Lance McCullers Jr. has “been dying” to return to the mound, and “is ready for the season to start tomorrow if it could,” the Astros righty tells MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. Recovery from Tommy John surgery in November 2018 kept McCullers sidelined for all of last season, though he said he is on track for Spring Training and Opening Day after completing his rehab last month. McCullers’ return will be a boost to an Astros rotation that has already lost Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley in free agency, and the 26-year-old is still looking to fully break out in what would be his fifth MLB season. Injuries have limited the former 41st-overall pick to just 453 2/3 innings in his career, though McCullers has pitched well (3.67 ERA, 10.1 K/9, 2.86 K/BB rate) when healthy and has both an impressive postseason resume and an All-Star appearance to his name.
More Christmas Day notes from the American League…
- Jonathan Schoop and C.J. Cron are both looking forward to new opportunities in the Motor City, as the two newest Tigers told reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News). In Cron’s case, he said the Tigers “were on me from the beginning” after the first baseman was non-tendered by the Twins. “The thing that stood out the most was just how much Detroit wanted me….They told my agent early on they wanted me to be a part of this thing and their persistence never stopped,” Cron said. “Anytime somebody wants you that bad, it feels good and it made my interest higher and higher.”
- Several Orioles questions are addressed by The Athletic’s Dan Connolly (subscription required) during a reader mailbag piece, including the issue of just how much financial support GM Mike Elias has at his disposal as he rebuilds the roster. For example, Baltimore’s decision to trade Jonathan Villar to the Marlins for a fairly minimal prospect return created the impression that the O’s were more concerned with getting Villar’s $10.4MM projected arbitration salary off the books than they were in getting full value back for the talented infielder. In Connolly’s view, “Elias’ hands are tied more than he would have preferred,” perhaps due to such factors as low attendance at Camden Yards and the likelihood that the Orioles will have to start more evenly sharing their MASN broadcast revenue with the Nationals. It doesn’t seem that the O’s will be able to explore such tactics as offering to take a bad contract off another team’s hands if that team also includes some prospects in the trade. That said, it isn’t as if the Orioles are running a total bare-bones operation — Connolly notes that ownership has invested in the Orioles’ infrastructure, giving Elias more modernized analytics and international scouting departments.
Only I didn’t say fudge.
The queen mother of all four letter words?
Incessantly
The F dash dash dash word
Merry Christmas my fellow MLBTR readers.
ditto that
Merry Christmas all
Ho Ho Ho from the D
Merry Christmas.
Merry christmas to all. And to all a very joyful happy new year
Since there are others celebrating a different holiday and we are in the world of having to be politically correct, let’s say ‘happy holidays” to all. Since we’re also supposed to separate “church” and state, has anyone wondered why Christmas is a national holiday? The heck with being PC, Merry Christmas everyone.
@deweybelongsinthehall
Merry Christmas!
Glad to see you wanted some attention today. CONGRATS
Merry Christmas to you too.
Can it.
The government is supposed to separate church and state, not idiots on a website.
Thanks for the love everyone. Truth be told, I was just bored waiting for my spouse when the thought came to me. I’m as anti politically correct as one can be but I do wonder why those PC idiots haven’t tried to get the day removed as a holiday.
Shut up
so, where are all these people you just made up whining about church and state separation?
oh yeah, in your head, along with the rest of the fox news morons (and you people wonder why religion is dying a death in this country. well, it mainly has to do with you people raping kids daily, but whining about pc isn’t helping. merry we stole all this stuff from other groups because christianity has nothing original in it day)
Excuse me? I’m not talking about something repulsive as you just mentioned. We have however gotten to the point where people in a discussion have to worry about offending someone you don’t even know are in the vicinity for fear they may misunderstand or misconstrue your word choice. I went to a college where 25 years post graduation they change their nickname because it might be deemed offensive to a small group. Not one person I know who went to the school ever understood it in that context. Do the Redskins have to change their name? Should Atlanta Braves fans stop with the Tomahawk chant? Such is tradition today and not meant in a disrespectful way. Goes back to my belief that John Henry overreacted getting Yawkey Way removed. Mr. Yawkey grew up in a different world and his charitable work is what he should be remembered for. 40 years from now as the world changes, will John Henry be viewed differently?
