might go all Mr. T in "D.C. Cab" on you.
* * *
Basketball. My first team is 7-0-1 this week, tied in rebounds at 95. It's really more like 6-0-2. Apparently, I'm ahead in field goal percentage if it's taken out to five decimal places, because we're both listed at .4581.
I had been concerned about rebounds, but Jared Sullinger -- who had been playing like, dare I say crap? -- pulled down 17 of them to go along with 24 points. Joakim Noah did return from an illness for a double double with 10 rebounds to go along with 10 points and 8 rebounds. Chris Bosh and Serge Ibaka also scored in double figures, with nine and eight rebounds.
I was at Wednesday's Rockets-Mavericks game, which featured a couple of double doubles. Not surprisingly, Dirk Nowitzki went off for 38 points to go along with a by-far season-high 17 rebounds. The surprise was Houston 7-footer Donatas Motiejunas, who had a double dozen in points and rebounds, with his boards the highest total in his two-year career. You might want to watch and consider him. He played much of the time with Dwight Howard also on the floor. The Rockets dressed just 10 players, but seven scored in double figures in a skin-of-their-teeth 117-115 victory. Jeremy Lin played well, and showed me more with his quickness and defense than I'd seen before.

Peace of mind could help Chapman's performance

There's some baseball news today. Not necessarily real meaty stuff for fantasy purposes, but there could be some clues to mental states that could affect performance.
The Reds and LHP Aroldis Chapman agreed to avoid arbitration by splitting the difference between their requested salary figures with a $5-million contract for this season. The amicable settlement could do a lot more for the closer's pitching than the extra $400,000 he'll receive.
Some day the Drew brothers could become a case study for young athletes who've been told how good they are and had their butts kissed for so long that they believe they're better than they are and somehow above the fray of petty matters such as living a life. Of course, nobody ever listens to such cautionary tales.
Since J.D. Drew turned down a contract offer as a No. 1 overall draft pick and signed as the next year's No. 1, he and SS Stephen Drew have had a litany of issues in negotiations, scads of games missed because of injuries, travels from team to team and potentially shorter careers than expected. (For the purposes of this discussion, Tim Drew doesn't count because he was never very highly regarded or effective.)
On the other hand, the Drews and their agents got their money up front, so perhaps the brothers don't care that they had to go to work only for a few years.
The latest Stephen Drew news is that he still hasn't signed. MLB.com pointed out that the primary unsigned free agents such as Drew, OF Nelson Cruz, DH Kendrys Morales and RHPs Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana haven't signed because they would cost the team signing them a draft pick. The baseball draft is hardly an exact science, so second-round, supplementary and even first-round picks aren't a given. But all five players in this paragraph are flawed in their own ways.
1B Yuniesky Betancourt is off the free-agent market. He has signed a guaranteed one-year contract to play in Japan. That sounds like a definite winner, doesn't it? It's not as if he'll face a steady diet of off-speed pitches that he can't hit over there. Or will he?
* * *
Basketball. My lead is down to 6-2 this week. I'm now behind in rebounds and assists. I could have as many as eight players in the lineup Wednesday to seven for my opponent. He appears to have a lot of rebounders in the lineup. Ricky Rubio should be able to help me in assists, and I hope that rebounder Joakim Noah has recovered from the illness that caused him to miss his last game.
* * *
Hockey. Lost half a point in both power-play points and goalie wins. My only goalie in action Tuesday was Tim Thomas. His former team, the Bruins, roughed him up for six goals, dropping me even farther into last place in GAA and save percentage. For the record, Thomas didn't win either. It's a good thing I didn't use Jonas Gustavsson; he gave up five goals and lost.

