For the second time in their careers, Kevin Millwood and Bartolo Colon have hit free agency at the same time. Last time was in the winter of 2003, when they were the two of the three best pitchers in a middling free agent class. This time around it’s quite a bit different: Millwood recently turned 36 and is coming off a poor season, the third time in the last four years that his ERA eclipsed 5.00. Colon, who will turn 38 in May, hasn’t pitched since July of 2009 and has thrown just 257 innings during his last four seasons on the mound. Despite this, he has landed a minor league contract with the Yankees, which will pay him $900,000 if he makes the team out of spring training. Millwood, meanwhile, sits and waits for a suitable offer.

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Billy Beane has essentially divided his off-season into two parts. In the latter part he bought a couple of relievers to finish off an already strong bullpen. While that might have been the more curious part, it probably wasn’t the most helpful. In the first part of his off-season, however, Beane made upgrades to the offense, particularly in terms of power. The A’s certainly need the boost; the team produced a .122 ISO last season, third worst in the majors.

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The Pirates might not have been the worst hitting team in baseball last season, but they ended up the worst overall by no small margin. The Mariners, at 6.1 wins, produced -138.4 wRAA to the Pirates’ -99, but an 88-run difference in fielding left the Mariners with 6.1 Wins Above Replacement, more than doubling the Pirates’ 2.8. This represents the lowest team batting/fielding WAR since the Diamondbacks finished with -1.2 WAR in 2004. Yet that’s not the most interesting part. Clicking through to the Pirates team WAR figures, one thing stands out. It will make you laugh or cry, depending on your allegiances.

Andrew McCutchen produced more WAR than the entire Pittsburgh offense and defense, himself included.

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It has been a long road back for Joel Pineiro. After producing two excellent seasons for the Mariners in 2002 and 2003 he began a swift decline. It started with an elbow injury in 2004 and continued through 2008. During that time he had pitched for three teams, though his last destination, St. Louis, appeared the most attractive. That’s where he worked under the tutelage of pitching coach Dave Duncan. A year and a half after acquiring Pineiro from the Red Sox, the Cardinals found they had struck gold. He pitched 214 innings in 2009 and finished with a 3.49 ERA.

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When the Cubs acquired Tom Gorzelanny at the 2009 trade deadline he was little more than an afterthought. Their main target was lefty reliever John Grabow, who was in the midst of a decent season. But apparently the Pirates had seen enough of Gorzelanny’s inconsistency and made him part of the deal. Eighteen months and a quality season later, the Cubs have flipped Gorzelanny for a handsome profit.

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Every year, it seems, there is a reliever whose market is hampered by the Type A free agency tag. In the 2008-2009 off-season it was Juan Cruz. Last year it was Rafael Betancourt. This year it was Grant Balfour. Signing relievers to multi-year deals is a dicey proposition to begin with, and draft-pick compensation just amplifies the cost. The risk and the cost weren’t too great for the A’s, though, as they signed Balfour to a two-year, $8.1 million deal this morning.

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The free agent market always gets a bit more interesting in early December, after the non-tender deadline. A new crop of free agents become available, and every year it seems as though two or three players generate a ton of interest. This year Matt Diaz ranked among them. Despite his injury-shortened 2010 season, plenty of teams saw value in his bat, especially in a platoon role. The Pirates won the sweepstakes, signing him to a two-year deal. There was another, less heralded player on the market whose skills are somewhat similar to Diaz’s. Yet Scott Hairston has barely received a mention this winter.

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Although they upgraded their offense and bullpen earlier in the off-season, the Tigers still have a few weaknesses. Chief among them is the starting rotation. While Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer represent a quality one-two punch, the rest of the rotation remains a question. The Tigers helped strengthen the crew today by signing Brad Penny to a one-year, $3 million deal that could become $6 million if he reaches certain milestones. The move means the Tigers will be a bit stronger at the back end of the rotation.

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If there is one stat on this site that inspires more controversy than the others, it’s UZR. One reason I do like the stat, even though I admit its flaws, is that it comprises runs above average from four different defensive components: arm, double play, range, and error. It’s the last that I want to focus on today. While browsing defensive stats I noticed that a few players stand out from their peers in terms of sure-handedness. That is, they have, at some point in the last nine years, almost completely lacked it. What follows is a quick look at infielders who have cost their teams a win, or close to it, just by failing to make plays that the official scorer thought they should have.

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The rumors started gaining traction this week, and now we have a deal. The Cubs have acquired Matt Garza and two minor leaguers in exchange for five players, including Chris Archer, whom Baseball America recently ranked the Cubs No. 1 prospect. The move has a clear win-now bent, as the Cubs’ NL Central rivals have loaded up on talent this winter. But it this enough to put them back in the picture?

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