[Cross]

So close to baseball, I can taste it!

[stevenash]

So close to baseball, I can taste it!

Tastes just like chicken.

[JMobile]

10 days for baseball. Still sounds far from now

[Stallion]

What covid protocols are in place if a bunch of guys on the same team get it??

[batt33]

What covid protocols are in place if a bunch of guys on the same team get it??

bring up the triple A Team?

[jrgum3]

So close to baseball, I can taste it!

Yes it is and I can't wait until I'm able to attend a Giants game again. They may or may not be good this year but I always love going to Oracle Park and taking in a game at the best stadium in baseball in my opinion.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Tommy Pham is heating up...expect a nice bounceback season assuming he stays healthy.

[Otters27]

Who's the opening day starting pitchers?

[Cross]

Oracle Park looks pretty awesome on tv.

[stevenash]

Tommy Pham is heating up...expect a nice bounceback season assuming he stays healthy.

I was looking at his spring numbers Sunday.
(I do that before my draft, I realize it's spring training but I still want to know who is swinging a hot bat.)
Pham's ADP is up to 135 now (11th round) and I'd consider him Pham 10th round (say at pick 122 depending on my OF situation after the first 9 rounds) He has 20 swipe potential, but I'll take 14-18 SB's.

Pham and Myers are looking good so far in SD

Other player I have my eye on is Red Sox Bobby Dalbec.
6 taters, .333
I've had this feeling about him for a few months this could be his breakout season.

Over in KC land Michael Taylor is playing out of his shoes all spring.
Maybe he needed out of Washington after all.

And Booby Witt's kid (Jr.) is killing it.
No rush on him, he's still a teenager (19) or just turned 20.
He'll start in Omaha, but get used to that name.

[jrgum3]

Who's the opening day starting pitchers?

You can find that info on MLB.com. Some of the teams still haven't named an opening day starter but as of right now 20 or so of the teams have decided who they're sending out there for opening day.

[Chi_archie]

Oracle Park looks pretty awesome on tv.

I like it!

[EmpireMaker]

The Blue Jays received some unwelcome injury news Tuesday, Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic was among those to report. Right-handed reliever Kirby Yates will likely undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the entire season, outfielder George Springer has a Grade 2 oblique strain, and lefty Robbie Ray suffered a bruised elbow.
An elite end-of-game option with the Padres from 2018-19, Yates threw 4 1/3 innings last season as he dealt with elbow issues. That didn’t stop the Blue Jays from taking a one-year, $5.5MM chance on him in free agency this past offseason, but the would-be closer was diagnosed with a flexor strain Monday. It now looks as if Yates may never pitch for the club, which could lean on the likes of Jordan Romano, David Phelps, Rafael Dolis and Tyler Chatwood for saves in his absence.
The news on Springer and Ray also comes off as alarming, though neither injury appears especially serious. Toronto is hopeful that Springer, a former Astros standout who signed a whopping six-year, $150MM guarantee in the offseason, will be ready for Opening Day. Likewise, the Jays could have Ray ready for the start of the season. The team re-signed him to a one-year, $8MM pact in free agency.

[Cross]

13 more days, March madness leading us to the promised land.

[jrgum3]

Oracle Park looks pretty awesome on tv.

It is by far my favorite ballpark I've been to but I'm a bit biased. I have been to Wrigley and up until Oracle was built that was easily the best park I had been to as far as atmosphere goes. It's still a close second though especially when you're able to go to a day game there.

[EmpireMaker]

Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland exited his outing against the Athletics on Tuesday with a strained pitching shoulder, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Freeland left the mound in pain after throwing a pitch to the A’s Mark Canha, as Thomas Harding of MLB.com tweets.
There is no word on how serious Freeland’s injury is, but it does look like one that could sideline him for at least the beginning of the regular season. A healthy Freeland would follow No. 1 starter German Marquez in the Rockies’ rotation, having thrown 70 2/3 innings of 4.33 ERA/4.95 SIERA ball last year. Those aren’t great numbers – especially compared to a 2018 effort in which Freeland put up a 2.85 ERA/4.35 SIERA in 202 1/3 innings and finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting – but they were markedly better than the 6.73 ERA/5.19 SIERA he recorded over 104 1/3 frames in 2019. The 27-year-old has followed last season’s bounce-back performance with seven scoreless innings and six strikeouts against one walk this spring.
If Freeland isn’t available to start the season, the Rockies will open with Marquez, Jon Gray, Austin Gomber and Antonio Senzatela as their top four. Ryan Castellani, Antonio Santos and Jose Mujica are also on their 40-man roster, but Dereck Rodriguez and Chi Chi Gonzalez are in the mix as NRIs.

