Mark Polishuk | MLB Trade Rumors

Masahiro Tanaka Declines Opt-Out, Will Pitch For NPB’s Golden Eagles In 2022

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2021 at 9:48am CDT

Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka’s two-year contract with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles contained an opt-out clause this winter, but the team announced that Tanaka will return to the club in 2022 (hat tip to Yahoo Japan). Tanaka’s comeback season in NPB went well, as he posted a 3.01 ERA with a 20.19% strikeout rate and a 4.65% walk rate over 155 2/3 innings with the Eagles.

After his seven-year, $155MM contract with the Yankees expired last winter, Tanaka drew interest in the free agent market but it appeared as though his chief preferences were either to return to New York, or to head back to Japan. A reunion with the Yankees didn’t materialize, in part because the team was aiming to stay under the luxury tax threshold in 2021 and didn’t have the payroll space to fit a new Tanaka deal.

Even in his own personal announcement of his contract with the Eagles, Tanaka stated that he would be playing for the Eagles “for the 2021 season,” despite the two-year nature of his deal. With the opt-out clause in mind, there was quite a bit of speculation that Tanaka could explore a return to the majors in 2022 — with the Yankees now free of a repeated luxury tax penalty and theoretically more open to spending this winter, it again seemed plausible that Tanaka would be back pitching in the Bronx.

Then again, it has been a pretty quiet offseason for the Yankees thus far. While the Bronx Bombers have been linked to several notable free agents and trade candidates, the Yankees have yet to swing any major acquisitions. An argument could also be made that New York has plenty of rotation candidates already lined up (Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, Nestor Cortes Jr., Luis Severino, Domingo German, Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, Deivi Garcia, and when healthy, Jameson Taillon), though even aside from the “you can never have too much pitching” mantra, there are enough question marks within that group that bringing in Tanaka or another established veteran makes sense.

Beyond the Yankees’ plans, however, maybe the simplest reason behind Tanaka’s decision is that he didn’t want to opt out just to enter a Major League free agent market that is currently in shutdown mode. Rather than face weeks or months of uncertainty, Tanaka will instead avoid the lockout entirely and remain a comfortable situation with the Eagles for at least one more year. 2023 will be Tanaka’s age-34 season, and if he continues to pitch like he did this past year, he should have plenty of opportunities available to him next winter in both Japan and North America.

Marlins Notes: Schwarber, Marte, Castellanos, Pina, Gomes, Stallings

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2021 at 8:46am CDT

The Marlins are known to be looking for more outfield help, with Kyle Schwarber already reported as one of the names on the team’s radar. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of The Miami Herald shed some more light on the Marlins’ pursuit, writing that Schwarber is looking for a three-year contract worth around $60MM.

Such a deal would top the Marlins’ four-year, $53MM pact with Avisail Garcia in dollars if not years, though it would also fall short of the four years and $70MM MLBTR projected Schwarber to land this winter. Three years and $60MM is still a healthy sum, particularly for a team with Miami’s traditionally limited payrolls, yet the Marlins have already shown a greater willingness to spend in order to upgrade their offense.

The Phillies are another team that has been linked to Schwarber, while the Red Sox and Nationals (the slugger’s two most recent clubs) have also expressed some level of interest in a reunion. Since several of the top free-agent bats have already landed new deals, Schwarber’s status as one of the top hitters available has only risen, so it’s fair to assume that other teams have already shown interest or will do so once the post-lockout dust settles. It remains to be seen whether Schwarber’s market will develop to the point where the Marlins or any other club eventually puts a four-year offer on the table.

Of other outfielders linked to the Marlins, Nick Castellanos “is viewed as too expensive,” while Eddie Rosario is another consideration if Schwarber is also ultimately deemed to be beyond Miami’s price range. Recent reports indicated that Castellanos is looking to score a seven- or eight-year contract, and even if that is an aim-high projection that could be lowered post-lockout, it would still seem like Castellanos might not be a fit for the Fish. Additionally, signing Castellanos have a further cost in the form of draft pick compensation, since he rejected the Reds’ qualifying offer.

The Marlins could possibly avoid the free agent route entirely by landing an outfielder in a trade, as before the lockout, Jackson and Mish note that Miami was in “ongoing discussions with one American League team.” The in-house fallback plan would be to have Brian Anderson play right field and the newly-acquired Joey Wendle take over as the everyday third baseman, but the Fish would prefer to have an established outfielder on the grass rather than Anderson, even if Anderson has looked at home as an outfielder. Anderson had a 7.9 UZR/150 and +6 Defensive Runs Saved over 1223 innings as a right fielder in 2018-19, but is also coming off an injury-plagued 2021 season.

