Kuzul

Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis required surgery on the same shoulder that cost him two months of the regular season.

Continue for updates.     

Travis Facing a 4-5 Month Recovery Period

Wednesday, Nov. 18

According to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, the surgery Travis had on his left shoulder will keep him out of action for 16 to 20 weeks. Per Aaron Gleeman of NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk, he underwent a “cleanup procedure” in September but still needed surgery.       

Travis, 24, was having an excellent rookie season for the Blue Jays, hitting .304 with eight home runs and 35 RBI before his shoulder injury cost him the final two games of the season. That also halted a potential Rookie of the Year campaign, as he was one of the American League‘s brightest newcomers. 

It’s likely he’ll start next season on the disabled list, a disappointment for a player who has big expectations heading into 2016 and likely would have had a competition to win his job back from Ryan Goins, who should remain the team’s starter at least early in the season.

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Feliz cumpleanos, Big Papi.

Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz announced Wednesday he will retire after the 2016 season.

Wednesday is also his 40th birthday. Ortiz should be enshrined in Cooperstown by his 50th.

His only birthday baseball wish at this point would be a fourth championship in 2016.

Life’s tough, after all, when you’re chasing this guy:

Ortiz was about to blow out the candles on his pro career when the Red Sox signed him as a free agent in January 2003. He was the second choice, behind Jeremy Giambi, to be the team’s DH.

Piece of cake.

A month into the 2003 season, Ortiz became Boston’s starting designated hitter. It’s a position he’s held, barring injury and visits to National League ballparks, ever since.

Party time.

Ortiz whacked the game-winning home run in Boston’s memorable Game 4 American League Championship Series victory over New York in 2004, only to follow it with the game-winning single less than 24 hours later.

The Red Sox labored under curses real and imagined for 86 years before Ortiz’s heroics triggered an eight-day biblical flood of baseball good fortune for Boston.

During Boston’s 2007 title run, he quietly hit .370 with three home runs, 10 RBI and a 1.204 OPS in 14 postseason games.

With the Red Sox facing an 0-1 series deficit, his grand slam in Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS erased a 5-1 deficit in the eighth inning. Ortiz batted .688 in the World Series that followed, all the while channeling his inner Bill Belichick in the Red Sox dugout during Game 4, with the score tied and Boston trailing in the series 2-1.

The Red Sox subsequently took the lead and would be riding duck boats six days later.

To baseball fans in Boston, and in his native Dominican Republic, Ortiz has become far more than someone who has 503 career home runs, three World Series rings and a smile that stretches from South Boston to Santo Domingo.

“He created a belief of eventual success, as opposed to an expectation of failure,” Red Sox fan Bob Falfa, 38, who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, said Tuesday. “Sad to see it’s closing time for Ortiz, but what a hell of a ride it’s been.”

The most passionate moment of Ortiz’s career in Boston had nothing to do with baseball.

It came at Fenway Park in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent manhunt on April 20, 2013 (warning: video contains NSFW language):

He angrily voiced the resilience of millions.

“This jersey that we are wearing today, it doesn’t say Red Sox. It says Boston. We want to thank you Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole police department for the great job that they did this past week. This is our f–king city, and nobody’s gonna dictate our freedom. Stay strong. Thank you.”

Cue the riotous applause.

“People look at me differently because of what I do because I’m a baseball player. But I’m also a citizen,” Ortiz told Bleacher Report in a one-on-one interview the day before he hit his 500th career home run. “It struck all of us. In 2013, we all suffered, not just if you were a baseball player, basketball player or a football player. But as a citizen. We all struggled with that. I said what I felt.”

The feelings returned to many after the attacks in Paris last week.

“I don’t think it was fair. Especially in the marathon, where everybody was racing to try and raise money to fight disease,” Ortiz added. “There’s never a perfect time to do something like that. But the marathon? It was very frustrating. I said what I said as a citizen, as a member of the city of Boston, New England, who was affected by it.”

It was the moment when Boston forever became his (bleeping) city.

Actress Kerry O’Malley, now living in California, has sung the National Anthem before several Red Sox games and once performed Shakespeare at Fenway Park. She was born and raised in New England.

