Cup of Coffee: March 17, 2022

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday! If you’re not a regular subscriber it’s a good day for the freebie, because there is a LOT of damn baseball news to get through today.

Still, there’s great stuff every day, so maybe . . . .

Thanks, all. You won’t be disappointed.

But like I said, there’s a lot to get through, so let’s just get at ‘er, eh?

The Daily Briefing

Dodgers sign Freddie Freeman to a six-year, $162 million deal

Almost everyone and their brother though Freddie Freeman was going to re-sign in Atlanta. To the extent anyone, or anyone’s brother, thought otherwise, they assumed he’d go to Los Angeles. That assumption was correct and it was made official last night as the Dodgers and Freeman agreed to a six-year $162 million deal.

We’re long since past the time when the Dodgers lineup became something akin to an All-Star team, but now, with Freeman and his .300/.393/.503 line and 31 homers from 2021 slotting in someplace in the heart of the order — after Mookie Betts and Trea Turner and before Justin Turner, Will Smith, A.J. Pollock, Max Muncy, Chris Taylor, and Cody Bellinger — things are approaching the ridiculous. The team now has four former MVPs in Freeman, Betts, Bellinger and Clayton Kershaw.

If you’re one of the people who has my book already, and you’ve gotten to the chapters about how it’s OK to be a fair weather fan and how it’s OK to root for players instead of teams, there are some bits in there that will explain why someone who is traditionally an Atlanta fan and who watched Freeman come up through the system and play his entire career there can see this development and experience no agita whatsoever. But suffice it to say that I am quite happy for Freeman and the Dodgers and think that this is gonna make the 2022 NL West race, like the 2021 race, oh so very fun.

Farewell, Freddie! We’ll be sure to forget you!

Freddie Freeman published a heartfelt farewell note to Atlanta fans yesterday. It was quite sweet, but leave it to Bob Nightengale to sum it up in the way that only Bob Nightengale can:

Pardon me, but it’s gettin’ a bit dusty in here.

The Rockies signed Kris Bryant

A little over a year ago the Rockies traded away Nolan Arenado and his monster contract, which included a no-trade clause. There were a number of reasons for that, but one of the big ones was that the Rockies really weren’t interested in carrying a third baseman with a monster contract that included a no-trade clause. Or, at the very least, were not interested in building a contending team around a third baseman with a monster contract with a no-trade clause, which made Nolan Arenado really unhappy.

Which makes me wonder why, exactly, the Rockies went out yesterday and signed third baseman Kris Bryant to a monster contract which included a no-trade clause. Or what would possibly give Bryant the confidence to sign that deal knowing how the Rockies tend to roll when it comes to the whole “surrounding star players with good supporting talent” thing. But hey, it’s not my money! It’s Dick Monfort’s money. One hundred and eighty-two million dollars of it over seven years with, again, a full no-trade clause.

For Bryant, it’s the big contract he’s been seeking ever since the Cubs began manipulating his service time lo those many years ago. And it’s also a place where he’ll likely post some pretty monster numbers. As it was, he hit .265/.353/.481 with 25 homers and 10 stolen bases in 586 plate appearances last year with the Cubs and Giants. What he’ll do at Coors Field should be pretty damn impressive to behold.

For the Rockies: hey, it’s good to see a team spend money. It’s what me and all the other baseball labor extremists have wanted, right? For all teams to go big and sign stars and all of that? That doesn’t make me less confused about their overall team-building approach and how they plan to turn Kris Bryant and the misfit toys that are currently on that roster into a contender, but it’s also not my problem. Viva chaos, that’s what I always say.

The A’s trade Matt Chapman to the Blue Jays

The Oakland A’s fire sale continues and the Toronto Blue Jays continue arming for bear: Oakland traded third baseman Matt Chapman to the Jays for four prospects. The prospects are right-handed pitcher Gunnar Hoglund, infielder Kevin Smith and left-handers Zach Logue and Kirby Snead.

Chapman, 28, is considered one the best defensive third basemen around. He’s a three-time Gold Glove winner, was an All-Star in 2019, and has a career line for .243/.330/.478 (120 OPS+). His strikeout rate has spiked pretty noticeably, however, and since hip surgery in 2020, his Statcast stats like exit velocity and stuff have taken a dive. Which doesn’t make him a poor addition or anything, but is at least some reason for tempering expectations.

As for the return to Oakland: Hoglund, 22, was Toronto’s top draft pick last year. He’s coming off of Tommy John surgery but he has great stuff and polish and is expected to be a solid MLB starter. Smith, 25, made his big-league debut last season and didn’t show all that much, but he’s likely to step into Chapman’s old position at the hot corner in the Coliseum. Logue, 25, and Snead, 27, are not-so-special big league arms, for both the good and bad that implies.