Miami’s offseason pursuits led them to consider such players as Starling Marte, Manny Pina, and Yan Gomes, with the first two receiving contract offers. For Marte, the Marlins and two other teams made four-year offers worth roughly $60MM, and according to Jackson/Mish, Miami was prepared to spend a little more to bring Marte back to South Beach. Marte’s camp wanted something around a $70MM payday, however, and ended up topping that number handily with the $78MM over four years that Marte received from the Mets.

Pina was another player the Marlins lost to a division rival, as while the Fish offered Pina $4MM on a one-year deal, the Braves doubled that offer and signed Pina for two years and $8MM. However, the Marlins instead landed a longer-term target in Jacob Stallings, acquiring the backstop from the Pirates for a three-player trade package. Interestingly, Jackson/Mish write that the Red Sox came very close to trading for Stallings, which would have indicated the Sox were ready to move on from Christian Vazquez either next winter (2022 is Vazquez’s last year under contract) or perhaps this offseason if a trade partner could have been found.

NPB’s Tokyo Yakult Swallows Extend Jose Osuna

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2021 at 7:56am CDT

First baseman Jose Osuna has signed a three-year contract extension to remain with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to Yahoo Japan. Osuna will receive $5.1MM, as per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter), with salaries of $1.4MM in 2022, $1.7MM in 2023, and $2MM in 2024. Another $900K is available in incentives.

Osuna, who turns 29 later this month, hit .258/.293/.401 with 13 home runs over 495 plate appearances for the Swallows in 2021, serving as the team’s primary first baseman and also getting a bit of playing time at third base. Osuna also picked up some key hits for the Swallows during their postseason run, as the Tokyo squad captured the Japan Series championship.

While his numbers were modest, the Swallows clearly felt good enough about Osuna’s performance to make this long-term commitment. The $5.1MM also represents much more security that Osuna would’ve found in a contract with a big league team this winter, as he would likely have had to settle for a minor league deal (and could’ve now been in limbo due to the lockout).

A longtime member of the Pirates organization, Osuna hit .241/.280/.430 with 24 home runs over 705 career plate appearances in the majors, all with Pittsburgh from 2017-20. Osuna received a solid chunk of playing time in part-time and platoon roles with the Bucs, though the club opted to designate him for assignment last offseason rather than pay him a projected $1.1MM arbitration salary.

From that same Yahoo Japan report, the Swallows are also in talks with outfielder Domingo Santana about another contract. In his first Japanese season, Santana was one of the Swallows’ top bats, hitting .290/.366/.511 with 19 home runs over 418 PA.

The author of a 30-homer season with the Brewers in 2017, Santana hit .255/.341/.446 with 77 home runs over parts of seven big league seasons from 2014-20 with Houston, Milwaukee, Seattle, and Cleveland. Santana’s subpar defense, however, made him a veritable bat-only player, so the Guardians declined their 2021 club option on his services following a mediocre 2020 campaign.

Bullpen Notes: Rodriguez, Peralta, Strickland, Shaw, Marlins

By Mark Polishuk | December 1, 2021 at 3:29pm CDT

Right-hander Richard Rodriguez was one of the more prominent names cut loose before last night’s non-tender deadline, and now that the Braves have parted ways with the reliever, Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (Twitter link) that the Pirates are interested in bringing Rodriguez back to the Steel City. Rodriguez posted strong numbers throughout his three-plus seasons in the Pirates’ bullpen, which made him a hot commodity heading into the July trade deadline. While Rodriguez’s peripherals didn’t back up his excellent on-field performance to begin this season, the Bucs were still able to move him to Atlanta for two young arms on July 30.

The righty still managed a 3.12 ERA during his 26 innings for the Braves, but Rodriguez’s home run rate skyrocketed and his strikeout rate dropped off the map to only 8.5%. Atlanta didn’t use Rodriguez during the playoffs, and non-tendered him rather than pay a projected $3.1MM arbitration salary. On paper, it would seem like a reunion between Rodriguez and the Pirates would work out well for both sides, as the Bucs would gain some more relief depth, and Rodriguez would try to get himself on track in a familiar environment.

Phillies Sign Corey Knebel

By Mark Polishuk | December 1, 2021 at 2:23pm CDT

The Phillies announced the signing of reliever Corey Knebel to a one-year contract this afternoon. It’s reportedly a $10MM guarantee. Knebel is represented by Excel Sports Management.

