Kuzul

At some point, Brian Dozier’s time with the Minnesota Twins figures to come to an end. The subject of trade rumors for much of the offseason, MLB‘s premier slugger at second base is one of the biggest names left twisting in the purgatory that is the trade block.

It’s not so much that a player’s current team doesn’t want them any longer (though there are certainly times where that’s the case), but rather said player, like Dozier, is more valuable to the team as a trade chip than a fixture on the 25-man roster.

It’s a rough place for a player to spend any significant time.

For those, like Dozier, who find themselves on the block, there are only two rules they have to check off to be included on this list: 

• They must have been the subject of a legitimate rumor or speculation from a known source
• They must be a logical fit on a team other than their current one

That last rule, coupled with recent free-agent signings, eliminated some players who were on our original list.

Who made the cut? Let’s take a look.

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The kid showed up unannounced, riding on the back of a motorcycle, wearing shoes that didn’t match.

“One was larger than the other,” Fred Ferreira remembered. “He had a sock stuffed into one of them so it would fit.”

It was the spring of 1993, and Ferreira was on the outskirts of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. He works for the Baltimore Orioles now, but he was with the Montreal Expos then, running a tryout camp at a field in Mendoza.

The kid with the mismatched shoes was about to become the best player he ever signed.

“I’ve had 72 guys make it up there [to the major leagues],” Ferreira said proudly.

Some were stars. Some won World Series. Ferreira thought Bernie Williams deserved Hall of Fame consideration, but he never got there.

This week, that kid with the mismatched shoes could be Ferreira’s first in Cooperstown.

Vladimir Guerrero has a chance in his first year on the ballot, although the votes publicly revealed suggest he may fall just short. Ryan Thibodaux, who runs the Hall of Fame Tracker and follows these things more closely than anyone, has Guerrero at 74.4 percent so far, with 75 percent required for election.

Numbers like that mean Guerrero will get to the Hall of Fame, even if it’s not this year. A chance like this means Ferreira will be watching closely for the Wednesday announcement.

“I certainly am waiting,” he said.

He’s not alone. Every player on the Hall of Fame ballot has a scout who first signed him, a coach who first believed in him, an instructor who helped him along the way. Everyone has a story that becomes all the more cherished when the vote goes the right way.

Houston Astros scout Tom Mooney gave Jeff Bagwell a seven (out of eight) on power potential when Bagwell was at the University of Hartford and then recommended the Astros trade for Bagwell when he was still in Double-A.

“Remember it like it was yesterday,” Mooney wrote on his Facebook page after Alex Speier of the Boston Globe wrote about scouting Bagwell.

Texas Rangers scout Doug Gassaway clocked a 16-year-old Ivan Rodriguez throwing 93 mph to second base, as Sandy Johnson remembered in an MLB.com story by Tracy Ringolsby.

And Fred Ferreira signed Vladimir Guerrero for $2,500 out of a tryout camp in the Dominican Republic.

“Jon Heyman wrote in Sports Illustrated it was the second-best deal ever, behind the Babe Ruth deal,” Ferreira said.

It’s an even better story.

Guerrero wasn’t exactly unknown that spring. His older brothers had both played baseball too, and Wilton Guerrero signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers a year and a half earlier. Vladimir spent a couple of months in the Dodgers academy, but they never signed him.

The New York Yankees worked out Guerrero too, but as a pitcher. They told him to come back a week later, but in the meantime, Guerrero showed up at Ferreira’s tryout.

“We had about 30 kids already there,” Ferreira said. “The first thing we had him do was run a 60-yard dash, and he ran like 6.5. He ran that well with shoes that didn’t match. Then we had him throw from the outfield. They were good throws, very good, exceptional.

“Running and throwing, those two tools can’t be taught.”

Ferreira was intrigued, but he had to know if Guerrero could hit. They were setting up a game, and he told his assistant to have Guerrero lead off every inning.

“The first at-bat, he hit a ground ball to short and tried to beat it out,” Ferreira said. “He was really busting it down the line and then he pulled up. He’d pulled a hamstring. I saw him go sit in the dugout with his head between his legs.”

