Talking Baseball

The arbitration deadline for Major League Baseball is just around the corner and many teams are weighing their options.

Free agents on the market that have yet to be signed by new teams or resigned by their old teams, must be offered arbitration by Monday night at midnight by their team if they want to receive draft picks if they sign elsewhere.

If a player accepts his team’s offer of arbitration then he will receive a one year deal worth a set amount of money.

If the player does not accept the offer of arbitration it doesn’t mean that that player and the team still can’t negotiate a contract.

Once a player has been offered arbitration, if he decides to sign elsewhere, the team that offered him arbitration will receive compensatory draft picks in the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

If the player is a Type A free agent, the team that signs him will have to give his old team two first round draft picks.

If he is a Type B free agent, it will be a sandwich pick between the first two rounds.

The Boston Red Sox have acquired right handed reliever Wes Littleton from the Texas Rangers for future considerations.

Those future considerations could be two players to be named later or cash considerations.

Littleton was designated for assignment on November 20th by the Rangers, which means they had ten days to trade or release him.

Littleton has pitched in only 80 games in the Major Leagues but has held right handed hitters to a .236 batting average.

Littleton was drafted in the fourth round of the 2003 Draft by the Rangers out of Cal-State Fullerton. He has induced 196 groundballs in 102.1 innings pitched during his 80 game career.

That stat ranks him 14th out of all active pitchers with 100-plus innings pitched in their career.

There is a possibility that right handed starting pitcher Freddy Garcia is still injured.

He has pitched for the Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers during his Major League career.

He signed a one year deal with the Tigers towards the end of the 2008 season but only appeared in a few games.

He was pitching in a Venezuelan Winter League game on Thursday but had to leave his start early due to shoulder soreness.

He had surgery on his shoulder in 2007 while with the Phillies, which ended his season.

Garcia was a member of the 2005 World Series Champion White Sox and was the starting pitcher in game four, the clinching game.

Garcia was an All-Star in 2001 and 2002 with the Mariners.