Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins

AL Central: Off-season so far

Leave a reply

The Kansas City Royals were the surprise story of the 2014 season. Quite simply, every other team could look at them and think, ‘well if the Royals can finally turn things around, there’s a chance for us all’.

Repeating the feat will not be so easy though and if Royals fans thought that their World Series run would herald a new era of success, after so many years of hard times, they haven’t exactly been bowled over by the moves their Front Office has made to make that dream become a reality.

Kendrys Morales and Alex Rios have been added to the offence, signings that may have been more exciting four or five years ago, whilst Edinson Volquez has recently joined a pitching staff with a James Shields-shaped hole in it. Shields is still out there on the free agent market so a return isn’t completely out of the question; however it seems unlikely and Kansas will be looking to their younger players to replicate their late season form.

Shields is the number two starting pitcher on the market behind Max Scherzer. At some point over the next few weeks we will find out if the Detroit Tigers’ owner Mike Ilitch does delve into his sizeable coffers once again, this time to bring Scherzer back.

That seems unlikely considering the annual salaries they are already committed to with Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and the re-signed Victor Martinez over the next four years (see the payroll commitment spreadsheet on the Tigers’ page at Cot’s Baseball Contracts), but if they don’t feel they can keep hold of David Price before he reaches free agency at the end of 2015, maybe they will stretch to a fourth big contract. The Tigers have added Alfredo Simon and Shane Greene to the rotation already, whilst trading away Rick Porcello to acquire outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from Boston.

The Cleveland Indians have been quiet so far this off-season, just adding Brandon Moss and Gavin Floyd, and are banking on their good core of young(ish) players to be backed by returns to form by 2012/13 offseason free agent signings Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher.

Meanwhile in Minnesota, there is a new manager at the helm in Paul Molitor after Ron Gardenhire’s 13-year spell with the team was brought to an end. The Twins were not expected to be too active this off-season, biding their time as young players like Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano (both hampered by lengthy injuries in 2014) make their way through the Minor Leagues. They have brought back veteran outfielder Torii Hunter, signed Ervin Santana as a free agent and agreed a contract extension with Phil Hughes, who was a terrific signing for the team last winter.

All of which leaves us with by far the busiest team in the division and one of the most active across the Majors. The Chicago White Sox have added players to the batting lineup, starting rotation and bullpen (as noted recently) and how well they mesh together in 2015 will be one of the factors in determining if the Royals’ World Series appearance was the start of a play-off run or just a one-and-done affair.

Winter Meetings create a rumour wonderland

1 Reply

The MLB Winter Meetings, which begin on Monday 8 December, are a pre-Christmas treat for baseball fans.

It’s the annual event, being held in San Diego this year, where all MLB teams gather alongside agents and some players as they discuss potential trades and free agent signings alongside general housekeeping around rules and procedures.

There were no major deals announced during the event last year – the three-team trade between the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels involving Mark Trumbo, Adam Eaton, Tyler Skaggs and Hector Santiago was the main deal agreed – yet the week plays an important role in setting up deals to be completed in the week or two afterwards.

And, more than anything, hordes of reporters flock to the meetings and generate copious amount of rumours for us to devour.

Free agents

Quite a few of the free agent hitters have already found new homes this offseason.

Deals completed so far include Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez signing for the Boston Red Sox, Russell Martin moving to the Toronto Blue Jays, Nelson Cruz joining the Seattle Mariners and Victor Martinez opting to stay with the Detroit Tiger.

In the past few days, two more names came off the free agent list with Nick Markakis agreeing a deal with the Atlanta Braves and Torii Hunter reuniting with the Minnesota Twins.

Consequently teams looking for position players – which is all of the teams – will be looking for potential trade partners and the free agent activity is going to focus more on the pitchers.

Jon Lester appears to be the most likely pitcher domino to fall first based on the growing rumours around alleged contracts being offered to him. Once Lester makes his decision, those that miss out may well move quickly to capture James Shields as a very capable substitute.

Max Scherzer will continue to play a waiting game unless a team throws a monumental contract offer onto the table this week, although his agent Scott Boras is sure to be a high-profile figure during the Winter Meetings.

AL East bearing its teeth

The New York Yankees broke their unusual silence this on Friday.

First they acquired shortstop Didi Gregorius as part of a three-team trade and then they signed relief pitcher Andrew Miller on a four-year contract worth $36m (just over £111k per week).

The moves are no surprise considering how competitive the AL East is likely to be in 2015.

The Boston Red Sox were woeful in 2014 and have wasted no time in improving their roster with Sandoval and Ramirez joining their lineup and plenty of rumours abounding about potential deals to come.

Meanwhile the Toronto Blue Jays have already added Russell Martin and Josh Donaldson to their lineup and, again, reports suggest they are far from finished when it comes to adding new players this offseason.