So that was it for the day. Some running in mismatched shoes. A few throws. And one ground ball to short.

Ferreira had a flight out that afternoon, but he decided on the spot Guerrero was worth a chance. The flight home could wait.

Guerrero told the Expos he had been working out at the Dodgers academy, which would make him ineligible to sign with another team. Then he said he’d been there 60 days.

“I said that makes him a free agent,” Ferreira said.

The Dodgers hadn’t signed him because they thought he looked more like his older brother Albino, who they released because he was too slow. They preferred Wilton, who eventually played eight years in the big leagues but was never a star.

“In this business, you consider yourself a success if 5 percent of the guys you sign make it to the majors,” Dodgers scout Ralph Avila told Jeff Blair in a story for the Montreal Gazette three years later. “[Vladimir] will be part of the Expos’ 5 percent, not ours. And that’s how it works sometimes.”

Guerrero told the Expos he was 17, so they would need his parents’ permission to sign him. He was actually 18, but they wouldn’t know until 2009 that he had been lying about his age.

Ferreira canceled his flight and made plans for the 40-mile drive west to Peravia province, where Guerrero was born. But first, Guerrero told them he wanted to stop at the Dodgers academy to pick up his things.

“It turned out he had one shirt there,” Ferreira said.

The signing was straightforward, as Guerrero’s mother quickly agreed to the $2,500 bonus. It was a different era. By 2015, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, he got a $3.9 million deal.

“I signed a crude Dominican player with great tools to play ball and a good disposition,” Ferreira reported back to his superiors in Montreal.

“They sent him to the Dominican Summer League, and I told the people in the office this kid will be Player of the Month for the next six months,” Ferreira said.

He had another message for them too.

“He was swinging at everything, but I told our instructors to let him do what he does,” Ferreira said. “Leave him alone. When he got to the States, Felipe Alou told him the same thing.”

Alou would later refer to Guerrero as a “baseball machine,” according to the Blair story in the Gazette.

Alou was the Expos’ manager by then, and Guerrero would soon join him. He shot through the Montreal farm system, skipping Triple-A altogether.

“After seeing Vlad in Double-A, our scouts said the kid had tools like [Roberto] Clemente,” said Dan Duquette, the Expos general manager at the time.

He never did stop swinging at everything. And hitting everything.

“Vladimir Guerrero is the best retired Truly Bad Ball hitter of our time,” Eno Sarris declared in a post on FanGraphs this month.

It carried him through 16 big league seasons, 449 home runs, a .318 career batting average and four finishes in the top four in Most Valuable Player voting. In 2004, his first season after signing a five-year, $70 million deal with the Anaheim Angels, Guerrero won the MVP award in the American League.

He had long since justified the $2,500 Fred Ferreira spent to sign him and the canceled flight home.

And when he goes into the Hall of Fame, you can bet his shoes will match.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

We could go on and on (and on) about Kris Bryant, Josh Donaldson, Manny Machado and the other superstars at third base in today’s MLB. The position is capital-L Loaded.

But since we know what those third basemen are all about, let’s pivot to some guys who more closely resemble question marks going into spring training.

Ahead is a list of 10 (11 if you want to get technical) third basemen worth keeping an eye on in February and March. Some will be returning from 2016 seasons marred by poor health and/or poor production. Others will be battling for playing time. Others still are young up-and-comers looking to make a good impression. One in particular figures to be a major piece of trade bait.

Bottom line: What they have in common is that they’re all interesting. Read on to hear more.

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When the Boston Red Sox report for spring training, they’ll officially embark on a 2017 season that they hope will result in their fourth World Series title since 2004.

Oh, by the way, the magic date is February 13.

That’s when Red Sox pitchers and catchers are due to report to Fort Myers, Florida. Position players will report three days later. After that, all sorts of stretching, working out, assorted high jinks and, yes, even a few games here and there will ensue.

There’s no telling what will happen. But at the least, we can preview it and offer a few predictions. 

The Big Newcomers

With most of last year’s AL East-winning roster due to return, the Red Sox didn‘t have many items on their offseason shopping list. So they went for quality instead, with the catches o’ the winter being…

Chris Sale, LHP

The earth shook and thunder clapped in early December. That was from the Red Sox acquiring Chris Sale in a blockbuster trade with the Chicago White Sox.

