Daily Hot Stove Wrap Up 11/30

Ladies and Gentlemen, the last two days of Hot Stove action has been hot, hot, hot.  Today marked the last day to non-tender roster players.  Non-tendering a player means that the player will become a free agent.  Let's review everything that has gone done the past few days.

• The Washington Nationals made a splash trading for former Minnesota Twins outfielder Denard Span.  The Nationals gave up pitching prospect Alex Meyer in the deal.  Span will slide into the lead off role and play center field.  Bryce Harper and Jason Werth will man the corner spots in the outfield.  Alex Meyer was one of the National top pitching prospects.  Meyer is a couple years away from making the big leagues, but is projected to be a top of the rotation starter for the Twins.

• B.J. Upton signed a 5 year $75.25 million contract with the Atlanta Braves.  It didn't take long for Upton to announce his contract as he changed his avatar on his Twitter Page @BJUPTON2 to the Atlanta Braves logo.  Last year, Upton batted .246 with 28 home runs and 78 RBIs.  Upton will play center field for the Braves replacing Michael Bourn.  

• Speaking of Michael Bourn, a few teams have interest in the soon to be 30 year old outfielder.  The Phillies and Cubs look to be the two main players.  After the Nationals traded for Denard Span and the Braves signed B.J. Upton, the market for center fielders like Bourn is slim.  This could hurt Bourn's earning potential as he will not have 4 or 5 teams bidding for his services anymore.

• The Phillies seem to be interested in Bourn and Angel Pagan.  Pagan is asking for less money and the Phillies could use this extra cash to fill holes at third base and throughout the pitching staff.  The Giants and Phillies are the two main players for Pagan and it is rumored that both have 4 year offers out to the 31 year old outfielder.  This once again hurts the market for Bourn and agent Scott Boras is known to drive a hard bargen for his clients.

• The Braves made a trade today acquiring Jordan Walden from the LA Angels for starting pitcher Tommy Hanson.  I see this as a good trade for both teams.  The Angels signed Ryan Madson to close moving Ernesto Frieri and Scott Downs into set up roles, ultimately leaving Walden out of the picture.  The Angels have covered their starting rotation woes if they can't sign Zach Grienke by entering Hanson into the rotation.

• A list of players were non-tendered today.  The Orioles non-tendered 1B/3B Mark Reynolds.  This wasn't much of a shock, as Reynolds in a very replaceable piece.  The Washington Nationals non-tendered starting pitcher John Lannan.  Not much of a surprise here as well as Lannan was the odd man out in the National rotation last year.  The Chicago Cubs non-tendered Ian Stewart, SHOCKER, NOT!  Stewart was bad with the Cubs before getting hurt.  The Cubs will look to fill his spot at third base.  The San Francisco Giants will probably non-tender closer Brian Wilson.  Wilson was hurt last year and Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo filled in admirably leaving the Giants the option to non-tender Wilson.  The BRaves non-tendered pitchers Jair Jurrjens and Peter Moylan.  Jeff Karstens of the Pittsburgh Pirates was non-tendered along with Brewers left Manny Parra.  The Boston Red Sox non-tendered outfielder Ryan Sweeney.  The Texas Rangers non-tendered former Cub catcher Geo Soto.  The New York Mets have non-tendered outfielder Andres Torres and pitcher Manny Acosta.  Mike Pelfrey was informed that he will also be non-tendered by the Mets.  

• David Wright has signed an extension with the aforementioned New York Mets.  The contract is for 7 years and $122 million.  Wright is now signed through 2020.  Good move for the Mets as in the past year fellow third basemen Ryan Zimmerman and Evan Longoria (just last week) signed similar deals to stay with their respective teams.  Wright has been a cornerstone for the franchise and now Wright will end his career in a Mets uniform.

•  Another long-time New Yorker will be staying in the City that Never Sleeps as the Yankees have signed the legendary closer, Mariano Rivera to a 1 year $10 Million deal.  

• The Houston Astros have claimed former perfect game pitcher, Phillip Humber off waivers from the Chicago White Sox. 

• Catcher Russell Martin has signed a two year contract worth $17 million with the Pittsburgh Pirates.