2023 Offseason MLB News/Rumors Thread
- Thread starter DeadlySplitter
- Start date
View: https://twitter.com/talkinbaseball_/status/1743398994108190912?s=46&t=VOPklDq0ggmwM6zlZRv9_g
Rays busy today. This seems like a steal.
Rays busy today. This seems like a steal.
A 34-year-old reliever who's pitched less than 32 innings the past 2 years for a utility guy who outside of a very short sample size last year has always been a singles hitter... seems about right. I saw enough of Palacios in the minors to wonder how he's gotten this far, especially since he doesn't seem to play the infield anymore.
Just remember he is going to the Rays. Dude will probably hit 20 HR this year.
Wow. The Giolito signing looks like a steal by comparison. (I guess Manaea is likely to be at least a decent reliever, but I’m not seeing much upside.)
Nightengale (I know) reporting Imanaga signing with the Cubs
View: https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1744871222163484740?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1744871222163484740?s=20
Bud Harrelson passed away. Growing up in upstate New York in the early 70s, the Mets were just about the only game in town in terms of television watching, and he was a favorite of 8 year old me. In later years, I was shocked to look at his offensive stats and see how bad they were. Lifetime .236 hitter, a total of 7 home runs spread across 16 seasons, 76 career OPS+. His season high in home runs was one. Hard to imagine a player like him having a 16 year career today.
Cubs get Michael Busch & Yency Almonte from the Dodgers for 2 prospects.
Report is that the Cubs are moving Busch to 1B, which will minimize his defensive challenges. If the Cubs can improve his approach at the plate (either be more aggressive or significantly improve his 2 strike tactics), he can become the middle of the order lefty bat they need.
Almonte is a veteran bullpen arm for a bullpen that really needs arms.
The 2 Cubs prospects are high quality, but young, so they fit the Dodger's planning cycle for future seasons. Ferris was a 2022 2nd round HS lefty starter that jumped straight to Single A and held his own at age 19: 3.38 ERA & ~12K/9. He projects as a mid-rotation starter with a higher ceiling if he can get his sweeper/slider to spin more.
Hope was drafted last summer and mashed in rookie ball at age 18. He played all 3 OF positions, walked more than 18% of the time, but struck out over 30%. Lots of tools, but a lot of work ahead.
Report is that the Cubs are moving Busch to 1B, which will minimize his defensive challenges. If the Cubs can improve his approach at the plate (either be more aggressive or significantly improve his 2 strike tactics), he can become the middle of the order lefty bat they need.
Almonte is a veteran bullpen arm for a bullpen that really needs arms.
The 2 Cubs prospects are high quality, but young, so they fit the Dodger's planning cycle for future seasons. Ferris was a 2022 2nd round HS lefty starter that jumped straight to Single A and held his own at age 19: 3.38 ERA & ~12K/9. He projects as a mid-rotation starter with a higher ceiling if he can get his sweeper/slider to spin more.
Hope was drafted last summer and mashed in rookie ball at age 18. He played all 3 OF positions, walked more than 18% of the time, but struck out over 30%. Lots of tools, but a lot of work ahead.
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Rays have signed soon to be 30yo RHP Naoyuki Uwasawa to a Minor League contract, “with an invite to Major League camp.” His negotiating window after posting was just about to close.
https://x.com/raysbaseball/status/1745626837810585943?s=46&t=xXa7NDH1fxja4LQsGlS2Ow
He pitched to a 2.96 ERA in 2023, in a career high 170 IP. Nothing but upside for the Rays on this one.
https://x.com/raysbaseball/status/1745626837810585943?s=46&t=xXa7NDH1fxja4LQsGlS2Ow
He pitched to a 2.96 ERA in 2023, in a career high 170 IP. Nothing but upside for the Rays on this one.
Disregard the last row of this table, since...
