Outside The Confines: They might be Giants

Happy Boxing Day to our readers from the English-speaking world outside of the United States. I think today should be a holiday everywhere. I think we need a day to recover from Christmas.

And I hope everyone had a happy holiday weekend and that you celebrated the way you wanted to. And I hope the weather wasn’t too bad where you are. Be careful getting home if you’re not home right now.

• You likely know this already, but the Mets deal with free agent shortstop Carlos Correa is on hold at the moment. The Mets medical staff apparently found the same issue that caused the Giants to back out of their deal with Correa. The Mets and Correa’s team are “working through” the issue that could result in some alterations to the deal, but an agreement is still considered “likely.” So it turns out that the Giants didn’t just have “buyer’s remorse.” But personally, I liked this theory:

• Evan Drellich looks at the Mets spending spree and how other owners in the league aren’t happy about it. (The Athletic sub. req.) But Mets fans are happy about it.
• Buster Olney has another story about the Mets, Correa, owner Steve Cohen and how other owners are dealing with it. (ESPN+ sub. req.) Both stories make the “George Steinbrenner” comparison to Cohen.
• Michael Baumann thinks that the Mets signing of infielder Danny Mendick shows that the team really doesn’t care what their payroll is.
• Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, the Giants signed free agent outfielder Michael Conforto to a two-year, $36 million deal (with an opt-out after one year) and left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers to a three-year, $33 million deal.
• Mike Martell notes that it’s been a bad winter to be a Giants fan. Or just a Giant.
• Ben Clemens evaluates the Giants’ deals for Conforto and Rogers.
• Grant Brisbee writes that even though these moves don’t make up for losing Judge and Correa, Conforto and Rogers do make the team better. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Brisbee notes that Taylor Rogers is nearly identical to a player they already have on the Giants—that is, Taylor’s identical twin Tyler Rogers. Sarah Langs looks at the ten pairs of twins in MLB history and the other three who played together on the same team. That is, twins, not Twins. There have been about 943 of those in Minnesota since 1961. Taylor used to be a Twin. He’s no longer a Twin, but he’s still a twin.
• Alden Gonzalez and Jesse Rogers examine why decade-long (and more) contracts have become a thing.
• There was a big Christmas Eve trade in MLB as the Diamondbacks sent catcher/outfielder Daulton Varsho to the Blue Jays for catcher Gabriel Moreno and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
• Keith Law likes the Diamondbacks/Blue Jays trade for both teams, although he gives a slight edge to Arizona. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• The Phillies have signed former Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel to a one-year, $10 million contract.
• Justin Choi notes that the Athletics have signed the best starting pitcher from KBO—right hander Drew Rucinski. He also explains how Rucinski’s game is different than the last time he pitched in MLB.
• MIke Axisa has a holiday wish for each MLB team.
• Now we’re to the MLB dot com part of the program, since they were the one site still churning out fresh content regularly over the weekend. Will Leitch also has a holiday wish for every team.
• What’s the best gift each team has gotten in their history? Honestly, I know the Ryne Sandberg trade is the easy answer for the Cubs and it’s the one they went with here, but the correct answer is the Cardinals trading Mordecai Brown to the Cubs in 1903.
• Anthony Castrovince has the 11 most improved MLB teams this off-season. Yes, the Cubs are on the list.
• Sarah Langs has the biggest baseball stories of 2022.
• Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra have one “breakout” prospect for 2022 for each MLB farm system.
• Will Leitch ranks his 25 best baseball films of all-time.
• The greatest player ever born on Christmas Day is Rickey Henderson. Manny Randhawa looks back at his record-setting 1982 season and asks if Henderson’s record of 130 steals will ever be broken. Well, the bases are bigger now.
• Scott Merkin gives an update on the recovery of White Sox pre-game instructor Mike Kashirsky, who suffered a seizure which led to a serious car accident last December.
• This is a fun article. Nick Groke looks at the standout players from several professional baseball leagues outside of North America. (The Athletic sub. req.) And not just NPB and KBO—although they’re here—but several smaller leagues in Latin America, Europe and elsewhere.
• And finally, more on baseball throughout the world. Matt Monagan has the inspiring story of a 20-year-old kid from Cameroon who is trying to bring baseball to his home country. He runs an academy with 60 kids in it at the moment.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Peace on earth and goodwill to all.