As for Chapman, he joins an infield with Vlad Guerrero Jr. at first, Cavan Biggio at second, and Bo Bichette at short. He also joins José Berríos, Kevin Gausman and Yusei Kikuchi as newcomers who have come to bolster the Jays’ starting rotation.

And there’s a chance the Jays are not done yet. There was an item dropped by Ken Rosenthal yesterday in which he reported that the Jays have spoken to the Guardians about a possible trade for José Ramírez, who the Jays would possibly move to second base to load up that infield even more.

Even if that doesn’t happen, Toronto has certainly beefed up this winter, looking to improve on last year’s 91 wins and to challenge for the AL East title.

Royals reunite with Zack Greinke

Zack Greinke is back where he started: he signed with the Kansas City Royals yesterday. It’s a one-year, $13 million deal.

Greinke went 11-6 with a 4.16 ERA with just 120 strikeouts in 171 innings pitched in 2021. Despite his diminished ability to put batters away, however, Greinke found a way to strand more runners than someone with his peripherals would normally be likely to.

Call it smarts. Call it guile. Call if veteran experience. Call it pitching to contact and relying on his defense. Whatever you call it, it’s enough to think that, even if he’s not the ace he once was, there is still a lot of good pitching left in Greinke’s career, and now he’ll be doing that with the club where it all started. A club, mind you, that has pretty damn good defense, so it might be a very nice reunion indeed.

Phillies sign Kyle Schwarber

The Philadelphia Phillies signed Kyle Schwarber yesterday. The deal: four years and $79 million. Which, um, good for Schwarber, I guess, but that seems kinda high to me.

Schwarber certainly showed that he can be an impact bat last season, hitting .266/.374/.554 (148 OPS+) with 32 home runs while splitting time between the Nationals and the Red Sox. That season is a bit of an outlier for him, however, as he has been a .230/.336/.480 (113 OPS+) hitter in the 550 career games he has played in years other than 2021, leading to his being non-tendered by the Cubs a year ago. Perhaps he just found a new gear last year and is entering a new prime? I dunno. That’s Dave Dombrowski’s gamble, though, not mine.

As for this season: Schwarber is likely to split time between left field and designated hitter, at least if the Phillies don’t go out and get someone else who slots into those positions.

Seiya Suzuki signs with the Cubs

The Chicago Cubs have signed Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki to a five-year, $85 million deal. Suzuki, 27, was posted by his NPB team, the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, back in November. Because of the lockout the 30-day window during which he had to negotiate with an MLB club was paused, and the Cubs snagged him before it closed again.

Friend of the Newsletter Jim Allen, who has covered baseball in Japan for years, wrote yesterday that “Suzuki is probably the best hitter in Japan at the moment,” and provided an extremely detailed scouting report and breakdown of Suzuki’s game and approach over at his website. That’s certainly must-read stuff for Cubs fans and everyone else who is interested in the guy.

If you’re not interested in such detail, know that Suzuki has great raw power, excellent plate discipline, and has hit 309/.402/.541, with 189 home runs and 102 stolen bases in his nine-year NPB career. In 2021 he hit .317/.433/.636 with 38 home runs and nine steals. A great many Japanese hitters have struggled upon adjusting to the U.S. major leagues, but Allen believes that Suzuki’s approach — he’s a self-starter who will not suffer from the less-structured coaching and training environment here compared to Japan — will allow him to have a better shot to continue to rake in the U.S. In this regard Allen compares him to Ichiro. So, yeah.

Nice addition for the Cubs.

Giants sign Joc Pederson and Matt Boyd

The San Francisco Giants have signed Bay Area native Joc Pederson on a one-year, $6 million contract. Smart signing because if he’s on your team you win the World Series. That’s the rule (for the past two seasons anyway). ]

Pederson hit .238/.310/.422 (93 OPS+) for the Cubs and Atlanta last year, but certainly made himself a fan favorite with the eventual World Series champs after he was traded. The book on him is that he has extreme platoon splits and that you don’t want him facing lefties, but last year he was basically the same against both righties and southpaws. Indeed, he got on base against lefties at a higher clip, albeit in far fewer chances.

With Pederson you know what you’re gonna get: some decent pop, some slumps, and some fun. That’s worth $6 million in today’s MLB.

Oh, and just in under the newsletter publication wire early this morning: the Giants signed starting pitcher Matt Boyd to a one-year deal too. The contract is worth $5.2 million plus $2.3 million in incentives. Boyd was 3-8 with a 3.89 ERA and 7.7 K/9 in 15 starts for the Tigers in 2021. They non-tendered him, however. The big knock on his game is that he’s dinger prone, but moving to San Francisco and the bigger parks of the NL West should help that.

The Giants rotation already features Logan Webb, Carlos Rodón, Alex Wood, Alex Cobb, and Anthony DeSclafani, but depth wins in this league, so Boyd’s presence will no doubt be welcome.

