Hunter pence is one strange dude.
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Happy for Hunter Pence that a team is giving him a shot even if he'll have to earn his way onto the roster.Comment -
He was on the show Fuller house.Comment -
I'm down 700 million lifetime ama.......Comment -
Spring Training isn’t even underway, but the Indians have already announced a bit of tough news for fans, revealing Friday that star shortstop Francisco Lindor suffered a right calf strain in prepping for camp. Per the team’s announcement, Lindor will be ready to return to “Major League game activity” in seven to nine weeks. Seven weeks would put Lindor on track to be ready for the beginning of the regular season, though if his rehab takes closer to the longer end of that timetable, he’d miss the first couple of weeks of the year.
If Lindor is to miss time early on, the Indians can turn to one of Max Moroff or Yu Chang as a short-term stopgap. While the short-term nature of Lindor’s injury doesn’t necessarily force Cleveland into making a major addition. However, looking at the current assortment of bench options, the argument could already be made that the team is in need of some additional infield depth. At the very least, adding a player such as Adeiny Hechavarria, Alcides Escobar or Jose Iglesias in a reserve role now seems a bit more prudent than it already did, especially given the possibility for lingering effects that are inherent to any injury.
Even missing out on Lindor for a couple of weeks could prove quite detrimental for the Indians, given that the level of payroll approved by ownership forced the front office into a series of moves that have actively weakened the roster. Meanwhile, both the Twins and White Sox have made some improvements, with the latter still actively pursuing some big-name upgrades.
Lindor, one of the game’s most dynamic players, turned in a brilliant .277/.352/.519 slash with 38 homers and 25 steals en route to a sixth-place finish in American League MVP voting. Paired with his defense at shortstop, Lindor was worth nearly eight wins above replacement. The 25-year-old paced the Majors in plate appearances and runs scored, though it’s now decidedly less likely that he’ll be able to replicate either feat.Comment -
Brett Lawrie signs with Brewers
Infielder Brett Lawrie, who hasn't played professionally since he was released before the 2017 season, has signed with the Milwaukee Brewers, he announced on Instagram on Saturday.
Terms of the deal have not been made official.
"Life has been a little weird for me this past couple years," Lawrie wrote in his post. "To be honest, it's been lonely. I worked my whole life to achieve my dreams. I've shared a locker room with 25+ men ever since I've been 19 years old & I blinked and it all disappeared."
The 29-year-old Lawrie hit .248 with 12 home runs and 36 RBIs for the White Sox in an injury-interrupted 2016. He is a career .261 hitter with 71 homers in six seasons with Toronto, Oakland and the White Sox.
Milwaukee drafted Lawrie in 2008 and traded him to Toronto after the 2010 season. He made his major league debut the next season and developed a reputation for being a fiery player.Comment -
Wow, I forgot about Brett Lawrie.Comment -
Machado and Harper will get a contract probably at the end of this month.Comment -
Tough break for Lindor he is one of my favorite players so I hope he recovers quickly from his injury.Comment -
If you're Machado do you take less with the Yankees or take the highest offer?! Rich people problems
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The Giants’ meeting with free-agent outfielder Bryce Harper took place this past Monday, and it lasted twice as long as expected, per reports from Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. Harper’s summit with Giants CEO Larry Baer, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Bruce Bochy was supposed to span two hours, but it went four. After their Las Vegas visit with Harper, “there certainly was an increase in optimism” that the Giants could reel him in, writes Pavlovic, who adds there’s “an increased sense” in the clubhouse that the superstar wants to sign with San Francisco.
The Giants, for their part, are understandably bullish on Harper. On Saturday, one day after Zaidi made it known the Giants are indeed going after Harper, Baer did the same while lavishing praise on the longtime National.
“Bryce Harper is an amazing player,” Baer said. “It’s very hard, and these are competitions, and I can’t handicap it. I don’t know where we are. But we’re giving it a shot. That’s all we can do.”
Baer also made note of Harper’s age, 26, as one of the six-time All-Star’s main selling points and even referred to the Giants’ successful courtship of Barry Bonds in 1992. Then 28, Bonds, like Harper now, reached free agency after establishing himself as one of the game’s preeminent players. And the Giants managed to wrest Bonds away from Pittsburgh, where he spent the first seven years of his career, and fend off other suitors by offering him a then-record contract worth $43.75MM over six years. As Bonds did nearly 27 years ago, Harper could now be in position to set a new high-water mark when it comes to baseball contracts. It seems Harper’s aiming to approach or surpass Giancarlo Stanton’s historic $325MM pact, having reportedly turned down a $300MM-plus offer from the Nats earlier this offseason.
The Giants didn’t make an offer to Harper when they met with him, nor do they expect the protracted race for his services to end this weekend, according to Pavlovic. But as a big-spending franchise that sported the National League’s least valuable outfield in 2018, San Francisco’s second straight horrendous showing in the standings, it seems as logical a landing spot for Harper as any team in the game. And now, after winning three World Series from 2010-14 but falling from grace lately, the goal is “to bring championships back to the Giants’ fans,” Baer noted. While adding Harper may not vault the Giants back into title contention immediately, Baer’s of the belief that “one player can make a difference.”Comment -
Giants will not sign Harper, no way.Comment -
Royals sign Homer Bailey to minor league deal with spring
inviteKANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals signed veteran right-hander Homer Bailey to a minor deal Saturday that includes an invitation to big league spring training.
The 32-year-old Bailey has spent his entire 12-year career in Cincinnati, making 212 starts and going 67-77 with a 4.56 ERA. Bailey was traded from the Reds to the Dodgers in a seven-player deal in December, but he was released and became a free agent.
If he is added to the 40-man roster, Bailey would get the $555,000 big league minimum from the Royals, which would be offset against the $23 million he is owed by the Dodgers in the final guaranteed season of a $105 million, six-year deal he signed with Cincinnati.
Bailey has thrown a pair of no-hitters, the first against Pittsburgh in September 2012 and the other against San Francisco the following July. He won 24 games over those two seasons.
He's also dealt with injuries the past few years, though, starting the season on the disabled list each year from 2015 to 2017. Bailey made eight starts total in 2015 and 2016.
The Royals' pitchers and catchers report to Surprise, Arizona, for spring training Tuesday.Comment -
The Giants have five outfielders on their 40-man roster: Steven Duggar, Chris Shaw, Austin Slater, Mac Williamson and Drew Ferguson, their Rule 5 Draft selection.
watch out NL west!
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Solid 1-14 record posted by Bailey last year also.Comment -
Some rumblings from around the AL West…
- “We are a point where we feel complete with our club,” Angels GM Billy Eppler tells MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, as the Halos feels they made enough short-term additions to be able to compete in 2019. The club was cautious about not dealing any of its top prospects from a farm system that has undergone a major rebuild in recent years, and Los Angeles didn’t splurge on any long-term free agent commitments. That said, the Angels’ focus on short-term signings “wasn’t scripted,” as Eppler put it. “There were some players that we engaged on and made offers to that would’ve been multi-year commitments. Those didn’t work out for a couple different reasons. But shorter-term deals work in a variety of ways — they keep you flexible, and they keep you open to doing things both during the season and in succeeding seasons.” Some type of a reload was necessary for the team, given both the sorry state of the Angels’ minor league pipeline just a few years ago and the number of ill-fated big contracts that didn’t pan out. Still, the Angels are on something of a clock to get back into contention, given that Mike Trout is only under contract for two more seasons.
- Matt Chapman provided an update on his health status in the wake of offseason thumb and shoulder, telling reporters (including the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser) that he’ll be in the lineup when the Athletics begin their season on March 20 in Tokyo. The third baseman could miss a few early Spring Training games as he recovers, however, noting “it’s hard to say when everything will be a full go.” Chapman expressed some regret at waiting until December to undergo his shoulder procedure, as he said the joint was giving him some discomfort during the season but he thought some downtime would correct the issue. While the A’s will certainly be cautious about their star during the spring, it doesn’t yet seem Chapman is in any danger of missing any regular season action.
- Outfield prospect Kyle Lewis was invited to the Mariners’ big league Spring Training camp, a positive development for Lewis after an injury-plagued start to his pro career, TJ Cotterill writes for Baseball America. The 11th overall pick of the 2016 draft, Lewis has already undergone two knee surgeries, limiting him to just 711 plate appearances and 165 games over two-plus seasons. These injuries and a not-unrelated relative lack of production (.258/.328/.430 slash line in the minors) have caused Lewis’ prospect stock to drop, though the 23-year-old is entering a season healthy for the first time. “He’s missed so much time, but we feel better today than we’ve ever felt with his work and his progress. Most of us who have been around Kyle, we really don’t have a lot of concern about the ability. It’s the health,” Mariners farm director Andy McKay said.
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6 years $105 milly for Bailey...dear Jesus that's such a bad contract in hindsight. Zito-esqueComment -
Javy Guerra, a shortstop in the minor leagues with the San Diego Padres, was named the most valuable player of the Caribbean Series tournament.Comment -
Melky Cabrera agrees to minor league deal with Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates and veteran outfielder Melky Cabrera have agreed to a minor league contract, according to ESPN and multiple reports.
The agreement was first reported Sunday by The Athletic. Cabrera can make up to $2 million in performance bonuses, according to ESPN and reports.
Cabrera, 34, appeared in 78 games with the Cleveland Indians last season, batting .280 with six home runs and 39 RBIs. He is a career .286 hitter in parts of 14 seasons with the Indians, Royals, White Sox, Blue Jays, Giants, Braves and Yankees.
In 2012, Cabrera received a 50-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs.Comment -
rumor White sox offer machado 250 million for 8 years...holding out for over 300 mil .... Both sides crazy.....
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Kyler Murray announces he is 'fully committing' to football instead of playing baseball for the A's.Comment -
So other FA players still have no job while pitchers and catchers showing up to camp this week. Those FA's might take a pay cut.Comment -
If I'm Bryce Harper I would have taken the 300milComment -
Stop the staring contest already.Comment
