The 2018 Major League Baseball Player Chatter, News and Fantasy Thread.

**koz-man** · 03-07-18, 06:55 PM

Mike Trout and Joey Votto left the hitless-in-spring-training ranks today after stretches of 0-for-10 and 0-for-12, respectively.

That leaves Mookie Betts (0-for-16, 5 strikeouts), Nelson Cruz (0-for-12, 6 strikeouts) and Brian McCann (0-for-14, 3 strikeouts) as the most prominent remaining members in the largely meaningless club.

**batt33** · 03-07-18, 10:24 PM

Originally posted by koz-man

Mike Trout and Joey Votto left the hitless-in-spring-training ranks today after stretches of 0-for-10 and 0-for-12, respectively.

That leaves Mookie Betts (0-for-16, 5 strikeouts), Nelson Cruz (0-for-12, 6 strikeouts) and Brian McCann (0-for-14, 3 strikeouts) as the most prominent remaining members in the largely meaningless club.

if it was near the end of spring training, I think it would be a bigger issue

**EmpireMaker** · 03-08-18, 12:02 AM

Padres outfielder Alex Dickerson has been diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his left (throwing) elbow, and surgery is a possibility, writes MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. It’s a tough break for the 27-year-old Dickerson, who missed all of the 2017 season following back surgery but showed some promise at the plate in his rookie campaign in 2016. That year, Dickerson slashed .257/.333/.455 with 10 homers in 285 plate appearances while walking at a 9.1 percent clip and fanning in just 15.4 percent of his plate appearances. Per Cassavell, the club is “hopeful” that Dickerson won’t require Tommy John surgery, but even if he doesn’t require surgery, he’s likely to miss at least the first month of the season.
More from the NL West…

Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times takes an excellent look at the Dodgers’ failed pursuit of Shohei Ohtani. The team had Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner and Chris Taylor fly into L.A. to help sell Ohtani on the Dodgers in their in-person meeting, but it proved to be a somewhat frustrating experience. Both Turner and Kershaw candidly stated that the process felt like a “waste of time,” indicating that Ohtani already seemed set on signing with an AL club where he could serve as a part-time DH. Kershaw didn’t express any ill feelings toward Ohtani himself, though he voiced some frustration toward CAA, Ohtani’s agency, over the matter. “I’m kind of mad at his agent for making us waste all that time and effort,” said Kershaw. “Fifteen teams should have been out of it, from the beginning.” Ohtani’s agent with CAA, Nez Balelo, issued a rebuttal to McCullough in which he calls any assertion that Ohtani would meet with a team for which he had no interest in playing “unfounded and an insult to [Ohtani’s] personal ethics.” Balelo also points out that Ohtani met with more NL clubs (four) than AL clubs (three). It’s a fascinating column that is filled with quotes from Kershaw, Turner, Balelo, Dave Roberts and Andrew Friedman.
The D-backs have plenty of roster decisions to make by the end of Spring Training, but the bench presents a particularly enigmatic situation, writes Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic. GM Mike Hazen and skipper Torey Lovullo need to determine whether they plan to carry seven or eight relievers, which will determine whether they utilize a four- or five-man bench. Even if it’s the latter, there are numerous battles for a spot. Lovullo calls a third catcher a “luxury” that he enjoyed in 2017, but Chris Herrmann or John Ryan Murphy (the two men who’d compete to fill that role) are vying with Yasmany Tomas and possibly Christian Walker for a potential fifth bench slot. The first four slots figure to go to Jeff Mathis, Chris Owings, Jarrod Dyson and Daniel Descalso, with Nick Ahmed and Ketel Marte likely holding the up-the-middle starting gigs. Notably, both Herrmann and Murphy are out of minor league options.

**Otters27** · 03-08-18, 07:59 AM

Originally posted by koz-man

Mike Trout and Joey Votto left the hitless-in-spring-training ranks today after stretches of 0-for-10 and 0-for-12, respectively.