“Big Papi has given me and my family (including brother Mike O’Malley) the most joyous and thrilling moments I will never forget,” she told B/R on Tuesday. “He had lifted us up and delivered so many clutch moments it seems impossible they could all come from the same man. What a huge heart. I love him. This is our (bleeping) Papi!”

There are roughly 103,000 Dominicans in Massachusetts, according to ESPN.com’s Gordon Edes. In the Dominican Republic, Ortiz enjoys cult/national hero status. Officially licensed Red Sox merchandise is available for sale at stores in the nation’s capital.

Satellite-TV sports bars feature photos of Ortiz, most likely unlicensed. Spend a few hours walking through the historic district in Santo Domingo wearing any Red Sox garb. You will soon think your name is “Big Papi.”

“Children in the Dominican Republic learn how to play baseball before they are born,” Santo, a tour guide during a 2014 trip to the island nation, said. “There are three sports here: baseball, cock fighting and dominoes. Baseball is far and ahead No. 1. It is the best sport ever.”

Santo expressed enough knowledge and admiration of the Red Sox to earn a Boston hat as part of his tip.

“It has gotten to the point that Ortiz is more loved than Pedro Martinez. He has the same popularity as Pedro, and who knows, even more. He is like a Tom Brady, Larry Bird, Bobby Orr, for the Dominican community,” Nilson Pepen, host of a sports radio talk show, Conversando de Deportes, in Boston, told Edes.

Hitting 500 home runs once meant guaranteed admission to Cooperstown. That is no longer true since the arrival of baseball’s performance-enhancing drug era.

“Those are tough numbers,” Ortiz, who has hit 20 or more home runs 14 times and 30 or more homers nine times, said. “Not a lot of us get to play 14 seasons or more. Not a lot of us get to stay consistent.”

Ortiz isn’t shy about much, including his willingness to be a role model off the field or his desire to be happy and make others feel the same.

“Born in the Dominican, coming from where I come from, this is something you never dream of,” Ortiz said in his press conference after hitting his 500th home run Sept. 12.

“Every day I thank God for giving me the ability to play the game. I come from a place where people struggle, people who are poor. We want to open a lot doors for the young, talented players coming up. We want them to understand the importance of doing the right thing. I take a lot of pride in that. I never get tired of teaching young players how to do the right thing. Hopefully we’ll have more David Ortizs, more Pedro Martinezs, more Vladimir Guerreos coming up.”

Ortiz tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance in 2003, along with then-teammate Ramirez, during a pilot testing program. The results were supposed to be anonymous, but the New York Times reported them.

Ortiz remains adamant in his denial of knowingly using any banned substances. He told Bob Hohler of Boston Globe in March it would be “unfair” if anyone denied him a Hall of Fame vote because of the 2003 positive. “I was using what everybody was using at the time,” he added.

Ortiz has a simple response to critics who believe his accomplishments are illegitimate: Hitting isn’t as easy as it looks.

“This game is hard enough. Some people look at this game, and they think it’s easier than what it is,” Ortiz told B/R. “This game is not easy at all. This game burns your brain cells, even on your best day. Just for being consistent, and being able to perform at this level for years, I think that I deserve respect.”

He has no doubt earned it.

“We live in world where you’re not going to make everyone happy,” Ortiz added in September. “There’s a lot of things going on left and right. In my case, the people that know me, the people that are around me a lot, know that I’m simple. I’m very emotional. I don’t hold anything back. When I’m right, I’m right. When I’m wrong, I’m wrong and I’ll admit it,” Ortiz said after hitting No. 500. “I don’t judge anyone. I don’t expect anyone to judge me.”

Entrance into Cooperstown, however, requires judgment from hundreds of voters.

Ortiz plans to enjoy the time between his eventual retirement and his eligibility for the Hall of Fame.

“Once you’re done playing baseball, you have to wait another five years. Trust me, I’m going to party and have fun once I’m done with this. I’m not going to worry about the next five years.”

Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist. He writes the “Obnoxious Boston Fan” column and tweets at @RealOBF.

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There actually is a fish called a Donaldson Trout. According to a post on the website Trout Fishing Help, it’s sometimes called “Super Trout.”

So there you have it. A (Josh) Donaldson is a super (Mike) Trout!

I’m guessing that won’t end the argument over who the American League‘s Most Valuable Player should be. I’m guessing this column won’t end it.