By the way, the church and state separation I mentioned is part of this country’s foundation. My tongue in cheek remark was simply meant as an example of how people are hypocritical as that would seem to be one of the ultimate targets for PC fanatics.
Ditto….
But it’s a little disingenuous to label the O’s as needing to be frugal because of the MASN mess. They made a ton of money while that was going on; and they had to know the courts were not going to be happy. Hopefully they saved some of the profits. Making current payroll pay the price for their “naughty-ness” really isn’t fair.
Nonetheless, that’s probably what’s going to happen….more’s the pity.
King Peter isn’t in charge anymore… officially. But with the Two Princes in charge, I’ll willingly assume the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.
It’ll be interesting to see if MLB accepts the two sons as owners
Baltimore is a dying cesspool. The Orioles should relocate to Vegas.
Turn off your tv and try visiting. I lived there for a few years and loved it. Orioles games are fun too, even when they stink.
That park is still beautiful. A masterpiece. If the product improves, the fans will certainly come back. Once the honeymoon period ends, no municipality will continuously support a baseball loser. There are too many games and seats. Simply too much competition for the money. Entertainment used to be reserved for big cities but the Internet, cell phone TVs and other smart devices all compete with baseball. A family budget only goes so far and who wants to spend money on a loser?
Can’t say I disagree with any of this…
“no municipality will continuously support a baseball loser” hmmm…
guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-consec…
One MLB franchise has relocated since 1973, the MTL Expos who had a record above 0.500 two of their last three season in MTL
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relocation_of_professional_s…
Maybe your take on why teams would be relocated isn’t correct?
And Scully, a major source of ticket sales are to businesses. A baseball game is a great way to entertain people for 3-4 hours.
Not in Baltimore with an owner who’s been frugal and didn’t believe in the international signings so the team lacks quality band young stars. Oh and when Angelos did open his wallet it was on the wrong players. He didn’t have bad luck he exercised poor judgment.
…And a 23 season playoff drought at the time of relocation.
Time to trade Chris Davis to the Southern Maryland Blue crabs for some prospects. Lol
Why is it that team moved? Was it they were chronically short on attendance? Dewey is pretty correct although fans have been pretty good to some clubs. Cardinals (although they did win and make it twice in the eighties) Cubs also overdrew compared to record for a decent time and I’m sure others. The point is valid, it usually takes some sustained success to build or bring back fans.
Assume, the revenue streams are so significant that teams automatically make money. Moreover, MLB truly doesn’t want teams to move because the threat of moving has been used to coerce cities to pay for stadiums. If Tampa moves to Montreal, will the threat of moving back to Tampa frighten another city?
Cards might be an exception but the Cubs benefit in that many visitors to Chicago look at Wrigley as a must see tourist attraction.
The Ravens say hi
Or relocate to Baltimore County. Why alienate an entire fan base because the city sucks?
Or relocate to Baltimore County. Why alienate an entire fan base because the city in shambles?
The orioles aren’t going to Baltimore county. Nor would that fix anything. Where the hell would you put a stadium in Baltimore county anyway. There’s no place for the stadium. Camden Yards is a great stadium and it’s going nowhere. If the orioles ever up and moved-Camden Yards would be a prime spot for another club to come into. Which I believe is way overblown to begin with. The orioles will be in Baltimore. It’s going to be a tough couple years as we build this thing up. The best thing we can do is spend on scouting and player development.
Well, it’s about as good of an idea as the Las Vegas Orioles from the original poster, right?
What’s with this meme where a team that doesn’t finish above .500 has to move? The Orioles have good fans and one of the more beautiful parks. Lastros didn’t move even with a sale and ripping their franchise down to the studs. That is really the only other catastrophic team meltdown I can think of. For a team like the A’s or Rays where the city can’t reciprocate the love, yeah there’s a problem but being bad isn’t a reason.
