Give this man an invite.

Before last season I wrote a pair of columns (which I would link to but the site is down) looking at the more interesting non-roster invitees in every team’s Spring Training Camp. It might have been the most enjoyable column to research I wrote all year and I’ll be doing it again at around the time pitchers and catchers report for the 2012 season.

When I do write that column, I hope I get to write a caption about Dmitri Young. Over at the Leader, Jerry Crasnick has an in-depth look at Young’s attempted comeback which is full of good stuff. From the picture in the article, it looks like Young is in much better shape and has lost a hell of a lot of weight since we last saw him. The comeback is unlikely to amount to much but Young, previously best described as ‘husky’, was always fun to watch play.

He’s been out of the game since the middle of the 2008 season but the fact that he’s dealt with the diabetes that caused his first retirement to the extent that a comeback is even possible makes this a great story. If a team thinks he can at least not be passable at the plate during Spring Training then there’s really little harm in having him in camp, particularly on a young team that would benefit from having a senior pro around.

Realistically, Young isn’t going to make anyone’s Opening Day roster and there’s no indication in Crasnick’s article as to whether Young would be willing to go to Triple-A so he may well call it a day if he doesn’t get the sort of offers he’s looking for. Having said that, if he was giving the opportunity to get some bats as a team’s DH in 2012 he wouldn’t have to offer much to outhit his brother Delmon’s .268/.302/.393 slash line from last year.

Congratulations to the newest member of the Hall of Fame Barry Larkin and onwards with the belated second part of my series on how contenders can use the remaining free agents to fill key gaps on their rosters:

Miami Marlins

Need: Centre field

They might not be targeting a new centre fielder, they seem quite content with giving Chris Coughlin the job, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need one. I like Coughlin as a hitter but absolutely don’t see him as being anything close to a major league centre field, either in health or ability. Where else he plays with the current construction of the Marlins roster is difficult to say but between Coughlin, Logan Morrison and Gaby Sanchez they do have some depth from which to make a trade. The only free agent that has a chance to plug this gap is the almost mythical Yoenis Cespedes who the Marlin will probably be amongst the bidders for.

Atlanta Braves

Need: Balance

Taking a flyer on a reliever or two to take some of the pressure and workload off of the O’Flaherty/Venters/Kimbrel late innings combo would appear to be a good idea but then what team couldn’t stand to add an arm to their bullpen? More importantly, the Braves could do with a solid right handed hitter to counter the fact that all of their best hitters are port-siders. Martin Prado should be better in 2012 than he was last year but the only right handed hitter who fits onto the Braves roster is Cody Ross who, as the winter goes on, gets more and more likely not to be handed a silly contract. And besides, Ross to the Braves has seemed almost inevitable since the last pitch of 2011 was thrown.

Philadelphia Phillies 

Need: Relievers

Papelbon for Madson is more or less a straight swap at the back of the bullpen but the group in front of them is an unpredictable bunch. While they won’t get a particularly reliable arm via free agency at this point, picking up a Brad Lidge, Rich Harden or Mike Gonzalez type and hoping it pays off is probably the most advisable approach.

Milwaukee Brewers

Need: Ryan Braun

His appeal might be pending but we haven’t seen a PED suspension overturned yet. All-Star/MVP level players on the market that the Brewers can afford are not plentiful.

St Louis Cardinals / Cincinnati Reds

Need: Not a lot

Not that either of these teams are perfect or even necessarily the best in the NL, but there’s not many other teams out there, save perhaps the Phillies, with a more settled projected roster.

San Francisco Giants

Need: HITTING

No my caps lock isn’t broken. The Giants have two excellent hitters: Sandoval and Posey. The concern is that Posey doesn’t make a full recovery from injury, furthering exposing a weak line up. Their third best hitter will probably be there opening day first baseman…at Triple-A. Why Brandon Belt doesn’t get a long look in this terrible line up is one of the great mysteries of our time. Melky Cabrera will help but expecting him to replicate his 2011 hitting performance is ambitious. Wilson Betemit would be a nice pick up as a super utility / first bat off the bench type player.

Colorado Rockies 

Need: Pitching

As always the Rockies are in need of arms. If they really can’t fit someone like Kevin Millwood into their budget then I really don’t know where there going to find what they’re looking for.

Doing the senior circuit half of this series I was surprised to see how locked into their current rosters so many contenders were. As contenders you wouldn’t expect them to have gaping holes to fill but I was anticipating a bit more flexibility than appears to be available. What this means for the likes of Ryan Madson, Prince Fielder and Edwin Jackson is anyone’s guess. The only exceptions to this are the Washingtion Nationals who may not be contenders now but could take that step up very quickly with their young talent and could justify signing someone like Fielder.

Andrew Bailey

Red Sox acquire RHP Andrew Bailey and OF Ryan Sweeney for OF Josh Reddick, RHP Raul Alcantara and 1B Miles Head.

ESPN’s Buster Olney has just broken the news that one of my predictions has finally come true. The more newsworthy way of looking at it is that the Red Sox have acquired a very good closer for a fairly light-looking package.

