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- The Giants seem likely to hold onto Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto this offseason, opines Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. That’s not particularly surprising, as San Francisco has little in the way of rotation depth. Samardzija looks like a plausible trade candidate, but any return figures to be minimal. He’ll make $18MM as a 35-year-old rental and looks like a back-end starter at this point. Cueto, meanwhile, will need to reestablish his health before another club will consider paying down some of the $46MM he’s due over the next two seasons (including a 2023 buyout). The veteran (34 in February) started just four games in September following an August 2018 Tommy John Surgery. As Schulman notes, each pitcher could see his trade value rebound with a strong first half.
- The Dodgers have had a quiet start to the offseason, observes Andy McCullough of the Athletic. Given the club’s repeated postseason disappointments in recent years, many L.A. fans have called for a roster shakeup. That sentiment is shared by some in the Dodgers’ front office, relays McCullough, although the club’s only significant acquisition thus far has been reliever Blake Treinen, who inked a one-year, $10MM deal two weeks ago. While there’s still time for the Dodgers to make a splash- they remain front and center on the latest Mike Clevinger and Francisco Lindor rumors- McCullough points out that they haven’t acted rashly under Andrew Friedman’s leadership. They may not need to so this offseason, as they again look to be the overwhelming favorites in the NL West.
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They are probably now the favorites to win the AL Central. They bolstered their lineup and their starting rotation this offseason and are really going for it. With Cleveland taking a step back, the Tigers being a doormat, the Royals still rebuilding and the Twins probably being their only competition for the crown Chicago has a real shot at winning the division title.Comment -
Dodgers need to start splurging otherwise might be late to the partyComment -
Two big bats out there still unsigned.
Donaldson and Ozuna.Comment -
The White Sox will be a better team next year, they won't win the division but at least they will compete for it.Comment -
Mets, reliever Dellin Betances agree to one-year deal
The New York Mets have reached a one-year deal with right-handed reliever Dellin Betances, sources confirmed to ESPN.
The deal is worth $10.5 million, but Betances could earn $13 million if he appears in 70 games. There is a player option in 2021 and a vesting player option for 2022, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan.
The 6-foot-8 Betances, who has 621 strikeouts in 381 2/3 career innings, is a flamethrower with a fastball that clocks close to 100 mph, but injury problems kept him out almost all of last season. He was diagnosed with an impingement in his pitching shoulder after his fourth spring training appearance on March 17. His rehabilitation stopped when the team said June 11 that he had strained his right latissimus dorsi muscle, and Betances did not start a minor league injury rehabilitation assignment until September.
Betances finally made it back into a big league game before the end of the season, when a partially torn left Achilles tendon suffered when he hopped on the mound after celebrating a strikeout ended his comeback after just eight pitches.
But Betances has been one of the American League's most reliable setup men during his run of seven seasons with the Yankees. A four-time All-Star, Betances is 21-22 with a 2.36 career ERA in 358 relief appearances over his seven big-league seasons. During one three-year stretch in the Bronx, he chalked up an incredible 392 strikeouts to lead the league three times in that category, with an earned-run average of 1.93.
Betances began his major league career in 2011 with the Yankees; he mostly was used as a starter in his early years, then began moving into a relief role.
Story of the sides reaching an agreement was first reported by SNY.Comment -
I think Minnesota wins it again next year.Comment -
Cleveland is trying their best to tank that division.Comment -
Man cleveland is chucked big time.Comment -
I’m sure Donaldson wants to stay there. Braves just need to offer 4 years.Comment -
The Nationals had interest in switch-hitter Justin Smoak before Smoak signed with the Brewers last week, The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty reports. With Smoak off the board, the Nats will continue to explore left-handed hitting options for both first base and their lineup as a whole, given their overall right-handed tilt. As Dougherty notes, it’s quite possible that the Nationals bring back Matt Adams as that lefty bat, and Adams will again team with Howie Kendrick and (the still-to-be-signed) Ryan Zimmerman in a timeshare at first base.
Kendrick is already back in the fold, rejoining the World Series champions on a one-year deal worth $6.25MM in guaranteed money ($4MM in 2020 salary, and either a $2.25MM buyout of a mutual option for 2021, or $6.5MM in 2021 if both sides exercise that option). The versatile Kendrick spent the majority of his time as a first baseman in 2019, though he also saw action at both second base and third base. Those other two infield positions are now in a state of flux, what with Anthony Rendon gone to the Angels and Brian Dozier and Asdrubal Cabrera currently free agents, so Washington could prefer to deploy Kendrick around the infield rather than commit him to a larger portion of the first base playing time.
Zimmerman, of course, is a free agent himself, though the longtime District stalwart has indicated that he will either return to the Nationals on a year-to-year basis or potentially retire. “Both he and the Nationals remain willing to negotiate a cheap, one-year contract,” Dougherty writes, and “about $4MM has been floated as a price the sides could agree on.”
It seems to be more or less just a matter of time before Zimmerman officially returns to the fold for his 16th season in a Nats jersey, and his presence likely indicates that D.C. will stick with a platoon situation at first base. The club “ultimately decided that the price was too high” for Smoak, whose one-year deal with Milwaukee is worth $5MM in guaranteed money. It wasn’t a hefty figure, though perhaps too much for a Nationals team that is looking for a platoon partner rather than more of a full-time option like Smoak.
Eric Thames, Mitch Moreland, Greg Bird, Logan Morrison, Brad Miller, and Neil Walker are a few of the left-handed or switch-hitting first base options on the open market, though Adams represents a known quantity for the Nats. Over 610 plate appearances since joining the Nationals in August 2018, Adams has hit 38 homers with a .240/.302/.485 slash line. Long a force against right-handed pitching, Adams’ numbers against righties dipped in everything but the slugging department last season, though Dougherty said that Adams was bothered with some shoulder problems. Washington declined its end of Adams’ $4MM mutual option for 2020, making the 31-year-old into a free agent.
If the Nationals can find a power bat at another position, Dougherty writes that the team could simply just go with Zimmerman and Kendrick as the all right-handed first base platoon, given Kendrick’s solid numbers against same-sided pitching. The Nats continue to be one of the favorites to land Josh Donaldson as their new everyday third baseman, and, should Donaldson sign elsewhere, there have also been whispers that D.C. could try to acquire Kris Bryant from the Cubs. Both Donaldson and Bryant are also right-handed bats, though with either of them playing third base, the Nationals could then explore adding a multi-positional left-handed bench bat, or one that could share time at second base with rookie Carter Kieboom or the switch-hitting Wilmer Difo.Comment -
Cleveland and orioles worst teams 2020Comment -
Source: Reds in talks with outfielder Akiyama
CINCINNATI -- The Reds are the lone team in the Major Leagues to never have had a Japanese-born player. That has a chance to change, possibly sooner than later.
An MLB.com source confirmed on Thursday that the Reds have been in talks with the agent for Japanese free-agent outfielder Shogo Akiyama. Nikkan Sports from Japan first reported that based on the club’s persistent interest, Cincinnati could be the most likely team to sign Akiyama.
Akiyama, who turns 32 in April, is a .301 career hitter in nine seasons with the Seibu Lions. The left-handed hitter has averaged 23 homers over his last three years. He’s been a center fielder for Seibu but appears to project more as a corner outfielder in the Major Leagues.
In 2019, Akiyama batted .303/.392/.471 with 20 home runs. Because of his service time in Nippon Professional Baseball, he is not subject to the expensive posting rules that currently exist for many Japanese players that want to cross over to Major League Baseball.
President of baseball operations Dick Williams first confirmed the Reds’ interest in Akiyama during the Winter Meetings. Akiyama and his agency met with interested clubs during the meetings in San Diego and the Reds were believed to be one of the teams that saw him.
The Reds have been looking to add offense this offseason and have already added free-agent second baseman Mike Moustakas with a four-year deal worth $64 million. Williams and general manager Nick Krall have been in contact with representatives of multiple free agent outfielders, including Marcell Ozuna and Nicholas Castellanos. Another free agent they were rumored to have interest in, Kole Calhoun, signed earlier this week with Arizona.
Cincinnati currently has Nick Senzel slated to return as its regular center fielder, with Jesse Winker and Aristides Aquino as the corner outfielders. All three players have questions marks -- Senzel and Winker have endured injury issues, while Aquino is still lacking a track record following an uneven two months in the big leagues this past season.
Mark Sheldon has covered the Reds for MLB.com since 2006, and previously covered the Twins from 2001-05. Follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon and Facebook.Comment -
MLB All-Decade Team: Who made our squad of baseball's best from 2010-2019?
Picking a 2010s all-decade team is fun, and everyone has been doing that. You know what's even more fun? Picking an all-decade team for every decade since 1900!
What goes into an all-decade team? It's some amorphous mix of decade-long value, peak-level dominance and iconic status. Some might factor in postseason performance or World Series titles, and some might consider that irrelevant, focusing only on regular-season numbers.
Here were my rules: I picked nine position players -- one for each position, including at least one outfielder who must be a center fielder, plus a utility/DH role that can be any position. I picked five starting pitchers, plus a relief ace for each decade since the 1940s. All WAR totals listed are from Baseball-Reference.com, and only numbers compiled from within the given decade were considered -- some all-time greats might not fit neatly in a specific decade; a few were great enough for long enough to make more than one all-decade team.