The arguments will go on, and that’s too bad, not because debates are bad (they’re actually one of the best things about following sports) but because these MVP debates tend to get out of hand. It’s too bad because here I am again arguing against maybe the best player in baseball.

Mike Trout is a great player. Mike Trout would be a deserving MVP. But just as Trout finished second to Miguel Cabrera in his first two full big league seasons, Trout should finish second to Josh Donaldson when the 2015 AL MVP is announced Thursday evening.

Donaldson should win because he was the dominant player in the American League this year. He should win because when you tell the story of 2015 in the AL, you start with him. He should win because the MVP isn’t about choosing the most talented player or the player who led in any one statistical category.

It’s subjective, not objective. Context matters. Storylines matter.

The stats matter, too, but in this case the stats don’t give you a clear winner.

This isn’t Trout-Cabrera, although once again Trout holds the lead in the various versions of WAR, while Donaldson does better with traditional numbers like RBI. This time, though, the WAR differences aren’t overwhelming, and the RBI difference is largely and obviously a result of opportunity (because Trout matched or bettered Donaldson’s numbers with runners in scoring position).

The RBI difference still shouldn’t be overlooked, because the MVP is about what happened rather than what could have or should have happened. Trout could have driven in all those runs given the chance, but the fact is he didn’t.

Trout might have matched Donaldson if he had the supporting cast with the Los Angeles Angels that Donaldson had with the Toronto Blue Jays. But he didn’t.

Instead, what happened was Donaldson led the Blue Jays through a dream season that ended with a first-place finish and the second-best record in the league. Trout lifted the Angels into contention but wasn’t able to pull them into the postseason.

They faded in August (10-19), and their September recovery left them just short of the postseason. Trout faded in August (.218, one home run), and his September recovery left him just short of the MVP.

You could argue that pattern shows just how valuable Trout was to the Angels because when he slumped, they slumped. But the story of the season was that they fell short, and so did he.

The story of the season has plenty of room for Donaldson’s biggest hits, for the three walk-off home runs that always seemed to come at big points in the season. The story of the season has room for Donaldson and Russell Martin coming to Toronto and helping change a clubhouse culture. And while the story of 2015 will also include a postseason in which Donaldson didn’t dominate and the Blue Jays didn’t win, the MVP deals only with the regular season.

The MVP isn’t about which player you’d rather have if you were starting a team (everyone’s taking the 24-year-old Trout over the 29-year-old Donaldson). It isn’t about who’s going to be better next year (at this point, Trout is always the safest bet).

It’s simply about 2015 and who dominated the American League.

If you want to say it was Trout, that’s fine. He’s not a bad choice. He’s just not the best choice.

The MVP is Josh Donaldson, and the final vote shouldn’t even be that close.

Case closed?

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

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball. 

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Three-time World Series champion and Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz is  planning to retire from baseball after the 2016 season.

Ortiz confirmed his decision on Wednesday in a video for The Players’ Tribune:

On Tuesday, Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com first reported the news.

Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe noted the slugger made comments pointing toward that conclusion last season. Abraham also provided some potential background information on why the decision is coming out now:

Ortiz, who turns 40 years old this month, will enter his 20th season in the major leagues next spring. He originally signed with the Seattle Mariners, who traded him to the Minnesota Twins in 1996, where he made his MLB debut in 1997 and spent the first six years of his career.

Things really took off for Big Papi once he arrived in Boston as a free agent in 2003. He hit 31 home runs during his first campaign with the Red Sox en route to becoming one of the league’s most consistent, dangerous power hitters.

One year later, he helped lead the organization to its first World Series triumph since 1918. The 2004 championship would be followed by titles in 2007 and 2013.

He’ll head into 2016 with a .284 average and a .378 on-base percentage for his career. He’s also tallied 503 homers, 1,641 runs batted in and 1,340 runs scored. He continued to perform at a high level in 2015 with 37 long balls, his most since 2006.

In 2009, he was listed as having allegedly failed a drug test in 2003 during a league-wide “suspicionless” drug-testing survey despite a confidentiality agreement. The Dominican Republic native told Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe he hopes that doesn’t ruin his chances to make the Hall of Fame. “If one day I’m up for the Hall of Fame and there are guys who don’t vote for me because of that, I will call it unfair,” Ortiz said.

