Hughes to join Nolasco in improved Twins rotation

The Twins apparently are making another move to shore up their rotation.
The latest report is that Minnesota and RHP Phil Hughes have agreed to a 3-year, $24-million contract. That may sound like a lot. But even though Hughes probably isn't as good as the 18-game winner in 2012 (especially pitching for the Twins) but he's way better than the stiff who showed up every 5 or 6 days for the 2013 Yankees. That's assuming he doesn't have fundamental or irreversible arm problems.
It seems almost 100 per cent likely that RHP Ricky Nolasco and Hughes are a big improvement over the bottom-of-the-rotation starters they'll displace in Minnesota. The Twins will go into many series with a good chance to win two of three because they have that pair.
Much of the talk heading into next week's winter meetings is over which potential free agents will be tendered contract offers. In many cases teams are gambling that players they don't really want would decline their offer so that their 2013 team 1) wouldn't have to pay somewhat inflated guaranteed offers and 2) would receive draft-pick compensation for players who don't accept the tender. A third possibility is that teams could re-sign players who aren't tendered for a smaller dollar figure than they'd have to pay tendered players.
It's kind of confusing. Be prepared for many tendered and non-tendered players to sign elsewhere. And be prepared to hear 3 or 4 years from now about young 2014 draft picks who were "steals" because their team picked them as compensation for not signing (insert name of 2017-18 stiff here).

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Good week in my fantasy football leagues. I'm guaranteed a win in both.
I'll go into the playoffs in my 10-team scoring-plus-yardage league with a 6-7 record and in sixth place. That would put me in the middle-division playoffs. I think given breaks I could have contended for the top-division playoff title, but I didn't make that level. I'll be disappointed if I don't win the second-division playoffs to finish fifth.
In my scoring-only league, I'm still third but now only one game behind the teams tied for first lace with four weeks remaining. I hope to be a contender.

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Will just two players starting today, my hockey team appears to have dropped 1 1/2 points today but stayed in third place. I'm about 10 points out of second, but also about 15 ahead of the fourth-place team. The bottom seven teams are separated by about 5 points. Turns out I put the wrong Senator in Sunday's lineup. Clarke MacArthur was minus-1, dropping me down another point in that category. Jason Spezza, whom I didn't start, was plus-1.
Saw the Stars lose their second shootout in three nights, to the lowly Oilers. Edmonton gave starting G Devan Dubnyk the night off, until G Ilya Bryzgalov suffered what might have been a concussion in the second period. Dallas' Ryan Garbutt had his first NHL two-goal game, but I wouldn't expect a whole lot more of those from him.

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With Carmelo Anthony and David West provided 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds, my fantasy basketball team finished the week 4-4. Thus, I didn't catch the seventh-place team that split with me, but I did gain ground on two or three teams immediately ahead of that one.

Giants banking on rotation plus Hudson

Short update today, at least for now. Lots to do.
In the days leading up to the winter meetings, major league teams seem content with signing deals and making moves to add or retain pieces of their rotation.
The Giants, who won two World Series in the last 4 years, seem confident that with the added infusion of RHP Tim Hudson they again have enough starting pitching to get into the postseason and be a threat to win it all.
They announced that they will resign RHP Ryan Vogelsong, as long as he passes his physical. His contract reportedly would be for about $5 million for 2014, with incentives.
Speculation is that RHP Yusmeiro Petit could compete with Vogelsong for the fifth starter's job behind Hudson, RHPs Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum and LHP Madison Bumgarner.
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Hockey. My team made another jump in the standings, gaining 5 points and moving within 4 points of second place. The increase was mostly because the goalies in my lineup, Steve Mason and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, each won and allowed only goal. There's still room for growth in PPP (power play points), wins and save percentage.
For Saturday, all of the spots in my starting lineup are taken. However, it's possible that none of my goalies would return to play back-to-back games. I moved Toronto G James Reimer ahead of Avalance backup Giguere.
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Basketball. This team is trailing this week's competition 5-3, with the most likely place to gain a game in field goal percentage. The basketball schedule isn't as busy, so just 6 of the 10 spots in my starting lineup are filled.

Will Nolasco help Twins more than they hurt him?

