MLB Trade Rumors and News: Clevinger to miss time after knee surgery, craziness is still ensuing

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• Rough news Cleveland fans: Mike Clevinger will miss six to eight weeks as he recovers from knee surgery. I guess the bright side is that his left meniscus will be good as new. The not so bright side is that their pitching rotation, that has already taken a beating this offseason, is down their main man.
• At their highly anticipated press conference where media and fans alike assumed that the team would show lots of contrition and humility after getting hit with severe punishments from MLB for their sign-stealing operation. Instead, what we were treated to was two short statements from individual players who did not take questions and one of the worst public relations performances you will see from an owner in Jim Crane. Predictably, things did not go over well and Jim Crane’s lack of accountability and tone-deafness has been a popular topic on the internets for the last 24 hours or so.
• Now that cheating is okay and fun is illegal, MLB has enacted a two-way player rule specifically for Shohei Ohtani. Now, in order for Ohtani to be considered an official two way player in the league, he must clock at least 20 innings pitched and 20 starts as another position. Fingers crossed that his Tommy John complications are all in the past and he can make this work.
• Reese McGuire has shown a lot of promise at the plate early in his career with the Blue Jays. However, one must question his judgment a bit as he was arrested yesterday for indecent exposure in a public parking lot. There are very few justifications for such behavior that make it not sound bad, but the details of his actions and explanation are, well, weird.
• Cole Hamels signed a one year, $18 million deal with the Braves to be a reliable source of quality innings for the young team. That is not off to the best of starts as Hamels did not report to spring training has he is dealing with shoulder discomfort. Even if the issue resolves itself in the next couple of weeks (which is not certain), it does not sound like he will be ready to start the season.
• The Red Sox have signed Kevin Pillar to a one year, $4.25M deal, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The 31-year old slashed 259/.287/.432 with the Giants last year, which looks a little depressing until you realize it went tandem with a career-high 21 home runs. Pillar will give Boston a righty in the outfield to counter a very southpaw-saturated position and a little extra cushioning in their lineup.
• On the eve of their first official spring training workout, the Red Sox finally settled on a manager for the 2020, naming bench coach and former Brewers manager Ron Roenicke as their interim manager. Roenicke went 342-331 over four-plus seasons in Boston, so it’ll be interesting to see if he can make himself an intriguing full-time candidate over his year as a fill-in.
• MLB players are not pleased with the anemic and insincere apology from the Astros. And can you blame them? This is like that time my boyfriend wrote a job recommendation for some Twitter famous girl but refused to write mine. Was your clout worth it???
• Despite the lack luster apology and everything, it still needs to be said: please don’t throw at Astros players. C’mon, you could kill someone out here.
• Major League Baseball has been trying its best to reshape itself in a way to help it get back to its former glory and popularity on a number of fronts in recent years. Whether it was the exploration of pace of play changes to the ability to steal first base to an automated strike zone, the league has at least been willing to talk about proposals that, until now, have been basically off the table. Now, they are floating an idea to increase the number of playoff teams and letting the higher seeds choose their opponents in the in the first round. A significant portion of the internet seems to hate it, but hey....it is at least something to talk about.
• Now, however, we can say with assured confidence that Mookie Betts is finally on the move to the Dodgers...the deal just has a few tweaks to it. While Mookie and David Price are still a part of the deal, the Twins have officially altered their end of the bargain. While it was initially reported that Brusdar Graterol wouldn’t make it to Los Angeles, it turns out he’ll just have company. In addition to the pitching prospect, the Dodgers will also receive outfield prospect Luke Raley and the 67th pick in the 2020 draft. Talk about taking the money and running. Kenta Maeda will still head to the Twins, and the pot is a little sweeter now for Boston, who will still receive Alex Verdugo, but will also add catching prospect Connor Wong and infield phenom Jeter Downs. Yes, a guy named Jeter is now on the Red Sox. Cue the alternate universe theories.
• Some guys are just dealt more bad luck than others. Case in point: James Paxton. While healthy, he has shown the ability to be one of the better pitchers in the league...but he has never really shown the ability to consistently stay on the field. Last week it was announced that he had to undergo surgery to remove a cyst on his spine and will miss the next three or four months.
• In what was the biggest move made by an NL West team last Tuesday night until about 9:00 p.m. ET (at which point the Betts trade was reported), the Giants signed versatile infielder and lefty masher Wilmer Flores to a two-year deal with an option for a third year. Flores is a lifetime .387/.439/.639 hitter in 132 plate appearances against the Giants, so they’ll be glad to have him on their side in 2020 and beyond.
• The Astros have been dealing with a mess of their own making this offseason. After snagging Dusty Baker to fill in as their skipper in the wake of the sign stealing scandal that rocked the entire league, the organization made the move to bring on former Rays executive James Click to be their new general manager for what is going to be a very important time in the franchise’s history.
• The Rays have acquired Manuel Margot and Logan Driscoll from Padres in exchange for Emilio Pagán. While Tampa Bay reinforces their strong hold in centerfield and adds some depth behind the plate, the Padres will strengthen what it already a solid bullpen. It feels like everyone is just finding what makes them a good team and mercilessly adding onto it in the hopes of never running out of such talent. This begs a very important question: are the Rays okay????
• The Mariners are having to look long-term for their playoff aspirations, but things appear to be going well for them on that front as they have some exciting young talent on the way. To prepare themselves down the road, they locked up their durable young lefty Marco Gonzales with a four-year contract extension.
• The Cubs’ brazen use of MLB’s service time rules in order to gain an extra year of control over Kris Bryant was about as obvious of a case of service time manipulation as a team can do without outright saying that they were holding him down in the minors for that purpose. As a result, a decision on Bryant’s grievance regarding the matter took longer than expected, but he still came out on the losing side.
• If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: The Red Sox are bringing back veteran first baseman Mitch Moreland, signing him to his third short-term deal in four years. This contract, which guarantees Moreland $3 million, is a one-year pact but includes a club option for 2021.
• The Diamondbacks have acquired Starling Marte from the Pirates. In exchange for the two-time Gold Glover, Pittsburgh will be receiving infield prospect Liover Peguero, right-handed pitching prospect Brennan Malone, and international bonus pool space. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, seem to be beyond determined this winter.
• The Reds have become another odd but not confusing force of nature this offseason. Their latest endeavor is signing Nick Castellanos to a four-year deal. This powerhouse at the plate is set to make $64M for his time in Cincy. He joins Mike Moustaskas, Shogo Akiyama, and Wade Miley on the list of guys you’ll spend 2020 repeating, “Oh right, he’s on the Reds now” about.
• Mitch Haniger’s breakout 2018 season now feels like it was a long time ago. After a 2019 season that was, by most accounts, disappointing and punctuated by a truly painful injury, Haniger was hoping that 2020 was going to be better. Unfortunately, an abdominal injury while working out is now leading to surgery and will keep him out for at least most of spring