MLB Bullets Has Gone Fishing

Between St. Louis and Los Angeles, I think St. Louis got the better end of the deal.

• Free agents are finally starting to sign as the Marlins inked pitcher Wei-Yin Chen to a five-year, $80 million deal with an opt-out after two seasons.
• And the Rockies have locked up outfielder Gerardo Parra to a three-year, $26 million deal.
• Keith Law (ESPN Insider Only) thinks the Marlins deal with Chen is a good one (and he expects Chen to opt-out) and wonders what the Rockies are thinking. Law thinks the contract given to Parra is fair, but wonders why the putrid Rockies are signing anyone.
• Matt Snyder thinks Chen's stay in Miami will be a short one.
• The Marlins also signed third baseman Chris Johnson to a one-year deal.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks the Marlins next step is to sign second baseman Dee Gordon to a long-term extension and to do it before the two sides go to arbitration.
• Drew Silva thinks the Marlins deal with Chen is a sign that manager Don Mattingly and hitting coach Barry Bonds are getting their wish that outfielder Marcell Ozuna not be traded.
• David Schoenfield thinks the Rockies deal with Parra is a sign that outfielder Carlos Gonzalez is heading out of Denver.
• August Fagerstrom believes that the Rockies will trade an outfielder (although not necessarily CarGo) for a pitcher.
• Jerry Crasnick writes that despite these signings, outfielder Justin Upton is no closer to agreeing to terms with a team. He tries to explain why the market for Upton has been so slow to develop.
• Anthony Castrovince weighs the pros and cons of signing Upton or Yoenis Cespedes and comes down in the Upton camp.
• So far, the Orioles have been the only team rumored to be talking with first baseman Chris Davis. Matt Snyder wonders if Davis will end up signing with a "mystery team" and who that mystery team might be. Hint: they meddle a lot and have a dog that says "Ruh-Roh." Oh, and one team member wears an ascot everywhere and another one (not the dog) eats dog treats all the time.
• The Dodgers are nearing a deal to sign Cuban pitcher Yaisel Sierra.
• Cricket star Kieran Powell has decided to make the switch to baseball and will have a private workout in Florida today. The Cubs are among the 11 teams expected to be in attendance. That's going to be an interesting story to follow. He plans to play center field.
• Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters that Aroldis Chapman is his closer. This assumes he's not suspended, which is probably not a great assumption.
• The Fangraphs projections for the 2016 season are out and the Cubs are projected to win 95 games, more than any other team in baseball.
• Chris Bahr writes that the computer projections are disrespecting the Royals again.
• Craig Calcaterra asks if everyone can please not get upset about getting "disrespected" by a computer algorithm.
• Despite the aforementioned computer algorithm projecting them to finish 11 games behind the first-place Cubs, Ken Rosenthal doesn't think the Cardinals need to make a big move between now and the start of the season. Of course not. They can just hack into the servers and change the projections.
• Andrew Simon lists five players who should benefit from joining new teams this upcoming season.
• Matt Trueblood breaks down how the Indians' Carlos Carrasco transformed himself into an ace pitcher.
• Grant Brisbee thinks the Indians are the new Mets. I hope they get Manhattan Island back then.
• Brisbee also seems to stop by Lake Wobegon in stating that more than half of the pitching rotations in baseball could end up as a top-five rotation in 2016.
• Jeff Sullivan looks at Ryan Rayburn, the most volatile hitter in history.
• All major league teams must have a full-time Spanish translator in 2016. Only the White Sox will be required to have a "Hawk-to-English" translator.
• Chris Cwik offers his opinion on the best current nicknames in baseball.
• Drew Storen is apparently not up on the meaning of the latest slang. Either that, or he's the king of TMI. Just accept that you're getting old and use the slang terms you're familiar with from your youth. The kids will think you're groovy, man.
• Farewell to the late, great David Bowie. Bowie was always among the most mysterious of pop stars, but perhaps nothing was as mysterious as the only baseball account he followed on Twitter was Nick Swisher. Not quite as weird as Margaret Atwood following Old Spice on Twitter (true!), but pretty darn weird.
• And finally, while it might be a good idea for the Rockies to trade an outfielder, they might not want to trade Charlie Blackmon. Why? Because he's Batman and here's the photographic proof.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.