MLB Bullets Has An Agreement

There was no provision in the new collective bargaining agreement that requires MLB team mascots to wear pants. So Clark can continue to go au naturel from the waist down.

Also, Jon Lester has already expressed his disappointment that the CBA will not exempt pitchers from having to throw to first.

On the subject of a 26th roster spot, I’m disappointed for the 30 minor leaguers who won’t have major league jobs because roster sizes didn’t change. I’m happy for myself in that managers aren’t going to have another reliever to go to mid-inning.

• Jayson Stark writes that baseball came to its senses and has some thoughts on the compromises that each side made.
• Richard Justice thinks both the players and the owners won, but the real winners here were the fans.
• Will Leitch has a summary of some of the key things you need to know in the CBA.
• Michael Baumann also shares his thoughts on the CBA, and lets you know that international free agents are the big losers here, even without a draft.
• David Schoenfield also has a take on how several provisions in the new CBA will change things.
• Grant Brisbee also rates the changes to the game in the new CBA, but he has the added bonus of grading each one of them from one to five Seligs. One of these days I’m going to have to go out to Vegas to see a live show from a Bud Selig impersonator.
• Bob Nightengale has winners and losers in the new CBA. International amateurs are the big losers.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks the new agreement could end up costing the players in the long run.
• As you’ve probably heard (or read if you clicked on several of the above links) the new CBA means an end to home-field advantage in the World Series being tied to the All-Star Game. Of course, the Cubs probably benefitted from the Indians having home-field advantage this year, so maybe they ought to send Terry Collins a t-shirt or something for doing such a terrific job at the ASG last summer.
• David Schoenfield is upset that home-field advantage is no longer tied to the All-Star Game. You’d almost think his tongue was firmly in his cheek on this one, but nah.
• Pete Blackburn is more upset the CBA didn’t extend the Divisional Series to seven games.
• R.J. Anderson explains how the new CBA means that Japanese superstar Shohei Otani will be staying in Japan for three more years. I have read some talk of MLB trying to make a “Otani exception” rule, but it’s unlikely to come to pass. That’s bad, because I was pretty sure the Cubs were going to be bidding heavily on Otani.
• There was at least one trade before we get to the WInter Meetings. The Cardinals sent pitcher Jaime Garcia to the Braves for three prospects.
• Craig Edwards looks at what kind of a pitcher the Braves got in Garcia and why he had such a poor 2016 season.
• And Eric Longenhagen looks at who the Cardinals are getting back from Atlanta.
• Craig Calcaterra informs us that “(Marc) Rzepczynski, whose name has only been typed once, by a Toronto beat writer back in 2009, and since then has only been copied and pasted” will sign a two-year deal with the Seattle Mariners. (That line is the real story here. But I’m funny like that. And yes, I cut and pasted it.)
• The Pirates are “aggressively” trying to deal Andrew McCutchen. It makes baseball sense, but it’s sad because McCutchen grew up a Pirates fan (in Florida, no less) and he led the team out of 20 years of irrelevance. If you want to put up a Mount Rushmore of Pirates, in my mind it’s Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and McCutchen.
• John Perrotto has three possible destinations for McCutchen.
• Three teams? Dayn Perry ranks all 29 teams on how likely they are to deal for McCutchen. I think he’s got the Cubs too high there, and he doesn’t really have the Cubs very high.
• Jorge L. Ortiz thinks the Pirates are making a mistake in dealing McCutchen, comparing it to the Reds trading away Frank Robinson 50 years ago.
• But Neil Greenberg says “buyer beware” on McCutchen, saying that last season was likely more than just a glitch in his all-star matrix.
• Jon Heyman has the latest on White Sox pitcher Chris Sale and whether or not he’ll be traded. The White Sox have Sale for sale.
• Dayn Perry has six teams interested in acquiring Sale.
• Phil Rogers has ten teams that might like to sign free agent Dexter Fowler.
• The Giants, Cardinals and Blue Jays are believed to be the three teams most interested in Fowler.
• David Schoenfield has five teams that might sign Justin Turner.
• Michael Klopman lists three teams who should be thinking of signing Rich Hill.
• Anthony Castrovince has some “bold” predictions for the Winter Meetings.
• Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang was arrested earlier today in Korea for leaving the scene of a DUI. If you don’t read Korean, you can read the story in English here.
• Jay Jaffe looks back at the career of Allan Huber “Bud” Selig who is a “lock” to get elected to the Hall of Fame. I’ve been saying this for a while.
• Jeff Sullivan notes that Billy Hamilton is one pretty unique player.
• Mark Simon explains why the Angels are a much better team than you probably think. Simon thinks the Angels will be in contention for a playoff spot in 2017.
• R.J. Anderson has a profile of the hottest new sabermetric statistic, DRA, and Jonathan Judge, the unlikely person who created it.
• If you’re shopping for a Red Sox fan this holiday season, you might want to consider this profane ugly David Ortiz Christmas sweater.
• I’m probably stealing this one from Cub Tracks “Food For Thought” section, but you need to check out this gingerbread version of Wrigley Field.
• And finally, to get you in the holiday mood, the minor league Reading Fightins have turned their stadium into a pretty impressive light display for Christmas.

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