January 2: The Dodgers sent three prospects to Baltimore for their star CF Cedric Mullins and got the Orioles to retain his entire salary.
January 5: Washington signed slugging OF Tesocar Hernandez to a 4/69 deal.
January 7: So much for the Diego Cartaya era in LA as the Dodgers traded him to Pittsburgh for IF Jared Triolo. Triolo has a decent bat but this seems like a fleece. I had also forgotten LA signed a really good indy league C, Steve Cooper, last year and he's their starter.
January 9: A big swap sees the White Sox trade frontline starter Dylan Cease to the Mets for a couple of prospects including #39 overall C Kevin Parada, the Mets' first-round pick in 2022.
January 14: Interesting trade of young players as the Royals sent 3B Cayden Wallace, who hit .262-21-73 as a rookie, and a couple of lesser prospects to Washington for SP MacKenzie Gore who was a rough 9-19, 4.71 last year for the Nats.
January 15: The Hall of Fame balloting is in:
1B Todd Helton 85.5 (7th year) Inducted HOF
3B Adrian Beltre 68.1 (2nd year)
RF Ichiro Suzuki 67.8 (1st year)
CL Billy Wagner 63.1 (10th year) Dropped
C Joe Mauer 61.8 (2nd year)
SP CC Sabathia 54.9 (1st year)
CF Carlos Beltran 53.6 (3rd year)
Congrats to Helton and a good showing for Ichiro in his first time on the ballot.
January 16: Big trade between the Giants and Jays as they send former Ray Curtis Mead as well as OF LaMonte Wade Jr. to Toronto for C/OF Daulton Varsho. Mead didn't quite live up to his prospect hype from the Rays system in his rookie year with San Francisco, hitting 245/279/413 with 8 HR in 184 AB.
January 22: Matt Carpenter, who hit 39 HR for the Yankees in his second tour of duty with them last season, signed a 2/39 deal with the Rockies.
January 25: We signed our first international free agent of the signing period, 16-year-old Alejandro Vasario of Venezuela:
Looks like the Kyle Schwarber/Joey Gallo model.
January 28: Stuart Sternberg has bumped up the budget $10M in a rare spot of generosity. Additionally we signed a much more exciting IFA in 17-year-old Nelson Maldonado from the Dominican Republic:
He has all the tools and the potential to do everything well, even sacrifice bunt! Plus he puts in a great effort. "Elite" and "Potential to make multiple trips to the All-Star game" say the scouts.
January 30: One more IFA signed - Venezuelan 1B Luis Vargas who does have 5* potential with 55 contact and 75 power
February 4: Eric Hosmer, who turned his flagging career around with consecutive .300 seasons with the Cubs and Houston, signed a 2/28 deal with the Yankees.
February 5: Signed C Christian Bethancourt to a 1-year, $1.8M contract.
He's baaaack! After good showings in 22 & 23 CB had a down year with us last year and we of course didn't want to pay him the $5.5M he would have commanded in arbitration so we waited him out and got him at a discount. That said he was the best FA catcher still on the market so I think we got a deal. He'll back up
Patrick Bailey. To make room on the 40-man Rene Pinto, who would have been out of options and would have to go through waivers anyway, was DFA'd.
February 7: The other half of our catching tandem the last few years has gone elsewhere as Francisco Mejia signed a minor league deal with Seattle.
February 8: MLB expanded the active roster from 26 to 27.
I do this in all my saves so I figured it would be time to do it in this one. Always like carrying the extra pitcher.
March 2: Some straggler free agents signed one-year deals: Michael Conforto (BOS, 4.2); Carlos Carrasco (CLE, 3.1); Eugenio Suarez (COL, 5.7); Harrison Bader (COL, MiLB); Marcus Stroman (CLE, MiLB); and Omar Narvaez (BAL, MiLB)
March 5: Another of our free agents goes elsewhere as Manuel Margot stays in the state with the Marlins for $2.7M while Jean Segura joins Milwaukee for $3.3M. Michael Brantley signed a minor league deal with San Francisco.
March 6:
Shane McClanahan had to leave his spring training start with shoulder inflammation and will be out a month, so his season debut will be delayed. Elsewhere Yoan Moncada joins Baltimore for $5.5M and the Phillies have lost Bryce Harper for 5-6 months with a torn labrum.
March 9: The Orioles continue to bargain shop the free agent bin, adding SP Miles Mikolas for $4.8M, SP Sonny Gray for $1.6M and OF Adam Duvall for $3.3M. Elsewhere the Dodgers gave newly-acquired and former Oriole CF Cedric Mullins a 3/60 extension.
March 14: A couple of vets signed one-year-deals: SS Brandon Crawford joins the Angels for $7.5M and OF Joey Gallo is a Phillie for $5.2M.
March 23: The Marlins will be without ace Sandy Alcantara for the year with shoulder inflammation.
March 26: Signed C Yasmani Grandal and OF Marcell Ozuna to minor league contracts.
Depth moves adding a couple of veterans, we could use a RH bat in reserve and Ozuna will help there as he still had 20 HR in about 350 AB for Atlanta last year.