Is it Sunday already? Seems like I just did this a few hours ago. But yeah, it’s Sunday already. Time to catch up on another week of transactions in the tough NL Central. So without further delay:

On Monday 11/19:

• The Brewers added RHP Tim Dillard, IF Alcides Escobar, C Lou Palmisano, and RHP Luis Pena to their 40-man roster
• The Cardinals signed former Reds C Jason LaRue to a one-year contract and inked RHP Dewon Brazelton and RHP John Wasdin to minor league deals.

On Tuesday 11/20:

• The Cardinals purchased the contracts of RHPs Kyle McClellan and Jason Motte from Double-A Springfield; and purchased the contracts of RHPs Mike Parisi and Mark Worrell and IF Jarrett Hoffpauir from Triple-A Memphis. They also released RHPs Andy Cavazos and Brian Falkenborg.
• The Pirates, meanwhile, purchased the contracts of RHPs Olivo Astacio and Ronald Belisario from Double-A Altoona and purchased the contract of IF Brian Bixler from Triple-A Indianapolis. They also claimed RHP Jimmy Barthmaier off waivers from the Houston Astros; and DFA’ed RHP Josh Sharpless, LHP Shane Youman, and 1B Josh Phelps.
• The Brewers traded C Johnny Estrada to the Mets for RHP Guillermo Mota.
• The Astros Signed IF Geoff Blum to a one-year contract; purchased the contracts of RHPs Samuel Gervacio, Brad James and Chad Reineke; and of course, lost Barthmaier to the Pirates on the aforementioned waiver claim.
• The Reds purchased the contracts of RHPs Richie Gardner, Daryl Thompson and Ramon Ramirez, SS Paul Janish and LHP Tyler Pelland from Triple-A Louisville; and purchased the contract of C Craig Tatum from Double-A Chattanooga.

There have been no transactions reported by Major League Baseball since Tuesday. The fact that Thursday was Thanksgiving might have had something to do with that. So let’s look at the two deals in the above that involved major leaguers.

First, the Astros bringing back Blum, who was with the club previously in 2002 and 2003 before being traded to Tampa Bay for Brandon Backe. Blum has also played for the Padres (twice) and White Sox since then, hitting the game-winning homer for the Sox against the Astros in Game 3 of the 2005 World Series. The Astros have signed him to a one-year, $1.1 million deal with a clup option for 2009.

Johnny Estrada for Guillermo Mota would appear to be a coup for the Mets, who not only get a talented, switch-hitting, starting catcher, but also rid themselves of an embarassment in Mota, a steroid-tarnished reliever who played a direct role in the Mets’ 2007 late-season collapse.

For the Brew Crew, Estrada became expendable when the club reached a tentative agreement with free agent C Jason Kendall on a one-year contract (with a club option for 2009) on Wednesday. Kendall, 33, finished the 2007 season with the Cubs, where he hit .270 with a .362 OBP after a midseason trade from Oakland. He’s a 12-year major league veteran with a career .297 batting average.

The Brewers also get Mota to help a bullpen that has been rocked with the loss of Scott Linebrink to the White Sox and Francisco Cordero to the Reds. Mota was 2-2 with a 5.76 ERA in 52 appearances with the Mets after returning from a 50-game suspension for steroids. Since 2002, Mota ranks fourth among major league relievers with 444-1/3 innings pitched, and the Brewers like his durability. But how much of that durability was Mota and how much of it was the steroids?

I’d love to wrap up this post with some witty crack about how the answer to that question will be (to paraphrase Bob Dylan) “Blowin’ In The Wind” when Mota pitches at Miller Park, but the facility has a retractable roof, so there’s no guarantee there will actually be any wind other than that being passed by the bratwurst-stoked fans there. Dadgummed technology!

🙄

No official announcement from the Reds on this yet, but ESPN and Fox are reporting this evening that closer Francisco Cordero and the team have reached preliminary agreement on a four-year, $46 million contract, which includes a club option for a fifth year and is subject to Cordero passing a physical.

Cordero worked 63-1/3 innings for the Brewers last season, converting 44 of 51 save opportunities while going 0-4 with a 2.98 ERA. He fanned 86 batters while walking only 18, and made the All-Star team for the second time in his career.

The signing would represent a second serious blow to the bullpen of the division rival Brewers, who have also apparently lost setup man Scott Linebrink to the White Sox. Linebrink reportedly has agreed to a four-year, $19 million deal with the ChiSox pending a physical.

