Every manager dreams of having players who will literally run through a wall for them. Today, Ozzie Guillen signed a guy who will do just that and potentially more for him.

The Miami Marlins signed Aaron Rowand to a minor league deal today, a deal that includes an invite to Spring Training. All indications are that he'll be given an opportunity to win a spot on the Marlins' Opening Day roster, although where he fits in among the team's crowded young outfield remains to be seen. Rowand becomes the second member of Guillen's 2005 World Series champion White Sox to join the Marlins in the past week, right on the heels of Mark Buehrle signing a four-year, $58 million deal.

The image you see above of Aramis Ramirez attempting to throw a runner out at Miller Park is about to become a much more regular sight.

Ramirez is set to sign a three year deal with the Milwaukee Brewers reportedly worth up to $37 million. Ramirez was deemed expendable by the Cubs after the team traded D.J. LeMahieu and Tyler Colvin to the Rockies in exchange for Ian Stewart. It's a solild signing for a franchise that is going to need all the offense it can get early on in the season, especially with LF Ryan Braun looking at a 50-game suspension to start the season (more on that later).

Every year for the past several years, I keep saying that the Arizona Diamondbacks will win the NL West, and every year for the past several years, the Diamondbacks have let me down. So this year, I pick the Giants to win the division, and the Diamondbacks come through with their breakout performance. They even did it with the help of a couple key rookie performances. Josh Collmenter used his literal over-the-top delivery deception over the course of 154 innings to solidify the rotation behind Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson. And Paul Goldschmidt staked a claim to the first base job in 2012, although it took a few games into the post-season for the team to realize that Lyle Overbay wasn’t going to help them win anything. I’m not sure Collmenter will fare so well the second time through, but he deserves a long look next season. Goldschmidt’s strikeout rate is also a bit high, but while he may not end up a star, he should be a 2-4 win first baseman.

Looking down to the farm system, the Diamondbacks have tons of excellent pitching. Jarrod Parker made a successful recovery from Tommy John, and the now-traded righty still has a high ceiling. Beyond just Parker, Tyler Skaggs sent his stock soaring by dominating High-A and AA in convincing fashion, and while I don’t see a high ceiling just yet, he’s still filling out and has a pretty high floor. Lower-level guys like Pat Corbin and David Holmberg even add a little depth, though they may not even up being mid-rotation guys. Making matters more interesting, the Diamondbacks had excellent pitching draft, nabbing Trevor Bauer, Archie Bradley, Andrew Chafin, and Kyle Winkler (who could be a steal if healthy). Bauer, Bradley, and Chafin all have huge potential.

Poking through position player prospects isn’t as fun. Matt Davidson continues to hit, and the increasing likeliness that he’ll stay at third is reassuring. Matt Borchering is a worse hitter and will need to play first base, and that has diminished his stock quite a bit. Two outfielders, Collin Cowgill and Adam Eaton, had nice seasons, but neither of them project as stars and possibly not even starters. The Diamondbacks traded the better of the two - Cowgill - along with Parker for Trevor Cahill, which thins the system even more. AJ Pollock might be better than either of them, but no one’s sure he’ll be a starter either.

The DBacks system, overall, is a fairly solid one. The high-end pitching is a big plus, and it’s better that two of them are near big-league ready while two are a bit farther away. The spacing will help rotate them in, especially as the big-league rotation is pretty set at the moment. Not having any impact bats, however, is a concern, and it’s one that needs to be addressed. How that will happen is a bit of a mystery, but the major-league team doesn’t need too many reinforcements for the immediate future. There’s quite a bit to like about the system, especially if you like pitching, but it does drop off a bit after the top few.

Elite

Trevor Bauer      SP

Bats/Throws:      R/R

Height/Weight:      6’1/175

Age/Level (as of 4/2012):      21/AAA

Projection:      1/2

Bauer is one of the weirder prospects in baseball. With his unusual preparation routine and unorthodox (Tim Lincecum-like, somewhat) delivery, Bauer’s college production caused excitement and worry. The excitement came from the outstanding numbers, but the worry came from the excessive innings and rigid mentality as Bauer only wants to use his own routines and regimens. Despite all that, Bauer has front-of-the-rotation stuff with a mid-90s fastball, a plus to plus-plus curveball, an above-average slider, and an above-average change-up, not to mention a splitter, and he has average control, though this is the part of his game that needs work. The heavy workload in college is a concern, but while he seems stuck in his ways, I’m not sure why you’d worry about changing someone this late in the game when it’s worked for him so well.