Sure, they had to give up a four-prospect package highlighted by Cuban phenom Yoan Moncada and 105 mph man Michael Kopech. But in Sale, the Red Sox got back one of the league’s very best starting pitchers.

Since 2012, the 27-year-old left-hander has racked up a 3.04 ERA and more wins above replacement than all starters not named Clayton Kershaw or Max Scherzer. Even in a 2016 season in which his velocity and strikeout rate took hits, Sale still dominated with a 3.34 ERA in 226.2 innings.

With him joining Cy Young winners Rick Porcello and David Price in Boston’s starting rotation, Red Sox manager John Farrell is about to get his first sense of what it’ll be like to be able to breathe easy three out of every five days.

Mitch Moreland, 1B

David Ortiz’s retirement created a need for a left-handed hitter with power. The Red Sox made Mitch Moreland the answer with a one-year, $5.5 million contract.

The 31-year-old will match neither the 1.021 OPS nor the 38 home runs that Ortiz gave the Red Sox in his 2016 swan song. But with good numbers to the opposite field, Moreland could at least be better than expected at Fenway Park. And fresh off his first Gold Glove win, he’ll certainly be an upgrade at first base over Hanley Ramirez.

Tyler Thornburg, RHP

The Red Sox had to give up Travis Shaw and well-regarded prospect Mauricio Dubon to pry Tyler Thornburg from the Milwaukee Brewers. Not cheap, but also not bad relative to the absurd prices paid to relievers on the open market.

Thornburg, 28, may not be elite, but he at least arrives in Boston as an overlooked gem. He put up a 2.15 ERA and struck out 12.1 batters per nine innings last season. Alongside the flame-throwing Joe Kelly, Thornburg profiles as a capable setup man for Craig Kimbrel.

The Big Storylines

When the Red Sox aren’t gawking at their big new additions this spring, they’ll be tending to other matters. Those include…

Life After Big Papi

For the first time since 2002, Big Papi will be nowhere to be found at Red Sox camp. He’ll be busy enjoying his retirement—apparently by pursuing a new career as the Happy Gilmore of tennis.

There’s now a noticeable void in Boston’s offense, but it could be worse. The Red Sox had the No. 1 offense in baseball last year, and ESPN.com’s Buster Olney thinks they still have the league’s top lineup. Ramirez, Moreland, Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Xander Bogaerts surely would agree. Farrell would as well, for that matter.

Of course, Ortiz also left a leadership void. But a guy who would know isn’t too concerned about that.

“We’re in good shape,” Pedroia told Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. “I think, especially what David did leadership-wise with a ton of guys, he’s leaving us in good shape. We’ll be all right.”

Pablo Sandoval Back at Third Base

Now, this. This is a real question.

The Red Sox basically got nothing from Pablo Sandoval in his first year in Boston in 2015, as he put up a .658 OPS and struggled defensively. They then got absolutely nothing from him in 2016, in which he played in just three games before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.

But with Shaw and Moncada out of the picture, the Red Sox don’t have much choice but to entrust the hot corner to Sandoval. This will be the baseball equivalent to trusting Keith Moon with a Holiday Inn hotel room.

The good news is that Sandoval has given every indication that he’s in good shape for the first time since signing his $95 million contract.

The bad news? Well, see above.

David Price Has a Score to Settle

As Sandoval looks to get his old job back, Price will be looking to get his groove back.

The veteran lefty didn‘t look like his usual ace self in the first season of his seven-year, $217 million contract with the Red Sox. Although he pitched 230 innings, he put up just a 3.99 ERA and allowed a career-high 30 home runs.

“Last year was the first time in my career I didn’t have fun when I was on the field,” Price told Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. “When I’m pitching well, I’m smiling. There wasn’t a lot of smiling.”

Within that same interview, the 31-year-old also vowed to prove he can be successful in Boston. That process will start this spring. After that, anything goes.

Who’s Behind the Plate?

Ah, yes, but who will Price be throwing to? Sandy Leon, Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart will vie for playing time behind the plate, and it sounds like each one of them has a shot at earning the starting gig.