That leaves Mookie Betts (0-for-16, 5 strikeouts), Nelson Cruz (0-for-12, 6 strikeouts) and Brian McCann (0-for-14, 3 strikeouts) as the most prominent remaining members in the largely meaningless club.

Pitching is often ahead of the hitting early. 0-16 though is a rough start.

**Chi_archie** · 03-08-18, 08:29 AM

Originally posted by koz-man

Mike Trout and Joey Votto left the hitless-in-spring-training ranks today after stretches of 0-for-10 and 0-for-12, respectively.

That leaves Mookie Betts (0-for-16, 5 strikeouts), Nelson Cruz (0-for-12, 6 strikeouts) and Brian McCann (0-for-14, 3 strikeouts) as the most prominent remaining members in the largely meaningless club.

spring training the time to slump

**Cross** · 03-08-18, 09:47 AM

Spring training getting analyzed too much, can’t wait for the season!!

**koz-man** · 03-08-18, 06:20 PM

Originally posted by Cross

Spring training getting analyzed too much, can’t wait for the season!!

Agree...Stats-men love to play with their numbers.

**JMobile** · 03-08-18, 09:07 PM

Originally posted by JAKEPEAVY21

Blash will never stick in the majors...him and Fowler are totally different players, not even close.

I am getting excited about the Padres future even more after getting to see all this young talent in spring training. I'm feeling great about our future 2nd baseman and SS, Urias and Tatis...both are going to be straight ballers!! Even thugh they are crushing it in spring training, I would be patient with them and send them both to the minors. I do think Urias will be called up sometime this year and Tatis probably next year at some point.

Jackey, Padres interested in Jake Arrieta. Have you heard about that?

**yisman** · 03-08-18, 10:05 PM

KC re-signed Moustakas. 1 year, $6.5 million

**batt33** · 03-08-18, 10:16 PM

Originally posted by yisman

KC re-signed Moustakas. 1 year, $6.5 million

That was probably a good decision for moustakas

**EmpireMaker** · 03-09-18, 01:40 AM

The Royals have struck a one-year deal with third baseman Mike Moustakas, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Jon Heyman of Fan Rag had reported earlier that the Scott Boras client was nearing a deal to return to Kansas City.