The Tampa Bay Rays are taking a more considered approach to a probably modest offseason trading period, although they made an important decision this week in appointing 36-year-old ex-catcher Kevin Cash to replace Joe Maddon as their new manager.

Which leaves us looking at the reigning division champions waiting for them to react. The Baltimore Orioles have lost Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis this week and, even with catcher Matt Wieters and third baseman Manny Machado returning from injuries, that means they have two notable holes to fill, at least, if they are to avoid being overtaken by their division rivals.

Reading list

With the baseball games all dried up – including the MLB Japan All-Star series this year – and Christmas lists being compiled, early December is the main time of year that I spend considering additions to my baseball book library.

The Hardball Times annual is always on my list and I’ve been eagerly dipping into my 2015 copy over the last couple of days since it came through the post.

Even just from the opening three chapters reviewing the American League side of the 2014 season, I’ve learned more about the success the Cleveland Indians have had in recent years through player trades, how the Toronto Blue Jays really missed a trick in failing to improve their roster mid-season, and been reminded of some of the young players that made a mark in the American League such as the Rays’ Kevin Kiermaier, the Angels’ Kole Calhoun and the Astros’ Collin McHugh.

Baseball historian John Thorn’s book ‘Baseball in the Garden of Eden’ has been waiting on my shelf to be read for a while so I’ll be looking to get to that one soon. ‘Baseball Explained’ by Phillip Mahony also looks like being a good contender as a key book for Brits new to the game based on my initial flick through.

I’ll put together some reviews once I’ve had a chance to enjoy reading them over the next few weeks. If you’ve got any other suggestions for books to catch up on, please pass them on.

Weekly Hit Ground Ball: Spring Training begins

Leave a reply

We’re into March already and whilst some may be left wondering how the first two months of the year have flown by, us baseball fans have no need to get weighed down by such trivialities.

March means Spring Training, which means baseball is finally back for another year after the long winter months.

The games began on Wednesday with the Blue Jays and Phillies meeting in the first contest shown on MLB.TV.

Whilst the MLB.TV service is generally fantastic, it isn’t faultless all of the time and many fans eager to start their baseball-watching year were left frustrated by paid-for subscriptions not registering and apps failing to show the presence of any live games on a variety of connected devices.

Thankfully most of the problems were ironed out within an hour or so and we were able to get on with enjoying the games.

Just as good as you imagined

With a more limited selection of televised games to watch during Spring Training, it’s a good time of the year to get reacquainted with the joys of listening to radio commentary of ballgames via MLB Gameday Audio. The best crews bring a sense of fun to the occasion whilst painting a vivid picture of the events unfolding, allowing you to use your imagination to create the scenes.

Sometimes when you get to see the TV replay you find that a play wasn’t quite as spectacular as you envisioned it. There was no danger of that being the case with the two highlights from the Oakland A’s spring opener against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.

The A’s lead radio commentator Ken Korach was sounding quite matter of fact when describing Michael Morse’s flyball to right field, even getting most of the way through his “and this one is …” call before stopping himself from saying the final word. He couldn’t say “gone” because it wasn’t. Instead. he said “did he catch it?”, with an air of incredulity, before shouting “HE DID! AN INCREDIBLE CATCH SCALING THE WALL!”

There was nothing forced about the call, no hint that he was hyping it to the hills like the best (or worst, depending on your viewpoint) Sky Sports commentator. You knew Josh Reddick has just pulled off a stunning catch, which was quickly backed up by various A’s writers taking to Twitter to: a) state how incredible it was, and b) to bemoan the lack of TV cameras which meant you’d just have to take their word for it.

What they didn’t know initially was that the ballpark did have one TV camera filming from behind home plate. Barely a few hours into the 2014 baseball season and we already had one of the best fielding plays we’re likely to see all year. Reddick then proved it wasn’t a one-off by doing it again, to the same unfortunate Morse, later in the game.

Not your average Spring Training game

Spring Training games are normally a low-key affair, but not when they involve a Japanese star making his North American debut.

Japanese baseball reporters were out in force on Saturday to see Masahiro Tanaka’s first appearance for the Yankees and he showed plenty of poise in two score-less innings. The highlight of his outing came when he used his much-talked-about splitter to strike out the Phillies’ Ben Revere. The early signs are that Revere will be the first of many hitters flailing at that pitch with two strikes against their name.

Say it ain’t so, Sano

Long-term injuries are always a sad part of the game, but it feels all the more cruel to happen to an exciting young player. The Minnesota Twins were hoping 2014 would bring some positive developments as they try to build themselves into a contender again; however it’s started in the worst possible way with third base prospect Miguel Sano needing to undergo Tommy John surgery.

The rehabilitation process following the elbow surgery isn’t quite as lengthy for position players as it is for pitchers, but Sano will be out for the whole season and will already have next year’s Spring Training camp as his focus, rather than potentially competing for a Major League roster spot this season.

