The 2021 Major League Baseball Player Chatter, News and Fantasy Thread

[stevenash]

For Any Reds out there...........

Cincinnati Reds reach deals with Michael Lorenzen, five others



CINCINNATI -- The Reds reached one-year deals with all six of their arbitration-eligible players on Friday, agreeing with pitcher and outfielder Michael Lorenzen at $4,437,500 and with right-hander Luis Castillo at $4.2 million.

Cincinnati also agreed with outfielder Jesse Winker at $3.15 million, right-hander Tyler Mahle at $2.2 million, left-hander Amir Garrett at $1.5 million and right-hander Noé Ramirez at $1,175,000.

With Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer expected to sign elsewhere and depending on other offseason moves the Reds make, Lorenzen could be a candidate for the starting rotation. The 29-year-old righty is 22-21 with a 3.97 ERA in five seasons with Cincinnati. He can also play outfield and pinch hit. He was 3-1 with a 4.21 ERA in 18 games in 2020. He collected $1,379,630 from a prorated $3,725,000 salary.

Castillo would have looked good in a KC uniform.
Smart Reds move there.
Shows they are still in it to win it.

[Stallion]

I can't believe Dave Stewart has that much money.

[BigSpoon]

Jon Lester to the Nats on a one year deal. Worth the gamble as their 4/5 starter.

[jrgum3]

Castillo would have looked good in a KC uniform.
Smart Reds move there.
Shows they are still in it to win it.

Yeah Castillo is a nice top of the rotation starter. He'll have to anchor that staff with Bauer moving on but I think he can have another good season for the Red Legs as their ace.

[Cross]

Sad to see Jon Lester go after bringing a winning culture to the Cubs. The guy is a bulldog. He bought the whole city of Chicago beers before he left and tipped all the bars 34%. He gets it!!!

[EmpireMaker]

Left-handed starter Jon Lester and the Washington Nationals are in agreement on a one-year deal with a mutual option, pending physical, sources familiar with the contract told ESPN. After a phenomenal six years in Chicago, Lester off to D.C. to join Scherzer, Strasburg, Corbin.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Mets fire GM Porter after news broke yesterday that he sent a female reporter pictures of his rooster in 2016.

[stevenash]

Musgrove to SD

I would love JP’s opinion but I like it.
Musgrove can eat innings, I like inning eating SP’s
Eliminates some of the wear and tear on the relievers.

2020 doesn’t count, short season, 2019 he made every start (31) and pitched 170 plus innings.
in this day and age if you pitch effective 6 innings a start pretty much every start you are an innings eating commodity. Oh sure the other numbers were just OK, but look for who he was pitching for?

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Musgrove to SD

I would love JP’s opinion but I like it.
Musgrove can eat innings, I like inning eating SP’s
Eliminates some of the wear and tear on the relievers.

2020 doesn’t count, short season, 2019 he made every start (31) and pitched 170 plus innings.
in this day and age if you pitch effective 6 innings a start pretty much every start you are an innings eating commodity. Oh sure the other numbers were just OK, but look for who he was pitching for?

Not wild about it but he is a local kid that had some impressive strikeout numbers last year. Maybe he is starting to put things together? Either way, I was not happy to see young outfielder, Hudson Head, included in the trade. This adds to the depth of the starting staff but Musgrove has never been that great. Hopefully he proves me wrong.

[Stallion]

Mets fire GM Porter after news broke yesterday that he sent a female reporter pictures of his rooster in 2016.

Why fire him now?? It's a little late IMO

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Why fire him now?? It's a little late IMO

The feared the backlash plain and simple.

[stevenash]

Here's something you might like JP

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/the-sleeper-and-the-bust-episode-883-padres-strike-again-yankees-active/

[stevenash]

Don Sutton just died.

Another one of my childhood favorites passes.
Sad.

There were a few Dodgers I rooted for.
He was one of them.

[stevenash]

Springer signs with the Jays.
AL East is going to be interesting this year.

