What’s Occurrin’? Last Week in Baseball (7 Feb)

Spring Training is just around the corner, with some pitchers and catchers reporting next week. The Chicago Cubs will be the first MLB team to arrive on 9 February at their facility in Mesa, Arizona.

Here is your five-minute roundup of the week’s baseball news.

Pete Alonso re-signs with the New York Mets

In the battle of the egos between Mets owner Steve Cohen and mega agent Scott Boras, it was the agent who blinked first. Instead of a seven-year, $200 million contract, Pete Alonso returned to the New York Mets on a two-year, $54 million deal.

Although his critics point at defensive liabilities and a high-strikeout skillset that could age poorly, Alonso is one of the most durable players – only Freddie Freeman and Marcus Semien have more plate appearances since 2019 – and has averaged 43 home runs, 94 runs, and 112 RBI per 162-game season.

Hopefully, the negotiation fiasco is in the past, and the first baseman can set his sights on becoming the Mets’ all-time home run king – only another 26 homers needed – while helping guide New York to World Series glory.

If Alonso crushes it this season, he has the opportunity to opt-out after year one and test the market again. Hitting behind two of the most exciting players in the game in Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, there must be a chance that the 30-year-old can beat Sammy Sosa’s 160 RBI total from 2001 – the highest by any hitter in MLB this century.

Max Scherzer to Toronto

The future Hall of Famer penned a one-year, $15.5 million deal to pitch for the Blue Jays in 2025. He joins Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, and Bowden Francis in an impressive-looking, albeit entirely right-handed rotation. 

The three-time Cy Young award winner has been restricted to an average of 20 starts in each of the last three seasons, but in the main, he has been effective, posting a 3.16 ERA.

They say there is no such thing as a bad one-year deal, so this looks like a good move for Toronto to bring in an inspirational character as a role model for their young starters, and if he can toss 120 innings for a mid-three ERA, then even better.

Jack Flaherty to Detroit

Peaches and Herb ring in my ears with the news that the Detroit Tigers and Jack Flaherty are reunited. Ask your parents.

Despite the right-hander proving that his injury woes were behind him, he was unable to secure a long-term contract and instead agreed a two-year, $35 million deal to return to the Tigers.

In 18 starts with Detroit last season, Flaherty struck out 133 over 106 ⅔ innings with a damn impressive 2.95 ERA. He was then traded to the Dodgers and made 10 starts for the World Series champions.

Yet this was not sufficient for the 29-year-old to cash in on a five or six-year deal. The sages at MLB Trade Rumors projected Flaherty would secure a five-year, $115 million deal.

Flaherty rejoins AL CY Young award winner Tarik Skubal at the front of the rotation in a division that Detroit will hope to dominate. In the final two months of last season, only the Dodgers won more games than the Tigers.

Royals strengthen their bullpen with the arrival of Carlos Estévez

Despite a 31-save season for the Angels in 2023, Carlos Estévez (and his career 4.47 ERA) was the overwhelming favourite to be the first closer to lose his job in 2024. Instead, he produced the best half-season of his life with 20 saves and a 2.38 ERA before being shipped off to Philadelphia.

Kansas City signed the 32-year-old to a two-year, $22 million deal, further strengthening a bullpen that already includes Lucas Erceg, Hunter Harvey, and John Schreiber.

Junior Caminero announces his arrival

Forget Jose Baustita’s iconic bat flip; there is a new kid in town.

Picture the scene. Top of the ninth inning, your team, Leones del Escogido trail in the Championship Game of LIDOM (Dominican Winter League). You connect with the pitch, and it flies 450 feet to centre field to give your team the lead. That’s what happened to the Tampa Bay Rays rookie Junior Caminero.

The 21-year-old slashed an encouraging .248/.299/.424 in 43 games for the Rays last season, but the ferocity of his hit and the exuberant celebration – it took almost a minute to round the bases – has brought the third baseman to the attention of the wider baseball watching audience.

Maybe it was the greatest bat flip of all time.  

Yoán Moncada – remember him?

The Los Angeles Angels added Yoán Moncada to their accumulation of infielders. The 29-year-old signed a one-year, $5 million deal and will offer an option at third base, where Anthony Rendon has proved unreliable. I saw a fantastic stat the other day from Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher.

The Cuban’s career hasn’t panned out as expected since slashing .315/.367/.548 with 25 home runs in 2019. Injuries have hampered recent seasons, and he only appeared in 12 games for the White Sox last year.

Over the last three seasons, Moncada has accumulated 1.9 WAR. During the same period, Rendon has been worth 1.6 WAR. Ouch.

