MLB - NEWS & NOTES

Don Sutton, Hall of Fame pitcher for Dodgers, dies at 75
Sutton, a Hall of Fame pitcher who was a stalwart of the Los Angeles Dodgers' rotation spanning an era from Sandy Koufax to Fernando Valenzuela, died Tuesday at 75.

 

Springer, Blue Jays have 6-year deal (source)

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays have agreed to a six-year deal with star outfielder George Springer, a source confirmed to MLB.com.

The deal, which is not yet official and has not been confirmed by the Blue Jays, is pending a physical. It will be worth a reported $150 million over six years, according to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand and MLB Network insider Jon Heyman, making it the largest in the organization's history. Brendon Kuhn of bluejaysnation.com was first to report the agreement earlier Tuesday.

Springer has been the Blue Jays’ No. 1 target all offseason and, while they pursued other notable free agents, all roads eventually led back to the 31-year-old center fielder. When finalized, this deal not only represents a significant upgrade to a team that returned to the postseason in the shortened 2020 season, but a message to the rest of baseball that the young Blue Jays are no longer developing. They are officially in win-now mode.

 

Yankees fans are so jealous they are all over shaming the Blue Jays for having a worse lineup still, ignoring that most of the Jays lineup is still growing. They are scared.

 

Glad to hear that.

Jays are loading up and I bet they arnt done. Anything that dethrones, intimidates or makes the Yankees and their fans nervous is a great thing.

Great signings by Toronto, so far... get some pitching and 'BOOM' look out.

 

Jays are still likely getting a pitcher or 2 via FA/Trade and in Jays fashion likely a utility player.

 

WELP

 

Brantley reverses course, back to the Astros

 

TORONTO — Shortstop Marcus Semien agreed to an $18 million, one-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the agreement was subject to a successful physical.

Semien will become the second star and fourth free agent added by the Blue Jays during a slow offseason amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Toronto gave outfielder George Springer a $150 million, six-year deal. Toronto also agreed to one-year contracts with right-handers Kirby Yates ($5.5 million) and Tyler Chatwood ($3 million) and re-signed left-hander Robbie Ray to an $8 million, one-year contract.

Semien hit .223 with seven homers, 23 RBIs and .679 OPS in 53 games last season, his sixth with Oakland. He earned $4,814,815 in prorated pay from a $13 million salary.

Semien finished third in AL MVP voting in 2019, when he hit 33 homers with 92 RBIs with an .892 OPS.

Toronto went 32-28 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, finishing third in the AL East behind Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees and qualifying for the expanded postseason despite behind forced to play home games in Buffalo, New York, due to Canadian government restrictions on travel. The Blue Jays were swept in two games by the AL champion Rays in a first-round series.

They have an emerging young core and are adding major contracts while younger players such as Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. relatively low salaries because they remain shy of eligibility for arbitration.

It is not clear where the Blue Jays will play home games when the 2021 season starts.

 

Baseball Hall gets no new members; Schilling 16 votes shy



NEW YORK — The baseball Hall of Fame won’t have any new players in the class of 2021 after voters decided no one had the merits – on-the-field or off – for enshrinement in Cooperstown on this year’s ballot.

Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were the closest in voting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America released Tuesday, and the trio will have one more chance at election next year. It’s the first time the BBWAA didn’t choose anyone since 2013.

Schilling, a right-handed ace who won three World Series titles, finished 16 votes short of the 75% threshold necessary for enshrinement. He got 71.1% percent this time after coming up 20 votes shy at 70% last year.

Schilling’s on-field accomplishments face little dispute, but he has ostracized himself in retirement by directing hateful remarks toward Muslims, transgender people, journalists and others.

“It’s all right, the game doesn’t owe me anything,” Schilling said during a live video stream on his Twitter account.

He later wrote on Facebook that he has asked the Hall of Fame to remove his name from next year’s ballot. Hall of Fame Board Chairman Janes Forbes Clark said in a statement that the board “will consider the request at our next meeting.”

Bonds (61.8%) and Clemens (61.6%) made minimal gains and joined Schilling in falling short on their ninth tries. Both face suspicions of performance-enhancing drug use – Clemens has denied using PEDs and Bonds has denied knowingly using PEDs.

Bonds also has been accused of domestic violence and Clemens of maintaining a decade-long relationship with a singer who was 15 when they met.

Schilling, Clemens and Bonds will be joined on next year’s ballot by sluggers Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz. Rodriguez was suspended for all of the 2014 season for violating MLB’s PED policy and collective bargaining agreement, and Ortiz’s name allegedly appeared on a list of players who tested positive in 2003.

Omar Vizquel, an 11-time Gold Glove winner, dropped from 52.6% last year to 49.1% after his wife accused him of repeated domestic abuses in December. Braves star Andruw Jones, arrested in 2012 on a domestic violence charge, got 33.9% in his fourth year. Rockies slugger Todd Helton, who pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and was sentenced to two days in jail last year, got 44.9% in his third time on the ballot.

Some players missed out over old-fashioned baseball disagreements, too. Slick-fielding third baseman Scott Rolen moved from 35.3% to 52.9% and hard-throwing closer Billy Wagner from 31.7% to 46.4%.

It’s the 19th time the BBWAA has failed to elect a Hall member and just the third time since 1971. With the Hall of Fame’s Era Committees postponing their scheduled elections until next offseason because of the pandemic, there won’t be a new Hall class for the first time since 1960.

Cooperstown won’t be without celebration next summer, though. After the 2020 ceremony in the upstate New York village was canceled due to the pandemic, Yankees great Derek Jeter and five-tool star Larry Walker will take center stage on July 25, a year later than planned. They’ll be honored alongside catcher Ted Simmons and late players’ association chief Marvin Miller.

BBWAA members are instructed to elect Hall members “based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”

At a time when social justice movements are pushing for a broader reckoning on sexual misconduct and racial inequality, character evaluation took on an outsized role in this election cycle. While the Hall’s inductees already include racists, cheaters, philanderers and criminals, the current voting bloc has – narrowly, in many cases – taken a stand against candidates they think have insufficient integrity.

A record 14 voters sent blank ballots, topping the 12 sent in 2006.

NBC/MLB

 

Twins signed Andrelton Simmons

 

Schilling’s not wrong, but the “you can’t fire me, I quit” take is so on brand for him...has there ever been a former player so adept at torpedoing the significant goodwill generated by their career?

 

Will............Jezz has this ever happened before ???.....I think it has but I can't remember ???

 

1971, 1996 and now, 2021

 

And they got the utility a couple days ago.

 

Dustin Pedroia retires. Love the guy but kinda wish he’d made this decision three years ago.

Also, Manny Machado can eat a dick.

 

Three team deal...

OF Andrew Benintendi and $ to the Royals

ml OF Khalil Lee to the Mets

OF Franchy Cordero, ml RHP Josh Winckowski, and 3 PTBNL’s to the Red Sox (2 from KC, 1 from NYM)

Will be interesting to look back on this one in a few years...every team in this deal is rolling the dice. Feel like the Mets got the closest thing to a sure bet, though.

 

The Sox won the WS in 2018 with the best OF in baseball, all three of them homegrown players under 30 years old. Unless they re-sign JBJ now, all three of them will be gone barely 2 years later.