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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 fans!
Yulieski Gourriel and Lourdes Gourriel Jr, two brothers from Cuba, have defected and are looking for major league deals.
It's possible that what the Red Sox did this weekend will take them from worst to first.
Austin Yamada took a look at what a complete Padres' rebuild would look like for Beyond the Box Score.
So what can Preller do about that? Well, the Dodgers, Giants, and Diamondbacks won't be this good forever. The Friars probably won't realistically contend in the next two years, but 2018 seems like a more-than-reasonable window to target for the next great Padres team. That essentially means that any positive value a San Diego player produces in the next two years is wasted value.
Thankfully, there are many teams out there that are willing to exchange future value for current value. Any player under contract for the Padres right now that could be exchanged for value down the road should be traded. It's highly unlikely that Preller and company hold a complete fire sale, but what would it look like if they did sell everything that they wouldn't need or be able to keep?
The Indians signed Craig Stammen to a minor-league deal.
Arizona inked Tyler Clippard to a two-year, $12.25 million deal.
J.D. Martinez and the Tigers agreed on a two-year, $18.5 million deal.
Skip Schumaker has signed a minor-league deal with the Padres.
And the Blue Jays signed Josh Donaldson to a two-year extension.
Neil Weinberg of Fangraphs explored the end of the terrible number two hitter.
I’ve had discussions with plenty of people who argue against deploying your best hitter in the second spot because they believe the third and fourth spots are better for maximizing total lineup production. That’s a reasonable hypothesis as far as I’m concerned and am open to more sophisticated lineup analysis going forward. Yet, despite that potential uncertainty, there does appear to be a clear shift away from low-production, contact guys who can bunt in the two hole. Teams aren’t necessarily embracing the specific advice from The Book as much as they are learning its broader lesson: good hitters at the top, bad hitters at the bottom.
You shouldn’t make too much out of a single data point, but it does appear as if 2015 will be remembered, in part, as the year major league managers let the idea of the old fashioned number-two hitter wither on the vine.
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Today in Baseball History: In 1916, the NL votes down a proposal from the Giants, Braves and Cubs to increase the club player limit to 22, up from 21. The Reds want to decrease it to 20.