View: https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1745650235001462874?t=dPmhLgXBMcup-y978CkRGQ
View: https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1745650235001462874?t=dPmhLgXBMcup-y978CkRGQ
He’s 1/7th of Yamamoto for 1/35th of the price!!
View: https://twitter.com/raysmetrics/status/1745629485536358742?s=46&t=VOPklDq0ggmwM6zlZRv9_g
The Hicks transitioning to starter thing is pretty wild. I could see taking a 1+1 contract to attempt to be a starter but why transition at the start of a 4 year deal? What's the added value for the player now, big contract at 31?
The Cardinals tried him as a starter a couple of seasons ago. He made 8 starts and they weren't pretty.
He struck out 25, but walked 21, and only made it through the 5th inning once.
He struck out 25, but walked 21, and only made it through the 5th inning once.
It could be as simple as Hicks wanted to sign with a team willing to try him as a starter. When/If it fails, the Giants get a quality reliever for a bargain price for the rest of the contract. Short-term risk, long-term gain.
Assuming that report is true, I wonder if he might be overplaying his hand a bit. That seems like the kind of offer a player in Snell's position can turn down in late November or early December even without another offer in hand. In January though, that's a big risk. Hopefully for his sake he isn't passing up as good as he'll get in pursuit of perfect.
Kendall Graveman with shoulder surgery, out for the season. The Astros have a thin bullpen, Neris, Maton and Stanek all hit free agency and they needed Graveman back healthy. Right now they have Pressly, Bryan Abreu and not much else behind them as best I can tell. There are FA relievers still out there but not sure HOU has money left to spend.
https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/astros
https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/astros
If they underperform by 20 games and we overperform by 20 games, maybe they’ll trade us Altuve for Grissom at the ASB.
Boras or not, seems like an overpay to me.
Doubt this has an effect on the timing of the rest.
95M for 200-300 innings if they’re lucky. He also was very fortunate last season on HR rate, this is most likely going to be a disappointing contract for the Astros.
Angels sign Rays reliever Robert Stephenson to a 3 year, $33 million deal. Hoping he gives them more years as Jekyll than as Hyde.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/01/angels-to-sign-robert-stephenson.html
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/01/angels-to-sign-robert-stephenson.html
Hall of Famer and one of my favorite players growing up, Ryne Sandberg, has metastatic prostate cancer.
f cancer
f cancer
Joey Gallo signs with the Nats, 1 year, $5 million
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/01/23/joey-gallo-nationals-contract/?fbclid=IwAR1o_xeYpCe4Aq2woL9EShs0MYA5xZvNOG2C8813DAMCBdaOgyRs-uzL1Ss
Gallo, an outfielder/first baseman who spent 2023 with the Minnesota Twins, has made a name for himself with majestic moonshots during a nine-year major league career: The 30-year-old has 198 home runs in 863 games. The knock on him is that he doesn’t connect consistently; he has a .197 career batting average, and he hit .177 with 21 homers in 111 games with the Twins while striking out 142 times.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/01/23/joey-gallo-nationals-contract/?fbclid=IwAR1o_xeYpCe4Aq2woL9EShs0MYA5xZvNOG2C8813DAMCBdaOgyRs-uzL1Ss
Gallo, an outfielder/first baseman who spent 2023 with the Minnesota Twins, has made a name for himself with majestic moonshots during a nine-year major league career: The 30-year-old has 198 home runs in 863 games. The knock on him is that he doesn’t connect consistently; he has a .197 career batting average, and he hit .177 with 21 homers in 111 games with the Twins while striking out 142 times.
I don’t know where to put this but saw this the other day and it blew my mind. Maybe everyone else will realize who the guy in the middle is more quickly than I did….
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Wow indeed. Context helped... put him between two random guys and I wouldn't have known in a million years.
He's on the Stern show once or twice a year and while I haven't seen him I was aware of the fact that he's pretty much a mess these days. Speaking of the Stern show, Doc's looking a bit like wack packer Beetlejuice.I see what you did there.
