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Astros Slow Brad Peacock’s Throwing Program After Setback

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Astros righty Brad Peacock entered camp as a candidate to take home a rotation spot, but he’s had a recurrence of the nerve issue in his neck that plagued him last year, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Peacock is throwing from 90 feet, but his overall program has been slowed down for the time being, lessening his chances of seizing a starting job.

Peacock, 32, has been a solid arm for the Astros in both the rotation and bullpen across the past four seasons, pitching to a combined 3.48 ERA with 10.7 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 320 1/3 innings of work. He’s posted a better ERA and much higher strikeout rate when working in short relief than out of the rotation, but Peacock’s 3.62 ERA and 3.72 FIP in 218 2/3 innings as a starter certainly suggests that he could be a capable back-end starter.

At present it seems to be more a question of just what his body will allow him to handle. Peacock missed significant time with shoulder and neck troubles late in the 2019 season, making only six regular-season appearances after June 27. After a month-long stint on the injured list, he returned for three appearances before quickly being placed back on the IL for close to another month. He did toss 5 2/3 innings between the ALCS and the World Series, though he walked four batters in that time.

The Houston rotation looks more vulnerable than it has in quite some time. Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke will pair to create a formidable one-two punch, and the return of Lance McCullers Jr., who had Tommy John surgery in 2018, should be a boost if he can recapture his form. Right-hander Jose Urquidy is the front-runner to nab the fourth spot, and with Peacock slowed down, newcomer Austin Pruitt could be the favorite to land the final spot to open the year. Houston has plenty of other options with starting experience — Josh James, Framber Valdez and Rogelio Armenteros among them — so the back of that group could yet change composition.

For Peacock personally, it’s a rough start to a pivotal year. The right-hander will cross the six-year threshold in terms of Major League service time in 2020, meaning he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. If he’s able to quickly put these issues behind him, Peacock could yet build a strong free-agent case, but it’s a somewhat ominous start to the new season in light of last year’s health troubles.

AL West Notes: Rangers, Dyson, Hamilton, Taijuan, Diaz, A’s

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The Rangers talked with Jarrod Dyson and Billy Hamilton before the two veteran outfielders respectively signed with the Pirates and Giants, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes.  The Rangers didn’t have any talks with Kevin Pillar prior to Pillar’s agreement with the Red Sox.  Center field is still something of a question area for Texas heading into the 2020 season, as utilityman Danny Santana is slated to handle the position, but with Scott Heineman, Joey Gallo, and perhaps Nick Solak on hand to share in some of the center field duties.

Additional help may not be imminent, as GM Jon Daniels told Wilson and other reporters “there’s nothing that is front-burner right now that I’m expecting to come to a head this spring.  There will be a lot of conversations, I’m sure.”  This doesn’t close the door on a new acquisition, of course, even if that new player may be more of a part-timer than a star (such as Kris Bryant, who has also been widely linked to the Rangers on the rumor mill.)  The versatile Santana is the answer in center field for the time being, though “we have to decide how we’re going to go about it,” Daniels said.  “I think Danny comes in with the expectation he’ll get the bulk of the playing time out there, but we also like him in that versatile role.  There’s a little bit of give there.  We have to make a call.”

