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Big loss for the white sox.Comment -
Darvish announced opening day starter over SnellComment -
The Rays’ bullpen received terrible news Thursday: Right-hander Nick Anderson suffered a partial tear of his elbow ligament and will likely be out until past the All-Star break, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Surgery has not been recommended at this point.
Considering how much the reigning American League champion Rays lean on their bullpen, the loss of Anderson for at least a few months is an especially troubling development. Anderson has been absolutely lights-out dating back to his 2019 debut with Miami, which traded him to Tampa Bay before that season’s deadline.
Now 30 years old, the hard-throwing Anderson was a 32nd-round pick of the Brewers in 2012 who spent time in independent ball before he broke out in the bigs. Anderson owns a stellar 2.77 ERA/2.14 SIERA with a 42.2 percent strikeout rate and a 6.5 percent walk rate across 81 1/3 innings. While Anderson did miss time last year with forearm issues, he dominated over 16 1/3 frames with a measly 0.55 ERA and similarly jaw-dropping strikeout and walk percentages of 44.8 and 5.2, respectively. He wasn’t nearly as successful in the playoffs, in which he surrendered nine earned runs on 16 hits and totaled nine strikeouts against four walks in 14 2/3 innings.
Anderson led the Rays with six saves during the regular season in 2020, but they’ll have to lean on other end-of-game options until at least sometime in the summer. Diego Castillo, Pete Fairbanks, Chaz Roe and Ryan Thompson are among possible solutions for the Rays, whose bullpen – thanks in no small part to Anderson – ranked third in the majors in ERA a year ago.Comment -
Eloy Jimenez injury sucks
fun player to watchComment -
Of course Darvish over Snell, no doubt there.Comment -
Kirby Yates tommy john surgery leaves the Jays very thin at closer.Comment -
I just read Gio Gonzalez retired.
Very nice career, not outstanding but solid.
Class act which is important to me.
He was one of those very crafty lefties who could piss you off he was pitching against your team.
Good lefties have a tendency to do that. I struggled at bat against good crafty lefties, like I said they can piss you off.
Had real good stuff, pitched 13 years.
Career record of 133-101. Solid. Career ERA of 3.70 better than most who pitched more than a decade. Career WH/IP 1.32 OK, not great but still a tad better than league average, too many walks is why that number is 1.32 but was dificult to take deep which is why he got away with a BB ratio of almost 4 per nine innings. Terrific K ratio, career almost 9 per 9, Very solid.
Never pitched in a WS, made 8 career post season starts.
I liked Gio but facts are facrs he was a God awful post seasob pitcher.
Made 8 playoff starts like I said, got hammered each and every one of those starts but never got a decision in all eight games.
He was 0-0 in the playoffs (1 and 7 his teams were as a starter) Washington lost six times the six times he started for them, and Milwaukee was 1-1 in games he started for them in the post season.
Very weird stat to be that horrible in 8 starts and not get a single decision.
LA clobbered him, Cubs clobbered him too.
Fun fact, Gio was once traded for Jim Thome.
Nick Swisher too on another occasion.
Went out on his own terms, said "that's it for me" after 13 MLB seasons.
I respect players going out on their own terms.
Good guy, good pitcher.
I just did a quick tally of the worth of all his contracts.
Made 80 million dollars in 13 years.
Have left arm will travel. Nice work if you can get it.
He earned his salary, he did the game of baseball proud .Comment -
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Major League Baseball has issued a memo informing all 30 clubs that it will seek to crack down on pitchers doctoring the baseball through the use of foreign substances, as first reported by Joel Sherman of the New York Post. One of the league’s tactics, per Sherman, will be to use Statcast data to gauge spin-rate increases for pitchers suspected of doctoring the ball.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter thread) and ESPN’s Jesse Rogers provide further detail, reporting that the league will have compliance officers monitor dugouts, clubhouses, tunnels, bullpens and batting cages in an effort to reduce the use of foreign substances. Those officers will also pull random samples of baseballs to be analyzed in a third-party lab. Balls suspected of being doctored by a pitcher will be tested against that pitcher’s spin-rate data from Statcast.
MLB’s memo indicates that pitchers are subject to discipline from the Commissioner’s Office whether evidence is discovered during the course of a game or after the completion of a game. It’s unclear at this time just what type of penalties will be levied against pitchers who are found to be utilizing foreign substances. It’s also not clear if there will be any warnings issued or if the league will jump straight into discipline for first-time offenders. The league’s memo also indicates that team personnel can be the subject of discipline if they are determined to be helping pitchers doctor the ball.
Rampant use of foreign substances, be it pine tar or otherwise, isn’t exactly a well-kept secret throughout the league. There are rare occasions of managers calling out an opposing pitcher when the presence of a substance is particularly egregious, but as Sherman notes, many are reluctant to do so, knowing the accusation could quickly be turned back on one of their own pitchers.
The league’s attempt to crack down on the use of foreign substances aligns with other efforts to increase the amount of action in the game and move away from an increasingly three-true-outcome-oriented (i.e. home runs, walks, strikeouts) style of play. Reducing the use of foreign substances could cut back on strikeouts and perhaps on walks — at least in theory.
At the same time, it’s not at all clear how the league plans to differentiate 2021 spin-rate data from “normal” spin-rate data. The very presence of these new policies indicates that the league considers use of foreign substance to be a widespread problem, after all.
However, the widespread nature of the issue likely also means that prior offenders are already benefiting from inflated spin rates on their pitches. If a pitcher who used pine tar, sunscreen or any other number of substances continues to do so in 2021, a notable change in his spin rate would be unlikely. That could still result in discipline if a ball taken out of play after being thrown by a pitcher is found to have significant traces of a foreign substance, but the spin-rate analysis may not be as telling as MLB hopes. At the very least, that practice could prevent new pitchers from adopting the use of foreign substances, but depending on how prevalent one believes the issue to be, that could represent a rather small number of players.
