[Shortstop]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!




WE ARE SO DAMN LUCKY!!!

ALL THE BEST!!!

LET'S CONTINUE TO MAKE THIS THE BEST THREAD ON SBR AND BEYOND...

LET'S GO!!!

[MexicanStallion]

I'll start it off with the signing from yesterday.

The Dodgers and Kenta Maeda are in agreement on a contract, a source tells Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

Christopher Meola, who also broke the news of Giancarlo Stanton's record-setting contract extension with the Marlins in 2014, was the first to report a deal was done. No terms of the contract were immediately available. It's been a busy few days on the starting pitcher market for the Dodgers, who also signed free agent starter Scott Kazmir on Wednesday. In Maeda, the Dodgers get a 27-year-old who posted a 2.09 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 175/41 K/BB ratio over 206 1/3 innings in Japan last season.

[Shortstop]

I'll start it off with the signing from yesterday.

The Dodgers and Kenta Maeda are in agreement on a contract, a source tells Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

Christopher Meola, who also broke the news of Giancarlo Stanton's record-setting contract extension with the Marlins in 2014, was the first to report a deal was done. No terms of the contract were immediately available. It's been a busy few days on the starting pitcher market for the Dodgers, who also signed free agent starter Scott Kazmir on Wednesday. In Maeda, the Dodgers get a 27-year-old who posted a 2.09 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 175/41 K/BB ratio over 206 1/3 innings in Japan last season.

Happy New Year, Stallion! It's great to see you and all the veteran posters still around...

[El Nino]

About time the Doyers got a righty I heard this fukker is 6'0 155lbs.

[Chi_archie]

Happy New Year!!!!

let's make some moves in 2016, Bucs

[koz-man]

To a season or two of rebuilding for my Cincinnati Reds

[BigSpoon]

Happy New Years guys. Only 47 days before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, we are not that far away.

[Shortstop]

The Dodgers have reportedly signed RHP Kenta Maeda to an 8-year deal.

LA is obviously trying to bolster their starting pitching after the departure of Zack Greinke...

[El Nino]

Doyers pitching staff a big downgrade and bullpen is still a mess.

[Shortstop]

New one here, gentlemen!

[Wrigley]

Happy new year,hope everyone has a great 2016 season

[BigSpoon]

The Dodgers have reportedly signed RHP Kenta Maeda to an 8-year deal.

LA is obviously trying to bolster their starting pitching after the departure of Zack Greinke...

They have alot of different options for the rotation now. Hoping they go with the all southpaws one.

[Chi_archie]

8 year deal?

holy shit that is long

[MexicanStallion]

These contracts are getting more creative now. Dodgers have little invested here and Maeda basically banking on himself.

Christopher Meola, who broke the news of the Dodgers agreeing to a deal with Kenta Maeda on Thursday, reports that the deal is an eight-year pact worth $24 million plus incentives.

According to Meola, the right-hander can earn an additional $10-12 million per season in incentives. It's certainly a creative way to structure the deal, as the Dodgers are only guaranteeing $3 million a year, limiting their overall risk. The 27-year-old hurler registered a 2.09 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 175/41 K/BB ratio over 206 1/3 innings in his final season in Japan.

[BarkingToad]

While 8 years is a long time, it's smart the deal is heavily incentive laden.

[koz-man]

These contracts are getting more creative now. Dodgers have little invested here and Maeda basically banking on himself.

Christopher Meola, who broke the news of the Dodgers agreeing to a deal with Kenta Maeda on Thursday, reports that the deal is an eight-year pact worth $24 million plus incentives.

According to Meola, the right-hander can earn an additional $10-12 million per season in incentives. It's certainly a creative way to structure the deal, as the Dodgers are only guaranteeing $3 million a year, limiting their overall risk. The 27-year-old hurler registered a 2.09 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 175/41 K/BB ratio over 206 1/3 innings in his final season in Japan.

I like contracts that are heavy incentive laced.

Keeps the player honest and motivates him to perform.

[EmpireMaker]

With Scott Kazmir joining some combination of Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-jin Ryu, Brett Anderson and Alex Wood (along with righty Kenta Maeda), the Dodgers’ rotation is strongly left-handed, MLB.com’s Tracy Ringolsby notes. Historically, Ringolsby argues, there’s been little evidence that relying heavily on left-handed starters is a disadvantage. He notes that the 1965 Dodgers, for example, won the World Series with a team that got 112 starts from lefties. That’s not to say that having a lefty-heavy rotation creates an obvious advantage either, however — the 2004 Royals started lefties 108 times and lost 104 games that season. Here are more quick notes from around the game.

• The Tigers’ lineup and bench, meanwhile, are heavily right-handed, but they’re designed that way on in order to give Brad Ausmus plenty of late-inning flexibility, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. Many of the Tigers’ key offensive players (like Miguel Cabrera, J.D. Martinez and Ian Kinsler, all of them righties who hit righties very well last year) are not candidates to be lifted for a pinch-hitter, regardless of the handedness of the pitcher. In fact, the only regular who might be a candidate to be lifted is lefty Anthony Gose, who could be removed if a left-handed reliever is on the hill. That means the Tigers simply don’t need many lefty hitters.
• Indians manager Terry Francona did not want the team to lose any of its best starting pitching, and the team isn’t close to a significant deal to add a hitter, writes Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer. They will, however, continue to look for relievers. Pluto also notes that the Indians preferred Mike Napoli (with whom they recently agreed to terms) at first base rather than fellow free agent Justin Morneau because Napoli is right-handed.

[Chi_archie]

where will Morneau land?

[Otters27]

Morneau is toast. He wasn't that great in Colorado and that is the easiest park to hit in.