His performance at the plate certainly warrants a spot in Cooperstown, even with very limited action in the field, as he spent most of his time at designated hitter. He was one of the crucial pieces in Boston’s run of success.

Regardless of what Hall of Fame voters eventually decide, Ortiz will always hold a special place with Red Sox Nation.

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The New York Yankees need starting pitching. That’s not breaking news, but it’s an undeniable truth.

They can get it by spending on the open market, which would be the classic Yankee Way. Or they could get creative on the trading block, which might be the Yankee Way 2.0.

If they go the trade route, here’s a name the Yanks and general manager Brian Cashman will at least consider dangling: Brett Gardner.

That’s not merely idle speculation. Gardner’s name began popping on the hot stove shortly after the Yankees acquired outfielder Aaron Hicks from the Minnesota Twins for catcher John Ryan Murphy on Nov. 11.

That same day, in fact, the New York Post‘s Joel Sherman reported that the Yankees had “discussed” Gardner with the Seattle Mariners.

“The Yankees,” Sherman wrote, “are particularly looking for high-end starting pitching that they control for seven years because all of their current starters, except Luis Severino and Adam Warren, can be free agents after either the 2016 or 2017 campaign.”

Whether Gardner by himself could fetch such an arm depends on your definition of “high-end.”

The 32-year-old is coming off an All-Star campaign that saw him post a .259/.343/.399 slash line with 16 home runs and 20 stolen bases. In 2010, Gardner put up an impressive 7.3 WAR, per Baseball-Reference.com, and in 2011, he led the American League with 49 steals.

He’s fallen off a bit from that peak. His defense, in particular, has eroded, with his ultimate zone rating (UZR) plummeting from 26.7 in 2011 to minus-2.7 last season, per FanGraphs. Still, he’s been good for at least 3.3 WAR in four of the last five seasons, and he remains a valuable asset for any team seeking a combination of speed, savvy and pop.

And he represents far more than a rental, as he’s inked through 2018 for a relatively affordable $37.5 million, with a team option of $12.5 million for 2019 with a $2 million buyout.

So what kind of pitcher might Gardner fetch in a one-for-one swap? Sherman mentioned 27-year-old Seattle left-hander James Paxton, who posted a 3.90 ERA in 13 starts in 2015 and isn’t arbitration-eligible until 2017.

Here’s another intriguing (and purely speculative) possibility. The San Francisco Giants have a need in left field after declining their club options on veterans Nori Aoki and Marlon Byrd. And while San Francisco is itself in the market for pitching, the Giants might consider dangling 27-year-old sinkerballer Chris Heston for the right return.

Heston threw a no-hitter in June and was in the National League Rookie of the Year conversation before fading in the second half. Again, there’s no indication the Giants are actively shopping him, but as CSN Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic opined, “the trade market may provide the best option” for San Francisco to plug its hole in left.

A pitcher in the Paxton or Heston mold would slot into the Yankees’ plans for next season and help shore up the back end of the rotation.

To land an ace-level stud, however, New York will have to part with more. 

MLB.com’s Richard Justice imagined a package of Gardner and closer Andrew Miller heading to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Stephen Strasburg. Whether the Nats would take that is an open question, but even if they would, Strasburg will be a free agent next winter. 

Instead, New York should look for pitchers with years of control remaining.

The Chicago White Sox’s Chris Sale fits the bill. He’s one of the game’s elite left-handers, and he’s locked into an exceedingly affordable contract through 2017, with team options of $12.5 and $13.5 million for 2018 and 2019.

The Sox don’t have to deal Sale, though general manager Rick Hahn told CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes that he’s “open-minded” and doesn’t “view anyone as being ‘untouchable.'” Still, it’d take a gaudy, kitchen-sink offer. 

Gardner could be included in a deal for Sale—though the Yankees might be required to eat some cash—but the White Sox would also undoubtedly ask for names from the top of New York’s developmental depth chart, including power-hitting outfielder Aaron Judge and speedy shortstop Jorge Mateo.

And if Sale is truly, well, for sale, others with deeper minor league systems—hello, Boston Red Sox—might well snatch him up.

If you’re looking for a club with a wealth of team-controlled starting pitching and a need in the outfield, no one fits the bill better than the Cleveland Indians.

