Winter Meetings Day Two Part Two

So continuing with the trend of highlighting the signings during the Winter meetings, here goes:

- Scott Olsen signs with the Pittsburgh Pirates
William DePaoli reports on the InsidePittsburghSports.com website that the Pirates and pitcher Scott Olsen have agreed to the framework of a 1-year $1 million dollar deal with incentives that seem to not have been agreed to by both sides.

Scott Olsen, formerly of the Washington Nationals, has had an injuries limit his pitching the last two seasons. In 2010, Olsen compiled a 4-8 record with a 5.56 ERA in 17 games, 15 of which were starts. He struck out 53 while walking 27 and allowing 93 hits in 81 innings pitched for a WHIP of 1.481.

Maybe Olsen can stay healthy and join a rotation that seems to be full now with the acquisition of Kevin Correia yesterday by the Pirates and Maholm, McDonald and Ohlendorf. If so, the Pirates might have one of the better young rotations in baseball.

- Click Here to access Scott Olsen's career statistics at Baseball Reference.com

- Tony Gwynn Jr. signs with the Los Angeles Dodgers
Tony Jackson of ESPN Los Angeles reports that the Los Angeles Dodgers have signed Tony Gwynn Jr., to a 1-year deal after being non-tendered by the San Diego Padres last week.

After a productive 2009 season for Gwynn, 2010 was a bit of a let down. Gwynn batted .204 with 3 HRs and 20 RBI. He had 59 hits (9 2B/3 3B/3 HR) in 289 at-bats while striking out 50 ties and walking 41 times and stealing 17 bases out of 21 attempts.

I believe that Gwynn will play a similar role with the Dodgers as he did with the Padres. He is versatile by playing all three outfield positions as well as having the speed to be a pinch runner.

- Click Here to see Tony Gwynn Jr's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com

- New York Mets Sign Two Players
Adam Rubin of ESPN New York reports that according to sources the New York Mets have agreed to a one-year, $1.3 million contract with catcher Ronny Paulino and a two-year, $2.5 million contract with reliever D.J. Carrasco. Both deals are pending physicals.

Ronny Paulino, formerly of the Florida Marlins, was suspended for 50 games in late August after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. His suspension ran for 42 games last season and will be in effect for the first 8 games of the 2011 season. Up to the time of the suspension, Paulino was batting .259 with 4 HRs and 37 RBI. In 316 at-bats, Paulino had 82 hits (18 2B/0 3B/4 HR), striking out 51 times and drawing 25 bases on balls.

D.J. Carrasco, played with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Pittsburgh Pirates during the 2010 season compiling a 3-2 record with a 3.68 ERA in 63 games. In 78.1 innings pitched, Carrasco struck out 63, walking 34 and giving up 68 hits for a WHIP of 1.302.

It is believed that Paulino will platoon at catcher with Josh Thole while Carrasco will try to bring some stability to a Mets bullpen that lost Hisanori Takahashi and Pedro Feliciano to free agency. For a small price the Mets have plugged two critical holes within their team.

- Click Here for Ronny Paulino's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here for D.J. Carrasco's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com

Well, day two of the Winter Meetings was a bit anti-climactic since there wasn't any news concerning the main free agents Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford. There's always tomorrow.

FH