Johan Santana gets another chance, signs with Blue Jays

Santana has agreed to join the Blue Jays on a minor-league deal with an invite to major-league spring training. It’s the first step in either a feel-good comeback story or another stalled attempt by Santana to reclaim his MLB glory.

Santana, 35, didn’t pitch in the big leagues in 2013 and 2014, but not for lack of trying. Shoulder surgery prevented him from taking the field in 2013 with the New York Mets. He signed a one-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles last year, but tore his ...

The Cuba Diaries: The Last Day of the Caribbean Derek Jeter, Carlos Tabares

What is the Cuban equivalent of a gift-basket?

Tabares has been on five of the Industriales’s 12 championship winning teams. He is considered one of the best postseason players in league history, and holds the record for most postseason hits. His career batting average (.308 at the moment of our conversation) will likely stay above .300 for the remainder of his career, barring a total collapse in his predicted final two seasons. He is a media and fan favorite, and a certain Hall of Famer. And ...

Ex-big leaguer (Jim) King, 82, dies

Former professional baseball player Jim King of Elkins died Monday in Fayetteville.

He was 82.

An outfielder, King played 11 seasons with six major-league teams. He began his major-league career in 1955 with the Chicago Cubs where he played two seasons. His first at-bat came at Wrigley Field, where he had a pinch-hit double against eventual Hall of Famer Robin Roberts.

King went on to play a year for the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants. He didn’t play in the majors in the 1959 ...

Blue Jays outfielder Michael Saunders injured, out until all-star break

The Blue Jays announced early Thursday morning that left-fielder Michael Saunders suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee in a freak accident at the Mattick Training Centre on Wednesday.

Saunders, a native of Victoria B.C., stepped on an exposed sprinkler head in the outfield during batting practice and heard a pop.

Bad luck for Saunders and the Jays. Not much left in free agency - maybe Andy Dirks would make sense?

MLBTR: Mets Not Expected To Talk Extension With Daniel Murphy

Though second baseman Daniel Murphy has been one of the Mets’ most consistent offensive performers over the past few seasons, the team has no plans to negotiate an extension with the 29-year-old during the season, reports ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin. While that wording would seem to leave open some possibility of a Spring Training extension, Rubin writes that the expectation is for New York to let Murphy walk as a free agent next offseason. ...

If an extension isn’t in the cards, Murphy ...

Brewers To Re-Sign Francisco Rodriguez

Apparently last season, he had 44 saves, a WHIP under 1, and made the All-Star team. Not even joking!

(That’s 348 saves going into his age 33 season…)

The Brewers have reached agreement on a two-year, $13MM deal with reliever Francisco Rodriguez. The team also holds a club option for the 2017 season over the Boras Corporation client.

The total guarantee is expected to include just $3MM this year and $6MM next season. That would appear to suggest that the contract includes a significant option ...

Lindbergh: Has Baseball’s Minors-to-Majors Jump Really Gotten Harder for Hitters?

I do feel like the people who say “Get rid of this guy who hits mediocrely in the NL! This other guy has been hitting great in AA for over a year!” were more often correct 15 years ago.

On the other hand, every prospect who can’t make the leap seems to be countered by a prospect who succeeds in the majors after nobody noticed he got promoted, like Khris Davis.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-26-2015

Pittsburgh Press, February 26, 1915:

[During a team jogging drill, White Sox pitcher Reb] Russell repeatedly lagged behind the others and once when passing the home plate, where the manager stood the boss called: “Show some speed, Tex. Where’s your ‘pep’?”

“What do you think this is, my birthday?” was the rather sarcastic reply of the bulky athlete.

“Well, it isn’t any holiday,” came the answer from the manager. “This isn’t a vacation trip. You’re out here to work.”
...
The affair was ...

Braves insist it’s a ‘remodeling,’ not a ‘rebuilding’

You don’t?

The reality is the Braves didn’t believe they could be a World Series team if they kept the team intact. To be honest, they were actually thrilled the Nationals and Miami Marlins got even better during the winter, reinforcing their belief they were not going to contend for the division title.