Utility infielders? Time to get those pitchers and catchers reporting

Some very exciting stuff on the lukewarm hot stove Monday -- especially if you're a fan of utility infielders.
Three or four of them signed minor league contracts. The Indians agreed to terms with Elliot Johnson, whose base stealing actually can give him some fantasy value; the going-several-directions-at-once Brewers welcomed Pete Orr, and Chris Nelson signed with the Reds, one of the few teams he didn't play for in 2013. I still haven't seen a confirmation that the Rockies and Paul Janish made a deal. If you're looking at Janish for your fantasy team, you're in a for a long season. He can help a team's defense for a few late innings a week.
And there's speculation that LHP David Huff, newly acquired from the Yankees, could fill a role as the Giants' fifth starter. If Huff's a viable major league starter at this point, why wouldn't New York keep him? Is his salary too small?
* * *
Basketball. I'm off to a 7-1 start this week, but I don't put much stock in that. I had four players active Monday to my opponent's one. He's leading in free throw percentage because his player, Trey Burke, made his only attempt. So my .875 is second to Burke's 1.000.
My division and league leads are 8 1/2 games with six weeks remaining. I don't plan to let up. My belief is that fantasy owners, winning or losing, owe it to the rest of the league to play from the first week to the last. On my part, there won't be any of the thinking that some NBA fans try to mind-meld on to their favorite team: "If we could finish seventh instead of sixth, we wouldn't have to face the (current hot team in third place in the conference)." I wouldn't look at overall lineups and say during the last week, "If I lay down against this fifth-place team, it could move into fourth and I'd have an easy road in the semifinals."
But you know what? I still have to win the league to get the first seed.
* * *
Hockey. All four of my bench players were from the Avalanche. Two factors went into that decision. 1) I have to limit the games played, as I outlined in the previous post, so that I'm not sitting on the fantasy sidelines for the last week or two, and 2) The Stars have been hot lately, so the matchups might not be good.
That strategy didn't look good as I watched at the American Airlines Center when "my" Nathan MacKinnon scored in the first minute or when Paul Stastny scored on a power play or later when it appeared that Stastny might have deflected what became the game-winning goal.
But in the end, the four Colorado players were a combined minus-4.
Here's an edited version of what I wrote about the game itself.
My acquisition of Kevin Bieksa looked good. He provided an assist and two penalty minutes to help me within within one PIM of the team directly ahead of me. A question I've often asked: Why the "I" in PIM?
* * *
The line for the big game 48 in my "Bet a Thousand" pool was set today at Denver minus-2. My own research had come up with this: Denver minus-2.
What to do? At the time I made the line, I established this line of thinking. If the weather is reasonable (which it is expected to be Sunday), that could be to Denver's advantage. Also, it's Peyton Manning against Russell Wilson. Of course, it's really Manning against the Seahawks' scary defense, but still he's Peyton Manning. Also -- and this is a line of thinking that could get you killed if you always used it -- a rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether a team is likely to win by a field goal or win by a touchdown. If Sunday's game comes down to the last minute tied and the Broncos have the ball, could they be likely to get a field goal?
An even more dangerous way to approach the decision is to look at history. We've had 47 years of big games. In that time, there has been only one game decided by 1 point: the Bills' wide-right loss to the Giants in big game 25. Six games were decided by 3 points, with five of those during the past 12 years. What I think we can take away from this is that it's likely whatever team wins will do it by 3 or more points.
So the question is "Are the Broncos likely to win?" I think so, even as much as I respect Seattle's defense.
I expect the people in my pool to be about evenly split. That would mean of the five people ahead of me in the pool, two or three of those ahead of me would be likely to take Seattle. So if Denver covers, I'd move up from sixth to third or fourth. If the Broncos win by 2, I'd remain sixth, the last place in the money. If Seattle wins, I'd lose anyway -- which I would also do if Denver somehow won by 1.
I think the Broncos will win, quite likely by a narrow margin such as 3 points. If I made a token "wager" such as $100, it's likely that at least one person would pass me and I'd be out of the money no matter who wins the game or covers.
On the other hand, if those at the top take Seattle, and one or more of the others take the safety-first approach, I could move up even higher than third or fourth.
The most I could finish with in my hypothetical bank would be $5,800, which would keep me in the money somewhere. Obviously, I would lose with $0, but I might also lose with $3,000.
It doesn't hurt that I have some other irons in the fire. In the Pittsburgh playoff pick-'em pool, I think I would finish first if Seattle wins. Also, I have a puncher's chance to win at least my original entry fee in a traditional 100-square Super Bowl pool with winners each quarter and prize money for diagonally touching squares.

