Baseball

The Brewers and free agent first baseman Rhys Hoskins are finalizing a two-year, $34MM guarantee that’ll allow him to opt out next winter, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Milwaukee adds one of the top remaining hitters on the open market.

On Tuesday night, a source told MLB.com that the Cubs were working toward an agreement with Imanaga. The expected multiyear contract is pending a physical and there are still details to be ironed out before the left-hander’s 45-day posting window closes at 4 p.m. CT on Thursday.

The Cubs have not confirmed an agreement, which was reported by MLB Network insiders Jon Morosi and Jon Heyman as well as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

With the recent spending by the Dodgers and last year the Mets and Padres, it got me thinking. What's worse for baseball? Owners who spend much more or owners who don't spend even though they're in the window like the Orioles and Mariners?

The Dodgers have agreed to a one-year, $23.5MM deal with outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan (X links). Only $15MM of that salary will be paid to Hernandez this year, as the rest is deferred and will be paid out in installments from 2030-39.

The Mets are signing Harrison Bader, reports Andy Martino of SNY. It’s a one-year deal worth approximately $10MM, per Martino. Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports the salary as $10.5MM for the Vayner Sports client.

Bader, 30 in June, is an elite defensive outfielder who has had mixed results as a hitter and has also struggled to stay consistently healthy. Since his debut in 2017, he has racked up 52 Defensive Runs Saved, 68 Outs Above Average and a grade of 46.6 from Ultimate Zone Rating. All three of those figures place him in the top 10 among all outfielders in the league in that time. He’s also stolen 77 bases in 95 tries.

The offensive side of his game is less impressive, however. He’s hit .243/.310/.396 in his career for a wRC+ of 92, indicating he’s been 8% below league average overall. He has been above average at times, posting a wRC+ of 107 in 2018 and a 108 in 2021, but the past two years have been rough.

The Padres are close to a deal with Korean reliever Woo Suk Go, according to MLB Network insider Jon Heyman. The club hasn’t confirmed the report.

Per a follow-up report from Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News Agency out of Seoul, Go took a flight from Korea to the United States on Tuesday night (Wednesday afternoon local time).

A 25-year-old righty who throws in the mid-90s, Go has posted a 3.18 ERA with 139 saves and 401 strikeouts over 368 1/3 innings spanning seven seasons for the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization. To sign Go, the Padres would need to pay a release fee to the Twins.

Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported that Yamamoto would be able to opt out of the contract after the 2029 and ’31 seasons. According to the Associated Press, that’s in part conditional on the pitcher’s arm health in the first six years of the deal. If Yamamoto undergoes Tommy John surgery or spends 134+ consecutive days on the injured list with a right elbow concern between 2024-29, his opt-out chances would be delayed until following the 2031 and ’33 seasons. In the absence of that significant of an elbow injury, he’d be able to opt out after 2029 and ’31 as initially reported.

Interestingly, the contract also includes an opt-out provision designed to keep him from being traded. The AP reports that if the Dodgers trade Yamamoto, that would vest an opt-out clause that’d allow him to become a free agent at the end of that season. While it’s not true no-trade protection, it makes it very difficult to deal him. Any acquiring team would have to account for the possibility that Yamamoto leaves the following winter.

A one-year, $16 million contract between Montas and Cincinnati became official on Tuesday after he passed his physical. A deal was agreed upon Saturday.

"I know he has an injury history, but we were going to bring him in for a physical anyway," Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall said. "So we brought him in, did the physical and felt good about where he has been. He's been a very good Major League pitcher in the past and he has a ton of upside to get back to where he was. If he's that guy again, he's a toward-the-top-of-the-rotation type guy."

The Red Sox and Lucas Giolito are in agreement on a two-year, $38.5MM deal, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The deal includes an opt-out after the 2024 campaign. According to Chris Cotillo of MassLive, the deal includes $1MM in incentives for both years with $19MM guaranteed in the first year, making the second-year opt-out a $19.5MM decision.

The Blue Jays have agreed to a two-year, $15MM deal with Isiah Kiner-Falefa, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray (X link). The deal includes another $1MM in incentives, and it will become official when Kiner-Falefa passes a physical. Kiner-Falefa is represented by ALIGND.

The Seattle Mariners have signed catcher Mitch Garver to a two-year contract worth $24 million, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9919625

The Padres signed Japanese reliever Yuki Matsui to a five-year deal, the team announced on Saturday. San Diego has prioritized adding pitching this offseason, bringing in four young arms in the blockbuster deal with the Yankees for Juan Soto, and Matsui joins that list of acquisitions.

The deal is expected to be worth $28 million and includes opt-outs after 2026 and 2027, as well as an injury clause that can convert the fifth year of the contract into a club option, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand. The club did not disclose the terms of the deal.

While Major League Baseball will not see rule changes that are as drastic in 2024 as they were in 2023 when it introduced the pitch clock, there will reportedly be some differences during the upcoming campaign.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today shared some of them, including the reduction of the pitch clock from 20 seconds to 18 when runners are on base. What's more, teams will be given four mound visits per game instead of five

What's more, pitchers can step off the mound twice without penalty to reset the pitch clock.

MLB also decided to widen the runner's lane so batters can more directly approach first base and still not worry as much about interference

Continue the reunion!

Fresh off their first World Series appearance since 2001, the D-backs have aggressively added players with the latest coming Sunday when they agreed with outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on a three-year, $42 million deal that includes a $14 million club option for 2027 and an opt-out after 2024, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9663932

The fifth annual All-MLB Team was announced Saturday night, honoring the best players from the 2023 season. As was the case in each of the past four editions, the ‘23 team was chosen through a process in which 50% of the vote came from fans and 50% from a panel of experts.

The Mariners will take full ownership of the ROOT Sports Northwest regional sports network on January 1, according to Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. The Mariners had already held a 71% share in ROOT Sports NW since 2013, and they’ll now assume the 29% share previously held by Warner Bros. Discovery, as the corporation is getting out of the RSN business.