[Chi_archie]

gotta watch those injuries

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Tatis hurt his arm on an infield throw...praying it is not serious.

[stevenash]

Tatis hurt his arm on an infield throw...praying it is not serious.

He should be OK, I did pretty much the same thing when I was catching back in the day when the T-Rex roamed in my back yard.

Here' 'ya go JP, this'll cheer you up.
(Poor Pirates, they get no love)

https://www.nbcsports.com/edge/artic...tes-win-totals

[JAKEPEAVY21]

• FERNANDO TATIS JR.SS, SAN DIEGO PADRES
  
  Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that there are "sighs of relief coming from all parties" as to the status of Fernando Tatis Jr.'s left shoulder.
  
  
  “He’s fine,” said one person close to Tatis after he was examined following Tuesday's early departure from a Cactus League game against the Reds. The star shortstop felt some left shoulder discomfort while backhanding a Jonathan India grounder in the bottom of the third inning and promptly walked off the field, which sent up red flags all across the baseball industry. From this early reporting, it sounds like it might have just been a scare.
  
  SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune
  Mar 23, 2021, 6:42 PM ET
  
  
  
  
  
  

[BigSpoon]

The Blue Jays received some unwelcome injury news Tuesday, Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic was among those to report. Right-handed reliever Kirby Yates will likely undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the entire season, outfielder George Springer has a Grade 2 oblique strain, and lefty Robbie Ray suffered a bruised elbow.
An elite end-of-game option with the Padres from 2018-19, Yates threw 4 1/3 innings last season as he dealt with elbow issues. That didn’t stop the Blue Jays from taking a one-year, $5.5MM chance on him in free agency this past offseason, but the would-be closer was diagnosed with a flexor strain Monday. It now looks as if Yates may never pitch for the club, which could lean on the likes of Jordan Romano, David Phelps, Rafael Dolis and Tyler Chatwood for saves in his absence.
The news on Springer and Ray also comes off as alarming, though neither injury appears especially serious. Toronto is hopeful that Springer, a former Astros standout who signed a whopping six-year, $150MM guarantee in the offseason, will be ready for Opening Day. Likewise, the Jays could have Ray ready for the start of the season. The team re-signed him to a one-year, $8MM pact in free agency.

Damn, not the news I wanted to hear so close to the season starting.

[batt33]

• FERNANDO TATIS JR.SS, SAN DIEGO PADRES
  
  Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that there are "sighs of relief coming from all parties" as to the status of Fernando Tatis Jr.'s left shoulder.
  
  
  “He’s fine,” said one person close to Tatis after he was examined following Tuesday's early departure from a Cactus League game against the Reds. The star shortstop felt some left shoulder discomfort while backhanding a Jonathan India grounder in the bottom of the third inning and promptly walked off the field, which sent up red flags all across the baseball industry. From this early reporting, it sounds like it might have just been a scare.
  
  SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune
  Mar 23, 2021, 6:42 PM ET

wow scary for a padre fan for a bit.....

[JMobile]

It's been 20 years since this happened

[stevenash]

Now Gallen has a fractured arm, Kirby Yates needs elbow surgery....

This is why I reserve the last slot (9 pm March 31) in the NBFC to daft my team.

You can spend 2 months preparing for a draft, have your draft on say March 10, and have your team blown up before first pitch of opening day.

I've already spend 8 weeks on this draft, and have made at least 100 plus adjustments.
And 100 is a conservative number.

[Andy117]

Now Gallen has a fractured arm, Kirby Yates needs elbow surgery....

This is why I reserve the last slot (9 pm March 31) in the NBFC to daft my team.

You can spend 2 months preparing for a draft, have your draft on say March 10, and have your team blown up before first pitch of opening day.

I've already spend 8 weeks on this draft, and have made at least 100 plus adjustments.
And 100 is a conservative number.

Always draft as close to the start of the season as possible.

[jrgum3]

Now Gallen has a fractured arm, Kirby Yates needs elbow surgery....

