MLB Bullets honors 2 new legends

Ted Simmons is not a bad choice for the Hall of Fame. He’s certainly a borderline candidate in my mind that I go back and forth on. I just can’t possibly fathom how anyone could vote for him over Lou Whitaker (let alone Bobby Grich, who wasn’t even on the ballot). But Simmons has spent most of his post-playing career working as a coach or in major league front offices, including a short stint as GM of the Pirates. The Veterans Committee is returning to its Frankie Frisch days where the best way to get in is to have been a teammate of Frisch or Johnny Mize. Now it’s to be someone who had a drink with the Committee at the Winter Meetings.

• In case you haven’t heard, the “Modern Baseball Era” Committee elected Players Association head Marvin Miller and catcher Ted Simmons to the Hall of Fame.
• Jay Jaffe offers his thoughts on the two inductees.
• Bob Nightengale applauds Miller’s long overdue induction, which acknowledging that Miller himself said that he did not want to be inducted. He hopes that Miller’s family will change their mind and attend the ceremony.
• Rick Hummel gets Simmons’ thoughts on his induction and more about his career. Simmons almost became the first player to challenge for free agency when he played most of the 1972 season without a contract. Only when the Cardinals made him an offer in August that was for more money than he was looking for did he sign. (And should have been a sign that the owners knew that the reserve clause would not stand up before arbitration.)
• Bill Baer writes most of what I’m thinking about the Cooperstown credentials of Whitaker.
• Buster Olney goes into what has been called elsewhere “The Hall’s Harold Baines problem.” (ESPN+ sub. req.) Basically, close to everyone on the ballot this year was a better player than Harold Baines, which means it’s hard to keep anyone out when Baines is in.
• The Winter Meetings start today. You probably know that. I didn’t, I must confess. But I do now. Mark Feinsand has seven stories to watch in San Diego.
• Will Leitch has one question for each team at the Winter Meetings. And no, it’s not “Is a hot dog a sandwich?”
• R.J. Anderson has five questions leading into the Winter Meetings.
• Anthony Castrovince has eleven “bold” predictions for the Winter Meetings.
• Mike Axisa has eight “bold” predictions for the Winter Meetings. Mike just couldn’t keep pace with Anthony.
• Bradford Doolittle and David Schoenfield each make up trades for the biggest names that could be dealt this winter and asks readers to vote on which one they like better.
• Tom Verducci explains why the most important person at the Winter Meetings this year is, once again, agent Scott Boras.
• Ben Lindbergh has reasons to be both optimistic and pessimistic about the free agent market so far this winter.
• The Yankees have reportedly made pitcher Gerrit Cole a seven-year, $245 million offer.
• Buster Olney examines what the next move is for teams that lose out on Cole. (ESPN+ sub. req.) Mostly, it’s “offer the money to Stephen Strasburg,” but Olney does offer some thoughts if a team bidding on Cole misses out on both aces.
• Right-handed reliever Junior Guerra has signed a one-year deal with the Diamondbacks.
• Ben Clemens evaluates the trade that sent Rays outfielder Tommy Pham to San Diego.
• Rays ace Blake Snell called and apologized to the prospect that the Rays got from the Padres in the deal. Snell had called him a nasty word live on Twitch when he found out about the trade.
• Devan Fink likes the moves the Marlins have made recently.
• Tony Wolfe notes that infielder Starlin Castro has a non-zero chance to get 3,000 hits in his career. Will anyone give him the chance?
• Molly Knight spoke to pitchers who got demoted or released after the Astros hit them hard in 2017 to ask them what they think of the sign-stealing reports. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Tim Brown asks people in the game what they think of Mike Fiers, the pitcher who blew the lid off the Astros sign-stealing. Some thank him for speaking up, but many of them think he’s a snitch or that he should not have waited two years to speak. Or that he should have spoken to someone in baseball and not the media.
• The sports staff at the Tampa Bay Times spoke to two Rays team presidents about what the state of the Rays are and the stadium going forward.
• Bill Shaikin speaks to Senator Bernie Sanders about why he’s so passionate to prevent the contraction of Minor League Baseball teams. It should be noted that on this issue, Sanders is allied with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. It’s maybe the only thing they agree on.
• Jesse Goldberg-Strassler looks at the last time Minor League Baseball contracted from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.
• Will Leitch ranks all ten World Series of the past decade. No contest which one is number one.
• Tim Brown travels with Pirates pitcher Chris Archer as he spends his offseason working with kids and setting an example.
• And finally, there are a lot of new names of Minor League teams this year. Can you pass this test and tell which names are real and which ones are made up? Sadly, as the minor league guy, I did not get 100% on this quiz.

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