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That new playoff proposal is stupid.Comment -
The Giants are in agreement on a minor league contract with free-agent right-hander Trevor Cahill, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). The JBA Sports client will be in Major League camp during Spring Training in hopes of landing a roster spot.
Cahill, who’ll turn 32 on March 1, scuffled through a brutal year with the Angels in 2019, pitching to a career-worst 5.98 ERA with 7.1 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a whopping 2.2 HR/9. The juiced ball that resulted in the league-wide home run boom surely didn’t do him any favors, but homer troubles that extreme can’t be solely placed on the abnormalities within the composition of the baseball.
A year prior, though, Cahill enjoyed a strong reunion tour with the Athletics, spinning 110 innings of 3.76 ERA ball with 8.2 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 0.65 HR/9 and a 53.4 percent ground-ball rate as a member of the Oakland rotation. He’s been in an on-year, off-year cycle for the past four seasons that in some way mirrors the Giants’ own even-year dynasty from 2010-14, so perhaps he’s due for yet another bounceback effort. He’ll surely be comfortable with the coaching staff in San Francisco, which features first-year pitching coach Andrew Bailey — a former teammate of Cahill’s dating back to his first A’s run and his bullpen coach in Anaheim a season ago.
Cahill has extensive experience both as a starting pitcher and as a reliever, so while four of the Giants’ five rotation spots are spoken for — Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Kevin Gausman, Drew Smyly — Cahill can both compete for the fifth slot or for a spot in the San Francisco bullpen.Comment -
Cameron Maybin returns to roots, reaches one-year deal with Tigers
The Detroit Tigers agreed to a one-year major league contract with outfielder Cameron Maybin on Wednesday, the team announced.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but according to multiple reports, the deal is for one year and $1.5 million with the chance to make more in incentives.
The deal marks a return to the Tigers for Maybin, who played for the team in 2007 and 2016 and was a first-round draft pick by the organization in 2005.
"Cameron is a dynamic outfielder that we can rely on for solid play in both the field and at the plate," Tigers general manager Al Avila said in a statement. "His veteran presence will be an asset to our lineup and we're excited to have him back with the organization."Comment -
PECOTA projects the Reds to win the NL Central by one game over the Cubs.Comment -
Reds season win total OVER??Comment -
Mookie Metts? It didn’t come to fruition, but the Mets did make an effort in December to acquire superstar outfielder Mookie Betts from Boston. The Red Sox ended up trading him to the Dodgers earlier this week.
One reason talks between the Mets and Red Sox broke down? The Mets weren’t open to moving infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil for just a year of control over Betts, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (they also wouldn’t give him to the Indians for shortstop Francisco Lindor). However, the Red Sox regarded McNeil as “integral” to a potential trade package, according to Sherman. Understandably, the Mets weren’t going to part with the versatile, inexpensive 27-year-old after he was one of the majors’ most effective offensive players from 2018-19.
While the Mets weren’t willing to surrender McNeil for Betts, they did offer packages centered on outfielder Brandon Nimmo and infielder/outfielder J.D. Davis (quality, affordable players in their own right), per Sherman. Those deals also would have included one of the Mets’ infield prospects in either Andres Gimenez or Ronny Mauricio, two top-100 farmhands. It seems the Mets, reluctant to absorb all of Betts’ $27MM salary, also would have tried to include one of their highly paid, unwanted veterans in outfielder Yoenis Cespedes or infielder Jed Lowrie in order to somewhat offset the money they’d have taken on had a deal with Boston gone through.
Considering that getting under the $208MM luxury-tax threshold was one of the main causes for the Red Sox’s decision to unload Betts (and left-hander David Price with him), adding Cespedes or Lowrie wouldn’t have been palatable for them. They wound up accepting the Dodgers’ offer of outfielder Alex Verdugo and two prospects – infielder Jeter Downs and catcher Connor Wong – saving a total of $75MM in the process.
Meanwhile, although the Mets went big-game hunting for Betts, their outfield appears as if it’ll enter 2020 with mostly the same cast. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, even though none of the team’s current options can rival Betts. However, to their credit, McNeil, Nimmo, Davis, Michael Conforto and Dominic Smith all had good seasons a year ago. It’s anyone’s guess what the Mets will get from Cespedes after injuries shelved him for the vast majority of the prior three seasons, but he’s back on a reduced salary and has always produced when healthy.Comment -
I get that certain fans would want this but I always kind of liked that the best teams usually make the playoffs. I think the playoffs are exciting the way they are now and I don’t know that I would look forward to the playoffs if they expanded the amount of teams that made it.Comment -
Thinking about doing o/u for 1 team in each divisionComment -
Shohei Ohtani fine with Angels' plan to delay mound return until mid-May
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Shohei Ohtani has no problem with the Los Angeles Angels' plan to delay his return to the mound so they can preserve his pitching arm for later in the season.
The two-way star also wouldn't have minded if the Angels wanted him to start on Opening Day, either.
Ohtani reacted positively Wednesday to the Angels' announcement of their plan to delay his return to the mound until mid-May.
"I was getting prepared to start the year on Opening Day," Ohtani said through his interpreter. "But if that's what the team wants me to do, then I'll be prepared to delay my debut. I don't see any problems."
The Angels are exercising caution with the 2018 American League Rookie of the Year, who hasn't pitched since undergoing Tommy John surgery after his rookie season stateside.
The team is also apparently planning to keep Ohtani to an innings limit over the season, and delaying his return to the mound allows the Angels to concentrate his innings later in the regular season, when the team hopes to be in a pennant race.
