Baseball Chatter 12-21

The Rockies are serious about fixing up their bullpen this offseason, as proven by re-signing Jake McGee and Bryan Shaw, but they are also talking to Addison Reed, Greg Holland and Wade Davis. Come on now and just sign Holland…

Chris Archer sent out a nice tweet to Evan Longoria when the news broke that he was traded to the Giants.

At the beginning of an ESPN radio interview, Commissioner Rob Manfred claimed that his office knew the Marlins were going to be sold but not that they were going to gut the team, and host Dan Le Batard responded by saying “We are starting with a lie.”

Manfred was not pleased at that:

Two people directly involved in the sales process said that Jeter and Sherman were required to inform the other owners that payroll would be cut from $115 million to $85 million

Project Wolverine [the name for Jeter’s plan] called on his group to reduce payroll to $85 million. This was vetted and approved by MLB prior to approval by MLB. Every [Jeter] investor and non investor has the Wolverine financial plan of slashing payroll to $85 million. Widely circulated.

It would have cost $140 million to keep the same team from last year, and now it sits at $94 million.

Jeter also got pummeled with questions from angry Marlins fans

Why are the Yankees such a ‘good fit’ for every decent free agent on the market when they are desperately trying to stay under the luxury tax threshold just once before next year’s talented free agent shopping spree

Yu Darvish doesn’t fit into that plan at all and neither does Mike Moustakas or Manny Machado..If only they didn’t sign C.C. Sabathia for one year, $10 million.

• Yankees are Interested in Yu Darvish

Ken Rosenthal agrees that the Yankees would have to get pretty creative to pull off signing Darvish. He mentions trading Jacoby Ellsbury, and getting a team to take on that contract would surely be creative since Ellsbury is getting paid more than $21 million a year through 2021 and has a full no trade clause.

• Mike Moustakas would be a Perfect Fit in the Bronx

Buster Olney argues that Moustakas might sign a one year deal with a team, such as the Yankees, and go for a long term contract next season. Maybe he forgot that Moustakas is coming off the best season of his career and that next year’s free agent market might have more talent than any other season in MLB history. Nobody wants to compete for a contract with those guys.

Every season Dellin Betances is great until September, but that is a good thing for Fantasy Owners because It keeps his price down on draft day. Betances is pumped up about improving his fastball command this offseason. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Yankees try to trade him to the highest bidder before spring. They have so many good relievers right now, they could start the season without a rotation if they wanted to.

My fastball command will be one of my focus points when I go to the Dominican, It was a little bit last year but I will focus on it a little bit more. Working on my fastball will be huge this year. Last year I went back and forth between mechanics. I just got to focus on one delivery and repeat that. Obviously, for me, being taller it’s harder for me to repeat. I have to trust what I do in the offseason and take it into the season.Dellin Betances

Atlanta Braves prospect Ronald Acuna was the youngest player in Double-A last season when he hit .326 with 24 extra-base hits, including nine home runs, 14 steals and an .895 OPS in 57 games.

At Triple-A Gwinnett, Acuna batted .344 with 25 extra-base hits including nine home runs and a .940 OPS in 54 games

The Orioles have made it clear that they aren’t pleased with any offers they have received for Manny Machado so…

BTW, asked Duquette about Machado/trade stuff: “I’m not sure we’re going to focus on that much more after tomorrow.” I’ll repeat, though, that they can always double back if huge offer comes in. #orioles

— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) December 20, 2017

Yonder Alonso signed with the Indians, giving Terry Francona the option to rotate him and Edwin Encarnacion between first base and designated hitter. Alonso hit a career best 28 home runs last season, 23 of them off right-handed pitchers. He hit .282 off righties and .181 off lefties.

The Jury is still out on weather last season was a fluke for Alonso or if changing his launch angle could actually lead to nearly three times more home runs than any other season.

• Alonso was discussed in the ‘Fact or Fluke’ segment this year at the First Pitch forum and consensus was ‘Fact.’

The Mets have reached out to 35 year-old Adrian Gonzalez, who is owed $21.5 million in 2018, but any team signing him would owe just $545,000, with Atlanta paying the rest.

The Mets are also talking Juan Lagares

According to Jon Heyman, Jay Bruce had interest from at least four teams – the New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners.

Agent Matt Sosnick says on @knbr Jay Bruce wanted to play with #SFGiants or Houston, which doesn’t have money for him. “I think if Jay ends up in San Francisco he’d be thrilled.”

— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) December 20, 2017

The Cardinals are not going to give up years of control over potential prospects for just one guaranteed year of Josh Donaldson or Manny Machado

The Nationals signed Matt Adams to one-year, $4 million along with an opportunity to earn another $500,000 in incentives.

Nationals sign Matt Adams to replace slugging bench piece Adam Lind https://t.co/WrPNeErXPW

— Post Sports (@PostSports) December 20, 2017