At the same time, you don’t bring in veterans A.J. Pierznyski, Jason Grilli, John Buck, Kelly Johnson, Jim Johnson, Alberto Callaspo, Gomes and Markakis, and expect to go out every night and ...

Hedges shrugs off rankings, focused on Majors | padres.com

Austin Hedges is the most overrated prospect in baseball.

“I don’t blame them. If you look at my numbers last season, they weren’t great,” said Hedges, who hit .225 last season with Double-A San Antonio. “Those guys weren’t in the Texas League every day and didn’t see what wasn’t on paper, which was a lot of quality at-bats and hard-contact outs.”

O’Brien turning heads at D-backs camp | dbacks.com

He may have big-time power. His defense has big-time problems, however.

“I think he’s on a different level,” Gosewisch said. “Sometimes there’s guys in BP where you see them hit a few home runs and you might yourself try to hit some home runs to match them, but he’s on another level and it’s fun to watch. You can hear [it], [the ball] just sounds different coming off his bat. There’s a few guys in the game that have that sound, and he’s one of them. He’s got some kind of power.”

...Read More...

Jim Furtado Posted: February 26, 2015 at 08:10 AM | 19 comment(s)
  Beats: diamondbacks, pete o'brien

Yankees confident they can avoid paying A-Rod milestone bonuses - CBSSports.com

This situation can get even uglier than it is already.

Yankees people are said to be confident A-Rod wouldn’t prevail in the expected skirmish over the $30 million, not only because of their belief that his drug missteps have rendered his marketing value nil, but also because of the phrasing in the agreement that requires that the Yankees “designate” the historic home runs as milestones. Perhaps even more important, the potential to call him to the stand under oath should he challenge their ...

Slowly, Phillies enter analytics era

This article is all over the place. David, you missed a decade and a half. The sabermetrics/scouting dichotomy is so 2000.

Hal Steinbrenner: ‘Cheap’ shots at Yankees are way off base | New York Post

Why is Hal Steinbrenner so cheap?

Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia reports to Spring Training at 305lbs.

He’s in the best-worst shape of his life!

New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia has reported to spring training at 305lbs, about 30lbs heavier than he was last year, according to a New York Daily News report.

But Sabathia, who is coming off back-to-back underwhelming seasons, said the weight gain was intentional and believes it could help restore some of the lost velocity off his fastball.

The 34-year-old lefthander has logged a 4.87 ERA in 257 innings pitched since the start of ...

Lucchino: No ‘palace intrigue to report’ - Boston Red Sox Blog - ESPN Boston

Right. Sure. Nothing to see here.

Red Sox chairman Tom Werner, echoing the comments of principal owner John W. Henry the day before, also said that Lucchino’s place in the pecking order remains the same as always, calling it a “mistake” that a masthead on the team’s website listed Gordon above Lucchino. The team’s media guide will list the top three names as unchanged, even though FSG is the parent company of the Red Sox and Gordon is the second-biggest shareholder in the team, behind ...

An Interview With Voros McCracken: DIPS Pioneer — Uncle Charlie’s WheelhouseUCW

An interview with old buddy Voros McCracken. Looking good Voros!

Report: Josh Hamilton meeting with MLB about ‘disciplinary issue’

Maybe he spoke out in favor of the Fan Cave…?

It sounds like trouble and Josh Hamilton might have found each other again.

The Los Angeles Angels acknowledged Wednesday that their injured outfielder has been summoned to meet with MLB officials at the league office in New York City. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reports Hamilton’s trip is regarding a “disciplinary issue.”...

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal adds:

Asked a baseball executive if Hamilton’s discipline was for PEDs. His response: ...

David Ortiz Goes Off In Epic, Expletive-Filled Rant On Speed of Game Changes - Extra Bases - Boston.com

David sounds like he’s getting a bunch of fines.

Edit: Embed removed because autoplay could not be turned off. Jim.

