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Anyone know how many guys make it to majors drafted in rounds 40 +?Comment -
here's an article from mlb.com about the potential 3 team Kluber deal:
I'd be happy to get Senzel for Margot and renfroe. I do like Renfroe and think he will be a good power hitter but the Padres have a glut of outfielders and no really great options at 3rd. I've never been very impressed with Margot...all I hear about is how great his speed and defense is and he has not wowed me in either area, I'd honestly be happy to trade him and go with Jankowski or Franchy Cordero in CF.Comment -
here's an article from mlb.com about the potential 3 team Kluber deal:
I'd be happy to get Senzel for Margot and renfroe. I do like Renfroe and think he will be a good power hitter but the Padres have a glut of outfielders and no really great options at 3rd. I've never been very impressed with Margot...all I hear about is how great his speed and defense is and he has not wowed me in either area, I'd honestly be happy to trade him and go with Jankowski or Franchy Cordero in CF.
seems complicatedComment -
mlb.com's list of top LHP prospects(4 of top 10 are in the Padres system):
The Top 10 (ETA)
1. Jesus Luzardo, Athletics (2019)
2. MacKenzie Gore, Padres (2021)
3. Brendan McKay, Rays (2020)
4. A.J. Puk, Athletics (2020)
5. Justus Sheffield, Mariners (2019)
6. Adrian Morejon, Padres (2020)
7. Matthew Liberatore, Rays (2021)
8. Logan Allen, Padres (2019)
9. DL Hall, Orioles (2021)
10. Ryan Weathers, Padres (2021)Comment -
Longtime Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman will retire after 2019
CINCINNATI -- Reds play-by-play broadcaster Marty Brennaman will retire after the 2019 season, his 46th in Cincinnati.
The team made the announcement Wednesday.
The 76-year-old Brennaman joined the Reds' radio team in 1974 and soon became known for his sign-off line after each win: "And this one belongs to the Reds." He and former Reds pitcher Joe Nuxhall shared the booth for 31 seasons from 1974-2004.
He received the Ford C. Frick Award in 2000 at the Baseball Hall of Fame, the fourth Reds announcer to receive the broadcasting award along with Red Barber, Al Helfer and Russ Hodges.
Brennaman also has worked NCAA tournament games, including 11 Final Fours. His son, Thom, is also a Reds broadcaster.
On Tuesday, longtime Pittsburgh Pirates announcer Steve Blass said this season will be his last. This will be his 34th year as a color analyst.Comment -
White Sox have an offer of $175 million over seven years on the table for Machado, ...Rumor has it........Comment -
Manny can get more than that, can’t he?Comment -
Royals left-hander Eric Skoglund has been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for “Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators S-22 (Ostarine) and LGD-4033 (Ligandrol),” the league announced Wednesday.
Skoglund, 26, would presumably have been in the mix for a rotation spot with the Royals this spring but will instead sit out the first half of the season without pay. The 2014 third-rounder has had some success at the Triple-A level thus far in his career but has not yet broken out as a reliable MLB option in Kansas City. In 14 appearances for the Royals in 2018 (13 starts), Skoglund pitched to a 5.14 ERA with 6.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 1.54 HR/9 and a 42.1 percent ground-ball rate. He does have a 4.13 ERA with nearly a punchout per inning and similar control numbers through 109 innings with the Royals’ top minor league affiliate in Omaha.
Kansas City presently figures to open the season with Danny Duffy, Jakob Junis, Brad Keller and Ian Kennedy in the rotation. Skoglund’s subtraction from the race for the fifth spot will give names like Jesse Hahn, Trevor Oaks, Heath Fillmyer and Ben Lively a greater chance of making some starts in the early stages of a 2019 season that appears destined to be a rebuilding year for the Royals as they work to develop a new core following their 2015 World Series Championship.
The suspension will open a spot on the Royals’ 40-man roster, which had previously been full.Comment -
3:00pm: Flores’ contract guarantees him $4.25MM, Passan tweets. He’ll earn a $3.75MM base salary in 2019 and have a $500K buyout on a $6MM option for the 2020 season.
2:22pm: The Diamondbacks are in agreement on a one-year contract with free-agent infielder Wilmer Flores, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (via Twitter). The contract also contains a club option for a second season. Passan’s colleague, Pedro Gomez, had previously tweeted that the McNamara Baseball Group client was closing in on a deal with an NL West club, and Fancred’s Jon Heyman listed the D-backs as one of his suitors shortly thereafter. The deal is still pending completion of a physical.
Flores, 27, was non-tendered by the Mets earlier this winter in his final offseason or arbitration eligibility. He’d been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $4.7MM, and the new-look Mets front office felt that sum to be too costly coming given the team’s crowded infield mix (which has since become more cluttered) and a diagnosis of early onset arthritis in both knees.
Last season, Flores hit .267/.319/.417 with 11 homers and 25 doubles in 386 trips to the plate while seeing time at first base, second base, third base and (during interleague play) designated hitter for the Mets. That production is more or less in line with what Flores had done in each of the past two seasons, but it’s worth noting that Flores’ output against left-handed pitching cratered last season.
