HumpLinks: Rule 5 Scramble

Here is a research project for anybody who is playing hooky today, starting their holiday weekend early. What player that was protected on any MLB team’s 40-man roster had the very worst WAR in 2018? The LAA candidate for this competition would be Kaleb Cowart.

Have some Last-Taco-Before-Cranberries-HaloLinks:

A Little Bit Of Angels News

Welcome to the fold, Dustin Garneau. Take a seat on the opportunity bus next to Peter Bourjos.........

In Rule 5 news, Rahul has all the details. The TL;DR version would be Jose Suarez, Luis Madero and Luis Rengifo protected... Jose Fernandez and Parker Bridwell DFA’d...and we can all celebrate the ongoing participation of Jabari Blash...........

Trout Porn from BBR. Mike Trout and Mickey Mantle, clone WARs..........

Everywhere In Baseball

It’s official. Adrian Beltre has retired. This is a big deal, people. At 95.7 bWAR Beltre was the 2nd-greatest active player in MLB. And, at the rate that Albert Pujols is going and sitting at 100 bWAR going into 2019, it’s not unreasonable to think that when the careers of Beltre and Pujols are in the books, Beltre ends up higher. And since neither Miguel Cabrera nor Robinson Cano are going to catch either, that would mean that Beltre could be the greatest position player not named Mike Trout you ever got to watch. Just look at his career batting history in animation. And now he is gone. And to think that I can recall the Dodgers losing him to Free Agency right after the first FA season player uptick I recognized. Vaya con Dios, amigo!..........Pedro Moura uses this announcement to recall a great moment with Garrett Richards..........C.J. Wilson also had an anecdote about touching Beltre’s head. @Dutch_Oven45 is Derek Holland, and Holland verified the event.........All that said, although he was a very great player, he was never my favorite player..........

We had more awards yesterday, wrapping up the season. Khris Davis was named DH of the Year (that’s gotta hurt Boston fans).....and David Price and Johnny Venters were named Comeback Players of the Year..........

Uh oh. That Seattle Mariners discrimination story just got beyond he said/she said. Now it’s THEY said, which is a lot more formidable...........

Well that didn’t last long. Jenrry Mejia finally made it back from extensive drug suspensions by MLB, in time to make a couple of MiLB appearances for the Mets very late in the year. Less than 90 days after tha, boom, Mejia is released............

And the players that Seattle got back? Crap. They alone pull the Mariners off the sea floor of farm system rankings. And we will have to deal with them all too soon..........

Sorry, guys at The Athletic, but the only reason to cut back uniform creep would be to free up sleeve space for my idea of player recognition creep (All-Star, GG, MVP, CYA, etc.)............

Meh, it’s only a title. Who needs a “General Manager” when you have all the guys above and below that position who are doing all the work a GM does, anyway? That, anyway, is the SF Giants take. The rest of us franchises must still be in elementary school.........

Wanna be surprised? Get a taste of how WPA sifts through the 2018 season and pulls up the most singularly impactful At-Bats, none of which involve a Mike Trout or Mookie Betts..........

Aha! Jeff Bezos is, like the Blob, seeks to expand ever so mightily into your very domecile, where you choose to enjoy MLB broadcasts. They are a bidder for all those FOX Regional Sports Networks...........Amazon is not the ONLY bidder, though. You or I might end up being a bidder via some random 401k fund, as many of the bidders are turning out to be private equity firms............

Hot Stove

Rule 5 came and went with many surprises. The LAA news is above, but somewhat related to LAA would be the awkward outcome concerning C.J. Cron and the Tampa Bay Rays. Cron hit 30 home runs for the Rays in 2018, good for 12th in the American League. No first baseman in the AL hit more home runs. His 2.0 bWAR would tie David Fletcher for 6th among position players on the Halos. And yesterday C.J. Cron was DFA’d rather than held and protected on the TBR 40-man roster for Rule 5 purposes...........

MLBTR has a full list of guys that were added to the 40-man of each team throughout MLB that was active............

In case you did not consider the Astros to already be one of MLB superteams, what if they add Paul Goldschmidt?..........

Oh, wow. Here is potential FA market player that I completely forgot about. What if the Brewers decide to go big while their window is still opening?............

How about Bryce Harper in pinstripes....as a first baseman?..........That would certainly solve the fundamental problem of paying a guy $300 million with a lead glove..........

If a James Paxton (who might be THE top pitcher to move this offseasons no disrespect to Patrick Corbin) can earn back a Top 30 MLB prospect, what the hell is a Noah Syndergaard worth?..............(By the way, the Yankees tried to uncork Jean Segura from Jerry Dipoto in that deal, too.)..........

Looking for a pretty productive utility guy? Derek Dietrich of the Marlins was DFA’d............

The Padres and Mariners are chatting about swapping Wil Myers for Jean Segura/Mike Leake.

The Duffle Bag

Hell yeah. Don’t throw it there again!............Field of Dreams site vandal gets probation, meaning he is free go drive over the site again any day now. Curious that “thousands of people visit the property every year, running around the bases and walking to the surrounding cornfields”, when hardly anybody does the same with that lovely baseball field in the park behind my house.........Why has their never been a Harlem Globetrotters of Baseball?..........