The contract will guarantee Moustakas just $6.5MM — far shy of expectations heading into the winter. That comes in the way of a $5.5MM salary for the coming season and a $1MM buyout of a $15MM mutual option for the 2019 campaign. Moustakas can also earn up to $2.2MM via incentives for the coming season, per Passan. The bonuses would be maxed out at an achievable 450 plate appearances, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link).
Clearly, Moustakas expected more when he turned down a $17.4MM qualifying offer from the Royals at the outset of the offseason. And for good reason: the 29-year-old was viewed by many as one of the best players on the open market. Indeed, MLBTR predicted the 29-year-old would secure an $85MM guarantee over a five-year term.
As things turned out, the market just never developed for Moustakas. Potential landing spots dried up throughout the winter as organizations signed other players, found cheaper alternatives, or decided largely not to add to their MLB rosters.
Meanwhile, the Royals spent much of their own offseason trimming costs and waiting to see if they could coax back Moustakas’s long-time corner infield mate, Eric Hosmer. That pursuit ended without a deal, seemingly leaving the Royals positioned to embark upon a full-blown rebuild.
Bucking the leaguewide trend, though, Kansas City has elected to dedicate some cash to put a quality product on the field in 2018. It may not be enough to make for a clear-cut contender, but the Royals have certainly added a lot of productivity in signing Lucas Duda, Jon Jay, and now Moustakas in short succession.
Better still, the team has improved its 2018 outlook quite a bit without tying its hands for the future. It still seems that a longer-term outlook will define the team’s approach, and it’s certainly possible that some of the new additions will end up being traded at some point in the coming season, but the Royals promise to be competitive for the coming season.
Signing Moustakas does come with a cost beyond the payroll hit. Since he returned to Kansas City after declining a qualifying offer, the organization will not add a compensatory draft choice that it would have if he had joined Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain in heading elsewhere. The Royals will still add two selections after the conventional first-round of the draft for those departures. As for Moustakas, he’ll re-enter the market next winter (assuming the mutual option is not exercised) without the hindrance of any draft compensation, though he’ll also face stiff competition in an anticipated market full of stars.
There’s plenty to digest about this signing, needless to say. Most broadly, it’s as clear a sign as any about the market’s valuation of power. As the ball flies out of the yard at record rates around the league, lofty dinger tallies just aren’t paying in free agency.
It was bad timing, then, for Moustakas, whose power stroke is his chief attribute. He launched a career-high 38 long balls in 2017 and finished with steadily above-average overall offensive production. Despite tepid output earlier in his career, Moustakas has been a .275/.329/.496 hitter over the past three seasons.
Of course, that’s something of the rosy version of his attributes as a hitter. Moustakas managed only a .314 OBP last year and carries an ugly .305 career mark. While he doesn’t strike out much, he also doesn’t draw many free passes; in 2017, he finished with a career-low 5.7% walk rate. And his 17.8% HR/FB rate from last year sits well above his career average of 10.6%. Any decline in that number could be problematic. Statcast suggests Moustakas was fortunate to fare as well as he did, crediting him with a .331 xwOBA that falls shy of the .355 wOBA he ended up posting.
Teams certainly may also have been a bit wary of Moustakas’s abilities in the field and on the bases. Fangraphs’ total baserunning statistic marks him as one of the league’s worst baserunners, with -5.4 runs tallied in both 2017 and 2015 — suggesting that his intervening ACL tear wasn’t solely to blame. Defensive metrics panned his glovework, too, with DRS (-8 runs) and UZR (-3.1) both casting Moustakas as a below-average performer despite previously rating him at times as a quality defender at the hot corner.
In any event, those facts and figures are of no real concern to the Royals, who are intimately familiar with a player they drafted (second overall in 2007) and developed into a productive big leaguer. Whatever qualms they may have about his long-term outlook are nullified in this agreement, anyway, and there’s no denying that Moustakas represents a remarkable bargain at this rate of pay for a single season’s commitment. (Compare to Pablo Sandoval (five years, $95MM) and Chase Headley (four years, $52MM).)

**Chi_archie** · 03-09-18, 07:36 AM

Originally posted by yisman

KC re-signed Moustakas. 1 year, $6.5 million

bargain

**El Nino** · 03-09-18, 08:01 AM

Originally posted by yisman

KC re-signed Moustakas. 1 year, $6.5 million

Teams learning their lessons, aren't going to pay these guys dead money into their 32-35 year old seasons.

**JAKEPEAVY21** · 03-09-18, 08:09 AM

Originally posted by JMobile

Jackey, Padres interested in Jake Arrieta. Have you heard about that?

yes, I saw that...a long shot but that would be pretty cool...

**koz-man** · 03-09-18, 02:41 PM

Luke Gregerson got about twice as much money ($11 million) as Mike Moustakas ($6.5 million).

3/8 Presumptive Cardinals closer Luke Gregerson is dealing with a strained oblique, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. While such injuries can often take upwards of a month to heal.

**JMobile** · 03-09-18, 03:38 PM

CarGo got 1 year worth $8million back with the Rockies.

**BigSpoon** · 03-09-18, 06:53 PM

Originally posted by koz-man

Luke Gregerson got about twice as much money ($11 million) as Mike Moustakas ($6.5 million).

3/8 Presumptive Cardinals closer Luke Gregerson is dealing with a strained oblique, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. While such injuries can often take upwards of a month to heal.

It's better to be an average free agent relief pitcher than an average position player these days.

**batt33** · 03-09-18, 11:05 PM

Originally posted by JAKEPEAVY21

yes, I saw that...a long shot but that would be pretty cool...

Hard to imagine padres spending another chunk of change

**Cross** · 03-09-18, 11:58 PM

How did CarGo look last year?

