MLB Bullets Is Coming To America

Good morning. I guess I'm just not a morning person.

• Two of the biggest names in Cuban baseball, brothers Yulieski Gourriel and Lourdes Gourriel Jr., have defected with the hope of playing major league baseball.
• David Schoenfield compares the brothers to other recent Cuban ballplayers who have come to MLB.
• Ben Badler explains why both brothers may not play in the US before 2017.
• The Diamondbacks signed reliever Tyler Clippard for 2 years and $12.25 million.
• The White Sox signed Mat Latos to a one-year deal.
• Travis Ishikawa is also heading to the South Side.
• The Padres signed Skip Schumaker to a minor league contract.
• Now that all these lesser free agents are all signing, what about the big names still on the market? The Rays probably aren't going to sign Ian Desmond.
• Alex Crisafulli wonders if the Cardinals should sign Dexter Fowler.
• August Fagerstrom thinks Yovani Gallardo is a good fit for the Orioles, but he's a better fit with the White Sox.
• Anthony Castrovince looks at three trends in baseball that is keeping the market down for free agents this winter.
• David Schoenfield also points out that the track record of free agents in their first season with their new club isn't the greatest.
• Tom Verducci is out with his annual article on the "Verducci Effect." Verducci himself calls it the "Year After Effect" and it looks at how pitchers do the year after a large increase in their workload. Everyone else calls it the Verducci Effect. Studies haven't shown that there is anything to this, but as I say every year, it's worth monitoring.
• Grant Brisbee explains why a lot of teams will be trying to sign Bryce Harper and it's not a foregone conclusion that he'll sign with the Yankees or Dodgers.
• Brisbee also writes that the rules for sliding into second base are going to change and that will be a good thing.
• The Blue Jays and Josh Donaldson have agreed to a two-year, $29 million deal. Donaldson will still be one year away from free agency when this deal expires. (Assuming the rules don't change, which isn't a great assumption I guess.)
• Brian Kenny argues that the stars of the 80's and 90's are getting jobbed in balloting for the Hall of Fame.
• Evan Gattis underwent hernia surgery and will miss the next 4 to 6 weeks. Some players will do almost anything to get out of the early spring training wind sprints.
• Delmon Young was arrested in Miami for choking and threatening a valet. Young is a free agent at the moment and something tells me that he's going to stay that way for a while.
• Owen Watson noticed some funny things happened when Marcus Semien started working with Ron Washington last summer. Some good, some not so good.
• Bud Selig will teach a class at Arizona State law school. When the time comes to grade the final exams, Selig will just throw up his hands and declare it a tie.
• Marcus Stroman has some big plans for life outside of baseball.
• There is a 14-story tall snowboarding ramp at Fenway Park right now. I'm guessing that's just for show as no one would be crazy enough to go down that, would they?
• For 17 years, the late Dave Henderson ran a fantasy camp down in Arizona. This year it went on without Hendu for the first time ever. Caitlin O'Hara has a photo essay on the campers and people's memories of Henderson.
• For 67 years, Bernie Stowe worked in the Reds clubhouse in a career that spanned from Johnny Vander Meer to Johnny Cueto. Stowe died at age 80 yesterday and Jerry Crasnick shares his thoughts on Stowe's baseball career.
• Craig Calcaterra notes that the Giants are putting up a statue to a known baseball cheat: Gaylord Perry.
• Which finally, led to Calcaterra telling this wonderful story about the time when he was 12 and his family invited themselves over to Gaylord Perry's house for lunch. I can't imagine anything like that happening today.

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