Jorge Polanco is back with the Mariners

The Astros made a play for versatile infielder Jorge Polanco, but the former All-Star opted to return to Seattle on a one-year, $7.75 million contract, although with options and incentives, the deal could top out at $18.5 million.

One of the more underrated players in the game, Polanco solves the Mariners’ third base issue and provides a bit of switch-hitting stability at the bottom of their lineup.

Ben Gamel gets another shot with the Astros

Baseball is weird. The Houston Astros obviously know infinitely more about the game than me, but I’m shocked that they traded away one of the best players in the game in Kyle Tucker, without having a replacement ready in left field.

Ben Gamel played 20 games for the Astros last season before fracturing his leg sliding into the outfield wall while making a catch. He gives Houston a left-handed option for their right-hand-heavy lineup, but Gamel is part of an unenviable group of 11 players who have, since 2016, had more than 2,000 at-bats but produced less than 2.00 WAR. Andrew Vaughn and Rowdy Tellez also appear on the list

Tommy Pham is a Pittsburgh Pirate

The Pirates got themselves a new leadoff hitter and right fielder by signing Tommy Pham to a one-year, $4 million deal. The 36-year-old played for the White Sox, Cardinals, and Royals last season and was worth -0.2 WAR in 116 games. It looks like the Pirates 2025 aspiration is to add to their wooden spoon collection.

To be fair to Pham, he was decent in 2023, but he has alternated between good and poor seasons for the last few years, as his OPS+ in those years confirms.

He is due an above-average campaign in 2025. Is that the way it works?

Harrison Bader joins the Twins

Another outfielder signing to a one-year deal was Harrison Bader who agreed a $6.25 million contract with the Minnesota Twins. Unlike Pham, Bader hasn’t had good seasons interrupting his poor years; he has just had poor years recently, with 86 OPS+ being his best campaign over the last three seasons.

With 10 outs above average last season, the 30-year-old remains elite defensively. The Twins, who I am amazed to learn are overwhelming division favourites according to PECOTA (more of that to follow over the next couple of weeks), seem more injury-susceptible than most, so Bader will offer reliable defensive cover.

Arizona agrees terms with Randal Grichuk

The Diamondbacks re-signed their lefty terroriser by agreeing a one-year, $5 million deal with Randal Grichuk. The 33-year-old, who was limited to just 95 plate appearances against right-handed pitchers last year, slashed .319/.386/.528 against Southpaws as part of a 140 OPS+ campaign.

With the ability to play all three outfield positions, Gruichuk offers the team great versatility and could also see time at DH in tandem with left-handed Pavin Smith.

Orioles sign Ramón Laureano

Getting playing time in Baltimore looks increasingly difficult this season with Coby Mayo, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser, Dylan Carlson, Daz Cameron and Heston Kjerstad vying for chances, so it was surprising when the Orioles signed Ramón Laureano to further squeeze the opportunities for their youngsters.

Laureano hit .296 AVG with 10 home runs for Atlanta in 67 games last season, in easily his best stretch since the 2021 PED suspension.

In Other News

Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was sentenced to almost five years for defrauding the Dodgers superstar. He was ordered to pay back nearly $17 million that he had stolen from Ohtani and another $1 million to the US Internal Revenue in taxes.

Despite the ongoing court case between Sheel Seidler, the widow of San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler, against two of her brothers-in-law, MLB owners have approved John Seidler (yet another brother-in-law) as the new head of the franchise. We will wait to see whether this kickstarts the Padres into action. They have lost the services of Jurickson Profar, Tanner Scott and Ha-Seong Kim to free agency and brought in just one player, catcher Elias Diaz.

Another betting scandal hit the sport when MLB fired umpire Pat Hoberg for violating the league’s gambling rules. Hoberg has denied betting on baseball, and an MLB investigation found no evidence that he placed bets on baseball, however he shared a sports betting account with a friend who did place bets on baseball.

Latest articles

There is great content on the website at the moment. Check it out.

• Boras takes the L as Alonso returns to the Mets
• Triston Casas Turns Downpour into a Dream Doubleheader
• Gabe Warren: My Baseball Origin Story
• Jerry Dipoto Offers Updates on Mariners Bullpen Health and Disappointing Offseason
• Chicago White Sox: Having Fun with Park Factors
• Why The Cardinals’ Quiet Offseason May Actually Help The Future
• Mariners Reportedly Re-Sign Veteran INF Jorge Polanco

What did I miss? Let me know in the comments below, or hit Bat Flips & Nerds up on socials. 

NEXT WEEK: Will Alex Bregman finally sign? Will the resolution of Bregman’s situation make a Nolan Arenado move more likely? With the Padres ownership more stable, will Dylan Cease get traded?

Source link