Archive for January, 2017

Luis Valbuena: Latest News, Rumors, Speculation Surrounding Free-Agent 3B

Veteran infielder Luis Valbuena is still searching for a landing spot in free agency after slugging 66 home runs over the past four years.

Continue for updates.


Orioles Show Fringe Interest In Valbuena

Friday, Jan. 6

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com reported Friday that the Baltimore Orioles have discussed the idea of signing Valbuena. He noted that the organization’s biggest need is in the outfield, however, and that’s an area where the 31-year-old Venezuela native has only four games of experience in the majors.

Valbuena was on pace to have his best season to date in 2016 before a hamstring injury brought a premature end to his campaign in August. His .260 batting average and .816 OPS were both career highs, and he tallied 13 homers in 90 games for the Houston Astros.

Angel Verdejo Jr. of the Houston Chronicle noted the versatile infielder was focused on his recovery and not the potential offseason impact after suffering the injury setback.

“I have to get ready and see what happens,” Valbuena said.

He started his career with the Seattle Mariners in 2008 and then spent three years apiece with the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs before ending up in Houston in 2015. In all, he owns a career .232/.317/.394 triple-slash line in 798 games.

His impact has increased over the past handful of years. Along with the aforementioned 66 home runs, he’s tallied 184 RBI and 202 runs scored since the start of the 2013 campaign.

In turn, it’s a bit surprising he hasn’t generated more interest. Crasnick previously linked him to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Joel Sherman of the New York Post noted that the New York Yankees reached out to Valbuena’s representatives in early December. But his market has been mostly cold since.

The Orioles are basically set on the infield, barring any injuries. While they do have a possible opening in right field, Valbuena has never played there at the pro level. Designated hitter is also an option, but Baltimore likely doesn’t want to block prospect Trey Mancini for an extended period of time.

Ultimately, Valbuena may be forced to accept a shorter-term contract than he originally anticipated with hope of proving himself and then reentering the market in 2018 or 2019. If so, he could provide some nice bang for the buck as a late-offseason signing.

                                             

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MLB Spring Training 2017: The 10 First Basemen to Watch

Some of the league’s most dynamic offensive players call first base home.

Miguel Cabrera, Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Rizzo, Joey Votto and Freddie Freeman are all elite sluggers and true superstars.

You won’t find any of those players on the following list, though.

Ahead, we’ll take a look at the 10 first basemen who, for a variety of reasons, will be worth keeping an eye on this spring.

Whether it’s a player returning from a significant injury, an up-and-coming young player ready to step into a more significant role, an impending position battle or something else altogether, the following guys enter spring training with compelling storylines.

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Would Bonds, Clemens Entry Open Up Hall of Fame Floodgates?

How much juice can the National Baseball Hall of Fame hold? We’re going to find out.

The sea change in the voting for the Hall of Fame can’t be ignored. It first became apparent when Mike Piazza, long suspected of needing performance-enhancing drugs to slug more homers than any other catcher, got into Cooperstown with 83 percent of the vote in 2016.

Now the revolution is projected to continue in 2017.

The latest Hall of Fame class won’t be revealed until January 18, but all the votes were in on December 31. And thanks to Ryan Thibodaux, the tireless Samaritan who aggregates Hall of Fame ballots, we already know how the votes are trending:

With the cutoff for induction set at 75 percent, Vladimir Guerrero is too close to call. Otherwise, it looks like congratulations will soon be in order for Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez.

This trio’s induction would draw applause from plenty but also raise eyebrows from others. Bags, Rock and Pudge come with big numbers but also with suspicion and/or baggage.

Bagwell was a muscly steroid-era slugger who admitted to using androstenedione to the Houston Chronicle (via Sports Illustrated‘s William Nack and Kostya Kennedy)—the stuff Mark McGwire was on.

Rodriguez, another steroid-era star, once gave a curiously vague response when he was asked about PEDs, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). Raines was in the back end of his career during the steroid era, but he did use cocaine during his prime with the Montreal Expos in the 1980s.

