I think the Dodgers got a bargain in the Walker Buehler contract.
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Boston Red Sox, Marwin Gonzalez agree on 1-year, $3M deal
Free-agent infielder Marwin Gonzalez has agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal with the Boston Red Sox, sources confirmed to ESPN's Jeff Passan.
Gonzalez, 31, spent the past two seasons with the Minnesota Twins. He hit .211 with five home runs and 22 RBIs last year in a pandemic-shortened schedule.
Before his stint in Minnesota, he played seven seasons with the Houston Astros. His best season was in 2017, when he hit .303/.377/.530 with 23 homers and 90 RBIs and helped the team win the World Series.
A switch-hitter known for his defensive versatility, Gonzalez played first base, second base, third base and right field for the Twins last season.Comment -
The Red Sox have reached an agreement with free-agent utilityman Marwin Gonzalez, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. It’s a one-year, $3MM pact with upward of $1MM in incentives, Feinsand tweets.
This deal will reunite Gonzalez with Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was Houston’s bench coach during Gonzalez’s best season in 2017. Gonzalez played with the Astros from 2012-18, and though it took a couple years for his offense to come around, he became a solid producer at the plate for the club during those last years. The switch-hitter amassed 2,265 plate appearances as an Astro from 2014-18 and batted .271/.328/.438 (111 wRC+) with 70 home runs. He also lined up at every position but pitcher and catcher while with the Astros.
Gonzalez parlayed his all-around success with the Astros into a two-year, $21MM contract with the Twins entering 2019. He continued to provide impressive defensive flexibility in Minnesota, taking the field at all of his previous spots except center field, but his offense faded. The 31-year-old concluded his Twins tenure with a subpar line of .248/.311/.387 (85 wRC+) and 20 homers in 662 trips to the plate.
Although he didn’t produce as hoped as a Twin, it isn’t a surprise Gonzalez garnered interest from several teams this free-agency period. The Blue Jays, one of Boston’s division rivals, were also among the teams fighting for him, per Feinsand. Like fellow new Red Sox utilitman Enrique Hernandez, Gonzalez figures to play all over the diamond for the club. That should include the outfield, as the Red Sox traded one of their previous starters – Andrew Benintendi – on Wednesday.Comment -
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All Benintendi has to do is hit .260 plus, double digit homers.
His defense is stellar, he's not solid gold glove like Alex Gordon was, a glove like Gordon comes around only once a decade, but his defense is like I said, stellar.
Like I said, KC's attack is so balanced now, Santana still has pop at first, Soler has major power, so does Hunter Dozier.
Whit is a vastly underrated star, provides versatility, can play IF, OF, hits for average, has 30 SB speed with 20 HR power.
Sal Perez is healthy again, he's a premier AL catcher, calls a tremendous game, and still is only 30 years old, just turned 30. Still Young.
Mondesi has 50 SB speed, plays great defense, he's on the next tier down from SS after your Trea Turners and Tatis's of the world.
Problem still is the pitching.
The back end on the rotation is paper thin, after the Duff man, we're thin. Ervin Santana helps, but he ain't Cy Young. I do like Brad Keller.
Right now it looks like Josh Staumont will close, electric fastball but will piss you off with that one walk in the ninth you don't want to see out of your closer.
Hey! We got Wade Davis and Greg Holland back.
But it's 2021, not 2015 anymore.
KC with over achieving pitching can nab a bottom wild card, but the pitching has to overachieve.Comment -
he can fly under the radar in KCComment -
Benitendi a nice signing, underrated maybe.Comment -
Great breakdown of KCComment -
Jake Arietta back to the Cubs on a one year deal worth $6M.Comment -
Padres signed Mark Melancon today. Will be interesting to see what role they use him in but he gives them a veteran righty at the back end of the bullpen so it could be a good signing.Comment -
Love Arrieta, maybe he can find some of the old magic?Comment -
9:22pm: Hill will earn $2.5MM on a one-year deal, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
8:32pm: The two sides have a deal, pending a physical, Robert Murray of Fansided tweets.