“You’ve got three guys that can battle for an everyday job,” Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told Mastrodonato. “If you said right now who’s the leading guy, it’s Sandy Leon.”

After posting an .845 OPS in 2016, Leon can claim to have the bat. Vazquez can claim to have the glove and the arm. Swihart, a former top prospect, has a shot at the best of both worlds.

In short: This could be a fun competition.

Who’s at the Back of the Rotation?

As good as the front three of the Red Sox’s rotation looks, don’t underestimate the back end. Fighting for the last two spots will be two 2016 All-Stars (Steven Wright and Drew Pomeranz) and a former top prospect (Eduardo Rodriguez).

Dombrowski indicated in a chat with Olney that it’s the two All-Stars who have the upper hand. That’s fair. Although both ran out of gas at the end of 2016, Wright (3.33 ERA in 156.2 IP) and Pomeranz (3.32 ERA in 170.2 IP) both had successful seasons on the whole.

Don’t sleep on Rodriguez, though. The lefty was quite good as a rookie in 2015. And after a slow start, he got back to being quite good with a 3.24 ERA in his final 14 starts of 2016.

Prospects to Watch

Alex Speier presented his list of the Red Sox’s top 10 prospects at Baseball America very early in the offseason. Four of them were subsequently traded, which complicates this segment of the program.

Not to worry, though. The Red Sox still have…

Andrew Benintendi, LF

Andrew Benintendi found himself in the majors just a year after he was drafted by the Red Sox with the No. 7 pick in the 2015 draft. And man, did he impress.

In 34 games, Benintendi hit .295 with an .835 OPS. He also showed well in left field, where he made one of the best catches of the season in Tampa Bay:

Technically, Benintendi is indeed still a prospect. And a very well liked one, at that. When Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com polled executives about the game’s best hitting prospect, Benintendi was the winner.

The 22-year-old won’t qualify as a prospect for much longer. The Red Sox’s everyday left field job is his to lose, and it would be quite the upset if he lost it.

Sam Travis, 1B

Although the Red Sox are short on MLB-ready prospects after Benintendi, Sam Travis is one to keep an eye on.

A second-round draft pick in 2014, Travis is now a .303 hitter with a .364 on-base percentage in the minors. Although his power is less impressive, those numbers reflect a legit hit tool.

With Moreland and Ramirez ahead of Travis on the depth chart, regular playing time should come later rather than sooner for the 23-year-old. But if nothing else, he has a chance this spring to make an impression the Red Sox will remember if a roster spot opens up this season.

Dark Horses to Watch

The Red Sox are heading into spring training with few roster spots up for grabs. That’s not the best environment for dark horses to steal the spotlight, but a few guys to watch are…

Rusney Castillo, OF

Remember Rusney Castillo? Let me refresh your memory: He’s the guy who’s crashed and burned since signing a $72.5 million contract in 2014.

Yeah, that guy. Because Castillo has struggled mightily and is now off the 40-man roster, he’s a long shot to break camp with the Red Sox.

But maybe not as long a shot as everyone thinks. The 29-year-old was last seen hitting .392 in the Puerto Rican winter league. In speaking to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, former Red Sox infielder Alex Cora chalked this up to changes that have occurred for Castillo both on and off the field.

So…maybe? Maybe.

Blake Swihart, C

Although Swihart will be in the mix for playing time behind the plate this spring, he’s a dark horse because he has one thing Leon and Vazquez don’t: options.

Beyond that, Swihart also has some development left to tackle after getting set back in 2016. The Red Sox’s decision to move him to the outfield was questionable to begin with, and even more so after he suffered a season-ending ankle injury.

But don’t count Swihart out. His two-way talent made him an elite prospect as recently as 2015, and he’s still only 24. With a good spring, he might upset established order in Boston’s catching depth chart.

Deven Marrero, INF

With only Josh Rutledge penciled in alongside Brock Holt, the Red Sox also have a backup infielder job that could be attainable this spring.

