Outside The Confines: Not a turkey

If I don’t see you before tomorrow, just let me wish you a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. I hope you get to eat all your favorite foods and spend the day with good company.

• This news broke late last night and you may have not seen it yet. Free agent pitcher Steven Matz has agreed to a four-year, $44 million deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, per Jeff Passan. The Cubs were reportedly one of the teams bidding on Matz.
• Rays rookie Wander Franco is going to have a merry holiday as he’s reportedly agreed to a 12-year, $185 million contract extension with incentives that could make the deal worth as much as $223 million.
• David Schoenfield writes that Franco will be worth every penny he’s getting. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Ken Rosenthal thinks that while Franco could potentially have made more in a few years after free agency, no one can really fault him for taking this deal. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Matt Kelly has a survey of the largest contract extensions in MLB history.
• On the other side of Florida, the Marlins locked up one of their young stars by reported agreeing to a five year, $55 million deal with pitcher Sandy Alcantara.
• The White Sox agreed to a three-year, $24 million extension with reliever Kendall Graveman.
• Free agent right-handed pitcher Anthony DeSclafani decided he wanted to stay in San Francisco by signing a three-year, $36 million deal with the Giants, the team he pitched for in 2021.
• The All-MLB team was announced on Tuesday. Apparently that’s a thing. But since Frank Schwindel wasn’t named to the team, I don’t know how much value it has.
• Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini and Giants catcher Buster Posey were named the Comeback Players of the Year for the AL and NL respectively.
• Posey retired at the end of the year, of course. Posey’s Giants’ teammate Brandon Crawford wrote a touching tribute to his friend and teammate.
• If you’re someone who obsessed about the 40-man roster and the recent deadline to put players on it, Eric Longenhagen has a breakdown of every player added to the 40-man roster and many who weren’t and are now eligible for the Rule 5 Draft.
• Jesse Rogers surveyed 20 “team executives and MLB insiders” about the free agent market.
• David Schoenfield has a list of the free agents “Most likely to . . .” various things. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Brian Murphy profiles free agent infielder Marcus Semien.
• Mike Axisa looks at possible trade partners with the Twins for outfielder Byron Buxton.
• The Dodgers traded outfielders Billy McKinney and Zach Reks to the Rangers for cash considerations. Both players had been designated for assignment.
• Some sad news. Former reliever and five-time all-star Doug Jones has died. He was 64. According to his former teammate Greg Swindell, Jones died of COVID-19.
• Also, manager and Pirates outfielder Bill Virdon died at the age of 90. Condolences to the friends and family of both men.
• Matt Snyder analyzes the 2022 Hall of Fame ballot.
• Dayn Perry outlines what the MLB Players Association wants in the new collective bargaining agreement.
• Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal got a look at the guide that the MLBPA sent to the players about what happens during a lockout. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Jake Mailhot evaluates some recent moves by the Angels to fill in some holes in their roster.
• Sam Blum looks at Noah Syndergaard’s one-year free agent deal with the Angels and why both teams think they can benefit from it. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• And finally, Syndergaard got into a Twitter battle with radio personality Mike Francesca.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Again, have a great holiday.