Contending teams and winning organizations have long been built around core players and pitching depth.  In December, the Diamondbacks jettisoned the young and talented, but eccentric Trevor Bauer and now have parted ways with former number one pick Justin Upton.

For Martin Prado and Who? Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Perhaps Towers and Gibson are the best pair to judge Bauer and Upton.  In 2008, Towers traded shortstop Khalil Greene, a first round pick who appeared on the verge of a productive career, to the St. Louis Cardinals for a package that included minor leaguer Luke Gregerson. Gregerson has been one of the top setup men since 2010 while Greene is out of the major leagues.

The Diamondbacks surprised the baseball world and won the National League West in 2011.  Entering 2013, it appears the Diamondbacks are heading in the wrong direction.  Today’s contending teams all have at least two core players, including those in the National League West.  The San Francisco Giants have Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval, while the Los Angeles Dodgers are flush with cash and proven producers, such as Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez.

Gibson’s comments at the press conference announcing the trade were interesting, but predictable.  Remember, Gibson was an All-American wide receiver and one of the fiercest competitors in the game.  Gibson said “we want to be gritty… we’re relentless…we’re determined and undeterred in our goals.”  Diamondbacks fans should hope that Gibson did not influence Towers to pursue the gritty Martin Prado in exchange for Justin Upton because Upton was not Gibson’s type of player.

As a player, Gibson knew one way, all out.  He gave no quarter, nor asked any.  As a manager, Gibson needs to realize not all players are hardwired in the same fashion.  If Towers pursues players based on Gibson’s desire for a grittier team, the plan will prove to be a faulty one, doomed to failure.

In exchange for the talented Upton, the Diamondbacks received Martin Prado.  Prado is a fine player who displays all the traits of a Gibson type player.  He is a winning player, but needs to be in the right spot, deployed in the right manner.  Prado was a perfect fit for Atlanta and Fredi Gonzalez the past few years.  Prado played left field, manned third base when Chipper Jones was injured or plugged in the middle infield when needed, and he produced steadily.

He simply does not possess the elite talent of Justin Upton.  Prado has ceilinged with mid teen home run power and an O.P.S. of about .800.  Upton floored last year with a .785 O.P.S. and twice has approached .900.  Add his speed and fielding potential, and you have the makings of a 25 year old player who can be a core contributor for years with the Braves.

Trades sometimes take years to evaluate, and maybe Kevin Towers and Kirk Gibson come out on top.  But Martin Prado and a collection of non elite prospects will have a difficult time outperforming Justin Upton over the next five years.

Sometimes general managers like Kevin Towers and organizations lose sight of simple truths that have been consistent over decades.  Quirky and eccentric is good if it throws 98 m.p.h., and grit is a great trait…for a backup catcher.  Talent is the basic building block of successful organizations; the Diamondbacks received a complementary part in exchange for the type of talent winning teams are built upon.

Morse had seemingly become expendable in Washington once the team agreed to re-sign first baseman Adam LaRoche. Multiple teams have reportedly expressed interest in acquiring him from the Nationals this winter, with some even calling before the team formally brought LaRoche back into the fold, but the team’s demands were perceived as high throughout most of those discussions. Morse, who’ll turn 31 in March, has been a big piece of the Washington offense over the past three seasons. In 1,298 plate appearances over that span he’s hit a combined .296/.345/.516 with 64 HR and 198 RBI while spending some time at both first base and in left field. Morse missed a chunk of time this past season thanks to an arm injury he suffered in Spring Training, but hardly seemed slowed when he returned to the Washington lineup.

(Image Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports)

His place with the team remained in question, however, despite the offensive production. LaRoche is a superb defender at first base, giving him the nod there. With Jayson Werth, Bryce Harper, and Denard Span in line to start in the outfield that limited where Morse’s at bats could come from. Washington also has a number of younger players (Steve Lombardozzi, Tyler Moore) who they’ll want/need to get at bats off the bench. A trade just simply seemed like the most logical decision, despite the value that Morse clearly brings to the table. He’ll be a free agent at the end of the 2013 season, which also made him easier to move.

