Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball throughout the day:
1. Winn OK after car accident:
Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn hit the first walk-off of his career against the Mets in the 11th inning yesterday, but not long after doing so the shortstop was involved in a single-car accident on the interstate near Busch Stadium. As noted by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals thankfully announced that Winn is OK after he was examined at a local hospital.
The Cardinals are off today as they travel to Detroit for their first road series of the year. Whether the star shortstop will play remains to be seen, and Goold notes that the team plans to re-evaluate him prior to tomorrow’s game. Thomas Saggese, José Fermín, and Ramon Urías all have infield experience and could sub in for Winn on the infield if needed. Fermín and Saggese both have shortstop experience, while Urías could plug in at second base if JJ Wetherholt covers short for Winn.
2. Griffin, Pirates working towards extension:
The Pirates have been working to extend the sport’s top prospect, shortstop Konnor Griffin, ahead of his impending MLB debut later this year. ESPN’s Buster Olney characterized the sides as “deep” into extension talks yesterday. The Pirates are seemingly willing to offer Griffin the largest contract in franchise history (surpassing Bryan Reynolds‘ $100MM deal). That would also top Mariners prospect Colt Emerson‘s newly secured $95MM deal for the largest ever to a pre-debut player. Will Griffin join Emerson, Cooper Pratt, and Pete Crow-Armstrong in signing early-career extensions this spring?
3. White Sox home opener postponed:
The White Sox announced that today’s scheduled game against the Blue Jays has been postponed until tomorrow. Today was meant to be Chicago’s home opener, but those festivities will now be moved back a day due to an inclement weather forecast for this afternoon. Perla Paredes of MLB.com writes that the pitching matchup for the game remains unchanged, with righty Sean Burke set to take on former White Sox ace Dylan Cease as he returns to town with the Blue Jays. Gates for tomorrow’s home opener will open at 11:10am local time, with first pitch scheduled for 1:10pm. Paredes goes on to note that all tickets for today’s postponed game will be valid for tomorrow’s home opener without any exchanges being necessary.
Some of these early extensions will turn into incredible bargains, others will have fans complaining for the better part of a decade. But what’s really interesting is what this trend tells you about the upcoming CBA negotiations
Mike – Seems like more of the extensions turn out to be bad decisions for the teams than good ones.
Take for instance the Red Sox. They are regretting the Campbell and Rafaela extensions, and they are lucky Casas didn’t accept their extension offer. These bad contracts add up, they impact the payroll budget for more than half a decade.
To be fair, the Red Sox front office is a mess. I’m sure many teams are appreciating the extensions they’ve signed their players to. Theres a reason Boras hates them
That’s a fair point, but it seems a lot of these owners think like investment bankers. Get three top-prospect-talents to sign extensions, two of which turn into ok-at best, the the third a genuine star. The star instantaneously becomes a big $ asset–and particularly if he doesn’t have a no-trade clause. That excess value could exceed the price of the more boring players. And the boring players will still go through the system, and if they can be league average, they will still have value to the team, and to themselves as they get through arbitration. I think we need a bigger sample set to judge.
Mike – I view the owners giving extensions more like gamblers rather than investors.
The earlier you sign a young player to a long extension, the greater the risk.
Better to pay a little more on a proven player than get absolutely nothing in return for signing an unproven player.
This is a false narrative. There are maybe 3-4 extensions im baseball that turned out to be extremely unfavorable for the teams. Meanwhile players get take for a ride and massively underpaid every year.
tess – The 6 years of team control is a totally separate subject I’d rather not get into again.
I know some players we will probably have a different view of whether the contract was favorable or unfavorable. But for every Acuna, there’s a Myles Straw. At least the Braves wait for their players to have a strong full season in the majors before locking them up.
Bad weather all over. Stay safe out there.
Yeah been traveling from NY to Boston to Wisconsin to Chicago this week. Temps were 55, 30, 80, 25 on successive days
What brings you to Wisconsin, pal?
It’s going to be cool to see Cease return to Chicago, although as soon as he starts punching out the White Sox, my nostalgia will end.
Congrats to Winn on the walk off and congrats for being the first Cardinal involved in a wreck while sober
The times they are a changin’
Mackey just reported Griffin getting called up.
Beyond psyched.
Spring weather in the Midwest can definitely be a mess especially here in Minnesota. As bad as it is summer games at the ballpark have quite nice weather so it’s hard to complain.
Can the White Sox postpone their entire season?
We (the fans) cannot take this anymore-
Did you mean season or decade? That optimism of a week ago has disappeared quickly.