More from around the AL West…

  • Taijuan Walker is back with the Mariners after signing a one-year deal with the club worth $2MM in guaranteed money, rejoining the team that originally drafted him in 2010 and, after four MLB seasons, dealt him to the Diamondbacks in the 2016-17 offseason.  Looking back on his initial stint with the M’s, “I had a lot of stuff to learn,” Walker told the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other media.  “I don’t think I did very good job here of doing what I need to do become the best pitcher I could be.  I definitely slacked off and just didn’t put the work in.”  The trade inspired Walker to work harder in Arizona, plus he was further motivated by “good vets that kept on me — just having Zack Greinke over there, a bunch of guys who were really hungry and ready to work.”  It could be said that Walker’s injury problems have also aided in the maturity process, as the right-hander has tossed only 14 innings totals over the 2018-19 seasons due to both Tommy John surgery and shoulder issues.  The need to re-acclimate himself to pitching played a role in Walker’s decision to sign with Seattle, since “I’m comfortable here.  I haven’t pitched in two years, so I wanted somewhere where I can come in and kind of take my time.  I don’t have to rush.”  Another positive factor was the Mariners’ hire of Kyle Torgerson as head athletic trainer, as Torgerson previously worked for the Diamondbacks and is already familiar with Walker.  “I’m comfortable with him.  He knows my body.  He knows what I have to do to stay healthy,” Walker said.
  • The arbitration hearing between Aledmys Diaz and the Astros is scheduled for February 17, The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan tweets.  This is Diaz’s first of three trips through the arb process, and the utilityman submitted a $2.6MM figure while the team countered with $2MM.  Acquired from the Blue Jays for Trent Thornton last winter, Diaz hit well (.271/.356/.467 with nine homers) in his first year in Houston but was limited to 247 plate appearances and 69 games, largely due to a hamstring injury that sidelined him for almost two months.  Diaz is one of two Astros players who didn’t reach an agreement with the club prior to the filing deadline, though the Astros sidestepped a hearing with George Springer by agreeing to a one-year, $21MM deal with the star outfielder last month.
  • The Athletics brought a catcher to their Major League spring camp, though it was non-roster invite and former Oakland Double-A backstop Collin Theroux rather than one of the well-known veterans the club reportedly has under consideration.  “It probably looks like we go forward with the group we have right now,” manager Bob Melvin told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser and other reporters, with Theroux joining Austin Allen, Jonah Heim, Carlos Perez, Ronnie Freeman, and presumptive starter Sean Murphy at Spring Training.  There isn’t much collective MLB experience in this group, which is why the A’s have looked into the likes of Russell Martin as a seasoned backup (and mentor) to Murphy, who the A’s see as their catcher of the future.

Astros Players Deny Using Buzzers

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Thursday looks like yet another tough day for the Astros in an offseason packed with them. The club sent a few representatives out to discuss its sign-stealing scandal that many believe has tarnished its laundry list of accomplishments from recent years. The news conference wasn’t well-received, as multiple players and owner Jim Crane only offered perfunctory apologies for the team’s wrongdoing. What’s more, Crane called on manager Dusty Baker to ask for forgiveness on the club’s behalf. The problem? Baker had nothing to do with the Astros’ misdeeds. He only just joined the Astros as their skipper Jan. 29, a couple weeks after the team bid adieu to suspended predecessor A.J. Hinch.

Among their possible crimes, Astros hitters may have worn electronic buzzers under their jerseys last season in order to help identify which pitches were coming. Major League Baseball investigated the matter, but it didn’t find any evidence supporting those accusations. Questions about it have persisted, though. Crane said Thursday, “I truly believe there were no buzzers ever.” Prominent members of the roster agree, for what it’s worth, as Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle relays.

Second baseman Jose Altuve’s walk-off home run against the Yankees in Game 6 of last year’s American League Championship Series sent the Astros to the World Series. Altuve wouldn’t let his teammates rip off his jersey as he approached home plate to celebrate, but he quickly went into the locker room to change his shirt after that. Some may regard that as damning evidence that he was wearing a device at the time, though the former AL MVP vehemently denied those claims Thursday.

“It was a fake Twitter account that started everything,” Altuve said. “It makes me upset that a fake Twitter account had that much credibility. Like I said, I feel bad for 2017 but I can say something that I didn’t do was the buzzer thing. No one on this team wore a buzzer.”

The “fake Twitter account,” now deactivated, belonged to someone claiming to be the niece of former Astro Carlos Beltran – one of the central figures in the team’s 2017 sign-stealing scheme. The Beltran family denied that was the case when the story came out last month, however.

Along with Altuve, shortstop Carlos Correa, outfielders George Springer and Josh Reddick, and ace Justin Verlander all shot down the idea that the team utilized buzzers.

“That’s a lie. Nobody wore buzzers. Nobody wore devices,” insisted Correa, who added the “story should be killed already.”

Both Springer and Reddick said that was “absolutely not” the case, while Reddick offered, “no, not to my knowledge.”

Considering the events of the past few weeks, you’d be within your rights to have a hard time believing what the Astros are saying. But even if the team didn’t wear buzzers, it’s obvious at this point there were other violations in recent years. Hence, the mess the Astros find themselves in now.

Astros Hold Press Conference On Sign-Stealing Scandal

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In the latest confounding development out of the Astros organization, the club held a curious press conference today regarding the team’s still-boiling sign-stealing scandal. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle is among the reporters covering the event on his Twitter feed.

