2020 Misc MLB News

[sveumrules]

Charlie Morton to the Braves, 1 year/$15 million. Morton is a better pitcher than Smyly, so this makes a little more sense. Still, it seems very odd, to me at least, that the Braves are investing once again in old, retread pitchers, rather than go with their stable or supposed young, up-and-coming stud starters.

 

Fried has 281 career IP with a 130 ERA+ & just finished 5th in CY voting, Soroka has 214 career IP with a 160 ERA+ & finished 6th in 2019 CY voting, Ian Anderson only has 32 regular season IP at this point but they were pretty dominant with a 246 ERA+ then followed up with only two runs allowed over 18.2 postseason innings.

 

How many teams have three young starters that stack up with that? The Dodgers & Indians maybe?

[Eye Black]

LHP Mike Minor signed a 2 year, $7.25 million deal with the Royals. I thought he was someone the Brewers might be in on since they discussed a trade for him a couple of years ago and his peripherals were better than his results last season. Still, can’t really blame other teams for not wanting to commit to two years with Minor.

[Fear The Chorizo]

What about the Braves’ finances is allowing them to throw gobs of money at questionable veterans when supposedly most teams are pulling back some this year?

 

For starters they found a way to get their best young talent (Albies, Acuna) signed to insanely team-friendly contracts. Aside from them, they also have quite a few young players either in pre-arbitration or early arbitration stages of team control, so that affords them alot of payroll flexibility. These veteran contracts are 1 year deals, and they appear to be targeting a few perceived holes in their pitching staff.

 

With $65M coming off their books and very limited arbitration salary bumps on their current roster, spending ~$26M on two veteran pitchers is actually pulling back...

[Brewers Numbers]

LHP Mike Minor signed a 2 year, $7.25 million deal with the Royals. I thought he was someone the Brewers might be in on since they discussed a trade for him a couple of years ago and his peripherals were better than his results last season. Still, can’t really blame other teams for not wanting to commit to two years with Minor.

I think that $7.25M is his first contract with the Royals. They haven't announced the money for the current deal yet.

[Zad Fnark]

Looks like Domingo is going to Japan.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/domingo-santana-to-sign-with-japans-yakult-swallows.html

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Looks like Domingo is going to Japan.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/domingo-santana-to-sign-with-japans-yakult-swallows.html

 

Good for him. He's gonna crush over there. He's still probably young enough to make a triumphant return to the states in a few years, and hit 45 HRs as a DH for the Orioles in 2024.

[Brewers Numbers]

LHP Mike Minor signed a 2 year, $7.25 million deal with the Royals. I thought he was someone the Brewers might be in on since they discussed a trade for him a couple of years ago and his peripherals were better than his results last season. Still, can’t really blame other teams for not wanting to commit to two years with Minor.

I think that $7.25M is his first contract with the Royals. They haven't announced the money for the current deal yet.

The deal ended up being $7M for 2021, $10M for 2022, and a club option for 2023 at $13M with a $1M buyout so at least 2y/$18M.

[nate82]

Spring training may not start on time.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-owners-reportedly-want-to-delay-start-of-2021-season-as-uncertainty-looms-before-mlbpa-negotiations/

 

Season may also be shortened to 140 games.

[JohnBriggs12]

Ok, the current administration says there will be 20 million vaccinated in December, 30 million in January and 50 million in February. Most experts say by February there will be a 3rd if not a 4th vaccine.

 

Lets look at the numbers. There are 21 million healthcare workers who are first in line along with a little over 3 million long care facility residents. The next large group is seniors 65 and over. There are reportedly 55 million or so 65 and over in the U.S. So that's basically 80 million or so in line plus the so-called essential workers ahead of the general population. I would argue as hard as Trump worked to get sports up and running for the mental health of the nation, that if he were president, he would classify the maybe 30-50 thousand in day to day operations of baseball as essential, certainly the 5-10,000 involved at the major league level. Who knows with Biden?

 

Certainly by March most of those in the high risk groups will be vaccinated. Healthy athletes in their 20's and 30's are at extremely low levels of risk from this disease. It's ridiculous to think they can't start the season on time. Vaccinated individuals are going to be given cards and/or apps on their phones to prove they've been vaccinated.

 

Baseball is so far behind football it's ridiculous.

[TURBO]

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that the Nationals have spoken to the Reds about third baseman Eugenio Suarez.

 

Heyman notes that there's nothing imminent here and the two sides aren't believed to be anywhere close to a deal yet. Suarez, 29, smashed 49 home runs for the Reds in 2019, but slashed just .202/.312/.470 with 15 long balls and 38 RBI over 57 games during the truncated 2020 campaign. Carter Kieboom could make sense as part of a possible return to the Reds.