Greinke grounded

Dodger fans held their collective breath on Thursday when pitcher Zack Greinke lasted only four pitches before leaving the team’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks with an injury.

Fortunately the ailment was a minor calf strain that shouldn’t hold him back for long. Greinke appeared to suffer the injury on the mound, although he perhaps might have done it whilst putting his foot in his mouth over his less-than-enthused comments on the prospect of going to Australia. The injury may make it less likely he will be heading Down Under, potentially avoiding the risk of some of the locals giving him the Stuart Broad treatment.

Setbacks for Seattle

Seattle Mariners fans that hadn’t made the trip to Arizona got their first chance to see Robinson Cano playing in their uniform on Saturday, courtesy of MLB.TV.

That was where the good news ended as it was confirmed on the same day that pitchers Hiashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker are both unlikely to be ready for Opening Day due to lingering injury concerns. The Mariners need to see an improvement on the field after investing so heavily in Cano; however he’s only one piece in the puzzle and the team will be desperate for their pitching rotation to be at full strength as soon as possible.

If the Face fits

Finally, the MLB Network decided to run a strange competition this past week in which fans were asked to vote for ‘the Face of MLB’. Quite why anyone would want to declare one single player as the face of MLB is a bit of a mystery, but in the face of such absurdities sometimes the internet can come up trumps.

The A’s bespectacled fringe infielder Eric Sogard became the subversive vote and his #nerdpower campaign got him all the way to the final where he was just beaten, some would say suspiciously so, by the New York Mets’ David Wright.

Offseason so far: AL Central

1 Reply

After taking a look at the comings and goings in the American League East division yesterday, we move on to the AL Central.

Detroit Tigers

So near and yet so far, the Tigers reflected on a losing World Series appearance in 2012 and a losing American League Championship Series in 2013 and had to work out whether a small tweak or two would be enough to keep them in with a shot, or if a bold move was needed to get over the hump and win a World Series.

They’ve taken the latter approach. Veteran manager Jim Leyland has retired and in his place Detroit have chosen a new direction with rookie manager Brad Ausmus. That was a brave move, as was the decision to trade away first baseman Prince Fielder just two years into his blockbuster nine-year contract. Fielder has joined the Texas Rangers with Ian Kinsler – typically a second baseman, although he may move to the outfield in Detroit – going the other way.

Pitcher Doug Fister has also departed in a trade with the Washington Nationals, which wasn’t a surprise in itself considering Detroit have some excellent options already for their starting rotation, although the meagre return (primarily utility man Steve Lombardozzi) did leave many scratching their heads. Omar Infante (Royals) and Jhonny Peralta (Cardinals) have also found new teams as free agents.

As for incomings, Joe Nathan will fill the void as the team’s closer with Joba Chamberlain and Ian Krol also being added to the relief corps, whilst Rajai Davis should provide a speedy option from the bench.

Cleveland Indians

The Indians were one of the surprise teams of 2013, not just in making the playoffs but also in the way they went out over the previous offseason and added leading free agents Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn. The pair represented something of a splurge for the cash-strapped team and so they are making more modest investments this time around, primarily in the form of ex-Rangers outfielder David Murphy and reliever John Axford.

Cleveland’s rise to a playoff appearance once greatly helped by the pitching performances of Scott Kazmir and Ubaldo Jimenez, both of whom are free agents this offseason. Kazmir has already found a new club in the Oakland A’s, but Jimenez is still on the market and there does seem to be some hope that a deal could be agreed for him to return to the Indians. Meanwhile right-handed reliever Joe Smith has left the club as a free agent and signed with the Los Angeles Angels.

Kansas City Royals

The Royals made a splash a year ago by trading top prospect Wil Myers for pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis. Shields has just one more left on his contract before he becomes a free agent and whilst the team did jump from 72 wins in 2012 to 86 in 2013, that wasn’t a big enough leap to earn the postseason appearance that the team arguably needs to feel like trading such a talented young player as Myers was worth it.

So far this offseason, the Royals have added former Angels’ starting pitcher Jason Vargas and ex-Tiger Omar Infante on four-year contracts and also pulled off what could turn out to be a nifty trade by acquiring outfielder Norichika Aoki for pitcher Will Smith. They were close to bringing back Carlos Beltran to KC nine and half years after they traded him to the Astros, before the Yankees jumped in at the last moment and beat their bid. Pitcher Ervin Santana had a good season for the Royals last year and, as with Jimenez and Cleveland, the fact that he hasn’t yet found a match on the free agent market leaves open the possibility that he could still rejoin the team.

Minnesota Twins

Joe Mauer will not be catching in Minnesota in 2014 but that doesn’t mean the hometown hero has been taken away from the Twins. The 2009 AL MVP winner is ditching the ‘tools of ignorance’ and will give his body a rest while playing first base instead from this season onwards. Kurt Suzuki has been brought in to provide some experience at the catching position whilst prospect Josmil Pinto continues to develop (probably starting the season at Triple-A and earning a promotion mid-season). The Twins’ roster planning will also be mindful of the impending promotion of the exciting third baseman Miguel Sano.

