Non-tender free agent infielder Chris Stynes signed a one-year, $1.25 million contract with the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday. Stynes should be a decent addition to the Cubs' roster, though it does seem that given the fact that he can earn up to an additional $450,000 in performance bonuses this season, they overpaid for someone who's role could have been filled by one of the several other infield options already in the organization.

He will compete with Delino DeShields for the second base starting job in Spring Training. Manager Don Baylor might like the idea of awarding the position to Stynes, so that he can play DeShields in center, since he is not overly eager to use Corey Patterson or Roosevelt Brown. I like the idea of platooning the two players at second, as it would be a good way to maximize the club's offense at the position. However, I am concerned that if DeShields is available to play CF even part time, Baylor will further hinder Patterson's development by jerking him around in a small role.

Stynes' signing is a better move than a return of Ron Coomer, and at least this way they probably won't have enough payroll flexibility to sign Mark Wohlers, who would have been ten times worse than Stynes in terms of taking playing time from more deserving teammates.

On Wednesday, Pittsburgh signed free agent reliever Mike Williams to a $7 million, 2-year deal. I think this is another incident where a team has overpaid for a player, but at least they really need him in this case. Williams probably shouldn't be closing, but he is a far superior option to Mike Fetters.

With Williams, they are acquiring a proven commodity, but I think they would have been better off taking a bit of a risk on someone with more upside. Josh Fogg, who was obtained from the White Sox in the Todd Ritchie trade, certainly has closing potential. However, he is unproven at the major league level and should also receive a look in the rotation. Sean Lowe, acquired in the same deal, would have been another possibility but he has been so outspoken in the past about disliking work in the bullpen that I hardly blame the Pirates for not attempting that experiment. Maybe they will move Fogg into the closer's role mid-season and use Williams in the setup role that better suits him. However, they probably could have re-signed Josias Manzanillo for less money and tried him in the closer role until another prospect was ready. If Manzanillo succeeded in the role, he would have made for very tasty trade bait, and if he flopped he would have worked just as well as Williams in the setup role. They've taken no risks here, so there is very little upside to this transaction.

Detroit was able to avoid going to arbitration with Brian Moehler by signing him to a 1-year, $2.4 million contract on Wednesday. Moehler was sidelined for most of the first half of last season with shoulder tendinitis before tests revealed that he needed season-ending surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and labrum. The Tigers do have a number of starting candidates, but when healthy, Moehler should give their rotation a nice boost. I'd normally say that he'd be a good pitcher for the team to have around as an innings-eater, but as he'll be returning from major surgery, I don't know how effective he'll be in that capacity. He is not expected to be ready when the season starts but will probably rejoin the rotation when he returns.

Moehler should be free agent at the end of the year, allowing the club to promote some of their young pitchers. I think that unless they intend to try to re-sign him when he becomes a free agent, Detroit likely did the pitcher an unintentional favor as I feel they probably could have beaten him in arbitration. Their best move at this point would be to deal him when he returns, in a move similar to the tactic employed by the Padres with Sterling Hitchcock.

Mike Holtz signed a two-year, $1.8 million contract with the Oakland A's, making this the third year in a row that they have overpaid for a lefty reliever. The contract gives Holtz the opportunity to earn up to $200,000 in performance bonuses on top of the $825,000 he will be paid this year and $975,000 for next season.

Holtz is a fine lefty reliever if you're going to go out and spend money for that kind of role player, however you would think that an organization with the A's aptitude for utilizing the talent readily available at inexpensive prices in the minors would not need to use their limited resources on such a player. Two years ago they signed Mike Magnante, and last year they signed Mark Guthrie, so this is evidently a weakness of GM Billy Beane.

In other A's news, Oakland and Toronto completed a small trade on Wednesday. Oakland sent catcher Tom Wilson to Toronto in return for minor league catcher Mike Kremblas. After signing Scott Hatteberg last week, the A's were going to have to send Wilson back to AAA and probably would have lost him on waivers. While too old to be a prospect and somewhat lacking talent, Kremblas is theoretically better than nothing, especially since he appears to be a decent organization catcher that believes in plate discipline. In Toronto, Wilson should receive a good deal of playing time while sharing catching duties with Darrin Fletcher.

The Jays' have three catching prospects, but all of them need more time in the minors. Joe Lawrence, the oldest of the three, has shown great plate discipline in the minors, but seemed to hit a wall at AAA last season. Most scouts don't think that Josh Phelps' defensive skills as a catcher will be able to keep up with his offense, so he projects as a first baseman or designated hitter. Jayson Werth is the youngest of the three and has the most potential as a catcher, though he still needs a full year at AAA. If Werth and Phelps do well this year, Toronto should be able to call them up next spring and carry on their youth movement. Fletcher should be a free agent after the season, and Wilson will be a good player to have around to support the rookies.