This is neither here nor there for those of us (hi there!) who see the scuzzier portions of baseball’s past not as parts to be shunned but as those to be discussed and examined. But all should be prepared for the rabble about to be raised by a small army of handwringers. They’ll echo the Hall of Fame’s insistence on integrity and character and wonder if nothing is sacred anymore.

A word to the hand-wringers: If you don’t like how those three are trending, you’d better not look at how Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are doing.

Bonds, baseball’s all-time home run king, and Clemens, its only seven-time Cy Young winner, debuted with just 36.2 and 37.6 percent of the vote in 2013. By last year, they had only climbed into the 40s.

Never mind the argument that Bonds and Clemens may be the greatest hitter and pitcher ever, respectively. This seemed to clarify that their status as poster boy 1A and 1B for the steroid era weighed more heavily.

But look! Now they’re tracking at darn near 70 percent. “How about that?” says Mel Allen’s ghost.

Although Bonds and Clemens will likely fall short of their current marks in the end, this is still writing on the wall that says their support is in for a major boost. With five years left on the ballot after this one, they finally have a light museum at the end of their tunnels.

Some things are random. Like lottery numbers. Or Bryce Harper’s year-to-year performance.

But Bonds and Clemens’ push to Cooperstown? That’s not random.

This is an effect of the Hall of Fame’s purging inactive baseball writers from the Baseball Writers Association of America voting bloc in 2015. That did away with a lot of older and out-of-touch voters, giving younger and more progressive voters more influence.

This is also an unintended consequence of the Hall of Fame’s welcoming legendary manager Tony La Russa in 2014 and former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig this year. Juiced players (McGwire included) helped the former win 2,728 games and three World Series. Juiced players did the latter a huge favor by putting on a show that erased the 1994-1995 strike from memory and ushered in an era of unfathomable prosperity.

Selig’s induction seems to be the real kicker for many voters. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports recently offered a sampling of their thoughts, with the consensus being it’s no longer fair to scorn the juiced-up labor of the steroid era while the beneficiaries of said juiced-up labor are going scot-free.

“When Bud was put in two weeks ago, my mindset changed,” veteran Philadelphia sportswriter Kevin Cooney wrote to Passan in an email. “If the commissioner of the steroid era was put into the HOF by a secret committee, then I couldn’t in good faith keep those two out any longer.”

Clearly, the line in the sand has been redrawn. That doesn’t just spell hope for Bonds and Clemens, but it also does so for other steroid-era stars gunning for Cooperstown. That’s you, Gary Sheffield and Sammy Sosa. 

As for you, Manny Ramirez…uh…hmmm…

OK, you’re a tough one.

It’s easy to miss Ramirez on this year’s ballot, but he’s there. And his numbers loom large. He hit 555 dingers in a 19-year career and is one of only 13 players to accumulate more than 9,000 plate appearances and post a slash line better than .300/.400/.500.

The only number that matters, though, is the 26.7 percent Ramirez is polling at.

There’s no big secret for why he’s struggling. Ramirez enjoyed success during and after the steroid era but missed the memo when the era ended. Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times reported in 2009 that Ramirez tested positive for PEDs in 2003. He was then busted and suspended for PEDs later that year. When he was caught again in 2011, he ducked the consequences by retiring.

Ramirez is the first superstar to have been caught riding dirty to appear on the ballot since Rafael Palmeiro in 2011. That doomed him to 11 percent of the vote that year and an early exit in his fourth year. Ramirez might last longer, but it looks like his fate will be the same.

Certainly, more players would have been caught and punished had there been rules and punishments during the steroid era. But it was a different time.

“There were no rules before 2004,” wrote Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “No signs in clubhouses banning PEDs. You were free to take whatever you desired with no testing, no penalties, nothing.”

The shorthand: There’s a difference between breaking “rules” and breaking rules. As MassLive’s Nick O’Malley‘s helpful compilation makes clear, this is a common refrain for voters regarding Ramirez.

Earth to Alex Rodriguez: This concerns you.

After retiring in 2016, Rodriguez isn’t due on the ballot until 2022. Like Ramirez, he’s an all-time great producer who had success during and after the steroid era. Also like Ramirez, he was on the 2003 list and later busted and suspended in 2014. 

