Baseball Thread

  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
Some big signings (especially by Boston who are quietly having a nice offseason) today:

  • Willson Contreras is taking over for the now retired Yadier Molina by signing a 5-year deal with his old rival, the Cardinals, for $87.5 million

  • Jose Contreras is moving on from those Cardinals after signing with the Mets with a 2-year deal worth $26 million

  • Kenley Jansen joined the Red Sox on a 2-year, $32 million contract

  • Boston also signed Japanese free agent outfielder Masataka Yoshida to a big $90 million guarantee over five seasons

Cpl. Long Dong Silver said:
Enjoy losing 30% of that to NY taxes Aaron. Congrats you played yourself
Click to expand...
To be fair, the two teams known to be heavily courting him were the Giants and Padres. I may be wrong, but aren't California taxes even worse? With the amount of money he's going to be making I'm not sure if he cares that much about what he'll be taxed since he's going to get to (probably) play his entire career as a beloved member of a marquee franchise.

EDIT/UPDATE:
Looks like my mention of Xander Bogaerts making sense to end up with the Padres yesterday made sense: he's going to San Diego on an 11-year $280 million deal.
 
Last edited:
I saw this article via a thread on City-data forums.
sports.yahoo.com

MLB reportedly used three baseballs during 2022 season, and Yankees might've benefitted most

MLB once again finds itself in the middle of a scandal related to the baseballs.
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com

It wouldn't be an MLB offseason without a baseball-related scandal. Despite commissioner Rob Manfred insisting that one baseball would be used during the 2022 MLB season, there is evidence that three different baseballs were utilized, according to Bradford William Davis of Insider.

That conclusion comes courtesy of Dr. Meredith Wills, an astrophysicist who has conducted various studies on MLB balls the past couple of years. Dr. Wills managed to collect a sample of 204 baseballs from the 2022 MLB season and determined that three types of balls were used in games: The dead ball MLB promised it would use, the "juiced" balls that were used in previous seasons and a third ball that split the difference. Dr. Wills dubbed the third ball the "Goldilocks ball" given that its measurements were between those of the "juiced" ball and the dead ball.

Every ball obtained by Dr. Wills met MLB's manufacturing specifications. Those specifications have come under scrutiny, however, as some have argued that the acceptable range for a legal baseball is too large and can result in "legal" baseballs that vary wildly in performance.

MLB purchased Rawlings, the company that makes baseballs for the league, in 2018.
Click to expand...

Let's see if this scandal will be big as the steroids one or if it'll be a nothing burger in the baseball world.
 
Some updates on notable moves. Recently it's mostly involving the AL and NL East and former Oakland players:

For the second straight offseason the A's have traded one of their good young infielders to Atlanta. This time it's catcher Sean Murphy heading to the Braves in a three-team deal that also involves Milwaukee:

To Atlanta:
  • Sean Murphy (from Oakland)
To Milwaukee:
  • William Contreras (from Atlanta)
  • Justin Yeager (from Atlanta)
  • Joel Payamps (from Oakland)
To Oakland:
  • Esteury Ruiz (from Milwaukee)
  • Manny Pina (from Atlanta)
  • Royber Salinas (from Atlanta)
  • Freddy Tarnok (from Atlanta)
  • Kyle Muller (from Atlanta)​

As for some signings:
  • Kevin Kiermaier is in agreement to sign with the Blue Jays pending a physical
  • Chris Bassitt has signed a three-year $63 million deal to also head to the Blue Jays
  • Sean Manaea is heading to the Giants for $25 million over two years
  • Christian Vazquez is going to the Twins for $30 million over three seasons
  • the Mets have signed Japanese pitcher Koudai Senga to a five-year $75 million contract
 
Last edited:
Carlos Correa to the Giants for a bunch of years and a bunch of money. Have a great time paying him when he's 37 and his knees are shot and you still owe him four more years.
 
Preferred Penne said:
Carlos Correa to the Giants for a bunch of years and a bunch of money. Have a great time paying him when he's 37 and his knees are shot and you still owe him four more years.
Click to expand...
Was going to post it yesterday but this thread is pretty inactive lol. 13 years for $350 million. The Giants also signed Ross Stripling on the same day for $25 million over two years. Noah Syndergaard signed with Striplings first team, the Dodgers, yesterday for $13 million for the 2023 season.

That leaves Dansby Swanson as the last (but least impactful) of the big four free agent shortstops left; I think he returns to Atlanta. Maybe he follows in Freddie Freeman's footsteps and heads right over the the Dodgers, but I somewhat doubt it. Carlos Rodon still remains on the table as the best starter. My guess would be either the Yankees or maybe even the Astros as they now have a big spot to replace with Verlander's departure.

Edit: the Yankees have indeed signed Carlos Rodon. It's for $162 million over six years, fully guaranteed with a no trade clause.
 
Last edited:
With all the inflation going around in the world, Correa isn't getting much more per year than ARod did when he signed with the Rangers in 2000.
 
