SIGNED! Mike Napoli

One year, $5MM to the Boston Red Sox

You know how every time a player is signed, the details of the contract are always punctuated with "pending physical"? Yeah, that physical cost Mike Napoli two years of job security and about $34 million dollars. Apparently after agreeing to terms with the Boston Red Sox it was revealed via physical that Napoli had been dealing with a hip issue, causing Boston to retract their offer in exchange for something vastly more team friendly. The contract isn't cut and dry at $5MM, incentives could boost the deal up to $13MM.

Napoli's numbers dropped substantially in 2012 from the career season he had the year prior, but he still made the All Star roster and reached 20 homers for his fifth consecutive season. It's a very small sample size, but in 73 plate appearances in Boston, Mike Napoli has absolutely demolished the ball. His line at his new home stadium thus far is .309/.397/.710. While it is just a sample size, those numbers are totally outrageous and probably worth a $5MM risk. It's pretty impossible to say at this point what Napoli is going to do in light of his injury history, but with a team friendly contract and an easier position to stay healthy at (moving from catching to first base) he still looks like a bargain and a chance worth taking.