The winter meetings have come to a conclusion and a lot of free agents are now with their new teams. The New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners made a lot of moves, while teams like the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves made very little noise. Below is two teams that had the worst meetings.
Minnesota Twins
The Twins signed Ricky Nolasco to a four-year, $49 million contract. Nolasco was not the only starting pitcher added to the Twins roster as they also signed Phil Hughes to a three year, $24 million contract. If this is not a set up for failure than I don't know what is. Hughes has a career ERA of 4.54 and pitched even worse in 2013. He went 4-14 over 29 starts all while recording a 5.19 ERA. His WAR was -0.7 and the Twins are now rewarding with a three year deal. Nolasco is not such a great starter himself. He did have his best season of his career in 2013 but can you really trust a seven year veteran with a career 4.37 ERA? Starting pitching was what the Twins wanted coming into this offseason and it’s exactly what they got. Unfortunately the pitching they bought is not top-tier pitching, or even second-tier pitching for that matter.
Atlanta Braves
The Braves have a young, core group of players who will be the main storyline for their 2014 campaign. The one thing they are missing is a glorified ace. This team needed to get a number one pitcher to complete their team. Their answer? Gavin Floyd. Certainly this is not who the Braves wanted coming into the offseason. Floyd has an overall ERA of 4.48 and was hurt for most of the 2013 season. He is 30 years-old and has been in the majors for nine seasons. This doesn’t make the Braves any less of a threat than they already are but they certainly didn’t scare any teams with this signing. Yes, the Braves will be a good team in 2014 but they had a very poor December.