Page 55 - Eric Longenhagen News Today

Hang it in the Louvre. ? pic.twitter.com/uIhzPuWppz Adorned in a full uniform and sunglasses, Rodriguez’s bat is cocked just beyond his head as he begins his stride toward the mound; the #SeaUsRise hashtag in the lower left corner suggests a metaphor is at work. “Hang it in the Louvre,” the Mariners tweeted approvingly. Compliments to artist Trevor Milless aside, this tweet stuck with me, mostly because it’s kind of odd. There aren’t many teams that retweet artwork posted on the club...

Right-hander Clarke Schmidt made his MLB debut with the New York Yankees in 2020, appearing in three games, including one start.

Daily baseball statistical analysis and commentary.

Batters One initial note: ZiPS sees Globe Life Field as a fairly neutral park that leans just a skosh to the pitching side. We still have very little data about how the park plays and basing park factors on expectations tends to be a rather poor prognosticating urge. The good news for Rangers fans is that, across the board and more than any other team in baseball, ZiPS sees Texas’ lineup in a more optimistic light than Steamer does. The bad news, of course, is that this represents the sunni...

Fangraphs on Kohei Arihara signing Share this story Over at Fangraphs, Eric Longenhagen has a write-up on the Texas Rangers’ signing of pitcher Kohei Arihara, the 28 year old righthanded pitcher who is coming to the United States from the Nippon Ham Fighters of the NPB this year on a 2 year deal that will cost the Rangers (including the posting fee) around $7 million. Longenhagen’s take on Arihara is about what you would expect under the circumstances — inexpensive second division back-en...

Darvish is the clear headliner, though Caratini should be a decent backup. Davies has posted average peripherals and an above-average ERA the last few seasons. The four prospects are all 20 years old or younger, far away from the majors; Eric Longenhagen will have a separate piece coming out on the quartet heading to the lower levels of the Cubs’ organization, but you can find his preseason write-ups on them (aside from Caissie, a second-round pick in June) in his 2020 Padres list. Now 34 y...

A closer look at the Josh Bell return Share this story David Dermer-USA TODAY Sports On Christmas Eve, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded 1B Josh Bell to the Washington Nationals in exchange for minor league RHPs Eddy Yean and Wil Crowe. Time will tell whether or not this was a competent trade made by the selling Pirates. In terms of timing, the deal makes sense. Bell has two years remaining of service time before he becomes a free agent. The Pirates will not be close to competing during that timefr...

MLB Trade Rumors Josh Bell to Washington for a pair of right-handed pitching prospects,  Eddy Yean. Some reporting in the aftermath of the deal: The Pirates have made no secret about their desire to move players off the big league roster for future value this offseason. Trading Bell certainly doesn’t figure to be Pittsburgh’s final move of this ilk, as general manager Ben Cherington acknowledged. “ Likely won’t be the last one. There will probably be more,” Cherington told reporters ...

MLB Trade Rumors Josh Bell to Washington for a pair of right-handed pitching prospects,  Eddy Yean. Some reporting in the aftermath of the deal: The Pirates have made no secret about their desire to move players off the big league roster for future value this offseason. Trading Bell certainly doesn’t figure to be Pittsburgh’s final move of this ilk, as general manager Ben Cherington acknowledged. “ Likely won’t be the last one. There will probably be more,” Cherington told reporters ...

Episode 901 On this week’s episode of FanGraphs Audio, the gang looks ahead to the new minor league landscape set for 2021 before looking back and considering an alternate Hall of Fame timeline. To lead things off, Ben Clemens and Meg Rowley discuss their recent research on the reimagined minor leagues. How many people are expected to lose access to affordable, in-person baseball, and what exactly does that mean? [1:54] After that, Eric Longenhagen offers a thought experiment: What if Jay Jaf...