Left fielder Michael Brantley underwent shoulder surgery and could miss the first month of the season, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian noted. And the Tribe’s offense, even with Brantley, is average at best.

Meanwhile, Cleveland is stocked with arms, including 2014 AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber, as well as right-handers Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer and Danny Salazar, all of whom are locked up through 2018 and beyond. 

Again, the Yanks would have to dangle at least a couple of top prospects for the Indians to even pick up the phone. But, as Bastian correctly pointed out, “Starting pitching is the undeniable and enviable strength of Cleveland’s roster, and other clubs know the Indians are not in a position to outbid other teams for an impact bat on the free-agent market.”

If the Yankees are willing to raid their farm, they could build an offer around Gardner that might pry away Carrasco, who fanned 216 hitters in 183.2 innings last year and would immediately challenge Masahiro Tanaka for the title of staff ace.

“With respect to trades, that’s a very difficult question to answer,” Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said, per Bastian. “We have to be open-minded in how we build our team.”

That’s the same mindset Cashman will need as he seeks to bolster a starting corps that finished 19th in baseball with a 4.25 ERA in 2015. Opening the wallet wide is always an option in the Bronx. But the Yankees exercised restraint in free agency last winter, and with so many onerous contracts still on the books, they could repeat that strategy.

If so, expect some trades. And don’t be surprised if Brett Gardner is in the middle of one of them. 

All statistics and contract information current as of Nov. 15 and courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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Given his history of wheeling and dealing, it was a matter of when, not if, Boston Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski would make his first big winter trade.

As it turns out, he didn’t even wait for winter to officially begin.

On Friday, the Red Sox and San Diego Padres agreed to a swap that will send a package of prospects to Southern California and bring stud closer Craig Kimbrel to Beantown.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported Kimbrel was going to Boston, and Baseball America‘s JJ Cooper outlined the four prospects the Sox gave up: left-hander Logan Allen, infielder Carlos Asuaje, shortstop Javier Guerra and outfielder Manuel Margot.

Kimbrel, of course, was dealt from the Atlanta Braves to the Padres on the eve of the 2015 season, so his departure represents a dramatic about-face for the suddenly rebuilding Friars.

The real story, however, is the Red Sox, who signaled their intent to be heavy players after a dispiriting last-place finish.

And make no mistake: While Boston will undoubtedly dip its toes into the deep free-agent pool and cast nets for marquee names, this could well be the first of several landscape-altering blockbusters Dombrowski has stuffed up his sleeve.

Dombrowski engineered a series of headline-grabbing deals during his tenure with the Detroit Tigers. He brought in franchise-defining talents such as Miguel Cabrera, Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez, David Price and Yoenis Cespedes. 

Now, in his first season at the helm in Boston, he has a ridiculously deep pile of chips from which to draw. And the Kimbrel trade hardly made a dent, as Cooper correctly noted:

Margot, who posted a .276/.324/.419 slash line with 39 stolen bases between High-A and Double-A last season, was the Sox’s No. 3 prospect, according to MLB.com. But Boston still has infielders Yoan Moncada and Rafael Devers, rated as the No. 8 and No. 13 prospects, respectively, in the game by MLB.com.

Then there’s outfielder Andrew Benintendi and left-handers Brian Johnson and Henry Owens, both of whom cracked the Red Sox rotation last year.

Speaking of which, even seemingly untouchable building blocks such as shortstop Xander Bogaerts, center fielder Mookie Betts and catcher Blake Swihart could theoretically be dangled for the right return. No one is untouchable. Just ask Dombrowski.

“I don’t think you have untradeable players,” Dombrowski said in August on WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan show, per Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com. “There’s players that are more difficult to trade depending how your club sets up, but I think you’re very open-minded to anything because you need to have an open mind in order to make deals happen.”

Kimbrel addresses a serious issue for the Red Sox, whose bullpen posted the third-worst ERA in the Junior Circuit and failed to convert one-third of its save opportunities. 

Kimbrel’s numbers dipped a bit in San Diego, as his ERA rose from 1.61 in 2014 to 2.58, and he failed to make the All-Star team after four consecutive selections. 

