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Major League Baseball teams will get an extra 24 hours to make some moves before the trade deadline in 2016. 

Per USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale on Thursday, the deadline has been moved from July 31 to August 1 due to the original date being on a Sunday.  

According to MLB.com’s Richard Justice, the August 1 deadline will only be for this year. But an extra day, while it doesn’t seem like much, does give teams more time to negotiate and piece together trades.

The non-waiver trade deadline is one of the most exciting times of baseball’s regular season, as it reveals which teams are buyers, and therefore contenders, and which ones are dismantling in an attempt to build for the future.

It also depends on whether talented players near the end of their contracts are unlikely to sign with their current team. If the outlook is bleak on re-signing a player, his team could turn to the trade market to receive something in return rather than having him walk in free agency when the season ends.

Deadline activity fluctuates each year thanks to the state of teams around the league. If a majority of ballclubs are comfortable with where they are, fewer moves are made.  

During last year’s trade deadline, some huge talent shipped to new teams, including pitchers David Price and Johnny Cueto, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Price and Tulowitzki went to the Toronto Blue Jays, Cueto went to the Kansas City Royals and Cespedes went to the New York Mets. 

It was no coincidence that those were three of the final four teams in the postseason in 2015. 

In 2014, though, star power was lacking, as the biggest moves involved names like pitchers Jake Peavy, Huston Street and shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. 

After the non-waiver deadline comes the waiver deadline August 31. It is far more difficult to deal players, as, obviously, they have to pass through waivers without being claimed.

While we can speculate about which players could be on the block based on their contract situations, the only way to gauge how busy this year’s deadline will be is to wait for the season to progress closer to it.

Past trade deadline information courtesy of ESPN.com

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Free-agent outfielder Justin Upton signed with the Detroit Tigers on Monday. According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the deal is for six years, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today noted Upton will get $132.75 million.

Nightengale also reported Upton will undergo his physical on Thursday and a press conference is scheduled to follow.

Upton has proved over his nine-year career that he is one of the most well-rounded outfielders in the majors. He earned a trip to his third All-Star Game in 2015 during his first and only season with the San Diego Padres.

While a change of scenery can sometimes slow a player down, Upton continued to produce with the Padres, batting .251 with 26 home runs and 81 RBI after the Atlanta Braves traded him in December 2014.

The Padres, who tried to build up their roster in the offseason to compete in the National League West, didn’t live up to the hype, going 74-88 and finishing fourth in the division.

The 28-year-old is a consistent power threat, having hit at least 17 home runs in each of the last six seasons. Still in his prime, he might be able to replicate the career-high 31 home runs he bashed in 2011.

Upton also has speed to complement his power. He stole 19 bags in 2015, two off his career-best mark from 2011.

This was a difficult offseason for an outfielder to hit the market with the likes of Yoenis Cespedes, Alex Gordon and Jason Heyward also searching for suitors, and those players being available could have delayed Upton’s deal with the Tigers.

But with the addition of Upton, the Tigers are a dangerous team again. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports weighed in on their potential lineup next season:

Even with all those high-end names, Jon Morosi of Fox Sports pointed to one possible concern:

Righty-heavy lineup or not, Detroit needed to make a move on the offensive side after it finished a dismal 74-87 last year and in last place in the American League Central. Adding a power bat like Upton will help an offense that tied for 15th in the majors in runs scored and was 18th in home runs in 2015.

The Tigers need to produce better offensive numbers in a division that includes the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals, and Upton should help them do just that.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter seems to have had enough of the Chris Davis free-agency drama that is surrounding his team in the offseason.

In a leadership conference Thursday in which he shared the stage with Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, Showalter faced questions about the free-agent slugger who is set to make quite a payday whenever he decides to sign with a team, per Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun. 

“How much is enough? I asked Chris during the season, ‘Chris, when you walk into a Target store, can you buy anything you want? So, how much is enough?’ I love Chris, but if that [his decision] makes or breaks our team, shame on us,” Showalter said, per Schmuck.

According to Schmuck, the Orioles offered Davis a $150 million deal earlier in the offseason, but he has not made a move yet.

His lack of action is not sitting well with the Orioles, per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick:

The team made an offer to free-agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes on Thursday, according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. By inquiring about Cespedes’ bat, Baltimore might be trying to send a message to Davis that the team is close to being finished with him.

Replacing Davis’ bat won’t be easy, though. The left-hander led the majors with 47 home runs while driving in 117 runs in 2015.

But as spring training gets closer and his status remains up in the air, the Orioles have to do something to ensure that they don’t get burned if Davis goes elsewhere.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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The Miami Marlins and second baseman Dee Gordon agreed to a five-year, $50 million deal on Jan. 13, according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. 

The Marlins announced the deal on Monday.

Gordon garnered his second All-Star Game appearance in his first year with the Marlins in 2015, leading MLB with 205 hits.

Per Rosenthal, there is an option for a sixth year, which could make the contract worth $64 million.

While some contracts break the bank, CBS Sports’ Chris Towers doesn’t feel that way about this deal:

Towers is alluding to Miami’s acquisitions of pitcher Wei-Yin Chen and infielder Chris Johnson on Tuesday, making this a busy week for the Marlins.

Gordon is one of the best leadoff hitters in the majors, blending blazing speed with a fantastic ability to put the ball in play. He led MLB with 58 stolen bases, and only Miguel Cabrera bested his .333 batting average.

Add that with a .359 on-base percentage, a career high, and Gordon is the kind of player any team dreams of having atop its lineup. 

The 27-year-old also exhibited a reliable glove, committing just six errors on 733 chances last season. He was a vital part of a Marlins defense that ranked third-best in the majors. 

Keeping Gordon ensures that his presence leading off will set the table for the slugging Giancarlo Stanton, who has had difficulties staying healthy over the past two years. Gordon could do everything but get himself across home plate. Without Stanton in the lineup, the Marlins struggled to score, ranking 29th in the league with 613 runs.

If Stanton manages to stay in the lineup and Gordon can recreate his 2015 season, the Marlins could be scoring a lot more in 2016.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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According to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan on Wednesday, the San Diego Padres have agreed to a one-year deal with reliever Carlos Villanueva with a guarantee of $1.5 million. 

The 32-year-old put up a career season coming out of the bullpen for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2015, posting a 2.95 ERA in 35 appearances.    

A change of venue to a successful franchise seemed to do the trick for Villanueva. In his previous eight seasons before the Cardinals, which included stints with the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs, Villanueva never had an ERA under 3.69.

Villanueva was a nice surprise in St. Louis, which signed him to a minor league deal in February 2015. He showed an ability to come out of the pen and contribute solid innings for the Cardinals.

He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, with a fastball topping out at the high 80s. But his slider is his go-to out pitch and has some serious movement when it enters the zone.  

If he can replicate his 2015 numbers, the Padres just received a nice piece for their bullpen, which was inept at times last season. San Diego’s bullpen allowed over 4.5 runs per game and had just 63 holds—sixth-worst in the majors. 

He is one of a few arms that the Padres have acquired this offseason, including Drew Pomeranz and Cesar Vargas, in an attempt to revamp their bullpen.

Villanueva can provide an option in long relief, especially from the fourth through sixth innings if San Diego’s starters spin a bad outing. It’ll allow the Padres an opportunity to get back into games if they fall behind early. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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The San Francisco Giants announced Thursday they signed free-agent center fielder Denard Span. 

According to Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area, the deal is worth $31 million over three years.

Span’s final season of his five-year, $16 million deal with the Washington Nationals was filled with injuries that limited him to just 61 games. However, the Giants noted Span passed his physical.

The Nationals struggled in his absence, as they missed the playoffs in a season they were expected by some to represent the National League in the World Series. 

Having led the NL with 184 hits in 2014, Span is a quintessential top-of-the-order batter who brings a great combination of speed and average. It made him an attractive target for teams in need of a spark at the top of their lineup. 

Entering free agency, though, Span was thankful for his time in Washington, D.C.

“I’ve enjoyed my three years here,” Span said, per the Washington Post‘s Chelsea Janes. “I feel like coming here kind of resurrected my career. Coming from Minnesota, this trade was probably the best thing for me at the time. I’ve learned a lot here from the coaching staff and my teammates.”

His agent was making his acquisition difficult, though. According to the New York Post‘s Mike Puma, Scott Boras was looking to get his client a three-year deal, which scared away the New York Mets, who didn’t want to commit to more than one season with him. 

Span also wasn’t able to work out for teams until January, per Puma.

Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan believes the 31-year-old will be a perfect fit in the Bay Area:

The Giants certainly haven’t been shy about spending money this offseason. Span joins Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija as their biggest free-agent acquisitions, and between the three, San Francisco is committing about $250 million.

A healthy Span is an upgrade over Angel Pagan, who prowled center in the majority of the Giants’ games in 2015. Pagan has seen his performance decline since his breakout 2012 season, going from a .778 OPS four years ago to .635 last season. 

The Giants are betting on Span to stay healthy after his injury-plagued 2015. He still managed to hit a solid .301/.365/.431 and had played 300 games the previous two seasons combined, so there are reasons to believe he can get back to being a solid player. 

As long as Span stays on the field, he’ll help San Francisco in its pursuit of a fourth World Series title in seven seasons.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

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Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza are on their way to the Baseball Hall of Fame after receiving over 75 percent of votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Wednesday. One of the 30 other players who didn’t make it was pitcher Roger Clemens, who in his fourth year of eligibility received just 45.2 percent of the votes.

The 354-game winner, who along with Barry Bonds has been linked to steroids over the past decade, released a statement on yet another failed attempt to get into baseball’s most hallowed grounds, per Fox 26’s Mark Berman:

With six years of eligibility remaining, Clemens seems like someone who has come to the realization he will never make it into the hall. Instead, he still seems defensive about the issue of performance-enhancing drugs, directing his comments at former teammate Roy Halladay, who tweeted this earlier on Wednesday:

Halladay was teammates with Clemens for just one year, his rookie season in 1998, before Clemens went to the New York Yankees.

The topic of PEDs, though, is something that has gotten Clemens in trouble since 2005.

After being called out in Jose Canseco’s book, which claimed he took steroids, Clemens’ name surfaced two years later in 2007 as a part of the Mitchell Report, a document listing 77 baseball players—including fellow Hall of Fame candidate Bonds—who used PEDs.

Fighting the testimony made by trainer Brian McNamee, Clemens wound up on Capitol Hill in 2008, denying that he took any substances. An inquiry turned into perjury case in 2011, which was declared a mistrial later that year.

It’s these events that are keeping the seven-time Cy Young Award winner out of the Hall of Fame. In any other era, 354 wins, ranked ninth on baseball’s all-time list, and 4,672 strikeouts, ranked third, would be more than enough for an invitation to Cooperstown, New York. But now, Clemens will have to wait and see if his percentage will continue to climb high enough to eclipse the 75 percent mark.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

Clemens timeline courtesy of the Washington Post.

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Outfielder Alex Gordon has agreed to re-sign with the Kansas City Royals on a four-year deal with a mutual option for the 2020 season, the team announced. 

Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com, citing sources, first reported the deal. ESPN’s Buster Olney confirmed Flanagan’s report and noted that the deal is worth $72 million over four years.

CBS Eye on Baseball’s Dave Brown reported that Gordon’s deal is the most expensive one in Royals history, as the previous high was $55 million over five years for Gil Meche and Mike Sweeney.

Having just completed his ninth season in the majors, all with the Royals, Gordon’s four-year, $37.5 million contract expired after the team’s first World Series win since 1985, as noted by Spotrac. That deal came on the heels of a 2011 season that saw him bat .303 with 23 home runs and 87 RBI. 

In 2015, Gordon’s numbers weren’t quite as attractive. In fact, he didn’t match those 2011 numbers in any of the four years of his last contract. But what he did show toward the end of his deal is that he’s capable of leading a winning team.

Gordon was one of the integral pieces that helped lead the Royals to the World Series in 2014 despite a .204 postseason average. In 2015, as the Royals stormed their way to an American League Central title, Gordon missed over 50 games in the regular season due to a groin injury.

Ready for the postseason, Gordon hit the tying home run during the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 1 of the World Series. That helped set the tone moving forward, as Kansas City won in five games over the New York Mets. 

With a knack for coming up big in heavy situations, Kansas City is also keeping one of the most well-respected players in the league, as Royals play-by-play man Ryan Lefebvre told JournalStar.com’s Brian Rosenthal in 2014:

I don’t know if there’s a more respected player in the league by everybody—young guys, veteran guys, middle-of-the-road guys, coaches, managers. There’s 29 other teams that would love to have Alex Gordon. And I think the organization sees him as somebody where you don’t really have to tell the minor-leaguers what Alex Gordon is all about. All you have to do is say, “Just watch Alex Gordon every day. Just watch what he does.”

His left-handed bat, Gold Glove in left field and leadership skills made him an attractive asset for teams in free agency.

With Gordon back, the Royals keep their model outfielder and can focus on smoothing out the rougher edges on their roster as they prepare to defend their World Series title. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Infielder Daniel Murphy reportedly agreed Thursday to a three-year deal with the Washington Nationals, per Jim Bowden of ESPN. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports confirmed the news. 

Rosenthal added the deal is for three years and worth $37.5 million.  

One of the most productive left-handed hitters in last season’s New York Mets lineup, Murphy proved over seven years in the Big Apple that he is a great hitter. He held a .280 batting average in six of his first seven seasons and hit a career-high 14 long balls last year.

However, Murphy has been a liability in the field, committing 13 or more errors in each of the past four years. But his bat has been too valuable to keep out of the lineup. 

And even while he approached free agency, Murphy adored the franchise that gave him his start, as he told the New York Post‘s Steve Serby: “I know that this organization has done more for me than I think any other organization in baseball would have done, and I love ’em for it.”

However, Murphy will now play for New York’s National League East rival.

Murphy could fit in the second spot of the Nationals lineup. A contact hitter who finds his way on base, he can help set the table for the likes of Bryce Harper in the nation’s capital.

In October, Murphy broke a drought in which he’d played 903 games without making the postseason, and he turned plenty of heads in the playoffs. He drilled seven home runs against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs and was a major reason why the Mets reached the World Series.

If he can provide the same level of production in Washington, Nationals fans will be thrilled with their new second baseman.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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MLB.com’s William Ladson reported on Wednesday that the Washington Nationals are talking with free-agent second baseman Howie Kendrick. 

Continue for updates.

Nats in Need of a 2nd Baseman

Wednesday, Dec. 23

The 32-year-old spent last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and batted .295 with nine home runs and 54 RBI in 117 games. Along with Kendrick, the Nationals have spoken with fellow free-agent second baseman Daniel Murphy, formerly of the New York Mets, per Ladson. 

The Nationals are in search of a second baseman because of turmoil in their middle infield. Last year’s second baseman, Danny Espinosa, looks to be the team’s starter on Opening Day, but with the looming departure of free-agent shortstop Ian Desmond, Espinosa has other ideas. 

On Dec. 18, he told Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post he wants to be a shortstop, so the 28-year-old could be a suitable replacement for Desmond.   

Washington looked to have found its next second baseman in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds for Brandon Phillips, per CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, but the veteran did not waive his no-trade clause after the Nationals were unwilling to give him a contract extension. 

Kendrick is a tough out who will be a consistent performer night in and night out. In his 10 years in the league, he’s only batted under .285 once.

He could provide a solid presence toward the top of the Nationals lineup, as he does pretty well to get on base. In seven of his 10 years in the majors, Kendrick has had an on-base percentage of .330 or higher.

His mark of .336 last season would have trailed on the Nationals only Bryce Harper and Yunel Escobar, who are normally the No. 3 and 4 hitters in Washington’s lineup. 

A bat like Kendrick who could get on base regularly before those two could give the Nationals more opportunities to score. Battling in the National League East with the New York Mets and their stacked pitching, Washington could use the kind of pseudo small-ball style Kendrick brings in order to grind out some runs. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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