The main development, aside from Mauer changing gloves, has come in the form of three free agent additions to the starting rotation. Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes and Mike Pelfrey have been brought in to revamp the pitching staff and it’s rumoured that they may also be joined by Bronson Arroyo in the near future.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox suffered a dreadful 99-loss season in 2013 and one offseason isn’t going to be enough to turn that around. In fact, the south-siders have been open about cutting payroll in 2014 and trying to inject some young talent back into the organization.

However, they have made a couple of promising signings that could provide reason for cheer in the coming season. The most notable came in beating off a lot of competition to win the signature of Cuban slugger Jose Abreu. The 6-year, $68m contract is the most lucrative signed by an international free agent so far and reflects the fact that he is not merely someone with potential, but a 26-year-old slugger heading into what should be the prime of his career,

The White Sox joined with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the L.A. Angels to complete a three-team trade that resulted in Chicago gaining all-action outfielder Adam Eaton. He’ll join a White Sox lineup that will once again, and quite probably for the last year, feature Paul Konerko. The Chicago favourite had considered retirement but was tempted back for another season, albeit on the basis that he’ll be used as a part-time player.

Rounding the Bases: More deals

Leave a reply

The week of the MLB Winter Meetings had a lot to live up to after the transaction bonanza of the preceding week.

Consequently it was a slightly underwhelming few days relative to what had come before, but there was still a series of signings worth catching up on.

Hello Cano

The major event of the week came in Seattle where second baseman Robinson Cano was officially unveiled as a Mariner, having agreed a staggering 10-year, $240m contract with the AL West team.

Such monumental investments carry a significant amount of risk, as discussed a week ago, but any concerns can be pushed to one side right now for Mariners fans as the revel in the excitement of their team acquiring one of the very best players in the Majors.

It is great to see a team like Seattle making a bold signing and further shows how competitive MLB is.

Every year, the vast majority of teams will start the season with genuine reason for optimism that they could be in the running for a playoff place, with the main exceptions being teams, such as the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins, who have deliberately chosen to take steps backwards to reload for better days in years to come.

Only ten teams can make it to the postseason in a given season, so those hopes will not be realised for many, but it is hope that keeps fans going and MLB has done a great job in creating an environment where most teams can offer this.

The Mariners’ next big task is to make further improvements to supplement the addition of Cano, particularly in the batting lineup. Former Milwaukee Brewer Corey Hart has been signed on a one-year deal after he missed all of the 2013 season due to knee surgery. If he’s healthy, Hart should add some much-need power to the lineup, and he’ll be joined by Logan Morrison, who was acquired in a trade with the Miami Marlins.

Seattle are unlikely to end their recruitment drive there and they continue to be linked with outfielder free agent Nelson Cruz, although his price tag may prove to be too rich following their spending so far this offseason.

Yankees still shopping

The sight of Robinson Cano smiling in a Mariners uniform didn’t just drive home the impact of his signing for Seattle, but also for his former team in the Bronx.

The Yankees have a Cano-shaped hole to fill at second base and that hasn’t started very well, with one potential target slipping away from them this week.

Omar Infante has reportedly agreed a four-year, $30.25m contract with the Kansas City Royals after the Yankees refused to increase their offer of a three-year deal worth $24m. The 32-year-old isn’t a superstar and holding firm at three years isn’t an overly questionable decision, but solid second baseman aren’t easy to find and there’s no doubt that the Yankees have a pressing need for such a player.  There were rumours of a potential trade with the Cincinnati Reds for Brandon Phillips early last week, but no deal was agreed and apparently talks have ceased for now, with New York turning their attention to Darwin Barney of the Chicago Cubs.

The Royals presumably will take a modicum of satisfaction from outbidding the Yankees for Infante after the Bronx Bombers did the same thing to them with Carlos Beltran.

Three teams, six players

We did get one Winter Meeting specialty last week: the three-team trade. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels combined in a deal including six players.

The best-known name of the bunch was Mark Trumbo. He will take his homer-hitting skills (although arguably supplemented with little else) from the Angels to the D-Backs, whilst Adam Eaton moves from Arizona to Chicago. The Angels are reunited with young pitcher Tyler Skaggs, who they drafted in the first round of the 2009 amateur draft but then traded to Arizona in August 2010 as part of a deal to acquire Dan Haren, and received another starting pitcher in the form of Hector Santiago from the White Sox.

Back to where they were

Several teams and players have decided to stage a reunion.