Deven Marrero would seem to have the best chance of stealing it. Although the 26-year-old has failed to live up to being picked in the first round in 2012, he’s still a right-handed hitting infielder with versatility. With a hot spring, he could begin to look like a right-handed hitting infielder with versatility and some upside.

Robby Scott, LHP

The Red Sox bullpen mostly looks set. But given how badly he struggled in Boston down the stretch in 2016, Fernando Abad, it’s fair to speculate, is on thin ice as the club’s go-to lefty specialist.

As such, keep an eye on Robby Scott. The 27-year-old put up a 2.54 ERA at Triple-A Pawtucket in 2016 before breaking through with seven scoreless appearances for the big club at the end of the year. If Scott keeps it up this spring, he may be able to steal Abad‘s role.

A Few Bold Predictions

Let’s quit the previewing and end with some predictions of the bold variety…

Chris Sale Will Have a Lousy Spring, Prompting Panic

After the price they paid to acquire Sale, I can only imagine the amount of handwringing that will be going on if he has a rough spring.

I’m also guessing I won’t have to imagine it. Dominating in spring training generally isn’t Sale’s thing, after all. Per MLB.com, his career ERA in the spring is just 4.20, and he’s struck out just 87 batters in 96.2 innings.

Will it mean anything when Sale has another lousy spring? Not at all. The freak-out will be real, though.

The Sandoval Question Won’t Be Answered

The Red Sox’s Sandoval experiment is an unnecessary risk that’s short on assurances that it will be successful. So, I’m going to treat it as such.

It’s great that Sandoval is looking good, but nobody has any idea how comfortable he’s going to be in his new body on the field. It’s also unknown if he’ll be feeling any ill effects from last year’s surgery.

Otherwise, it’s just hard to have confidence in a guy who hasn’t seen major league pitching in 10 months and who hasn’t really hit major league pitching in over two years.

Since Shaw is no longer around to pick up the baton, I imagine the Red Sox will break camp with Sandoval at third base regardless. His leash, however, will be extremely short.

Other Than That, Things Will Be Fine

Careful not to burn yourself on this hot take, man.

In all seriousness, the Red Sox simply don’t invite many bold predictions about this, that and the other thing. They have a deep, star-studded roster with a perfect mix of youthful and veteran talent, and it’s all overseen by a front office and manager who have had the reins for a while now.

No alarms. No surprises. It’s the best spring training experience a team can hope for.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked. 

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The Chicago Cubs will enter the 2017 season as marked men, looking to undertake the uphill battle that is repeating as World Series champions.

Just three times in the last 30 years has a team managed to win consecutive titles, as the New York Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000 and the Toronto Blue Jays won it all in 1992 and 1993.

The Cubs have the talent to join that exclusive club.

Even with the departures of Dexter Fowler, Aroldis Chapman, Jason Hammel, Jorge Soler, Travis Wood and a handful of others, it’s hard to find a hole in the roster without nitpicking.

Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo will once again anchor a dynamic young offense, while the trio of Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks atop the rotation stacks up to any staff in baseball.

The bullpen lost one of the game’s best closers in Chapman and replaced him with another in Wade Davis, and the relief corps as a whole looks deeper than it did a year ago.

To put it simply, all signs point to another exciting season of baseball on the North Side.

Spring training is now roughly a month away, with pitchers and catcher set to report on Feb. 14 and the first full-squad workout scheduled for Feb. 18.

As we come down the homestretch of another long, cold offseason, ahead is a full preview of what to watch for out of Cubs camp this spring.

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Pitchers and catchers with a predilection for pre-planning (say that five times fast) have already begun packing their bags for Florida and Arizona. Spring training is almost here, people, and not a moment too soon.

As we prepare for the glory of fresh-cut grass and exhibition baseball, let’s zoom a lens on the New York Yankees.

The Yanks, as you’re no doubt aware, are in the midst of a youth movement and will balance their budding rebuild with an annual mandate to compete. 

New York’s camp will feature a handful of intriguing position battles, a rising star behind the dish looking to avoid a sophomore slump and talented youngsters hoping to break through all over the roster.

Stretch out those hammies, do a little long toss and proceed when ready.

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For the first time since 1888, the Chicago Cubs visited the White House on Monday to meet President Barack Obama and celebrate the team’s first World Series title since 1908.