Ohtani declined to specify his innings limit, but acknowledged he is unlikely to hit it.
"Since I'm going to be waiting until mid-May, I won't be close to [throwing] 200 innings," said Ohtani, who pitched at least 140 innings in three straight seasons with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. "From there on out, I'm planning on finishing out the year. I think that's one of the biggest responsibilities of a pitcher, to stay in the rotation healthy and try to finish out the year."
Ohtani finished his elbow rehabilitation in December, completing a process that was delayed by knee surgery three months earlier.
Ohtani will be ready to resume his everyday role as the Angels' designated hitter from opening day, however. He will take days away from the Angels early in the season to pitch in minor league starts designed to build his arm strength, general manager Billy Eppler said Tuesday.
Thanks to a baseball rule change confirmed Wednesday, Ohtani won't count against the limit of 13 pitchers on a 26-man roster. Ohtani will qualify for a special designation as a two-way player.
Ohtani isn't neglecting his hitting while he prepares for his pitching return. He reported to spring training with plans to hone his swing after he batted .286 with 18 homers, 62 RBI and a .848 OPS last season.
"There's some stuff I need to work on," Ohtani said. "I'm trying to use spring training to get over those hurdles. We also added three position players, so I don't know where I'm going to be hitting in the lineup. ... I think we made a lot of good additions. Our team is growing in the right direction."Comment -
Weird to see mad bum in a different uniform, He will not face the giants until the regular season.Comment -
-10 in Minny today... baseball seems so far away.Comment -
The Rangers talked with Jarrod Dyson and Billy Hamilton before the two veteran outfielders respectively signed with the Pirates and Giants, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. The Rangers didn’t have any talks with Kevin Pillar prior to Pillar’s agreement with the Red Sox. Center field is still something of a question area for Texas heading into the 2020 season, as utilityman Danny Santana is slated to handle the position, but with Scott Heineman, Joey Gallo, and perhaps Nick Solak on hand to share in some of the center field duties.
Additional help may not be imminent, as GM Jon Daniels told Wilson and other reporters “there’s nothing that is front-burner right now that I’m expecting to come to a head this spring. There will be a lot of conversations, I’m sure.” This doesn’t close the door on a new acquisition, of course, even if that new player may be more of a part-timer than a star (such as Kris Bryant, who has also been widely linked to the Rangers on the rumor mill.) The versatile Santana is the answer in center field for the time being, though “we have to decide how we’re going to go about it,” Daniels said. “I think Danny comes in with the expectation he’ll get the bulk of the playing time out there, but we also like him in that versatile role. There’s a little bit of give there. We have to make a call.”
More from around the AL West…
- Taijuan Walker is back with the Mariners after signing a one-year deal with the club worth $2MM in guaranteed money, rejoining the team that originally drafted him in 2010 and, after four MLB seasons, dealt him to the Diamondbacks in the 2016-17 offseason. Looking back on his initial stint with the M’s, “I had a lot of stuff to learn,” Walker told the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other media. “I don’t think I did very good job here of doing what I need to do become the best pitcher I could be. I definitely slacked off and just didn’t put the work in.” The trade inspired Walker to work harder in Arizona, plus he was further motivated by “good vets that kept on me — just having Zack Greinke over there, a bunch of guys who were really hungry and ready to work.” It could be said that Walker’s injury problems have also aided in the maturity process, as the right-hander has tossed only 14 innings totals over the 2018-19 seasons due to both Tommy John surgery and shoulder issues. The need to re-acclimate himself to pitching played a role in Walker’s decision to sign with Seattle, since “I’m comfortable here. I haven’t pitched in two years, so I wanted somewhere where I can come in and kind of take my time. I don’t have to rush.” Another positive factor was the Mariners’ hire of Kyle Torgerson as head athletic trainer, as Torgerson previously worked for the Diamondbacks and is already familiar with Walker. “I’m comfortable with him. He knows my body. He knows what I have to do to stay healthy,” Walker said.
- The arbitration hearing between Aledmys Diaz and the Astros is scheduled for February 17, The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan tweets. This is Diaz’s first of three trips through the arb process, and the utilityman submitted a $2.6MM figure while the team countered with $2MM. Acquired from the Blue Jays for Trent Thornton last winter, Diaz hit well (.271/.356/.467 with nine homers) in his first year in Houston but was limited to 247 plate appearances and 69 games, largely due to a hamstring injury that sidelined him for almost two months. Diaz is one of two Astros players who didn’t reach an agreement with the club prior to the filing deadline, though the Astros sidestepped a hearing with George Springer by agreeing to a one-year, $21MM deal with the star outfielder last month.
- The Athletics brought a catcher to their Major League spring camp, though it was non-roster invite and former Oakland Double-A backstop Collin Theroux rather than one of the well-known veterans the club reportedly has under consideration. “It probably looks like we go forward with the group we have right now,” manager Bob Melvin told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser and other reporters, with Theroux joining Austin Allen, Jonah Heim, Carlos Perez, Ronnie Freeman, and presumptive starter Sean Murphy at Spring Training. There isn’t much collective MLB experience in this group, which is why the A’s have looked into the likes of Russell Martin as a seasoned backup (and mentor) to Murphy, who the A’s see as their catcher of the future.
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1 week +1 sleep left
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they should have a prop who hits more hrs this year bumgarner or poseyComment -
Kevin Pillar signs a 1 year deal with Boston for $4M.Comment -
Arenado rumors still out there. He wants out of Colorado.Comment