[EmpireMaker]

The Angels have an agreement with free-agent left-hander Jose Quintana, pending a physical, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. It’s a one-year, $8MM contract for the Wasserman client, per Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports.
Quintana was one of the most accomplished innings eaters available in free agency, as the 31-year-old has thrown 1,495 frames of 3.73 ERA/3.99 SIERA ball between the White Sox and Cubs since his career began in 2012. Of course, a good portion of Quintana’s career has been spent with Angels manager Joe Maddon, who was the Cubs’ skipper when the southpaw pitched for the club from 2017-19. Maddon was with the Angels last season, when Quintana missed most of the year with thumb problems. He totaled just one start and 10 innings in his final season in Chicago.
Last year’s injury issues look like an anomaly for Quintana, who entered the season with seven straight campaigns of 170-plus innings. That’s the type of durability the Angels have lacked in recent years. They’ve battled a litany of injuries in their rotation en route to six straight seasons without a playoff berth, but a healthy Quintana may help turn their fortunes around in 2021.
Along with Quintana, the Angels are set to feature Dylan Bundy, Andrew Heaney and Griffin Canning in the top four of their rotation next season. Two-way player Shohei Ohtani and Jaime Barria also figure to collect plenty of starts for the club, though new general manager Perry Minasian might not be done addressing that part of the Angels’ roster.

[BigSpoon]

Jays needed to overpay to get him and they did by giving him the 6th year. Contract might be ugly in year 5 and 6 of the deal but they had to get it done so they could compete now.

[stevenash]

Maybe, just maybe now we can see Trout in October.

I knew the Angels would make some smart moves, their front office has some good baseball people.

[mr. leisure]

Good , the Angels need pitching desperately .

[Cross]

Quintana will definitely eat innings, not sure he will do much else.

[jrgum3]

Not wild about it but he is a local kid that had some impressive strikeout numbers last year. Maybe he is starting to put things together? Either way, I was not happy to see young outfielder, Hudson Head, included in the trade. This adds to the depth of the starting staff but Musgrove has never been that great. Hopefully he proves me wrong.

I think Musgrove is a decent pickup for the Padres to round out their pitching staff. Didn't realize the prospects they gave up were pretty good to get him but I think it will be worth it because I like Musgrove. He'll eat up innings and is a good rotation piece at the back end of the rotation.

[jrgum3]

Springer signs with the Jays.
AL East is going to be interesting this year.

Nice pickup by the Jays even if they went a little overboard paying for him. He is a star and will make the Jays competitive in the AL East for the better part of the next decade.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Jays also signed Kirby yates. I was hoping he would come back to San Diego. If he is healthy, expect a very good closer. Good luck, kirby.

[koz-man]

Springer signs with the Jays.
AL East is going to be interesting this year.

George Springer, Toronto Blue Jays agree to 6-year, $150M deal, sources say


Outfielder George Springer and the Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a six-year, $150 million contract, sources confirmed to ESPN's Jeff Passan on Tuesday.

Springer is headed to the Blue Jays' spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida, for a physical. If all goes according to plan, Toronto will get the star it has been looking for all winter.

The contract would be the largest given out by the Blue Jays in franchise history. Their only other contract that topped $100 million was a $126 million extension given to Vernon Wells in 2006.

[batt33]

Why fire him now?? It's a little late IMO

Mets owner talked about changing the culture...... needed to jump on it.... My question is who vets these people?

[stevenash]

I can't believe Dave Stewart has that much money.

He's a good businessman I am told.

[BigSpoon]

Jays were said to have signed Brantley as well but he went back to the Astros.

[Cross]

Jays with a trimmed down Vladdy Jr also.

[EmpireMaker]

Free-agent reliever Brad Hand has received interest from several teams since Cleveland unexpectedly cut ties with him in late October. The Blue Jays are among the clubs that have been linked to Hand, and Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that “they’ve had an offer out to” the three-time All-Star.
Hand would be the third noteworthy addition of the offseason for the Blue Jays’ bullpen, which has already landed Kirby Yates (one of Hand’s ex-Padres teammates) and Tyler Chatwood this week. Yates looks like a candidate to close for the Blue Jays in 2021, but that job could go to Hand if the team signs him. Despite losing almost 2 mph on his fastball, Hand posted his latest in a long line of productive seasons in 2020, as the 30-year-old registered a sparkling 2.05 ERA/2.80 SIERA in 22 innings. Hand also converted all 16 of his save opportunities and ranked 13th among relievers in K-BB percentage (29.1).
Toronto and others have new competition for Hand in the Angels, who “have emerged as a possibility” to sign him, Robert Murray of FanSided tweets. He would be another major late-game acquisition for a Halos club that swung a trade with the Reds earlier this offseason for right-hander Raisel Iglesias and picked up southpaw Alex Claudio in free agency. The Angels could still use another lefty for their righty-heavy relief corps, though, and Hand may be their answer.