Seattle, meanwhile, has been focused on adding offense to their lineup for much of the winter. The team has already brought in Kendrys Morales, Raul Ibanez, and Jason Bay this offseason – though all three come with some serious questions. Morse will likely step right into the team’s lineup, but it’s uncertain what position he’ll likely play. He could see time in either corner outfield position (though he’s not a strong defender) or he could share time at first base with Justin Smoak. He’ll also potentially receive some at bats at DH on days that Jesus Montero is behind the plate, which could be more frequent with the team’s loss of Jaso. Seattle currently does not have any other catchers on their 40-man roster and will likely need to bring someone in to backup Montero at the onset of the season. Their top positional prospect, Mike Zunino, likely will not be ready for the Major Leagues until mid-season.

Morse was originally drafted by the Chicago White Sox and was dealt to Seattle as part of a package to acquire Freddy Garcia in June 2004. He received 337 plate appearances with the team over a four year span from 2005 to 2009, hitting .300/.365/.397 in 107 games, before being traded to the Nationals for Ryan Langerhans.

Jaso had a solid season for the Mariners this past year, batting .276/.394/.456 with a career-high 10 HR over 361 plate appearances in his first (and only) season with the Mariners. The 29 year old will likely step right into the A’s starting lineup, though it’s safe to expect that Derek Norris will still see a fair share of playing time. Jaso has long been a patient hitter at the plate, earning more walks (140) than strikeouts (128) in his career – an uncommon ratio, particularly for catchers – and he’s generally considered a strong defensive option behind the plate. He fits the “Moneyball” mold of the A’s well. Norris is still likely the team’s proverbial “catcher of the future” and possesses more power potential than Jaso, but is still young and learning the position. The pair will likely compliment each other well in that lineup. Jaso may see most of the playing time against right-handed pitchers, while Norris will face lefties. He’s arbitration eligible for the first time this winter, meaning he’ll be under team control through 2015.

While both Seattle and Oakland received a player who’ll offer some immediate value to their teams, the Nationals took a more forward thinking path towards their compensation in this deal by acquiring a trio of prospects from the A’s.

Cole is the top prospect of the group and will return to an organization he knows well. Cole had initially been a 4th Round pick by the Nationals in 2010 but had been included in the package (along with Tommy Milone, Brad Peacock, and Norris) that the team sent to Oakland last January to acquire Gio Gonzalez. The 21 year old right-hander had been ranked at #57 in Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects prior to this past season, but had a terribly inconsistent year with the A’s organization. Overall he posted a 6-10 mark with a 3.70 ERA and 1.249 WHIP across 133.2 innings (making 27 starts), adding 9.0 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. He still shows a great deal of promise on the mound, but it’s uncertain where Washington will start him this season as he struggled at High-A (0-7, 7.82 ERA, 1.842 WHIP), though that was in the hitter-friendly California League.

Treinen, 24, spent this past season with Oakland’s High-A affiliate, making 15 starts in 24 appearances. He posted a 7-7 mark and 4.37 ERA across 103.0 innings. Former Seedlings to Stars Editor Nathaniel Stolz figures that he has the makeup to be a back-of-the-rotation starter, but could ultimately develop into a solid relief option given his strong command over two pitches (a heavy sinker and a solid breaking ball). Treinan likely projects to be among the Nationals top prospects and helps the organization replenish some of the depth they’ve lost over the past year (due largely to players “graduating” to the Majors).

Washington will also receive a player to be named later. Thus far there have been no indications who that player may end up being.

Youkilis, of course, spent seven seasons playing for the rival Boston Red Sox, winning two World Series titles in Boston. He becomes the seventh member of the curse-breaking Red Sox team of 2004 to eventually don the pinstriped home whites of the hated Yankees.

Youkilis can’t wear his trademark goatee in New York, so he may reprise the lip sweater worn last season. Image: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

In terms of practicality, however, these two are a match made in heaven.

Alex Rodriguez will undergo surgery to correct a torn labrum in his left hip, but that procedure won’t even take place until mid-January. The recovery time is expected to be 4-6 months and there are concerns that Rodriguez won’t be able to handle third base duties upon his return, at least not every day.

While Youkilis is not an elite defender at the hot corner, he represents the best possible alternative for the injured ARod, at least at this point given what’s left of the third base market. That they got him on a one-year deal is also important and New York probably overpaid in order to get Youk to take the single year. Reports had the Indians offering a two-year contract, but for only $18 million in total. That offer vanished when the Indians opted to sign Mark Reynolds over the weekend.