For now, he’s screwed. As much as the Hall of Fame voters are loosening their standards for PED guys, they still have some standards. They came for Palmeiro and Ramirez. They’ll come for Rodriguez, too.

Unless, of course, another unexpected sea change comes along.

Before long, the effect of the Hall of Fame voting bloc’s getting younger and more progressive will go from minor to major. As Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated pointed out after A-Rod’s retirement, there will be an influx of analytically minded baseball writers starting in 2018.

If for no other reason than to reverse the effect of “small hall” thinking—MLB.com’s Mike Petriello has a good article out on that—these voters could be more inclined to vote for Ramirez and Rodriguez. Modern times need more representation in Cooperstown. Like it or not, they’re two of the biggest stars of modern times.

They also still have time to repair their images. Ramirez has already begun with his work with the Chicago Cubs. Rodriguez, meanwhile, played the good soldier on the field following his suspension and has since emerged as an extremely likable television analyst.

The other thing time can do is thin out the competition. In contrast to the tidal wave of superstars of recent years, the future should see only a slow drip of superstars onto the ballot. In the meantime, the 10-year limit will push some off the ballot. Others will get squeezed by the annual 10-player voting limit. Others still, such as Bonds and Clemens, will get voted in, leaving fewer titans to contend with.

This is better news for someone like David Ortiz, who was flagged for PEDs in 2003 but was never busted in 13 fruitful years after that, than it is for Ramirez and Rodriguez. But if nothing else, this is all basically Lloyd Christmas telling them there’s a chance.

For good or ill, the Hall of Fame’s days of just saying no to PED guys are over. We’re in new territory, and the task of charting it is just beginning.

                    

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

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Brandon Phillips Reportedly Blocked a Trade to Braves: Details, Reaction

Brandon Phillips is apparently still not ready to leave the Cincinnati Reds. 

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the second baseman used his no-trade clause to block a potential deal to the Atlanta Braves in November.

The Braves instead acquired Sean Rodriguez to fill their infield needs, making any potential deal for Phillips unlikely.

However, on Friday, ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden reported a deal to the Braves may not be dead just yet, but noted the situation is “difficult.”

Phillips has been the subject of numerous trade talks in recent years but has not been shy about using his no-trade clause. He was unwilling to go to the Arizona Diamondbacks last offseason, and while a move to the Washington Nationals seemed likely, he refused to agree without an extension.

Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported in November that Phillips would be more likely to waive his no-trade clause this offseason, but that is seemingly not the case.

“This is where I want to be,” Phillips said at the end of the 2016 season, per C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “That’s why I’m still here, I’m happy. I played great for this city. I proved a lot of people wrong. I love the haters. They motivate me.”

The 35-year-old is a three-time All-Star with four Gold Glove awards, although he has lost a step in recent seasons. He did have a solid year with a .291 batting average and 34 doubles, but his 11 home runs were his second-fewest since becoming a regular in 2006.

After the Reds struggled to a 68-94 record last season, it makes sense for the team to want to move on from Phillips, who is in the final year of his contract, and play younger players while rebuilding. Cincinnati acquired second base prospect Dilson Herrera (22) from the New York Mets in a July trade for outfielder Jay Bruce.

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Edwin Encarnacion to Indians: Takeaways from DH’s Introductory Press Conference

The Cleveland Indians officially introduced prized free-agent signing Edwin Encarnacion on Thursday.

Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com reported the sides finalized a three-year, $60 million contract after the former Toronto Blue Jays slugger passed a physical Wednesday. The deal also includes a fourth-year club option worth $25 million.

Zack Meisel of Cleveland.com highlighted the donning of the Tribe jersey for the first time:

Chris Antonetti, the Indians’ president of baseball operations, admitted the reigning American League champions weren’t sure they could make this type of offseason splash, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.

“At the start of the offseason, we didn’t think this was possible,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet noted Encarnacion called Cleveland a “perfect fit,” even though there’s a part of him that’s struggled with moving on from the Blue Jays.

Now that Encarnacion is a member of the Indians, Tom Withers of the Associated Press pointed out the star’s focus has shifted to one thing: capturing the championship that slipped through Cleveland’s grasp against the Chicago Cubs in last season’s Fall Classic.

