:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62796211/91998310.jpg.0.jpg)
As you will find below, it was a pretty active weekend for MLB transactions. This is a window of time when the sports MSM is sitting around watching football playoffs, so they are not going to be distracted away from their complaining about a slow offseason. But leave it to yours truly to track down so many of them.o
We are getting closer to the 2019 Hall of Fame announcements, due January 22. News will amp up between now and then. You will get more items from the blogosphere linked below, and more pics of our HoF’er as part of the lede above. Because I can,
Enjoy some Welcome-Back-To-Monday-HaloLinks:
A Little Bit Of Angels News
Mike Trout is destined to get paid a lot of money. But just to help with some perspective, Pujols’ $254 million deal in 2011 would be $284 million today. And that’s for what was probably a 34-year old Pujols, who had just delivered 40.5 bWAR over the prior 5 seasons starting with what is publicized as his 27-year season. Pujols, of course, has yielded only 13.3 bWAR since. But what if you had been able to sign that 27-year old Pujols to a $254 million deal? That’s kind of what the world is looking at with Trout now. That $254 million in 2007, where a Pujols would yield 55.1 bWAR over the next 10 years, is $308 million now. And the way Trout is going, he is not going to be averaging 5.5 bWAR per season on his way to age 36. $400 million is merely adequate..........
Jordyn Adams is really, really fast. Unless he fattens up, he’s gonna be fun to watch..........
Shohei Ohtani is a really, really good young man............
Billy Eppler tried to slip RHP Luke Farrell through the waiver wire after DFA’ing him. But the Rangers, with Luke’s dad John Farrell being the manager, snagged him away...........
Spring Training tix now online.............
Just to remind: the reason that you don’t see MLB team mascots reviews that include The Rally Monkey, is that The Rally Monkey is not actually the LAA mascot. Ignore all that merchandise you see for sale in the MLB store...........
Everywhere In Baseball
Maybe we need to consider the possibility that MLB Front Offices are bracing themselves for a run of successful, very high quality, Free Agent classes that have only now just begun?...........
Craig Edwards at FanGraphs sees that the Angels settled by taking Jonathan Lucroy instead of Yasmani Grandal out of the FA catching pool. I agree that this is absolutely true. It saddens me, too. But keep in mind that Grandal has turned down a 1-year, $17.9 million QO from the Dodgers, and then a 4-year, $60 million offer from the Mets. I wanted Grandal, too, but not at $100 million.............
Have some insight into the minds of MLB GM’s who know one another, who know players, who know agents, and who know Front Office staffs. There is some enlightening info there about our new off-season realities...........
The Mariners don’t plan to be relevant for a few seasons. But they still plan to be cute about it. To the surprise of nobody, they will move Ichiro to their Opening Day roster this season, when they will be playing in Japan. They will be facing Oakland..............
At least one Mets ticket staffer is not having any of this season ticket cancellation thing...............
The Rays are taking a cue from the Oakland playbook, closing their top-tier seating. This goes a long way to improving attendance percentages...........
Hot Stove
This winter’s Hot Stove is frustrating the hell out of scribes. It’s way too cold for their taste.....And we should have a FA signing window to speed things up and park them into a nice and tidy bucket for the sake of news followers....So don’t pay too much attention to all the activity I am about to spew. It is not happening. It’s all to be ignored. Doesn’t fit the agenda, you know..........
The Nats have apparently INCREASED their initial $300 million offer. Because Scott Boras knows what he’s doing..........
The Yankees held on to Zach Britton, giving him a 3-year deal reported to be worth $39 million, with a 4th year team option of another $14 million..........That’s a lot of moola, right there. Maybe too much?..........More moola than Billy Eppler was prepared to pay............
Well, apparently Eppler is pretty busy running around the country doing the work of MLBPA Union chief Tony Clark. He’s not actually going to be signing anybody, but he’s happy to be “in” on everybody and driving up their market price. Zach Britton may have been his coup de grace by forcing the MFY to start blowing their wad AND ensuring that FA signing’s are not embarrassingly low. Good job, Billy..........
Hanging onto Britton does not mean that the Yankees are now satisfied with their bullpen, They are making a hard run at Adam Ottavino now...........
The Mets acquired J.D. Davis and one minor league prospect from the Astros, sending 3 prospects back...........
The Mets then sent Kevin Plawecki to Cleveland, getting back pitcher Walker Lockett and infielder Sam Haggerty in return...........
And then, to complete their weekend, the Mets sent reliever Bobby Wahl and pitching prospect Adam Hill to the Brewers, acquiring CF Keon Broxton...........
The Orioles traded utility player Breyvic Valera to the Giants in exchange for cash...........
The Yankees signed Billy Burns to a minor league deal...........
The Royals signed pitcher Kyle Zimmer, DFA’ing 3B Cheslor Cuthbert...........
The Blue Jays sent Oliver Drake to the Rays for cash...........
And the Dodgers are still trying to figure out how to get Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer.....Cleveland, however, is insisting on a #1 starter coming back to them............
The Duffle Bag
One really great, really honest, HoF ballot. Maybe not perfect, but perfectly defensible...........The X-Factor is going to be coaching Bucs..............Do you wish you owned that baseball that resulted in Jose Bautista’s epic bat flip? Now you can!............reddit user discovers that MLB players do the marketing of themselves that Rob Manfred cannot be bothered to do..............MLB manager trash-talk.............
If you are an Angels fan living outside the Pacific time zone and are interested in being interviewed for a story about how you keep up with the Angels, please email halosheaven@zoho.com!