Or maybe Matz is going south to the Blue Jays. We don’t know yet.
I want to express my thanks to Ashley for handling all of that Cooperstown stuff in the last OTC. I know it was just her turn, but there is little that makes my head hurt more than stupid Hall of Fame arguments. The Hall of Fame as a museum is wonderful. The Hall of Fame as a thing that people argue about who “deserves to be in” or not is completely awful.
- The offseason of the Toronto Blue Jays continues to be busy as the team has acquired left-handed pitcher Steven Matz from the Mets in exchange for three minor league prospects, all of which are right-handed pitchers.
- Michael Bauman notes that the Blue Jays are going for it all this year and baseball is better because of it. Bauman evaluates the Blue Jays entire off-season and notes that Toronto is a much more sports-crazy town than most Americans realize.
- Tony Wolfe examines what the Blue Jays are getting in Matz.
- The Blue Jays also signed infielder Marcus Semien to a one-year, $18 million deal. Ben Clemens thinks it’s hard to know how good Semien will be in Toronto, but that the upside outweighs the risks. Of course, maybe we should ask how good Semien will be in Dunedin, FL, since the Blue Jays may be playing there for at least part of the season.
- Ken Rosenthal wonders what the Athletics are doing letting Semien leave as a free agent and what it means for the team’s finances going forward. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Dayn Perry wonders if the Mets trading Matz is a precursor to signing free agent Trevor Bauer.
- The Giants signed former Cub Tommy La Stella to a three-year deal and Tony Wolfe looks at what the Giants can expect from “3 am.”
- Dan Szymborski notes that the Twins signed one of the best defensive players ever in shortstop Andrelton Simmons, but they still need to do more.
- Right-handed pitcher Masahiro Tanaka is returning to Japan after signing with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of NPB. I’ve seen some New York writers term Tanaka’s time with the Yankees as a “disappointment” and all I can say that if seven years and over a thousand innings of 114 ERA+ pitching is a “disappointment,” your expectations were too high.
- Buster Olney speaks with unnamed “baseball executives” and they have very mixed feelings on the Yankees off-season. (ESPN+ sub. req.) Some think the Yankees did great. Others wonder what’s going on in the Bronx.
- The Cardinals have re-signed pitcher Adam Wainwright to a one-year, $8 million deal.
- Ken Rosenthal also notes that the Cards are talking with the Rockies about a trade that would bring third baseman Nolan Arenado to St. Louis. (The Athletic sub. req.) Rosenthal does note that the deal is not close at this time.
- The Athletic surveyed 23 player agents about the state of the game. (The Athletic sub. req.) Interesting stuff, like “Where’s the worst place to play?” Oakland and Tampa Bay get low marks for their poor stadium, but rave reviews for their organizations. Pittsburgh gets praised for the city and its stadium, but a lot of shaking heads about the way the franchise is run.
- The Marlins ex-owner Jeffrey Loria has agreed to pay Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami $4.2 million as part of the proceeds from the Marlins sale.
- Congratulations to Sara Goodrum, who is the new Brewers minor league hitting coordinator and the first woman in that position in baseball. Goodrum has been a member of the Brewers front office for the past four years.
- Yankees assistant general manager Jean Afterman and Giants coach Alyssa Nakken discuss what it’s like to be a woman working in Major League Baseball.
- Sarah Langs has ten players who missed most or all of 2020 to look for in 2021.
- Mike Petriello looks at Trevor Rosenthal’s career and why he might just be the best free agent reliever available this winter.
- James Fegan has a piece on White Sox reliever Evan Marshall and how playing baseball helped him recover from a near-fatal line drive to the head. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Hank Aaron did NOT die from the COVID vaccine. That’s been a ridiculous conspiracy theory out there and people need to know it’s bunk.
- The Sporting News officially supports the movement to take the name of longtime Sporting News publisher J. G. Taylor Spink off of the award named after him for writers and the Hall of Fame. Spink had a long history of racism and opposition to integration, which this article outlines in great detail.
- Unless you’ve been living in a cave without internet service this past week, you’ve heard about the Game Stop stock and what is going on with it. You may have also heard that there is a connection with new Mets owner Steve Cohen there. Dayn Perry explains the entire mess and reassures Mets fans that even if Cohen ends of losing a few billion dollars, he still has at least ten billion dollars remaining. Long story short, the Mets are very unlikely to be affected by a bunch of Redditors short-squeezing Game Stop.
- Miller Park in Milwaukee has become American Family Field. There’s some video of the signs changing at that link.
- Some more video of the changing signs.
American Family Field’s makeover continues! We've installed new signage in our iconic Clocktower.@amfam | #AmericanFamilyField pic.twitter.com/OQQ4vwXrzI
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) January 28, 2021
- And finally, I remember the day that Joel Youngblood got two hits for two different teams in two different cities in one day, do you? If you don’t, Matt Monagan returns us to August 4, 1982 and see how Youngblood accomplished this feat.
Tomorrow’s gonna be better, Buster.