March 2,
2020
The big story during the off season was the sign-stealing
scandal perpetrated by the 2017 World Series Champion Houston Astros. Current
Oakland A’s pitcher Mike Fiers blew the whistle on his former team. The Astros
used electronic video and a banging trash can, most likely telling batters that
a breaking pitch was coming. What’s surprising is teams in their own division,
who play 9 games a year in Houston, didn’t notice that the banging of a trash
can mean something. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred immediately fined the
Astros five million dollars and stripped them of their first and second round
draft picks in 2020 and 2021. He also suspended Astros Manager A. J. Hinch and
GM Jeff Luhrow for one year. Astros owner Jim Crane proceeded to fire them. The
Boston Red Sox, who are being investigated, fired their Manager Alex Cora for
his involvement. Former Astro Carlos Beltran was fired by the Mets before he
managed his first game. Every player was complicit, yet were given immunity for
information. Astro players apologizing
and saying it won’t happen again doesn’t cut it for me. What I would like is
for all players to give back their World Series shares and donate that to a
worthy charitable organization.
Baseball will initiate some new rules for the upcoming
season: Increasing the rosters from 25 to 26 players; changing the DL from 10
to 15 days; decreasing the time a manager can appeal a call from 30 to 20
seconds. The most talked about rule change is that a relief pitcher must face
at least three hitters unless they end an inning. This is a good way to speed up the game.
Managers like to match up from batter to batter. Some can use four or five
pitchers in an inning, which to an average fan is annoying. Most managers don’t
like this rule because it requires more thinking.
The one
thing being bandied about that I don’t like, is increasing the playoffs to 14
out of thirty teams. This really puts a damper on the 162 game schedule.
Speaking of rules, when will the National League adopt the designated hitter?
Locally, optimism is high on the south side of Chicago.
At the end of last season White Sox General Manager Rick Hahn, pointed out
positions they needed to fill. He made a trade with the Texas Rangers, netting
24 year old right fielder Nomar Mazara. He signed former Cy Young Award winner
Dallas Keuchel and veteran Gio Gonzalez to fill out the starting pitching
staff. The designated hitter they needed is Edwin Encarnacion, who hits 30 home
runs a year. Hahn went one step further signing all-star catcher Yasmani Grandal,
whose defense and framing of pitches will help the young starters. He is also
capable of hitting 30 home runs.
On the North Side most of the conversation has been about
the re-signing the marquee players
that make up the core of the Cubs. One thing for certain, when the time comes, management
will pony up whatever Javier Baez wants or they will have a mutiny on their
hands. Right now the focus is on Kris Bryant. Bryant is salivating about his
upcoming free agency. The question for the Cubs is do they trade him? They can
probably get a good return (maybe some sorely needed top pitching prospects) or
keep him for two years and get nothing in return. The Cubs should have tried to
sign Bryant after his third year. He may have signed a security contract for
seven years. Even if you made him the highest paid third baseman, that would be
a bargain compared to what present player salaries are. In contrast, the White
Sox are negotiating with Yoan Moncada after his third season.
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