Juan Uribe has agreed a two-year, $15m deal to return to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Uribe struggled badly with the Dodgers in 2011 and 2012 and his hack-happy approach at the plate has never endeared him to connoisseurs of the science of hitting. However, he did a good job for the Dodgers in 2013 and, with limited options available, a reunion was always a decent possibility.

Former Dodger James Loney has also rejoined his 2013 team, agreeing a three-year, $21m contract with the Tampa Bay Rays. Loney doesn’t offer much power for a first baseman, yet he’s a good hitter and he enjoyed a comeback in 2013 with the Rays as a change of scenery from L.A., where he looked a little weighed down by not meeting the lofty expectations placed on him, worked out well.

That could have proved a problem for the Rays as good players tend to end up moving out of their price range (David Price being a prime example, although at time of writing his expected trade away from the Rays hasn’t materialized), yet in this case they’ve been able to come to an agreement to keep hold of one of their free agents.

Elsewhere, Clint Barmes has returned to Pittsburgh, whilst Mike Pelfrey has decided to stay in Minnesota. The Twins have now added three pitchers to their rotation, Pelfrey being joined by Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes, and they may still be in the conversation to sign former Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo too. None of these hurlers are aces, but they all have their plus points and if they can find some form at Target Field then the Twins may be able to reverse their recent run of disappointing seasons and at least get back on the right path.

Pitchers changing places

Pelfrey wasn’t the only pitcher agreeing terms on a new contract this past week.

Bartolo Colon will try to continue to defy the ageing process after signing a two-year, $20m contract with the New York Mets. Colon performed brilliantly for the Oakland A’s over the last two seasons and a move to another pitcher-friendly home ballpark should increase the odds that he can keep that run going, although moving to the non-DH league where he may have to find his way around the basepads may be a problem for the Mets, and a source of laughter for the rest of us.

The A’s have continued their recent activity by trading away Brett Anderson to the Colorado Rockies and Jerry Blevins to the Washington Nationals. Anderson has been beset by injuries in recent seasons and Coors Field isn’t the first place a pitcher would pick to get their career back on track, but A’s fans will wish him well whilst hoping that former top prospect Drew Pomeranz (selected fifth overall by the Cleveland Indians in the 2010 draft) is a gamble that pays off in return. Blevins should usefully fill a hole in the Nats’ bullpen as a reliable lefty, with the A’s receiving speedy outfield prospect Billy Burns in return.

Another reliever changing teams this week was Joba Chamberlain. Much-hyped as a New York Yankee prospect, Chamberlain never quite lived up to his billing in the Bronx and a move to the Detroit Tigers as a free agent could be just what he needs to get his career going again.

Doc calls it a day

Finally, Roy Halladay announced his retirement this week, signing a one-day deal so that he could retire as a Toronto Blue Jay. His dominating run of seasons from 2002 to 2011 were the equal of some of the very greatest the game has seen and although he doesn’t have all of the impressive counting stats that you’d normally associate with a Hall of Fame player (‘only’ 203 career wins, for example) he was an exceptional pitcher for a significant period of time and should receive serious consideration for a place in Cooperstown.

Rounding the Bases

Leave a reply

After a couple of weeks of rest after the World Series, I’m now back in off-season writing mode.

There will be a series of 2013 review articles leading up to Christmas touching on MLB, the British Baseball leagues (something that I wasn’t able to cover as much as I had hoped during the second half of the season) and International competition (from the high of the World Baseball Classic to the low of baseball’s latest Olympic rejection).

I’ll also be writing regular round-ups of the most important news from the Major Leagues, starting with this one today.

Atlanta Braves are on the move

Arguably the biggest news of the past week has been the surprise announcement that the Braves are planning to leave Turner Field for a new facility 10 miles away, with the projected opening being in 2017.

The reports make clear that there have been issues rumbling along about Turner Field’s ability to meet Atlanta’s needs in the coming years, but there had been little in the way of public comment about the Braves potentially moving until this recent announcement.

Turner Field is a relatively new ballpark itself, having been converted into its current state after the 1996 Olympic Games. It is proposed that the current stadium will be bulldozed which seems an awful waste.

It must be galling to the Oakland A’s and Tampa Bay Rays in particular as they are having little joy (to put it mildly) in finding a way out of their current ill-fitting venues. So desperate are they, the two teams would be forgiven for momentarily considering a far-fetched plan like trying to dismantle Turner Field and moving it somewhere else.

Mauer on the move

The Minnesota Twins announced that current catcher Joe Mauer will be ditching the so-called ‘tools of ignorance’ and wearing a first-base glove instead from the start of the 2014 season.

The fielding position of catcher is unique across sport. Even with some occasional rest days, playing the position over a long season takes a toll on the body and offers the constant risk of injury via foul-tips and home-plate collisions (the latter potentially being outlawed, or at least heavily regulated, in the near future).

Mauer’s future fielding position has been a topic of conversation for several years as he is so valuable to the Twins, both in terms of his contributions at the plate and in terms of his contract. It makes sense to move him out of harm’s way, but catchers generally are reluctant to give up the position.