Well said some guy. Seems people want to move Baltimore and Pittsburgh to vegas. Get one thing straight, IT AINT GONNA HAPPEN rather both have new parks. Too much history for both teams. PNC AND CAMDEN YARD ARE BEAUTIFUL PARKS FOR BASEBALL
It’s hard to imagine an MLB team surviving in Vegas for very long
unless McPhee becomes this team’s GM too.
Las Vegas has boomed as a family area for almost 30 years now. There have been multiple periods since the early 90’s when Californians left their state in droves as housing and the cost of living went through the roof – particularly if a couple was raising children. Las Vegas and Phoenix have been the 2 primary areas they’ve moved to.
I have friends with younger siblings that started moving there in the early 90’s, telling me that they could afford a nicer house, get better public schools, and most importantly – only one spouse was needed to support the family so the other could stay home and raise the children.
The Las Vegas area is hardly just The Strip anymore. The Raiders will thrive there, as well as any MLB team that plays there. I’d suspect that if expansion comes – and most owners need the money – Las Vegas will surely get a franchise. The only thing stopping that in the past was being so close to gambling. Now MLB embraces gambling, with the Cubs trying to offer betting in or around Wrigley Field.
Between the families that live in the area, tourists taking in a game, and businesses – not even located in Las Vegas but using it as a perk for employees – buying season tickets as a write-off, they will have explosive attendance.
I can’t imagine Las Vegas being a very viable city for much longer. They are running out of groundwater and don’t exactly have a backup plan.
Vegas seems to get hit hard by housing crashes whenever they happen. I don’t know how that would affect an MLB team.
It’s a lot harder to support an MLB team than an NFL team. An NFL team only has to fill 8 home games a year. An MLB team has more than ten times that number of home games. And most guys watch NFL games on TV no matter who is playing. Contrast that with only the more serious baseball fans watching usually only their teams playing on TV.
Vegas is still a city of transplants more than a city of “locals”. Sure, no doubt a team there would attract several thousand loyal fans, but I can’t see a team in Vegas attracting even as many fans as, say, The Marlins, over time. It would be easy to see a lot of fans coming out initially and then slowly starting to lose interest. And tourists are not in Vegas to see baseball. If I’m traveling to New York, Chicago or San Fran, or even Cincinnati or Pittsburgh, yes, I want to see a baseball game. Las Vegas? I’m too busy gambling, golfing, sitting by the pool, seeing a show or doing other things that are easier to do in Vegas than anywhere else.
I’ve been to a handful of parks over the years and Camden is by far my favorite.
Here’s a new rule that MLB should consider:
If a team doesn’t make the playoffs for ten straight years the owner must sell the franchise. On year seven the owner is formally notified so that spending and management can be changed.
This prevents an owner like the Pirates from simply using his resources to pay off his mortgage early, Angelos and Wilpon for pocketing the proceeds.
I agree that something should be done to penalize teams that don’t invest in improvement, but I don’t agree with a governing body forcing an individual or group to divest. Perhaps a better approach would be to take away what is given – like the team forfeiting their share of “Luxury Tax” proceeds or revenues that are distributed through the MLB.
You sure are free with others money. Im no fan of nutting. But these contracts are getting ridiculously out of hand. Boras has gotten his clients over a billion in salaries. And agents do nothing but raise the ante so the get more for thier 10%. I dont see anyone saying players contracts are out of hand. I want everyone to make money. But come on 345 million for a pitcher. NUTS
You sure are free with taking money from a person who earned it.
LOL
Strike Four,
You got that backwards…..as usual.
Vandals — Would you rather give the power of the players back to the owners? I hope Curt Flood didn’t die for nothing.
funny, you types do it all the time, seem fine with it (i mean, who drains america’s resources more than right wing religious nutters like you)?
What if teams play in the AL East with 2 teams that spend $200mil+ every year? Orioles did make the playoffs at least once this decade so your comment would not apply to them.
There’s 5 spots now, there’s no excuse to go a decade without making it once. At that point, the owner is the problem.
