With just three weeks left until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Signings to be made official:
According to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox are expected to make their one-year deal with outfielder Adam Duvall official early this week. That’s far from the only signing that could be made official in the coming days, however. Aroldis Chapman’s one-year contract with the Royals could also be made official after being agreed to late last week. Brian Anderson’s one-year pact with the Brewers and Nelson Cruz’s one-year agreement with the Padres are other deals still waiting to be made official; Cruz’s pact, in particular, was reportedly agreed to almost two weeks ago with no official announcement as of yet. All four clubs have full 40-man rosters, so a corresponding move will be necessary in all three cases to make room for the club’s newest acquisition.
2. Is a Gurriel signing immiment?
Reports over the weekend indicated that the market for first baseman and 2022 World Series champion Yuli Gurriel could be heating up, with the Marlins and Twins among the teams interested. Miami, in particular, was said to be “moving toward a deal” with Gurriel, per Mark Feinsand and Brian McTaggart of MLB.com Both clubs make for interesting fits for Gurriel. In Minnesota, a veteran right-handed complement to first base youngster Alex Kirilloff makes sense, whereas in Miami, Gurriel could provide an additional option in a first base/DH mix that already includes Garrett Cooper and Jorge Soler. According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, it’s also possible that Gurriel could spend time at both second and third base for the Marlins, should he sign there.
3. MLBTR Player Chat
We regularly host chats with members of our writing team here at MLBTR, but this week we’ll be rebooting our Player Chat series. In the past, we’ve had names like Dan Straily, Jonny Gomes, Tyler Danish, Paul Sewald and Christian Colon (among others) host chats with our readers. We’ve got a wide range of guests set up this time around, ranging from players who only had a brief cup of coffee in the Majors but long grinds through the minors, to some who logged upwards of ten years of MLB service. Today’s chat will feature a special appearance by former knuckleballer Mickey Jannis. Jannis played professional baseball for twelve seasons, including eight seasons in the minor leagues, and made the big leagues with the Orioles in 2021. Jannis also played in Australia and Venezuela throughout his career. Tune in at 10am CST for Jannis’s live chat.
He may not want to answer any questions about his time in the MLB.
Actually he might, who still throws a knuckle ball and how many pitchers do you hear make their milb debut at 34. The dude was in the indy league 3rd year after drafted, stuck it out bounced around back and forth. Mickey has a baseball movie Actually
Yippie!
Your mom’s calling, time for me to go eat.
You wish.
For some reason I think a lot of bad things would have to happen for a old man Gurriel to see time at 2B for the Marlins.. i think they got some depth there
Besides former players it would also be interesting if you included front office guys, agents, scouts, and even former umpires in your chats.
Someone place a bet, MLBTR know who the 2023 World Series champions are
Close to home, MARLUNS is the best place for YURI GURRIEL where he will also be better valued and serve as mentor for younger players.
It’s YULI, not YURI, but who’s counting?
The MARLUNS are counting, that’s who.
“2023 World Series champion Yuli Gurriel” — so Nick predicting a championship in Miami?? LOL
Oops! Thanks, we’ve fixed it.
Gurriel is old and he doesn’t bring enough bat to make it smart enough for Twins to eliminate the options they already have.
Gurriel is a horrible fit for the Marlins. They need a power bat they already got enough contact hitters. He’s old that power ain’t coming back and he’s likely done for.
Plus, he throws like a gurriel too!!
If the marlins sign Gurriel they need to move Cooper. If Gurriel ends on 2nd or 3rd our defense will look like a Rec league softball team, which I am nervous is already staring to happen
There are a few teams in baseball who already look like rec league softball teams.
Why can’t Cooper DH? Soler can play OF.
But there certainly is no reason for Yuli to play 2B when the top 3 batters on the team are all 2B… Segura, Chisholm and Arraez. This article is really dumb.
“But there certainly is no reason for Yuli to play 2B when the top 3 batters on the team are all 2B… Segura, Chisholm and Arraez.”
Yes, but don’t all 3 have new positions this year? And Arraez apparently wasn’t
very good when he did play 2nd.
Ken Rosenthal is the one who said Gurriel might play 2B, not MLBTR.
So if the Cruz signing isn’t official yet, then SD doesn’t have a full 40 man roster, since Poppen was cleared off the roster for Cruz to have a spot…
And what about Pham? January 20th you said the Mets would announce it soon, so it seems to me he is the one that belongs on this list not Cruz.