Placido Polanco has returned to Philadelphia after some time in Detroit

And the big names, Holliday, Bay, and Lackey haven’t found a new home yet, but Chone Figgins, Placido Polanco and Marco Scutaro are now off the market.

Let me say, as a White Sox fan, I’m glad Placido Polanco is out of the division, as well as AL, because it seemed like he killed the White Sox every time he was at the plate. His .319/.361/.434 in 79 games vs. the Sox was better than his career .303/.348/.414 splits, not to mention his gold glove in 2007. So I’m not shedding any tears for him leaving Detroit.

Polanco signed a 3-year, $18 million dollar contract in Philadelphia to play 3B. For the 34-year old, this seems to be a fair deal for both sides. Polanco has been worth $14 million dollars the last two years, according to fangraphs, and he has played over 140 games the last three years, granted none of them at third base. Polanco isn’t as good a defensive 3B as he is a 2B, but he is an upgrade over Pedro Feliz, who is a free agent, with the glove and the bat. A negative is that Polanco doesn’t hit for as much power as you want out of your 3B, but other than that, this is a good deal,

Grade: B

Scutaro signed a 2-year $12.5 million dollar contract with Boston to play SS. The Red Sox are getting Scutaro off a career year and expecting him to put up a .282/.379/.409 line again is a bit optimistic, considering his career numbers don’t come close to those numbers. Fangraphs draws good parallels between Boston’s acquisitions of Julio Lugo and Edgar Renteria to Scutaro. I’m not sure how much Boston wanted JJ Hardy, but after Hardy was dealt, Scutaro was the best SS available in the market. Finally, this can put to rest the Pedroia-to-SS rumors.

Grade: C+

Figgins signed a 4-year $36 million dollar contract with Seattle to play wherever they want. Seattle’s GM Jack Zduriencik has made a bunch of moves to re-haul the M’s personnel in a little over a year. Figgins has improved his walk rate and 3B defense over the last four years. Figgins also is a great baserunner, not just in stealing bases, but advancing on fly balls and ground balls. In essence, Figgins gives your team value on defense, the basepaths and he’s not too shabby at the plate. He has been worth over $11 million dollars for each of the past three years. He is coming off a career year, but Seattle is paying Figgins based more on his career numbers than last season. That is smart considering he will turn 36 at the end of his contract.

Grade: A-

It could be tough for mid-level free agents to get ludicrous deals this off-season and this article does a great job explaining why.