But the hard-throwing right-hander remains one of the game’s elite relievers, and he will immediately supplant incumbent closer Koji Uehara, who is coming off an injury-shortened season and nearing his 41st birthday. Kimbrel also is more than a one-year rental, as he is under team control for three more seasons, including a $13 million team option for 2018 with a $1 million buyout.

The Red Sox still have work to do, of course. They need at least one top-tier starting pitcher, and while there are plenty of options on the open market, there are trade targets, too. Like, say, San Diego Padres right-hander Tyson Ross, whom the Pads and Sox have “discussed heavily,” according to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan.

Or how about the Washington Nationals‘ Stephen Strasburg, the white whale of the offseason. The Nats may not move Strasburg—who’s entering his contract year—until the trade deadline, if they move him at all. But if he is available, the Red Sox are one of the few clubs with the assets to make it happen.

Recently, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that Dombrowski is a fan of free-agent left fielder Alex Gordon. Boston, Sherman speculated, could make room for Gordon in its crowded outfield by trading intriguing 25-year-old Jackie Bradley Jr.

And on it goes. Expect the Red Sox to surface at least peripherally in nearly every juicy rumor, as Dombrowski looks to leave his mark, spend some of his trade capital and get the franchise back on track after a season of dashed expectations.

Gird yourselves, Sox fans, and belly up to the hot stove. It’s going to be a long, warm winter.

All statistics and contract information current as of Nov. 13 and courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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The Toronto Blue Jays and starting pitcher Marco Estrada agreed to a two-year, $26 million contract Friday, according to Shi Davidi and Mike Wilner of Sportsnet. 

Estrada saw his one-year, $3.9 million deal expire at the end of the 2015 season, per Spotrac, and had the option to accept a one-year, $15.8 million qualifying offer or test free agency, per Davidi and Wilner. 

Sportsnet’s Greg Brady seemed happy about the deal:

The 32-year-old Estrada had the best season of his career in 2015, going 13-8 with a 3.13 ERA during his first year in Toronto. Only David Price and Marcus Stroman, who made just four starts, had lower ERAs among the starters on the Blue Jays staff.

But with Price testing the free-agent market, the Blue Jays faced the possibility of losing their two best starters. No one else who made at least 25 starts had an ERA lower than 3.81 for Toronto in 2015. 

Stroman, one of the brightest young stars on the staff, was excited about the news:

The Blue Jays can now focus on trying to retain Price for next season and further build their staff. On an offensive juggernaut of a team that featured Troy Tulowitzki, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, pitching largely kept the Blue Jays from securing a World Series berth as they fell to the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series.

If they can find a way to sign Price, though, the Blue Jays would have a good-looking top three for next season.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Matt Wieters is staying with the only Major League Baseball organization he knows.

The catcher elected to re-sign with the Baltimore Orioles on Friday by accepting his one-year qualifying offer, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Joel Sherman of the New York Post later confirmed Heyman’s report.

Given that Wieters played in just 101 games over the last two seasons due to injury, Heyman saw the logic in Wieters’ delaying his foray into free agency by one year:

Wieters didn’t make his first appearance this past season until June 5. He underwent Tommy John surgery the previous year and spent time at extended spring training and on a minor league rehab assignment as he healed from the procedure.

He looked well on his way to an impactful season after that debut when he notched two hits and two RBI, but he hit just .267 with eight home runs in 75 games on the campaign. It was a far cry from three straight seasons with at least 22 home runs from 2011 to 2013.

The elbow surgery and schedule that sometimes prevented him from catching on back-to-back days in 2015 likely influenced his decision, especially since he didn’t get the opportunity to prove himself with a playoff appearance for the third-place Orioles.

Still, the catcher has developed into a Baltimore fixture and has been with the organization since it drafted him with the fifth overall pick in 2007. The former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket debuted in 2009 and quickly became one of the fan favorites on the team.

He discussed whether those Baltimore ties would impact his free-agency decision following the 2015 season, per Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com:

I won’t know until I go through the process. I’ll do a lot of prayer and hopefully God will lead me to where he wants me to be and then I know that will be the right one.

On top of that, there is nothing but fond memories that I have from my time here in Baltimore. I love this city and I love this team and I love this clubhouse more than anything.

Those fond memories clearly played a factor in his decision because he elected to return to Baltimore as part of the team’s core in a difficult American League East.

