:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/4382667/120288252.0.jpg)
The two big deals that were reported to have gone down Monday in Nashville were the four-year contract signed by outfielder Angel Pagan with the Giants, and the three-year one Mike Napoli got from the Boston Red Sox. The former will be getting $40 million, and the latter, just a million dollars less. Pagan was a key part of the Giants World Series team, producing four bWAR for them, as he hit .288 and made 148 starts in center field. Napoli can only wonder what kind of deal he might have got, had he been a free agent after the 2011 season (5.3 bWAR) rather than the last campaign, when he struggled in Texas (1.4 bWAR). He'll probably play mostly at first-base for Boston.
In other news, Joakim Soria appears close to a two-year contract with the Rangers, and there were single-year deals for catcher Geovany Soto (TEX), James Loney (TAM) and - oh, hold my aching sides - Jason Marquis, back with the Padres. Since the start of 2010, only one pitcher has been worse as measured by bWAR. You'll probably get a good laugh out of who. There's also a lot of chatter surrounding Mets' Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey, with eight teams reportedly interested. The Mets would rather sign an extension, but if no deal can be reached, he could become the first Cy Young winner since Roger Clemens in 1998, to start the next season with a different team.
On the non-contract front, the main news was that Alex Rodriguez is going to undergo surgery on his hip, to "repair a torn labrum, bone impingement and the correction of a cyst." Quite a shopping list. According to the team, He'll probably miss four to six months after the operation, which is scheduled for January. Also worth checking out: Major League Baseball and Stand Up to Cancer announced an rather impressive charity auction that runs until late Thursday. The D-backs related items include an All-Star Coaching Experience with Kirk Gibson, Don Baylor & Charles Nagy, and a round of golf with Ian Kennedy.
We'll update this thread with Day 2 News as we find it...