I just happened to be in Anaheim California this weekend and there just happened to be some big press conference going on at Angels stadium. Also, the press conference just happened to be open to the public.

How many teams can organize a press conference, outside, on an 85-degree day in mid-December, and officially announce the signing of one of the greatest players in baseball history? On Saturday, December 10^th 2011, the Angels did just that. I was among the nearly 4,500 people that showed up to partake in the morning’s festivities.

In an extension reminiscent of signing Evan Longoria after just 24 major league at bats, the Tampa Bay Rays have given top prospect Matt Moore, who made his major league debut with three appearances last September, a five year contract extension, with three option years. The five guaranteed years will be worth $14 million, while the value of the options can push the deal to a total of $39.75 million over eight years. 

Let's talk about the five guaranteed years first. At just $14 million over the five years, the Rays are paying Moore for roughly 3 fWAR total over the first five years. This of course, is lunacy, when you consider that Moore was worth 0.4 fWAR in just 9 1/3 innings this past fall. Moore could conceivably (and I don't think it's a reach, at all) post that 3 fWAR in his first season with the club, making everything else gravy. He'll be 22 on Opening Day 2012, and the guaranteed years of this deal will take him until he turns 27 (his birthday is in June). Figure in the option years, and Moore won't be hitting free agency until age 29. It seems like a no brainer move for the Rays, much like with Longoria's extension. Tampa Bay agreed to pay their franchise third baseman $17.5 million for the first six years of his career, with an additional $30 million getting tacked on for the final three years of the deal. In his four season career, Longoria has already been worth 26.9 fWAR, which is worth $121 million on the open market. So in four seasons, Longoria has already exceeded the max value of his contract...by over $60 million.

It's a different story with pitchers, though. It's not out of the realm of possibility for Moore to suffer an injury requiring Tommy John surgery, which would knock him out of action for a year, and require him to spend a year getting back to his normal self. But still, the risks for signing Moore for five years and $14 million and ridiculously low. As I mentioned, $14 million is roughly 3 fWAR in value. Over the last five years, 218 MLB pitchers have been cumulatively worth 3 fWAR, including guys like Mark Hendrickson, Brad Bergesen, and Brandon Lyon. It's not like this is some sort of unattainable pinnacle for Moore. Hell, if you look at just 2011, 53 pitchers were worth 3 fWAR, including a pair of relievers in Jonathan Papelbon and Craig Kimbrel. It is absolutely not a reach to claim that Moore could exceed the guaranteed money in his deal in the first season. As for the total maximum value of his deal, Moore would need to be worth about 9 fWAR over the life of the eight years to exceed the value. Over the last eight years, 148 pitchers have been worth at least 9 fWAR cumulatively, including BJ Ryan, Chris Young, and Jamie Moyer.

I love the deal for the Rays, even if Moore doesn't have a host of major league experience. This is a guy who struck out 225 hitters and walked 49 in 164 1/3 innings in AA, AAA and the majors last season at the age of 21/22. He's the best pitching prospect in baseball, and the Rays were wise to lock him up before he blew the doors off of the 2012 season and his career suddenly got more expensive. Kudos to Andrew Friedman for going outside of the box yet again.

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EDIT (7:00 PM): the deal has been confirmed.

I'm pretty sure this was scooped by Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports (and my apologies if someone got it first, Rosenthal was the first in my feed with details), but the Diamondbacks are looking to acquire starting pitcher Trevor Cahill from the Athletics (along with reliever Craig Breslow) for a package headlined by prospects Jarrod Parker and Collin Cowgill. Now, a lot of this trade depends on the rest of the package (which Jon Heyman has clarified doesn't include top Diamondbacks prospects Tyler Skaggs or Trevor Bauer), because obviously, just Parker and Cowgill isn't a significant return. But for them to be the headliners of the deal? That's where I get thrown off.

A's GM Billy Beane is mostly known for fleecing his trade partners, as he has much too often in the past. Cowgill struggled in his major league debut last season, hitting .239/.300/.304 in a 100 at bat trial late in the season, but was raking in AAA Reno with a .354/.430/.554 line in 456 plate appearances. He's not nearly that good though, as a .397 BABIP inflated his slash lines. I think his true talent lies in his 2010 numbers, where he hit .285/.360/.464 with 16 homers and 25 steals. Cowgill doesn't have superstar potential, but he could be a solid regular: decent power, good speed, good plate discipline, and he can play all three outfield positions. He's blocked at all three in Arizona though, so I understand the rationale for trading him. But at 25 (26 two months into the 2012 season), it's hard to see what Billy Beane sees in him as a large part of this deal.

