The Oakland Athletics reportedly have their sights set on the Tropicana hotel site to build a potential ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip.
Two other sites also have piqued the team’s interest, one owned by Wynn Las Vegas and the other by Caesars Entertainment, according to a report Wednesday from CNBC.
Bally’s Corp., which owns the Tropicana Las Vegas, declined to comment on the report. A spokesperson for the A’s also declined to comment. Officials for Wynn and Caesars didn’t respond to a request for comment.
A’s President Dave Kaval told the Review-Journal last month that the team had put an offer on a site where it could look to build a $1 billion Major League ballpark. Kaval didn’t reveal the site at that time but noted the ...
The Orioles snuck in one last bit of pending news last night before MLB owners unanimously halted all offseason action by imposing a lockout on their players. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that the team has agreed to terms with free agent pitcher Jordan Lyles on a one-year contract that guarantees $7 million.
Due to the lockout, this contract will be in official limbo until transactions resume, as it is still pending a physical. We all know that with the Orioles more than any team, the physical step of the contract always has the potential to cause a snag, but even for the Orioles it is an uncommon occurrence to have a contract that gets reported by mainstream press get wiped out before it’s completed by the physical. Lyles ...
For the first time in over 25 years, Major League Baseball will undergo a work stoppage.
On Wednesday night, the league’s owners reportedly voted unanimously to institute a lockout, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The lockout is expected to begin on Thursday at an unknown time, which will mark the first work stoppage for MLB since the 1994-95 players strike that resulted in the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the owners and players expires at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.
This result was an expected one, with newly signed Mets pitcher and member of the Players Association leadership Max Scherzer saying earlier in the day that a lockout was a “very likely scenario.”
In a somewhat stunning development, the Red Sox are getting their outfield wizard back.
Late Wednesday night, the Sox and Brewers agreed on a trade that brings Jackie Bradley Jr. back to Boston in exchange for power-hitting outfielder Hunter Renfroe.
In the deal, the Red Sox are also getting two Minor League infielders in David Hamilton and Alex Binelas, who were ranked 16th and 17th respectively among Brewers prospects by MLB Pipeline. Hamilton is a middle infielder while Binelas plays the corners.
Bradley is due $9.5 million in 2022 and has a $12 million mutual option for ’23 with an $8 million buyout.
The Padres are signing Nick Martínez to a four-year, $20MM contract, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). The right-hander has spent the past four seasons pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. His contract with the NPB’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks just expired today, but his representatives worked quickly to find him a big league landing spot before the anticipated transactions freeze.
Martínez is making his return to the majors for the first time since 2017.
Baseball front offices don’t agree on much, but most agree on one thing: A lot more gets done on a deadline. With the notable exception of Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto, who regularly treats November and every offseason month thereafter like its own trade deadline (I love transactions,” he glibly said last month at the GM meetings), baseball’s frenzy of deals this past week has been both wholly uncharacteristic and incredibly entertaining. With the Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire on Dec. 1 at 11:59 p.m. ET, an unofficial deadline for player transactions was put in place. And pandemonium ensued, resulting in more than 40 big-league November signings for approximately $1.6 billion (per FanGraphs Jon Becker) as ...
Entering the offseason, the Red Sox sought to replenish their pitching depth. They lost left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who signed a five-year, $77.5 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. But they signed right-hander Michael Wacha to a one-year, $7 million deal and left-hander James Paxton to a one-year, $10 million deal with a two-year club option. Now, they add Hill, who is entering his 18th season in baseball, and has made it clear that he wanted to return to Boston.
Hill, a Canton native, recently suggested to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe that he has been in touch with the Red Sox, adding: “There is an interest, without a doubt. There’s a need on the other end. [But] the need for starting pitching is very apparent throughout the ...
The Cubs did a lot of subtracting in 2021, but on Wednesday night they were poised to make a notable addition in free agent right-hander Marcus Stroman.
Who was first to report that the sides were beyond the conversation stage? Stroman himself, with a Tweet that simply said, “Chicago!” and tagged the Cubs.
