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

[El Nino]

Last Exhibition Day today. Can't believe regular baseball is here.

Way too early. Fukkin' with tradition here.

[Chi_archie]

The latest on some injury situations from around baseball…

• Angels manager Mike Scioscia told The Athletic’s Pedro Moura and other reporters that Ian Kinsler has been battling some groin tightness and may not be able to play on Opening Day. Zack Cozart has played second base in each of the last two nights for Anaheim and could potentially fill the role during the season if Kinsler is out, though that would leave a vacancy at Cozart’s expected position of third base. It isn’t yet known if Kinsler will require any DL time, though Kaleb Cowart would be the probable replacement since he is already on the 40-man roster and could most easily slide into the infield mix.
• The Twins will place right-hander Phil Hughes on the disabled list to begin the season, manager Paul Molitor told reporters (including The Athletic’s Dan Hayes). Hughes is still recovering from a left oblique strain, and there is a chance he could be ready to return when the Twins need a fifth starter on April 11. Hughes is looking to rebound after two seasons marred by thoracic outlet syndrome procedures, and if he doesn’t end up in Minnesota’s rotation, he could potentially step into a long relief role.
• The Nationals made a series of expected DL placements today, announcing that Daniel Murphy and Joaquin Benoit will begin the season on the 10-day disabled list. Right-hander Koda Glover will be placed on the 60-day DL, thus opening a roster spot for Miguel Montero, whose contract was officially selected. Montero was already told over the weekend that he would be breaking camp as the Nats’ backup catcher, and in making the 25-man roster will now earn $1.3MM for the season as per the terms of his minor league contract with the team. Murphy is still recovering from knee surgery last fall, Benoit has a forearm strain and Glover has been bothered by shoulder issues.

so many injuries

[Otters27]

Way too early. Fukkin' with tradition here.

Ya usually Teams don't play in march unless it is a special. Didn't they play in Australia years ago.

[JMobile]

I got my free MLB account. Ready for the season. Weeeeeeeee.....

[koz-man]

The Yankees have set their starting lineup for tomorrow's opener in Toronto.
With Greg Bird out, they'll go with three-straight right-handed hitters in the middle of the lineup (technically four with the switch-hitting Aaron Hicks playing against lefty Jays starter JA Happ).

[mr. leisure]

The sooner the better

[batt33]

Pablo Sandoval on the bench for the Giants. Red Sox paying 18 million for that privilege

[Cross]

I am so giddy, time for another Title in Chicago!!!

[ApricotSinner32]

The Yankees have set their starting lineup for tomorrow's opener in Toronto.
With Greg Bird out, they'll go with three-straight right-handed hitters in the middle of the lineup (technically four with the switch-hitting Aaron Hicks playing against lefty Jays starter JA Happ).

[EmpireMaker]

The latest noteworthy roster decisions across Major League Baseball as Opening Day draws ever closer…

• The Brewers announced that they’ve selected the contract of Ji-Man Choi, who’ll make their Opening Day roster. (Sung Min Kim of Fangraphs and River Ave. Blues first tweeted that Choi had made the roster.) That means both Choi and the out-of-options Jesus Aguilar will make a roster which also includes first base options Eric Thames and Ryan Braun. However, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel points out (via Twitter), the composition is likely to change quickly — possibly as soon as Friday. Choi has an option remaining, Haudricourt notes. More interestingly, Haudricourt adds that the Brew Crew is pursuing an external pitching addition, and if said move goes through, then Choi could quickly be optioned to Colorado Springs to clear a 25-man roster spot. Also of particular note for the Brewers is that Wade Miley was reassigned to minor league camp and won’t be making the club.