The bullpen has been a major weak spot for the Phillies in each of the last two seasons, and Knebel now provides some much-needed late-game help for the club, potentially even in the closer role. Knebel has previous experience as the Brewers’ closer (including a 39-save, All-Star season in 2017) before injuries derailed his career.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is very familiar with Knebel, as back when Dombrowski was running the Tigers front office, Detroit selected Knebel 39th overall in the 2013 draft. Knebel began his MLB career in a Tigers uniform, but after a pair of trades from Detroit to Texas to Milwaukee, he emerged as a very intriguing arm out of the Brew Crew’s bullpen.

Knebel underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2019 and returned to toss only 13 1/3 innings of rather shaky 6.08 ERA ball, though such struggles aren’t uncommon for a pitcher returning from such a layoff. The Brewers opted to trade Knebel to the Dodgers rather than face the question of whether or not to tender him a contract in his final arbitration-eligible year, and to some extent, Milwaukee’s concerns were realized, as Knebel ended up missing almost four months of the 2021 campaign due to a right lat strain.

When he did pitch, however, Knebel looked much closer to his old form. He posted a 2.45 ERA over 25 2/3 innings, with a 29.7% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate and dominant numbers against both right-handed and left-handed batters. Velocity-wise, Knebel’s heater was back up to 96.4mph —- still a tick below his 97.4mph career high in 2017, but a nice step up from the 94.4mph velo he showed in 2020. Knebel’s fastball spin rate also rebounded from 2020, and he posted a career-best spin rate on his curveball that topped his already-strong past numbers.

The contract is a nice late birthday present for Knebel, who turned 30 years old last week. While he has already had a lot of ups and downs in his career, that age is a reminder that Knebel is still in his veritable prime, and might resume his status as a frontline relief arm if he is able to stay healthy. The one-year contract may be a nod to both his lengthy injury history, and perhaps Knebel’s own desire to showcase himself in advance of a larger multi-year commitment next winter. MLBTR projected Knebel for a two-year, $18MM pact, and he sat 38th on our ranking of the offseason’s top 50 free agents.

Knebel is by far the biggest of the Phillies’ bullpen adds this winter, topping a list that includes Ryan Sherriff, Nick Nelson, Yoan Lopez, Kent Emanuel, and Scott Moss. The relief corps also took a hit when former closer Hector Neris departed to sign a free agent deal with the Astros.

Jeff Passan of ESPN was first to report the Phillies and Knebel were in agreement. Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reported the sides were “in advanced talks” this morning. Jon Heyman of the MLB Network was first with contract terms.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

No More Negotiations Scheduled Between Owners, Players Prior To CBA Expiration

By Mark Polishuk | December 1, 2021 at 2:04pm CDT

2:04PM: This afternoon’s session between the two sides concluded after seven minutes, according to ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan (Twitter links). There won’t be any more negotiations today, and the lockout is expected to begin this evening once the current CBA officially expires.

12:46PM: Negotiators from Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association continue to meet this afternoon, though there is still an expectation that the league will commence with a lockout as soon as the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires at 10:59 CT tonight. Several reports have suggested that the two sides are far enough on several core issues that there is virtually no chance that an actual deal could be reached prior to the deadline, yet that doesn’t mean progress couldn’t still be made as the baseball world enters a work stoppage and a transactions freeze.

In response to the league’s most recent proposal of a 14-team playoff field, the MLBPA has responded with a new proposal of its own, according to ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers. The union’s latest offer would increase the playoff field to 10 to 12 teams, and also involve a huge overhaul of the current three-division alignment in the AL and NL. Under this new idea, each league would have 15 teams split into two divisions — one with seven teams and one with eight teams — and six AL and NL clubs apiece heading to the postseason.

The union’s proposal also included such notable details as advertising patches to be worn on jerseys, and more big-picture changes to baseball’s revenue-sharing system, the free agent system, and the arbitration process. As well, the MLBPA are looking for a substantial increase in the luxury tax threshold, up to $240MM from the 2021 threshold of $210MM.

Looking at these last two proposals between the two sides, there does appear to be some room for common ground on at least a couple of fronts, even if many of the larger issues remain harder to solve. For instance, it would seem like the postseason will probably end up being expanded in some form, with the specific size to be determined. Also, while one of management’s proposals back in August involved lowering the luxury tax threshold to $180MM and installing a salary floor of $100MM, that idea seems to have been scrapped, based on natural resistance from the union. As per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, MLB’s last proposal involved the idea of the luxury tax line once again being raised by a slight extent, though it wasn’t clear if the threshold would continue to be increased on an annual basis (as in the current CBA).