This is why I reserve the last slot (9 pm March 31) in the NBFC to daft my team.

You can spend 2 months preparing for a draft, have your draft on say March 10, and have your team blown up before first pitch of opening day.

I've already spend 8 weeks on this draft, and have made at least 100 plus adjustments.
And 100 is a conservative number.

Probably a smart idea but I drafted a roto team tonight and have a big money h2h league that's a slow draft (draft by email) and unfortunately I lost Zac Gallen in that league to a hairline fracture in his arm. Luckily he won't be out for the year like Yates but it still sucks to draft early and lose a player. I know I should have waited like I did with my other leagues but sometimes I just like to draft and with it being a slow draft it usually takes about 2 weeks to complete since you have an 8 hour clock to make a pick.

[Otters27]

Always draft as close to the start of the season as possible.

Interested to see what percentage of players get hurt during spring training

[EmpireMaker]

4:53pm: The deal includes a $3.5MM signing bonus that McCullers will earn along with his $6.5MM salary this year, Bob Nightengale of USA Today relays. McCullers will make salaries of $15.25MM from 2022-23 and $17MM from 2024-26.
3:10pm: The Astros and right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. have agreed to a five-year contract extension, according to Mark Berman of Fox 26. The pact is worth $85MM, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports. There are no options in the deal, but it does include a limited no-trade clause, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. McCullers had been set to enter his final season of team control, so this agreement will keep the Boras Corporation client under wraps through 2026. Because it doesn’t kick in until next year, it won’t affect the Astros’ plans to stay under the luxury-tax threshold this season.

McCullers, who’s about to embark on his age-27 campaign, has been a career-long Astro to this point. The team used the 41st overall pick on him in 2012, and he has since produced quality results in the majors. Dating back to his big league debut in 2015, McCullers has pitched to a 3.70 ERA/3.61 SIERA with an above-average strikeout rate (26.4) and a tremendous 55.2 percent groundball rate across 508 2/3 innings. With the exception of 2016, in which he walked more than five batters per nine, McCullers has generally hovered around the 3.00 mark during his career.
Durability has been a problem for McCullers, though, as he has never even reached the 130-inning mark in a season. He topped out at 128 1/3 frames in 2018, the year after he helped pitch the Astros to a World Series championship, before undergoing Tommy John surgery. McCullers missed all of 2019 as a result of the procedure, but he did make a strong return last year with 11 starts and 55 innings of 3.93 ERA/3.95 SIERA pitching, solid strikeout and walk percentages (24.7 and 8.8, respectively) and a 59.7 percent grounder rate.
While it’s risky for the Astros to make this type of commitment to a hurler who has had trouble staying healthy, they know McCullers is at least a mid-rotation-caliber starter when he does take the mound. And this move will lead to less uncertainty in Houston’s starting staff a year from now, as Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander could depart in free agency next offseason. Even if those two exit, the Astros figure to return McCullers, Jake Odorizzi, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy in 2022.
Of course, next winter’s free-agent class looks a bit less interesting with McCullers off the market. But Greinke, Verlander, Trevor Bauer (if he opts out of his Dodgers deal), Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman and Kevin Gausman are among many established starters who could be searching for new deals then.

[Chi_archie]

McCullers could be good for awhile or he might disappear overnight

[JAKEPEAVY21]

I can't believe Houston paid McCullers that much. He seems to be injured a lot and is not that great when he is on the field.

[stevenash]

Interested to see what percentage of players get hurt during spring training

Soon as I have a second cup of coffee and after I tend to the real life business that is your pal Nasher I'll post just the injuries to the top '350' draftable players. 350 is magic number I concentrate on before I focus on deep sleepers and reserves.