Typically, Flores’ right-handed bat is a thorn in the side of opposing southpaws, but he instead mustered a timid .237/.284/.326 slash in 135 plate appearances with the platoon advantage. That’s a far cry from the .314/.349/.620 slash that Flores registered in 324 PAs against lefties from 2015-17 and was obviously a cause for concern among Mets decision-makers.
With the Diamondbacks, Flores can bounce around the infield, giving the Snakes a right-handed complement to Jake Lamb (who struggles mightily against lefties) while also spelling Ketel Marte at second base. There’s also been talk of moving Marte to center field, and the addition of Flores could make that transition easier on the Diamondbacks, should Marte prove adept in the outfield come Spring Training. At the very least, perhaps Arizona could play Marte in center field against lefties and deploy Flores at second base those days, thus giving Jarrod Dyson (who has also struggled against southpaws in his career) some protection from same-handed pitchers.
The D-backs may not done adding complementary pieces to their infield and outfield mix, so it’s possible, too, that future signings/acquisitions will further shed some light on the manner in which the organization plans to utilize Flores.Comment -
surprised some of these guys haven't signed yet kimbrel pollock keuchel marwin gonzalezComment -
Yankees, Adam Ottavino agree to 3-year, $27 million deal
Free-agent reliever Adam Ottavino and the New York Yankees agreed to a three-year, $27 million deal Thursday, league sources told ESPN, fortifying an already deep bullpen with a strikeout-happy right-hander who was one of the best setup men in baseball last season.
As a lockdown reliever for the Colorado Rockies last season, Ottavino struck out 112 batters, which ranked fourth among all MLB relievers, and held opposing hitters to a .158 batting average in 77⅔ innings. He went 6-4 with a 2.43 ERA as the Rockies reached the National League Division Series as the wild card before losing to Milwaukee.
Ottavino, 33, whose deal is pending a physical, joins the best bullpen in baseball. The Yankees now boast closer Aroldis Chapman, setup man Dellin Betances and late-inning specialist Zach Britton, who agreed to a three-year, $39 million deal with New York earlier this offseason.
Add in Chad Green and Jonathan Holder, who had a breakout 2018, and the Yankees' bullpen stands in stark contrast to that of the rival Boston Red Sox, who lost setup man Joe Kelly via free agency to the Los Angeles Dodgers and are without a closer, as Craig Kimbrel remains a free agent.
The Yankees' bullpen, which is coming off a season in which it was the first in MLB history to strike out more than 30 percent of batters faced (30.2), could be even tougher in 2019. It will feature three of the top 11 MLB relievers in strikeout ratio from 2018 -- and that's not including Britton, who has a career ratio of 8.7 K/9 IP as a reliever.
Ottavino, who earned $7 million while serving as the setup man for Rockies closer Wade Davis, has always been a great matchup option facing right-handed hitters but has continued to flash the right pitches to get lefty hitters out, too.Comment -
Manny is sure taking his sweet time. I selfishly want him to go to Philly because of my future wager in the SBR Sportsbook but I actually do think that’s where he goes because they’ll pay him the most.Comment -
The Nationals have agreed to a minor-league deal with southpaw Vidal Nuno, according to Jon Heyman of Fancred (via Twitter). He’ll receive an invitation to participate in MLB Spring Training as well as opt-out opportunities if he doesn’t earn a roster spot. Nuno would earn at a $1.3MM rate in the big leagues.
Nuno, 31, turned in a sparkling 1.64 ERA in 33 frames last year for the Rays. His underlying peripherals, however, were not quite so promising as the bottom-line results would otherwise suggest. Nuno was helped along by a .216 batting average on balls in play and 100% strand rate.
Teams clearly do not anticipate that Nuno will be capable of replicating his 2018 output; otherwise, he’d have been claimed when he was outrighted after the end of the season or would have commanded a MLB deal in free agency. Still, he seems to be a worthwhile depth piece, having compiled a 4.06 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 over nearly four hundred career frames at the game’s highest level.
For the Nats, Nuno could represent both rotation and left-handed relief depth. He took ten starts at Triple-A last year but has mostly worked out of the pen in recent major league campaigns. Historically, Nuno has found much greater success against same-handed hitters, so he could compete for a LOOGY job in camp.Comment -
there are only 40 rounds now, but generally the guys near the back are signable college players that at least have some fundamentals so that the org can use them as organizational fillers. You need to have complete rosters in all of your 6-8 minor league teams, they all aren't going to be prospects or guys with seemingly much chance of making it even past AA.
Piazza went to college or jr. college I think. His story was something like his dad or coach new Tommy Lasorda and they just drafted him as a favor to a friend kind of thing.Comment -
Why are these guys taking long to sign. Pitchers and catchers show up to spring training next month.Comment -
By adding Cody Allen, a deal that a source said is still pending a physical, the Angels get the veteran closer they had been seeking for a young, high-octane group. The likes of Ty Buttrey, Justin Anderson, Cam Bedrosian, Hansel Robles and Noe Ramirez can all move back a peg.Comment -
Frick the Giants keep spinning their wheels this off season.... Maybe when the big 2 get signed... they can find an outfielder......Comment -
Yeah I'm not holding my breath that the Giants make a big impact signing this offseason. I'm afraid its going to be another miserable season this year in the city by the Bay.