In a long-awaited moment, star players Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman offered only cursory statements on a matter that has sparked outrage from many quarters. Team owner Jim Crane had new manager Dusty Baker ask for forgiveness on behalf of a team he only just joined. And Crane continued his attempt to confine a controversy that has morphed into a broadening crisis, offering what came off as a dismissive take on the matter.

Bregman stated that he is “really sorry” and added that he “hope[s] to regain the trust of baseball fans.” Altuve expresed “remorse” and said that “the whole organization feels bad about what happened in 2017.” That was all for now.

Crane also brought out Baker, who replaced the uniformed leadership (A.J. Hinch) from the periods during which the Astros engaged in a longstanding, widely suspected and ultimately discovered effort to steal signs utilizing technology and then convey those signals to batters in real time. The widely respected Baker asked for forgiveness on behalf of the players. Suffice to say, it was curious to ask him to do so.

Baker said the players “showed tremendous remorse, sorrow, and embarrassment” in a private team meeting last night. Perhaps we’ll hear more of that when the Astros open their clubhouse to reporters, but it was not quite on display in the initial comments.

Most of the talking was done by team owner Jim Crane, who continued to try to separate himself and the team’s players from the fiasco. He pinned the blame on Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow, both of whom Crane canned in the aftermath of the release of the findings of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

Crane says that he agrees with commissioner Rob Manfred’s decision not to punish the players involved in the scandal. The organization’s “leaders enabled, condoned, and did not stop” the sign-stealing effort. Crane called the players “a great group of guys” who merely lacked “proper guidance from our leaders.” It’s quite a contrast to Manfred’s report, which specifically described a “player-driven effort.”

Crane not only sought absolution for the players he’s still paying to perform on the field. He also left no doubt as to his views on his role in the situation — namely, that he had nothing to do with it. While he panned Hinch and Luhnow for their failure of leadership, Crane evidently feels no similar responsibility.

Per Crane:

“Clearly the report states that I didn’t know about it. Had I known about it, I’d have done something about it.”

And what of his accountability, as the organization control person?

“No, I don’t think I should be held accountable.”

Crane’s rather craven approach to the matter continued as he addressed several other notable points. He acknowledged that the organization “broke the rules,” but maintained that he does not believe the sign-stealing effort had any “impact” on the team’s World Series win — leaving unaddressed the question why so much effort was put into the scheme. Frankly, no further proof beyond the concerted scheme is needed for the proposition that the people in uniform felt it improved their chances of winning.

Crane addressed the question of whether the team engaged in more recent, somewhat different cheating efforts: “I truly believe there were no buzzers ever.” Whether or not he’s sincere in that, the possibility of 2019 sign-stealing schemes is a matter that seems sure to be explored further.

Crane also noted there’ll “be some changes” in the team’s baseball operations department. He had originally maintained that the overall culture was not a problem, disputing Manfred’s report in that regard. But recent reporting has exposed the role of the baseball ops staff in originating and perpetuating the sign-stealing scheme. Several current employees were implicated clearly in a way that was not documented in the report.

Major Leaguers Discuss Astros’ Sign-Stealing Scandal

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It has been a tumultuous few weeks for the Astros, whose well-documented sign-stealing scandal has owned headlines over the past month. As a result, the club had to let go of its eminently successful GM-manager tandem of Jeff Luhnow and A.J. Hinch after Major League Baseball suspended them for a year apiece.

Since Luhnow and Hinch lost their jobs, Astros players have been accused of wearing buzzers under their jerseys last season in order to identify which pitches were coming. The league didn’t find any evidence that occurred, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone – whose team lost to the Astros in the 2019 ALCS – didn’t dismiss it Wednesday. Boone instead noted that it’s “certainly one of those great unknowns,” per Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated. Hinch also addressed the matter, stating that he has “never seen any such device used in baseball. I am not aware of any such device existing or being utilized with the Astros, the players, or any other team.”