“I believe in this team, and I believe we can win the World Series,” Encarnacion said.

OddsShark noted the oddsmakers agree the Indians are once again a serious threat to capture the American League pennant. They rank second behind only the Boston Red Sox in the current AL odds and third overall, with the defending champion Cubs the favorite to repeat as champions.

Encarnacion will carry a heavy burden if Cleveland is going to live up to those expectations. The Dominican Republic native has been one of the game’s best power hitters over the past five years. He’s hit at least 34 home runs every year during that stretch, including 42 homers last season for Toronto.

The 33-year-old marquee addition will probably split time between first base and designated hitter with Carlos Santana. They’ll combine with Jason Kipnis, Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley and Jose Ramirez to form a terrific top six in the order if Brantley can stay healthy after missing most of 2016.   

                                               

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Ranking the 2016-17 MLB Offseason’s 15 Largest Contracts from Worst to Best

OK, so the 2016-2017 MLB offseason hasn’t been the wild spending bonanza that last winter’s offseason was. But as evidence that it hasn’t been all bad, I submit 15 contracts worth at least $20 million.

How about we pass the time by ranking them?

Let’s go from the worst to the best. Or, put another way, from the biggest bust to the biggest steal. This is going to require weighing a multitude of factors, but they can be boiled down to a couple of basic questions:

  • How much did each player cost relative to his apparent value?
  • How does each player fit into his new team’s plans?

We’re not about to begrudge any players for accepting too much or too little. We’re looking at things from a team-building perspective. The ideal contract is a low cost for a good player who fills a need and propels the signing team toward contention. 

Fairly unscientific, but it’s an easy gist to get. So, let’s get to it.

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Yankees’ Next Big Moves Will Make or Break New Era’s Future

It’s not easy to do what the New York Yankees have done. It’s even tougher to do what they have to do next. 

In this era in which total rebuilds are all the rage and tanking is rewarded, the Yankees rebuilt their farm system without also suffering through a 101-loss season (like the Chicago Cubs) or 324 losses over three campaigns (like the Houston Astros). Three years after MLB.com said they had none of the top 60 prospects in the game, they have five of the top 51.

That doesn’t even include Gary Sanchez, who turned 24 in December but graduated from prospect status when he hit 20 home runs in just 53 contests in 2016.

“The Yankees have the best (and deepest) farm system in the game,” MLB.com’s respected prospect analyst Jim Callis tweeted in December.

Great, so now they’ll start winning, just like the Cubs did?

Not so fast.

“This is still a building year for them,” said a National League scout who follows the Yankees and their farm system closely.

This is a building year, for sure, but it’s also a crucial year. For all the good work general manager Brian Cashman and his staff have done, and for all the patience managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner has shown, they haven’t yet built a team that can win.

You don’t win with a rotation headed by Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda and CC Sabathia, with nothing but question marks behind them. You don’t win with uncertainty at so many positions in the field.

The Yankees didn’t build to win last year (when they were the only team not to sign a major league free agent), and they haven’t built to win this season (when they spent big on closer Aroldis Chapman and basically swapped Brian McCann for Matt Holliday as their designated hitter).

They’re trying to remain competitive while building for what could be a bright future, and so far, they’ve done a good job with that.

The Yankees haven’t won a postseason game since the 2012 Division SeriesDerek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson and Raul Ibanez played in that gamebut they also haven’t had a losing season since 1992.

But how do they get from here (impressive rebuild) to there (true championship contender)?

“The biggest issue they have, by far, is starting pitching,” the NL scout said. 

In his view, the Yankees need to find a way to trade for Jose Quintana, who may not be an ace but is a 27-year-old left-hander who is already a solid major league starter. The problem, the scout acknowledged, is that the Chicago White Sox have been looking for prospect-heavy deals like the ones they made for Chris Sale (with the Boston Red Sox) and Adam Eaton (with the Washington Nationals).

“They’re asking for blood and more,” the scout said.

The Yankees weren’t going to gut the farm system they just rebuilt to get Sale, so they certainly won’t do it for Quintana. If they can get him for what they deem a reasonable price, though, a Quintana trade would be a good place to start.