In this case, Mauer has taken it upon himself to suggest the move after a concussion ended his 2013 season prematurely, a decision made easier due to the Twins not having an ideal first baseman on the roster already.

Hopefully the move works out well for Mauer. Twins fans are in a strange position in that in recent years their team has made decisions that delighted them (staying in Minnesota, building a wonderful new open-air ballpark, preventing hometown hero Mauer from being snaffled by the Yankees etc) but the performances on the field have been bitterly disappointing.

Player moves 

The Hot Stove is not bubbling yet, in fact it’s hardly even simmering. Exciting rumours are seeming hard to come by, let alone news of actual moves potentially being on the cards.  The Winter Meetings do not begin until 9 December and it’s quite possible there will just be a batch of minor deals, with maybe one or two leading free agents coming off the market, over the next three weeks.

The main free agent acquisition so far has seen the Philadelphia Phillies signing outfielder Marlon Byrd to a two-year, $16m contract (£95,470 per week).

Byrd put up a good showing in 2013, firstly with the New York Mets and then with the NL Wild-Card-winning Pittsburgh Pirates, but it came after a miserable 2012 when he performed poorly for the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox and served a 50-game suspension for failing a drugs test. He turned 36 at the end of August and having earned $22m from twelve seasons on Major League rosters, being able to add a $16m contract to that is an incredible turn around for someone whose career looked to be finished one year ago.

So it’s great news for Byrd, but the Cinderella story for him will have Phillies fans fearing they’ve spent $16m on a pumpkin. After winning the NL East division five times in a row between 2007 and 2011 inclusive, Philadelphia have dropped off the pace in the last two years (their 73-89 2013 record was their first sub-.500 season since 2002) with ‘win now’ spending to sign or keep hold of veteran players creating an old and increasingly injury-plagued roster.

Signing Byrd doesn’t look to be a way to turn the tide in that respect.

Japanese player posting system

There may be one less free agent on the market this offseason. Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka reportedly was likely to be made available to MLB teams, but this is now in doubt after MLB’s proposed new player positing agreement with Japan was withdrawn.

Players in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League become free agents after playing for nine seasons and they can only seek offers from MLB teams before then if they go through the player posting system. The respective Japanese club will make their player available in a blind bidding process. If the largest bid is acceptable to the team, the player can then begin negotiations on an MLB contract. From the Nippon Professional Baseball League’s perspective this allows them to get the best fee, but that’s exactly why MLB doesn’t like it.

Paying transfer fees – as that’s effectively what they are – is alien to MLB teams and there’s a view among some fans in the States that the whole process should be scrapped. However, Japanese teams clearly cannot trade players in the way that MLB teams do between themselves, and receiving an amateur draft pick as compensation is not an option either, so a fee is the only viable way for a Japanese team to be compensated if an MLB team wants to acquire a Japanese player who is still under contract.

MLB understands this and their proposal was simply to revise the process so that the fee would be a defined point between the 1st and 2nd-best bids.  Nippon Professional Baseball League has failed to respond to that offer and MLB has now withdrawn it, working from the position of strength that it only effects a small number of players and that unless Japan’s league agrees to a system more to their liking, they will walk away and wait until players reach their nine-year free agent mark.

That will deny the very best Japanese players the opportunity to move to MLB during their prime, whilst taking away the chance for a Japanese team to receive a substantial transfer fee and potentially affecting the standing of Japanese baseball as their best players will not get the chance to showcase their abilities in what’s considered worldwide to be the best competition (in fairness, the Nippon Professional Baseball League is very popular in Japan, so they may feel keeping hold of their stars is better than any second-hand publicity boost through one of their players performing well in the States).

In short, there are a host of reasons why players and teams in Japan would want to retain the option of having a system to transfer players and MLB has now put the ball back in their court to achieve this.

Managerial set complete 

After the Detroit Tigers did indeed appoint Brad Ausmus as their new manager, that left the Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners as the two teams still seeking a skipper.

Those positions have now been filled with the Cubs appointing the San Diego Padres’ bench coach Rick Renteria to be their 53rd manager in franchise history and the Mariners opting for Lloyd McClendon who had been on the coaching staff of the Detroit Tigers for the last eight years following a five-season spell as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Both have substantial experience in coaching and managerial positions, showing that whilst teams are not afraid to give managerial newcomers like Ausmus a chance, there’s no reason for established coaches and former managers to give up hope that another opportunity may come their way.

 

Tough times for Twins

Leave a reply

Just over two years ago, baseball fans in Minnesota were eyeing their glorious new ballpark, Target Field, and dreaming of a new era of Twins baseball. 

After years of measly payrolls and wrangling by the Twins’ ownership to get a new ballpark, including the threat of contraction, Target Field was meant to usher in a period of stability off the field and success on it as additional revenue streamed in. 