Earlier Decisions & Moves

• The White Sox have selected the contract of left-hander Hector Santiago, giving them a full 40-man roster, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times was among those to report on Twitter. In other moves, the club sent southpaw Carlos Rodon (left shoulder rehabilitation) and catcher Kevan Smith (left ankle sprain) to the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to March 26. Santiago will now officially begin his second major league stint as a member of the White Sox, with whom he started his career in 2011 and stayed with through 2013. Santiago was successful during that span, but his career has trended downward lately – particularly last season as a Twin – which prevented him from landing a major league contract over the winter. The minors deal the 30-year-old signed with Chicago includes a $2MM salary in the bigs, which he’s now in position to earn. Santiago’s a longtime starter, but he’ll open 2018 in the Sox’s bullpen.
• The Dodgers have optioned outfielder Andrew Toles, as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link). Toles’ demotion means Joc Pederson is likely to be the Dodgers’ Opening Day left fielder, DiGiovanna notes. Toles had been part of a crowded corner outfield battle during spring action alongside Pederson, Matt Kemp, Enrique Hernandez, Alex Verdugo and the just-jettisoned Trayce Thompson. The fact that Toles had options remaining – unlike the expensive, apparently immovable Kemp – probably didn’t do him any favors in his bid to make the Dodgers. The 25-year-old Toles has been successful in Los Angeles since debuting in 2016, having batted .294/.341/.483 with 2.1 fWAR n 217 plate appearances. He missed all but 31 games last season, though, after suffering a torn ACL in May.
• Outfielders Gregor Blanco and Gorkys Hernandez will open the season with the Giants, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. The Giants signed Blanco, 34, to a minors pact back in January. Per that deal, he’ll earn a $1MM salary in the majors and have a chance at $500K in incentives in San Francisco, with which he previously played from 2012-16 and won a pair of World Series. Hernandez is out of options, so he was also in a do-or-die position this spring. The 30-year-old rose to the challenge, though he’ll surely need to improve on last season’s showing (.255/.327/.326 line with no home runs in 348 PAs) to keep his roster spot for all of 2018.
• Outfielder Matt Szczur and righty Jordan Lyles will be part of the Padres’ Opening Day roster, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets. The out-of-options Szczur, 28, will continue to provide outfield depth in San Diego after coming over in a trade with the Cubs last summer. Lyles, meanwhile, spent a bit of time with the Padres in 2017 and then re-signed on a major league contract in the offseason. The deal also features a club option for 2019 for Lyles, who’ll begin the year in the Friars’ bullpen. Having pitched to a 5.43 ERA/4.55 FIP across 681 combined innings (182 appearances, 107 starts) with the Astros, Rockies and Padres, Lyles hasn’t lived up to the billing he had as a prospect. He’s still just 27, however.
• Catchers A.J. Ellis and Raffy Lopez will also be on the Padres’ roster, the team announced. Those two and starter Austin Hedges will give the Padres three backstops on their 25-man roster. Ellis, an established veteran backup, is now set to make $1.25MM after signing a minor league deal in the offseason. The 30-year-old Lopez, who brings just 83 PAs of MLB experience, also signed a minors pact over the winter.
• The Marlins will add catcher Bryan Holaday to their 40- and 25-man rosters, per Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Holaday, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in the offseason. He’ll be one of three catchers on their season-opening roster, joining Tomas Telis (out of options) and Chad Wallach, son of bench coach Tim Wallach. It’s not an ideal setup for Miami, which won’t have standout starter J.T. Realmuto at the outset of the season. Realmuto is on the DL with a bone bruise.
• The Twins will roster outfielder Ryan LaMarre to open the year, Phil Miller of the Star Tribune tweets. LaMarre, an offseason minor league signee of the Twins, spent last year with the Triple-A affiliates of the Angels and Athletics, combining for a meager .628 OPS. He’s a lifetime .268/.335/.388 hitter at the Triple-A level (954 PAs) who has seen very brief MLB action with the Reds, Red Sox and A’s.
• The Tigers announced that they’ve selected infielder Niko Goodrum’s contract, which puts their 40-man roster at capacity. Goodrum, who signed a minors deal with Detroit in November, spent 2010-17 with the Minnesota organization and batted .250/.333/.379 in 2,796 minor league PAs. He saw minimal big league action with the club (18 PAs, all of which came last season).
• The Mariners made the DL placements of Erasmo Ramirez, Ben Gamel and David Phelps official, and they also announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence, who will return to the team after spending parts of the 2017 campaign on Seattle’s big league roster. The M’s also optioned infielder/outfielder Taylor Motter to Triple-A Tacoma.

[El Nino]

Ya usually Teams don't play in march unless it is a special. Didn't they play in Australia years ago.

Yes, the Dbacks played the Dodgers in a two game series in a rugby stadium.

[Otters27]

Cubs are on Midday. Anyone taking work off. I am just going to watch the game tracker.

[JMobile]

Hey Jake, what do you think?

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Hey Jake, what do you think?

hopefully Kershaw slips on a turd and breaks his leg

[Cross]

That would be a shitty development for sure.

[Chi_archie]

Hey Jake, what do you think?

woaj gross

[yisman]

Tigers pirates postponed

[BigSpoon]

Tigers pirates postponed

Nats-Reds also PP today.

[koz-man]

All hyped for Opening Day....And my Reds are Postponed!!!!

[BigSpoon]

Cardinals have a deal with free agent closer Greg Holland pending a physical. No other details as of yet.

[batt33]

All hyped for Opening Day....And my Reds are Postponed!!!!

Talk of tradition........ it use to start with them.