With the Indians no longer interested, the decision became pretty clear for Youkilis, as there were precious few teams seeking a regular at either first or third base. The Marlins had interest, but rumor has it that Youkilis refused to even speak to the beleaguered franchise.

Instead, he’ll take the one-year deal and hope to put together a better season than his 2012 campaign that saw him struggle, especially prior to being traded from Boston to the White Sox. Overall, the former eighth round pick posted an OPS of just .745 last season, better than 100 points lower than his career OPS of .867.

If he can manage to stay on the field and play adequate defense, Youkilis will keep the Yankees afloat and give them professional at bats. Youkilis will be 34 before Opening Day, so there’s little reason to think his slide last season was much more than a bad year. He’ll probably never again be the hitter he once was, but it’s probably a safe assumption that he has more left than he showed last year. If he can prove that, Youkilis could set himself up for one last multi-year contract on the market next Winter.

Correia, 32, has spent the past two seasons pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, mostly as a starter. he was a National League all-star in 2011, when he entered the break with an 11-7 record and 4.01 ERA. He fell apart in the second half that season, however, and wound up 12-11.

Image: US Presswire

He duplicated that record in 2012, but he took a different route to do it. Correia was significantly better after the all-star break last season, though the Bucs removed him from the rotation as the season drew to a close. While he was respectable with a 4.34 ERA in the first half, Correia struck out only 35 batters in 91 innings of work, making this the Twinsiest signing in the history of the Twins. Correia’strikeout rate did improve as the season wore on, but he’s fanned only 4.6 batters per nine innings over the past two seasons.

Last season, the Twins were the only team in the league that didn’t strikeout at least 1000 batters on the season. They finished 140 strikeouts behind the next lowest total. Not coincidentally, only one team, Cleveland, had a higher team ERA. The signing of Correia does very little to address either of those issues.

It’s also difficult to chalk this up to an innings-eating veteran pitcher filling out a rotation and mentoring the young staff. Correia hasn’t been especially durable. Correia has only been a starter for the past four seasons and he’s never worked 200 innings in a year, though he did toss 198 innings in 2009. Even with that total included, however, he’s only averaged 167 innings per season in those four years. In that time, he’s pitched to a 4.51 ERA and struck out fewer than six batters per nine innings.

The Twins did well in adding three live arms in trades over the past week, but Correia looks like a step backward, even if he’s considered nothing more than a placeholder. Correia isn’t a bad pitcher to sign at the end of the Winter as a low-cost veteran who may re-discover his form. But giving him a multi-year deal is a big mistake, even for a club as badly in need of pitching as the Twins are.

Minnesota’s brass spoke about needing to find power arms and needing to change their organizational philosophy of finesse hurlers who pitch to contact. Then they went out and signed the poster boy for pitching to contact and gave him a two year contract. Maybe they’ll bring back Carl Pavano as well.

Image: US Presswire

After bouncing around the league for much of his career, shifting between the majors and minors, between the rotation and the bullpen, Grilli found a home in Pittsburgh over the past two years. The former fourth overall pick in the 1997 draft has pitched to a 2.76 ERA in 911.1 innings over the past two seasons. Over the first ten seasons of his career saw him pitch to a 4.74 ERA while working just over 356 innings. In that span, he averaged just 6.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

Since joining the Pirates, Grilli has averaged 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings, fanning 127 batters in those 91 innings, including a remarkable 90 strikeouts in just 58 innings in 2012.

Grilli will be slotted in as the primary set-up man once again unless the Pirates are successful in finding a taker for closer Joel Hanrahan, whom they are said to be shopping. Grilli had drawn interest from a handful of teams during the Winter Meetings and was holding out hope for a three year contract. There was some word that he was being viewed as a potential closer.

This is an important signing for the Pirates and keeping the back-end of their bullpen together should be helpful as they push for their first winning season since 1992. There are still some holes to fill, but having a set-up man with the numbers Grilli has produced recently only serves to make the games a little shorter for manager clint Hurdle.

UPDATE: Scott Miller says the deal is for $7 million over two seasons.

On Monday, the Tigers announced a one-year contract with Brayan Pena. Yep, that Brayan Pena. The one who has spent the last four seasons with the Royals. Oh yeah, score one for the Tigers in this game of AL Central oneupsmanship.

