MLB Offseason 2014-15: Wait, pitchers and catchers report WHEN?

[Pondwater]

Adiós El Oso Blanco.


http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?storyId=12167911

 

[Tom Hendricks]

34 Days until Pitchers & Catchers report...

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^Feels like the season just ended.

--Sran

 

[Timby]

Braves trade Gattis to the Astros for prospects.

I'm starting to think the Braves are going to have an all-time terribad offense this season. Like, worse than the 2010 Mariners.

 

[Jedi_Master]

A's trade for Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar, then flip Escobar to Washington for Tyler Clippard.

I am slowly regaining my optimism. I don't see the A's winning the West this year, but I do see them being competitive in the wild-card race.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Starlin Castro thinks moving out of the DR is a good idea.

He's in Arizona early to train.

Story

Maybe he's not as dumb as we thought.

 

[Timby]

Starlin Castro thinks moving out of the DR is a good idea.

He's in Arizona early to train.

Story

Maybe he's not as dumb as we thought.

I would bet money that this was "strongly suggested" by Cubs management -- I don't think there's any question that Castro has been running with the wrong people, Cubs management knows it and they have a lot (entirely too much) money tied up in him.

 

[Timby]

Scherzer going to the Nationals, seven-year deal worth more than $180 million.

 

[Scout101]

Interested to see if this means they look to trade Zim or Strasburg now, as has been rumored if they were going to pay Scherzer. If so, would hope Red Sox are in on that. Really want to leave Amaro holding the bag on Hamels...

 

[Timby]

Interested to see if this means they look to trade Zim or Strasburg now, as has been rumored if they were going to pay Scherzer. If so, would hope Red Sox are in on that. Really want to leave Amaro holding the bag on Hamels...

They absolutely need to trade one of them, but the problem is that there isn't much of a market for what they need -- I can't think of a team that has a spare 2B / 3B to burn for a pitching rental, and that's the one area of deficiency that Washington has. I mean, maybe Pittsburgh flips Neil Walker for Zimmerman (no way they're letting Strasburg go that cheaply), because they're probably an ace away from contention, but that's still highly unlikely.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Ya think they'd take Valbuena or Olt for Zimmerman?

Bryant is coming, even if it's 3 weeks into the season.

 

[Scout101]

Well, there IS Betts available if the right package were able to be put together (likely with extension talks worked into them). Penciled into Red Sox OF at the moment, but is a 2B by trade, and a pretty good trade chip. Sox have someone at 2B that's alright already...

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Forget I mentioned Luis Valbuena. The Cubs have traded Valbuena & Dan Straily to the Astros for Dexter Fowler.

On the Scherzer thing. If Scherzer is better than Strasburg or Zimmerman, but they have to get rid of one of those guys, it's like two steps forward/one step back.

Is Scherzer worth enough to lose one of the others?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

John Sterling (Yankees radio guy) is one of the many people who's lost everything after a fire at the apartment complex in Edgewater, NJ where he lived. Link

 

[Pondwater]

That's terrible. :-/

 

[Timby]

The Orioles and Blue Jays are discussing compensation for Dan Duquette. Supposedly Jeff Hoffman's name came up, which seems hard to believe but would be an incredible steal for Baltimore.

 

[Pondwater]

Kelly Johnson comes back to the Atlanta Braves.


http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?storyId=12211392

Oh, Joy!

Not. At least it's a minor league deal.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Ichiro to the Marlins. Linky

 

[Timby]

Ichiro to the Marlins. Linky

Ichiro in a market that's like 35 percent Spanish-speaking is weird as hell, but Ichiro owns. Depending on how much he can play, he still has an outside shot at 3,000 hits.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Ernie Banks has died.