Follow MLBTR On Instagram
Recently, MLB Trade Rumors launched a brand new official Instagram account: @TradeRumorsMLB. Each day, we’re sharing conversation-inspiring images about the hottest topics in baseball. From there, we invite you to give us a like, weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section, and even share the link with a friend.
Shortly after the Diamondbacks signed Tyler Clippard to a two-year, $12.25MM contract, we gave fans an early look at how he’ll look in the club’s Throwback Thursday uniforms. Ditto for hurler Mat Latos as we put together a sneak peak of how he might look in a White Sox jersey. Speaking of the White Sox, we offered up a creative take on their interest in Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier.
So, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have an Instagram account, this is the perfect excuse to sign up and get one. Follow us on Instagram today!
MLBTR Podcast: O’s Late Moves & Under-the-Radar Deals
Host Jeff Todd and MLBTR’s Steve Adams break down the latest chatter around the Orioles — in particular, the club’s reported interest in qualifying offer-bound free agents Yovani Gallardo and Dexter Fowler.
Then, they talk through some of their most and least-liked, under-the-radar moves of the winter thus far. Among many other transactions discussed, Steve likes the Mariners’ addition of Nori Aoki and the Rangers’ move to bring Tony Barnette back stateside, while Jeff questions the Rockies’ signing of Jason Motte. The addition of veteran righty Tyler Clippard by the Diamondbacks, meanwhile, is a source of debate.
Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.
Cafardo’s Latest: Clippard, Thornton, Cobb, Lee, Free Agents
It’s easy to buy into Spring Training hype, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe notes in his latest column as he looks at some of the major Red Sox storylines heading into camp. While the Sox have drawn mostly approval for their offseason dealings, Cafardo warns that pundits were saying the same thing last year prior to Boston’s last place season. Here’s some more from Cafardo’s piece…
- The Astros have asked about Tyler Clippard. Houston has already made a couple of big offseason moves to reinforce their bullpen in trading for Ken Giles and re-signing Tony Sipp, and adding Clippard would only further deepen a relief corps that also includes Luke Gregerson, Will Harris, Pat Neshek and Josh Fields. Clippard’s market was fairly quiet for much of the winter, though as Cafardo notes, things have started to heat up for the veteran righty with at least six teams (including the Rays and Diamondbacks) showing interest.
- Matt Thornton is drawing interest from around six teams, though the veteran lefty may have to settle for a minor league contract. Thornton turned 39 in September and has a 1.98 ERA over 77 1/3 innings in 2014 and 2015, though with only a 5.9 K/9 in that stretch, ERA predictors such as xFIP (4.19) and SIERA (3.79) are less enthused with his performance over the last two years. The Braves, Pirates and Twins were all rumored to have some interest in Thornton earlier this offseason.
- The Rays are likely to keep their pitching, despite “quite a bit of interest” from other teams about Alex Cobb.
- Teams have considered signing Cliff Lee, though they’re wary of giving him a contract in the range of $6MM-$8MM (plus incentives).
- Dan Uggla‘s agent says that teams have called about his client, though no side has made any commitments. The veteran infielder is another player who is likely to only find a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.
- “It’s just so slow out there” for the large number of veteran players still on the market, one agent tells Cafardo. This offseason has been the apex of a growing trend in recent years for teams to spend on a few high-salaried stars and then rely on young, cheap talent for the rest of the roster rather than spend more on established veterans. This not only goes for the rank-and-file veterans looking for bench jobs but also for would-be starters like Ian Desmond, Dexter Fowler and Yovani Gallardo, all of whom have had their markets slowed by the qualifying offer-attached draft compensation required to sign them. “The [draft-pick] compensation issue is a factor, no question, and we have to do something about it with our collective bargaining talks because this is hurting good baseball players getting jobs,” the agent said.
- An AL general manager, however, implies that some agents should perhaps be a bit more realistic about their demands. “The agents are still asking for major league guarantees for players who should be grateful for major league invitations and minor league deals,” the GM said. “I hear the agents blaming the teams, but I think a lot of teams are willing to add these players. But we’re in February, and quite frankly the signings need to be on our terms at this stage of the game. Eventually, these guys will break down and sign minor deals but we’re close to spring training and there hasn’t been a lot of bend.”
MLBTR Podcast: Happy Extension Season!
After running through the week’s quick hits, Jeff welcomes back MLBTR’s Steve Adams to talk about the upcoming extension season. Chatter on new deals tends to reach a high point over the months of February and March, with all kinds of players — from pending free agents to exciting youngsters — fielding offers from their teams.
What kinds of deals could come together this year? Are there any trends to keep an eye on? What are some intriguing names to watch? Who are the likeliest players to re-up early in 2016? Those questions and more are covered in this week’s episode, which includes discussion of Bryce Harper, J.D. Martinez, Adrian Beltre, and many more. Tune in below:
Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.
Follow MLBTR On Instagram
Recently, MLB Trade Rumors launched a brand new official Instagram account: @TradeRumorsMLB. Each day, we’re sharing conversation-inspiring images about the hottest topics in baseball. From there, we invite you to give us a like, weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section, and even share the link with a friend.
Shortly after the Tigers signed Justin Upton to a six-year, $132.75MM deal, we gave fans an early look at how he’ll look in his new threads. Ditto for new Rockies outfielder Gerardo Parra, recently-signed Marlins hurler Wei-Yin Chen, and Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy. We also asked followers to weigh in on the futures of free agent shortstop Ian Desmond as well as 29-year-old outfielder Dexter Fowler.
So, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have an Instagram account, this is the perfect excuse to sign up and get one. Follow us on Instagram today!
