Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. Arbitration hearings continue:
The biggest news in baseball yesterday was southpaw Tarik Skubal‘s record-shattering victory over the Tigers in his arbitration hearing, where a panel of judges awarded him $32MM rather than the $19MM figure Detroit had submitted. It’s the third consecutive victory (joining Kyle Bradish and Yainer Diaz) for the players in arbitration hearings this year, while teams have yet to win a single case. Tampa Bay right-hander Edwin Uceta and Atlanta southpaw Dylan Lee have both already gone to hearings against their clubs, though decisions aren’t expected until next week on those cases. (Results on cases that could be direct comps for other arb hearings in the same year are often withheld until those other hearings have taken place.) Reid Detmers, Graham Ashcraft, Tyler Stephenson, and Kris Bubic are among the players who exchanged figures with their teams but have yet to go to a hearing. Will those players be able to keep the win streak going?
2. Suter nearing deal with Anaheim:
Reporting yesterday indicated that southpaw Brent Suter and the Angels were nearing an agreement on a major league deal. Any final details and a physical could be hammered out this weekend. Anaheim has already made several veteran additions to the bullpen this winter, as Suter will join Drew Pomeranz, Jordan Romano, and Kirby Yates as a potential setup option for Robert Stephenson in rookie manager Kurt Suzuki‘s bullpen. The Halos’ 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need a corresponding move to formally add Suter unless they hold off on announcing the deal until camp opens and they can then shift a player (Anthony Rendon or Ben Joyce) to the 60-day IL.
3. Do the Twins have a notable move in store?
Although the Twins have had a quiet offseason in terms of player transactions, things have been anything but quiet off the field. They added three new minority owners, Tom Pohlad took over as the team’s new control person, and those changes seemingly led to president of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey departing the club in a shocking move late last month. Amid those ownership and front office shuffles, the Twins have made some surprising gestures toward upgrading the roster. Minnesota was involved in the market for Freddy Peralta before he was traded to the Mets and reportedly jumped into the mix on Framber Valdez before he signed with the division-rival Tigers. There aren’t many impact players left on the market, but righty Zac Gallen remains unsigned and there are various trade options the club could pursue. Bullpen help is the Twins’ most glaring need, but even cursory interest in Peralta and Valdez signals a willingness to add to the rotation as well.
I think Tom Pohlad is coming out hot and trying to get fans excited.
He’s promised they’ll contend but wants to stop talking payroll. They’re in on free agents and trades but we don’t hear anything besides that. They’ve been completely unwilling to part with prospects for 10 years now and when they’ve struggled to develop you get a team that mostly sucks.
Until they actually spend money, I don’t trust a word Tom Pohlad says and fans should continue to stay away. Spend your money and time elsewhere
I am doing just that.
Tom learned well from dad. Be “in” on all the big signing and trades to make it seem like they are trying. It’s a classic Pohlad fall back plan. No doubt if they did actually reach out it was with a low ball effort that will in a year or 2 from now turn into “we’re just a small market team”.
Remember that new stadium that was built for them and all the money that was going to be pumped into the team from it?
Tom’s dad did nothing. His uncle was before Joe, and uncle didn’t pay much attention to the team. Tom’s grandfather and grandmother were the two who paid attention and cared about the team.
Dam Pohlads
I didn’t actually say during yesterday’s thread, but congrats to Skubal. He’s unequivocally the best pitcher in baseball right now and deserves to be paid as such. I don’t think this completely changes the arbitration process and how players are paid, but for the best of the bunch you need to pay up.
Unequivocally? Hmmm.
I think Skenes is better.
Skenes hasn’t done it as long yet, so he’s behind. Let’s talk about it further in a couple of years.
So PS is “behind” him right now, in other words?
To be fair, you did say better; not longer.
I mean realistically Skubal has done it for maybe 5 months longer than Skenes?? At least at this level. So probably comparable i think
Garrett Crochet anyone?
Not close at all. Still good, don’t get me wrong, but Skenes and Skubal is better. Crochet is third or fourth. Fourth 4 now and Yamamoto is third. I have Sanchez 5th. Then it’s our Hunter, Mariner’s Woo, Logan Webb, Max Fried, Hunter Greene, Logan Gilbert, Blake Snell, Joe Ryan coming up, just to name a few.
Skubal-Skenes-Crochet
Yamamoto-probably Sanchez
Then it’s a toss up.
Yeah, thanks for clearing it up.
If the arbitrator could have chosen somewhere in between, I wonder what the result would have been.
I agree, but you could also ask yourself why the Tigers bid as low as they did.. Maybe an offer $23/$25 would have worked
He’d be looking for a new job?
It really is an interesting process. Because the arb. panel isn’t picking one of the two numbers, they’re deciding if Skubal should be paid the midpoint between the two numbers. Also, if I understood correctly, I think Ken Rosenthal said that in the past they’ve only been able to use other arb. numbers as a precedent, but this year, they started using any contract as a precedent.
Only for players who just completed their 5th season, I believe it was.
Cam Smith is getting CF reps I believe?
Brent is bona fide.
I love the potential of this high-upside bullpen the Angels are building.
Nicest dude in the game. He will sign for kids until everyone has had their chance. Stayed on the kids Red Carpet last year until they were taking down the barriers and putting everything away.
I know the answer to the Twins question. “NO”
Well if they sign Gallen for a couple years then trade ryan or lopez for a Boston OF that can actually hit it could work. Lopez would be better to make the salaries fit.
The only move the Twins should be making is getting new ownership.
Why do the Angels still need to keep Anthony Rendon on their 40-man? Is it part of Rendon’s retirement agreement that he needs to go on the 60-day IL, rather than just get cut before spring training begins?
The Angels feel more comfortable carrying old baggage. They like to collect old players and have a hard time with letting go of broken treasures. They really do need an intervention!!
They could bring back Josh Hamilton!
Ashcraft and Stephenson should have never gotten to arbitration. Both differences between figures are miniscule. Another case of the Castellinis squeezing the nickels until the buffalo defecates twice.
“Results on cases that could be direct comps for other arb hearings in the same year are often withheld until those other hearings have taken place.”
How does that work?
Wouldn’t both cases be comps for each other?
In the 1980’s MLB considered contracting rather than expanding.. One discussion involved combining the Twins and Angels. At the time the Pohlads were barely along with the Twins and Gene Autry owned the Angels. Today the Pohlads are seeming more and more like the Griffith years and the Angels are stuck in a bottomless pit with Moreno with no end in sight and a conjectured move to Mexico City. This might be a good time to rediscuss contraction of the 2 teams. Move the one combined team to Charlotte or Salt Lake, remove the current ownerships and put the new team up for bids.
Instead, MLB intends to add two more teams.
If they were to contract, it would only be so that they could soon add two more teams back and collect the huge expansion fees.