@fits65 can not agree more
“Meet these arbitrary parameters or else we will forcibly seize your private assets.”
Lol no
The Orioles were going tryhard as recently as the 2017-18 offseason after a disappointing 2017. That was when they brought on Cobb and I believe Cashner. They were a postseason presence for the past decade even though there were some very good AL East teams. This wasn’t a targeted implosion. They got to a point where they could not compete anymore and realized that their old strategy was never going to work. Besides, under your rule the O’s owner would have until 2026 because of the 2016 AL wild card. So yeah they’re in “tank” mode but can you really blame them?
Yep, that’s capitalism.
I know they’re still bad and I’m easy to please, but I think Detroit took a big step forward this year. I’m excited to see the trio of FA (Romine,Cron,Schoop) and Fulmer’s return. I’m hoping for Alex Wood to sign next!
“Tanking” is killing the game, and the owners know it. Not to mention the “haves” are tired of seeing the “have nots” use their Revenue Sharing in ways that doesn’t increase competition. Not to mention the Union sees the same thing.
I thoroughly expect the new CBA to address the issue. In the AL East, e.g., I can see a requirement for TB to spend 100M, Baltimore 130M, and Jays/Yanks/Sox spend 180M (in 2020 terms). Sure, you could allow a free year for Baltimore, Pittsburgh et al an “off year” to reorganize, but that’s it.
I applaud what the Tigers did. Maybe it amounts to only 2-3 more wins a year. But those wins could come against teams in the playoff hunt, and increase excitement.
LOL
bob;
If a rule like that was put in, the owners would sell in a heartbeat…..if they could find a buyer……and the first thing buyers would demand before closing the sale would be to move the teams to another area. You may find this hard to believe following a team that is a top 3-4 spender every year since free agency started, but teams cannot simply go out and spend money to guarantee a superior team each year. If they could – everyone would win, go to the playoffs and the WS each year.
Wake up! The Mets lost $60m each of the past 2 years. And their finances are screwed up even worse then that.
Teams in small and lower mid-market areas need to roll over monies for a period of years while rebuilding in order to have a bundle of cash to spend on free agents and taking veteran contracts in trade to augment the core players thy develop over 4-5 years – what the White Sox are doing this year and the Braves did last year. If those teams had to spend monies on overpriced veteran players with hopes of finishing 3rd or 4th in the division instead of 5th while they were rebuilding, then the Braves could never have afforded Donaldson and others, nor the White Sox Grandel and others. Those teams would forever be thrashing around in 4th or 5th place with no real chance to win anything. Their fans would know it, and spend their attention and money elsewhere.
Fans may not show up at the park or watch as much on TV while their teams are rebuilding / restructuring. But they’re keeping an eye on the progress. You take away the possibility that their FO can put together a superior team that can contend for years, and the fanbase will turn them out.
Forcing a team to spend 100 million bucks a year is idiotic to begin with. The orioles have absolutely nothing that they should spend 130 million dollars on. Absolutely nothing. That’s not going to help the franchise be any better. It’s going to create a bunch of crap salaries on a loser. The dollars the Orioles gave should go to building up a pipeline. Hiring your scouts/analytic dept. Beefing up your coaching staff with guys who know how to properly incorporate that information. And into International scouting.
Blanket statements suggesting a team should spend X on payroll is just idiotic. The teams who will end up successfully rebuilding will spend their money wisely. Those who don’t— won’t. Your proposal would just create more Boston Red Sox or SF Giants. Overpriced non WS contenders. There’s a different timeframe for when individual teams should jack up their payroll.
The Orioles spent 170 million bucks on payroll in 2017. That was the end of the little run they were on. If they want to spend 50 while they rebuild it back up; go ahead. I’d much rather spend 50 now and 170 later when the team actually needs to sign talent.
