AROUND the MLB Thread

• Max Scherzer will earn $10MM in 2015 and $15MM in each of 2016, 2017 and 2018, ESPN’s Jayson Stark reports in a breakdown of the contract. The deferred payments begin after the 2018 season, as while Scherzer is scheduled to earn $35MM in each of the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons, all of that money will be paid to him through 2028. The contract does not contain a no-trade clause, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter links), but the Nationals feel that the deferrals and 14-year payment structure of the contract serve as de facto no-trade protection. Scherzer will receive 10-and-5 rights after the 2019 season.

 

our luck he'll go 17-7/2.63 and win comeback player of the year...

Phillies Have Strong Interest In Chad Billingsley
By Steve Adams [January 23, 2015 at 8:37am CST]



The Phillies are expressing significant interest in right-hander Chad Billingsley, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. According to Salisbury, Billingsley has thrown for the Phillies recently, suggesting that there’s mutual interest in striking a deal. As Salisbury notes, Billingsley lives in the Reading, Pa. area, making Philadelphia a geographically appealing destination.

The 30-year-old Billingsley’s career has stalled over the past two seasons due to Tommy John surgery in 2013 and surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in 2014, but he was a key part of the Dodgers’ rotation from 2007-12. In his four best (and healthiest) seasons from 2008-11, Billingsley averaged 194 innings per year, posting a 3.73 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9. Though he’s not a ground-ball specialist by any means, he’s registered a 46.3 percent ground-ball rate in his career, which one would think is appealing to the Phillies, given the homer-friendly nature of their home park.

Salisbury also adds that the Phillies have maintained contact with another local arm, Ryan Vogelsong, for much of the winter. However, Vogelsong has more recently been connected to the Astros and Giants, and the Giants appear likely to re-sign him according to the latest reports.

GM Ruben Amaro Jr. wouldn’t comment on his interest in Billingsley or Vogelsong when asked by Salisbury, but he did note that the club is looking for pitching depth — specifically “low-cost, low-risk, potentially high-reward type of guys.” Billingsley would seem to fit that description, as his asking price following a two-year stretch in which he has totaled just 12 Major League innings surely cannot be high. A one-year deal with a modest base salary and incentives based on innings pitched/games started would be the most logical expectation.​

 

so much for a-rod not being a distraction for the yankees
dude is such a that you just know he's loving it
he's such an attention whore that it doesn't matter if it's good/bad/indifferent
just as long as it's about him
would say the yankees should cut his ass
but with $64MM owed for the next three years [and up to $90MM in incentives], that's no easy task
so not only are the yankees stuck, we're all stuck

Report: Yankees reject 'clear the air' meeting with Alex Rodriguez
by Mark Townsend | Yahoo! Sports Big League Stew -- 8 hours ago



As Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reported early Saturday, embattled Yankees star Alex Rodriguez took his "rehabilitation tour" directly to MLB headquarters on Wednesday for a "clear the air" meeting with new baseball commissioner Rob Manfred. Details of how that meeting played out were scarce at the time, but it immediately led to speculation about when a similar meeting might take place with New York Yankees executives.

Well, according to a New York Daily News report late Saturday night, A-Rod had taken that step with some urging from Manfred, but apparently that ship has already sailed. The Yankees not only rejected Rodriguez's request according to the report, they essentially slammed the door in his face, telling him it can wait until spring training.

"The Yankees have answered Alex Rodriguez’s attempts to apologize for his season-long steroid suspension and the scorched-earth tactics he used to fight the ban with a Bronx cheer.

The disgraced superstar offered to meet face-to-face with team executives to apologize for his role in the Biogenesis scandal and clear the air before players report to Tampa next month, the Daily News has learned, but the Yankee brass declined the invitation, telling Rodriguez, “We’ll see you in spring training.”"​

Away we go.