Regardless of whether Hinch is telling the truth, it’s up in the air whether he or Luhnow will work in MLB again. Houston has already replaced the two with Dusty Baker and James Click, respectively. Baker, owner Jim Crane and Astros players will address reporters at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, the first day of media availability at spring training, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

It’s unclear exactly what the Astros will say, but odds are they’ll take a regretful tone for their wrongdoing. Crane, after all, revealed a few weeks ago that the Astros would “apologize for what happened, ask forgiveness and move forward,” as Jeff Passan of ESPN relays.

Former Astros Marwin Gonzalez, Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton, Joe Musgrove and Max Stassi – all members of the franchise’s 2017 World Series-winning club – have already apologized for the team’s past misdeeds. Nevertheless, there are multiple major leaguers who have voiced disgust toward the Astros this week.

Angels left-hander Andrew Heaney – now teammates with Stassi – ripped into his division rivals, saying (via Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times): “They sure as [heck] need to do more than what they already did. That was terrible. I understand they are going to go get their (stuff) in order and they are going to have their thing to say, and they are going to hide behind the commissioner’s report and whatever. But I don’t think that’s good enough.”

Meanwhile, Phillies reliever David Robertson opined (per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia), “It’s a disgrace what they’ve done and they’re going to have to live with it and everyone knows.”

Robertson was a member of the Yankees in 2017, when the Astros defeated them in a seven-game ALCS to advance to the World Series. The typically reliable righty had a disastrous Game 6 during that series, yielding four earned runs on four hits while failing to record an out in a 7-1 loss. Robertson suggested to Salisbury that there was foul play involved in that dominant Houston performance.

“I got roughed up in Game 6,” he said. “And I felt like in that game I threw as well as I’ve ever thrown in my entire life. I had some pitches that got hit that I was a little shocked by and some pitches that didn’t get swung at that I was a little shocked by. At the time, I wasn’t thinking about what we know now. But it all comes together now and, you know, I’m upset about it, that’s for sure.”

Athletics righty Mike Fiers, an Astro from 2015-17, was instrumental in bringing Houston’s methods to light back in November. But Fiers isn’t the only member of the Athletics who knew something was wrong. GM David Forst and manager Bob Melvin, whose club finished second to the Astros in the AL West in each of the prior two seasons, informed Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that the A’s complained to the league about their sign-stealing rivals. However, MLB did not take action against the Astros at that point. Had Fiers not eventually gone public with his complaints, it’s possible nothing would have been done.

Latest On Astros’ Sign-Stealing Scandal

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The Astros’ sign-stealing scandal has been the dominant story in baseball over the past several weeks, though it didn’t come as a revelation to many throughout the game. A scout from another team told Barry Svrluga and Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post: “It was a big open secret, really big. Throughout baseball, throughout the scouting community, for several years, not just starting in 2017. I would say probably 2016, maybe earlier, through [2019], things were going on that were blatantly against the rules.”

If true, it further calls into question the Astros’ accomplishments in recent years. They amassed 100-plus victories in each of the past three campaigns, won the World Series in 2017 and took home the American League pennant a season ago. GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were suspended for a year apiece last month and lost their jobs as a result of their complicity in stealing signs during the team’s title-winning season. Luhnow, it seems, was a key part of a scheme called “Codebreaker” that the team used from 2017-18.

It’s possible neither Luhnow nor Hinch will work in the majors again as a result of their wrongdoing. That would’ve sounded ridiculous last fall when the Astros were the toast of the AL and vying for a World Series against the Nationals. The Nats upended the Astros in seven games, but Washington entered the Fall Classic wary of Houston’s shenanigans.

“It was amazing, once [it was assured] we were playing the Astros, how many people were coming out of the woodwork to let us know what they were doing,” one member of the Nationals told Svrluga and Sheinin.

Second baseman Brian Dozier, a National last season and a 2018 member of the Dodgers (whom the Astros took down in the 2017 World Series), received advance warning from his ex-LA teammates that Houston was behaving unethically. “Several” members of the Dodgers informed Dozier before last year’s World Series that the Astros were stealing signs, according to Svrluga and Sheinin. Meanwhile, former Astros and Nationals reliever Tony Sipp told Nats ace Max Scherzer to worry about Houston’s stealing of signs. The Nationals ended up overcoming it by using wristbands and multiple signs, as Svrluga and Sheinin explain in their piece.

The Astros advanced to the 2019 World Series by defeating the Yankees in the ALCS for the second time in three years. Like the Nationals, the Yankees suspected something was amiss.