It's much easier to see what Beane sees in Parker, who's 2011 season was a nice return after missing all of 2010 following Tommy John surgery. In 2011 down in AA Mobile, Parker struck out 113, walked 55 and allowed seven homers in 130 2/3 innings pitched. He got a late season callup for Arizona, and made one start, throwing 5 2/3 shutout innings with one strikeout and one walk. Considering that control is one of the last things to come back following Tommy John, the season has to be deemed a success. He's got the stuff to be a solid #2, and at just 23 on Opening Day 2012, he's definitely the kind of guy to be the center of the deal.

That brings me to Cahill, the established major leaguer of the deal. He's good. Not great, as his 2010 ERA would indicate...but good. He's locked up until 2015 for a guaranteed $30 million, with options for 2016 and 2017 that could be worth an additional $27 million. But let's face the facts on Cahill: over his three season major league career, he's struck out 5.48 batters per nine, walked 3.35, and has a 4.51 FIP, which is admittedly skewed by an awful rookie season. But those numbers are a little more impressive when you realize he posted them during his age 21-23 seasons. 5.3 fWAR over three seasons isn't good at all, but for a player who should still be in the minors, they're suitable. In each season of his career, his fWAR has increased, while both his FIP and xFIP have decreased. Cahill's strikeout rate and innings pitched in each season have also increased, peaking at 6.37 per nine innings and 207 2/3 last season.

Based on those peripherals, I can understand why Beane is trading him. He'll have Parker under control for six seasons compared to four for Cahill (max of six), and will probably end up paying him less too. In 2015, when Parker is still earning around the league minimum, Cahill is scheduled to make $12 million. For a team like the A's, that savings is huge. And if Arizona is willing to give up a couple more B-C level prospects, I can totally see how this deal makes sense for the A's. But how does it make sense for the Diamondbacks?

Cahill seems like a dream pitcher for Chase Field, a notorious hitter's paradise. He's an exceptional ground ball pitcher, logging right arond 56% in each of the last two seasons. Of the four returning Arizona starters, the highest groundball rate was 44.5%, posted by Joe Saunders. So Cahill represents a different breed of starter in comparison to the rest of Arizona's current rotation of Saunders, Cy Young fourth place finisher Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson, and Josh Collmenter. A rotation with Saunders as your fifth is pretty solid, which is what all he looks like with that horrendous strikeout rate and the awful homer rate. But I'm not sure if budgeting money to pay Cahill is wise when you have guys like Parker, Skaggs and Bauer looking close to ready for the majors. Parker could probably start for them in 2012, and do better than their cavalcade of vomit-inducing fifth starters (Zach Duke, Armando Galarraga, Jason Marquis, etc) did in 2011. The team is budgeting money for Cahill when they still haven't locked up either Kennedy or Hudson long-term, both of whom I believe are better pitchers.

With the young pitching coming up through their system, I think Arizona has bigger needs than another starter right now. Cahill is a nice option for the ballpark, but I'd rather have Parker at a fraction of the cost. Arizona isn't really crazy with the spending, and I think taking on a contract that escalates like Cahill's does is a little bit of a risk at this point in time. And in two years, when Bauer and Skaggs are ready, it would be prime time to get long-term deals done. D-Backs GM Kevin Towers like to shake things up, but this one just seems a little excessive for me, especially in a weak NL West  where the Diamondbacks look like a strong favorite in 2012.

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Octavio Dotel signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers this afternoon. That might not seem like big news, except that as soon as Dotel steps on the mound for the Tigers, they'll be the 13th team he's pitched for and that's a Major League record. Dotel's been efficient, too, as 2012 will be just his 14th year in the Majors. 

It's not just a novelty act, either. Dotel was a big part of the Cardinals 2012 World Series Championship run after arriving in St. Louis via a trade with Toronto in July. Used mostly as a righty-specialist in Tony La Russa's revolving door bullpen, Dotel struck out 32 hitters and walked just five in 24 2/3 innings to go with his 3.28 ERA. In the playoffs, he played a huge role in neutralizing NL MVP Ryan Braun during the NLCS. 

So how does one end up pitching for 13 different teams? Dotel has been traded a whopping six times: from the Mets to the Astros in 1999, from the Astros to the A's in 2004, from the Royals to the Braves in 2007, from the Pirates to the Dodgers and then from the Dodgers to the Rockies in 2010, and from the Blue Jays to the Cardinals this past summer. His only World Series is the one he just won with the Cards, but nearly helped propel the Astros there in 2004 when he formed a big part of the trade that brought them Carlos Beltran. 