The ballpark may still achieve those aims in time, but the initial returns have not been so promising and that was made starkly clear to me when I looked at the standings on ESPN.com prior to Tuesday’s games.

After their first 35 games, the Twins are 10-25 (the worst record in baseball) and their ESPN playoff odds calculation sits at 0.8%. Think about that for a second. With just under 80% of their games still remaining to be played, Minnesota’s odds of reaching the playoffs are less than 1%.

Now, it’s still early in the season and there is plenty of time for the Twins to launch a winning run to boost their odds, but that’s a sobering statistic to ponder, particularly when there are no obvious signs that this is a team that is suddenly going to spring into life.

ESPN’s standings make for much better reading if you are a Texas Rangers fan. Their MLB-leading run differential of +78 is one clear piece of evidence to back up the general consensus that they are the best team in the Majors right now, even though the Dodgers have a slightly better record.

Weekly Hit Ground Ball: Posey’s injury poses many questions

1 Reply

WHGB11The recent injury suffered by the San Francisco Giants’ catcher Buster Posey has led many to debate whether the rules should be changed to stop such collisions at the plate. 

I have always found it curious that this type of physical play is allowed to happen in the first place.  Baseball is typically a non-contact sport and allowing two players to collide in this way – the runner deliberately trying to smash the catcher, who is effectively a sitting duck – just seems odd. 

There’s no skill to it, the play is merely a test of misguided bravado.  It’s not ‘playing hard’, it’s ‘playing dumb’.

Still, plays at the plate are one of the most exciting parts of baseball.  That’s shown by the buzz that sweeps through the crowd when a player tags up or hurtles around third while the outfielder pegs the ball in from the outfield.  You don’t want to take that away from the game by changing the rules to greatly hand the advantage to one side.  It should be a contest, just one that involves skill (a masterful sweeping tag by the catcher, an acrobatic leap and slide by the runner etc) rather than muscle.

The incident and resulting injury have hit the headlines because of the person who ended up on the wrong end of the collision.  If it had happened to the Giants’ back-up catcher Eli Whiteside for example then – rightly or wrongly – it wouldn’t have generated such a loud reaction. 

Buster Posey is one of the brightest young stars in the game, a player of great importance to his team and the sort of talent that any baseball fan, regardless of their rooting interests, should be sad to see shelved for any length of time.  It’s natural that an incident involving him should raise concerns, but perhaps the Giants and Posey might have acknowledged them more before the incident even happened. 

On any given day a catcher could be involved in a close play at the plate.  If the potential loss of Posey would be so devastating, should he be put at such risk in the first place? 

Moving him to another fielding position would be going too far, certainly so early in his career.  If someone is a good catcher and can hit as well as Posey can then that’s a great advantage for any team.  However, there are ways that a catcher can protect himself through the position they take up when fielding a play at the plate.

Posey got himself into an awkward position to receive the ball and that clearly played its part in him suffering an injury.  Similarly you often see catchers blocking the plate and essentially challenging the baserunner to run them over if they want to score.  Posey didn’t quite do that in this case, Scott Cousins did have part of the plate to slide into, but it’s the sort of thing you see in the Majors time and again and it leaves you wondering how more injuries don’t occur. 

As Posey begins his recovery, the Giants should think about whether they can do more in helping their young star protect himself in future; working on his positioning and making it clear to him that he doesn’t have to put his body on the line.

This may make it harder to stop the runner in some cases, but the risk of letting a run score every now and then has got to be worth taking when the alternative is to lose the heartbeat of your team for a substantial length of time.

Pitchers should pitch in at the plate

In discussing Interleague play last week, I only made a brief mention of the issues caused by the two leagues playing by different rules.  Two National League games on ESPN America made me think about the topic more closely this week.

ESPN America was showing the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Detroit Tigers before rain disrupted play and the channel turned its attention to the Washington Nationals-Milwaukee Brewers game instead. 

We joined the action just after Mike Morse had hit a home run off Zack Greinke to tie the game at 3-3.  It was the only blot on Greinke’s strong pitching performance and he backed that up with his first home run in a Brewers’ uniform.  It wasn’t a cheap effort either, sailing high through the sky and just bending the right-way around the foul pole. 

Greinke had previously hit a home run for the Royals during Interleague play and was known as a decent hitter prior to his professional pitching career.  He wasn’t the only pitcher swinging the lumber to good effect either.

The next night on ESPN America, Cliff Lee went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Phillies while driving in three runs.  Carlos Zambrano, probably the best-hitting pitcher in the Majors, had a 3-for-3 night against the Mets on Thursday as well.  Then you had the D-Backs’ Zach Duke hitting a three-run homer on Saturday against the Astros, and the Astros’ J.A. Happ hitting a longball of his own yesterday. 