8:22pm: The Rays are progressing toward a deal with free-agent left-hander Rich Hill, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
Hill will turn 41 in March, and though he was hardly outstanding during the first decade of his career, he has only gotten better with age. Dating back to his stunning renaissance in 2015, Hill – despite possessing 90 mph velocity – has logged a 2.93 ERA/3.57 SIERA with a quality strikeout percentage of 28.6 and and a better-than-average walk rate of 7.9 percent in 503 innings as a member of the Red Sox, Athletics, Dodgers and Twins. The only concern has been Hill’s durability, as various injuries have limited him and he hasn’t hit the 136-inning mark in a season since he revived his career. He threw 38 2/3 frames as a Twin during the truncated 2020 campaign, averaging fewer than five innings out of his eight starts.
Of course, if there’s any team unconcerned about a hurler going deep into games, it’s the Rays. They’re known to rely heavily on their bullpen, evidenced in part by their opener strategy, so Hill could be an ideal fit for the club. The Rays lost 2020 starters Blake Snell (trade) and Charlie Morton (free agency) earlier in the offseason after an AL-winning year, but the small-budget team is trying to put together a low-priced rotation with Hill, fellow offseason additions Chris Archer and Michael Wacha (and potentially Collin McHugh), as well as holdovers Tyler Glasnow and Ryan Yarbrough.Comment -
I don't think Jake has much left. He basically has had 2.5 really good years
will be interesting to watchComment -
Billy Hamilton just got a million dollar contract for one year from the Indians.
If you can run really, really fast it doesn't matter if you hit .210.Comment -
Melancon can still be a solid reliever. The 62 million the Giants gave him was a bit too much....Comment -
Glad to see that billy Hamilton can still get a contract. Fun to watch him run.Comment -
Super spreader Justin Turner staying with the Dodgers on 2 year, $34M deal.Comment -
I can see why he was frustrating to watch when he was on the Giants but he did seem to pitch better when he got to the Braves. I guess it depends which version of Melancon you get because I think he was average as a Giant but he took the closer job on the Braves and ran with it. I don't think he'll be called upon to close out games for the Padres so maybe he'll do better in a setup role.Comment -
The Mets made a run at James Paxton, but they were outbid by the Mariners, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). Heyman suggests the Mets will now turn their attention to Taijuan Walker or Jake Odorizzi. Frankly, it seems unlikely they would find the right price point on Odorizzi coming off a very similar season to Paxton (but with a longer track record of good health). Besides, the list of players the Mets “were in on” includes Jake Arrieta, Rich Hill, George Springer and others, notes Andy Martino of the SNY Network (via Twitter). That’s not a knock on the Mets, of course, who have been one of the more active teams this winter. Let’s check in some other free agent pitchers…
- Free agent reliever David Robertson threw for a handful of teams yesterday, but the price on his long-term future remains unclear. His old pals from New York were in attendance, per Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (via Twitter), but the Yankees are far from the only team who might have interest. Despite the dumb-luck turn of his Philly tenure, Robertson is an intriguing buy-low candidate. Injuries limited the right-hander to seven appearances over the past two seasons, but in the ten years prior, Robertson should be proud of a 2.67 ERA/2.77 FIP while striking out an excellent-for-the-era 32.6 percent of hitters and walking a near-average 9.5 percent of challengers. The Yankees probably remember better than most just how good Robertson was in his prime. Approaching his age-36 season, Robertson is decidedly on the downslope of his career – but he has a long way to fall before losing his utility.
- Aaron Sanchez also headed back to the hill to throw for scouts on Saturday, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter). The Mets were among those present, as they continue to keep their hand in the starting pitching market. Sanchez is on record as wanting a spot in the rotation, which could limit his potential landing spots. It now seems like ages ago that Sanchez led the American League with a 3.00 ERA over 30 starts for the Blue Jays in 2016. Since that All-Star campaign, Sanchez has compiled a 5.29 ERA/5.12 FIP across 55 starts totaling 272 1/3 innings with a worm-killing 47.8 percent groundball rate. An 18.1 percent strikeout rate and 11.7 percent walk rate are less than inspiring figures, however.
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Tebow on Mets spring training roster. Probably not gonna make itComment
