The Derek Lowe division
For pitchers that have had uneven careers snagging a big payday by virtue of a huge postseason performance.

Jeff Suppan signs a 4-year $42 million contract with the Brewers
    Suppan bounced around for a number of years but you can’t dispute that he’s been durable, starting at least 30 games in every season since 1999. He’s also only in his early 30’s and while he’ll never be an ace, he got a really nice contract thanks to shutting down the Mets in the NLCS. He almost singlehandedly kept the anemic Cardinal offense close in Game 7 and if he can be more consistent than Lowe has been for the Dodgers he could be the kind of workhorse the Brewers need to keep them in contention in the weak NL Central.

The Ichiro Suzuki division
No explanation necessary, but: For a Japanese star posted by his team that signs in America and nobody is quite sure what to expect from him on the field.

Daisuke Matsuzaka signs a 6-year $52 million contract with the Red Sox
    If you listen to Sox fans, Dice-K is already a Cy Young contender. Others aren’t so sure if he’ll be able to get by with his six-pitch repertoire in the big leagues. Either way it should be interesting to see and the Sox did well to stick to their guns and sign him for less than $10 million per. Everybody knew that Scott Boras wasn’t taking him back to Japan, but many still expected the Red Sox to cave to his ridiculous contract demands. They didn’t and they ended up with a 26-year-old that could very well be their ace for the length of the contract.

Now if only they hadn’t given Tissue Paper Drew $70 million, but we already beat that horse to death.

Next column: The Best and Worst of the Offseason Trades