Atlanta signs Eddie Rosario

Atlanta re-signed their 2021 NLCS MVP, Eddie Rosario, yesterday. It’s a a two-year, $18 million deal with a club option for the 2024 season.

Rosario, 30, hit .259/.305/.435 (98 OPS+) with 19 doubles, three triples, 14 homers, 62 RBI, 42 runs, and 11 steals while splitting time between Cleveland and Atlanta in 2021. He helped save Atlanta’s bacon, however, when their outfield was slammed with injuries. Of course he was one of the injured outfielders himself. He came over to Atlanta in late July, played one game, got hurt, and did not return until August 29, but he was an outstanding contributor down the stretch and then went 14-for-25 with three homers and nine RBI as Atlanta beat the favored Dodgers in a six-game NLCS. Overall, in 16 playoff games, Rosario hit .383/.456/.617 with three doubles, a triple, three homers, 11 RBI, 11 runs, a stolen base.

That was short-term duty. Now he’ll be plugged as Atlanta’s everyday left fielder.

Reds trade Amir Garrett to Kansas City for Mike Minor

The Reds made another trade yesterday, shipping reliever Amir Garrett to the Royals in exchange for starter Mike Minor. The Royals are sending cash along with Minor to defray his $13 million salary because heaven forfend the Reds pay anything for anyone. As many have noted, Ken Griffey Jr. will be the Reds’ sixth-highest paid player in 2022 and he hasn’t played for Cincinnati since George W. Bush was president.

Garrett, 29, had a crappy 2021 season, posting a 6.04 ERA in 63 games while walking everyone in the building. His 2020 campaign — a 2.45 ERA, a ton of strikeouts, and fewer walks — suggested that he can be a strong back-of-the-bullpen presence, however. Getting out of a terrible park for pitchers can’t hurt.

Minor, 34, was 8-12 with a 5.05 ERA (91 ERA+), with 149 strikeouts and 41 walks in 158.2 innings in 2021. He was an All-Star with the Rangers in 2019, but that seems like eons ago now. His slot in the rotation will be filled by Zack Greinke, it seems.

Chris Sale has a fractured rib, is still unvaccinated

Red Sox starter Chris Sale told the press yesterday that he will miss the start of the 2022 season due to a stress fracture in his ribcage. How long will he be out? NO MAN CAN SAY! No, seriously, Sale said that himself. He has no idea what his timetable is.

Sale, 32, missed all of 2020 and most of 2021 following Tommy John surgery. He came back for nine regular season starts last year which went alright but then he got knocked around a good bit in the postseason. Now he’s back on the shelf again. And he summed it up pretty succinctly: “The last couple years have sucked . . . what can you do?”

Oh, and he noted that he didn’t get vaccinated in the offseason, so even if he comes back, he can’t pitch against the Blue Jays in Toronto. So that’s all going swell.

Tigers sign Andrew Chafin

The Detroit Tigers have signed lefty reliever Andrew Chafin to a two-year, $13 million deal.

Chafin, 31, who declined his half of a mutual option with the Athletics, was fantastic in 2021, posting a 1.83 ERA and a 64/19 K/BB ratio in 68.2 innings last year between Chicago and the A’s. He seems poised to be the Tigers new setup man.

The classic minor league names return

One of the dumbest things Major League Baseball did in connection with its takeover, contraction, and reorganization of the minor leagues was to eliminate all the league names. The International League and Pacific Leagues were replaced by “Triple-A East” and “Triple-A West.” Gone too were the Eastern League, the Southern League, the Carolina League, the California League, the Texas League and all the other venerable names, replaced with generic geographic monikers like “Double-A Northeast” and “Low-A Southwest” or what have you.

Yesterday, thankfully, they announced that they’re reversing that stupid decision and that the 11 remaining affiliated minor leagues will revert back to historical names. You can see the whole list of league names and which teams will be in which league here. Ignore the part where it says that the previous elimination of those names occurred “because Major League Baseball was still in the process of acquiring the rights to the historical names, an endeavor that is now complete,” because I frankly don’t believe it. Rob Manfred and Baseball Pravda don’t exactly have a lot of credibility in my eyes these days.

Anyway, good move. Right up there with Coke going back to the original formula. Except, of course, Coke didn’t do anything as bad bad as eliminating whatever the soft drink equivalent of the Appalachian League is. Major League Baseball is leaving them dead, sadly.

The Ricketts Family will make a bid for Chelsea F.C. on Friday

Sky News reports that The Ricketts family, which owns the Chicago Cubs, and and Ken Griffin, a billionaire hedge fund operator, have teamed up to make a bid for Chelsea Football Club. As I noted last week, the team is available because its current owner, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, has been sanctioned until Hell won’t have it by the British government, essentially paralyzing his business operations and severely impacting Chelsea’s operations as well.