 

SOURCE: Jon Heyman on Twitter

Dec 18, 2020, 6:36 PM ET

 

 

 

I'd be in on this guy!!!

[TURBO]

According to Jon Heyman of MLB.com, Sonny Gray is generating more trade interest than any other player on the Reds.

 

While there have been inquiries on Eugenio Suarez and others, it's Gray that has drawn significant interest from teams that are looking for upgrades to their starting rotation. The right-hander is owed around $10 million for each of the next two seasons and also carries an affordable $12 million club option for the 2023 season. The Padres are one team known to be interest in acquiring the 31-year-old hurler.

 

SOURCE: Jon Heyman on Twitter

Dec 18, 2020, 6:43 PM ET

[DHonks]

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that the Nationals have spoken to the Reds about third baseman Eugenio Suarez.

 

Heyman notes that there's nothing imminent here and the two sides aren't believed to be anywhere close to a deal yet. Suarez, 29, smashed 49 home runs for the Reds in 2019, but slashed just .202/.312/.470 with 15 long balls and 38 RBI over 57 games during the truncated 2020 campaign. Carter Kieboom could make sense as part of a possible return to the Reds.

 

SOURCE: Jon Heyman on Twitter

Dec 18, 2020, 6:36 PM ET

 

 

 

I'd be in on this guy!!!

 

Getting him out of the Central should be good for 2-3 wins for the Brewers. I think several of his homers still haven't landed.

[Brewers Numbers]

The Reds took on a lot of bigger contracts that can't/don't want to pay now. Moustakas is available as well.

[trwi7]

This seriously made it on mlb.com and I still can't believe it.

 

[TURBO]

I found it interesting that at the end of this article, it mentioned how much money he made in his career. Is that normal? I've never noticed that before.

 

Is this a new stat for the stat guys to argue and anguish over?

Howie Kendrick announced on his personal Instagram page Monday that he is retiring from baseball.

 

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters last week that he was open to bringing Kendrick back for the 2021 season, but the 37-year-old will instead hang up his cleats for good after a 15-year major league career that also included stints with the Angels, Dodgers, and Phillies. "I will always love the game of baseball and will constantly reflect on the lifelong memories made," Kendrick wrote beside a picture of his family and the 2019 World Series trophy. "For now, it’s time to drop the mic and enter a new stage of my life. Thank you!" He goes out as a career .294/.337/.430 hitter, and with his total career earnings topping $71 million.

 

SOURCE: Howie Kendrick on Instagram

Dec 21, 2020, 6:53 PM ET

[sveumrules]

I think in this case the author probably just scrolled down Howie's BRef page & was like, "great googly moogly!! Howie Kendrick made 71 million dollars?!?!", but baseball salaries have been an interesting talking point forever.

 

Two of my favorites would have to be Babe Ruth, when asked if he deserved to get paid more than President Hoover, responding with something like "I don't see why not? I had a better year than he did." & of course Satchel Paige, "they couldn't pay me enough to pitch in the majors."

[sveumrules]

Saw that former Brewers farmhand Nick Ramirez signed a minor league deal with the Padres today & had no idea he threw 79 innings over 46 appearances with the Tigers in 2019. Pretty cool story.

[markedman5]

Josh Bell traded to Nationals

 

[MadThinker88]

Josh Bell traded to Nationals

 

 

To add to the info:

 

Josh Bell traded to the Nats. 2 young pitchers going back to the Pirates..

 

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/pirates-trade-josh-bell-nationals.html

[wibadgers23]

Both Justin Smoak and Eric Thames signed with the Yomiuri Giants today. Smoak got $6 million and Thames got $1.2 million. Quite a haul for Smoak.

[Eye Black]

So the Mets could be in the market (again) for a new GM fairly soon. Yikes...

 

NY Mets GM acknowledges sending unsolicited, explicit images while working for Cubs

 

Via Jeff Passan:

 

New York Mets general manager Jared Porter sent explicit photos, including a naked picture of a penis, to a foreign female reporter in 2016 after she had ignored dozens of other messages from him for weeks.

[Eye Black]

The Mets have issued the following statement:

 

[Eye Black]

Update from Mets owner Steven Cohen:

 

We have terminated Jared Porter this morning. In my initial press conference I spoke about the importance of integrity and I meant it. There should be zero tolerance for this type of behavior.

[trwi7]

Well deserved but it's kind of amazing that this stuff doesn't come out in the hiring process.

[PeaveyFury]

Clearly I'm wired differently than the guys that engage in this 'frat boy-like' behavior, but I've truly never understood what he/men that do this think is the likely/expected outcome of doing this, especially when the woman has rejected other advances already. Raging stupidity.

 

And yeah, it's remarkable that the Mets are just finding out about this now.