Rodriguez, who's set to return from his year-long suspension when spring training opens in three weeks, cut a path of destruction so wide and so deep before accepting his ban that he had to realize some wounds wouldn't heal with one phone call or one extension of the olive branch. Perhaps it's an effort he should have made sooner. Perhaps it wouldn't have mattered given how deep the wounds are, but with such a short time left to clear the air, it's obvious those wounds will still be open in Tampa.

On the plus side for A-Rod, it appears he's made significant progress with Manfred thanks to a series of meetings that predated Wednesday's encounter.

Here's more from the Daily News:

"The first face-to-face meeting, however, occurred about six months later when Rodriguez and Manfred met in late summer last year at MLB’s Park Avenue offices. About a week after his DEA confession, which was spurred by his agreement to cooperate with the U.S. Attorneys prosecuting Bosch and other Biogenesis defendants, Rodriguez also abandoned lawsuits against MLB, then-commissioner Bud Selig and the Players Association.

Rodriguez met Manfred again on Wednesday of last week. The meetings were at MLB’s offices and were attended by Manfred and other MLB executives.

According to a source, Manfred told Rodriguez in the final meeting that he will now have to deal with the Yankees. “You’re done here,” A-Rod was told regarding their meetings, according to the source. “You’re a Yankee and you have to work things out now with them.”"​

That's not a five-star endorsement, but it's obviously Manfred's way of telling Rodriguez he's heard all he needs to hear and he's ready to move on. That's a notable and perhaps even noble stance given their history. In fact, the Daily News story provides extensive details of the havoc A-Rod and his people created for Manfred not only behind closed doors, but even as he attempted to enjoy leisure time.

"In one incident at a charity event at the Manhattan Woods Golf Club in Pearl River, N.Y., Manfred’s caddy was approached by an investigator allegedly working for Rodriguez demanding to know what Manfred had been discussing during his golf round."​

Yeah, those are the lengths A-Rod and his team were willing to go to muddy the waters. Now we might find out the lengths he's willing and capable of going on his way to mend fences. It appears he has one hurdle behind him with the league. Now comes the battle with the Yankees, which could remain ugly. Then comes the battle he'll never win, and that's winning back the majority of baseball's fans. There are some who forgive and others who will forget, but not many willing to do both.

Lots of luck, Mr. Rodriguez.​

 

indeed capn, indeed

 

maybe it's just me
but i've always hated this ckunt...

Joe Blanton Planning Comeback, Will Audition For Teams Next Week
By Steve Adams [January 28, 2015 at 10:54am CST]



Right-hander Joe Blanton is planning a comeback and will audition for teams on Feb. 4 in Nashville, Tenn., MLBTR has learned. Blanton will work out and throw a bullpen for those teams in attendance. Blanton has been on a throwing program in preparation for Spring Training, and as M. Blake Harrison noted (on Twitter) earlier this week, he’s been working out with Zach Duke — his neighbor in the Nashville area. Harrison also pointed out that the A’s are at least a logistical fit in theory, as Blanton has homes in California and Nashville (the new location of Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate).

Having just turned 34 in December, Blanton is perhaps younger than some may expect. He hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2013, when he struggled to a 6.04 ERA over 132 2/3 innings in his lone season with the Angels. Always one to post excellent strikeout-to-walk ratios, Blanton began to be plagued by home run problems in 2009, and those problems peaked in 2013, when more than 19 percent of the fly-balls hit against him left the yard.

However, Blanton was typically a reliable source of innings, clearing the 190 mark in six of his nine full seasons in the Majors. He’s had a relatively clean bill of health over the life of his career to this point, only missing significant time in 2011 due to an impingement in his right elbow. Blanton has a lifetime 4.51 ERA with 6.2 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 44.2 percent ground-ball rate in 1567 1/3 innings of work between the Athletics, Phillies, Dodgers and Angels.​

 

that makes more sense
ckunt phillies throwing at manny
and pussy chad wouldn't stand up for his guys
lost a lot of respect for him that day
and gained a lot for kuroda days later