Evening Update - 2/8/2021
MLB is deadening the baseball for 2021, the Grapefruit League will be conducted in pods, & more.
Good evening.
It’s February 8th, 2021, and here’s everything that happened in baseball from 9:00 AM EST to 5:00 PM EST.
What You Missed While Working
This could be huge. MLB is making an effort to deaden the baseballs that have been flying out of ballparks at historic rates over the last few years.
From the story:
“Research conducted by Rawlings says the balls will be centered more in the midpoint of the established COR range, which is from .530 to .570 with a midpoint around .550, as the (now missing) first report on the home run rate surge stated. So the COR likely changed around .01 to .02 at most, and the ball size was likely reduced by less than 2.8 grams. That might seem like no big deal, until you compare this situation to what happened in Korea when the Korean Baseball Organization deadened the ball there. On the field, Korean baseball was drastically different from one year to the next: Slugging in KBO was down 14 percent and homers were cut by a third. That happened after the KBO changed the ball size by one gram and moved the COR by .01 to .02 (from a midpoint at .4254 to one at .4134). So with changes of the same magnitude as those being implemented by MLB this offseason, the game in Korea changed dramatically from one season to the next.”
This seems like something that could have been announced months ago if the league had plans to address it. But when you consider all the last-second changes that have happened over the course of the pandemic, it’s really not a huge surprise.
Give the whole story a read (you have to be subscribed to The Athletic obviously.) But it is worth your time.
Everything Else
MLB is in the process of finalizing a revised Grapefruit League schedule, placing teams in separate “pods” on the east and west coasts of Florida, per Ken Rosenthal & Matt Gelb. Rosenthal notes individual clubs will handle any adjustments necessary in regards to ticket sales.
The Angels & Shohei Ohtani avoided arbitration by agreeing to a two year, $8.5 million deal.
Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer says the team will change their hiring practices amid the internal investigation into Jared Porter.
LHP Andrew Albers agreed to a minor league deal with a spring training invite with the Twins, reports Robert Murray. He will make $750,000 if he makes the big league club. Albers has not appeared in the majors since 2017.
In addition to Albers, the Twins also signed OF Keon Broxton and RHPs Robinson Leyer & Chandler Sheperd to minor league deals, per Dan Hayes.
Utilityman Marwin Gonzalez appears to be a hot commodity. Robert Murray reports the Phillies, Blue Jays and Red Sox are among a half-dozen teams interested in the nine year veteran.
RHP Yoshihisa Hirano will return to Japan after spending three seasons in the major leagues. Hirano posted a 3.69 ERA over 131.2 innings with Arizona and Seattle.
White Sox RHP Emilio Vargas, who was designated for assignment to make room for LHP Carlos Rodon, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to AAA Charlotte, per James Fegan. He has also been invited to Chicago’s spring training camp.
RHP Sean Doolittle’s one year, $1.5 million contract with the Reds became official.
A bipartisan effort is being made to get COVID relief funds to minor league teams.
C. Trent Rosencrans relayed a couple notes from GM Nick Krall: Newly-signed Dee Strange-Gordon will get some shots at SS, but will play all over the field. RHP Lucas Sims is “delayed” after experiencing elbow tightness this offseason. Same with RHP Brandon Bailey.
Evening Reading
Trevor Bauer apologized to Mets fans for the confusing end to his free agent sweepstakes. I’m sure that will be received lovingly.
MLB Network’s Hot Stove crew share their memories of ESPN reporter Pedro Gomez, who died unexpectedly yesterday at the age of 58. Nick Piecoro had a great write-up on Gomez for AZ Central.
Manny Randhawa ranks the best players at each position in baseball.
Rob Biertempfel sizes up the Pirates depth chart for 2021.
Brandon Gawlowski writes the Tigers’ signing of Jonathan Schoop is actually kind of interesting.
Nick Nelson with a fun post on pudgy catcher Willians Astudillo.
Kevin Goldstein says the Dexter Fowler deal isn’t really about Dexter Fowler.
A Podcast For The Drive Home
Rob Neyer has a new SABRCast podcast interviewing former Yankees PR man Marty Appel.
Random Baseball Rewind
God bless and have a good evening!