The club didn’t immediately make an announcement about the apparent agreement. Terms of the deal were not known, but Stroman was widely expected to receive a significant multiyear commitment going into the offseason.
“Chicago has always been one of my favorite cities,” Stroman Tweeted. “Culture and passion everywhere. Beyond excited to pitch in front one of the best fan bases in all of sports. Thank you to everyone in the ...
The Minnesota Twins signed right-hander Dylan Bundy to a $5 million, one-year contract on Wednesday, taking their first step toward rebuilding a depleted rotation.
Bundy will make $4 million in 2022. His deal comes with a club option for 2023 or a $1 million buyout.
Bundy went 2-9 with a 6.06 ERA in 90 2/3 innings last season for the Los Angeles Angels, starting 19 of his 23 appearances. He was 6-3 with a 3.29 ERA in 65 2/3 innings in 2020, making 11 starts in the pandemic-abbreviated season that were strong enough to finish ninth in the American League Cy Young Award voting.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to reach a deal with versatile All-Star Chris Taylor as soon as Wednesday, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The 31-year-old Taylor earned his first All-Star selection with the Dodgers in 2001, hitting .254 with 20 home runs, 73 RBI and 13 steals. He saw the majority of his playing time as a center fielder and at second base, but he also saw action at the other outfield positions as well as shortstop and third base.
He had been offered a qualifying offer worth $18.4 million for one year following the season, but he turned it down to enter free agency.
New police video has emerged of Atlanta Braves star outfielder Marcell Ozuna choking his wife before he was arrested for domestic battery this past May.
Ozuna was arrested on May 29 in Sandy Springs, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, and charged with two counts of domestic battery.
Police said that, in addition to choking his wife, Ozuna hit her with his cast and threatened to kill her.
Video from Sandy Springs police body cams obtained by TMZ shows Ozuna grabbing his wife by the neck as the cops entered the residence.
“Take your hands off her. Get on the ground!” an officer yells at Ozuna in the video.
The Phillies announced on Wednesday afternoon that they signed right-hander Corey Knebel to a one-year contract. The deal is worth $10 million, according to MLB Network insider Jon Heyman. The club has not confirmed the value of the contract.
Knebel, 30, is expected to be an integral piece to the Phillies’ bullpen in 2022. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has said multiple times this offseason that upgrading the back end of the bullpen is a priority. Knebel is one of those upgrades, although it remains to be seen what role he fills.
The D-backs made their first big move of the offseason, coming to an agreement on a two-year deal with reliever Mark Melancon, according to a report from MLB Network insider Ken Rosenthal on Wednesday. The club has not confirmed the move, which is pending a physical and is worth $14 million, per a report from MLB Network insider Jon Heyman.
He was a late-bloomer, but Melancon became one of the elite closers in the game in his late 20s with the Pirates. From 2013-15, the right-hander posted a 1.85 ERA with 100 saves for Pittsburgh, helping the franchise break a 21-year playoff drought with three consecutive postseason appearances. When the Bucs fell out of contention in ’16, they traded Melancon to the Nationals, for whom he continued to ...
Don Demeter, who played 11 seasons in the major leagues and was one of the few remaining Brooklyn Dodgers still living, died Monday night. He was 86 years old.
Born in Oklahoma City, Demeter played on powerhouse baseball teams at Capitol Hill High School. He signed with Brooklyn right out of high school and made the major league roster with the Dodgers in 1956 at age 21.
The outfielder was part of Brooklyn’s first World Series championship team in 1959. He played in all six games of the World Series and started in three of them.
Demeter also played with the Phillies, Tigers and Indians, hitting 163 home runs and driving in 563 runs in his career.
On Tuesday, the baseball world received unfortunate news involving former All-Star pitcher LaMarr Hoyt. He has reportedly passed away at the age of 66.
Former White Sox executive Dan Evans announced the news on his Twitter account. His post included a heartwarming message for Hoyt.
