St. Louis, MO

Ex-New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran agreed to a two-year, $26 million pact to play for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Beltran split last season with the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants, batting .300 overall with 22 homers and 84 RBI.

Beltran's career numbers include 302 homers and 1146 RBI and the Cards hope he can pick up some of the offensive slack lost by the departure of Albert Pujols to the Angels.

The Giants hoped Beltran would help them reach the postseason in 2011, but the team was racked by injuries and he got off to a slow start with S.F. as well.

 

White Sox ink pitcher Danks to five-year, $65 million contract

Chicago, IL

The Chicago White Sox signed starting pitcher John Danks to a five-year, $65 million contract after fielding several unappealing offers for the 26-year-old lefty.

Chicago had been hoping to utilize the thin starting pitcher market to move Danks for a lucrative offer, but didn't get any worth the effort.

Instead, Chicago bought out Danks' final year of arbitration and locked him up for four additional years, handing out their biggest contract ever in years and dollars to a starting picther.

The Austin, TX native is 54-56 with a 4.03 ERA and 714 strikeouts over five seasons. He posted double-digit wins in 2009 and 2010, but bounced back from an 0-8 start to go just 8-12 last season with a 4.33 ERA, his highest since posting a 5.50 his rookie year.

"Obviously, I have a tremendous amount of respect for John and what he brings as a talent, but you know just his intangible he brings," said new Sox manager Robin Ventura. "Just every day the competitiveness. He's an important part of what you would like to have as a person in the locker room."

If not anything else, Danks is at least reliable, having surpassed 200 innings in two seasons and made at least 30 starts in three of his first five. Only Danks and Tommy Thomas (1926-31) have made at least 25 starts in each of their first five seasons with the White Sox.

Chicago may go after a big bat, but team officials hops its existing lineup, namely Adam Dunn, Alex Rios and Gordon Beckham, can bounce back from forgettable 2011 campaign.

 

Cleveland Indians sign Andy LaRoche

Cleveland, OH

The Cleveland Indians agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent infielder Andy LaRoche and invited him to spring training.

A 28-year-old who has played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics, LaRoche will likely be given the opportunity to win Cleveland's utility infield job.

LaRoche started last season on Oakland's opening-day roster and hit .247 in 40 games before being sent to Triple-A Sacramento in June. LaRoche finished the rest of the season with the River Cats.

Andy won't be the first LaRoche to play for Cleveland as his father Dave pitched for 14 seasons in the majors, including the 1975 and 76 seasons when he led the Indians in appearances and saves.

Adam LaRoche, Andy's brother, plays for the Washington Nationals.

While LaRoche will give the Indians some infield depth, there is still a need for outfield depth and power.

 

 

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