These are not your older brother's Twins.
No more Justin Morneau. A scaled-down Joe Mauer, possibly playing first base.
With Terry Ryan back in charge, Minnesota has an improving farm system that will begin paying dividends in a few years.
For now, the hope is that players such as Aaron Hicks, Chris Parmelee and Brian Dozier can develop into above-average major leaguers. By the end of this season, highly regarded prospect Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano could be playing in the majors. Both have been injured this off-season, but not likely to miss any time in the spring.
In the meantime, this is still not a good team.
Apparently, Ryan and manager Ron Gardenhire persuaded RHP Ricky Nolasco the future is bright enough that he should sign to become the Twins' ace instantly. Yahoo Sports indicated that he and the team have agreed on a 4-year, $49-million contract.
Now I like Nolasco. But the 31-year-old's career totals are just 89-75 with a 4.37 ERA. Not quite ace material, but then he hasn't been with good teams all of his career. He did help the Dodgers down the stretch this year.
Nolasco is not likely to get any better at this stage of his career. He still is an improvement for the rotation that had the majors' worst ERA in 2013. The question is whether he could lift the Twins or they would drag him down. 

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Football. One change in my lineup in the scoring-only league. I did receive Harry Douglas on waivers, so he's in my lineup ahead of WR Pierre Garcon. He is in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I'll watch the Raiders and Cowboys through the horde of people who will be here for turkey and possibly tons of other food. Don't worry. I'm recording it so I can write coherent Fantasy Vision reports for draftsharks.com.

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Hockey. My plus/minus continued to slide, even though my team scored enough goals Wednesday to move into a tie for the league lead. We picked up 3 points to widen the gap over the fourth-place team. I finally rid the roster of Ottawa's Milan Michalek by picking up free agent Dustin Penner.

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Basketball. Wednesday was a bad night. I'm now behind 5-3 for the week after dropping behind in field goal percentage. Nobody on my roster is playing today, so I'm likely to remain behind for another day in what has become a shortened week.

Player movement slows down:

Apparently preparing for turkey overload, baseball front offices have slowed their off-season player movement. Or possibly there aren't enough interesting, desirable players to move around -- at least for garguantan, headline-grabbing contracts.
Consider the most recent move. The going-nowhere Cubs acquired going-nowhere backup catcher George Kottaras from the possibly-going-somewhere-but-we've-heard-that-before Royals for cash. And probably not very much cash. The left-handed-hitting Kottaras batted .180 last season, and that was with 85 per cent of his plate appearances against righties. His biggest contributions were that 5 of his 18 hits were homers and he walked in about 20 per cent of his PA.
There is an interesting column by Phil Rogers at mlb.com about how Jack Morris belongs in the Hall of Fame. I couldn't agree more. Morris passed the eyeball test. I'm guessing he was one of the pitchers batters of his day least wanted to face. He may be the last pitcher ever to pitch 10 innings -- a shutout, no less -- in a World Series game. The knock is his 3.90 career ERA, but that doesn't say what his ERA was with a game on the line. His 254 wins are discounted in a culture that says it's OK for a starter to put in his six innings and then rest for 4 days, and besides all it takes to get a win is to be in the right place at the right time so wins don't really mean anything. Morris was in the right place at the right time because he was out there gutting it out and imposing his will on batters all the way.
As an aside, I'll be OK with pitch counts and innings limits the day they start taking batters out of games because "He's done his job. He's batted four times today."
I also recently read in Jim O'Brien's "Maz and the '60 Bucs" about how Vernon Law pitched an 18-inning complete game, because his team needed him.
Enough soap-boxing. On to the other sports. More baseball to come, I hope, in the next few days.

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Football. I claimed Falcons WR Harry Douglas on waivers in both of my leagues. In the scoring-plus-yardage league, I was awarded Douglas and put him in my lineup ahead of Steve Smith. I know Smith is more of you-know-what-you're-getting player, but Douglas has a higher upside and I'm going to need every point I can get in a tie-breaker to improve my position for the playoffs beginning next week. Haven't yet heard whether I'll get Douglas in my scoring-only league. Probably not; I'm 10th among 12 teams in the waiver order.

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Hockey. I'm still in third place, but leaking points. I expected that Tuesday, when Corey Perry was the only player on my roster who was scheduled to play. On Wednesday, he's the only Texas Puckin Penguin who isn't playing. I moved Nathan MacKinnon into Perry's spot for now and adjusted some defensemen to get guys with bigger minutes and relatively better plus/minus into the lineup. I also made a precautionary move. I put Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who isn't slated to start until Friday ahead of James Reimer. Neither is likely to play in goal tonight, but I won't run the risk of forgetting to move Giguere into my lineup Friday.

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Basketball. With my entire 13-man roster playing tonight, I made one small move. David West, with three double-doubles in a row, goes back into my 10-man lineup rotation that counts ahead of newly acquired Jared Sullinger. I'm currently tied for the week at 5-5, behind by just three 3-pointers and 5 points. However, my opponent is at 90 per cent from the foul line. If I go 5-3 I would move into a tie for seventh with this week's opponent, but my goal is 6-1-1 to reach .500 for the season. That wouldn't be bad, considering that I was 13 games under .500 2 weeks ago.

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.

* * *

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.