The Guardians, according to Jon Heyman, are in the mix for free agent, left-handed reliever Tim Hill.
I, for one, am tired of watching 65 year-old Tim Hill dominate the Guardians with his 85 mph fastball, so, I say, sign him.
MLB believes that MLBPA is floating the possibility of dissolving the union and then filing anti-trust lawsuits to take CBA negotiations to federal court once the lockout goes into effect. I do wonder if this is potentially a negotiating tactic to see if the league will back off
early from its demand for a salary cap. And, again, I don’t want to think about the nightmare of ridiculous negotiating tactics ahead of all of us baseball fans for the next 5-12 months.
Cade Smith finished second in AL Reliever of the Year honors, Parker Messick finished third in AL Cy Young voting (give us ANOTHER draft pick, you cowards!), and Smith also made MLB’s Second All-Star team.
In case you missed it, Zack Meisel of the Athletic provided updates from Guardians POBO Chris Antonetti at the GM Meetings. Antonetti was apparently busy meeting with free agents as the Guardians seem intent on adding a starting pitcher via free agency or trade. Interestingly, Antonetti noted the need isn’t as dire as when they swung deals for Luis Ortiz and Slade Cecconi, so I’d expect only one move in that way. He mentioned looking for a “complementary player” for the offense, which could be a righty-masher or a lefty-masher depending on whom they believe in more among David Fry, Jo Adell, Kyle Manzardo and Cooper Ingle, in my humble opinion.
Emmanuel Clase owed $700K in back taxes which the government is trying to say provides a reason for his exploring gambling.
Winter/Fall Ball Updates:
The Surprise Sagauros won yesterday with Tyreese Turner going 1 for 3, Luke Hill going 0-2 with 2 walks, Cam Schuelke and Kyle Scott each throwing a scoreless inning, and Angel Perez giving up a run in an inning of work.
Jaison Chourio went 3-5 with a stolen base and Alfonsin Rosario went 2-4 in Venezuela Winter League action, and Jose Tena went 1-5 in Dominican Winter Ball.
