Fan Interference

This year’s BBWAA Hall of Fame vote will be announced in one week. Approximately 41% of the expected ballots have been revealed as published at http://www.bbhoftracker.com/2022/11/2023-bbhof-tracker-summary-and-leaderboard/#main-navigation Right now Scott Rolen and Todd Helton are hovering in the 80% range. That doesn’t mean for sure they will get in. A large percentage of the, um, grumpier…… Continue reading HoF Voting Update

Yesterday the Cubs held a fan event in Chicago. At it, owner Tom Ricketts surprised everyone, including Ryne Sandberg—who was present, with an announcement that a statue of Sandberg would be made and unveiled at Wrigley Field in 2024. It’s a well deserved honor, and in/of itself a fine moment. With the ongoing renovations at…… Continue reading Why Baseball Can’t Relegate Steroids to the Past

The long national nightmare is over. Carlos Correa has passed a physical and signed a contract. It is with the Minnesota Twins. It is for $200M over 6 years, with up to an additional 4 years and $70M in vesting options. To recap, last month, he/his agent agreed to a 13 year, $350M deal with…… Continue reading Correa is a Twin Again

Earlier this offseason, Carlos Correa agreed to sign with the Giants for 13 years and $350M. Then the deal fell apart. Then he reportedly agreed to sign with the Mets for 12 years and $315M. He has, however, still not signed any deal. Supposedly the Giants were concerned and wanted to renegotiate after an MRI…… Continue reading Correa Situation Continues to Be Weird

Two weeks ago Trevor Bauer had his suspension reduced such that he was reinstated. His official suspension was for 194 games (reduced from 324), and he had already missed that many, thus the reinstatement. As his time out in 2021 was paid, the Dodgers do not have to pay him for the first 50 games…… Continue reading Bauer DFA’d

Yesterday it was reported that the Red Sox and Rafael Devers were finalizing an 11 year contract worth $331 million. As of today, it still hasn’t been signed, but let’s assume the Red Sox’ front office personnel aren’t insane/professionally figuratively suicidal and that the deal does get signed. I’ve seen reports that they absolutely had…… Continue reading 11 Years, $331M

Unless you live under a rock or something, you know that Pele died two days ago at the age of 82 from cancer. I’ve written in the past how terms like “legend” or “generational talent” get overused. It’s not overused on Pele, who was inarguably one of the most famous people on the planet. People…… Continue reading The Passing of a Legend

10 MLB umpires are retiring this year. 7 are crew chiefs. Angel Hernandez is not among the retirees unfortunately. The MLB announcement did not include who would be brought up from the minors to replace them nor who would be promoted to become new crew chiefs (please, MLB, seriously, not Angel Hernandez).

An arbitrator has reduced Trevor Bauer’s 324 game suspension for violations of the baseball domestic violence policy to 194. It confirms the misdeeds and is still the longest suspension ever under that policy. However, with the time he missed in 2021 plus all of 2022, his time of suspension is over. The suspension is unpaid,…… Continue reading Trevor Bauer Reinstated

Carlos Correa had agreed to a 13 year, $350M contract with the SF Giants. Done deal, right? Well, not so fast. On Monday it was reported that there was an undisclosed issue on his physical. Apparently there was a disagreement over its significance as well. Then today it was announced he would instead sign with…… Continue reading Correa Now a Met?!

There are 14 returning players on the BBWAA ballot. Only one had at least 60% last year and has a real shot this year: Scott Rolen. Todd Helton and Billy Wagner both had over 50%. Andruw Jones had 41%. They could make moves to set them up for selection in future years. Gary Sheffield had…… Continue reading Who’s Getting Into the Hall of Fame?

He went 68-94, last place in the NL West. It was the 4th straight years of missing the playoffs. CJ Cron was the only starting position player to have an OPS of at least 100. Their team ERA was worst in MLB, however they did have good years from relievers Daniel Bard (ERA 1.79, 34…… Continue reading Postmortem: Colorado Rockies

74-88, 4th in the NL West. That’s not a good record, but it’s a lot better than the 52-110 that the Diamondbacks suffered through in 2021. 2022 was their fifth straight no-playoffs season. They have a core of position players to build around in Christian Walker, Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, and Daulton Varsho. They got…… Continue reading Postmortem: Arizona Diamondbacks

The Chicago Cubs acted like a large market team…and the Braves did not. SS Dansby Swanson heads to the North Side for $177M over 7 years, with a full no-trade clause. He was the last of the big free agents available this winter, and seemingly the only one not locked in past the age of…… Continue reading Cubs Land Swanson

When I was a kid in the 1970’s, the Pirates were the class of the NL East. No more. Their last division title was when they were still part of the NL East in 1992–the third of a three year run. They became part of the then newly formed NL Central in 1994–they have never…… Continue reading Postmortem: Pittsburgh Pirates