MLB Bullets is a little stupid

It was a pretty quiet weekend on the MLB news front and it is only going to get quieter as we head into Thanksgiving. So if a free agent really wants to make a splash, they should sign somewhere today.

• Like the Phillies. Phillies owner John Middleton said that Philadelphia is ready to spend this winter and that they will “maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.” (He then added “We just prefer to not be completely stupid.”) The Phillies have been linked to both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, with some reports saying that they would like to sign both premium free agents.
• Jon Tayler makes a case why each of the 30 teams should sign Harper. Maybe they all could and every team would get him for five or six games every year for the next ten seasons.
• Gabe Lacques has been writing a series of articles on why different teams should sign Harper and here is his piece on why the Braves should sign Harper. The board at Liberty Media will approve that when the Jacksonville Jaguars win the World Series. Even Lacques agrees it’s unlikely.
• In anticipation of his signing (or more likely just for something to do in the offseason), Harper got a strange new hairstyle.
• Richard Justice says that former Astros utility player Marwin Gonzalez is the one player that all 30 teams could use. Also, why Gonzalez’s Astros teammates think so highly of him. I saw Gonzalez play for the Boise Hawks in 2008 and I made a note that he was a future major league utility player. In one sense, I was right. But really, I was very wrong. At least I got the “future major leaguer” part right.
• In a somewhat-related piece of news, the Astros acquired shortstop Aledmys Diaz from the Blue Jays for a minor league pitcher. Diaz would be expected to fill in Gonzalez’s utility role if the player goes elsewhere.
• There was a rumor that the Padres were going to make a trade offer for Mets ace Noah Syndergaard. (Or “co-ace” with Jacob deGrom.) Whitney McIntosh thinks such a deal is feasible and could makes sense for both sides.
• However, later reports said that the Mets are very unlikely to deal Syndergaard and if they did, it would be for other current major league players. So that doesn’t sound likely to happen.
• The Yankees are expected to trade Sonny Gray this winter and sooner rather than later. There are reportedly 11 teams interested in Gray.
• Mike Axisa has five starting pitchers that could help the Athletics that the A’s could actually afford. One of them is Sonny Gray.
• If the Diamondbacks decided to deal stars Zack Greinke or Paul Goldschmidt, Jon Heyman has some possible destinations for the two D-Backs.
• Daniel Kramer explains that Michael Brantley’s high contact rate is the reason why he should be such an in-demand free agent this winter.
• Matt Kelly has five teams that could be interested in signing free agent pitcher Dallas Keuchel. Also, Kelly explains why they’d be interested in Keuchel, in case that’s not obvious.
• The Red Sox re-signed World Series MVP Steve Pearce to a one-year deal.
• At least nine teams are interested in free agent pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.
• Will Leitch looks ahead to next winter and lists who could be the top free agents on the market in the 2019-2020 offseason.
• And Gabriel Baumgaertner looks back to 1998 when Kevin Brown became the first free agent to sign a deal worth over $100 million.
• Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen will undergo a heart procedure later this month but he’s expected to be fine in time for Spring Training.
• The Orioles are reportedly in the market for a “veteran manager” for their vacant skipper job and R.J. Anderson has ten possible candidates for the gig.
• Anderson also has some new or out-of-favor baseball strategies that he’d like to see teams use more in 2019.
• Braves prospect Braxton Davidson hit a walkoff home run in the Championship Game to give the Peoria Javelinas the Arizona Fall League title. The bad news is that Davidson broke his foot running the bases. I guess the good news here is that it’s the last game of the year and he’s got all winter to heal up.
• Eric Enders looks at some of the most “extreme” ballparks in baseball history, such as the Astrodome and the Baker Bowl.
• One ballpark is getting a new name. The Mariners naming deal with Safeco Insurance is over and it looks like the name of their stadium going forward will be “T-Mobile Field” or something like that. I bet the White Sox have a lot of no-longer-needed cell phone chargers or something that they could ship to Seattle.
• And finally, NPB all-time saves leader Hitoki Iwase retired at the end of the season. His retirement ceremony was interrupted by Ichiro Suzuki, who showed up unannounced, handed Iwase a retirement gift and then exited through the bushes.

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