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sorry cubs fans no harper to chicago maddon said it now kris bryant
Kris Bryant Says Bryce Harper Isn't Signing with the Cubs
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The Rays have reached agreement on a contract with free-agent outfielder Avisail Garcia. He’ll earn at least $3.5MM on the one-year deal, with the potential for more.
The 27-year-old, who was non-tendered by the White Sox just before the deadline earlier in the offseason, can achieve an additional $2.5M via incentive pay tied to his playing time. He’ll get $250K upon reaching 350 plate appearances and do the same for every fifty more thereafter, through his 600th PA. There’s another $1MM payout if he strides to the plate 650 times.
Tampa Bay has reportedly been in the market for a right-handed bat and, if finalized, will bring a buy-low candidate who fits that description into the fold with Garcia. Hamstring issues torpedoed Garcia’s 2018 season, as he was limited to just 93 games and managed just a .236/.281/.438 batting line in 385 plate appearances. A year prior, though, Garcia enjoyed a breakout campaign with a .330/.380/.506 slash through 561 plate appearances.
Truthfully, though, it’s difficult to know what to make of Garcia. His 2017 season was very clearly inflated to an extent by a .392 average on balls in play that he isn’t ever likely to repeat (or even approach). Garcia struck out at a career-low 19.8 percent clip that season, but he also hit the ball on the ground at a 52.2 percent clip — hardly a trend that is conducive to success for a plodding player who is listed at 6’4″ and 240 pounds.
Garcia seemed a prime regression candidate in 2018, and while that held true when looking at his bottom-line stats, there were actually a fair number of silver linings in an otherwise disastrous season. Garcia hit the ball in the air at a career-high 34.4 percent rate, resulting in a clear power surge. Despite having just 385 PAs last season, he clubbed a career-high 19 home runs, and his .202 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) was easily a career-high mark as well. Moreover, Garcia’s hard-hit rate jumped from 40.7 percent in 2017 to 43.2 percent in 2018, per Statcast. At the same time, though, Garcia also punched out in a career-worst 26.5 percent of his plate appearances.
Those past two seasons, in many ways, are a microcosm of Garcia’s career. He’s long been touted as a potential impact bat and clearly has some raw offensive capabilities, but he’s never been able to consistently tap into that talent. In fact, outside of that All-Star 2017 season, Garcia has essentially been a replacement-level player because of the fact that he’s graded out as a poor defender over parts of seven big league seasons.
The Rays have a strong defensive mix in the outfield with Tommy Pham, Kevin Kiermaier and Austin Meadows lined up for regular work, so it’s perhaps likelier that Garcia will see more time at designated hitter and play in the outfield corners only sparingly. Tampa Bay, then, is betting firmly on the offensive potential that has teased both the Tigers and White Sox so often in the past but rarely manifested itself over a consistent stretch in the Majors. If the Rays can cut back on Garcia’s strikeouts while helping him to maintain his hard-contact and fly-ball gains, however, he could prove to be a bargain source of pop in 2019 before returning to the open market next winter.
Tampa Bay already has Yandy Diaz lined up for some regular work at designated hitter, though he could also see time at first base with Ji-Man Choi as well. And given that neither Choi nor Diaz is a proven asset, it’s possible that either could struggle and thus further open at-bats for Garcia, who already figures to be in line for fairly regular playing time.Comment -
Joe Maddon came right out and said there was no chance of Bryce
Cubs are just a tiny bit under the 2nd tier of luxary tax
without a big salary dump trade, I see no way they'll even get a medium tier free agent at this pointComment -
Kris Bryant: 'Not good' that stars Bryce Harper, Manny Machado remain unsigned
CHICAGO -- Cubs star Kris Bryant expressed frustration for free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, who remain unsigned with less than a month to go before spring training begins.
Harper and Machado, along with many other free agents, still are looking for jobs as February nears, marking the second consecutive winter in which free-agent signings have ground to a halt.
"It's really weird," Bryant said Friday from the Cubs' annual winter fan convention. "Two of the best players in the game, and they have very little interest in them, from just what I hear. It's not good. It's something that will have to change. I know a lot of the other players are pretty upset about it."
It's not just veteran free agents ages 30 and up who are still looking for fair contracts. Now it's the younger stars of the game.
On his Instagram account, San Francisco Giants third baseman Evan Longoria also expressed his dismay over the situation and urged the players to "stand strong for what we believe we are worth."
Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Jr., who is a friend of Machado's, called the free-agency situation "unfortunate."
"Right now we have to sit and wait," Almora said. "It's unfortunate, arguably, the best two guys in the league are taking this long to sign. The game is changing right before our eyes. It's a conversation we have to have with our player rep. A lot of us are eager to have those conversations."
Bryant said he is certain Harper won't be signing with the Cubs, who have squashed any talk of adding a high-priced player.Comment
