Baseball Chatter 12/18

The NFL registered the highest unfavorable rating of any major U.S. sport for the third straight month in a survey by the Winston Group. The NFL was ranked “unfavorable” by 38 percent of respondents, the highest percentage of any major professional sport, but up from 40 percent in September and October

  • Major League Baseball had the highest favorable rating at 63 percent and lowest unfavorable at 15 percent, while the NFL notched a 48 percent favorable rating.
Major League Baseball continues to have the best sports brand by a significant margin. The NFL had been competitive, but since the kneeling controversy it fell significantly behind, and this survey continues to demonstrate that trend.

The Dodgers and Braves agreed to a deal that keeps the Dodgers under the $197 million tax threshold and allows the Braves to open a spot in the outfield for Ronald Acuna.

  • The Dodgers got Matt Kemp and his $43 million salary over the next two seasons
  • The Braves got

The addition of Kazmir and McCarthy gives the Braves the option to use youngsters Max Fried, Lucas Sims and Luiz Gohara out of the bullpen.

A long time ago, starters would break in as relievers. Great way to get your feet wet and finally transition back to the rotation. It’s something that’s come up internally in our conversations. It’s not something we’re planning on doing right now, but at least it’s been discussed, in light of the market for relievers and the price points right now. It’s definitely the cause of that (discussion)Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos

The Braves will consider moving Dansby Swanson to second base and Ozzie Albies to shortstop.

There were 11 free agents entering the weekend who hit at least 25 home runs in 2017. Relief pitchers are getting deals all over the place even though they have proven to be less than reliable.

After the 2015 season, teams handed out multi-year deals to 14 non-closer relievers at the cost of $197 million, or about $5.8 million per pitcher per season. In just two years, 13 of those 14 pitchers have either been hurt, pitched poorly (ERA+ worse than 100) or are no longer with the same team. Only one of the 14 pitchers has pitched effectively for his signing club for two years: Joakim Soria of the Royals.Tom Verducci
The Brewers

The Phillies spent $92.25 million this week on signing:

The $20 million a year for Santana is the highest annual salary they have paid since Ryan Howard. They already have Tommy Joseph and Rhys Hoskins playing first base, neither of which can effectively defend at any other position. Hoskins at least takes a walk on a regular basis.

The Phillies are going to enter 2018 with a new manager in Gabe Kapler, who might actually talk to and agree with GM Matt Klentak about how to deal with struggling youngsters.

Mackanin wanted to send Franco to the minors back in May/June when he didn’t perform well, but Klentak made it clear he disagreed:

We are committed to giving Maikel more time to get out of this. We believe in him, we have confidence that he will. There’s a lot of indicators, we are committed to showing confidence in this kid and finding out what he can do, and that’s really the end of it. Right now, he’s important to us and we need to show confidence in him and let him go out and play.GM Matt Klentak

Both Klentak and Kapler believe Maikel Franco will be a much better hitter if he raises his launch angle because he has been hitting a ton of ground balls super hard.

In a perfect world, Maikel would hit the ball in the air more,You can measure this pretty easily. He hits the ball hard. And he makes frequent contact. He’s not a huge swing-and-miss guy, he’s not a huge strikeout guy. He doesn’t run very well. So balls on the ground are typically outs. But when he lifts the ball in the air, he can do a lot of damage. That’s going to be a focus for him. And he knows it. He’s working on it now. He’s spending a lot of time at our academy, working with our hitting guys down there. It’s a goal for him. He’s embracing it. If he can do that, we think he can have a really good year.GM Matt Klentak

In July 2017 Mackanin told reporters that he believes focusing too much on a hitter’s launch angle can result in more unproductive fly balls.

There’s this trend for hitters to want to lift the ball and they do it wrong,” Mackanin said. “They don’t understand the whole concept of getting the ball in the air. And a nice level swing will get the ball in the air.

The Phillies have also inquired on just about every young starter that could be traded this winter according to Matt Gelb and Matt Breen of Philly.com and They are still looking for more bullpen help.

I think if we can run out a bullpen of seven or eight guys that are all high-leverage-type arms, then we can start matching up in the fifth or sixth inning, If there are days when our young starters throw 100 pitches to get us through five or six innings, we shouldn’t be in a position where that’s taxing our bullpen because we have the ability to carry an eighth bullpen member next year. We shouldn’t be in a position where we lose our competitiveness in the sixth inning because we should have a deep bullpen where we start throwing really good players out there early in the game. If it turns out that’s the best way for us to improve our run prevention, then that’s what we’re going to do.Phillies GM Matt Klentak
The Mariners signed:

The Astros signed:
The Twins signed:
The Angels signed:
  • Zack Cozart, who is looking for a home in Anaheim now that he agreed to play third base for the Angels for the next three years and $38 million. He might have some trouble finding a home with enough land for Donald the Donkey.

The Padres:
The Cardinals:

The Nationals signed:
  • Brandon Kintzler – Two-years, $10 million. It is unclear if he will be their closer as the Nationals will enter 2018 with three potential closers in Kintzler, Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson


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