As RJ noted yesterday, the Marlins gave Javier Vazquez $7 million for the 2011 season, hoping for another rebound season after a switch back to the National League. Vazquez’s career peripherals are quite good, and he was one of the game’s best pitchers in 2009 with the Braves, so there are reasons to think that it is a reclamation project worth taking on. There’s also this:

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Outside of the Javier Vazquez and Tsuyoshi Nishioka news, the only move of note over the holiday was the signing of starter Jon Garland by the Los Angeles Dodgers to a one year, $5 million deal. Garland moves from divisional foe San Diego, where he posted good traditional numbers (14-12, 3.47 ERA) in exactly 200 innings with the Padres.

Garland is the quintessential “innings-eater.”

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For the second time in Javier Vazquez’s career, he will rejoin the National League after a miserable season with the New York Yankees. Following the 2004 season, the Yankees traded Vazquez to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Barring an injury, Vazquez will play for his third National League East team in 2011, as he has chosen to sign with the Florida Marlins by his own devices.

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This was originally written on November 9th. It has moved back to the front page as a reference for Twins fans who want to read about their newest potential acquisition.

On Monday, a story that had been circulating around the Japanese press re-emerged in the US, with Tim Kurkjian reporting that Chiba Lotte Marines shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka is due to be posted this week. The Japanese media heavily covered the story when it first broke, but died down during the Nippon Series, which the Marines won. Now that hot stove season has kicked into gear there’s more to talk about.

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It wasn’t all that long ago that the Los Angeles Dodgers’ young catcher Russell Martin ranked among the best at his position in baseball. After two disappointing seasons, including an injury-shortened 2010, Martin is a potential non-tender candidate for the team. Whether or not a non-tender would be the right decision depends on Martin’s likely 2011 performance relative to his salary, where the Dodgers see themselves in relation to contention, and what they think of Martin’s health.

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For a limited time the FanGraphs iPhone app is on sale for $0.99.

Existing and new owners of the app will also find the 2011 Bill James projections in the player pages. I can also confirm that the app will include live and updated data for the 2011 season.

For the past several years, Bud Selig has been a guest lecturer in Marquette Law School’s 7303 course, “Professional Sports Law.” His daughter (and successor as owner of the Brewers) Wendy Selig-Prieb, was a 1988 graduate of the law school. On Tuesday, the school announced that Selig was formally joining the school as adjunct faculty.

As it turns out, Commissioner Selig has an even deeper connection to Marquette: Kennesaw Mountain Landis lectured there in 1909, when he was a federal district court judge in Chicago, long before he became baseball’s first commissioner in 1921. Marquette law professor J. Gordon Hylton did a little digging and discovered that Landis’s lecture was entitled “Public Criticism of the Judiciary,” in which he used the example of baseball to defend the right of individuals to criticize judges:

Adverse criticism — denunciation that is unjust can permanently injure nothing or nobody. And as a rule its impotency increases with its bitterness. But very great injury can be done even a virtuous cause by an attempt to forbid inquiry into it or comment upon it… I have been going to baseball games for thirty years. I never saw a game or heard of one where somebody did not call the umpire a robber or a thief, and yet no intelligent man doubts the integrity of baseball.

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With the Tampa Bay Rays facing a budget crunch and possessing a home-grown prospect (Reid Brignac) capable of similar production at a fraction of the cost, shortstop Jason Bartlett figures to open the 2011 season in a new city. It’s possible that the Rays non-tender the 31-year-old, but it’s more likely that Tampa finds a trade partner. Bartlett’s name has been tied at various times to the Orioles, Nationals, Giants, Cardinals and Padres. What sort of trade value does Bartlett have?

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The San Diego Padres
2010 MLB Record: 90-72 (2nd in the NL West)
Minor League Power Ranking: 26th (out of 30)
Click for: Last Year’s Top 10 Prospect List

The Prospects

1. Simon Castro, RHP
Acquired: 2006 non-drafted free agent (Dominican Republic)
Pro Experience: 4 seasons
2010 MiLB Level: AA/AAA
Opening Day Age: 23
Estimated Peak WAR: 4.5

Notes: Castro reached triple-A in 2010 at the age of 22. The hard-throwing right-hander pitched the majority of the season in double-A and posted a 3.32 FIP in 129.2 innings of work. He showed respectable control with a walk rate of 2.50 BB/9, but his strikeout rate dropped from 10.07 K/9 at high-A in ’09 to 7.43 K/9. As he continues to face more advanced hitters, Castro will need to improve his slider and changeup to go along with his 90-95 mph fastball. The young pitcher has nice balance on the mound and stays tall through his delivery. He does land on a stiff leg at times and there is a little effort in his delivery, which puts some strain on his shoulder. He throws with a low-three-quarter arm angle and does not have a ton of deception. Despite the mildly alarming drop in strikeouts, Castro is by far the team’s best prospect, but he likely still needs another half year of seasoning in the minors.

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