[batt33]

Hope they get better announcers...kinda spoiled with the giants announcers

First game of the season.... who do i get fricking espn announcers

[Andy117]

Cardinals have a deal with free agent closer Greg Holland pending a physical. No other details as of yet.

1 year $14 million. Not bad at all if they get the 2013-14 version.

[yisman]

too much for Greg Holland, IMO

[ApricotSinner32]

The latest noteworthy roster decisions across Major League Baseball as Opening Day draws ever closer…

• The Brewers announced that they’ve selected the contract of Ji-Man Choi, who’ll make their Opening Day roster. (Sung Min Kim of Fangraphs and River Ave. Blues first tweeted that Choi had made the roster.) That means both Choi and the out-of-options Jesus Aguilar will make a roster which also includes first base options Eric Thames and Ryan Braun. However, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel points out (via Twitter), the composition is likely to change quickly — possibly as soon as Friday. Choi has an option remaining, Haudricourt notes. More interestingly, Haudricourt adds that the Brew Crew is pursuing an external pitching addition, and if said move goes through, then Choi could quickly be optioned to Colorado Springs to clear a 25-man roster spot. Also of particular note for the Brewers is that Wade Miley was reassigned to minor league camp and won’t be making the club.

Earlier Decisions & Moves

• The White Sox have selected the contract of left-hander Hector Santiago, giving them a full 40-man roster, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times was among those to report on Twitter. In other moves, the club sent southpaw Carlos Rodon (left shoulder rehabilitation) and catcher Kevan Smith (left ankle sprain) to the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to March 26. Santiago will now officially begin his second major league stint as a member of the White Sox, with whom he started his career in 2011 and stayed with through 2013. Santiago was successful during that span, but his career has trended downward lately – particularly last season as a Twin – which prevented him from landing a major league contract over the winter. The minors deal the 30-year-old signed with Chicago includes a $2MM salary in the bigs, which he’s now in position to earn. Santiago’s a longtime starter, but he’ll open 2018 in the Sox’s bullpen.
• The Dodgers have optioned outfielder Andrew Toles, as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link). Toles’ demotion means Joc Pederson is likely to be the Dodgers’ Opening Day left fielder, DiGiovanna notes. Toles had been part of a crowded corner outfield battle during spring action alongside Pederson, Matt Kemp, Enrique Hernandez, Alex Verdugo and the just-jettisoned Trayce Thompson. The fact that Toles had options remaining – unlike the expensive, apparently immovable Kemp – probably didn’t do him any favors in his bid to make the Dodgers. The 25-year-old Toles has been successful in Los Angeles since debuting in 2016, having batted .294/.341/.483 with 2.1 fWAR n 217 plate appearances. He missed all but 31 games last season, though, after suffering a torn ACL in May.
• Outfielders Gregor Blanco and Gorkys Hernandez will open the season with the Giants, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. The Giants signed Blanco, 34, to a minors pact back in January. Per that deal, he’ll earn a $1MM salary in the majors and have a chance at $500K in incentives in San Francisco, with which he previously played from 2012-16 and won a pair of World Series. Hernandez is out of options, so he was also in a do-or-die position this spring. The 30-year-old rose to the challenge, though he’ll surely need to improve on last season’s showing (.255/.327/.326 line with no home runs in 348 PAs) to keep his roster spot for all of 2018.
• Outfielder Matt Szczur and righty Jordan Lyles will be part of the Padres’ Opening Day roster, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets. The out-of-options Szczur, 28, will continue to provide outfield depth in San Diego after coming over in a trade with the Cubs last summer. Lyles, meanwhile, spent a bit of time with the Padres in 2017 and then re-signed on a major league contract in the offseason. The deal also features a club option for 2019 for Lyles, who’ll begin the year in the Friars’ bullpen. Having pitched to a 5.43 ERA/4.55 FIP across 681 combined innings (182 appearances, 107 starts) with the Astros, Rockies and Padres, Lyles hasn’t lived up to the billing he had as a prospect. He’s still just 27, however.
• Catchers A.J. Ellis and Raffy Lopez will also be on the Padres’ roster, the team announced. Those two and starter Austin Hedges will give the Padres three backstops on their 25-man roster. Ellis, an established veteran backup, is now set to make $1.25MM after signing a minor league deal in the offseason. The 30-year-old Lopez, who brings just 83 PAs of MLB experience, also signed a minors pact over the winter.
• The Marlins will add catcher Bryan Holaday to their 40- and 25-man rosters, per Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Holaday, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in the offseason. He’ll be one of three catchers on their season-opening roster, joining Tomas Telis (out of options) and Chad Wallach, son of bench coach Tim Wallach. It’s not an ideal setup for Miami, which won’t have standout starter J.T. Realmuto at the outset of the season. Realmuto is on the DL with a bone bruise.
• The Twins will roster outfielder Ryan LaMarre to open the year, Phil Miller of the Star Tribune tweets. LaMarre, an offseason minor league signee of the Twins, spent last year with the Triple-A affiliates of the Angels and Athletics, combining for a meager .628 OPS. He’s a lifetime .268/.335/.388 hitter at the Triple-A level (954 PAs) who has seen very brief MLB action with the Reds, Red Sox and A’s.
• The Tigers announced that they’ve selected infielder Niko Goodrum’s contract, which puts their 40-man roster at capacity. Goodrum, who signed a minors deal with Detroit in November, spent 2010-17 with the Minnesota organization and batted .250/.333/.379 in 2,796 minor league PAs. He saw minimal big league action with the club (18 PAs, all of which came last season).
• The Mariners made the DL placements of Erasmo Ramirez, Ben Gamel and David Phelps official, and they also announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence, who will return to the team after spending parts of the 2017 campaign on Seattle’s big league roster. The M’s also optioned infielder/outfielder Taylor Motter to Triple-A Tacoma.