Therefore, it seems reasonable to speculate that the next CBA will include an elevated luxury tax threshold of some kind, even if the $30MM jump desired by the union doesn’t happen. Left unknown, of course, is what types of penalties will be faced by teams that exceed the tax threshold, as the current system penalty system (an increasingly surchage on the overage and, at maximum, a drop in the draft order and international draft pool subtractions) have already proven to be deterrents to a large portion of baseball’s teams. The MLBPA, of course, would want to see lesser or even no penalties at all in order to create more incentive for teams to spend on roster upgrades.

“When you look at how the 2016 CBA agreement and how that has worked over the past five years, as players, we see major problems in it,” Max Scherzer told The Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes (Twitter links) and other reporters. “Specifically, first and foremost, we see a competition problem and how teams are behaving because of certain rules that are within that. Adjustments have to be made to bring up the competition. As players, that’s critical to us to have a highly competitive league, and when we don’t have that, we have issues.”

Tigers Sign Jacob Barnes To Minors Contract

By Mark Polishuk | December 1, 2021 at 1:24pm CDT

The Tigers have signed right-hander Jacob Barnes to a minor league deal. The club also announced that Barnes will receive an invitation to the Tigers’ big league Spring Training camp.

Barnes elected free agency in October rather than accept an outright assignment to the Blue Jays’ Triple-A team. Barnes is in his second year of arbitration eligibility and was projected for a $1.2MM salary, but the Jays’ outright assignment was essentially a non-tender that allowed Barnes to get an early jump on the free agent market.

After posting a 3.54 ERA and 11.6% homer rate over 147 1/3 innings out of the Brewers’ bullpen from 2016-18, Barnes’ numbers began to sail north thanks in large part to an increase in his home run rate. In 79 1/3 innings since the start of the 2019 season, Barnes has a 6.58 ERA and an 18.8% homer rate, which has caused him to bounce around to five different clubs over that three-season span.

In 2021, the 31-year-old posted a 6.28 ERA over 28 2/3 combined innings with the Mets and Blue Jays in 2021, along with a 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate. Barnes has continually gotten some strong spin rates on his mid-90s fastball, but apart that four-seamer, he has had trouble finding consistent results with any of the other pitches in his arsenal.

Barnes will get another chance in the Tigers’ camp, as Detroit will likely audition more than a few veteran arms during their spring camp. The Tigers bullpen wasn’t particularly good in 2021, yet as aggressive as the team has already been with its winter shopping, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them turn their attention to more established relief options now that some of their bigger-ticket additions (Javier Baez, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Tucker Barnhart) have been added to the roster.

Marlins Sign Avisail Garcia

By Mark Polishuk and Tim Dierkes | December 1, 2021 at 1:03pm CDT

TODAY: The Marlins officially announced the signing. The contract details are provided by Jon Heyman, who notes that Miami’s 2026 club option is worth $12MM, with a $5MM buyout. Garcia will earn an even $12MM in each of the 2022-25 seasons, and he will also donate $120K per year to the Marlins’ team charity.

NOVEMBER 28: The Marlins have agreed to a four-year contract with free agent Avisail Garcia, SportsGrid’s Craig Mish reports (via Twitter). Garcia will earn $53MM, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Garcia is represented by Mato Sports Management.

Mish notes that this is the largest contract the Marlins have handed out under owners Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter, who purchased the team more than four years ago. The Marlins are “far from done,” tweets Mish. Garcia joins Jesus Sanchez in the Marlins’ outfield, after the club reportedly made a strong push to bring Starling Marte back before he signed with the Mets. The Marlins continue to sit on perhaps the game’s best starting pitching surplus, suggesting GM Kim Ng may solve some of the team’s other needs on the trade market.

MLBTR had predicted a three-year, $36MM contract for Garcia, who managed to snag an extra year and a better average annual value. Garcia’s contract is exactly double that of Mark Canha, who signed with the Mets two days ago at the same $13.25MM AAV. Garcia, 31 in June, posted a fine 115 wRC+ in 135 games for the Brewers this year. Garcia’s two-year, $20MM contract with the Brewers included a provision that converted a $12MM club option into a mutual one once he reached a certain plate appearance threshold in September. That allowed Garcia to become a free agent. Likely fearing acceptance, the budget-conscious Brewers elected not to make the one-year, $18.4MM qualifying offer.

