Baseball

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports When free agent Matt Chapman signed with the Giants this previous weekend, most of my evaluation centered upon the ups and downs of his 2023 season and the character of his contract, which seems comparatively crew pleasant. One factor I underplayed within the evaluation was the extent to which San Francisco’s winter stands out relative to the competitors. Even earlier than the addition of Chapman, the Giants had spent extra money on free brokers than some other crew moreover the Dodgers, and likewise venture to obtain extra WAR from these additions than any crew moreover their longtime rivals. Based on the information in our Free Agent Tracker, the Giants have now dedicated $261.25 million in assured salaries: $113 million to middle fielder Jung Hoo Lee, $4...

Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports AJ Smith-Shawver began on Monday, and it went quite effectively: 10 batters confronted, 48 pitches, 32 strikes, 2 2/3 innings pitched, 5 strikeouts, one hit, one stroll, no runs allowed. The Braves misplaced, however the harm got here after Smith-Shawver left the sport, and at any price, spring coaching outcomes have much less of an impression on common season success than what signal the GM was born below. Justin Toscano, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s beat author, tweeted after the beginning that Smith-Shawver was “in a better place, physically and mentally, for whatever comes this season. You can see the improvement.” That’s thrilling information. The 21-year-old poked his head into the majors for the primary time in mid-2023; he threw 25 1/...

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports It’s been some time for the reason that Phillies have needed to fear concerning the entrance of their beginning rotation, which over the previous 4 seasons has been anchored by co-aces Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, although final yr it was unsure how for much longer that stability would proceed: Nola grew to become a free agent on the finish of final season and Wheeler’s contract was set to run out after the 2024 marketing campaign. But Philadelphia acted swiftly to maintain each pitchers round. After re-signing Nola earlier than Thanksgiving, the Phillies introduced on Monday that they'd prolonged Wheeler by means of the 2027 season. The three-year deal is reportedly value $126 million, and when it comes to its $42 million common annual worth, it's the...

Daulton Varsho’s final two seasons had been directionally completely different than his first two seasons.The left-handed-hitting outfielder put up a pedestrian 37.8% pull price in 2020-2021, and in 2022-2023 that quantity climbed to a lofty 52.6%. Apprised of the marked leap by colleague Davy Andrews previous to my current go to to Toronto Blue Jays camp, I requested Varsho if it was spurred by a purposeful change of method. He claimed that it wasn’t. “I think it’s just how teams are pitching me,” mentioned Varsho, whose pull price within the two-year span was the highest amongst certified hitters. “You don’t want to force the ball to any certain field — it has to sort of naturally happen — and I’ve been getting pounded in. You also have to figure out the changeup away and righties t...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss to FanGraphs author Ben Clemens in regards to the website’s ongoing efforts to mannequin staff depth and issue it into projections, then preview the 2024 Toronto Blue Jays (30:46) with The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath, and the 2024 Cincinnati Reds (1:16:31) with The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans. 2024 EW Season Preview Series ALBALCHWHOUBOSCLELAANYYDETOAKTBRKCRSEATORMINTEX NLATLCHCARIMIACINCOLNYMMILLADPHIPITSDPWSNSTLSFG .intro-team, .intro-team td font-family: lato, Arial, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 20px; .int...

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports Among different issues, we at FanGraphs are identified for our projections, particularly right now of yr. We prefer to assume that’s as a result of our projection techniques are good! But it’s price remembering that projections all the time embody uncertainly. ZiPS, for instance, displays a spread of projected outcomes based mostly on one million simulations of the approaching season, with the primary percentile representing the worst projected efficiency and the 99th percentile, one of the best. The numbers you see on our participant pages replicate the fiftieth percentile projection — the median projected end result — for every participant. For me, the enjoyable begins when the projections are dwell, as a result of I take advantage of them as a place to...

Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports In his current piece about umpire accuracy, Davy Andrews famous that plate umpires appropriately referred to as 99.26% of coronary heart zone pitches in 2023. When I first learn that quantity, I didn’t assume missed calls within the coronary heart zone warranted any nearer investigation. For most of us, ninety-nine level something is pretty much as good as 100; you don’t spend a lot time worrying in regards to the 0.01% of germs Purell can’t kill. Then once more, in case you had been to contemplate the sheer quantity of micro organism in your palms at any given second, you would possibly go for a second squirt of sanitizer. A tiny share of an amazing quantity remains to be going to be a fairly large quantity. The identical is true for missed calls withi...

D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports When the Cardinals signed Brandon Crawford to a one-year, $2 million deal earlier this week, the very first thing that popped into my thoughts was a two-word hashtag. I figured it wouldn’t be lengthy earlier than the Giants’ social media accounts would ship out the identical factor they at all times put up in response to the departure of a franchise icon: #ForeverGiant. Of course, #ForeverGiant is a public relations gimmick, a approach for the group to melt the blow for followers who're unhappy to see considered one of their favourite gamers retire or, worse, sporting one other group’s uniform. Yet within the case of Crawford, who grew up a Giants fan within the Bay Area and who turned the franchise’s all-time chief in video games performed at shortsto...

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports When the Dodgers traded for Tyler Glasnow this offseason, he wasn’t the one participant the Rays despatched west. Manuel Margot additionally joined Los Angeles, the place he would to fill Jonny DeLuca’s previous position as a righty-hitting outfielder able to taking part in any of the three spots. Yet, Margot wasn’t precisely a comfortable match for the Dodgers; his inclusion within the commerce felt extra like a means for Tampa Bay to shed wage. It appeared doubtless that Los Angeles would flip him to a different staff earlier than the beginning of the season. That’s precisely what occurred on Monday, when the Dodgers despatched Margot and minor league infielder Rayne Doncon to the Twins in trade for minor league shortstop Noah Miller. Los Angeles ad...

Reggie Hildred-USA TODAY Sports With spring coaching video games in full swing, the stress is mounting for baseball’s remaining free brokers to seek out properties. After all, no one desires to overlook out on the climate in Florida or Arizona this time of 12 months, and Opening Day is only a few weeks away. Now Tim Anderson received’t have to worry. Anderson is heading to the Miami Marlins on a one-year, $5 million deal. With a transparent path to the beginning shortstop position, the 30-year-old will little doubt hope to re-enter free company this winter having bounced again from his disappointing remaining season in Chicago. Anderson’s slot in Miami is an attention-grabbing one. If he can keep wholesome and return to his prior type, he may assist to stabilize the shortstop place in...