Garza contract could set a bar too high

The baseline has been set for contracts for the remaining veteran free-agent pitchers. If I were a general manager, that baseline would frighten me.
$50 million for four seasons for RHP Matt Garza? What did he do last season to earn that kind of money? He also has $4 million in incentives, and a $15 option for 2018 that would be vested by a number of innings pitched.
Prediction (and please come back in four years to taunt me or tell me I was right): Garza not only would be with a new team by 2017, but also would not see that option vested.
The other weekend news concerned veterans who might retire. The Dodgers reported have made an offer to 3B+ Michael Young, who is contemplating retirement. And the Pirates are waiting to hear whether RHP A.J. Burnett would retire.
Another prediction: Garza's contract could tell Burnett that he can make a lot of money in 2014. He'll sign a contract with provisions for his family to travel with him at times. That family time seems to be a sticking point.
* * *
Hockey. I had just three players active Sunday, but still gained a point to 67, moving me within eight points of second place. The half-point I gained was in goalie wins, with Tim Thomas pulling it out in overtime even though he didn't play very well and allowed four goals. The other two goalie categories took additional hits from his performance.
I made some moves to try to improve, picking up essentially backup goalies from good teams. Their decimal categories of goals against average and save percentage should be helped by the defense in front of them. And their teams should score enough goals when they play to give them wins. So Jonas Gustavsson and Frederik Andersen are in, and Antti Raanta (who hardly ever plays) and Steve Mason are out. Mason hasn't seemed to recover from that rapid-fire three-goal barrage I saw in Dallas a month or so ago.
I also picked up Vancouver D Kevin Bieksa to replace the minus-14 Keith Yandle. In addition to being plus-4, Bieksa could help in shots and penalty minutes, and marginally in power-play points and ATOI.
Important key: In addition, I finally addressed my league's games limits. With roughly nine weeks remaining (a couple slightly truncated by the Olympics break), I can fall within the limits with games from 26 forwards, 14 defenseman, two either/or utility skaters and eight goalies. So I scheduled a plan for this week that knocked off a total of seven games from what I would have used with no limit. The tricky part is the days when almost every team plays. There are just four spots for skaters on the bench, so I have either to play more skaters than I want or to waive some to add players who aren't actually playing. Let's see how my method goes; I'll keep you posted.
With this plan, I wouldn't come up to the last week or two with no games remaining. But if I had implemented something like it at the beginning of the season, I could have gotten by with maybe one or two players per week sitting out.
* * *
Basketball. I might have outsmarted myself on this one. Playing my strongest (field-goal) shooting percentage lineup may have carried me to a narrow win in FG% by .0012, but could have cost me a point in free throw percentage.
I benched Victor Oladipo, who was 6 for 12 from the field and 6 for 6 at the foul line. The thinking was that bigger men closer to the basket would have higher percentages than outside shooters such as Oladipo.
The thinking was partially correct. Inconsistent G Joe Johnson was 2 for 7 from the field and missed 1 of 2 free throws. But Anderson Varejao was 1 for 9 from the field, and Jared Sullinger went 1 for 7. Carmelo Anthony's 35 points didn't help because he was 14 for 31 from the field. Can't really complain, though, because his 23 for 35 in Friday's 62-point effort was the biggest difference for me in FG%.
Even more damaging, big man Varejao also was 0 for 3 at the foul line. His knee could have been bothering him after he fell to the floor hard in a collision with Markieff Morris, but still ...
I can't find the team totals for the week, but substituting Oladipo's perfect free throw shooting for Varejao's perfectly awful night could have made up the difference in my .7664-.7582 loss. On Sunday, my team was 17 for 23 (just .7391) with Varejao, and would have been 23 for 26 (.8846). My opponent's players were on fire at 20 for 23 (.870).
The 7-1 week still increased my lead over two teams tied for second place to 8 1/2 games. I'm surprised, after it took so many weeks to make up the last few games to get into first place that I have built such a big lead in just two weeks. Can't let up, though.
Also made a player move at guard, with the Lakers' Jodie Meeks replacing Mo Williams.

How successful was Holland's surgery?

Even the Yankees' signing of Masahiro Tanaka, the backlog of free-agent pitchers hasn't been reduced.
There's still not much going on in baseball. I did hear that Rangers LHP Derek Holland, on crutches, said the microfracture surgery on his knee wasn't as bad as what RHP Scott Feldman had when he was Holland's teammate. Feldman missed most of the season after his surgery, but has bounced back with other teams.
How Holland would know that isn't clear. In any event, it sounds like wishful thinking. You know, like how every player's surgery is deemed "successful" on the day it's performed. Who's going to remember that two years later when the guy has pitched 12 innings and can sign only a minor league contract with a non-contender?
* * *
Hockey. Saturday night was good.
I saw the best game, with the best crowd, that I've seen in the eight seasons I've been going to Stars game. Dallas stayed hot, defeating the Penguins 3-0 before the second sold-out house this hockey season at the American Airlines Center.
My fantasy team picked up 2 1/2 points, 2 in plus/minus (despite a combined minus-4 for my two Colorado defensemen) and 1/2 in power-play points. So I'm up to 66 1/2, but still third among 10 teams.
I have to do a better job checking out matchups. Philadelphia's Steve Mason was in goal against the Bruins, who all but skated on his face in a 6-1 victory. My goalies are down to 5 points in wins, with three teams below them within three wins. Of course, I'm already at the bottom of the league in GAA and save percentage. It could get worse.
I've set my team up for Monday so that the Avalanche players on my roster won't be in my lineup on the road against the suddenly red-hot Stars. We'll see how that works.
* * *
Basketball. I've made some lineup moves for Sunday, the last day in this week's competition. I'm ahead by about a 2:1 ratio in all six counting categories, but have slim leads in both field goal and free throw percentage.
I'd like to preserve that 8-0 lead, so I've benched the active players, Victor Oladipo and Mo Williams,  with the poorest shooting percentages. My opponent still might overtake me. Among the players in his lineup are Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili and David Lee. I'll get to see Dirk against the Pistons. I wouldn't wish ill on him, but if he has a cold night, so be it.
* * *
Football. Does anyone know who's even playing the Pro Bowl Sunday? Somewhere, I'm sure, bookmakers have set a line for the game? exhibition? farce? And somewhere, someone will bet on it.