JJ Hardy is one of the first players moved this off-season

The Yankees earned their 27th World Series on Wednesday, and the baseball season is over, just in terms of games played. MLB’s “off-season” isn’t “off” by any means with player options and trades underway, with free agency coming up.  Some things to keep in mind…for 15 days after the World Series ends, teams have exclusive rights to their own free agents. Players can talk with other teams, but only in general terms. The GMs will meet from November 9th-11th in Chicago.

Since Wednesday, some trades have been made and a couple caught my attention.

1. White Sox getting Mark Teahan from Royals for Chris Getz and Josh Fields

2. Brewers receiving Carlos Gomez from Twins for JJ Hardy

The White Sox trade caught me off-guard. Not as much that GM Kenny Williams made a trade, but that he got 1B/3B/OF Mark Teahan. Teahan was 271/.325/.408 last year, but is a career .261/.325/.514 hitter at U.S. Cellular Field. FanGraphs has him at -2.0 UZR/150 in right, which is a massive upgrade over Dye’s -17.5 mark. Teahen earned $3.5MM in 2009, and has two more years of arbitration eligibility ahead of him. Also, he is 28-years old and has a career .327 wOBA in five full seasons. So, he isn’t going to hit better than Dye, will be around a 1 win-a-year player, and appears be a solution for a team that is strapped for cash. According to Sox Reporter Joe Cowley, the Sox aren’t likely to bring back Jim Thome or Jermaine Dye, and it makes a Scott Podsednik return unlikely, unless he takes a small (around 1-2 million) offer.

Deal for Sox: D

The Royals receive former first-round pick and Sox burnout 3B/1B/DH Josh Fields and 2B Chris Getz. Fields isn’t good on defense and hasn’t produced much on offense. Getz doesn’t have any power combined with his .311 wOBA. They are some pieces Royals GM Dayton Moore has when building his “team”. Neither player is going to make a huge splash, but some cheap and young players doesn’t hurt.

Deal for Royals: C+

JJ Hardy was going to be dealt this off-season, it was just a matter of when and for whom. The Brewers killed two birds with one stone in this deal. First, they got rid of JJ Hardy and Alcides Escobar can start full-time at short stop. Second, they got Twins speedster and defensive stud Carlos Gomez, thus solving their CF issue and answering the question whether they would bring Mike Cameron back or not. The move saves them about $14 million if they would have kept Cameron and Hardy and not acquired Gomez. Gomez’s value comes from his legs. He has a career 73.8% SB success rate with a career +14.2 UZR in CF. The main drawback for the 24-year old is his .286 career wOBA with no power (.346 career slg pct). Gomez hasn’t shown too much improvement in his offense since entering the majors, and but still has time to improve. Considering the amount of interest in baseball around Hardy, it seems the Brewers could have done better than Gomez, if not, just waited a bit.

Deal for Brewers: B

The Twins get the guy they wanted in Hardy. The 27-year old Hardy is an outstanding defensive shortstop, 48.7 runs above average over the past 3 years which is good for third best among all players over that time! Hardy took a lot of heat this season for his poor offensive season, .229/.302/.357 and was even sent down to AAA. Some have argued the Brewers did that to manipulate Hardy’s service-time and push back his arbitration by a year, but Hardy said he won’t pursue a grievance over the situation. Hardy was unlucky this year with a .264 BABIP, compared to a .302 MLB average BABIP. With his career .325 wOBA, the Twins can expect a slightly above average hitter with a great glove in Hardy. Losing Gomez will probably have Delmon Young start full-time for the Twins.

Deal for Twins: A-

>>Fangraphs.com and MLBTradeRumors.com were used in this article.