“They said this day would never come,” Obama said to open his remarks, per the ESPN broadcast, amid laughter and applause in the White House. “Here is something my predecessors never got to say: Welcome to the White House the World Series champion Cubs.”

He added:

I will say, it took you long enough. I’ve got four days left. Eight years ago, I made a lot of promises, some of which we’ve accomplished. But not even I was crazy enough to promise that the Cubs would win the World Series. But I did say there’s nothing false about hope. The audacity of hope.

The president spoke more about hope and how it brought together fans of the Cubs throughout the years, per CBS News:

He also had a few jokes about the team. He noted that he and catcher David Ross were each on a yearlong retirement tour over the past year. He praised Anthony Rizzo for putting the ball from the final out in Game 7 in his back pocket, calling it “excellent situational awareness.” He called manager Joe Maddon a tactical genius, joking that he even smartly made it rain in Game 7.

He also talked about how Theo Epstein, the team’s president of baseball operations, has ended droughts for the Boston Red Sox and Cubs before jokingly offering him a job, per CBS News:

As for that previous visit, the Cubs were known as the White Stockings when they last visited the White House in 1888. Team president Albert Spalding “made arrangements for a postseason world tour,” per Carrie Muskat of MLB.com, and wanted “a formal proclamation from President Grover Cleveland endorsing the tour.”

Cleveland did meet with the team, though he declined to sign the letter it presented him “proclaiming the greatness of the White Stockings and the traveling All-Stars.”

“We will make no such demands today,” Epstein joked at the podium.

Obama was much more willing to endorse the Cubs, even moving up this ceremony so he could meet with the team before his second term as president ends Friday and Donald Trump takes office, per Lynn Sweet and Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Obama was a longtime resident of Chicago and is famously a Chicago White Sox fan, a fact that wasn’t lost on the Cubs and Javier Baez:

Indeed, the Cubs couldn’t help but bring up that fact during the proceedings. Epstein and the Cubs jokingly offered Obama “a midnight pardon” despite his years of White Sox fandom and welcomed him into the ranks of Cubs fans. They also presented him with a No. 44 jersey, a No. 44 tile from the team’s scoreboard and a lifetime pass to Wrigley Field for him and his family.

The president enjoyed the banter and was appreciative of the gifts, per Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune:

There are also ties to the Cubs in his family. The president told a story about first lady Michelle Obama, a lifelong Cubs fan, per CBS News:

As for the rest of the visit, the Cubs took some time to visit the White House before the ceremony. Willson Contreras posted the following picture with teammates:

Ross did the same by the podium:

Addison Russell took a different approach, dropping a dab:

It was a special day for the organization and its fans, and it was also special as Obama’s last such meeting with a team in his tenure. Before he closed his remarks, he took a moment to reflect on the greater impact sports can have on society.

“Sports has the power to bring us together even when we are divided,” he noted. “It is a game, and it is celebration, but there is a direct line between Jackie Robinson and me standing here.”

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Free-agent outfielder Michael Saunders has agreed to a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball and Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly reported the news Monday. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports later reported the deal is worth $9 million with a club option worth $11 million and can be worth as much as $14 million with escalators.

On Tuesday, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN reported Saunders is expected to take a physical with the Phillies in the next day or two to finalize the deal. Crasnick noted the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays were also in on the outfielder, while the Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks had interest as well.

Saunders picked a good time to become a free agent, as his 2016 season with the Blue Jays was his best season in Major League Baseball. Last year marked the first time in his career that he played at least 140 games, with the offensive result showing he warranted the additional playing time that Blue Jays manager John Gibbons afforded him. 

Per Dirk Hayhurst of TSN, one of the big reasons for Saunders’ 2016 breakout was a mechanical change in his swing:

Before coming to the Jays, Saunders’ hands were at a resting position above his shoulders, hovering. Now they’ve come down to the shoulders and as a result, Saunders’ swing is shorter and faster to the ball. His swing also has more trunk and less arms involved in the process. The payout is that Saunders’ power-to-plate coverage ratio has increased. He’s taking the ball out all over the park, and hitting more pitches in the strike zone, especially down and away.