One general note: WAR doesn't make any timeline adjustment, something to keep in mind as you compare players across eras. As the quality of play improves over time, it becomes more difficult to post big numbers. In other words, my take is that an 8.0-WAR season is more impressive in 2019 than it was in 1929.
So let's get to it, starting with an in-depth look at the 2010s and then comparing our just-ended decade to the previous 10.
Catcher: Buster Posey (128 OPS+, 42.2 WAR)
Others considered: Yadier Molina
Why it's Posey: Posey has a sizable edge in WAR (42.2 to 31.9) -- an even bigger one at FanGraphs, which attempts to incorporate catcher framing into its WAR (53.0 to 41.7) -- and three World Series titles in the decade to one for Molina. Molina's big edge is he played 1,291 games behind the plate to just 980 for Posey. I put this vote to some ESPN baseball scribes and editors, and Posey was the unanimous choice.
First base: Joey Votto (152 OPS+, 52.1 WAR)
Others considered: Miguel Cabrera, Paul Goldschmidt
Why it's Votto: He led all batters in the decade in runs created and on-base percentage, ranked third in WAR, won an MVP and matched Cabrera in wRC+ (while being a much better fielder)
Second base: Robinson Cano (132 OPS+, 54.2 WAR)
Others considered: Jose Altuve, Ian Kinsler
Why it's Cano: Yes, Altuve is better right now and a lot more fun, but we forget how great Cano was from 2010 to 2017, hitting .303/.362/.503 and averaging 27 home runs and 99 RBIs per year. He trails only Mike Trout in WAR for the decade and has a big lead over Altuve (54.2 to 38.5). Even if we look at each player's best seasons, Cano has five of the seven best seasons between the two.
Shortstop: Francisco Lindor (119 OPS+, 28.6 WAR)
Others considered: Andrelton Simmons, Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Correa
Why it's Lindor: Tulo was great the first half of the decade, while Lindor and Correa were great the second half. Simmons has the Ozzie Smith-like defense and leads in WAR but has a sub-.700 OPS. Lindor's high peak gives him the edge.
Third base: Adrian Beltre (130 OPS+, 51.0 WAR)
Others considered: Josh Donaldson, Evan Longoria, Nolan Arenado
Why it's Beltre: His all-around excellence for the first seven years of the decade, when he averaged 6.5 WAR per season and had five top-10 MVP finishes, makes him the clear choice over Donaldson.
Outfield: Mike Trout (176 OPS+, 72.5 WAR), Mookie Betts (134, 42.0), Andrew McCutchen (135, 41.2)
Others considered: Giancarlo Stanton
Why these three: It wasn't an especially strong decade for outfielders. Trout, of course, was the best player of the decade. Mookie makes it on his terrific half-decade of excellence, and McCutchen had a dominant run from 2011 to 2015, averaging 6.2 WAR with four top-five MVP finishes (including a win in 2013).
DH/utility: Miguel Cabrera (153 OPS+, 43.5 WAR)
Others considered: Donaldson, Goldschmidt, Nelson Cruz, David Ortiz
Why it's Cabrera: One of the best hitters of the decade, plus an iconic figure with four batting titles, two MVP awards and the Triple Crown in 2012.
Starting pitchers: Clayton Kershaw (164 ERA+, 59.3 WAR), Justin Verlander (136, 56.2), Max Scherzer (134, 56.1), Madison Bumgarner (120, 32.2), Chris Sale (140, 45.4)
Others considered: Zack Greinke, David Price, Cole Hamels, Jon Lester
Why these five: The first three are easy choices, but then it turns into a good debate for the final two spots. I put this one to a vote, and Bumgarner got the edge as the fourth guy on the list, even though he was just 13th in the decade in WAR and lacks the peak of even guys like Corey Kluber or Jacob deGrom; his postseason heroics put him over the top. You could make a similar argument for Lester, who trails Bumgarner in WAR but had 148 wins in the decade. Greinke and Sale tied for the fifth spot in the voting, but I went with Sale's more dominant peak (140 ERA+ to 128 for Greinke, who won 155 games in the decade with 44.0 WAR). If you want to argue Greinke, I won't disagree, but Sale received Cy Young votes in seven different seasons compared to four for Greinke.
Relief pitcher: Craig Kimbrel (195 ERA+, 19.6 WAR)
Others considered: Kenley Jansen, Aroldis Chapman
Why it's Kimbrel: He led in saves with 346 (Jansen was second with 301), had a lower ERA than Jansen or Chapman and matched Chapman with a 41.1% strikeout rate.Comment -
Orioles, Giants will be terrible next year.Comment
