And the winner of the Yoenis Cespedes sweepstakes is… the Oakland A’s?

That’s right. According to mlb.com, the Oakland Athletics agreed to terms with the highly sought after 26-year-old Cuban outfielder on Monday. The deal is reported to be worth $36 million over a four-year span, but will not be officially announced until a physical has been passed.

“I am super happy because it’s been a dream of mine for a long time,” said Cespedes from the Dominican Republic. “To leave my country and play in the big leagues is what the goal was. My family is really happy, too. They are living their dreams through me.”

The 6-foot, 215-pound Cespedes had been at the top of the list for a number of Major League clubs once he was officially named a free agent on January 25 after recently making his way from Cuba to the Dominican Republic. Amongst this grouping of teams were the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, the Oakland A’s, and the odds-on favorite by many, the new-look Miami Marlins.

Given that Miami is both filled with Hispanic heritage and is pretty much just a hop, skip, and a jump from Cespedes’ native Cuba, the popular sentiment was that he would likely sign with the Marlins, who reportedly offered him a six-year deal somewhere in the neighborhood of $36 and $40 million, only a few days prior.

The Marlins have not shied away from spending the big bucks to bring in the best available talent this winter, as they have committed a total of $190 million in signing superstar shortstop Jose Reyes, veteran left-handed starter Mark Buehrle, and one of the more underrated closers in the game, Heath Bell. Miami also gave Ozzie Guillen a four-year, $10 million contract to be the team’s first manager in their brand new ballpark.

Even though he would not admit it, $9 million a year from the A’s might have been what caused the Marlins to lose out in the end. “It was a great process, training and working out for teams. It was a difficult decision to leave Cuba, but I’m really excited with how things worked out. I saw a bunch of teams, and they saw me, too, but Oakland was the best for me.”

Cespedes is a power-hitting center fielder that will easily be able to slide right into the middle of an Oakland lineup that – to say the least – struggled in that department last year, ranking 12 in the American League with a mere total of 114 home runs.

In the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Cespedes made a name for himself on an international stage, hitting .458 in six games. His 2010-2011 season, which was his eighth and final season playing for Granma in the Cuban League, certainly confirmed that he was the real deal, as he hit .333 with 99 RBI and a record 33 home runs in just 90 games.

“My first goal is to make the team and stay healthy all season, and little by little, I’ll make more goals,” Cespedes said. “I’ve been preparing every day for this, and I 100 percent believe that I am ready for the Major Leagues. I have a lot of international experience and experience at a high level. I’m very confident in my abilities.”

He continued, “Believe me, I’m going to give the best I have, and I’m going to leave it all on the field. I’ll do my best and show I deserve this opportunity. I know I can do it. I’m ready.”

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On Thursday, the Detroit Tigers finalized a $214 million, nine-year contract for free agent first baseman, Prince Fielder.  Fielder, 27, is now in his prime and joins two of baseball’s biggest stars, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander. “This is awesome,” Fielder said. “It’s kind of a dream come true. I’m excited.” Fielder’s father, Cecil, played for the Detroit Tigers from 1990 to 1996 and hit 51 home runs in 1990. Fielder recalls coming to Tiger Stadium to watch his father play.

There were some questions initially when the deal happened since the Tigers already had a hard-hitting solid first baseman in Miguel Cabrera.  However, reports said that as soon as power hitter, Victor Martinez, went down with a torn ligament in his left knee this off-season, the Tigers began pursuing Fielder.

Now with Fielder in the line-up batting fourth and playing first base, Cabrera has moved to third base and will be batting third. This is a solid, power-hitting line-up that is not built on speed.  It is a big move and one that will require a lot of off-season training for Cabrera.  Cabrera has not played third base since the 2008 season, where he played 14 games at third, making 5 errors during those 14 games.

They are getting offensive power, but Tigers manager, Jim Leyland, said, “Cabrera is not going to have the agility, most likely, defensively that Brandon Inge had. You give up a little something, but you get a whole lot in return.”  The Tigers are taking a risk, but Fielder has been durable his entire career and is in for almost a decade in his limited, no-trade provision contract.  He can be traded to 10 different teams before the 2017 season without his consent and does not gain the right to block trades until after five years with Detroit.

Detroit won the AL Central last year by a cool 15 games, but lost to the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series.  They have the power in the line-up, that’s for sure. The biggest issue is seeing if Cabrera can handle the move to third base, while Fielder keeps last year’s league leading errors by a first baseman (15) down.

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The Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander would not be denied in 2011 – no matter what arguments the nonbelievers made against the 28-year-old flame-throwing right hander’s chances of winning the American League MVP, it’s only fitting that he still came out with the award on Monday.

“If you had told me at the beginning of the year I would be a shoe-in for the Cy Young, I would have been excited and ecstatic. I would’ve never even thought about the MVP,” said Verlander after learning that he had won the vote. The baseball writers gave Verlander 13 of the 28 first place votes, and he won with a total accumulation of 280 points, according to mlb.com.

The next closest player to him was Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who finished with 242 total points. As far as individual accomplishments for a starting pitcher are concerned, Verlander achieved practically all of them this year. He led the majors in both wins with a regular season record of 24-5 and 250 strikeouts.

He also led the American League with a 2.40 E.R.A., which effectively won him the league’s pitching triple crown. Let’s not forget that he threw a no-hitter in Toronto against the Blue Jays on May 7, the second of his career. The only thing really missing was a perfect game, which anyone could easily overlook.

All of these triumphs by Verlander earned him the Cy Young award last week. There was only one question to be answered: could this man actually be the league’s most valuable player? No starting pitcher had won the award since Roger Clemens with the Red Sox in 1986, and no pitcher had won it since Athletics Hall of Fame closer Dennis Eckersley in 1992.

The debate lingered for months due to a number of peculiar circumstances. Verlander is not a position player and was not out there every day going to battle with his teammates over the course of a six month, 162 game regular season.

However, Verlander was nothing but absolutely dominating and overpowering nearly every single time he towed the rubber for Detroit. He may have only played in thirty-four regular season games, but he provided an old-school ace-like mentality supported by the most lively arm in the league, almost stating, ‘I’m the best and I know it, so here it comes.’

If there were any pitcher to fear in 2011, it was Verlander. His MVP campaign was strengthened by the fact that the Red Sox suffered the most monumental collapse in history, missing the postseason after blowing what was a nine game lead in the Wild Card on September 3. Ellsbury, was viewed as the favorite for the award until the end of September.

He posted career high numbers: he had an average of .321, 119 runs scored, 212 hits, 105 in RBI, and 32 home runs. Other players who gained much consideration for the award included Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson and Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista.

Granderson hit 41 home runs, drove in 119 runs, and led New York to the best record in baseball, but his .262 average was likely too low for the baseball writers to accept. Bautista batted .302 and led the majors with 43 home runs, but Toronto only finished at .500 with an 81-81 record.

Since no A.L. position player was able to run away with the award, Verlander began to gain a significant amount of interest as a potential winner.  The conversation will not end here, as many will discuss whether or not the proper decision was made. Nonetheless, Verlander had a pitcher’s dream season in 2011, and no one can take that or his MVP award away from him.

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