The Fox article states that the deal would be the largest four-year contract ever given to a closer.

In need of a backup to Yadier Molina after veteran Gary Bennett became a free agent after two years with the team, the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday signed free agent catcher Jason LaRue to a one-year contract reportedly worth $850,000.

The Cardinals also signed right-handed pitchers Dewon Brazelton and John Wasdin to minor league contracts. Brazelton, a former first-round draft choice and third overall pick by Tampa Bay, last played in the majors in 2006 when he was 0-2 with a 12.00 ERA in nine games for San Diego. He spent last season with Class-AAA Omaha in the Royals’ organization and Class-AA Altoona in the Pirates’ farm system. Wasdin, Oakland’s first-round pick in 1993, broke camp with the Pirates last year, but his season ended in late July because of a wrist injury. He has also pitched for the Rangers, A’s, Red Sox, Rockies, Orioles, and Blue Jays.

LaRue, a career .233 hitter with 88 homers and 316 RBIs, spent his first eight seasons with the Reds before being traded to the Royals prior to last season. In 66 games with K.C., LaRue hit .148 with four homers and 13 RBIs and threw out 33 percent of would-be base stealers, seventh among catchers with at least 50 starts. His new contract reportedly includes a $50,000 bonus for 40 starts, and $100,000 each for 50, 60 and 65 starts in addition to the $850,000 base salary.

The other team that was active Monday was the Brewers, who purchased the contracts of minor leaguers RHP Tim Dillard, IF Alcides Escobar, C Lou Palmisano, and RHP Luis Pena and added them to their 40-man roster.

Thou shalt not confuse this Luis Pena, born 1/10/83, with the Luis Pena born 1/21/81 who pitched in the Padres and White Sox organizations from 2002-2005. This Luis Pena has been in the Brewers’ farm system since 2001, appearing in 155 minor league games during that time span.

Time to catch up on the transactions made by NL Central teams during the past week. Aside from moves made by the Astros and the Cubs that were previously reported here on RHM, here are the personnel machinations that went down this week:

On Monday 11/12, the Cardinals outrighted RHP Dennis Dove to Class-AAA Memphis.
On Tuesday 11/13:

•  The Cubs activated RHP Angel Guzman and RHP Mark Prior from the 60-day DL and traded OF Craig Monroe to the Twins for a PTBNL.
• The Pirates activated C Ryan Doumit and OF Chris Duffy from the 60-day DL.

On Wednesday 11/14, the Brewers signed LHP Randy Choate to a one-year contract. According to ESPN, it’s a split contract that would pay him $500,000 in the majors and $75,000 in the minors.

On Friday 11/16, the Pirates, as expected, declined their $5.45 million 2008 option on SS Cesar Izturis, officially making him the third member of the 2007 club to file for free agency, though GM Neal Huntington expressed interest in bringing Izturis back next season at a lower cost.

And today, Sunday 11/18, the Cardinals lost a top prospect, OF Cody Haerther, who was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays. He hit .292 with a .494 slugging percentage in 2007, mostly with the Class-AA Springfield farm team. The loss leaves the Cardinals with 35 players on their 40-man roster.

The Reds apparently slept through the week. In fact, they’ve slept though most of the month so far, having announced no transactions since activating Castro, Freel, and Livingston from the 60-day DL on Nov. 2.

Jacque Jones hit .332 with 46 RBIs after the All-Star break this season to help the Chicago Cubs make it to the postseason. So the Cubs, being the Cubs after all, have just traded him to the Detroit Tigers for Omar Infante, a utility infielder who had a total of 17 RBIs for the entire 2007 season.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Jones has a big year in Detroit. He’s a .287 lifetime hitter in Comerica Park, with 13 doubles, 7 HRs, and 30 RBIs in 47 games. As for Infante, well, he’s eligible for arbitration this winter after making $1.3 million this past season.

Don’t most teams usually try to avoid going to arbitration with players? Yet the Cubs actually import a potential arbitration case from somebody else’s team, and give up a decent player in order to do so.

🙄

Then again, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at yet another great personnel decision from the same organization that decided Corey Patterson was a better leadoff hitter than Kenny Lofton, let Moises Alou go for Todd Hollandsworth, kept trusting Prior and Wood year after year despite the fact that they proved they can’t stay on the field, and then blamed Dusty Baker for all their problems.

Why didn’t Dusty Baker win in Chicago? For the exact same reason that nobody else has won there in the last 100 years: They’re the Cubs!