[El Nino]

Kershaw

Dodgers

Zero offense...love it

[EmpireMaker]

• Overall, MLB player salaries rose from 2017 through 2018, according to the calculations of USA Today Sports. But as Bob Nightengale writes, the average big leaguer is only earning slightly more than he did in the prior campaign — and teams committed far fewer dollars on the open market this offseason than last. What’s most notable, perhaps, is the shiftd away from committing significant future dollars to veteran players. Of course, to really diagnose a trend, we’ll likely need to await the results of next year’s much-anticipated free-agent class.
• The slow-moving free agent action and tepid spending season has obviously been noticed by players and agents, leading to some consternation in some quarters. As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription link), there are some who believe that union chief Tony Clark ought to be replaced — perhaps sooner than later given the need to ramp up for new collective bargaining negotiations. Of course, that’s not a universal sentiment, and there’s evidently no clear plan in place even among Clark’s detractors for finding a new leader.
• ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick has published his always-interesting annual survey of key industry players on a variety of interesting subjects. Of particular note, most of Crasnick’s respondents predicted that Bryce Harper would remain in the NL East — with the Phillies trailing the incumbent Nationals as the favorites. Most believed that Clayton Kershaw would ultimately remain with the Dodgers, unsurprisingly, though a decent number felt he may not end up opting out of the final two years of his current contract. These are all just prognostications, of course, but as with the polls we run here at MLBTR, that’s what makes it fun.
• Veteran infielder and noted clubhouse character Munenori Kawasaki seems likely to be at the end of his career after his Japanese club cut him loose. As the AP reports (via the Chicago Tribune), the 36-year-old has evidently been unable to get to full health this spring. He broke into the majors with the Mariners but received his most extensive playing time — and initial notoriety — with the Blue Jays, for whom he provided 597 plate appearances of .242/.326/.301 batting and versatile infield defense over three seasons. Though he did not play much for the 2016 Cubs, he became something of a non-roster part of the team’s World Series run. Of course, Kawasaki spent the bulk of his career in Japan with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. In a dozen campaigns, he carried a .292/.344/.376 slash and swiped 267 bases.

[El Nino]

Stanton blasts 2 HR's in his Yankees debut. Guy may hit 65 HR's this year.

[Otters27]

Man cannot believe the Dodgers lost 1-0. I was going to take them at the -300 but held off. lucky me.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Kershaw

Dodgers

Zero offense...love it

love it as well...and these people laying -300 on opening day thinking it's a lock, need their heads examined!

[mr. leisure]

love it as well...and these people laying -300 on opening day thinking it's a lock, need their heads examined!

A lot of guys crying in Players Talk last night .

[koz-man]

love it as well...and these people laying -300 on opening day thinking it's a lock, need their heads examined!

Yep...A friend of mine took LA & I busted his azz all morning...

[koz-man]

MLB announced today that a total of 254 players represented an all-time record of 21 different countries and territories outside of the United States on 2018 Opening Day 25-man rosters and inactive lists.

The Dominican Republic again lead the Major Leagues with 84 players, Venezuela ranked second with 74 players, while Puerto Rico placed third with 19 players, its highest total since 2011 (20).

[Cross]

Yes, 1-0, love it, haha!

[JMobile]

Man cannot believe the Dodgers lost 1-0. I was going to take them at the -300 but held off. lucky me.

So was I. Lol