Brian McCann near deal with Yankees; Jhonny Peralta to Cardinals

The first major free-agent domino has fallen as reports indicate veteran catcher Brian McCann will sign a five-year, $85 million deal with the New York Yankees.

That's a high price to pay, but the Yankees were willing to ante up-- especially since Chris Stewart and Austin Romine were their catchers last season. McCann's numbers have remained consistent throughout his career with the Atlanta Braves. He has hit 20 home runs or more in six consecutive seasons, and seven out of the last eight seasons.

Being a left-handed hitter, he should be able to duplicate -- if not slighty improve -- those numbers at Yankee Stadium, which has a short porch in right field.

The Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels were among the other teams reportedly interested in McCann. The questions with the Yankees remain: Will they sign second baseman Robinson Cano? And can they do it without paying a king's ransom in luxury tax? 

Cardinals agree to terms with Peralta

Maybe I spoke too soon Saturday when I said all those nice things about the Cardinals. Do they really think putting Jhonny Peralta at shortstop makes them better?

Apparently so, because reports say Peralta is going to sign a four-year deal with St. Louis.

The Cardinals should have gone defense first with that position. Peralta can hit, but he can't field. St. Louis has no shortage of hitting. Maybe the Cardinals know free-agent outfielder Carlos Beltran is leaving (to Detroit?), so they feel the need to replace his offense.

I'd like the signing a little better if they were planning to put Peralta at third base. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

The Nelson Cruz suspension is more interesting than the A-Rod circus

Major League Baseball finally lowered the boom on some cheaters Monday, suspending 13 players for their connection to Biogenesis, a now-shuttered Miami clinic that provided performance-enhancing drugs to baseball players and other athletes.

The suspended are (in alphabetical order): Philadelphia pitcher Antonio Bastardo, San Diego shortstop Everth Cabrera, New York Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli, Texas right fielder Nelson Cruz (pictured), minor league pitcher Fautino De Los Santos, minor league pitcher Sergio Escalona, minor league outfielder Fernando Martinez, minor league catcher Jesus Montero, free agent pitcher Jordan Norberto, Detroit shortstop Jhonny Peralta, minor league outfielder Cesar Puello, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and minor league utility player Jordany Valdespin.

Twelve of the 13 players received 50-game suspensions. The notable exception being Rodriguez, who was suspended 211 games for being a repeat offender, reportedly recruiting other players to the Biogenesis clinic and impeding MLB's investigation into the matter.

Twelve of the 13 players accepted their punishment. The notable exception being Rodriguez, who filed an appeal that will allow him to continue playing until a judgment is made. Rodriguez, who just returned from a hip injury, went 1-for-4 in his season debut Monday night -- an 8-1 loss to the White Sox.

As expected, a media circus surrounded Rodriguez. My reaction to him is basically, "Who cares?" The guy is a liar and a cheater. His appeal is going to be denied. He's going to be suspended for the 2014 season, and we'll probably never seen him in a big league uniform after that. The Yankees are a fourth-place team in the rugged AL East, and the 38-year-old Rodriguez's return to the lineup figures to have little effect, if any, on the playoff race. It does not look like New York will be making the postseason this year.

The more interesting story is down in Texas. Cruz, 33, leads the second-place Rangers with 27 home runs and 76 RBIs. He is clearly the best run producer in a lineup that is struggling to score runs. Texas entered play Tuesday with a 63-50 record, two games back of Oakland in the AL West. Losing Cruz is a huge blow to the Rangers' pennant hopes. This is a guy who has been batting third or fourth in the lineup all year, an impactful player still in the prime of his career who plays for a contending team.

At the trade deadline, it was assumed Texas would acquire a corner outfielder in anticipation of Cruz being suspended, much like Detroit went out and acquired Jose Iglesias to play shortstop in place of the suspended Peralta. Instead, the Rangers stood pat, leading many to assume Cruz was going to appeal his suspension and play out the season.

On Monday, Cruz accepted his punishment and began serving his suspension. Some have called Cruz "selfish" for deciding to serve his suspension now, arguing that the "team-first move" would have been to appeal the suspension, play out the year, presumably help the Rangers win, then drop the appeal and serve the suspension next year when the games "mean less."