“Saddened by the news that LaMarr Hoyt has passed away,” Evans said. “Was the best pitcher on our amazing 1983 White Sox club, the Cy Young Award winner. Always a good guy to me, enjoyed our conversations and his music! RIP, LaMarr.”
Hoyt, who won the AL Cy Young Award in 1983, finished his MLB career with a 3.99 ERA, 681 strikeouts and 98 wins.
Leury García, the longest-tenured active White Sox player, will stay on the South Side after signing a three-year contract, word leaked out on Tuesday. García is set to earn $16.5 million ($5.5 million AAV) from 2022-24…
García’s flexibility was valuable for the White Sox, who had many position players who suffered long-term injuries in 2021. The supersub-forced-starter finished with a slash line of .267/.335/.376 (98 wRC+) despite an ice-cold April, when he slashed only .207/.220/.241. García redeemed himself throughout the remainder of the season and proved that he deserves playing time in the majors, even for a contending team. When we combine García’s defensive flexibility with his performance at the plate (quite close to ...
The Giants and free-agent right-hander Alex Cobb agreed on a two-year, $20 million contract, the team announced on Tuesday night. San Francisco is in the process of rebuilding its rotation after starter Kevin Gausman agreed to a five-year deal with the Blue Jays on Sunday.
Cobb will earn $9 million in each of the next two seasons, and his contract includes a $10 million club option for the 2024 campaign. If the Giants decline the option, Cobb will be entitled to a $2 million buyout….
Cobb has been a solid starter throughout his 10-year career when healthy, but it’s the “when healthy” part that may be cause for concern as he goes into his age-34 campaign in 2022. His most recent stint on the injured list was due to a right wrist ...
The outfielder, released by the Yankees last week, was finalizing a one-year deal to join the Cubs, The Post confirmed.
The 27-year-old was designated for assignment by the Yankees after a difficult season in which he opened the year as the starting left fielder before he was sidetracked by poor performance and injuries.
Frazier last played for the Yankees on June 30 and had a rehab assignment cut short, as he experienced vision problems and dizziness — though neither the team nor Frazier explained the exact nature of the situation.
Left-hander James Paxton and the Boston Red Sox are in agreement on a one-year, $10 million contract with a two-year club option, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Tuesday.
Paxton, 33, is recovering from Tommy John surgery and should be back pitching in 2022.
Paxton’s 2021 season with the Seattle Mariners came to an abrupt end in April due to the surgery. He left his first start of the season in the second inning after 24 pitches.
The Baltimore Orioles have agreed to a one-year deal with second baseman Rougned Odor.
The team announced the move Tuesday night. The 27-year-old Odor spent last season with the New York Yankees, hitting .202 with 15 home runs and 39 RBI in 102 games.
Odor played seven seasons with the Texas Rangers before joining the Yankees. He’s hit just .234 for his career, but he’s produced plenty of power for a middle infielder. Odor hit 33 home runs in 2016, 30 the following year and then 30 again in 2019.
Closer Raisel Iglesias and the Los Angeles Angels are in agreement on a four-year contract, a source familiar with the deal told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Tuesday night.
Financial terms weren’t immediately known.
Iglesias, 31, had turned down the qualifying offer from the Angels but now ends up back in Anaheim.
He enjoyed a fantastic season on a Los Angeles pitching staff that was generally underwhelming in 2021, as he posted a 2.57 ERA with 34 saves in 65 appearances. Iglesias, 31, struck out 103 batters and issued only 12 walks in 70 innings for a career-best 8.58 strikeout-to-walk ratio and ultimately finished 11th in American League Cy Young Award voting.
ATL - Johan Camargo, Richard Rodriguez
DET - Matthew Boyd
MIA - Lewis Brinson (technically DFA’d)
MIL - Dan Vogelbach
NYM - Robert Gsellman
PIT - Chad Kuhl
SDP - Jose Castillo, Matt Strahm
The Miami Marlins acquired All-Star third baseman Joey Wendle as part of a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.
In return, the Rays got back Kameron Misner, a 23-year-old outfield/third base prospect.
Wendle spent the past four seasons with Tampa Bay. He had a career-high 11 home runs to go with 54 RBIs and 73 runs scored in 136 games this past season for the AL East champion Rays.
MLB confirmed two different balls were used during the 2021 season, but claimed it was due to COVID-19 causing production delays, according to Business Insider.
“Every baseball used in a 2021 MLB game, without exception, met existing specifications and performed as expected,” the league said. But after approving the shift to the new “re-centered” ball for 2021, it said, COVID-19 forced Rawlings to backtrack and use older balls to cover for production delays. “Rawlings manufactures Major League balls on a rolling basis at its factory in Costa Rica,” it said. “Generally, balls are produced 6-12 months prior to being used in a game. Because Rawlings was forced to reduce capacity at its manufacturing facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ...
Major League Baseball and the players’ association stopped blood testing for Human Growth Hormone because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Blood testing for HGH began in 2012, and 412 samples with no positive results were collected in the year ending with the 2020 World Series. MLB and the union never publicly announced the stoppage in blood testing but its absence was revealed Monday when Thomas M. Martin, the independent administrator of the joint drug program, released his annual report.
The decision to interrupt blood testing during the pandemic was made because drawing blood is more invasive than urine testing and requires additional collectors who would have increased the number of people coming into contact with players and ...
Mark Winegardner’s book about Tony Lucadello, the successful baseball scout who scouted Mike Schmidt, is written in a clean, almost invisible prose style. Winegardner’s understated approach pays off when the story ends with an unexpected twist. Scouts, like trainers in boxing, often make rich characters, and Winegardner’s devotion to Lucadello pays off in one of the truest baseball stories you’ll ever read.
2 A Day In The Bleachers, by Arnold Hano
One of the first baseball books for adults, A Day in the Bleachers is really a long magazine article made into a tidy book. It’s about how Hano took the subway uptown to the Polo Grounds one day and bought a bleacher ticket for a ...
Catcher Yan Gomes and the Chicago Cubs are in agreement on a two-year, $13 million contract, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Gomes, 34, hit a combined .252 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs between the Washington Nationals and Oakland Athletics last season. Washington traded Gomes to the A’s at the trading deadline.
MLB Network/Fox Sports reporter and Free Press alum Jon Paul Morosi reported early Tuesday morning that the Tigers are close to signing shortstop Javier Baez to a six-year deal.
Baez, who will turn 29 on Wednesday, is a two-time All-Star and former Gold Glove winner who hit .265 with 31 home runs and 87 RBIs in 138 games between the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets last season. He did, though, lead the National League with 184 strikeouts over 502 at-bats. He stole 18 bases and walked 28 times, registering a .319 on-base percentage and a .494 slugging percentage (.813 on-base plus slugging).
For his career, the right-handed-hitting Baez is a .264 hitter with a .783 OPS and a 23.4 WAR. His career fielding percentage is .965 at shortstop. He ...
On Monday, the Braves signed RHP Kirby Yates to a two-year contract worth $8.25 million guaranteed. Yates will make $1 million next season, before earning $6 million in 2023. The deal also includes a $5.75 million club option for 2024 that includes a $1.25 million buyout. Yates also agreed to donate 1% of his earnings in each year of his deal to the Atlanta Braves Foundation.
Yates, 34, spent last season with Toronto, but did not pitch for the Blue Jays after undergoing Tommy John surgery for his right elbow on March 24. He also had the same operation in 2006.
The Marlins solidified their catching situation on Monday, acquiring Jacob Stallings from the Pirates for right-hander Zach Thompson and prospects Kyle Nicolas and Connor Scott, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The trade was pending physicals, and neither club has confirmed the report.
Stallings, who turns 32 on Dec. 22, is the reigning National League Gold Glove Award recipient after recording an MLB-tying 21 defensive runs saved, regardless of position. He also finished as the only Major League backstop not to allow a passed ball in 104 games behind the plate. Stallings’ 8.8 FRM—FanGraphs’ calculation of catcher framing value—tied for the best mark in the NL with the Brewers’ Omar Narváez. According to Baseball-Reference, ...