Despite an injury-plagued campaign, Jim Duquette of MLB.com ranked Wieters as the ninth-best free agent available this offseason: “This talented switch-hitter has had some injury problems, but he can hit for power and shut down a running game—two hard-to-find skills.”

Wieters is a three-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner and is only 29 years old, with a number of productive seasons theoretically ahead of him. The Orioles know better than any other team what Wieters is capable of, and they are banking on his return to form in the immediate future.

Per Baseball-Reference.com, Wieters ranked in the top three in the American League in caught stealing percentage in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and finished second in number of baserunners thrown out stealing in 2012 and 2013.

He was particularly impressive in 2011 when he posted 17 total defensive runs saved above average, according to FanGraphs.

The Orioles will be a much more dangerous team in 2016 if Wieters once again becomes a defensive force and hits for the power fans saw from 2011 to 2013.

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New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia admitted this week he’s known about his alcohol problem for about three years. Yet, it wasn’t until near the end of the regular season in Baltimore that he finally understood he needed help.  

The 35-year-old former ace discussed his addiction to alcohol in an interview with Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. He insisted the issues never carried into his starts, stating he was “functioning as an alcoholic,” but on the final day of the regular season, he decided it was time for change.

“I woke up on that Sunday and was like, ‘I can’t do this no more,'” Sabathia said. “I came in on Sunday and felt like I needed to get some help. I know it was bad timing, but I felt like if I didn’t tell somebody then, I would have been in real trouble.”

Sabathia decided to leave the Yankees as they were getting ready for the playoffs, and enter an alcohol rehabilitation center. His wife urged him to wait until the season played out, but the left-hander told her if he didn’t make the move at that time, he probably never would.

The choice came after years of trying to control the problem by himself by setting various boundaries concerning when and what he would drink. He ultimately determined trying to make those types of decisions highlighted the problem, according to Feinsand:

I would go around my starts. If I knew I had a weekend or three or four days, where I would have two days to get back to be ready to pitch, I would do that. The planning out of it, what made me realize I was an alcoholic, I’m planning out when I can drink. If you’ve got to do that, I feel like you’ve got a problem.

He first felt the urge to get help after an incident outside a Toronto nightclub in August. He ended up staying the course, however, stating, per Feinsand: “Really at that time is when I felt like I needed it, but it was right in the middle of the season.”

Now that he’s gone through rehab and is feeling better about himself, he’s hopeful about the future with a strong support system in place, including a sponsor. He said he knows the real test will come when it’s time for the extended grind of a baseball season, though.

“It’s going to be hard, but I have different things that I can do now,” Sabathia said. “Pick up a book, play some video games, go out with my teammates, do stuff that I like to do and get back to my old self. I think the biggest thing for me is not isolating myself and feeling like I need something to do.”

All told, Sabathia seeking professional help at a time when the Yankees were getting ready to start a potential playoff run proved he was serious about getting better. Based on his comments, everything is now moving in a positive direction.

Sabathia also spoke about trying to become an asset for the Yankees again after some lackluster seasons by his standards. That said, staying healthy must be the top priority.

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Free agency is hogging most MLB headlines with players eligible to sign with teams as early as Friday, but there is still plenty of buzz on potential trades that could contribute to the personnel shifts among the baseball landscape.

Here is a glance at the latest names rumored on the trade market in the young offseason.

Brewers Eyeing Rebuild Through Trades

The Milwaukee Brewers finished 26 games under .500 a year removed from a September meltdown that cost them the National League Central after leading the division for 159 days.

They are reportedly in a rebuild mode and have been linked to trade talks surrounding first baseman Adam Lind, catcher Jonathan Lucroy and closer Francisco Rodriguez, per Buster Olney of ESPN The Magazine:

Lucroy is a career .282/.340/.430 hitter and is considered one of the best defensive backstops in the game with a .992 fielding percentage in six seasons. He spent time on the disabled list with a fractured toe in 2015 but has played an average of 118.3 games per year and was fourth in the NL MVP voting in 2014.

Despite speculation, general manager David Sterns indicated last week Lucroy should be back next year, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Rodriguez tied for seventh in the majors with 38 saves in 2015 despite the Brewers’ overall struggles. His velocity has steadily decreased from 94.4 miles per hour to 89.7 between 2007 and 2015, per FanGraphs, but he proved he’s still a threat in critical situations with only seven blown saves in parts of three seasons with Milwaukee. 