From the Sky News story:

Hope whoever judges the bids doesn’t find those articles in which Tom Ricketts bitched about “biblical losses” and whatnot. That might temper those claims of “financial firepower.” Assuming you believe Tom Ricketts, of course, which you should not, in any way, do.

Judge: Minor leaguers are year-round employees

Late in the day on Tuesday a federal magistrate judge considering dueling summary judgment motions ruled against Major League Baseball in a 181-page decision, rejecting MLB’s claim that minor leaguers are seasonal employees akin to people who perform Shakespeare in the park or what have you, and are thus exempt from minimum wage laws. The judge ruled that MLB is liable for $1,882,650 in penalties on the plaintiffs’ California wage claims. The league and its clubs are further liable in Arizona and Florida in an amount that is still in dispute. A trial is scheduled for June on the limited issue of damages on those claims.

The case, Aaron Senne, et al vs. Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp. et al, has been around for nearly eight years. In it, a couple thousand current and former minor leaguers are suing MLB and all 30 MLB clubs for failing to pay them a fair wage, overtime pay, and compensation for other required activities. The case has knocked around so long due to various procedural matters, including whether or not it should be a class action. That went all the way up the Supreme Court and back down again. Yesterday’s result was, obviously, a long time coming.

As for that result, the court specifically found that:

• Minor league players are employees;

• That MLB is a joint employer of those players, along with the individual clubs, and thus the central MLB office is on the hook for damages too, not just teams; and

• Minor league players performed work during spring training, extended spring, in instructional leagues, and that travel time to go to games in both Arizona and Florida is work time as well, all of which, contrary to MLB’s handling of things, is eligible for compensation.

The damages to which players are entitled is based on the fact that the teams did not keep proper wage records. Meaning: they never considered all that travel and training time work, so they didn’t track hours. Under the law, MLB and the clubs are liable for $250 for the first violation and $1,000 for each additional violation of those requirements. Multiply that over how many players are in the class and how long the period covered and you can see why $1.8 million is just the beginning.1 

One particularly fun part of the decision referenced something we talked about here last month. Specifically, Major League Baseball’s attempt to argue that, actually, minor leaguers should be thankful that they get to play for whatever they are paid because they are getting on-the-job training like an internship or something. The judge rejected that defense by MLB, preventing it from putting on expert witnesses who would’ve testified to that effect. Daubert: it’ll get ya every time. At least if your case sucks.

As for what happens next: the sides are scheduled to hold a pre-trial mediation conference on April 13-14. Given yesterday’s result I’d be really surprised if MLB didn’t settle this thing by then, because they seem really boned. If they don’t settle? Trial begins on June 1.

Of course, the Lords of Baseball are limited in their exposure now. That’s because, in 2018, after intense lobbying from Major League Baseball, Congress passed a law exempting MLB and its clubs from having to pay minor league players minimum wage no matter how many hours in a day or how many days in a week a player worked. It’s a bullcrap law with an Orwellian name — “The Save America’s Pastime Act” — that was buried in a 2,232-page spending bill. The players in this lawsuit, of course, predated those folks.

In a related development on Tuesday, a California state senator said he planned to introduce a bill that would allow minor leagues full protection under state labor laws and that would reduce the time a team could control a minor league player from seven seasons to four. If such a thing passes it will only apply in California, of course.

Which would likely cause Major League Baseball to eliminate every single California-based minor league club, because if Rob Manfred can evade a pro-worker requirement, by gum, he will. When it comes to screwing minor leaguers, the road goes on forever and the party never ends.

Other Stuff

Shameless Self Promotion

I’m on the latest edition of TheBaseballBiz podcast with Mark Corbett. In it we talk about Rethinking Fandom, the new CBA, and a bunch of other stuff in a wide-ranging conversation. Catch it here or anywhere where you catch podcasts.

Great Moments in Petty Assholery

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to the United States Congress yesterday morning via video uplink, asking for more help as his country attempts to repel an unprovoked Russian invasion. It was serious business.

Zelensky invoked Pearl Harbor and 9/11 (in an earlier speech to the British House of Commons he echoed Churchill’s “We Shall Fight On The Beaches” speech). Zelensky then asked U.S. lawmakers to watch a graphic video showing Ukrainian cities before and after Russia’s invasion. In the middle of the montage the message “This is a murder” was displayed on the screen. While the case for direct American military involvement in the war remains a hard one to make for a lot of legitimate, potentially world-ending reasons, one could not possibly come away from Zelensky’s speech without being moved.

Unless, of course, one is a former GOP Senate candidate/economist for private equity goons named Peter Schiff:

He later doubled down:

This guy, again, could’ve been a U.S. Senator. Dodged that damn bullet.

Have a great day, everyone. And if you’re just visiting today: