MLB Bullets hands out roses

I’m sending you over to look at this piece I wrote last night about the Shohei Ohtani rose ceremony where the Cubs and six other teams got roses. You can go over there and discuss that and then come back and here and read more. I suppose the other thing the Cubs have going for them is that they are the only team in the running who have a former minor leaguer who won The Bachelorette.

• Jeff Sullivan looks at what this list of finalists means and notes that throughout the whole process, no one, including the teams bidding, has any idea what Ohtani wants. Therefore, it’s hard to say who the favorites are.
• As you might expect, the New York tabloids reacted with grace and class to the news that Ohtani would not be signing with the Yankees. Of course not. They were pigs, as per usual.
• Seth Berkman talks to people connected with Japanese baseball and warns that while Ohtani is a great player, no one over there would ever compare him to Babe Ruth. So calm down on the Cooperstown predictions already.
• Tim Brown talks to people in MLB about Ohtani’s chances of succeeding as a two-way player. This confirms what I’ve read elsewhere. Let him try to both pitch and hit, but he’s probably just going to end up as just a pitcher. Hitting major league pitching is just too difficult to not give it 100% of your attention.
• Jonathan Bernhardt lists what he thinks Ohtani should be asking major league teams.
• The Yankees did finally hire a manager and Aaron Boone is the new big man in the Bronx. Sure, he has no experience managing or coaching anywhere, but he looks good on TV and he hit a big home run for the Yankees once.
• Pete Caldera notes that Boone has more ties to the Yankees than just one home run. Yeah, he blew out his knee playing basketball so the Yankees traded for Alex Rodriguez. But he admitted it was playing basketball, so that proves something, according to Caldera.
• Tim Brown believes that Boone’s whole life has prepared him for managing, which is just a fancy way of saying that he’s never coached at any level before and we don’t care about that anymore. By this criteria (Both Boone’s father and grandfather were major league All-Stars), I’m surprised Drake LaRoche didn’t at least get an interview. I know Chris Sale would write him a letter of recommendation.
• Jon Tayler points out what I believe here: hiring a guy who has never even coached or worked in a front office before before is plenty risky.
• On the other big story of the offseason, Jon Paul Morosi reports that both the Cardinals and the Giants have the framework of a deal in place with the Marlins for Giancarlo Stanton. Both teams have also met with Stanton’s representatives. However, everyone is still waiting for Stanton to waive his no-trade clause.
• Jon Heyman adds that reports that a deal is close is “optimistic” and that negotiations could drag out for a while. Stanton still wants to see the Dodgers jump in with an offer, by all accounts. However, Heyman does say that most believe that Stanton is much more likely to approve a deal to the Giants than the Cardinals.
• Dave Cameron writes that the Giants may regret dealing for Stanton and that there may be better options for their money. Cameron doesn’t say so, but the same is almost certainly true of the Cardinals as well, so don’t necessarily cheer for Stanton to go to San Francisco.
• And in more bad publicity for the Marlins, new owner Derek Jeter fired a longtime Marlins scout while he was in the hospital recovering for colon cancer surgery. Peach of a guy, that Jetes.
• Will Leitch looks at the pros and cons for Stanton of agreeing to a deal to the Giants.
• Ben Lindbergh gives yet another look at the “Cold Stove” this winter.
• Buster Olney notes that it’s been a hard winter for many top position player free agents because all the top teams are set at their position. He uses the example of Zack Cozart, who is coming off a career year but few contenders need a shortstop. The Twins, I guess, but good luck getting big bucks out of them.
• There was one deal as the Cardinals sent shortstop Aledmys Diaz to the Blue Jays for a minor leaguer.
• Dayn Perry thinks that free agent first baseman Eric Hosmer is a solid player, but teams should beware of offering him an All-Star contract.
• Cliff Corcoran lists the team needs of all the MLB teams that just missed the playoffs last season.
• Anthony Castrovince gives five players who were non-tendered on Friday that other teams should be interested in.
• Rockies closer Greg Holland and Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas were named Comeback Player of the Year for their respective leagues.
• We know who had the best improvement in traditional stats in 2017, but Andrew Simon presents which hitters Statcast data improved the most last year.
• And David Adler has which hitters had the most extreme spray charts in 2017.
• Mike Axisa presents who the best “bad-ball” hitter in baseball was in 2017. It’s a Cub!
• If you like the “physics of baseball” stories, David Kagan has the physics of the gyroball.
• The Padres have signed general manager A.J. Preller to an extension through 2022.
• Here are the latest odds to win the 2018 World Series. The Cubs are at 10-1. The Twins seem like a good bet at 80-1.
• Travis Sawchik thinks that there should be a payroll floor in baseball.
• Trent Clark has been a top prospect in the Brewers system since they took him with the 15th pick in the draft in 2015, but not any longer. He’s now going by the name Trent Grisham to honor his mother.
• Reds first baseman Joey Votto revealed that his little brother is still mad at him for hitting whiffle balls back at him when they were kids.
• If you’re bored and missing baseball, why don’t you do what they did 150 years ago: Play baseball on ice.
• And finally, someone asked Astros pitcher Justin Verlander what was better: winning the World Series or having a honeymoon with Kate Upton? Ms. Upton was quick to say “We all want to know” but Verlander was way too smart to answer. His marriage will go far with that kind of discretion.

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