He’s scheduled to make $11.5 million the next two seasons, per Spotrac, for a team that had the 10th lowest payroll. If the Brewers aren’t winning many games, it may not be practical to keep that kind of financial commitment. 

On Adam Lind, the Brewers exercised the one-year, $8 million option on the first baseman Tuesday, though the team’s RBI leader could be a trade chip, as Olney noted. The Brewers tried moving Lind near the trade deadline last year, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, though talks eventually fell through with the St. Louis Cardinals.

General manager David Stearns hinted the team will be much younger in the coming years, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, though how it does so remains to be seen:

I think we recognize that we’re going to have a young roster, whether that’s this year, next year, the year after. We’re going to have a young group of core players for the foreseeable future, and we want to make sure that we surrounded them with members of a staff who are used to and comfortable with working with younger players.

Baseball America ranked the Brewers farm system 19th, which could prompt Stearns to deal a few veterans to free up cash and build a younger foundation to compete in the rugged NL Central, which featured three playoff teams in 2015.

Cubs Shopping Starlin Castro

With a crowded infield full of young and productive talent, the Chicago Cubs‘ Starlin Castro has been linked to trade talks as far back as the 2014 deadline.

A deal never manifested this past year due to Castro’s midseason struggles—he was benched for rookie Addison Russell at shortstop in early August, then became the team’s starting second baseman a week later and through the postseason. But given Castro’s strong finish to the regular season, the NLCS bridesmaids are reportedly shopping the infielder again, per Julie DiCaro of 670 The Score:

Castro hit .353/.373/.588 with six home runs, 23 RBI and just 18 strikeouts after his benching, and the Cubs went 30-17 in that span. His upward trend to finish the season should make him more marketable this offseason. 

Castro is also just 25, a three-time All-Star and has played in at least 150 games in four of the past five seasons. He’d be a valuable asset to most. 

The Cubs can fill Castro’s void with Javier Baez at second and could lean on Tommy La Stella as a backup utility infielder.  

Baez was also rumored in talks—with the San Diego Padres in July, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports—but he wouldn’t return as much as Castro and is locked up through 2020 at a convenient price, per Rotoworld. 

A realistic way Castro stays is if the Cubs are unable to re-sign outfielder Dexter Fowler, who became a free agent this week. Chicago could then move the versatile Baez to the outfield and keep Castro at second. But Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com noted that’s unlikely:

Fowler had a big second half, getting on-base about 39 percent of the time, leading to speculation he’ll get a long-term contract after earning $9.5 million last season. The Cubs have stated their offseason goals are to land more pitching, which might not leave room in the budget for Fowler’s return.

The Cubs are the early favorites to win it all in 2016, per Odds Shark, and they may start their hopeful run by dealing Castro to bulk up their roster in more needing areas.

Clay Buchholz Could Be Red Sox Trade Bait

The Boston Red Sox this week picked up the $13 million option on starting pitcher Clay Buchholz, but like the Brewers’ Lind, the move may have been executed to trade the veteran right-hander, per Ian Browne of MLB.com:

Buchholz would be a costly add given his limited return potential. He’s never made 30 starts or reached 200 innings in his nine-year career and has exceeded a 4.50 ERA in two of the last four seasons. 

But Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe wrote some teams have already expressed interest in Buchholz behind closed doors:

Buchholz’s name is already rolling off the lips of some mid- to small-market teams who believe they could trade for him if the Red Sox have bigger fish to fry in pursuit of a true ace who can stay healthy.

The Red Sox are reportedly in the market to add an ace via trade or free agency this offseason, per Ricky Doyle of NESN.com, which could slide Buchholz to the back of the rotation and shadow what could be more limited contributions. 

Buchholz went 7-7 in 18 starts last year with a 3.26 ERA, 1.209 WHIP and 8.5 K/9 before being placed on the 15-, then 60-day disabled list in July, which he never returned from. 

One AL GM told Cafardo that when healthy, Buchholz is “as good as anyone out there.”

New president Dave Dombrowski will be as busy as any executive this offseason, and Buchholz may be a chip used to rid a sizable bill from the payroll while yielding a few younger players to build around. 

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