ESPN: Mark Teixeira: ‘Feel like a kid again’

New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is now gluten free, sugar free and dairy free, which he hopes will keep him injury free.
Teixeira’s belief in his new diet and renewed weightlifting program makes him believe that he can stay fully healthy for the first time since 2011. If he does, Teixeira thinks he can be a 30-homer and 100-RBI player again.

...Teixeira, who turns 35 in April, hasn’t played more than 123 games since that 2011 season but thinks that with his new diet he will cut ...

Royals third-base coach Mike Jirschele: ‘a baseball man’s baseball man’

Mike Jirschele has been a third-base coach going on 20 years. In that time, he has made thousands of decisions about sending guys, holding guys, and obviously not all of them turned out well.

But of all of those moments — Jirschele has decided to send guys or not as many times as most of us have decided to stop for gas or not — the Gordon play will never be one he’ll second-guess or regret.

As a way to simplify it, he asks what people would’ve thought had that been a sacrifice fly ...

Tiger Tales: A Detroit Tigers Blog: Updating Catcher Defense: Where Does Alex Avila Rank Now?

Lee Panas looks at catcher defense.

Saying goodbye to ‘Parks and Recreation,’ network TV’s biggest baseball fan

After seven seasons in professional television, NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation” has retired. Boasting a career average that would make even Ted Williams envious, the show’s final outing aired on Tuesday night. MLB fans everywhere should be a little sorry to see it go, because no sitcom on television was as big a baseball fan as “Parks and Rec.”

Farewell to the law firm of Fwar, Dips, Winshares, Gritt, Nelsson, Woba, Fraplus, Zswing, Range-Factor, Heart, Babip, Pecota, Vorp & Eckstein, LLC. ...Read More...

Jose Molina joins the Cardinals as a guest instructor

He’s not officially retired, but Jose Molina is 39 years old, was released by the Rays, and is sidelined following knee surgery. And now he’s joined the Cardinals as a special guest instructor for spring training.

Lucchino, Henry look to create ‘model Triple-A franchise’ - providencejournal.com

I call “bullshit”. Money is the reason the Red Sox ownership bought into its AAA franchise. That’s what the plan to move the team to Providence is about. It’s about putting in luxury boxes, increased concessions, and taking advantage of a desired *free* grant of land in Providence.

We knew that there was a distinct possibility of a sale, and there were no guarantees as to where that sale might go or who might acquire the team,” explained Red Sox team president Larry Lucchino. “So almost as a ...

In Pawtucket, Angst and Anger Over New Owners’ Plans to Move Beloved PawSox - Boston.com

I am not looking forward to seeing the team move out of Pawtucket. The stadium isn’t fancy but watching the Pawsox at McCoy Stadium is what minor league baseball should be.

Young arms give Mets fans hope after six years of woe

With a team based around young pitching it is surprising to me that the Mets didn’t target a good-fielding shortstop as a stopgap for this season.

More on the Phillies and Moncada

The Red Sox were already over their international budget, so, other than in the wallet, signing Moncada didn’t impede them going forward. The Phillies are in a different position, however. Not only will they be able to sign people this July, they won’t be competing with the Red Sox and Yankees while doing it.

Drew Smyly says he has no issue with Yoan Moncada, just the system | Tampa Bay Times

Millionaires vs. millionaires. The players bargain away money for draft picks to line their own pockets.

“I was only trying to say everyone else doesn’t have those opportunities. So I think there should be some way where everyone, every amateur, has the same opportunity and guidelines. And that’s not even America vs. Cuba; Dominican Republic and Venezuela players don’t get that. They have never got close to that signing bonus.

“So I’m all for it. I’m sure Moncada is the real deal; it’s nothing ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-25-2015

Toledo News-Bee, February 25, 1915:

Happy Felch [sic], a 1914 [Milwaukee] Brewer, is a confident rookie. He showed up to join the Chicago White Sox on the training trip, carrying a special bat.

“Mister, what position do you play?” inquired a youngster as Felch passed through the crowd at the station.

“Batter,” announced Felch.

I’m pretty sure he said “Bettor”.

Also on the same page as the linked article, Joe Tinker tells the Smitty-approved story of the time he and Cincinnati’s Dick Egan got ...