Mets Spring Training 2017 Preview: Predictions, Players to Watch and More

A savior is on its way to Gotham—and we’re not talking about Captain America or the Dark Knight.

Spring Training will soon arrive to save New York sports fans from what has been a frustrating, hair-pulling winter of discontent, filled with underperforming teams and contenders with more holes than the Swiss cheese on a Reuben sandwich from the dearly departed Carnegie Deli.

Pitchers and catchers are set to descend upon Port St. Lucie, Florida, in just a few weeks as the New York Mets officially get the 2017 season underway.

The Mets, who lost the National League Wild Card Game in 2016, will be looking to not only get through camp healthy, but ready to hit the ground running as they embark on a journey that hopefully culminates with the team’s second NL East crown since 2015.

While health will be a focal point of camp, the Mets have some questions that must be answered and a position battle or two to be decided before Opening Day rolls around. We’ll attempt to fill in the blanks on the pages that follow.

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Giants Spring Training 2017 Preview: Predictions, Players to Watch and More

For the first time since the waning days of the George W. Bush administration, the San Francisco Giants didn’t win the World Series in an even year.

Now, as we prepare to inaugurate President Donald J. Trump, San Francisco will look to usher in an era of odd-year dominance. 

First, they’ve got spring training issues to sort out, including position battles in left field, at third base and the back end of the rotation, where a former franchise cornerstone is trying to resuscitate his career.

Limber up your commenting muscles and dig in when ready.

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Dodgers Spring Training 2017 Preview: Predictions, Players to Watch and More

The Los Angeles Dodgers need a second baseman. You know this. They know this. Your great-aunt Meredith who doesn’t follow baseball knows this.

Yet as I type these words, Enrique Hernandez and his .190/.283/.324 2016 slash line sit atop L.A.’s second base depth chart. For a team with the game’s gaudiest payroll and legitimate World Series aspirations, that’s a bad look.

Let’s assume the Dodgers brass is working hard to address the club’s keystone deficiency and examine some other interesting storylines heading into spring training. (Because it’s almost here—hooray!)

Dodgers camp will feature crowded position battles in the outfield and at the back end of the rotation, a hyper-talented Cuban still looking to find his footing and the reigning National League Rookie of the Year ramping up for a potential MVP encore.

Break out your fungo bat and step into the box when ready.

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Alexi Amarista to Rockies: Latest Contract Details, Comments, Reaction

The Colorado Rockies have signed veteran utility man Alexi Amarista to a contract. 

The team officially announced a one-year deal with Amarista for 2017. 

An agreement between Amarista and the Rockies has been in the works for weeks, with Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reporting on Dec. 26 it would be a one-year deal with an option for 2018.  

The official announcement does not mention an option year in the contract, but the Rockies do upgrade their depth all over the field with Amarista next season. 

The 27-year-old Amarista has played six positions during his MLB career, including two brief appearances as a pitcher in 2015 and 2016. He was primarily an infielder with the San Diego Padres last season, shifting between second base, third base and shortstop. 

The Rockies have spent their offseason trying to add more versatility. Gerardo Parra has the ability to play all three outfield positions and Ian Desmond will be the team’s starting first baseman and has experience at shortstop and center field. 

Amarista doesn’t offer much with the bat, owning a .230/.276/.320 slash line in six seasons with the Padres and Los Angeles Angels. Moving to hitter-friendly Coors Field could provide a boost to his offensive numbers, but the Rockies are signing him for depth more than anything else. 

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Wil Myers, Padres Agree on New Contract: Latest Details, Reaction

The San Diego Padres and first baseman Wil Myers finalized their agreement on a new six-year contract extension.

The Padres officially announced Myers’ extension will run through 2022 with a team option for 2023.

Jim Bowden of ESPN first reported the new deal last week. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports noted the contract was expected to be worth “more than $80 million.”

Myers, a former top prospect in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, finally started illustrating his high-end potential during a breakout 2016 campaign. The 26-year-old infielder posted a .336 on-base percentage with 28 home runs and 28 stolen bases this past season.

The converted outfielder has handled the transition well, posting a plus-eight defensive runs saved figure in his first full season at first base, according to FanGraphs. His speed also gives the Padres something most teams don’t receive from the traditionally power-heavy position.

The extension doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Myers told Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune coming out of the All-Star break that he was interested in staying put for the long haul:

I love being here. I do really, truly believe that (General Manager) A.J. Preller has a plan for the future, and that’s a big deal when it comes to extension talks. I love everything about (Manager) Andy Green, what he’s done here. I think he’s going to be a great manager. As far as being here long-term, I could see myself doing it. I could see trying to build something here.

It’s a smart move by the Padres based on the first baseman’s talent. He merely scratched the surface of what he’s capable of this season. He has the skill set to become one of the top hitters in the National League over the next few years.

The only real question mark is his health. He’s dealt with a variety of injury issues since breaking into the big leagues with Tampa Bay in 2013. Those setbacks are why it took him so long to back up his strong debut campaign, and they likely played a role in the Rays trading him two years ago.

The Padres have had six consecutive losing seasons, but general manager A.J. Preller made a series of deals last season to greatly improve the farm system with high-end talents like Anderson Espinoza and Manuel Margot. 

Combine the talent making its way through the system with Myers’ natural hitting ability, and when all the pieces converge in San Diego over the next couple of seasons, the Padres will be a serious threat in the National League.

With the new contract in hand, Myers will now hope to leave those injury concerns in the rearview mirror and remain an important cog in the San Diego lineup for the foreseeable future.

                                                                      

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Willie McCovey’s Tax Evasion Charges Pardoned by President Obama

President Barack Obama pardoned baseball Hall of Famer and San Francisco Giants great Willie McCovey on Tuesday of tax evasion. 

According to the Guardian‘s Ben Jacobs, McCovey was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $5,000 in 1996 after he falsified federal income tax returns.

The New York Daily NewsJake Becker reported McCovey did not disclose $33,000 he made at an autograph show in 1989. When McCovey entered his plea, he also reportedly came clean about $70,000 he did not report to the Internal Revenue Service following several other appearances at autograph shows. 

According to White House counsel Neil Eggleston, Obama granted 273 commutations and pardons on Tuesday. All told, Obama has issued 1,385 commutation grants—which represents the most by any president. 

The wide-ranging acts of clemency were announced three days before Obama is scheduled to leave office.  

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Jose Bautista’s $18M Re-Up Keeps Blue Jays Near Top of AL East

Jose Bautista may have entered the free-agent waters thinking they would take him to a better, richer harbor. Instead, they’ve pushed him right back from where he came.

And that’s not so bad.

A move that has seemed inevitable finally came to fruition Tuesday, when Bautista re-signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on a deal that, as reported by TSN’s Steve Phillips (via MLB Network Radio), will pay him at least $18 million and perhaps as much as $60 million:

Since mutual options are rarely exercised, however, it’s likely this pact will end up costing the Blue Jays just the $18 million.

That’s only slightly more than the $17.2 million they would have paid Bautista in 2017 if he’d accepted the club’s qualifying offer in November. And to hear Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tell it, Toronto also got Bautista back for less than what was available elsewhere.

For Bautista, who’s hit an MLB-high 249 home runs since 2010, $18 million is a nice raise over the $14 million he earned each year from 2012 to 2016. So, at least there’s that.

And thanks to the new collective bargaining agreement, the Blue Jays won’t get to make him another qualifying offer if he chooses to test the open market again after 2017. And since Bautista won’t be tied to draft-pick compensation, the big payday that eluded him this winter could come next winter.

Of course, draft-pick compensation was just one thing that limited Bautista’s marketability this winter.

Another was certainly the specter of decline hanging over Bautista’s head. He’s 36 years old and coming off a season in which he managed just an .817 OPS and 22 home runs—his worst marks since the days before his big breakout in 2010. He also rated well below average on defense in right field.

There may be no fixing his defense. Even when Bautista was an asset in right field, it had as much to do with his arm as anything else. He acknowledged early in 2016 that said arm was still compromised from a shoulder injury that cropped up at the end of 2015.

“It’s using it when you need to, having the history of the injury last year, on an unnecessary throw, there’s more of a conscious effort on my end to just make the necessary throw,” he told Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca.

In an alternate universe, the Blue Jays could ignore this question mark by hiding Bautista at designated hitter. But with newcomer Kendrys Morales locked into that position, that’s not going to happen.

The bright side for Toronto is that it could afford to take a defensive hit this winter. Per Baseball Prospectus, it had the American League‘s most efficient defense in 2016. Even if the Blue Jays do take a few steps back in 2017, they could still be very good at turning batted balls into outs.

Of course, worse defense might require them to take a step forward (or at least avoid a step backward) on offense.

For that, Bautista and Morales will have to make up for what Toronto lost with the departure of Edwin Encarnacion and Michael Saunders. Encarnacion left a hole the size of an .886 OPS and 42 home runs. Saunders left a hole the size of an .815 OPS and 24 home runs.

Morales should replace Saunders’ production, so the pressure will be on Bautista to put 2016 behind him and be more like the guy who averaged a .945 OPS and 38 homers per year from 2010 to 2015.

Guaranteed? Not quite.

As ESPN.com’s Keith Law expressed in his free-agent rankings, the real concern is that Bautista’s 2016 drop-off was a case of his age seeping into his bat and slowing it down. Per Baseball Savant, Bautista’s modest (for him, anyway) .463 slugging percentage against fastballs lends some truth to that.

But as far as offseason gambles go, there have been far dumber bets placed than this one.

While there’s no ignoring the various concerns that popped up during Bautista’s 2016 season, his core skills remained very much intact. He continued to show a fantastic eye, keeping his walk rate right where it needed to be. He also continued hitting the snot out of the ball, finishing with a career-high 41 hard-hit percentage.

Which brings us to the ZiPS projections. According to FanGraphs, Bautista will post an .868 OPS and hit 27 home runs in 2017. Not bad. And possibly conservative, to boot.

All of the above shows the Blue Jays are a better team with Bautista than they are without him. Not drastically better, but better.

If nothing else, they’re better enough to make an AL East race that didn’t look all that interesting before Tuesday look more interesting. The Boston Red Sox should still be counted among the league’s (surprisingly large) collection of clear division favorites, but now the Blue Jays have enough weapons to give them a run for their money.

Bautista and Morales alongside Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki, Russell Martin and Devon Travis is a good lineup. A starting rotation headed by Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada must be viewed as one of the league’s best. In the bullpen, Toronto still has the criminally underrated Roberto Osuna.

Bautista could well be playing in his third postseason with the Blue Jays come October. Once there, he’s shown he knows what to do.

    

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.

Follow zachrymer on Twitter

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Jose Bautista, Blue Jays Agree on New Contract: Latest Details, Reaction

Jose Bautista‘s search for a contract has come to an end after he agreed to a deal that will keep him with the Toronto Blue Jays; the team made the announcement Wednesday:

Baseball Prospectus Toronto first reported Bautista’s agreement with the Blue Jays on Tuesday, noting the deal includes various incentives and a mutual option. 

On Tuesday, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reported Bautista will earn $18 million with a one-year guarantee and that options in the contract could extend it to $60 million for three years. Heyman noted the salary is higher than the $17.2 million he would have received if he accepted Toronto’s qualifying offer in November.

Richard Justice of MLB.com reported Bautista and the Blue Jays confirmed the contract numbers, and the deal includes a mutual option worth $17 million in 2018 and a vesting option worth $20 million in 2019.

After having a journeyman run early in his career, Bautista turned into a superstar with the Blue Jays in 2010 when he hit 54 home runs and finished fourth in American League MVP voting. He subsequently finished in the top 10 of MVP voting three times in the next five years.

It appeared the marriage between Bautista and the Blue Jays was coming to an end when his contract expired after the 2016 season.

The Blue Jays jumped on free agents Kendrys Morales and Steve Pearce, who has the versatility to play at first base or in the outfield. That eagerness led to the departure of Edwin Encarnacion.

Bautista kept twisting in the wind because it wasn’t clear where his market started. MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported Sunday the Baltimore Orioles had been in contact with the six-time All-Star.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported Saturday the Cleveland Indians, who signed Encarnacion earlier this offseason, were keeping in touch with Bautista if his price fell to a certain undisclosed point.

Instead, as the Blue Jays faced the possibility of going into a season with Ezequiel Carrera as their starting right fielder, the front office decided the best course of action would be to bring Bautista back.

Under most circumstances, a player with Bautista’s resume would warrant a large extension without hesitation, but he turned 36 in October, and his numbers declined in 2016 for the second consecutive year.

The Blue Jays did have a change in the front office last offseason when Mark Shapiro officially took over as team president in October after previously working with the Indians.

Ross Atkins became Toronto’s general manager when Alex Anthopoulos left the organization after being unable to reach a contract extension despite leading the team to its first postseason in 22 years in 2015.

Shapiro came from a situation in Cleveland that required him to be diligent in free agency because the Indians couldn’t compete with teams for big contracts, minus their open wallet for Encarnacion this winter. It did lead to an exodus of talent, though it also helped him avoid giving out some of the long-term deals that have backfired on other teams in the past.

By waiting out Bautista’s market, Shapiro played the market into his favor since the veteran outfielder was coming off a down year in 2016. The Blue Jays didn’t have to overextend themselves on a long-term deal for a player in his late 30s, while Bautista gets to stay in a place he’s comfortable.

After Bautista turned his career around in Toronto, it’s fitting he will have at least one more year with a team capable of competing for a playoff spot in the American League. He’s been the face of the franchise for years and will have more time to bring a championship to the city.

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Josh Hamilton, Rangers Agree to Minor League Contract: Latest Details, Reaction

Veteran outfielder Josh Hamilton reached an agreement Tuesday to re-sign with the Texas Rangers

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports first reported the new deal and noted the contract includes an option for Hamilton to request his release if he’s not on the April 1 roster. Heyman also stated the new pact is for the minimum MLB salary ($535,000), if he makes the team.

Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram confirmed the minor league deal.

Hamilton said he will try to play first base, per TR Sullivan of MLB.com. Hamilton also told reporters said he has been cleared to resume all baseball activities.

The 35-year-old slugger has failed to make an impact in recent years due to a combination of nagging injuries and off-field issues. He missed the entire 2016 season with the Rangers after undergoing surgery, his third procedure in a 10-month span, to reconstruct the ACL in his left knee.

In 2015, Bill Madden and Michael O’Keeffe of the New York Daily News reported Hamilton met with MLB officials after suffering a cocaine and alcohol relapse. His highly publicized struggle with addiction to those substances has caused several setbacks throughout his career.

The North Carolina native’s on-field talent is undeniable, though. He’s a five-time All-Star and won the Silver Slugger Award three times during his prime with the Rangers.

Hamilton’s best year came in 2010 when he was named American League MVP. He won the batting title with a .359 average to go with 32 home runs, 100 RBIs and 95 runs scored. He also stole eight bases and finished with a 1.044 OPS.

Now, the question is whether he can still perform at that level. His last full season came with the Los Angeles Angels in 2013, and his numbers were well off from his peak. He posted a .250/.307/.432 line with 21 homers in 151 games.

Last July, Hamilton told Sullivan he expected to be at full strength by spring training, and he expressed confidence in his ability.

“One-hundred percent,” Hamilton said. “I feel confident when I’m healthy, and really healthy, I’m as good as anybody in the game.”

Agreeing to a one-year deal for the minimum will force Hamilton to prove himself, though. His most likely path to playing time would come at DH for the Rangers, but at the outset, he’ll probably battle Ryan Rua and Delino DeShields for a bench spot throughout the spring.

Ultimately, it’s a low-risk move for the Rangers based on the salary and Hamilton’s previous track record of success. He could prove to be a savvy signing, if he stays healthy.

The first major hurdle for the 1999 first overall pick will be making it through spring training without any injury setbacks. If that happens, there’s a good chance he’ll earn a spot on the Opening Day roster.

                                          

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Alex Rodriguez to Host ‘Back in the Game’ Reality Show

Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez is set to host a CNBC reality show, Back in the Game, according to Alex Weprin of Politico.

On the show—which includes former NFL player Michael Strahan as an executive producer—ex-athletes in dire financial straits will be paired with “money-savvy mentors who can help them get back on their feet.” These advisors may help the athletes launch a second career or pursue a new business opportunity.

Finances likely won’t ever be an issue for Rodriguez, who signed a 10-year, $252 million deal with the Texas Rangers in 2000, though he opted out of that agreement in 2007 to sign a 10-year, $275 million contract with the New York Yankees that year. 

And the money is still coming in from that Rangers deal, per SI.com:

Although the Yankees will not be responsible for his checks after 2017, he will still be getting paid by the Rangers. At the time he was traded, he was to receive $36 million in deferred money from that record deal. That was converted to an assignment bonus, which has racked up two percent in interest every year. He will continue to get paid by the Rangers until June 15, 2025.

The Yankees are also on the hook for the $21 million Rodriguez is owed on the final year of his deal with the team.

Rodriguez, 41, had one of the most polarizing careers in MLB history. He was an electrifying talent and hit 696 career home runs in his career, fourth in MLB history, but he also was suspended for the entirety of the 2014 season after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. He also admitted to using PEDs in 2009.

In his post-baseball career, Rodriguez has shown a natural knack for television and was a big hit on Fox’s postseason coverage. Ben Reiter of SI.com noted: “The hyper-prepared Rodriguez has exhibited his singular baseball mind by providing analysis that is both nuanced and well formulated.”

While Rodriguez won’t be breaking down baseball games for CNBC, it’s become clear he has a future in television.

          

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.

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