Hey! It’s a picture of Pena sitting on the bench in Detroit. The Tigers hope he does a lot of this while playing for them in 2013. Image: US Presswire

Ok, so it’s been a slow Monday around CttP headquarters.

Pena was inked to be the backup catcher behind former all-star Alex Avila and Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski says that Pena will play a significant role in 2013. Of course, ideally Pena won’t see the field but in about 40 games. If he plays much more than that, the Tigers are probably in big trouble.

The switch-hitting Pena isn’t an accomplished hitter from either side, but he fares better as a left handed hitter facing righties. Unfortunately, Avila hits left handed, so the bulk of Pena’s at bats figure to come from his weaker side going forward. In order to clear room on the 40-man roster for the Pena signing, the Tigers designated the contract of minor league pitcher Matt Hoffman for assignment. Hoffman, 24, spent the 2012 season at Triple-A Toledo.

This signing is interesting to me only because Dombrowski had made it a point earlier in the off-season to say that young Bryan Holaday could handle the backup catching duties in 2013. The Tigers typically like to add a veteran backstop on a minor league contract to serve as their emergency guy, but Pena gets a big league contract here, which indicates that he’ll be on the roster coming out of camp while Holaday returns to the minor leagues.

When it all comes down to it, Pena is probably not as good as Gerald Laird, whom the Tigers chose not to pursue after he posted a strong campaign for them in 2012. He’s probably not even much better, if at all, than Holaday. But again, we are talking about a backup catcher. It probably won’t matter much either way.

Kansas City acquired a pair of right handers, James Shields and Wade Davis, from the Tampa Bay Rays. In return, the Rays get a host of minor league talent, and I do mean talent. Tampa gets outfielder Wil Myers, right hander Jake Odorizzi, lefty Mike Montogomery, and third baseman Patrick Leonard.

Shields has been one of the better starters in the league over the past two years, but comes to KC at a steep price. Image: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

It’s a classic veterans-for-prospects deal that’s made by teams in contention all the time. In this case, however, it’s a trade that is made in hopes of turning a pretender into a contender. The Royals are betting the farm that they can win in the next two seasons, because that’s all the longer they are guarenteed to have Shields in their uniform.

Shields is an outstanding starting pitcher and Davis is a guy capable of holding down a spot at the back-end of your rotation. Kansas City had already added Ervin Santana to their rotation and re-signed Jeremy Guthrie. Those four, along with holdover Bruce Chen, should give the Royals a much, much stronger starting corps than they’ve had in years. Couple them with a bullpen full of power arms and suddenly Kansas City has all the makings of a strong pitching staff.

Of course, Chen pitched to a 5.07 ERA last season, Davis has a career 4.22 ERA as a starter and 4.59 ERA away from Tropicana Field, Santana allowed an amazing 39 home runs last season and posted a 5.16 ERA, and Guthrie was so bad in the first half last year that the pitching-starved Rockies put him in the bullpen before unloading him. So to say that these additions are a sure-thing is a long ways from the truth. Every one of these four have warts. Every one raises red flags.

From a Rays perspective, you have to love this deal. Yes, losing Shields hurts, but the Rays have great depth of starting pitching (so much so that Davis couldn’t crack the rotation). They dealt away a guy who makes a pretty good salary ($9 million in 2013), which is always a concern in Tampa Bay, but they didn’t give up any of their younger starters. As good as Shields is, the Rays still have a starting rotation that would be the envy of many clubs, including the Royals.

Tampa gets Kansas City’s top two prospects, plus two additional prospects. Myers and Odorizzi are ready to help right now and could have been playing prominent roles for the Royals in 2013 and for years to come. Montgomery has been rated in the top-20 prospects in all of baseball, though he struggled mightily in 2012 and Leonard is a 20-year-old kid who slugged 14 home runs in 62 games in his first taste of pro ball last season. There is a lot of talent heading to Tampa Bay and it’s all under team control for the next six years at least.

The Royals made this trade because they think they have the pieces to win now, but I’m not even convinced this deal makes them a better club than they were last week. Do they have more recognizable names in their rotation? Sure, but many of those names comes with questions. General manager Dayton Moore has dipped into a very talented and deep minor league system and plucked out some awfully talented kids to use as trade fodder. He’s gambled that his young lineup is ready to compete and he’s done what he felt was necessary to support those young hitters and give his franchise a better chance to compete.