If not, then just wait.

With or without Quintana, the Yankees likely won’t win in 2017. There aren’t other obvious rotation upgrades available right now, but there will be. Unless he signs an extension, Jake Arrieta will be a free agent next winter. The Detroit Tigers would trade Justin Verlander for the right price. Clayton Kershaw can opt out of his contract after 2018. So can David Price.

If they don’t do anything stupid between now and then, the Yankees will be in position to chase whichever ones they want.

Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez are already gone. Sabathia’s contract expires after this season. The Yankees might get under the luxury-tax threshold next winter, and in any case, they have just $74.2 million committed to five players for 2019.

There will always be speculation the Yankees will spend a big chunk of that money to sign Bryce Harper, who can be a free agent after 2018. In December, my friend Ken Davidoff of the New York Post named Harper “most likely to be a Yankee” out of the 2018 class.

I don’t doubt it, but so much depends on what happens between now and then. Can Harper recover from a subpar 2016 season? Will a big-hitting outfielder even be the Yankees’ most pressing need then? Would they be better off signing Manny Machado to play third base? Will they need to spend all their money on pitching?

Things change from year to year, as the Yankees know only too well. Twelve months ago, Luis Severino was one of the stars of the rebuilding process, a front-end starting pitcher ready to blossom. Now, the Yankees aren’t even sure he’s a starting pitcher at all.

They need to find out more this year about Severino and about fellow young starters Luis Cessa, Chad Green and Bryan Mitchell. They need to see if the progress James Kaprielian showed in the Arizona Fall League was real and whether fellow pitching prospects Justus Sheffield and Domingo Acevedo develop as true rotation options.

They need to find out if Greg Bird is the answer at first base and whether Aaron Judge can overcome his swing-and-miss issues to be a dependable power source in right field. They need to watch shortstop Gleyber Torres and outfielder Clint Fraziertheir reward for trading Chapman and Andrew Miller last summer.

“I think Frazier is playing right field for them before the year’s over,” the NL scout said. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if Torres plays second, with [Starlin] Castro moving to third.”

It’s nice for the Yankees and their fans to think about, because it’s fun to imagine talented players developing. But it’s also a challenge, because the next decisions will cost more (in money and/or prospects) and have bigger consequences.

Two decades ago, the Yankees made all the right decisions at a similar point. They kept Jeter and Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera while trading highly rated (but not as good) prospects like Matt Drews and Russ Davis.

They built a team that won year after year. They dream of doing it again.

The decisions they make over the next 24 months could determine whether it happens.

      

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

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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Early Predictions for Top 2017 Spring Training Position Battles

We’re several cold, soggy weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training. Baseball remains an abstraction—a distant, beautiful dream.

Still, it’s not too early to gaze through the winter haze toward a few key spring position battles and make some premature predictions.

We’ll stay away from bullpen and fifth-starter skirmishes since the remaining free-agent targets are sure to reshape many of those. Instead, let’s zero in on three high-profile playoff hopefuls with question marks and logjams in the outfield and at the hot corner, keeping in mind that injuries and trades can quickly change the calculus. 

Until the hot stove crackles again, warm your hands with the following.

     

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Outfield Glut

From a quantity standpoint, the Los Angeles Dodgers are set in the outfield. Their depth chart includes Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig, Andrew Toles, Andre Ethier, Trayce Thompson and Scott Van Slyke.

Pederson, who turns 25 in April, hit 25 home runs last season and has the speed and on-base capabilities to evolve into a star player despite his .224 career MLB average.

After that, it’s a disconcerting jumble.

Puig is just 26 years old and possesses five-tool potential, but he’s a mercurial enigma whose future with the Dodgers was recently in grave danger

Toles is a great story, but he’s got a grand total of 115 big league plate appearances under his belt and was briefly out of baseball and working in a grocery store in 2015.

Ethier broke his leg in spring training and wound up posting a .208/.269/.375 slash line in 16 games. Thompson showed flashes in an 80-game stint but dealt with a back injury and hit .225. Van Slyke posted an identical .225 average in 52 games.

“There are only so many at-bats to go around,” Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts said, per ESPN.com’s Doug Padilla. “As we sit here with six or possibly seven guys who are major league players, those at-bats are hard to divvy up right now.”

Assuming Los Angeles doesn’t deal away and/or trade for an outfielder before the start of spring, who emerges?

Toles looks like the front-runner in left field, provided his .314/.365/.505 slash line wasn’t a mirage. 

In right, it’ll likely come down to Puig and Ethier. The latter turns 35 in April but was a solid contributor in 2015, hitting .294 with 14 home runs.

Don’t count out Puig, however. He posted a .900 OPS with four home runs in the season’s final month. The Dodgers would also benefit from his success no matter what.

Either Puig starts raking again and helps them win or he puts up strong numbers and they trade him for a significant haul at the deadline or next winter.

Prediction: The Dodgers begin the season with Toles in left, Pederson in center, Puig in right and Ethier and Thompson as the fourth and fifth outfielders.

      

The Boston Red Sox’s 3rd Base Gamble

The Boston Red Sox are rolling the dice at third base. They sent Travis Shaw to the Milwaukee Brewers in the deal that netted reliever Tyler Thornburg. They shipped out top prospect Yoan Moncada in the Chris Sale blockbuster.

That leaves Pablo Sandoval as the front-runner to win the job. It makes sense from a financial perspective; Sandoval is owed at least $59.8 million over the next four seasons. Boston wants him to succeed.

Whether he will is another matter. 

Sandoval was an unmitigated disappointment in 2015, his first year with Boston, slashing .245/.292/.366. Last season, he showed up to spring training notably out of shape and made just seven plate appearances before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.

The Kung Fu Panda appears to have slimmed down. He’s just 30 years old and only a few seasons removed from All-Star-level production with the San Francisco Giants.

As Boston seeks to repeat as division champion and atone for last season’s division series sweep, however, a little competition at third seems like a good idea.

Enter Brock Holt, who made 11 regular-season starts for the Red Sox at third base in 2016 but started all three of Boston’s playoff games at the position. 

The 28-year-old hit .255 last season with seven home runs in 94 games. He may be best suited for a utility role. That’s undoubtedly where Boston will stick him if the svelte Sandoval delivers.

A scalding spring from Holt, however, coupled with further decline from Sandoval, could force the Red Sox’s hand.

Prediction: Sandoval wins the job, but Holt keeps nipping at his heels.

      

The Chicago Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber Conundrum

The Chicago Cubs are the World Series champs and one of the most complete teams in baseball.

They’ve also got some things to unravel in the outfield, particularly surrounding young slugger Kyle Schwarber.

It begins at second base, where Javier Baez is ready to take over. That pushes versatile veteran Ben Zobrist to left or right field and creates a traffic snarl at the other two outfield spots.

Center field could be a righty-lefty time-share between Albert Almora Jr. and newly signed Jon Jay. Despite his offensive futility, Jason Heyward checked in as the best defensive right fielder in the National League last season.

Where does that put Schwarber?

The 23-year-old grades out as a below-average defender at both corner outfield spots. He’s also had experience behind the dish but sits behind Willson Contreras and Miguel Montero on the depth chart.

Schwarber’s stick, however, is too stout for a part-time role. He hit 16 home runs in 69 games as a rookie in 2015 and returned from a devastating knee injury to post a .971 OPS in the 2016 World Series.

As Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune put it: “He’s dangerous to himself and his team in the outfield, but oh, that bat.” 

The obvious answer is that Cubs manager Joe Maddon likes to mix and match, so all the players mentioned will get time.

Assuming everyone stays healthy, however, someone will get squeezed.

Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein gave Heyward, who is owed more than $28 million in 2017, a vote of confidence. 

“We believe in Jason Heyward and his ability to tackle things head-on and make the necessary adjustments,” Epstein said, per Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago. “And I think you’re going to see a much different offensive player next year.”

Heyward can also play center field. He logged 171 innings there for the Cubs last season and posted four defensive runs saved. 

Again, Maddon will shuffle his chess pieces. If we’re betting on an Opening Day alignment, however…

Prediction: Zobrist will start in right field, Heyward in center and Schwarber in leftwith ample mixing and matching.

       

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs. All contract information courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

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Tyson Ross: Latest News, Rumors and Speculation Surrounding Free-Agent SP

Starting pitcher Tyson Ross is one of the marquee free agents remaining on the market, and the race for his services is heating up.

Continue for updates.


Nationals Reportedly on Outside of Ross Market

Thursday, Jan. 5

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that the Washington Nationals want Ross but are a “long shot.”


Cubs and Rangers Considered ‘Favorites’ to Land Ross

Wednesday, Jan. 4

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports deemed the defending World Series champions and the Texas Rangers the “favorites” after meeting with the right-hander, and TR Sullivan of MLB.com said the “Rangers really like Tyson Ross and are being aggressive in trying to get a deal done, sources say.”

Sullivan noted that Ross started Opening Day for the San Diego Padres but didn’t pitch again during the 2016 season because of shoulder inflammation. He then had thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in October, which led to the Padres’ decision to opt against tendering a contract for him.

R.J. Anderson of CBSSports.com said Texas’ starting staff “remains messy behind Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels” even though it signed Andrew Cashner this offseason. Anderson suggested Ross could be a third starter for the Rangers if he is healthy again in 2017.

As for the Cubs, Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com wrote in November that the team announced it declined the $12 million option on Jason Hammel’s contract for the 2017 season. While the Cubs boast arguably the best top four of any starting rotation in baseball with Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks and John Lackey, there are questions about who will replace Hammel as the fifth man.

Mike Montgomery is one option, especially since he has starting experience. However, moving him to the rotation would take away a valuable southpaw from the bullpen who notched the save in Chicago’s dramatic Game 7 victory in the World Series.

There are clear questions about Ross’ health for the Cubs, Rangers or whichever team ultimately signs him. Still, he is just 29 years old and has proved in the past he can be an ace-like asset on the mound. He appeared in more than 30 games in three straight seasons before 2016 and posted head-turning ERA numbers in his three full years in a Padres uniform:

Signing Ross would be something of a low-risk, high-reward play for the Cubs.

He would be yet another shutdown pitcher if he returned to form, which would make the blossoming powerhouse even more formidable compared to the rest of the National League Central. If the health problems did re-emerge, Chicago still has four high-quality starters and can turn to Montgomery to fill the fifth spot.

There is more risk involved for Texas based on the sheer need for starting pitching, but the reward is also enticing. It is no wonder the team met with him as spring training approaches.

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Chad Bettis Declared Cancer-Free After November Surgery

Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis has been declared cancer-free after a November surgery removed a malignant testicle.

“I’m feeling great. Got an early Christmas present. Doctor said I was cancer-free. Ready to push forward,” Bettis said on MLB Network Radio on Wednesday.

Bettis, 27, is expected to be ready for spring training. He went 14-8 with a 4.79 ERA and 1.41 WHIP across 32 starts last season.

“My understanding is that I will be physically ready to have a normal spring training, and I greatly look forward to the upcoming season,” Bettis told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick. “I thank my friends and family for their love and kindness and ask that privacy be shown to both my wife and myself until spring training begins.”

A former second-round pick, Bettis is 23-19 with a 5.01 ERA and 1.49 WHIP since first coming up to the majors in 2013. He has been part of the Rockies’ regular starting rotation in each of the last two seasons. While his standard numbers aren’t impressive, Bettis has posted a combined 4.4 WAR in 2015 and 2016, with his FIP indicating he’s a product of bad luck, per FanGraphs.

The Rockies don’t have much in the way of elite starting pitching, so Bettis’ health is paramount to their 2017 chances. Bettis will likely be their No. 2 or No. 3 starter if he gets clearance from doctors to pitch in the regular season.

Of course, all of this pales in comparison to the good news that Bettis has been given a clean bill of health. Bettis said he will have to undergo a blood test every three to six months going forward, but he was not subject to any chemotherapy or radiation treatment, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post.

“This only reinforces my belief that each of us needs to be totally in tune with our own physical health, and that taking action sooner than later when we feel like something is off can sometimes literally be the difference between life and death,” Bettis told Crasnick. 

       

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.

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