Depending on the extent and frequency of disciplinary measures enacted by MLB, it’d be a surprise if we didn’t see some appeals from pitchers around the league. It’ll surely be a talking point in the final week of Spring Training and early in the season, but only time will tell whether the new measures have any actual efficacy.Comment -
I think Lamet has some amazing potentialComment -
Lamet could be a beast for sure.Comment -
Joc Pederson has potential to be my new avatar here.Comment -
Reigning AL Rookie Of The Year Kyle Lewis is suffering from a deep bone bruise on the outside of his right knee, Mariners manager Scott Servais told Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter links) and other reporters. Lewis hasn’t played since Monday, when he suffered the injury colliding with the outfield wall in pursuit of a fly ball.
It isn’t yet clear if Lewis will be able to return to the field for any more Cactus League action, or even be available for the Mariners’ opener on Thursday. An injured list placement could be inevitable, as the M’s are naturally going to be as careful as possible with the health of their young star.
Between the shortened 2020 season and his brief call-up during the 2019 campaign, Lewis has made only 317 plate appearances in 76 Major League games, yet he has already made a big impact. Lewis has hit .264/.347/.477 with 17 homers as a big leaguer, and established himself as a key piece for the rebuilding Mariners.
If Lewis isn’t available at the start of the season, Taylor Trammell, Jake Fraley, or Braden Bishop could play center field, or Lewis’ replacement might not yet be on the roster. Divish reports that the Mariners have been checking out other teams’ roster for any intriguing late-spring cuts, and Servais said that GM Jerry Dipoto will look at adding an external option depending on Lewis’ recovery timeline. Of course, Seattle fans would love to see star prospect Jarred Kelenic as soon as possible, but Kelenic has already been optioned to Triple-A and likely won’t be making his big league debut until a bit later in the season (i.e. when the Mariners can ensure another year of team control).Comment -
Going to bet the under over for every MLB team this year. It's actually a win percentage betComment -
[QUOTE=BigSpoon;30178591]Could be bad but hopefully one of those guys steps up and takes advantage of the opportunity.
I hope so as well, but i'm not too confident. The Jays might be a good 1st 5 innings bet this season.Comment -
6 ERA in 56.2 innings. He struck out a career-best 25.9% of opposing hitters, though, and pitched to a 4.20 SIERA that was actually better than in either of his previous two seasons. The Royals’ front office clearly believes in Minor’s ability to bounce back, as they signed the 33-year-old to a two-year, $18MM guarantee with a 2023 club option. He joins Brad Keller and Danny Duffy as rotation locks. Brady Singer seems likely to open the year in the starting five as well. Jakob Junis and Kris Bubic will almost certainly factor into the rotation at some point (although Bubic will open the year in the minors). Prospects Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch are in camp as non-roster invitees, as is Ervin Santana, another former Royal brought back over the winter.
Many teams around the league scaled back payroll this offseason on the heels of last year’s revenue losses. The Royals are an exception, entering 2021 in the same range they were prepared to open 2020. Cot’s Baseball Contracts pegs their projected Opening Day payroll at just under $88MM (not yet including Davis’ $1.25MM salary, which became guaranteed when he earned a spot on the active roster). The Royals opened last season just north of $89MM (before prorating salaries), Cot’s estimates.
Adding Davis to the ledger should put the Royals’ 2021 payroll at or a little above last year’s mark. (If Alberto makes the team, he’d lock in a $1.65MM base salary). That’s still one of the lower figures in the league and around $54MM shy of 2017’s franchise-record outlay of $143+MM. However, that the Royals didn’t dramatically cut costs this winter could bode well for their chances of increasing future spending as they put their rebuild behind them.
Indeed, the Royals have started to fill in the long-term books over the past few weeks. That began with an extension for Dozier that guarantees $25MM and keeps him under club control through 2025. It’s a bet on a bounce back for the 29-year-old, who performed well in 2019 before falling off a bit last year. Dozier had to work back from an early bout with COVID-19, so it’s not unreasonable to believe he can regain some of his lost power with a more normal offseason.
The Dozier extension was a precursor to a more meaningful pact. The Royals locked up Salvador Pérez, who had been scheduled to reach free agency after this season, on a four-year extension covering 2022-25 and including a club option for 2026. The deal guarantees the 30-year-old backstop $82MM and can max out at $93MM over five seasons, making it the largest investment in franchise history.
It was a bit surprising to see Pérez command that level of commitment, particularly a year in advance of free agency. Still, he’s clearly beloved within the organization and by the Kansas City fanbase and is coming off an incredible 2020 season. No one expects Pérez to repeat last year’s .333/.353/.633 slash line over a larger sample, but Pérez is one of the game’s preeminent workhorses behind the plate and has a long track record of outhitting others at the position.
It’s possible Moore and his front office look to hammer out another long-term deal or two in the next few days. They reportedly discussed an extension with Mondesi early in Spring Training. Talks apparently didn’t get very far, but they could revisit those negotiations. Mondesi is controllable through 2023 via arbitration.
There’s a bit more urgency if the front office wants to keep Jorge Soler off the open market. The 2019 AL home run champ is scheduled to be a free agent at year’s end. The Royals had interest in working out an extension with Soler last offseason. It isn’t clear if that’s still the case after he hit just .228/.326/.443 and battled an oblique injury in 2020.
It remains to be seen whether the Royals did enough to seriously contend for a playoff spot this season. Public projections still paint them as something of a longshot, but the fanbase has some reason for hope for the first time in a while. At the very least, the Royals should be more competitive in 2021 than they’ve been over the past few years.Comment
