Hideki Okajima, Yankees agree to minor league deal

The Red Sox signed an ex-Yankee earlier this offseason in Mark Melancon, now the Yankees have agreed to a deal with a former Red Sox player, tweets David Waldstein.

Hideki Okajima had a 3.11 career ERA in five seasons with the Red Sox, but spent most of last year in Triple-A with Pawtucket, where he had a 2.29 ERA in 51 innings. Okajima was shaky with the Red Sox in 2010, and his general upward trend in ERA indicates that he's lost his deceptiveness with major league hitters.

Reviewing today's notable deals

One of the least talented and slowest moving free agent markets in a long while saw a few deals get done today. Most should interest Yankees fans.

• Melky Cabrera avoided arbitration with the Braves and agreed to a one-year, $3.1 million deal - more than double what he made with the Yankees last year. The Braves could be starting an all '09 Yankees outfield this season. That's Eric Hinske in right, Cabrera in center and Johnny Damon in left.
  
• Jose Valverde finally signed with the Tigers. He'll make $14MM over two years with a $9MM option. Some Yankees fans speculated he could be Mariano Rivera's setup man this year. He certainly would have helped the Yankees' bullpen, but the Yankees seem to have Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes chalked up for that role.
• Josh Johnson of the Marlins got a big payday. Four years, $39 million, to be exact. And that's after Major League Baseball and the players' union encouraged them to spend more revenue-sharing money. Johnson was discussed in a lot of Yankees forums/comment sections as possibly the next big move for the Yanks. He's one of baseball's premier pitchers and he's about to turn 26.
• Hideki Okajima avoided arbitration with the Red Sox and will earn $2.75 million plus bonuses in 2010. The Yankees have hit him pretty hard in the past (14 ER in 22-1/3 IP).
• Adam LaRoche agreed to a one-year deal with the Diamondbacks worth $4.5 million. He briefly saw some time with the Red Sox last season and then was traded back to the Braves to finish out the year. LaRoche is a very durable player who averages 26 homers and 91 RBIs in 162 games.