Here are five important stories from the last week of coverage here at MLBTR.
MLB suspends A.J. Preller. The league suspended Preller for 30 days and fined the Padres for the team’s failure to disclose medical information in the Drew Pomeranz / Anderson Espinoza trade. ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that the Padres kept two separate sets of injury information on each player and only made one available to the rest of the industry, and that teams the Padres traded with, including the Red Sox, White Sox and Marlins, were furious that they’d been tricked. The Red Sox felt MLB’s decision to suspend Preller wasn’t enough and that they should have received a player as compensation. Meanwhile, top Padres brass are split on the now-controversial Preller, with executive chairman Ron Fowler questioning Preller’s performance.
More front office movement. The Blue Jays hired former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington as their new vice president of baseball operations, and he’ll focus on player development in Toronto. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, will not pick up their option on senior vice president of baseball operations De Jon Watson’s contract, furthering talks of change in the Arizona front office.
Billy Butler changes teams. The Athletics released their former DH early in the week, and the Yankees quickly signed him to a big-league deal. Since Butler had been released, signing him was a low-risk proposition on the Yankees’ part, as they’ll only owe him a pro-rated portion of the league minimum.
Dodgers, Brewers nearly completed — and could later revisit — trade involving Yasiel Puig and Ryan Braun. The rumored Puig/Braun blockbuster continued to generate headlines this week, as it became clear that the deal almost happened and that talks could be rekindled this winter. One possibility had Puig and Brandon McCarthy heading to Milwaukee along with two prospects.
Orioles, Scott Boras to discuss Matt Wieters extension. With catcher Matt Wieters set to hit free agency, Scott Boras and the Orioles front office will discuss a deal that could keep him in Baltimore after what’s been somewhat of a rough season. Boras also represents fellow Orioles Zach Britton and Pedro Alvarez, so talks between the two sides might not be limited to Wieters.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I say sign wieters to a 3 year max deal. 10 mill a season. Only other option is to go with Caleb.
I’d think about handing the starting job to Chance Sisco before I’d give it outright to Joseph. Caleb Joseph just looks lost at the plate. A far cry from the on base machine he looked like he was going to be in the low minors.
Who knows, if Wieters decides to go elsewhere. They’ll probably be battling for the starting spot next spring.
Correction: I must have been mistaken when I made the “on base machine” comment about Joseph. Chance Sisco’s milb batting average is almost as high as Caleb Joseph’s milb obp.
.320 to .326 respectively.
16 million a year For a career 250 batting average 20 homeruns a year average if that ……ridiculous
Theo is overrated he signs about 15 new players most of which are elite 10 million contracts and people call him a genius
You’re a moron. Rizzo, Bryant, Russell, Baez, Contreras, Soler, Schwarber, Hendricks, Arrieta, Strop, Rondon…none of those players were “signed”. He absolutely fleeced the Orioles, Rangers, Padres, and A’s in trades that netted him elite young players who are contributing to what is now the best team in the MLB.
There’s absolutely nothing overrated about what Theo has done with this Cubs team. You’re just bitter grapes because he left the Red Sox in the dust.
Rob you’re the type of Sox fan that makes your fan base look bad
To be fair to Rob, Theo’s signings of Edwin Jackson and Jason Heyward do not look so good.
Theo may have been overrated in Boston…he inherited a team that went to game 7 of ALCS when he became GM. However, what he has done in Chicago has been absolutely incredible, and might be the best 5-6 year plan/execution that any baseball executive has ever done. Yes, they’ve signed a few big free agents, but they’ve built an incredible team through great drafting (although picking in the top 5 helps; it helped Tampa become good for a while), and even better trades. I’m not a Cubs or Theo fan, but his tenure in Chicago has been remarkable, win the world series or not.
The Cubs have done nothing wrong, their years of last place finishes and top draft picks for many years is finally paying off and they are finally major league ready letting them trade other young stars like they did with Castro for other pieces(I know they only got Warren who did a good job with them before he was traded back for Chapman) they are just so deep now that they are able to trade prospects without losing a lot since they have young players to replace them. In a few years this will be the Braves and Brewers and teams like the Royals and Tigers and Rangers will go through their own rebuilding periods. It is a cycle and as long as you don’t cheat the cycle like the Padres your team will be fine
Will see when you don’t win the World Series this year either….
I feel like the biggest news of the week was Carlos Carrasco’s season ending yesterday. Well, I guess the Preller news was pretty significant. The Carrasco news should still be up here though.
Agreed. Carrasco was an ace-like pitcher on a playoff=certain team yet he’s done for the year. Absolutely devastating.
I approve of the 5 key stories being a regular feature – especially in the offseason