Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported Thursday that the Angels have completed a deal with free-agent pitcher C.J. Wilson.

Terms of the deal were not reported by Sherman. Wilson was considered by most to be the top starting pitcher on the market. The 31-year-old wasn’t a starting pitcher until the 2010 season, but has won 33 games over the last two seasons for the Rangers. His 2.94 ERA in 2011 was seventh in the American League.

The Angels reportedly also inked Albert Pujols to a 10-year deal worth between $250-$260 million on Thursday.

The Marlins have spent a ton of money this offseason, and they may not be done.

After committing a total of $191 million to Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell, the Marlins are still in on the C.J. Wilson sweepstakes, according to Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.

Miami gave Buehrle a four-year, $58 million deal Wednesday, the same day they were reportedly told by Albert Pujols’ agent that they were not a finalist to sign the free agent first baseman.

Wilson, 31, went 16-7 last season for the Rangers with a 2.94 ERA and 206 strikeouts. According to a tweet from Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Rangers have made a five-year offer to retain the lefty. The Marlins’ offer to Wilson is reportedly for six years.

Could C.J. Wilson represent a model for the Red Sox to follow? (AP)

DALLAS — No team in the majors has been more aggressive in pursuing the conversion of relievers to the rotation than the Texas Rangers, and no team has benefited more from that strategy.

In the last two years, the team has seen C.J. Wilson go from a setup man to a top-of-the-rotation starter (now on the cusp of cashing in on a huge payday) who has gone 31-15 with a 3.14 ERA while making 67 starts. Last year, after free-agent Bobby Jenks declined an Offer to convert from closing to starting, the team moved Alexi Ogando from a setup role to the rotation, where he went 13-8 with a 3.51 ERA in 169 innings, earning an All-Star berth in the process. And now, the Rangers plan on moving closer Neftali Feliz to the rotation in 2012.

Despite pitching in a ballpark that is typically brutal for pitchers, the Rangers managed to craft a rotation that finished third in the American League with a 3.65 mark, the lowest by the organization in decades. In the process, the Rangers continued to create something of a blueprint for a cost-effective way to build a talented rotation.

When spurned by top-of-the-market options such as Cliff Lee, rather than paying huge salaries to free-agent starters whose career peaks may have passed (John Lackey, A.J. Burnett, etc.), the Rangers have looked to their own pool of pitchers with electric stuff and explored whether they had starting solutions within.

It is a model that other teams now seem intent on copying. Several clubs are exploring conversions of relievers to the rotation, including the Sox, who are keeping open the possibility of shifting Alfredo Aceves and/or Daniel Bard from the bullpen to the rotation. Read the rest of this entry »

Joe Nathan

Closer Joe Nathan agreed to a deal with the American League champion Rangers on Monday, meaning current closer Neftali Feliz will move to the starting rotation next season.

Nathan and Texas came to terms on a two-year contract with a club option for 2014. He will be introduced by Texas at Rangers Ballpark on Tuesday, which also happens to be Nathan’s 37th birthday.

The right-hander missed all of the 2010 season after having a Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow. Nathan struggled at points in 2011, going 2-1 with a 4.84 ERA and 14 saves in 48 appearances. He lost his job at closer at one point, but resumed the role later in the season.

Before the surgery in 2010, Nathan was one of the league’s most dominant closers. From 2004-09, Nathan averaged 41 saves per season with the Twins, including 47 saves in 2009. His 261 career saves are fifth all time among active closers.

The move to put Feliz in the rotation, meanwhile, could help lessen the blow if the Rangers are unable to re-sign C.J. Wilson, a free agent this offseason. Wilson himself was a former closer who moved to the rotation in the 2010 season. He went 16-7 this past season with a 2.94 ERA and 206 strikeouts. In his third season in the majors, Feliz had 32 saves in 2011.

Free agent starter Roy Oswalt (AP)

MILWAUKEE — There have been instances when the idea of Roy Oswalt pitching in a Red Sox uniform was very real. On multiple occasions, the Sox have taken runs at the right-hander in the trade market, most notably in 2006, when the Sox believed they were close to acquiring Oswalt from the Astros at the trade deadline.

How close were they?

“Close,” said Oswalt’s agent, Bob Garber. “Very close.”