Watching pitchers get key hits is one of the joys of National League play and most baseball fans also appreciate seeing a pitcher do the less-flashy, but equally important and skilful tasks such as laying down bunts to advance runners.  I don’t mind the two leagues playing by different rules; it adds something to the Majors by creating two slightly different styles of the game.  However, if consensus called for the rules to be aligned then there’s no doubt which way it should go. 

There are a very small number of genuinely star-level hitters who would be affected by the DH being discarded (demonstrated starkly on Saturday when the Toronto Blue Jays used Corey Patterson as a DH. Yes he hit a walk-off home run, but he’s still a long, long way from being an impact bat, as his lifetime sub .300 on-base percentage shows). On the other hand, pitchers taking their spot in the batting lineup forces managers into making additional tactical decisions about in-game substitutions and, more importantly, pushes pitchers into developing another side to their game.  That’s something all professional sportsmen should take pride in doing, even if that means using their athletic talent and dedication simply to become adequate at a particular skill.

Infielder Wilson Valdez’s recent pitching effort may have been something of a freak event, but pitchers stepping up to the plate should continue to be a regular part of baseball.

Seeing-eye singles

I keep hoping that the Twins will recover some good form to make my prediction that they would get to the World Series look marginally less silly.  Those hopes haven’t come to much yet.  All is not completely lost though.  Their loss against the Angels on Friday, letting a 5-0 lead slip in the final two innings, could have pushed them over the edge; however they followed it up with a stunning victory on Saturday.  Anthony Swarzak pitched eight shut-out innings in a spot start, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning, and Danny Valencia hit a walk-off single in the tenth to win the game 1-0.  That showed a lot of character in Ron Gardenhire’s team.

Evan Longoria in the lead-off spot for the Rays?  Manager Joe Maddon is never afraid to try something unconventional and it might be just what’s needed to help the third baseman out of a slump.

It will take a while for the Giants’ gloom to lift, but Brandon Crawford really gave their fans something to smile about on Friday night. He became only the sixth player in Major League history to hit a grand slam in his first big league at-bat.

Performance of the week: Week Five

Leave a reply

I’m going to skip right over the other possible contenders this week* and get straight to the award.  It really can’t go anywhere else other than to the Minnesota Twins’ Francisco Liriano.

As I’m sure you will know already, Liriano pitched a no-hitter against the White Sox on Tuesday night. 

Now, it was far from being the most dominating no-hitter you will ever see.  He struck out only two batters and walked six along the way.  However, it wasn’t as though Liriano was deliberately avoiding the batters so as to keep his no-hit bid alive as the game progressed.  And in some ways, the fact that he kept putting runners on base made the effort more impressive because he had to pitch out of trouble.

You can also add in several other factors:

  • The Twins had been struggling leading up to the game, so this was a team low on confidence,
  • Liriano was one of the contributing factors to those struggles, to the extent that there was speculation he could be shunted to the bullpen if he performed poorly against the White Sox
  • The only run support he received was a Jason Kubel solo home run; he had no margin for error in terms of winning the game, never mind the no-no bid.

No-hitters come in many different forms, all memorable for their own different reasons.  Liriano’s name goes into the record books as the pitcher of the 248th no-hitter in MLB history and he can have a BGB Performance of the Week award as well, just to top off his week.

(* Okay, Tim Hudson definitely deserves an honourable mention for his one-hitter on Wednesday).

2011 MLB Preview: American League Central

Leave a reply

MlbHlSqThe Minnesota Twins were the class team in the Central last year, but the White Sox and Tigers have every intention of putting them under more pressure in 2011.

2010 final standings

1. Minnesota Twins (94-68)
2. Chicago White Sox (88-74)
3. Detroit Tigers (81-81)
4. Cleveland Indians (69-93)
5. Kansas City Royals (67-95)

The 2010/11 offseason

It was a good offseason for the neutrals, as the main challengers made some key additions in an attempt to chase down the reigning champs.

The Tigers made their moves early.  They signed free agent catcher/first baseman/designated hitter Victor Martinez, bringing the former Cleveland Indian back to the AL Central after a year and a half with Boston, and gave Joaquin Benoit, a reliever revelation for the Rays in 2010, a three-year contract.

It looked like Detroit would be the Twins’ only real challenger as the White Sox contemplated entering a rebuilding phase.  However, Chicago’s owner Jerry Reinsdorf had a change of heart and opened the purse strings instead.  That allowed General Manger Kenny Williams to not only re-sign first baseman Paul Konerko and catcher A.J. Pierzynski, but also to bag the big bopper Adam Dunn on a four-year contract after he left the Washington Nationals as a free agent.  Former Twins reliever Jesse Crain and lefty Will Ohman were added to the bullpen, while Matt Thornton was given a contract extension and the closer’s role after Bobby Jenks wore out his welcome and was granted free agency, during which he signed with the Red Sox.  Continue reading →