**ApricotSinner32** · 03-10-18, 12:33 AM

Originally posted by koz-man

Luke Gregerson got about twice as much money ($11 million) as Mike Moustakas ($6.5 million).

3/8 Presumptive Cardinals closer Luke Gregerson is dealing with a strained oblique, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. While such injuries can often take upwards of a month to heal.

ddddddddddddddddddddddd

**Andy117** · 03-10-18, 12:52 AM

Originally posted by Cross

How did CarGo look last year?

Not great, good bounceback candidate.

**El Nino** · 03-10-18, 12:56 AM

Originally posted by JMobile

CarGo got 1 year worth $8million back with the Rockies.

Great time to be a GM.

**Chi_archie** · 03-10-18, 07:43 AM

Originally posted by El Nino

Great time to be a GM.

and an owner

**JAKEPEAVY21** · 03-10-18, 08:13 AM

Originally posted by batt33

Hard to imagine padres spending another chunk of change

The starting pitching is a major weakness. Arietta could slide into the #1 slot and be a great mentor for all these young pitchers. The new regime here in San Diego is not afraid to spend some money but are building the team the right way, through the farm system.

**koz-man** · 03-10-18, 08:37 AM

Originally posted by BigSpoon

It's better to be an average free agent relief pitcher than an average position player these days.

Ain't that the truth!?!
Especially if your a southpaw...

**JMobile** · 03-10-18, 10:01 AM

Originally posted by El Nino

Great time to be a GM.

CarGo missed out on a $30 million deal. Too bad he thought he couldn't of gotten more. These FA suckers.

**EmpireMaker** · 03-10-18, 10:08 AM

The Cubs have a pair of former players entering their front office, per a club announcement. MLB veterans Chris Denorfia and Matt Murton have been named, respectively, as special assistant to the president/GM and baseball operations assistant. Denorfia, a ten-year big-leaguer, spent just one year in Chicago — his final campaign in the majors, 2015. Murton, meanwhile, broke into the majors with the Cubs but mostly found success abroad as a member of Japan’s Hanshin Tigers.
Here’s the latest from the National League:

Braves southpaw Luiz Gohara is going to be shut down for at least two weeks after suffering an ankle sprain, as David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Though it doesn’t seem as if there’s anything approaching long-term concern for the injury itself, there are implications. For one, there’s now little chance that Gohara will open the season in the rotation, as he has already been limited in camp. That means another pitcher — O’Brien suggests Max Fried or Scott Kazmir, though others are also certainly in the mix — will likely take that slot. When Gohara is back to health, moreover, he’ll presumably need to boost his conditioning along with getting his arm up to full speed. The big-bodied southpaw previously strained his groin in a camp workout and has long faced questions about his weight. Of course, that did not prevent him from an impressive five-start debut showing in 2017.
The Cardinals have decided to put righty Bud Norris in the bullpen, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. That’s not terribly surprising, but the organization had at least been stretching him out as a starter to open camp. Norris showed some renewed vigor at times last year as a late-inning reliever and could be used in that capacity, though skipper Mike Matheny also did not rule out relying upon Norris for multiple innings in a swingman role. In other news from St. Louis, the club announced that outfielder Tyler O’Neill has been diagnosed with a hamstring strain. The severity is not known, but the the odds were already stacked against the well-regarded prospect cracking the Opening Day roster.
Kevin Plawecki could receive the lion’s share of the time behind the dish for the Mets, Tim Healey of Newsday writes. New skipper Mickey Callaway says it will often come down to platoon splits in deciding whether Plawecki or Travis d’Arnaud is behind the dish, with the former’s advantage against right-handed pitching perhaps leading to greater opportunities. Surely performance levels over the course of the season will weigh into the calculus, but Callaway clearly indicated that the organization is disinclined to match up their backstops with particular starters.

**batt33** · 03-10-18, 10:50 PM

Another day goes by and arreita still unsigned.........

**yisman** · 03-10-18, 11:57 PM

This thread should easily blow past 2017.