A deal never transpired in the trade market, but as the Red Sox look to address the back of their rotation, Oswalt does fit the profile of a pitcher who would represent an obvious target for Boston. And the Sox, given the fact that the opportunity to contend, would likewise be a team that would interest Oswalt, Garber said, despite the fact that it would require the career-long National Leaguer to jump to the junior circuit.

The 11-year veteran, whose resume includes three All-Star games and six top-six finishes in Cy Young balloting, has a career 159-93 record and 3.21 ERA. Until back injuries limited him to 23 starts in 2011, the right-hander had seven straight years of at least 30 starts, establishing himself as one of the most durable and effective pitchers in the game for the Astros and then, following a trade in the middle of the 2010 season, with the Phillies.

Now, in a free-agent class that is light on elite starting options, Oswalt will carry significant interest for a number of teams, likely including the Red Sox. After left-handers C.J. Wilson (another Garber client) and Mark Buehrle, Oswalt — based on track record — is likely the next best starter available, and the top right-hander this winter. Read the rest of this entry »

MILWAUKEE — As always, the Red Sox will perform their due diligence on all available players this offseason. They would be remiss not to at least get a sense of what it would cost to acquire virtually every available player, whether through free agency or trades.

That said, even though the Sox have acknowledged that they have a glaring need to add starting pitching depth behind Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz, GM Ben Cherington suggested that the Sox might not be in a position to examine the most prominent starting targets this winter.

The team already has committed more than $50 million (in both actual salary and payroll as calculated for the luxury tax under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement) to its rotation for the 2012 season, a group that includes two pitchers (Daisuke Matsuzaka and John Lackey) who will miss much to all of next year:

Josh Beckett – $15.75 million
John Lackey – $15.25 million
Daisuke Matsuzaka – $10 million
Jon Lester – $7.625 million
Clay Buchholz – $3.5 million

TOTAL: $52.125 million

That being the case, the Sox may be reluctant to bid heavily for Japanese star Yu Darvish not because of broader concerns about Japanese pitchers, but instead based on their current commitments to the rotation.

“I think the timing is different [this offseason than when the Sox acquired Matsuzaka] in the sense that we’ve gotten a lot invested already in our starting rotation, whereas the winter of 2006, we didn’t have as much invested in our starting rotation. So there was a little bit more of an opening to get in aggressively on Daisuke, which may not present this winter,” said Cherington. “We’ll see. Things change. The dynamic changes. We’ll do our due diligence. We’ll be prepared. But if we’re not as aggressive, it’s not because we’re scared of the waters and more because this offseason, the needs we have and the resources we have, we may need to focus elsewhere.

Cherington suggested that the same logic “probably” held with regards to free agent starters, presumably including pitchers such as C.J. Wilson and perhaps Mark Buehrle.

“We’ll see how the offseason unfolds, keep in touch on those guys,” Cherington said, speaking generally of elite free agent starters. “You always have dialogue with everyone. I think people understand that there are things you’re in a position to push on harder earlier, then other things that are more conditional on things you do. So, this offseason, as far as the top end of the pitching market, whether it be Darvish or somebody else, we may not be in on as aggressively early in the offseason.”

That being the case, the Sox’ preferred route might be buy-low options. Alfredo Aceves will be brought to spring training to compete for a job in the starting rotation. The Sox will also explore other creative alternatives, whether in trades or in pitchers who suffered through injury or, for any number of factors, performance struggles last year.

“There’s guys that are coming off injuries. There’s guys that are coming off bad performance. There’s guys that are getting unlucky, or whatever,” said Cherington. “There’s pitching out there, not an abundance of impact free-agent starters.”

Peter Gammons

Baseball writer Peter Gammons joined Mut & Merloni Wednesday at noon for his weekly appearance. Gammons gave his opinion on the most recent Red Sox news, which includes allegations that pitchers Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey drank in the dugout during games.

“At this point, there’s so much swill out there, I need specific, I need names from references, because a report doesn’t have any validity unless it has a name behind it and secondly, when it happened and exactly when was it? Was it a rain delay, an eighth inning rain delay? More specifics,” Gammons said. “Otherwise it’s just so absurd at this point.”

While Lester admitted that there was drinking in the clubhouse during games, he, Beckett, Lackey and former manager Terry Francona all released statements denying that any drinking went on in the dugout. Owner Larry Lucchino also released a statement accepting these denials and calling the report a “reckless, unsubstantiated accusation.” Read the rest of this entry »