MLB Bullets rings in the new

And a Happy New Year to everyone and may 2019 bring the Cubs another World Series title. Me, I’m still writing 2017 on my box scores.

I’m also pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve shown a photo from the Australian Baseball League for a piece.

• Free agent catcher Jonathan Lucroy has gone to be with the Angels. No, he didn’t die. He signed a one-year, $3.35 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels.
• The Blue Jays acquired former Cubs pitcher Clayton Richard from the Padres for minor league outfielder Conor Panas.
• The Blue Jays also signed pitcher Matt Shoemaker to one-year deal. Shoemaker had been non-tendered by the Angels.
• One free agent is definitely signing this week or he isn’t playing in MLB in 2019. Seibu Lions pitcher Yusei Kikuchi has until January 3 to sign with an MLB team or he’s returning to Japan for 2019. Jason Catania has a look at Kikuchi and the teams most likely to sign him. Not surprisingly, they’re all on the West Coast.
• The Brewers and Padres are rumored to be the favorite trade destinations for Yankees pitcher Sonny Gray.
• The Diamondbacks are reportedly softening on their stance against trading pitcher Robbie Ray and are now listening to offers for the left-hander.
• The Twins signed free agent Nelson Cruz to a one-year, $14 million deal last week. Jonah Keri explains why teams aren’t paying for power on the free agent market anymore and he also wonders if the market hasn’t overcorrected and the Twins got a steal.
• Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey got a birthday present when Cruz signed with the Twins. He gave up a 493-foot HR to Cruz in 2016 and Duffey is elated he won’t have to pitch to Cruz in 2019.
• The Rays were a team that lost out on Cruz and Mike Axisa looks at six hitters the Rays could go for instead of Cruz.
• One of those hitters is Mariners DH Edwin Encarnacion, who isn’t expected to stay in Seattle after being traded there earlier this winter. Jon Paul Morosi reports that the Rays, Astros and White Sox have shown the most interest in trading for Encarnacion. Those three teams are also interested in Cardinals first baseman Jose Martinez.
• Athletics outfielder Kyler Murray’s NCAA football career came to an end with the Oklahoma Sooners loss to Alabama. Pete Thamel talks to both baseball and football scouts about Murray’s professional prospects and most observers in both sports think he’ll abandon baseball for the NFL. Basically, they think it will be hard for him to go from playing in front of 85,000 football fans to playing for the Beloit Snappers.
• Rian Watt has some memories of the recently-retired Miguel Montero and why his memories of the former Cubs catcher mean so much to him.
• Dayn Perry has 50 baseball predictions for 2019.
• Mike Petriello has five pitchers who should break out in 2019.
• Bryan Hoch lists five things the Yankees have yet to do this winter.
• And Ken Gurnick has five things the Dodgers should do before Opening Day.
• Todd Zolecki has five things for the Phillies to do. Methinks this was an MLB.com assignment to all their beat writers this week. (And yes, Jordan Bastian has five for the Cubs.)
• Jake Mintz looks back at Rick Ankiel’s career, his battles with the yips and his re-inventing himself as a hitter.
• If you want to know what really goes on at the Winter Meetings, Corey Brock follows a young man around the Winter Meetings who wants to land a job as a baseball broadcaster. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• An 88-year-old Astros fan teared up when his family chipped in for a trip to Spring Training for Christmas.
• Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams got mistaken for Bryce Harper by his waiter, so Williams told the waiter that he (Harper) was signing with the Yankees.
• And finally, one of the biggest story of the weekend was the skies lighting up in New York after a transformer blew. Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard (aka Thor) assured his teammates that he didn’t do it, but that he was willing to help out if they needed him to.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Happy 2019.