Do a Twitter search for "Cruz selfish" and you'll see plenty of people making this argument. From where I'm sitting, that's hogwash. Cruz is obviously guilty of using PEDs. If he was innocent, wouldn't he appeal? Obviously, he knows he did it, and he knows the evidence is stacked against him. Morally, isn't it the right thing to do to accept your punishment when you've done wrong?

If Cruz did something selfish, it was taking the PEDs in the first place. Putting himself in position to be suspended, that's how he hurt the Rangers. I don't see anything wrong with accepting the consequences for breaking the rules.

A-Rod, narcissist that he is, refuses to admit that he's done wrong and refuses to see the damage he's done to the game of baseball. Isn't that part of the reason we as fans are booing the crap out of him each and every time he steps to home plate? I believe so.

The other storyline around Cruz, of course, is that Texas still needs a right fielder for the pennant drive. Hey Rangers fans, I hear Alex Rios is available.

Jake Peavy heads to Boston in 3-team deal

Think the Biogenesis investigation doesn't have an effect on this year's trading deadline? Think again, because that whole sordid affair may have just allowed the White Sox to acquire their right fielder of the future (and possibly the present, too).

The Boston Red Sox had been interested in acquiring pitcher Jake Peavy for weeks. The White Sox were willing to deal, too, but the two teams were having trouble coming up with an agreement. It seems the Red Sox were willing to part with a top prospect OR take all of Peavy's salary, but not both. The White Sox wanted them to do both.

The deal might have fallen apart if the Detroit Tigers had not entered the fray. Detroit's All-Star shortstop, Jhonny Peralta, is about to be suspended as a result of the Biogenesis investigation. Lacking a suitable internal option to replace Peralta, the Tigers went shopping and decided they wanted Jose Iglesias from Boston.

However, the Red Sox wanted a front-line pitcher, and the contending Tigers aren't looking to part with any members of their starting rotation. The only way for the White Sox, Red Sox and Tigers to all get what they wanted was to consummate the three-way trade that went down Tuesday night.

Essentially, the Tigers gave up their top power-hitting prospect, 22-year-old outfielder Avisail Garcia, and pitcher Brayan Villarreal, to bring Iglesias into their organization to plug that soon-to-be hole at shortstop. The Red Sox then turned around flipped Garcia and three other prospects to the White Sox for Peavy.

This is an excellent deal for Boston. The Red Sox did a great job here. They acquired one helluva pitcher in Peavy and didn't give up any of the crown jewels of their farm system. They have organizational depth at shortstop. Veteran Stephen Drew is their starter at the big-league level, and their top prospect, Xander Bogaerts, a 20-year-old shortstop, could be ready for the majors by next year. Iglesias was expendable. He's much more valuable for Detroit than he is for Boston.

I think this is a good deal for the White Sox -- not a home run, but a double off the wall. Garcia is an experienced player for his age. He already has 25 postseason plate appearances under his belt. He played in the World Series last year. He is hitting .374 at the Triple-A level this year. It's clear minor-league pitching is no longer a challenge for him. He's ready for a full-time shot in the majors, and the retooling Sox should have plenty of at-bats to give him in the near future. In addition, the Red Sox took all of Peavy's contract. That's $14.5 million more the White Sox will have to spend next offseason. The acquisition of Garcia and the salary relief are the two pluses to come out of this for Chicago. The three other prospects the Sox got from Boston? Well, those are a bunch of ifs and maybes, like I always say.

As for the Tigers, they were pushed into a corner and forced to make this trade by the impending Peralta suspension. If not for that, they don't cough up Garcia at all, let alone allow him to land in the hands of a division rival. Garcia will have 18 opportunities each and every year to come back and haunt the Tigers over the next five seasons or so. But, Detroit is built for the here and now. This is the Tigers' window to win, and they can't afford to allow Peralta's stupidity to cost them a potential championship. So, they did what they had to do to add Iglesias, who will actually provide them a defensive upgrade at shortstop. No way he matches Peralta's bat, but he doesn't need to in that loaded lineup. The Tigers simply need him to catch the ball.

To sum up, great move by the Red Sox, good move by the White Sox, and the Tigers had better win it all this year to make this move worth their while.