Because there’s a clear mechanical change to explain why he performed better in 2016 than he had at least since 2014, there’s no reason to believe he can’t be an above-average hitter for his new team. 

Heading into his age-30 season, Saunders was one of those under-the-radar sluggers who wasn’t going to break the bank for his new team and can provide middle-of-the-order production. 

The Blue Jays helped give him an opportunity to shine because he was hitting around stars like Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion. He made himself into more than just someone who could take some of the runs batted in they set up for him by getting on base so frequently. 

Finding power is a luxury in MLB, especially in free agency, where teams will often pay top dollar for it. Saunders is a well-rounded hitter who can get on base at a solid clip and will hit 20-plus homers if he can stay on the field. He should provide some pop to a Phillies outfield that looks sorely in need with spring training not far off in the horizon.   

It all adds up to a solid addition for the Phillies in an offseason without great depth in free agency. 

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The Kansas City Royals and Danny Duffy agreed to terms on a five-year extension worth $65 million, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan.  

The Royals formally announced the extension on Twitter:

The Kansas City Star‘s Rustin Dodd shared a yearly breakdown of the contract:

Duffy was under team control for one more season before he was set to become a free agent next winter, per Spotrac.

The 28-year-old left-hander went 12-3 with a 3.51 ERA in 42 appearances for the Royals in 2016. He began the year in the bullpen before making his first start May 15 and emerging as the Royals’ ace.

According to FanGraphs, Duffy finished with a 3.56 ERA and 3.99 FIP in 26 starts, both of which were the lowest among Kansas City’s regular starting pitchers. Duffy also averaged a career-best 9.42 strikeouts and 2.10 walks per nine innings.

With major question marks over the starting rotation, re-signing Duffy was a great move for Kansas City. Edinson Volquez signed with the Miami Marlins, Ian Kennedy was disappointing in the first year of his five-year deal, and Yordano Ventura took a big step backward in 2016.

Keeping Duffy for the next five years stabilizes the staff, and an average of $13 million is a more than reasonable salary. He won’t even be the highest-paid starter. Kennedy, who is four years older, will earn an average of roughly $15.6 million for the next four seasons, per Spotrac.

ESPN.com’s Dan Szymborski tweeted that Duffy’s deal gives the Royals some flexibility:

Kansas City made back-to-back World Series in 2014 and 2015, winning a title the second time around, but general manager Dayton Moore said in October he expected the team’s payroll to “regress a little bit” after the Royals spent relatively big in pursuit of a World Series ring, per Dodd.

Duffy’s extension is evidence, however, that Kansas City’s ownership is still willing to invest in the team to ensure it remains competitive in 2017 and beyond.

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David Ortiz confirmed Monday he will remain retired from baseball amid speculation the former Boston Red Sox slugger might return to the game.

“My playing time has already expired,” Ortiz told Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes.

He maintained he hasn’t been undergoing his usual offseason preparations, a necessary precursor to playing.

“Baseball is not something that you wake up today and you say, ‘I’ll play tomorrow,'” he noted. “Baseball is something that carries a lot of sacrifice, a lot of preparation, and there is a reason why we train the entire year to play it, practice every day, especially during the season, because it is a sport of consistency.”

Ortiz, 41, has created some buzz surrounding a possible comeback. On Jan. 9, he sent out this cryptic tweet:

He also sent out an Instagram post after the Red Sox acquired star pitcher Chris Sale:

Certainly, if Ortiz ever did entertain a comeback, the Red Sox would welcome him back with open arms. Ortiz hit .315 with 38 home runs and 127 RBI last season, leading the team to the postseason. There’s little doubt that, should he choose to return, Ortiz would be productive.

It’s not just the Red Sox that would love to have him back. The Dominican Republic national team lost its centerpiece as well—particularly jarring with the World Baseball Classic in March—and replacing a player like Ortiz will take time for the country. Ortiz acknowledged as much.

“It’s a process, it’s not something that happens overnight,” Ortiz told Rojas. “There are a lot of people who are doing a good job and they are getting stronger, but they need to keep gaining experience and doing things well, on and off the field.”

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