Garcia has had an up-and-down career since signing with the Tigers for $200K as a 16-year-old out of Venezuela back in 2007. The toolsy outfielder reached the Majors as a 21-year-old in 2012 and was traded to the White Sox the following year as part of a three-team deal that sent Jake Peavy to the Red Sox and Jose Iglesias to Detroit. Garcia fell short of expectations in Chicago until a BABIP-driven 138 wRC+ in 2017. After a down 2018 season that culminated in knee surgery, the White Sox chose not to tender Garcia a contract with a projected $8MM arbitration salary looming.

The Rays swooped in with a one-year, $3.5MM free agent contract for Garcia, who rode a 113 wRC+ in 2019 to the aforementioned two-year contract with Milwaukee. It’s fair to question why, two years later, Garcia is coming off a similar season and managed to secure $33MM more than last time. Interestingly, Marte was reportedly “seeking a three- or four-year deal in the $50 million range” back in July when the Marlins attempted to extend him, according to Jordan McPherson and Craig Mish in the Miami Herald. The Marlins didn’t get there, trading Marte for Jesus Luzardo before attempting to sign him back last week. It’s been an odd sequence of events for the Marlins, who ended up with Garcia for a similar price to what Marte might have cost.

The answer to Garcia’s appeal might lie in Statcast, where his top of the charts numbers have always hinted at something more. This year, he ranked in the 73rd percentile for average exit velocity, 98th for maximum exit velocity, 78th for hard hit percentage, and 80th for barrel rate. Garcia simply hits the ball very hard, even if this year’s 29 home runs represented a career best. Garcia pairs his hard-hitting with 88th percentile sprint speed, so his is a rare blend of athleticism. Defensively, Garcia has been a bit below average in Outs Above Average over the past few years.

We’ve seen a flurry of hot stove activity today with three days remaining until the collective bargaining agreement expires, with December 1st serving as a transaction deadline of sorts. Today alone, we’ve seen free agent contracts for Marcus Semien, Corey Kluber, and Garcia, as well as an extension for Byron Buxton. After the CBA expires, ownership is widely expected to lock out the players and freeze free agency, speculatively until the eve of spring training in February. This has created an unprecedented urgency from teams in free agency, resulting in many November contracts that have exceeded expectations.

Yankees Interested In Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Andrelton Simmons

By Mark Polishuk | December 1, 2021 at 12:00pm CDT

The Yankees have shown interest in a trade for Rangers infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, according to Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. SNY’s Andy Martino (Twitter link) also notes the Bronx Bombers’ interest in Kiner-Falefa, and adds that free agent Andrelton Simmons continues to be on the Yankees’ radar as the team explores shortstop possibilities.

This isn’t the first time the Yankees have been linked to either player. Grant notes that New York has asked about IKF in the past, while Martino reported in October that the Yankees talked to the Twins about landing Simmons prior to this summer’s trade deadline.

Kiner-Falefa is under arbitration control through the 2023 season while Simmons could quite possibly be signed for just a one-year contract, and thus both players represent the type of short-term shortstop additions New York is reportedly looking to acquire. While the Yankees’ need at shortstop immediately generated headlines due to the presence of so many big names in the free agent market, the team may already have either Anthony Volpe or Oswald Peraza ticketed as the shortstop of the future. Carlos Correa, Trevor Story, and Chris Taylor are the remaining top-tier shortstop candidates on the market, but barring a collapse in their market to the point that they would take a one-year stopgap contract, the Yankees don’t seem to be interested in any of the major names.

Taking nothing away from Kiner-Falefa or Simmons, of course, as they would both bring some value to the Yankees’ shortstop position. While neither player excelled at the plate in 2021, both are tremendous fielders, and Simmons obviously has a track record as one of the better defenders in the history of the shortstop position.

As per the Outs Above Average (16) and Defensive Runs Saved (15) metrics, Simmons kept up that spectacular form over his 1091 2/3 innings at shortstop last year. The UZR/150 metric delivered only a -1.1 score for Simmons, however, while Kiner-Falefa also had an outlier in the form of a -7 OAA. Kiner-Falefa otherwise graded well in his first season as a full-time shortstop, with a +10 DRS and +1.1 UZR/150 over 1360 innings.

Kiner-Falefa also won a Gold Glove as a third baseman in 2020, so the Yankees would have some extra flexibility in how they chose to deploy him in the lineup. Gio Urshela can also play some shortstop and DJ LeMahieu can be used at third, second, or first base. Simmons has never played anywhere other than shortstop during his MLB career, so he would be more of a traditional everyday answer at the position.