Accounting tricks jbigs. The Mets did not lose $$ as you state. In one instance, Forbes compared Citi Field net revenue for 2027 and 2018 which were $95.6m and nearly $56m. The Wilpons use a different corporate entity as owners so I don’t believe those revenues don’t show up in their team’s books. Yes a big difference but even 2018’s amount approximates the amount you mentioned. What another article I read is the Wilpons don’t have the overall deep pockets of other ownerships so they could have a cash flow problem which explains the likely true reason for their pending sale. The teams overall value is such that when sold, they will walk way with $$$$$ and still have ownership of their real estate holdings!
By the way, yes Boston and SF have bloated payrolls but they also lead in recent titles. Ask fans which they’d prefer.
Boston and SF has a bloated payroll because of the loyalty they had to those guys who won them a WS. More than a few unecessary extensions. Suggesting that teams like the orioles should ramp up spending right now is beyond stupid. Knowing when to spend your money is a competitive advantage. The good teams do it at the right time.
The RS will be ran a whole lot better under Bloom. SF will be ran differently under Zaidi. DD and Bobby Evans got canned for a reason. There’s a reason guys like Mike Rizzo and Jeff Luhnow, still have their jobs. You have to spend at the right time. No one wants to use the Dave Dombrowski unsustainable model. Ownership doesn’t like the financial albatrosses either.
The most cost efficient talent comes from building up a strong minor league pipeline and using free agency as a supplement. The good teams consistently do that. Those who try to buy World Series in free agency w/o that dom’t typically have a whole lot of success.
Requiring a floor that high on salaries is dumb and takes the competitive edge that smart FO’s have. There’s always going to be an owner like a Bob Nutting who uses his team as a cash cow. You don’t cater the rules to stop him. That’s a really bad idea.
The notion that tanking is out of control around the game is overblown. How many teams are truly tanking? I count maybe 5. The Orioles, Tigers, Marlins, Giants and Pirates.
The Royals are not really tanking. They have a bad baseball team—that’s just their reality. They’ve kept Salvy Perez and Merrifield through the rebuild though. I don’t think the tank issue is really as big of a deal as people like to make it. You’ve got teams like the White Sox/Reds/Rangers/Angels/Phillies all spending money on FA’s or making significant trades. Even the Mets are signing guys.
There’s only so many playoff slots to go around. You’ve got a hell of a lot teams competing for them this season. You’re absolutely living in a fantasy world if you think there’s ever going to be a year where all 30 teams have a shot at going to the playoffs. There‘s always going to be rebuilding clubs. Those without significant financial resources are smart to use them when their window opens. You don’t throw 130+ million payrolls out there every season on a loser…. That’s how you stay a loser.
Guarantee if your team did a teardown and rebuild like the Cubs or Astros or even had a surge window like the Royals that you would be seeing it differently, and if they did, then why complain? Yeah it’s a little lopsided but it’s also effective. Besides, the O’s are a team that “tried” as recently as the offseason before 2018. They did not try to lose games that year. The wheels fell off and their style caught up to them. That is different from tanking. The only offseasons where they actually downsized and admitted they needed to do some remodeling were post-2018 and right now.
How about this, the top minds in baseball strategy/stats come up with a criteria for grading players and putting teams together so that they are as even as possible. Every team finishes 81-81, and we have a 30 team playoff bracket
Very good moves on the Tigers part — still need starting pitching
Baltimore and Pittsburgh arent moving to Vegas — Football in Vegas is different only 8 home games — its doubtful Vegas or Neveda will spring for a dome stadium — fan support for a MLB team just isnt there yet
The Astros need 2 starting pitchers — Angels need 3 starters — White Sox need 2 — Dodgers need 2 — Phila needs 2 — Twins 2 — Brewers 2 — Tigers 2 — SF 3 — the list goes on — JA Happ will be with a new team by ST — maybe Price also
Uhhh……I’m pretty sure the White Sox need zero pitchers to sign now. They have an abundance of pitchers now
Cron and schoop is a good supplement to an already great offense but that’s not the case in Detroit. I’m sure they’re happy they were sought after but the millions in a contract is probably what sealed the deal since they were lower on the spectrum of free agents available and cheap compared to the rest of the league. Tigers going nowhere again . Nice pipedream though for Cron being “a part of this thing”
Until O,s get new ownership nothing else matters