Dotel's really been in overdrive since 2010, pitching for six of the 13 teams on this list once you count the Tigers. Of the 12 teams he's pitched for (the Tigers don't count yet, of course), he's only pitched more than 100 innings for two of them (the Astros and White Sox). He's recorded just 66 saves for eight teams (Houston, Oakland, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Toronto, the White Sox, and the Dodgers) and 36 wins for ten (he didn't win a game for the Rockies, Braves, or Yankees, who he barely pitched 20 combined innings for).

Really, Dotel's a bit of a unique case because he's a very good right-handed reliever that isn't seen as being good enough to close, so he very rarely gets more than a one-year deal and he's always on the trade market. I wouldn't feel too bad for him, though, because he actually seems exited to have broken the record and after this year, he'd banked more than $34 million over his itinerant career. 

You may have thought you knew everything there was to know about new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine.

You knew that he managed the Texas Rangers, lead the New York Mets to the 2000 World Series, and once returned to the dugout donning a fake mustache after being ejected. You may have also known that he was a manager in Japan for the Chiba Lotte Marines and even won a championship during his time there.

But did you know that while managing in Japan, the newest leader of Red Sox Nation was also a music video superstar?

It's true. And we've got the evidence after the jump.

With even fewer resources than most minor league teams, independent league teams need to be that much more creative in order to generate interest and buzz about their organization. Some teams have done a great job of this over the years. Here are the five most creative independent league logos…

I would like to thank Jonathan Mitchell of DRays Bay and RJ Anderson of Baseball Prospectus for helping out with the following Tampa Bay Rays list.

Storming back from an 8 ½-game deficit with a month left, the Tampa Bay Rays threw themselves into the playoffs. While they did this with the usual production from guys like Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, David Price, James Shields, and BJ Upton, the Rays also saw solid production from a few rookies. Starting with the Rookie of the Year Award winner, Jeremy Hellickson provided quality innings all season, and he should get better with time. Desmond Jennings waited a bit longer to make his debut, but he made his impact once he got there. The Rays even got a surprise solid performance from Alex Cobb. This is how the Rays operate - draft/sign, develop, and enjoy.

And there’s still more coming. Matt Moore pretty much cemented himself as the top pitching prospect in baseball. After having control issues for most of his minor-league career, Moore has spent the past year and a half putting those and many batters in the rear-view mirror. Hak-Ju Lee and Tim Beckham are also nearing helping out the big-league team, and they may cause a shortstop controversy at some point. Heck, even Brandon Guyer looks to be a big-league contributor next year after getting his feet wet this past season.

But most of the excitement is happening a bit farther down. Guys like Drew Vettleson, Ryan Brett, Josh Sale, Parker Markel, and Enny Romero are further away from the majors, but they all have significant upsides. Then came the epic number of early draft picks for the Rays. Taylor Guerrieri and Mikie Mahtook were the first-rounders, but the Rays added tons of solid young players in guys like Granden Goetzman, Jake Hager, Grayson Garvin, Tyler Goeddel, Lenny Linsky, and Johnny Eierman. This is how a good organization flushes cheap talent onto the major-league roster.

The Rays continue to have one of the better farm systems in baseball, but unlike previous years, there isn’t a lot of high-upside guys at the top. Moore goes a long way, but there are no other “stars” near the majors. And while the Rays look to have tons of depth and interesting lower-level guys, they are just that - lower-level guys - and they have plenty of risk attached to them. It’s always better to have them than not, of course, but the outlook of the organization could really change within a year. It could be incredibly outstanding or quite depleted after 3 of the top 6 here move to the majors.

Elite

Matt Moore      SP

Bats/Throws:     L/L

Height/Weight:     6’2/205

Age/Level:      22/MLB

Projection:      1/2

Here is the top pitching prospect in baseball. Moore begins with a mid-to-upper-90s fastball that is released from a ridiculously easy arm action, and he adds a plus hammer curve and an above-average change-up. Moore has always been a strikeout artist, consistently with K/9s around 13, but his control often wavered. About halfway through last season, he decided to make adjustments that his coaches had been advocating for years, and as a result, his mechanics got better and his control became average, which was a major improvement. Once he made those adjustments, Moore really took off, and now, he’s the best bet in the minors to become an ace.