Phillies, Hamels agree to one-year deal

PBR - The Phillies and Cole Hamels agreed on a one-year deal worth $15 million and avoided arbitration.

Hamels went 14-9 last season with a 2.79 ERA in 32 games last season.

The one-year deal allows Hamels and the club the luxury of discussing a long-term contract. Hamels is eligible for free agency following the 2012 season.

The left-hander made $9.5 million last season in the final year of a three-year contract.

The club also signed Wilson Valdez for $930,000.

Tuesday was the final day for players to sign before arbitration numbers are exchanged.

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Roto Challenge: Michael Pineda, SP, NYY

PBR - The Review will publicly manage a club this season in CDM's Diamond Roto Challenge.

For those unfamiliar with CDM's Roto Challenge, participants compile a roster of 28 players and a taxi squad of 12 players. All players are given a salary and participants must build a club within the confines of $30,000,000. There is no draft, participants simply select the players they want.

I will be building the Review's roster over the next few weeks and plan to blog about each selection. Salaries can be found here. My selections will be based on projected statistics, relative value compared to other positional players, and sabermetric analysis.

Selection: Michael Pineda

SP, NYY, $890,000

Pineda performed magnificently during the first half of the 2011 season but sputtered down the stretch. He finished with a 3.74 ERA to go along with an impressive 1.10 WHIP. He throws a 95-mph fastball and is projected to increase his DOM (SO per 9) from 9.10 to 9.40 ... for perspective, a DOM over 6 is considered excellent.

Pineda's Fantasy Performance Indicator (FPI) is projected at 1.80 for 2012, making him an excellent value at $890,000. In comparison, Dan Hudson (projected FPI 1.50) and Ryan Dempster (projected FPI 1.06) are the other two SP's priced at $890,000.

FPI is calculated by using linear weights. Every inning pitched is valued at 4.5, hits at -2.5, home runs at -6, wins at 3, losses at -3 and walks at 1. After adding the weights the formula is (IP-H-HR+W-L-BB)/actual IP). Pitchers with FPI's of 1.60 to 1.80 are considered fantasy stars, 1.80 to 2.00 super stars and above 2.00 fantasy studs.

Playing in Seattle, Pineda remains a relative unknown. To succeed in a contest like this you have to seek under-valued talent and I think we have that here. The starting lineup consists of six SP's, so the money saved on a bargain like Pineda can go toward an ace such as Roy Halladay or Justin Verlander, each costing around $1,600,000.

This post was created before Pineda was dealt to the Yankees. I believe the move will help improve his win total, but also push his ERA up a bit as Yankee Stadium is more hitter friendly than Safeco Field.

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Report: Madson signs with the Reds

PBR - Ryan Madson has signed a one-year deal with the Cincinnati Reds, according to various reports.

Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.

Madson went 4-2 last season with the Phillies and notched 32 saves. In nine seasons with the Phils the 31-year-old compiled a 3.59 career ERA and 67% save conversion rate.

The Phillies originally had an interest in re-signing Madson  to a four-year deal worth $44 million, but ownership axed the offer and the club changed directions and signed Jonathan Papelbon.

Statistically, last season was the best of Madson's career as he finished with a WAR of 2.2 and a career best 3.1 HR/FB.

Moving to Great American Ballpark, I expect his HR/FB number to trend upwards toward his career average of 7.1, especially considering how favorable GAB is to hitters (107 park factor in 2011). However, if he stays healthy (and if Scott Boras doesn't over-value him) he should be able to sign a lucrative long-term deal after the 2012 season.

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Phillies not yet thinking long term with Hamels

PBR - Assistant general manager Scott Proefrock appeared on Comcast SportsNet on Tuesday night and said the Phillies are focused on negotiating a one-year deal with left-hander Cole Hamels.

"We've had discussions with Cole," Profrock said. "Right now we are focused on a one-year deal. There is plenty of time down the road, that's all I'll say."

Hamels is eligible for free agency after the 2012 season. He's expected to make somewhere near $14 million through arbitration next month.

The 28-year-old finished 14-9 last season with a career best 2.79 ERA.

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Phillies linked to free-agent Kerry Wood

PBR - Sources confirmed Monday that the Phillies have reached out to free-agent Kerry Wood.

The 34-year-old reliever is believed to be looking for a one-year contract in the neighborhood of $4 million.

The Phillies are believed to be one of several clubs interested in the right-hander, along with Anaheim and Detroit. Wood posted a 3.35 ERA while with the Cubs last season and has a 10.34 strikeout ratio over his 13-year career.

The Cubs were reportedly close to re-signing Wood last week, but talks hit a snag when the two sides discussed an increase over the $1.5 million Wood made last season.

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Rangers skate by Flyers in Winter Classic

PBR - Mike Rupp notched a pair of goals and Henrik Lundqvist stopped a penalty shot in the final minute of the third period to lift the Rangers to a 3-2 win in the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic in front of 46,967 fans on Monday at Citizens Bank Park.

Rupp scored a goal late in the second period and again early in the third period to negate a 2-0 deficit. Brad Richards scored what turned out to be the game-winner with 14:39 remaining in the contest.

Danny Briere had an opportunity to tie the game with a penalty shot with 19.6 seconds in the third period, but Lundqvist turned the shot away marking his 33rd save. Ryan McDonagh sprawled across the goal-line behind Lundqvist to prevent a lose puck from trickling in, but he covered the puck with his hand, affording the penalty shot.

Brayden Schenn collected his first career goal to open the scoring for the Flyers in the second period. Claude Giroux scored less than two-minutes later, lifting the Flyers to a 2-0 advantage.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots in the losing effort.

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