[Shortstop]

I like contracts that are heavy incentive laced.

Keeps the player honest and motivates him to perform.

I completely agree!

Hopefully this becomes more and more prevalent...

[El Nino]

Morneau is toast. He wasn't that great in Colorado and that is the easiest park to hit in.

One more concussion and he will have to retire.

[Shortstop]

where will Morneau land?

Morneau is toast. He wasn't that great in Colorado and that is the easiest park to hit in.

One more concussion and he will have to retire.

I agree. I hope he doesn't land in Pittsburgh.

However, based on their very questionable activity so far this off season it wouldn't surprise me one bit...

[EmpireMaker]

• The Angels, Giants, Cardinals, Orioles and White Sox seem to be the teams most poised to make a big move or two in January, MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince writes.
• Dalton Pompey is an important depth piece for the Blue Jays in 2016 and a big part of their future outfield plans, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm writes as part of a reader mailbag. Given Ben Revere’s rising arbitration price tag and the fact that Jose Bautista is a free agent next winter, Pompey may be called upon as a regular in 2017, so Chisholm doubts the Jays would make Pompey a trade chip unless they’re able to obtain a big return. While Pompey hasn’t shown much in limited MLB action, he’s also just 23 and a year removed from being a consensus top-50 (or better) prospect.
• Also from Chisholm’s piece, he lists the 11 member of the Blue Jays’ 40-man roster who are out of options, with outfielder Ezequiel Carrera, catcher A.J. Jimenez, and righty relievers Steve Delabar and Chad Jenkins standing out as “ones to watch” on the roster bubble. The Jays would ideally like to use Jimenez in Triple-A while Carrera, Delabar and Jenkins will be in the mix for jobs on the Opening Day roster.
• In another reader mailbag, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch addresses the idea of whether or not the Yankees could retain the likes of Alex Rodriguez, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira or Carlos Beltran on one-year contracts after their expensive multi-year deals expire within the next two seasons. Hoch feels it’s probably a longshot for any of them to remain in New York since the team wants a younger team and more roster flexibility — Greg Bird and Aaron Judge are poised to replace Teixeira and Beltran, for instance. Sabathia may be the best candidate to be retained given how expensive pitching is, though that also may be unlikely given Sabathia’s ongoing knee issues.

[Chi_archie]

I agree. I hope he doesn't land in Pittsburgh.

However, based on their very questionable activity so far this off season it wouldn't surprise me one bit...

I don't think so, they acquired Jaso for that spot

[koz-man]

Will Griffey be the first unanimous Hall of Fame selection?

No doubt Ken Griffey Jr. will get his ticket to Cooperstown punched on Wednesday. But based on the early results, the slugger also has a chance to get elected with the highest percentage of votes ever -- maybe even becoming the first unanimous pick ever.




Griffey an excellent chance to break Tom Seaver's record of 98.8 percent. Seaver was named on 425 of 430 ballots -- 98.84 percent, or just ahead of Nolan Ryan's 98.79 percent (he was named on 491 of 497 ballots). Here are the top 10 highest vote percentages:

1. Tom Seaver: 98.8
2. Nolan Ryan: 98.8
3. Cal Ripken: 98.5
4. Ty Cobb: 98.2
5. George Brett: 98.2
6. Hank Aaron: 97.8
7. Tony Gwynn: 97.6
8. Randy Johnson: 97.3
9. Greg Maddux: 97.2
10. Mike Schmidt: 96.5

[koz-man]

Here's a link to the 2016 Official HOF Ballot list...
http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2016.shtml

[BigSpoon]

Here's a link to the 2016 Official HOF Ballot list...
http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2016.shtml

Aside from Griffey Jr. no one among the first time eligible guys should even sniff the HOF.

[EmpireMaker]

On this voting roster, Griffey certainly has a chance to better Seaver's percentage. The steriod guys are the other best guys but their accomplishments are tarnished.

[koz-man]

Aside from Griffey Jr. no one among the first time eligible guys should even sniff the HOF.

I agree.

A bunch of them where great ball players & had good careers, But not to the level of HOF'ers.

[El Nino]

Hoffman gets in eventually?

[Shortstop]

Will Griffey be the first unanimous Hall of Fame selection?

1. Tom Seaver: 98.8
2. Nolan Ryan: 98.8
3. Cal Ripken: 98.5
4. Ty Cobb: 98.2
5. George Brett: 98.2
6. Hank Aaron: 97.8
7. Tony Gwynn: 97.6
8. Randy Johnson: 97.3
9. Greg Maddux: 97.2
10. Mike Schmidt: 96.5

Wow! What a list!

Now these are the type of players that deserve to be in the Hall Of Fame!

[Shortstop]

Aside from Griffey Jr. no one among the first time eligible guys should even sniff the HOF.

I agree.

A bunch of them where great ball players & had good careers, But not to the level of HOF'ers.

Yep! I've been saying this for years. Unfortunately, the Hall Of Fame is getting terribly watered down...

[Shortstop]

Hoffman gets in eventually?

Yes, easily!

[Chi_archie]

if peyton manning maybe used PED's

can we really say as confidently that griffey jr never did?

it just is accepted as gospel

[stevenash]

Samardzija - SF
Verlander - Det.
Carasco - Clev.
R. Ingelsias - Reds
Corbin - Az.
Pomeranz - SD
Arodys Vizcaino - Atl.
Tyler Duffy - Minn
Tyler Skaggs - LAA
Adam Warren - Cub

And for my man Shortstop:

Niese and Vogelsong - Pirates have a way of resurrecting pitchers.