But it won’t be good enough just to compete; Moore has to win. If Kansas City goes from 90 losses to a playoff appearance, this deal still  could wind up being regrettable. The only way it isn’t is if Shields helps lead the Royals to a World Series title. If that happens, it won’t matter how good Myers or Odorizzi winds up being for the Rays or what happens in their careers.

Because flags fly forever. And that’s what the Royals are gambling on.

The Dodgers were able to lock up Ryu with a six-year deal worth $36 million and have now spent a combined amount of nearly $62 million to obtain his services. He will join a rotation that already features the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Josh Beckett, Chad Billingsley, and the recently added Zack Greinke. Starters Chris Capuano, Ted Lilly, and Aaron Harang are also still under contract for the 2013 season, so it seems very likely that the Dodgers attempt to work out a trade with a team that needs rotation help before the offseason concludes.

Ryu has been pitching in Korea for seven years, and he boasts a career record of 98-52 with a 2.80 ERA over that time period. The six-foot-two, 215 pound hurler features a fastball that tops out in the mid-nineties, a curveball, slider, and an effective change-up scouts rate as his best pitch. Whether this assortment will prove good enough to make the Dodgers’ investment worthwhile is anyone’s guess, but thanks to the talent of his rotation mates, the organization will not need him to make an instant impact as a starter, and as such they can bring him along slowly if need be.

Can’t get enough of Spencer? Check out his work at StanGraphs and follow him on Twitter at @shendricks221.

Since 2008, Greinke has not failed to reach at least 4.0 WAR (per FanGraphs) in any given season, topping out at a ridiculous 9.3 WAR in his career year of 2009 — a season that saw him win his first and only Cy Young to date — while still with Kansas City.

Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

Few players can be said to be worth this kind of a financial commitment, but Greinke is good enough to give the Dodgers a return on their investment and then some. He won’t turn 30 until after the 2013 season, so the Dodgers will be covering his age 29-34 years over the course of this contract, and it’s not at all unreasonable to suggest his best years may still be ahead of him.

The former sixth overall draft pick is a truly rare talent, one who features great control (2.3 BB/9) as well as the ability to overpower hitters and miss bats (8.0 K/9), and he’s been very durable as well — he’s logged at least 200 innings in four of the last five seasons. These are all desirable attributes for a front-line starting pitcher, something Greinke will have to continue to be to justify his new salary.

While there have been plenty of instances in which a team has gotten burned for signing a starting pitcher to a long-term deal, there are absolutely no warning signs in this particular case to indicate Greinke will not be worth it. He’s as gifted and reliable as any pitcher in the game, and barring the well known anxiety-related issues (nothing medication can’t solve), one would be hard-pressed to dig up any dirt on him at all.

Greinke will join a potentially loaded rotation featuring names such as Clayton Kershaw, Josh Beckett, and Chad Billingsley, although a trade may well be on the horizon following this move. As the Dodgers continue to aggressively overhaul their roster, this move has to be considered one that increases their chances of fending off the World Champion San Francisco Giants in the NL West in 2013.

Can’t get enough of Spencer? Check out his work at StanGraphs and follow him on Twitter at @shendricks221.

Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-US PRESSWIRE

This move may sting the San Francisco faithful, but that’s more the result of Wilson’s endearining personality and the fact that he was a highly visible part of two world champion teams, albeit only from the dugout during last season’s title run. As a player, Wilson should be very replaceable — he struggled often in 2011 and missed the majority of 2012, so the Giants have already had plenty of practice playing without him.

While Wilson did have two excellent seasons in 2009-10, he’s never ranked as a truly elite closer, a fact clearly underlined by his career WHIP of 1.34 and BB/9 rate of 4.0. He’s a dynamic personality for sure, and he has the ability to dominate, but the Giants are obviously confident enough with the personnel they already have in the bullpen, and given how dicey of a proposition it is to spend too heavily on relief pitching, they can’t be blamed for turning the page on Wilson.

Can’t get enough of Spencer? Check out his work at StanGraphs and follow him on Twitter at @shendricks221.