Some other signings; the first two were from yesterday and the last one is from today:

  • Andrew Benintendi to the White Sox for $75 million over five seasons
  • Joey Gallo to the Twins for $11 million for one season
  • J.D. Martinez to the Dodgers for $10 million for one season
 
Double posting, but it's worth it:

Carlos Correa who appeared to sign a thirteen-year $350 million deal with the Giants last week is now instead apparently heading to the Mets for $315 million over 12 years to play third base for them according to Jon Heyman of the New York post. It came out yesterday that there was something that the Giants had flagged when they did his medical evaluations and he hadn't actually officially signed with them.

Secondly, it should be mentioned that after the Dodgers signed former Red Sox player J.D. Martinez, the Red Sox have gone and signed former Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner to a one-year contract worth $15 million with a player option. It also appears that Boston's incumbent third baseman Rafael Devers is fully intending to test free agency when he becomes a free agent after the 2024 season (he'll be 28 years old around the start of the 2024 World Series.)
 
Michael Conforto is absolutely definitely no crossed-fingies beyond a shadow of a doubt going to the Giants.
 
Preferred Penne said:
Michael Conforto is absolutely definitely no crossed-fingies beyond a shadow of a doubt going to the Giants.
Click to expand...
He is. Two years for $36 million. Joining him is reliever Taylor Rogers (his twin brother Tyler is already on the team) who signed a three-year $33 million deal.

Toronto made another interesting trade involving one of their outfielders: they're sending one of the top prospects in baseball, catcher Gabriel Moreno, along with outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to Arizona for outfielder/catcher Daulton Varsho.
 
The guys of American Thinker did a interesting article about the Dodgers, back when they moved out of Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
www.americanthinker.com

The Real Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers

The fifties seem to have been the time that New York City peaked. By the sixties, California was on the ascent. And the critical blow that seems to have taken the heart out of the city was moving the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Ange...
www.americanthinker.com www.americanthinker.com

December 29, 2022

The Real Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers​

By Mike Konrad


The fifties seem to have been the time that New York City peaked. By the sixties, California was on the ascent. And the critical blow that seems to have taken the heart out of the city was moving the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles.
To this day, there are people who are bitter about it. Many of them were not even born when the Dodgers left, but they have inherited the marks of survivor's trauma.
These individuals, who are generations removed from Ebbets Field, will still curse Walter O'Malley, the then team owner, for relocating the team.
You are in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Walter O'Malley; and you have a gun with two bullets. So who do you shoot?
And, of course, the Dodgers fans would say: You shoot O'Malley twice.
—Brooklyn Dodgers — The Ghosts of Flatbush (2007)
But most of what the legends tell us is false or taken out of context.
It is true that Walter O'Malley wanted to maximize his profits. What corporate owner doesn't? But what is often ignored is the responsibility of Robert Moses, an unelected bureaucrat — actually more of a dictator — who controlled bridge and road construction in the metropolitan area.
Moses and O'Malley had locked horns for years. Ebbets Field was deteriorating, and the neighborhood was going to seed. So O'Malley suggested that Moses condemn the decaying meat market on Flatbush and Atlantic Avenue, which was going to be abandoned anyway, in downtown Brooklyn. Then sell it to O'Malley at below market prices. Moses had done similar for others, so why not do it for O'Malley? After that, O'Malley would build the stadium with his own money.
This proposed stadium was right next to the Atlantic Terminal, where NYC subways and the Long Island Railroad system converged — the epicenter of public transportation for Brooklyn. It would have even been convenient to commuters from the suburbs.
But Robert Moses was against it. He wanted an automobile-friendly location in Queens. He suggested Flushing Meadows. To the Dodgers' fans, this was just as odious as moving them to Los Angeles.
Robert Moses would not budge. It was his way or the highway. The city would help only with a move to Queens. So O'Malley sent out signals that he would move out of the city altogether if Moses did not relent. Still, Robert Moses would not budge.
Click to expand...
 
Preferred Penne said:
Rafael Devers is staying in Boston for at least one more year.
Click to expand...
Make that 12 more years
www.espn.com

Sources: Red Sox to lock up Devers for $331M

Third baseman Rafael Devers and the Red Sox are finalizing an 11-year, $331 million contract extension, sources told ESPN, a deal that constitutes the longest and largest guarantee ever given by the franchise.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

As a red sox fan this is one win the team desperately needed after letting basically everyone else walk.
 
After agreeing to a massive deal with the Giants... and then the Mets... and then seemingly heading to the Giants again, Carlos Correa appears to be staying put with the Twins. The two sides have agreed on a six-year $200 million deal with the possibility of an extra four years and $70 million being added on through options.

Some other things:
  • the Phillies bolstered their bullpen by getting the Tigers' closer Gregory Soto in a five-player trade
  • Seattle signed A.J. Pollock to a one-year deal
  • Johnny Cueto is going to Miami on a one-year deal after having a nice season with the White Sox in 2022
  • yesterday long time Giants first baseman Brandon Belt agreed to a one-year contract with Toronto
 
Any thoughts on new rules, mainly the pitch clock/limiting pickoffs & banning the shift? I really hate the new extra innings rules and I think that is coming back too. I was ready to give up on baseball in 2020, the worst season ever, but last year got back into it. I at least wanted to follow the final years of future HOF guys like Verlander and Scherzer so hoping the pitching rule change doesn't wreck it for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom