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Cleveland Indians infielder Zach Walters was involved in a car accident that required a hospital visit but is expected to be OK. 

Continue for updates. 

Indians’ Statement on Walters

Wednesday, Dec. 23

According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, the Indians released a brief statement about Walters’ accident, noting he “is home, and is in good spirits.”       

“Everything to this point has checked out fine,” the statement said. “We will continue to stay in touch with him and monitor his situation.”

Details of Walters’ accident were not available, though Bastian did note the team is “still in the process of gathering as much information as possible.”

Bastian added that Walters’ private Instagram account includes a picture of the veteran utility man in the hospital wearing “a neckbrace and [he] had a cut above his left eye.”

Walters, who was originally drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010, made his MLB debut with the Washington Nationals in 2013. He was traded to Cleveland in July 2014 and has appeared in 42 games with the team, hitting .161/.202/.356. 

This has been a rough offseason for Walters, who had shoulder surgery in October that will require five to six months of recovery time, putting his status for spring training in doubt. 

The Indians have given themselves plenty of infield options to choose from with Mike Napoli and Carlos Santana at first base, Jason Kipnis at second base, Francisco Lindor at shortstop and some combination of Giovanny Urshela and Jose Ramirez at third base. 

Walters’ car accident doesn’t sound like it will alter his timetable to return from shoulder surgery, so hopefully he is able to make a full recovery to compete for a spot on the 25-man roster when camp opens in February. 

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First the good news, Royals fans: Kansas City made an offer to free-agent left fielder Alex Gordon, a key piece of their championship puzzle. The bad news? Gordon basically spit on it.

That’s according to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, who updated the Gordon/K.C. talks Friday:

The Royals have made it a priority to try to keep star left fielder Alex Gordon. But so far the sides appear to have a sizable gap in talks. Word is, the Royals made a four-year offer, but Gordon’s camp is believed to consider it a proposal that’s too great a hometown discount, and has sent back discouraging words about the initial try.

Gordon is thought to seek a deal closer to $20 million annually, but the Royals may view that figure as far too rich for their blood, even with added flexibility. It would be nice to see Gordon, a homegrown player from Nebraska, remain a Royal for life. But at the moment, that seems to be far less than a certainty.

That doesn’t mean Gordon will definitely walk. But it undoubtedly calls into question his future with the only big league club he’s ever known. The Royals simply aren’t in the habit of handing out $20 million-per-year deals to anyone, homegrown fan favorite or no.

Which raises the question: If Gordon does bolt for a hefty payday elsewhere, will the Royals have enough talent to defend their title and keep this run going?

Let’s start in the outfield. In addition to Gordon, Kansas City could also lose right fielder Alex Rios to free agency. Rios—who hit just four home runs with an anemic .640 OPS—wouldn’t be nearly as big a loss as Gordon, a four-time Gold Glove winner who posted an .809 OPS.

But that’s two holes the Royals have to plug on either side of American League MVP finalist Lorenzo Cain. Speedy Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando, who made his big league debut last season at age 29, are currently at the top of the depth chart. Both are fine fourth outfielders, and Dyson’s game-changing legs make him an intriguing option to start.

“I think he’s capable of stealing 50-plus bases a year and scoring a bunch of runs,” general manager Dayton Moore said recently of Dyson, per KCTV’s Chris Oberholtz. “When he’s on base, we score runs.”

But for a team that’s about to be fitted with rings, Dyson and Orlando aren’t enough. The Royals made their name with a deep, balanced lineup that moved the line and gave opposing pitchers few if any chances to come up for air.

If Gordon exits, they should pursue another name from the next tier of free-agent outfielders, which includes Dexter Fowler and Denard Span.

And the outfield isn’t the only place where questions swirl. The Royals rotation won’t feature Johnny Cueto, last season’s trade-deadline cavalry, after the right-hander inked a six-year, $130 million deal with the San Francisco Giants.

Cueto‘s departure surprised no one, and his performance with K.C. was up-and-down anyway. But the Royals are currently counting on a group topped by Edinson Volquez—who’s steady but not an ace—and the mercurial Yordano Ventura. Yes, they re-upped Chris Young to a one-year pact. That’s not going to raise any pulses.

Heyman noted that Kansas City “has its eye” on southpaw Wei-Yin Chen, along with Scott Kazmir and Yovani Gallardo. Chen is seeking a five-year, $100 million contract, according to MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko, so like Gordon he may be out of reach. But a solid No. 2-quality arm from this depleted yet still deep pitching market would leave K.C. in a much stronger position.

There’s plenty to like about this club.

The bullpen, anchored by Wade Davis, Kelvin Herrera and recently added Joakim Soria, remains an unmitigated strength. And even with uncertainty at the corner outfield spots—and Ben Zobrist also bolting via free agency—the lineup is littered with dangerous bats, including Cain, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and World Series MVP Salvador Perez.

The Minnesota Twins are stocked with young talent. The Cleveland Indians are pitching-rich. And the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox are retooling. The AL Central could be baseball’s most wide-open division, particularly if the Royals lose Gordon and don’t make any concurrent impact moves.

There’s a lot of winter left, obviously. And a gaggle of high-profile hitters—Chris Davis, Yoenis Cespedes, Justin Upton—remain unsigned.

Maybe the initial offer, the one Gordon coated in virtual saliva, was just the first salvo in an ongoing negotiation. Perhaps the Royals really are ready to break the bank to bring him back, to turn Missouri into the Show Me the Money State.

Moore and Co. have constructed a winner without cutting huge checks. They deserve the benefit of the doubt. But without a few more headline-grabbing machinations, the doubts will start to creep in.

At the winter meetings, Moore was asked about the possibility of re-signing Gordon. “I don’t know. We’ll see,” he said, per Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star. “Don’t know the answer to that yet.”

He might as well have been talking about the whole offseason, and the Royals’ repeat chances. Like the Gordon conundrum, everything’s up in the air.

That’s good news and bad news.

All statistics current as of Dec. 18 and courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Following a three-year stint with the Cleveland Indians, Mike Aviles is headed to the Detroit Tigers on a one-year deal, the team announced.

ESPN’s Buster Olney initially reported the deal.

The team has not disclosed the financial terms.

As his .231/.282/.317 slash line during the 2015 season indicated, Aviles doesn’t have much upside to offer at the plate. Soon to be 35 years old, Aviles hasn’t batted .250 in either of the last two seasons. 

However, he wields plenty of versatility. A utility man in the truest sense of the word, Aviles played six positions in the field and served as a designated hitter last season. According to Baseball-Reference.com, he logged playing time at all three outfield spots, second base, third base and shortstop.

Cleveland used him mostly in left field, at the hot corner and at shortstop, where he played 227.2, 194.0 and 172.0 innings last year, respectively. 

Prior to his three-year stay with the Indians, Aviles spent four years with the Kansas City Royals and a productive season-and-a-half with the Boston Red Sox. 

A year removed from a last-place finish in the American League Central, the Tigers can’t be faulted for making a move to improve their depth.

With that said, the signing will likely have ramifications when it comes to the team’s spending—or lack thereof—in the days ahead. 

“The reported agreement all but closes the door on a reunion with outfielder Yoenis Cespedes or the courtship of fellow big-name free-agent outfielder Alex Gordon, which seemed to be a possibility should their markets slip this winter,” the Detroit Free Press‘ Anthony Fenech noted. 

Aviles is unlikely to produce staggering numbers, but he’s a low-risk, high-reward signing at this stage in his career who can offer stability at several spots as the Tigers seek to claw back into the playoffs. 

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The Chicago White Sox signed right-handed pitcher Nate Jones to a three-year, $8 million extension Friday, according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick. By inking the new deal, Jones will forego his final two years of arbitration eligibility. 

The White Sox announced Jones’ deal includes two club options and a mutual option. On a yearly basis, Jones is slated to earn $900,000 in 2016, $1.9 million in 2017 and $3.95 million in 2015, according to the club. 

The team option in 2019 is valued at $4.65 million, and the 2020 option clocks in at $5.15 million, per the White Sox. The mutual option for 2021 tops out at $6 million. In the event either club option is declined, the team announced Jones will receive a buyout worth $1.25 million. 

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn commented on the move Friday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times‘ Daryl Van Schouwen: 

Jones suffered a UCL tear in July 2014 that required Tommy John surgery, but he rehabilitated and returned in time to pitch during the home stretch of the 2015 season. 

In 19 appearances, Jones posted a 3.32 ERA, 27 strikeouts and just six walks. He also allowed a meager 12 hits over the span of 19 innings. 

Working with a solid two-pitch combo, Jones impressed with his fastball first and off-speed stuff second. According to FanGraphs, Jones turned to his two-seam fastball 54.1 percent of the time last season while mixing in his slider at a 43.8 percent clip. 

Jones’ fastball clocked in at an average speed of 97.5 mph, per FanGraphs, and that kind of velocity could thrust him into a bigger role down the line, according to RotoWorld.com’s Matthew Pouliot: 

Signing Jones may not draw tremendous praise beyond the South Side, but it’s a savvy, team-friendly deal that could pay dividends so long as the 29-year-old can stay healthy.

Don’t be surprised if Jones claims a larger role in the back-end of Chicago’s bullpen now that the team has reiterated its confidence in his abilities.     

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Don Mattingly led three straight Los Angeles Dodgers teams to 90-win seasons and postseason appearances. He’s the only manager in Dodger history—Brooklyn or Los Angeles—with three straight first-place finishes.

So why, in the space of three questions at this month’s winter meetings, was the new Miami Marlins manager talking about modeling his new team after the Kansas City Royals?

You know why.

The Royals are the World Series champions, which means they got where everyone else wanted to go. It also means that for the next year, everyone will at least think about trying to do it the way the Royals did.

There are trends in baseball, and maybe the Royals didn’t need to win it all to convince other teams of the value of building a strong and deep bullpen, or of constructing a lineup long on speed and athleticism even if it’s a little short on power. But have you noticed how much money teams are spending on relief pitchers?

Have you noticed the priority teams like the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros and Detroit Tigers put not just on trading for a closer, but on building a bullpen around the guy they got?

As Mattingly said at the winter meetings, “See what Kansas City has done with their bullpen.”

He also mentioned the 2006 New York Yankees with John Wetteland and Mariano Rivera and the way Bruce Bochy won with his San Francisco Giants relievers. But the mention of the Royals was no mistake, just as it wasn’t when Mattingly answered a lineup question with a reference to how the Royals succeeded by “putting the ball in play” and moving runners.

Let’s just say plenty of teams noticed that the Royals won despite ranking 24th in the majors in home runs and 22nd in rotation ERA.

Big starting pitchers still have great value, which is why David Price, Zack Greinke and even ex-Royal Johnny Cueto got plenty of money as free agents. Big power still has value, which is why the Baltimore Orioles offered Chris Davis so much money and why the Chicago White Sox were willing to give up as much as they did in Wednesday’s trade for Todd Frazier.

But there’s another way to win, a way to imitate baseball’s latest champion without suffering through the early, low-win years of Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore’s famous “process.”

It wasn’t all by plan, but the Royals spent a quarter of their 2015 payroll to pay for their bullpen. They paid Greg Holland $8.25 million and Wade Davis $7 million on a team where only one player (Alex Gordon) made as much as $10 million.

And with Holland due to miss all of 2016 after Tommy John surgery, the Royals went to the free-agent market themselves and signed Joakim Soria for $25 million over three years. Even in a market that didn’t include any true closers, Soria was one of five relievers to already receive at least a three-year deal (with Darren O’Day getting four years and $31 million to stay with the Baltimore Orioles).

Now everyone thinks a deeper bullpen can cover up holes in the starting rotation, or make up for a lineup that doesn’t score many runs and thus keeps games close. Even the Colorado Rockies spent some of their precious cash on free-agent relievers, signing Jason Motte and Chad Qualls for two years each.

The New York Yankees actually did the Royals thing last year, bulking up their bullpen with trades (Justin Wilson, Chasen Shreve) and a free-agent signing (Andrew Miller). With Miller and Dellin Betances at the back, the Yankees had their version of what the Royals had with Holland and Davis (before Davis went down in September).

Meanwhile, in a game that has excused big strikeout totals in exchange for power in recent years, the Royals were unusual with their put-it-in-play-and-run attitude. Now that they won with it, though, it seems other teams took notice.

Big strikeout guys like Pedro Alvarez and Chris Carter found themselves non-tendered. Versatile, put-it-in-play Ben Zobrist became one of the most coveted players on the free-agent market.

And the Royals found themselves trying to replace Zobrist and probably Gordon as well, as they got too expensive for what is still a small-market team.

When you win, everyone wants what you had.

It’s just as Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein said going into the NLCS. At that point, four teams remained, with four different ways of building a winning roster.

“The only thing I know for sure is that whatever team wins the World Series, their particular style of play will be completely en vogue and trumpeted from the rooftops by the media all offseason—and in front offices—as the way to win,” Epstein told reporters, as relayed by Ted Berg of USA Today.

We’ll never know how it would have gone if the Cubs (homegrown position players), the New York Mets (great young starting pitching) or the Toronto Blue Jays (big power and big July trades) had won. Instead, it was the Royals.

Everyone wants to do what they did. Many will also try to do it the way they did.

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

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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Last fall, an All-Star third baseman was traded and proceeded to have an MVP season for his new team.

Now, the Chicago White Sox are hoping history repeats itself.

On Wednesday, the Sox acquired Todd Frazier from the Cincinnati Reds in a three-team swap that also involved the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin. The deal was complicated, as three-team trades always are, but the top takeaway is that Chicago added a power bat and one of the best third-sackers in the game.

Will it be Donaldson 2.0 on the South Side?

There are differences between Frazier and Donaldson, and we’ll get into that in a moment. First, though, let’s stack up the similarities.

In 2014, the season before the Oakland A’s sent him to the Toronto Blue Jays, a 28-year-old Donaldson posted a .255/.342/.456 slash line with 29 home runs and 98 RBI. 

In 2015, a 29-year-old Frazier posted a .255/.309/.498 slash line with 35 home runs and 89 RBI. 

Donaldson was the 48th pick in the 2007 draft; Frazier was the 34th pick that same year. 

So you see where the comparison is tempting and, really, inevitable. Does that mean Frazier will break out in Chicago the way Donaldson did in Toronto?

He is moving to U.S. Cellular Field, the eighth-most home run friendly yard in baseball, according to ESPN’s Park Factors statistic. Of course, he’s leaving Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, which checks in at No. 7. 

Steamer projects a .252/.316/.452 slash line with 28 home runs, 85 RBI and 3.2 fWAR. That wouldn’t approach the insane line Donaldson put up en route to the AL MVP Award: .297/.371/.568, 41 HR, 123 RBI, 8.7 fWAR.

There’s also some disparity on the defensive side. Donaldson boasts 46 career defensive runs saved (DRS) and a 39.9 ultimate zone rating (UZR) at third base. Frazier, meanwhile, has compiled 22 DRS and a 25.1 UZR.

Odds are Frazier won’t be a 2015 Donaldson facsimile for the White Sox. But he can still be exceedingly valuable for a team that scored the fewest runs in the Junior Circuit and finished 19 games out in the American League Central.

The White Sox have strengths, including a rotation topped by ace lefty Chris Sale. And Frazier will join a lineup that features dangerous Cuban slugger Jose Abreu. 

But third base was a black hole for the Sox in 2015, as Chicago got an anemic .220/.272/.339 line at the position, “good” for minus-1.3 fWAR. Frazier should reverse that in a big way. And he’ll give them a fighting chance in a division that’s mostly up for grabs, as an MLB executive recently told Bleacher Report’s Danny Knobler:

FanGraphs’ Jeff Sullivan broke down the White Sox’s position in light of the Frazier addition:

The Sox still have their problems with depth, and that’s why they won’t be a favorite, barring more additions. They’re thin in the outfield and they don’t have a shortstop and the back of the rotation could be weak. But the collection isn’t bad, and it shouldn’t be too tough to find a quality fourth outfielder. The Sox had to go in one direction. They chose to go toward winning.

Donaldson, likewise, came to a Toronto team that was clawing for position in a wide-open AL East. He helped get them to the top of the division heap and then all the way to the American League Championship Series.

That’s the trick that would make Frazier this winter’s Donaldson. He doesn’t have to replicate those MVP stats so long as he gets Chicago to the postseason for the first time since 2008. It’s not the 22-year drought the Jays snapped last season, but it surely feels like long enough for Sox fans.

“I’m pretty excited; I’ve got to be truthful with you,” Frazier said after the trade, per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. “I know it’s the American League; I know it’s going to be a little different. It might take a little time to get acclimated, but I just saw the [projected White Sox] lineup on TV; it kind of put a smile on my face to see the guys we’ve got.” 

One of those guys is infielder Brett Lawrie, whom the White Sox acquired in a swap with the Oakland A’s. Last winter, Lawrie was one of the pieces that went from Toronto to Oakland in the, wait for it, Josh Donaldson trade. 

Maybe it means something, maybe it means nothing. But these Frazier/Donaldson parallels just keep popping up. 

OK, here’s one more: In the 2015 Home Run Derby, Donaldson and Frazier faced off in the second round. The event, part of All-Star weekend, was held in Cincinnati. So you can guess who the crowd was pulling for.

“After 30-40 seconds into it, I could start to hear people boo me,” Donaldson said at the time, per MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. “Then mid-swing, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going up against Frazier.’ Good for them. He put on an awesome performance tonight.”

Frazier knocked out Donaldson. Then he won the Derby and hoisted the hardware. The White Sox are hoping that was a metaphor and a microcosm of things to come.

They’re hoping, in other words, that history repeats itself.

All statistics current as of Dec. 16 and courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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Cleveland Indians pitcher Cody Anderson underwent an emergency appendectomy, but the procedure likely won’t sideline him for long, according to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin. 

Continue for updates. 

Anderson’s Recovery Estimated at 2-4 Weeks

Wednesday, Dec. 16    

According to Merkin, Anderson had the surgery Tuesday at St. Joseph’s Westgate Medical Center in Glendale, Arizona, and is slated to jump back into his offseason training program once he’s recovered fully. 

The 25-year-old made his MLB debut on June 21 last season and proceeded to make 15 starts for the Indians. Over the course of 91.1 innings, Anderson went 7-3 with 44 strikeouts, 24 walks and a 3.05 ERA. 

Anderson also posted a mark of 2.4 wins above replacement during his first MLB go-around, according to Baseball-Reference.com. 

Merkin noted Anderson will likely slot in as a component of the Indians’ deep starting rotation in 2016. 

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Veteran outfielder Rajai Davis agreed to a deal with the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday, pending a physical, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman. Per Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, it’s a one-year deal that is believed to be worth $5.25 million plus incentives.

Per Spotrac.com, the 35-year-old had his two-year, $10 million deal expire at the end of the 2015 season to end a stint with the Detroit Tigers, the fifth team of his career. 

A top-of-the-order man who doesn’t necessarily hit for average, Davis finds his way on base thanks to his speed. This season, however, his speed numbers were down as he stole just 18 bases. He had 34 or more in each of the past six seasons. 

However, Davis appeared in just 112 games because of splitting time with 25-year-old Tyler Collins in left field.    

Despite seeing a decrease in playing time, Davis expressed his desire to stay in Detroit, according to Matthew B. Mowery of the Macomb Daily: “If it was up to me, it would be very, very nice to stay. But it’s a collective decision, and you gotta go from there. … It certainly is a business decision, especially when my family’s involved. Best situation for us. It could happen. Anything is possible.

By dealing center fielder Michael Bourn to the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline in 2015, the Indians lost speed and a bat at the top of the order who complemented second baseman Jason Kipnis. 

The Indians were also in need of a decent bat in the outfield to add some support for left fielder Michael Brantley, who was one of the team’s most productive hitters with a .310 batting average with 15 home runs and 84 RBI. 

Right fielder Brandon Moss, who matched Brantley’s 15 home runs last season, batted just .217.

A .269 lifetime hitter, Davis could provide those things as he helps address the Indians’ issue of depth in the outfield. At times last season, Cleveland resorted to playing Lonnie Chisenhall, usually a third baseman, in the outfield.

The Indians’ newest acquisition is versatile enough to play at any outfield position, appearing at all three last season with the Tigers. He will be a nice addition to a Cleveland team trying to piece together a contender in the American League Central. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Veteran right-handed pitcher Dillon Gee signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals on Monday, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

Gee, a five-year veteran with the New York Mets, can opt out of his deal on March 2—well before the start of the season—if he’s not on the Royals’ 40-man roster, though Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca speculated that’s unlikely:

Gee reportedly turned down major league offers from other teams in favor of a chance to play for the defending World Series champions, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN.com.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports noted that Gee can capitalize on generous incentives—particularly for a minor league deal:

Terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but Passan alluded that for for Gee to fully capitalize, he’ll likely need to be a full-time starter throughout the season and/or log somewhere near his career-high 199 innings from two years ago. 

He’ll certainly get a nice pairing with the Royals’ outstanding bullpen, which has arguably been its postseason catalyst in its consecutive American League pennant wins. 

Gee was 0-3 with a 5.90 ERA in 39.2 innings last year, but he was the team’s ace in 2013, logging a career-high 199 innings with a 3.62 ERA, 1.281 WHIP and 12-11 record. 

Gee lost his spot in the Mets’ 2015 rotation to Noah Syndergaard and was eventually was designated for assignment, then sent to Triple-A after not being claimed off waivers. He didn’t even receive a September call-up when rosters expanded, and declared free agency at season’s end. 

Clearly, Gee has his sights set on winning a ring—especially after leaving the Mets before last season’s pennant run—and should be a viable veteran presence in a healthy clubhouse atmosphere.

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Ain’t no box jump high enough to keep Brett Lawrie from hurling his body on top of it—well, 67 inches might be too high.

The freshly acquired Chicago White Sox third baseman attempted a 66-inch box jump and landed it, sharing it to Instagram on Friday.

Don’t believe it? Check the measuring tape:

[Brett Lawrie, h/t Busted Coverage]

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