**Cross** · 03-11-18, 01:10 AM

Ha, when Bob Brenly did tv for the Cubs he claimed that Matt Murton would one day be a batting champ!

**El Nino** · 03-11-18, 01:15 AM

Twins sign Lance Lynn to a one year/$12 million deal.

**EmpireMaker** · 03-11-18, 04:26 AM

Major League Baseball has announced an 80-game suspension without pay for Royals outfielder Jorge Bonifacio, Joel Sherman of the New York Post was among those to report (Twitter link). Bonifacio tested positive for Boldenone, a performance-enhancing substance. His ban will open up roster space for third baseman Mike Moustakas, whom the Royals just re-signed.
In response to Bonifacio’s suspension, Royals general manager Dayton Moore said (via Rustin Dodd of The Athletic): “This obviously [is] a very disappointing situation for the Royals, our fans and Jorge. He is an incredible person who simple made a mistake. Jorge will have our full support as he deals with the consequences.”
The 24-year-old Bonifacio, formerly a well-regarded prospect, is coming off his first major league season. Across 422 plate appearances, the right-handed hitter slashed .255/.320/.432 with 17 home runs to essentially grade as a league-average offensive performer (99 wRC+). He also saw 808 innings in the outfield, mostly in right (743), and ended up with minus-3 Defensive Runs Saved and a plus-o.3 Ultimate Zone Rating.
Coming off a respectable rookie campaign, Bonifacio was the front-runner to start in right for the Royals on Opening Day, but the team will now have to make other plans for the first couple months of 2018. The club just signed veteran Jon Jay, who figures to join long-tenured Royal Alex Gordon in occupying starting spots. Other outfield options on the 40-man roster include Jorge Soler, Paulo Orlando, Hunter Dozier, former top prospect Bubba Starling (who’s dealing with an oblique injury) and perhaps second baseman Whit Merrifield, whom the Royals have tried in the grass in recent weeks. Kansas City also has Michael Saunders, Cody Asche and Tyler Collins on hand as experienced big leaguers who are in spring training as non-roster invitees.
In the event they’re not content with their in-house selections, the Royals could once again venture to free agency, where they’ve been active recently with the signings of Moustakas, Jay and Lucas Duda. There are some proven (albeit flawed) outfield options available via that route, with ex-Royals Melky Cabrera and Brandon Moss, Seth Smith, Jose Bautista, Jayson Werth, Andre Ethier and Matt Holliday among them. Infielder Neil Walker is also unsigned, and although he’s not an outfielder, he’d upgrade the Royals’ position player group in the wake of Bonifacio’s ban. The Royals showed interest in Walker recently.

**JAKEPEAVY21** · 03-11-18, 07:47 AM

Originally posted by Cross

Ha, when Bob Brenly did tv for the Cubs he claimed that Matt Murton would one day be a batting champ!

I remember when Brenly was the Dbags manager and the controversy over the Padres bunting for a hit in the 8th inning of a no hitter in a 2-0 game...

**Chi_archie** · 03-11-18, 08:02 AM

Originally posted by El Nino

Twins sign Lance Lynn to a one year/$12 million deal.

wooooooow!

Lynn caved

**koz-man** · 03-11-18, 10:19 AM

Red Sox players are wearing red T-shirts that read "We Are #LydiaStrong in support of closer Craig Kimbrel, who remains in Boston with his infant daughter. Lydia Joy was born Nov. 3 with a heart condition and has undergone multiple procedures at Boston Children's Hospital. Asked about when Kimbrel might return, manager Alex Cora said only that the team is "praying for Lydia and hoping."

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said closer Craig Kimbrel's infant daughter, Lydia, is "doing better.” Kimbrel has been away from the team for two weeks while Lydia underwent another heart procedure at Boston Children's Hospital. Kimbrel has been throwing, and while there's no timetable for his return to camp, baseball is hardly the priority. Cora said he talked to Kimbrel for 25 minutes the other day, "and I think I was Red Sox manager for 5 of them."