“We’re so focused on them cheating, we’re forgetting we have to just go out and play,” one Yankees official said before the series, which the Astros ultimately won in six games.

Outfielder Carlos Beltran and catcher Brian McCann, both now retired from playing, are in the unique position of having suited up for the Astros and Yankees recently. Beltran even worked for the Yankees as a special advisor last season, and he informed “low level” New York officials of Houston’s cheating, per Ken Rosenthal, Evan Drellich and Marc Carig of The Athletic (subscription link). Beltran then became the Mets’ manager this past fall, only to lose his job last month as a result of the Astros’ violations.

While Beltran initially denied any knowledge of the Astros’ misdeeds, the 42-year-old potential Hall of Famer was apparently an important figure in them. McCann asked him to stop, two members of the 2017 Astros told The Athletic, but Beltran “steamrolled everybody.” At that point, he was one of the most accomplished individuals on the roster and someone whom younger players (and even Hinch) were basically reluctant to cross.

Beltran was part of commissioner Rob Manfred’s investigation into the Astros, but the latter elected against punishing any of the players from the 2017 club. However, if Beltran really was so instrumental in the Astros’ crimes, it’s hard to imagine him working in MLB again. He may even have less of a chance to get into Cooperstown. Regardless, this latest news on the Astros is yet another black mark on an organization that has taken a beating this winter.

MLBTR Video: Betts/Price/Maeda Deals Official; MLB Considering Radical Changes To Playoff Structure

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An action-packed day in MLB, as Mookie Betts, David Price (and Joc Pederson) are officially Dodgers, Kenta Maeda is officially a member of the Twins, MLB is considering radical changes to the playoff structure, a former pitcher and trash can victim is suing the Astros, and the Diamondbacks lock up Nick Ahmed. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd makes sense of everything in our latest video:

NL Notes: Dodgers, Cubs, Giants

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The Mookie Betts trade is in the books, but now that Joc Pederson is no longer headed to the Angels, the Dodgers will have to sort out their 40-man roster, tweets Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. The Dodgers have 42 players on their 40-man roster at present. Finding a new trade partner for Pederson and/or Ross Stripling might be the most obvious answer, but the Dodgers may prefer not to rush a transaction of that magnitude. Speculatively speaking, Tyler White could find himself on the chopping block, with Kyle Garlick, Zach McKinstry and Edwin Rios other non-established big leaguers whom the Dodgers may need to consider moving or exposing to waivers. While we wait for the final confirmation of this deal to go through, let’s check in elsewhere around the National League…

  • Theo Epstein saw the writing was on the wall long before the Cubs’ current financial strictures so severely limited their transactional flexibility, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times. Epstein references a pattern – the Cubs, Astros, Red Sox – of teams reckoning with their young stars graduating into the arbitration process. After years of supporting homegrown cores with free agent additions in efforts to win a World Series, the Red Sox, Astros and Cubs, for differing reasons, have entered new phases. Sure enough, the Astros had to let Gerrit Cole walk in free agency, the Red Sox just shipped Mookie Betts to the Dodgers, and the Cubs are said to have been shopping Kris Bryant for most of the winter. Of course, the Cubs haven’t yet moved their young stars, but their value has declined. Epstein and company are stuck choosing between trading the stars from the cursebreaking Cubs at lower than peak value and watching them depreciate into a mediocre ballclub. Of course, there’s always the possibility of a bounceback for this Cubs core, but even a return to prominence in the NL Central would not provide the answers Epstein needs when it comes to the futures of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber and company.
  • The Giants have extended a non-roster spring training invitation to catcher Ricardo Genoves, per Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group. Given the timing, it’s safe to assume Genoves inclusion in the spring cohort comes as a result of the injury that will keep Aramis Garcia out for most of next season. That said, his inclusion is more about gaining a learning experience, and he’s not actually in the running for the Giants’ backup catching spot, per The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly. Still, it seems a good opportunity for the 20-year-old Venezuelan backstop, and perhaps one that will put him on the radar of league officials league-wide. He was signed by the Giants at the open of the international signing period in 2015, but he tapped into real power at the dish for the first time this past season. Genoves managed a .265/.335/.469 line with 9 home runs in 51 games with Salem-Keizer of the Northwest League and Augusta in Low-A. 

