Deals still underway, as it looks like there is a new way to play

Some teams have been avoiding arbitration, while others have been welcoming it. Here is what has been going down over the last couple days.  First off, the Tigers made a 1 year deal with their great starter Scherzer.  Word was he deserves a big extension, and I agree that if the Tigers were not willing to give him at least 4 years for around 12-14 million a year, he should have waited for the Yankees or another franchise to step in.  But it appears the Tigers are still very interested and it is Scherzer that may be the one holding out.  Tigers GM Dombrowski is still rather confident that an extension can be made even before the season starts.  As of now Scherzer is going to get 15.5 million for the 2014 season. After his amazing performance last season, expect Scherzer to be looking for something a little similar to the Kershaw deal. As of now, his future with the Tigers is uncertain but I expect the Tigers to make the big move to keep their two aces together.
The Orioles avoided arbitration with homerun smacker Chris Davis and signed him to a 1 year, 10.35 million dollar deal. After leading the league in homers and RBI's last season, I expected Davis to get at least 3 years from an organization.  But it is probably a good move by the Orioles to only sign him for that long. Who knows how consistent he can be, I mean he does swing and miss often. But I do expect him to put up some good numbers at least for the next couple years before heading down the slope in the stats book.  The Orioles were also busy grabbing some pitchers with Hunter, Norris, Patton, and Matusz all agreeing to deals. I will admit, I have been rather disappointed in the Orioles offseason, as we have seen many big names that could have become Orioles join other teams, including the Yankees.
After recently signing Strasburg and picking up Fister, the Nationals stayed busy by signing Zimmermann to a 24 million 2 year deal. After 19 wins and 3.25 ERA in 2013, Zimmermann deserved a good deal to enforce the Nats rotation will Haren off to LA.  The Nationals were also busy on todays deadline, with Desmond agreeing to a 2 year contract, and Storen, Ramos, and Detwiler all rejoining the team as well. Look for the Nats to put up a better fight this season against the Braves with the Marlins and Phillies still being out of the picture. The Mets however, could be a different story, but we will get to that closer to the regular season.
In other smaller deals, Reynolds agreed to a minor league deal with the Brewers. The player with good pop, but little contact has until March 24th to decide if he wants to stay with the team or not. Stanton and the Marlins agreed to a 6.5 million dollar deal for 2014. Stanton very disappointed with the Marlins transactions over the recent years has not been producing like I am sure he can, he just is lacking the motivation with the current team he is on.  Look for him to be asking for a trade or try and sign with another organization when he gets the chance.
The Padres and Yankees got busy with arbitration deals, with San Diego grabbing Headley for 10.5 million and Blanks as well for just under a million. Both got a good raise. They were busy Thursday as well with Kennedy, Ross, and Cabrera all agreeing to deals. Cashner is the only guy left they need to make a deal with. The Yankees got Gardner, Nova, Robertson, and Kelley. After those signings the Yankees are actually over the price they hoped to be at before their attempt to get Tanaka. Tanaka looked to be a big target for them with AROD out of the picture, but it looks like the Dodgers challengers are falling out of the picture.
In other news, replays are now going to be a part of baseball. Managers get to challenge one play per game, and a second if they win the first challenge. After the 7th inning, umps can go review calls themselves without a challenge. I am partially liking this, my only fear is that the game will run on so long now that it drives away a lot of fans. Some teams will no longer catch breaks while others will no longer get ripped. With baseball being known as Americas past time, I am rather sure this whole replay thing will be gone within a few years and things will be back to the ways we know, love, and remember. The 2014 season will at least have a lot less managers fighting and tossed, which may save time.