Quick Hits: Cars, Opt-Outs, DH
Here are MLBTR, we routinely toss around dollar figures in the tens or hundreds of millions in reference to players’ salaries. It’s rare, though, that we get as clear a glimpse into what those tens or hundreds of millions can actually buy as we do in this look at MLB players’ cars, courtesy of Tim Rohan of the New York Times. Specifically, Rohan profiles Alex Vega, who owns a custom car shop in the Miami area. Vega frequently works with baseball players during the offseason, because, he says, “Spring training is when business gets the craziest because everybody wants to show up with something new. I’m already getting calls. I’m already preparing cars.” For example, Rohan notes that Pablo Sandoval recently entered the shop hoping to buy a 2016 Rolls Royce Ghost; he left behind a customized Porsche that he had bought just two years before, only driving it for just over 15,000 miles. The quiz accompanying the article — in which the reader is asked to match the car to the star who bought it — is amusing. Here’s more from around the league.
- This offseason has seen the proliferation of opt-out clauses in long-term contracts, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal writes. Opt-out clauses were so rare in the past that the industry doesn’t have much concrete experience with what their results will be (although, I’ll note, it would be easy to study how opt-outs might have worked in past contracts by imagining what players might have done had they had opt-outs after, say, a year, or two years). The obvious conclusion is that opt-outs are a lose-lose for teams, who should theoretically lose productive players as they opt out while being stuck with the ones who don’t produce. But it might not be so simple, as Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski points out. “There may be other cases where somebody opts out and after a year — I’m not going to say this is going to happen but I’ll use it as an example — after a year something happens to him and he’s not pitching as well, and [a team says], ‘See? That was a benefit to us,'” he says. “So we really haven’t reached that second step yet.”
- It’s looking more and more likely that the designated hitter will be implemented in the NL as well as in the AL, Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal writes. The players’ association has long supported the change, and taking bats out of pitchers’ hands will help create more runs in an increasingly offense-starved playing environment. Also, Diamond points out that pitchers are hitting even worse than they used to, posting four of their five lowest season OPS marks since 1974 in the last four years.
MLBTR Podcast: Landing Spots For The Top Remaining Outfielders
Jeff covers the league’s latest moves in the weekly Quick Hits rundown, then welcomes MLBTR’s Steve Adams to the show to discuss the Nationals’ reported pursuit of Yoenis Cespedes. Jeff and Steve also run through other possible landing spots for Cespedes, Dexter Fowler and Austin Jackson and examine the moves that several teams would have to make in order to accommodate a free-agent addition.
Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.
Free Agent Prediction Contest Leaderboard
36 players from MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents have signed so far. Our prediction contest was open for a week after qualifying offers came in back in November, and 3,092 people entered. So far, two people are batting over .400, with 15 correct picks. The leaderboard is available here; my apologies for the delay. You may notice some blank names in the leaderboard. If you believe your own name is blank, please click the “Login with Facebook” button from the leaderboard and your name should appear later.
This was the fifth year using this framework for the free agent prediction contest, and I intend to upgrade it for the 2016-17 offseason. At that time, we’ll drop the Facebook requirement so that all interested MLBTR readers can play.
Marlins Beat Writer Juan C. Rodriguez Passes Away
Juan C. Rodriguez, the Sun Sentinel’s beat writer for the Marlins, has passed away after a battle with brain cancer. His friend, Andy Barkett, conveyed the unfortunate news today on Twitter, and the team he covered also acknowledged his untimely passing in a tweet.
MLBTR joins all those around the game in extending its condolences to Juan’s family and friends. You can learn more about his story and consider giving to the Rodriguez family at this link. Juan’s good work was often featured here at MLBTR, and the outpouring of sympathy from the ballwriting community stands as a testament to his impact on colleagues. Mike Berardino provides a fitting quote, from Rodriguez himself: “We can’t impose our will on brain cancer, but we can take charge of how we choose to live with it.”
Arbitration Roundup: 34 Players Remain Unsigned
Now that the dust has settled from the morning’s rash of arbitration-avoiding deals, it is time to look out for reports on the arbitration numbers filed by players and teams that have yet to reach agreement. As MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker shows, of the 156 players to file, 34 have still yet to agree to terms on a contract. (Lorenzo Cain exchanged figures but is said to be nearing a two-year deal with the Royals, so he isn’t included.)
Remember, deals avoiding arbitration can still be reached even after the exchange of numbers. Hearings will be scheduled between February 1st and 21st, so there is plenty of time for the sides to come together before making their cases. In 2014, for the first time ever, no arbitration hearings took place, but several took place again last season.
That being said, some teams are known for their “file and trial” approach to arb-eligible players, meaning that they refuse to negotiate after the exchange deadline and go to a hearing if agreement has not been reached. Of those clubs believed to continue to utilize such a strategy, only the Blue Jays (Josh Donaldson, Jesse Chavez) and Rays (Drew Smyly) have open cases remaining. Also, the Reds reportedly will take any sub-$2MM contracts to a hearing, which could suggest that reliever J.J. Hoover may appear before a panel. The Astros are also said to be taking a “file-and-go” approach with catcher Jason Castro.
Other notable players who have yet to agree upon a 2016 salary include Jake Arrieta of the Cubs; Brandon Belt of the Giants; Zach Britton of the Orioles; Aroldis Chapman of the Yankees; Neil Walker, Lucas Duda, and Jeurys Familia of the Mets; Mike Moustakas of the Royals; Trevor Plouffe of the Twins; and A.J. Pollock of the Diamondbacks. Be sure to keep a close eye on MLBTR’s pages for information on those and other situations, and in the meantime click here to review MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s projections for all arbitration-eligible players.