AL East Notes: Morton, Betts, Margot, Blue Jays, Wood, Sanchez

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Former Astros righty Charlie Morton became the latest player to address Houston’s electronic sign-stealing scandal, telling MLB.com’s Juan Toribio and other reporters that “personally, I regret not doing more to stop it” during his time with the club in 2017, while also admitting that he wasn’t certain what steps he could have taken to directly halt the sign-stealing system.  Morton has already spoken to some Rays teammates about the situation, and added that he didn’t believe the Astros were still doing anything illicit last October, when Houston defeated Tampa Bay in the ALDS.

2017 was a particularly unique year for Morton, as he wasn’t just a big part of a World Series-winning team, but his entire career was revived while pitching for the Astros, turning him from a borderline journeyman to his current top-of-the-rotation status in Tampa.  Despite his own fond memories, however, Morton knows and accepts that the Astros’ achievements have been overshadowed by the scandal.  “Certainly the public perception of that win has changed, and my peers, too….There are moments during the World Series that will always be special to me, that won’t be ’tainted.’  But certainly that’s justified, that’s a justified perception to have, and what people have expressed,” Morton said.

More from around the AL East…

  • Between all of the uncertainty surrounding the Mookie Betts trade and yesterday’s Padres/Rays trade that sent Manuel Margot to Tampa Bay, there has been some speculation that the Padres could be clearing center field for a late strike at acquiring Betts.  However, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link) suggests the opposite, noting that since Margot was reportedly part of the Betts negotiations between the Red Sox and Padres, sending Margot to the Rays indicates that San Diego decided to go in another direction.
  • The Blue Jays went into the offseason prepared to aggressively search for pitching, only to have to ramp up their approach when the free agent market moved much quicker than anticipated, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi writes in a wide-ranging overview of Toronto’s winter moves.  Davidi’s piece provides a breakdown of how the Jays pursued their targets, ranging from big names (i.e. Gerrit Cole, Yasmani Grandal) on both the rotation and position player fronts, as well as looking for value by checking in with seemingly just about every pitcher available.  The Winter Meetings seemed to be a key pivot point, as one player agent told Davidi that the Jays began to take a “totally different” approach in negotiations: “It’s like they realized what they’d been doing wasn’t working and decided to change things up.”  In essence, the Toronto front office reversed its strategy, abandoning the plan of acquiring an ace-level arm first and then adding more pitchers to a new tactic of signing mid-rotation hurlers (i.e. Tanner Roark, Shun Yamaguchi) before finally landing a big fish in Hyun-Jin Ryu.
  • Adding to the long list of pitchers known to have garnered interest from the Blue Jays, Davidi reports that Toronto was also “in the mix for” both Alex Wood and Angel Sanchez.  Wood ended up signing with the Dodgers, one of his former teams, in mid-January on a one-year contract worth $4MM in guaranteed money (and another $6MM in incentives).  Sanchez bounced around multiple farm systems from 2011-17 with a Major League resume that included only 12 1/3 innings for the 2017 Pirates before finding success pitching in Korea over the last two seasons.  While Sanchez received some looks from the Jays and other MLB teams, he ended up heading from South Korea to Japan, signing a multi-year deal with the NPB’s Yomiuri Giants.

Astros Rotation Status

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The Astros have lots on their plate after a difficult couple of weeks in the public eye, but they have on-field issues at hand as well. Now that the manager and GM are in place, the focus can soon return to the field. Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke make for an enviable top of the rotation, but there’s uncertainty beyond their veteran aces, writes MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.

Lance McCullers Jr. will return from elbow surgery to man the third spot in the rotation, and after his strong performance in the postseason, Jose Urquidy has a good chance of claiming one of the two remaining slots. But with a new GM and manager stepping in, there’s a potential clean slate working against the otherwise favored.

A host of candidates are on hand to push Urquidy and contend for the final rotation role. Brad Peacock and Austin Pruitt are the veterans with rotation experience on hand, with either one capable of taking turns in the rotation.

Beyond the vets, there are a host of young arms capable of proving their readiness and stepping into the rotation. Josh James, Bryan Abreu, Framber Valdez, Forrest Whitley, Austin Pruitt, Cy Sneed and Francis Martes. There’s more at stake in this arms race, as there are three to four bullpen spots available for those left out of the dugout.

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