I don't mind, I need to focus on each teams 'handcuffed' closers (handcuffed meaning backup closer, or setup men to be the teams closer if the primary closer goes dawn)

Told my wife last night (who is a big Red Sox fan from birth) "Drafting next week, I'll be in my office for the next seven days, knock on my door if the house is on fire" lol

[stevenash]

UPDATED CLOSER REPORT

Team	Player	Security	Health	Other Closer Candidates
ARI	Joakim Soria	Low	Good	Stefan Crichton, Yoan Lopez, Kevin Ginkel, Chris Devenski
ATL	Will Smith	Medium	Good	Chris Martin, A.J. Minter, Luke Jackson
BAL	Tanner Scott	Very Low	Good	Shawn Armstrong, Cesar Valdez, Cole Sulser, Hunter Harvey
BOS	Matt Barnes	Very Low	Good	Adam Ottavino, Ryan Brasier, Darwinzon Hernandez, Hirokazu Sawamura
CHC	Craig Kimbrel	Medium	Good	Rowan Wick, Brandon Workman, Andrew Chafin, Dan Winkler
CIN	Amir Garrett	Very Low	Good	Lucas Sims, Sean Doolittle, Tejay Antone
CLE	James Karinchak	Very Low	Good	Nick Wittgren, Emmanuel Clase, Blake Parker
COL	Daniel Bard	Low	Good	Scott Oberg, Mychal Givens, Yency Almonte
CWS	Liam Hendriks	Very High	Questionable	Aaron Bummer, Garrett Crochet, Matt Foster, Codi Heuer
DET	Gregory Soto	Very Low	Good	Bryan Garcia, Jose Cisnero, Joe Jimenez, Buck Farmer
HOU	Ryan Pressly	High	Good	Joe Smith, Pedro Baez, Enoli Paredes, Josh James
KC	Greg Holland	Medium	Questionable	Josh Staumont, Scott Barlow, Jesse Hahn
LAA	Raisel Iglesias	High	Good	Mike Mayers, Ty Buttrey, Felix Pena
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Medium	Good	Blake Treinen, Joe Kelly, Victor Gonzalez
MIA	Anthony Bass	Low	Good	Yimi Garcia, Dylan Floro, Richard Bleier, John Curtiss
MIL	Josh Hader	Very High	Good	Devin Williams, Freddy Peralta, Brent Suter
MIN	Alex Colome	Low	Good	Taylor Rogers, Tyler Duffey, Hansel Robles, Cody Stashak
NYM	Edwin Diaz	Medium	Good	Seth Lugo, Trevor May, Jeurys Familia, Aaron Loup
NYY	Aroldis Chapman	Very High	Good	Chad Green, Jonathan Loaisiga, Zack Britton
OAK	Trevor Rosenthal	High	Good	Adam Kolarek, Jake Diekman, Sergio Romo, J.B. Wendelken, Adam Kolarek
PHI	Archie Bradley	Very Low	Good	Hector Neris, Jose Alvarado, Brandon Kintzler, Sam Coonrod, Tony Watson
PIT	Richard Rodriguez	Low	Good	Kyle Crick, Chris Stratton, Michael Feliz, Chasen Shreve
SD	Mark Melancon	Very Low	Good	Emilio Pagan, Drew Pomeranz, Austin Adams, Pierce Johnson, Keone Kela
SEA	Rafael Montero	Low	Good	Keynan Middleton, Anthony Misiewicz, Kendall Graveman
SF	Jake McGee	Very Low	Good	Aaron Sanchez, Reyes Moronta, Tyler Rogers, Matt Wisler
STL	Jordan Hicks	Very Low	Questionable	Giovanny Gallegos, Andrew Miller, Ryan Helsley, Alex Reyes, Genesis Cabrera
TB	Diego Castillo	Very Low	Good	Nick Anderson, Pete Fairbanks, Ryan Thompson
TEX	Ian Kennedy	Very Low	Good	Matt Bush, Joely Rodriguez, Josh Sborz, Brett Martin, Jose Leclerc, Jonathan Hernandez
TOR	Jordan Romano	Very Low	Good	Rafael Dolis, David Phelps, Tyler Chatwood, Ryan Borucki
WAS	Brad Hand	High	Good	Daniel Hudson, Tanner Rainey, Will Harris

[Cross]

Nash making my day brighter with the dedication to research.

[stevenash]

Nash making my day brighter with the dedication to research.

Thank you for that.
It's what I do for a living (well not baseball numbers lol).

Thing about research though is after a couple hours or more your eyeball begin to 'bleed'
When the brain says STOP ENOUGH for now, you better stop or you just make silly mistakes.

Not for nothing, the INJ list is not as big as I thought is would be.
30 'draftable' players, 16 hitters and 14 pitchers that are gone for the year or have injuries that make them 'undraftable'

[BigSpoon]

Eloy Jimenez out for 5-6 months, tough one for the CWS:https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...ectoral-tendon