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.

Perth one game away from Australian title

Here's how I started this blog, before news came down that the Diamondbacks had signed free-agent RHP Bronson Arroyo:
Some fairly small moves could make a larger difference for their teams this year and into the near future.
The Orioles and C Matt Wieters reached agreement on a $7.7-million contract for this season, thus avoiding arbitration. The greater significance is that he can have a better feeling about the team, which could lead to a longer-term contract down the road.
The Athletics signed CF Coco Crisp to a two-year contract extension through 2016 with a vesting option for 2017. He's a keystone in center field and at the top of the lineup -- when he isn't injured. That's why the team took the precaution of a vesting option instead of a guaranteed third year. If it vests, no one would be happier than Oakland's management.
The White Sox agreed to a 1-year, $1.1-million contract with RHP Mitchell Boggs. He was briefly a closer for the Cardinals, and could take over that role with Chicago. Currently penciled in for the job is RHP Nate Jones, but RHP Matt Lindstrom and LHP Scott Downs also have experience locking up games.
Now, on to Arroyo.
Arizona reportedly signed him to a 2-year, $23.5-million contract with an option for 2016 that could bring the total value to $29 million. Could the D-backs be overpaying? Well, he'll be 37 years old this season -- and he's Bronson Arroyo, not Tim Hudson.
Also, though I haven't seen an official acknowledgment from the Mariners, they reportedly signed RHP Fernando Rodney for two years and $14 million. That signing would impact every team that unsuccessfully sought Rodney. For example, I read a report that said the Orioles now would go with RHP Tommy Hunter as their closer.
Speaking of closers or ex-closers, the Brewers are bringing back RHP Francisco Rodriguez on a 1-year contract believed to be for $3.25 million with another $550,000 in incentives. Which reminds me. In a few days, I hope to post another residual fantasybaseballscout.com article about closers for 2014. To make room for K-Rod on the 40-man roster, Milwaukee designated RHP Donovan Hand for assignment.
I have been working on this post off and on for most of the day. It has been interrupted by visitors to the house, taking a battery for one of our cars to be recharged and going to the Jazz-Mavericks game. Some of this I wrote at the American Airlines Center before the game.
As I was about to go courtside, I saw this -- well, probably not bombshell, because in the end he really didn't have a choice, but revelatory item that caught most of us by surprise.
3B Alex Rodriguez has dropped his suit against Major League Baseball, the players association, the commissioner and probably even the batboys. He won't follow through on his threat to show up for spring training. And he won't play this season.
So now I'm writing about that back home. 
I wrote the headline for this post several hours ago here. I suspect by the time I get up Saturday morning, we'll already know whether there will be a decisive Game 3 in the Australian Baseball League Championship Series or whether the Perth Heat swept the Canberra Cavalry in two games.
That's because Saturday's Game 2 at 7 p.m. Australia Western Time would begin at 6 a.m. EST.
The Heat overcame a 3-0 deficit in what must have been one of the classic games ever Down Under. Perth then prevailed 4-3 in 14 innings. Joey Wong's double drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 14th. He batted .240 with two homers and 19 RBI at Double-A Tulsa last (Northern Hemisphere) summer, so he's a marginal prospect for the Rockies. I saw him play, and he didn't make a big impression positively or negatively.
If the Heat win, it would be the third championship in the last four years.
By the way, you can watch the ABL Championship Series on ESPN -- if you live in Australia or New Zealand. 
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Basketball. Similarly, I started out by seeing that on Thursday my three active players made only one 3-point field goal, so I was still behind by one in that category against an opponent who had no one active. My lead was 7-1, and the second-place team was ahead 8-0, so I stood to lose some of my lead.
Now, literally at the end of the day -- no, early Saturday morning (late afternoon in Perth), I'm looking better. Two of my players -- Jose Calderon, whom I saw in person, and Carmelo Anthony -- threw in four 3s each, helping me to take the lead in that category. Three of my players scored 30-plus points, two had double doubles and my best draft pick, Serge Ibaka, blocked five shots while he wasn't putting in 26 points at the other end. My lead is now 8-0, and the second-place team dropped to 6-2, so I could actually extend my lead. Two days left this week, so I don't want to look ahead too much.
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Hockey. My starting goalies, Steve Mason and Ben Scrivens, both won Thursday, giving up only one goal in 60 minutes, and had a combined .973 save percentage. That improved my stats in all three categories, but not enough to gain any points.
Important key: Don't make the same mistake I did of leaving a problem area unresolved too late into the season. You've heard of small sample sizes. Well, the large sample size of nearly three-quarters of the season means that one or two days of performances won't make a major difference in the standings.
I still hold out hope of being able to overtake the second-place team in my league, but I know it won't be easy.
Hey! There were games Friday night too. Let's see how the Puckin Penguins did. The only active players, Joe Pavelski and Matt Niskanen (one of my best draft picks or early season pickups, I don't remember which), were plus-1 each. That restored some order, but it appears that the team still is eight points behind the second-place team.