Despite GM Ben Cherington’s quotes about being comfortable with the idea of Mark Melancon being the team’s closer, it was always a safe bet that the team would look to bring in another reliever with Bailey and Ryan Madson being the biggest names available. Bailey has had some health problems and his numbers will almost certainly take a hit while moving from the Oakland Coliseum to Fenway Park, but he’s a very good late inning option with strong peripheral numbers for his career. Acquiring him for Reddick, Alcantara and Head looks to be a good move from Cherington as he tries to upgrade the Boston pitching staff from last year.

Reddick v Sweeney looks close to a wash to me. Sweeeny’s batting practice power is near-legendary but Reddick holds the advantage as a hitter, while Sweeney has the better glove and appraoch. The greater chance that he can play centre field makes Sweeney the better fit as either a 4th outfielder or the left handed half of a right field platoon. There is also a real chance that Reddick has a sub-.300 OBA next year playing half his games in the cavernous Coliseum.

Miles Head and Raul Alcantara (click through for scouting reports) are the sort of lottery tickets who usually don’t pan out but are worth taking a shot on. Alcantara is generally seen as the better prospect. SoxProspects.com’s Ian Cundall see’s Alcantara as having the ceiling of a number 3 starter once his body fills out but he’s undoubtedly got a long way to go before he has any chance of seeing the majors. Cundall also describes Head as ‘a fringy bad-bodied first baseman’ which is the sort of player who isn’t going to get a chance in Boston anytime soon. Ultimately these seem to be two fairly fungible prospects who the Red Sox probably won’t regret giving up.

While this move looks to be a good one for Boston, it does beg the question of what the corresponding moves will be. Sweeney and Ryan Kalish are now at the top of the Red Sox right field depth chart so there looks to be a good chance that Cherington brings in a Andruw Jones or Ryan Ludwick type player to create some competition or, preferably, a platoon partnership. There are also still rotation issues to address, particularly if Daniel Bard doesn’t stick as a starter (Hiroki Kuroda would be nice). But for today, the Red Sox have done a good job of addressing a need by trading assets that won’t be much missed to bring in a good, cheap talent.

Today comes word that the Atlanta Braves are none too thrilled about the Pixar company’s efforts to copyright the name “Brave,” which is the title of the studio’s new movie about a young Scottish girl with bright red hair who, presumably, overcomes gender stereotypes and dragons on her way to save somebody from something.

The Braves’ opposition to the studio’s copyright claim is kind of crazy for the following reasons:

1. Brave is being produced by Pixar and released by Disney. The Braves train in Walt Disney World. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

2. The Braves are thieves themselves, having stolen the tomahawk chop from Florida State.

3. What is it with Georgia and crazy copyright claims? First Chick-fil-A sues the “Eat More Kale” guy and now this?

4. The Braves have done nothing since the season ended. Actually, they didn’t really do much over the last month of the season, either. They went 10-20 down the stretch — including 0-9 against Philadelphia and St. Louis. So really, it’s about time we heard something from Atlanta. But I’m guessing Atlanta fans were hoping for a free agent signing or trade.

Now that we’re at the point in the off season where unsigned big names are the exception rather than the norm, a team looking to go out and pick up a new player for 2012 will find their options quickly dwindling. For clubs that wait out the market there may be a nice opportunity to pick up an overlooked player on the cheap, however every year there are teams scrabbling around pre-Spring Training trying to fill an important roster spot. While this is less of an issue for teams that don’t expect to contend, there are still contenders with fairly significant holes to plug as the free agent market thins out. Here’s a look at how they can use the free agent pool to address their issues.

Tampa Bay Rays

Need: First Baseman

Team has surplus of cheap first basemen + Team in need of cheap first baseman = The winter’s most obvious trade rumour.

Casey Kotchman

There’s a reason these rumours get going; picking up Anthony Rizzo or Yonder Alonso in a trade with the Padres would make a lot of sense for the Rays who aren’t going to throw a lot of money at anyone to become their starting first baseman. Casey Kotchman‘s ongoing availability seems to make it less likely that someone will overpay him following a strong 2011 and more likely he re-signs with the Rays for a small-ish raise. Carlos Pena also remains available for a second go round in Tampa if he’s willing to sign for less than the $10m (with deferred money) he signed for last year.

Boston Red Sox

Need: Right fielder / Pitching

A desire to keep the payroll from blitzing past the luxury tax threshold means that my Carlos Beltran speculation from early this year is unlikely to provide the answer for the Red Sox final outfield spot. Josh Reddick had a strong start to his major league career last season but a poor approach at the plate meant pitchers began to find him out more often as the season went on. Ryan Kalish is the other in-house option, and is generally seen as the better long-term prospect. A re-union with JD Drew seems unlikely and while making a big run at Yoenis Cespedes wouldn’t help the team with its luxury tax issue, he might be the sort of player the front office will make an exception for.

For relief help, my guess would be that an Andrew Bailey trade gets done and Ben Cherington also picks up one or two arms to take a flyer on during Spring Training. The likes of David Aardsma, Chad Durbin, Mike Gonzalez, Brad Lidge and Hong-Chih Kuo would fit that criteria while a offer for Ryan Madson is still a possibility.

New York Yankees

Need: Starting pitching

Their current rotation is reasonably set as Sabathia, Nova, Hughes, Burnett, Garcia but I’d be surprised if Brian Cashman isn’t looking to upgrade but jettisoning AJ Burnett. Roy Oswalt remains available but is someone the Yankees should probably wait on and see if he can be grabbed late in the off season for an incentive laden contract. Edwin Jackson doesn’t seem likely and the young arms down on the farm won’t be rushed to help the big club. Starting pitchers to clearly improve the team are few and far between so Cashman may well stick with what he’s got and look at the trade market during the season where clubs like the Rangers could have a surplus to deal from.

Detroit Tigers

Need: Third baseman

Brandon Inge is back baby!

Brandon Inge is back with the club and will provide his usual solid glove and terrible bat. It may make sense to bring back Wilson Betemit as a more offensively minded option at the hot corner given that the market for third baseman is just about non existent and the Tigers aren’t particularly deep in the sort of prospects that could net them an upgrade without gutting the system.

Cleveland Indians

Need: Defense / Power

The Indians are in a strange position in that they are only really contenders because they play in a bad division. Their extreme groundball staff means they should be looking to put a strong infield defense on the field so it may be worth then looking into an ‘all-glove’ infielder to use as a defensive replacement. Their old friend Omar Vizquel, even in his 40s, might be the best option for that role left on the market which says more about the other players available than Vizquels qualities.

The cheap power options seem to be the same every winter but bringing in an Eric Hinske or Russell Branyan type to fit into the 1B / DH / LF mix might not be the worst option.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Need: Offense

While the rumour mill would suggest the Angels are looking for relievers, fans should hope the team realises that Jordan Walden is just fine in the closers role. Their actual need is for some more offense, even after signing Albert Pujols, but where they find room for it in their current roster construction is anyone’s guess.

Texas Rangers

Need: Tweaks

Replacing CJ Wilson with Yu Darvish should be a net break even move, more so if they can trade a starter to strengthen in other areas. Mitch Moreland is a solid but unsexy option at first base but the only likely upgrade the Rangers would seem to want to make there is to make a push for Prince Fielder which would make for a pretty awesome line up in Arlington. The Rangers have a very strong team but the history of clubs that stand pat after a good year isn’t filled with successes. Assuming the Darvish deal gets done, Fielder is the only other big name they really need to be thinking about which doesn’t mean they wouldn’t benefit from a few modest acquisitions.

On Wednesday, the Red Sox acquired RP Mark Melancon from the Astros for SS/IF Jed Lowrie and SP/RP Kyle Weiland.

Earlier today, the Reds acquired SP Mat Latos from the Padres for 1B/OF Yonder Alondo, C Yasmani Grandal, SP Edinson Volquez and RP Brad Boxberger.

I know there’s a fairly strong desire among a lot of fans to anoint a ‘winner’ of a trade as soon as it’s consummated, but to me both of these trades look like good moves for all parties.

Volquez will benefit from moving to PETCO.

In Melancon, the Red Sox are getting a very solid relief option to pitch some high leverage innings at the back of their bullpen. Lowrie is the big get for the Astros is this trade (Weiland is just a throw in) and will be a good upgrade over Clint Barmes at shortstop for a team in the middle of a major rebuild. There are questions about his platoon splits, defense and health, but a versatile infield who can hit with power is a nice commodity to have. As a Red Sox fan I like the idea of using Lowrie as a chip to upgrade the bullpen although I did think he would bring back a slightly better arm than Melancon. That’s only a minor gripe though and is pretty much offset by the risk that the Astros are taking on with Lowrie.

It was no secret that the Reds would use this off season to strengthen their pitching staff and possibly bring in a new shortstop. Having a strong farm system with depth a multiple positions allowed them to bring in Latos who is likely to be their best starter in 2012. The package they gave up is a high price to pay but it also reflects the value on the trade market of young, cost-controlled pitching. Grandal could be a first division catcher but the Reds are that rare team with depth behind the plate. The Rangers of a few years ago are a reminder that it can be worth trading from these positions of strength before the assets start to depreciate. Alonso was never going to get a look in with Joey Votto around and his arrival in San Diego raises the question of a second trade to resolve the question of who plays first base for the Padres long term, Alonso or Anthony Rizzo. If it was my decision I’d be more inclined to flip Alonso. They are pretty comparable talents right now but it’s the two year age gap that really swings it for me. Volquez will benefit from moving to PETCO (who doesn’t?) and Boxberger should be a nice enough reliever so it’s a very good package but also a pretty fair one for a pitcher of Latos’ calibre.

By 2014/15 maybe we’ll look back and see two lopsided trades, but right now I think all four teams have made trades that addressed a clear need. Twitter in particular seems to call for instant reactions to any move a team makes, as I saw on my timeline when a few people assumed Alonso was the only piece going to the Padres for Latos, but I’m calling both of these trades draws for now.