With Corey Seager and Marcus Semien now locked into the Texas infield for the next decade, the Rangers could make Kiner-Falefa expendable at the right price, though he also has some natural import to their 2022 plans. Top prospect Josh Jung is expected to make his MLB debut next year and seems like a long-term answer at the hot corner, but Kiner-Falefa could certainly stick around to handle third base until Jung is ready, or if Jung struggles in his first taste of Major League action.

MLB Used Two Different Types Of Baseballs During 2021 Season

By Mark Polishuk | December 1, 2021 at 10:59am CDT

Major League Baseball used two different types of baseballs during the 2021 season, Business Insider’s Bradford William Davis reports. The league confirmed Davis’ report in a statement, noting that the reason was due to production delays related to the pandemic.

“Rawlings manufactures Major League balls on a rolling basis at its factory in Costa Rica. Generally, balls are produced 6-12 months prior to being used in a game,” the league said in its statement. “Because Rawlings was forced to reduce capacity at its manufacturing facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply of re-centered baseballs was not sufficient to cover the entirety of the 2021 season. To address this issue, Rawlings incorporated excess inventory into its shipments to Clubs to provide a full complement of baseballs for the 2021 season.”

Prior to the 2021 season, the league let teams know about changes made to slightly reduce the amount of bounce in the standard baseballs, and also a weight reduction that made the balls less than one-tenth of an ounce lighter. While these balls were indeed deployed in 2021, a study from Meredith Willis (an astrophysicist associated with SABR) revealed that other baseballs used during the season had slightly-heavier centers of around 127 grams, as opposed to the newer model of ball with centers in the 124-145 gram range.

All of the Rawlings balls contain batch codes indicating the time of production, and by these codes, Willis determined that Rawlings has been producing balls with both the heavier and lighter centers since late 2019, before the pandemic began. The newer balls were produced from October 2019-January 2020 (still pre-pandemic) but Rawlings then switched production to the older and heavier balls from January to October 2020, switched back to the lighter model from October 2020 to January 2021, and has since continued producing baseballs with the heavier center.

“Every baseball used in a 2021 MLB game, without exception, met existing specifications and performed as expected,” said the league in its statement. As well, all of the baseballs used in 2021 fell within the standard weight of 5 to 5.5 ounces.

However, even the most minute of changes to the baseballs can lead to quite a bit of difference on the field of play, as evidenced by years of debate over the “lively” ball and the “dead” ball. The changes to the baseball were made in the first place due to the big surge in home runs during the 2019 and 2020 seasons, after all, yet the usage of both models of ball during the 2021 campaign leads to inevitable questions about which balls were used in which games.

“Yeah, that’s a big breach, for me, of competitive integrity,” one AL scout told Davis. “It is a situation where the game plays differently, and there’s a reason that’s not random or aleatory. The game is being made to play differently because they’re tampering with the ball.”

While MLB’s statement said that the MLB Players Association was informed that both types of baseball were used last season, this seemed to come as news to the 10 players Davis spoke to in regards to the story. This includes MLBPA rep Andrew Miller, who said “I’m not sure what we were told, but I’d assume it was nothing. If the balls meet standards, then they would have no reason to tell us anything.”

“There’s a fair amount of distrust between players in the league on certain topics, and this is one of them….But I think now we know what we know about how small the change in the baseball can greatly affect the way it travels, the way it’s thrown, or its ability to be gripped or whatever it is — like, those parameters may be pretty wide. And if there’s room for manipulation, that is concerning.”

Similar sentiments were shared among the 24 people within the game (“including players, coaches, scouts, and senior front-office workers”) Davis spoke with about the baseballs, though as one might expect, the front office staffers “were more diplomatic” about the subject. But the overall issue remains about exactly how much oversight, if any, MLB had over when or where the heavier or lighter baseballs were used. Or, as some players presented in “more conspiratorial hypotheses,” some possibility exists that the league could have potentially sent specific baseballs for certain games or series or either increase or decrease scoring.

Going forward, the league stressed that the “2022 season will be played with only balls manufactured after the production change.” Several of the player sources in Davis’ piece suggested that the topic should be incorporated into the ongoing CBA talks between the league and the MLBPA. For more uniformity, one National League hurler felt that an independent third party should be on hand at every stadium to weigh and more thoroughly inspect the baseballs prior to each game.

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