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The MLB Daily Dish is a daily feature we're running here at MLBDD and rounds up roster-impacting news, rumors, and analysis. Have feedback or have something that should be shared? Hit us at @mlbdailydish on Twitter.
Good morning baseball world. How is everybody feeling now that officially there is no baseball until 2016? Were you able to survive yesterday? Well if you did, there is a bunch of news this morning to catch up on.
The major story of the day comes out of Washington, as the Nationals are backtracking on their managerial hire. Now, instead of Bud Black, it appears that rumors from yesterday were true and Dusty Baker will be the next manger for the Nationals (poor Stephen Strasburg).
Baker, who interviewed twice for the Nationals opening, was informed last week that he did not get the job. The job was offered to Black on Wednesday by Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, which he accepted, and negotiations began on Thursday. They never came close to reaching a deal.
The Nationals, according to a person with knowledge of the talks, originally offered Black a one-year deal for $1.6 million, and refused to guarantee more than two years. Black informed the Nationals’ ownership several days ago that he couldn’t accept a deal, which is considerably lower than he anticipated.
139 players filed for free agency on Monday, here is a list of all the players looking for their next team.
Those free agents that are eligible for a qualifying offer will need to be given one by Friday, in order for their previous teams to receive draft pick compensation.
The Marlins are supposedly out on high-priced starters like David Price and Zack Greinke.
Orioles owner Peter Angelos has "taken an interest" in the O's bringing back Chris Davis. Mark Brown of Camden Chat broke down this recent rumor.
If you're looking for a completely wild reason to be hopeful based on the two sentences Heyman wrote, you might seize on the involvement of Angelos as an indication that he might be willing to make an extra payroll expenditure in order to keep Davis in Birdland.
Currently, the biggest reason to be anxious about the Orioles potentially retaining Davis is that he's likely going to soak up half of the available payroll for next season. I'm not breaking any news in saying the Orioles have plenty of other holes to fill. So maybe, if Angelos sees keeping Davis as a priority, he'll be willing to have the O's payroll go a bit beyond what was originally planned for the sake of keeping Davis. That could be one way for the O's to get Davis and address some other issues.
Justin Upton could be a target for the Detroit Tigers, writes Rob Rogacki of Bless You Boys.
The Mets just lost the World Series, where do they go from here? Our own Michael Bradburn explored what they have to do in order to stay on top.
After taking everything in, there doesn't seem to be a reason that the Mets could not follow in the Royals footsteps and follow up a World Series loss with a World Series win. The team's rotation of Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Harvey, Matz, and Wheeler looks to be among the best in baseball. In his short stint in the bigs, Conforto seems like the real deal, and there are several other major-league ready prospects knocking at the door. Some offense and some bullpen help should probably be on Alderson's agenda but many other general managers would trade their problems for his. The Mets are in good shape.
...but the Mets are definitely not expected to bring back Yoenis Cespedes.
Useful links
Here is a free agent tracker.
The latest edition of the MLB Daily Dish podcast, The Rosterbatorical can be heard in the player below.
All the important dates of the offseason can be found here.
Today in Baseball History: Lou Piniella is named the manager of the Cincinnati Reds in 1989, replacing the banned Pete Rose