[jrgum3]

Jays also signed Kirby yates. I was hoping he would come back to San Diego. If he is healthy, expect a very good closer. Good luck, kirby.

Jays serious about contending this season. Good to see them making moves because they have a lot of good young talent. They still need to sign another starting pitcher to bolster their rotation.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Jays serious about contending this season. Good to see them making moves because they have a lot of good young talent. They still need to sign another starting pitcher to bolster their rotation.

I'm happy for them and their supporters in this thread. They have a lot of young talent and are a fun team to watch.

[Otters27]

Jon Lester to the Nats on a one year deal. Worth the gamble as their 4/5 starter.

Could go a nice .500 record maybe

[stevenash]

J.A. Happ signs with the Twins.

I suppose you can't have enough pitching.
Ordinary lefty with ordinary career numbers.
14 and 10 for the Yankees the past two seasons.
Strikes out 8 per nine innings (ordinary) walks 3 per nine innings (ordinary) 4.00 ERA (you get the picture)

He's 38 years old, this is a short term deal.
I think Minnesota signed him because they have no lefties in the rotation.

Decent pitcher, I'm OK with this (not that the Twins organization gives a shit about my opinion)

[Stallion]

The Jays panicked because they couldnt get anyone else, so they gave Springer the $150 million. Yates is a good closer, but they still need better starting pitching to compete.

[batt33]

MLB still has not finalized decisions on the major rule changes that were added in 2020, although USA Today reported recently that the seven-inning doubleheaders and runner-on-second rule for extra innings are likely to be implemented again. There's still no clarity on the universal DH or expanded postseason, though.

[EmpireMaker]

The Astros suffered a major loss in free agency this week with the departure of outfielder George Springer, who agreed to sign with the Blue Jays. Next winter, they could see shortstop Carlos Correa follow Springer in exiting on the open market, though the 26-year-old told Astroline Radio (h/t: Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle) that he prefers to stick with the franchise for the long haul. “I love this organization. I love the Astros. I would love to be an Astro for life,” the one-time All-Star and former AL Rookie of the Year said. “I hope they’re on the same side I am. If they’re on the same side, I would love to be an Astro for the rest of my life.” For now, Correa and the Astros are gearing up for an arbitration hearing (he filed for a $12.5MM salary; they filed for $9.75MM), but he understands “it’s a business and you have to leave your feelings out of it.”

• The Tigers have shown interest in free-agent utilityman Marwin Gonzalez, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets. Signing with Detroit would reunite Gonzalez with new manager A.J. Hinch, who was the Astros’ skipper during part of Gonzalez’s time in Houston. Gonzalez had his best year in 2017 under Hinch, which was also a World Series-winning campaign for the Astros. The success Gonzalez had as an Astro led the Twins to sign him to a two-year, $21MM contract going into 2019, but the club didn’t get great value from that investment. The switch-hitting 31-year-old batted an underwhelming .248/.311/.387 in 662 plate appearances with Minnesota, though he did continue to provide defensive versatility. He saw at least some action at first, second, third, short and both outfield positions as a Twin.
• Along with Gonzalez, the Tigers are interested in first baseman Mitch Moreland, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Moreland has been on the market since the Padres declined his $3MM option at the start of the offseason. The 35-year-old divided last season between San Diego and Boston, with which he combined for a strong .265/.342/.551 line and 10 home runs in 152 plate appearances. Moreland’s production did plummet as the year progressed, though.
• The Red Sox continue to have interest in utility player Enrique Hernandez, as Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports that the two sides have held talks “in recent days.” However, Cotillo adds that it’s unknown if the Red Sox and Hernandez are nearing an agreement. In Boston, the former Dodger would be a candidate to rack up plenty of reps at second base, where he has played frequently. The Sox currently have Christian Arroyo, Michael Chavis and Yairo Munoz as in-house candidates to handle the keystone.