MLB Trade Rumors and News: Strasburg signs $245 million mega deal to stay with Nationals

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• Stephen Strasburg was one of the bigger fish in the free agent pond this offseason. While there was a lot of speculation that he could end up somewhere else, the Nationals opened their wallets to keep him in DC with an astonishing seven year, $245 million deal. Brace yourselves for the upcoming Gerrit Cole contract, because that one is going to be a monster.
• Did--did the Mets do something right? New York is bring back Brad Brach (say that ten times fast) on a one year, $850,000 deal. Spending time with three different clubs last season, the 33-year old found the most success in Queens, posting a 3.68 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP while striking out 15 over 14.2 innings. A stark contrast to the 6.13 ERA over 42 innings with the Cubs earlier last year. The Mets bullpen is in desperate need of resurrection, and with a contract that is almost entirely incentive based, Brach is a decent foundation to try to revamp that on.
• The San Diego Padres have had themselves a busy start to the offseason. They have trade for Jurickson Profar and Drew Pomeranz in the last week or so and last night, it was revealed that the team has a trade pending that will send Tommy Pham and a prospect yet to be named to San Diego in exchange for Hunter Renfroe and Xavier Edwards. It seems likely that the prospects the Rays got in return for Pham will do well for themselves because, well, that is just what the Rays do.
• The Phillies seem to be perfectly content to just continue to throw large sums of money at their roster in the hopes that it finally works. They signed Zack Wheeler to a five year, $118 million deal that helped to set what appears to be a pretty expensive starting pitching market this offseason.
• The Nationals have signed playoff hero and anti-aging poster child Howie Kendrick to a one-year, $6.25M deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. In addition to being one of the biggest factors in the Nationals becoming world champions, the 36-year old put up a strong slash line during the regard season, racking up .344/.395/.572 with 17 home runs. The deal also includes a mutual option for 2021.
• The Braves have stayed active throughout this offseason and that continued on Wednesday when they signed veteran Cole Hamels to a one year, $18 million deal. There is not really such a thing as a bad one year deal and Hamels definitely has a pedigree that seems worth taking a chance on, but $18 million for a guy that is pretty clearly on the decline does carry some risk.
• Alex Avila is packing his bags once more, this time just not at the hand’s of his father. The Smaller Avila will head to Minnesota on a one-year, $4.25M deal. This means Jason Castro has been more than likely bumped from the 2020 lineup. The move seems shakey when you zoom out on it: in 2019 Avila slashed an anemic .207/.353/.421. The trade off? He has one of his best defensive seasons as a backstop, thwarting seven defensive runs. Grab your popcorn and let’s see how this one plays out.
• The Wilpons have long been punching bags for how they have chosen to run the New York Mets from their financial dealings to the personnel moves that have been made over the years (and with good reason). Some sort of change seems to be coming as they are setting things up to give up their stake as majority owners to Steve Cohen within the next five years.
• The Angels made a move to attempt to get their pitching staff into a semi-reasonable state as they traded for the Orioles’ Dylan Bundy. Bundy might not be a super sexy name these days, but if he can provide some decent innings and Shohei Ohtani can stay healthy on the mound, there is a chance for significant improvement.
• After spending the final two months of the 2019 season in Oakland, lefty reliever Jake Diekman decided not to mess with a good thing, re-upping with the Athletics on a two-year, $7.5 million deal.
• The Reds, to the surprise of basically everyone, locked up Mike Moustakas with a four year, $64 million deal on Monday. Moustakas will play second base for the Reds as he finally got the deal he was looking for the previous couple of offseasons (thanks to a bit of an overpay by Cincinnati).
• The Padres continued to make noise this offseason yesterday when they traded for Jurickson Profar from the Athletics. Profar has just one year left on his deal, but is long on talent even if the production hasn’t always been there. It is still unclear how much these moves are helping San Diego’s roster, but they are definitely keeping busy.
• The Cubs did what they probably should have done last offseason when they non-tendered Addison Russell Monday. Given that he both was not very good last year AND has a domestic violence suspension on his record, it is unclear how much of a market he will have for his services.
• There were a ton of other non-tender decisions made Monday and it is a lot of information to parse from the big names to the guys on the 40 man roster that never were going to see the light of day. To make things easier, we created a tracker with all of the tender and non-tender decisions made with links to either our articles on them and/or the relevant reporting on the moves
• Speaking of teams swooping in, it looks like the Rangers are not being shy about how much they’d just *love* to acquire Miguel Andujar from the Yankees, reports T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. The 24-year old is coming off an abridged season after a torn labrum in April squashed his 2019 hopes. And with Gio Urshela stepping into the role as the Bronx’s favorite third baseman, dealing Andujar isn’t out of the Yankees line of sight.
• The Pirates added to last week’s news binge as they hired themselves a new manager in Derek Shelton. The former Twins’ bench coach has coached in the big leagues for a long time and has been widely praised for his work in Minnesota. With the hiring, that now leaves every MLB club with a manager, as Pittsburgh was the last team to fill their vacancy.
• If you care about baseball at all in any capacity, then you need to read this: MLB’s plan to eliminate 42 minor league baseball teams, explained.
• 28-year-old right-hander Kendall Graveman, who was considered an intriguing major-league starter in the not-too-distant past (he was the Athletics’ Opening Day starter in 2018) signed a one-year deal with the Mariners in hopes of resurrecting his career. Graveman spent the 2019 season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery in the Cubs organization but had his option for 2020 declined earlier this month.
• How Seymour Siwoff, the ‘angel of statistics,’ helped us understand baseball (and also love it even more, if you’re into that).
• The Rays found themselves in need of a catcher when Travis d’Arnaud inked a two-year deal with the Braves. They decided to stay in house for the moment, avoiding arbitration with Mike Zunino by signing him to a one-year deal with a club option for 2021.
• The White Sox showed interest in basically every big free agent last offseason. While they came up empty, that is not the case this offseason as they landed the best catcher on the market, Yasmani Grandal, on a four-year deal worth $73 million. The team has gone on to say that this is likely only the beginning of their moves as they look to become relevant again.
• The Phillies are a reborn team and ready for the world to know it. Philadelphia is reportedly aggressively pursuing Didi Gregorius and Madison Bumgarner this offseason. Sir Didi has no qualifying offer attached to him and would be an easy snag for the Phillies this winter. MadBum has some higher stakes to him, requiring draft compensation if signed.
• If you were one of those who bet that Will Smith, the top reliever on the free agent market who was widely expected to sign his qualifying offer, was going to be the first major free agent signing of the offseason... you are likely very rich. The Braves struck early as they signed Smith to a lucrative three-year deal and the team has, for the moment, a bullpen that should be a strength even if it is rather pricey.
• New manager, who dis? The Phillies are in the midst of negotiating an extension with catcher J.T. Realmuto, reports Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. As of now, Realmuto is only under team control through the 2020 season. If he hits the free-agent market after that, he is set to have a big payday and be one of the biggest names of next winter‘s class. Currently, he is projected to earn $10.3M in his last year of arbitration eligibility. If the Phillies are smart to work something out with the young catcher now before they have to deal with negotiation talks next off-season, with said extension not taking effect until 2021.