Main League Baseball’s offseason continues to tick down with spring coaching camps opening in lower than a month. In just some weeks, pitchers and catchers will report for obligation. It will not be lengthy, then, till the exhibition begins earlier than mercifully giving strategy to the common season. (Though the Cubs and Dodgers will technically start the season with a sequence in Japan, Opening Day remains to be being acknowledged as March 27.) Under, CBS Sports activities has compiled all of Friday’s most notable information, strikes, and rumors on your comfort.
Blue Jays purchase Straw, bonus pool cash
The Blue Jays introduced on Friday that they’ve obtained outfielder Myles Straw, money, and worldwide bonus signing pool house from the Guardians in trade for a participant to be named later or money. In line with Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, the Blue Jays are believed to be gaining round $2 million.
Nicholson-Smith warns that this commerce doesn’t essentially imply that Sasaki has knowledgeable the Blue Jays of a call on the place he intends to signal.
Straw, 30, is a former Gold Glove Award-winning middle fielder. He fell out of favor in Cleveland after hitting .229/.295/.284 (66 OPS+) over the past three seasons. Straw signed an extension with the Guardians in April 2022 that stipulates he’ll make a minimum of $15.25 million extra over the subsequent two years (together with buyouts on a pair of membership choices for the 2027-28 seasons).
It is to be seen if the Blue Jays will carry Straw on their roster, or in the event that they view him as monetary ballast.
Padres start worldwide signings
The Padres will signal left-hander and worldwide newbie free agent Carlos Alvarez, based on The Athletic’s Will Sammon. That is an intriguing growth provided that the Padres are thought-about one of many three finalists (alongside the Dodgers and Blue Jays) within the working for Japanese ace Roki Sasaki.
Every of these groups had, by the primary few days of the brand new worldwide newbie signing interval, stored their powder dry and never finalized any agreements — the Dodgers had even allowed some gamers they’d handshake offers with to signal elsewhere as they waited for Sasaki to make his resolution. For the Padres to commit any cash to Alvarez could possibly be a sign that they do not imagine they’re successful the Sasaki sweepstakes because it means they will have much less accessible funds to supply him. (“Might” must be thought-about the important thing phrase right here.)
Alvarez, 17, was ranked by MLB.com because the thirty ninth greatest prospect within the class. Per their report: “Alvarez works persistently along with his heater within the low 90s, whereas deftly deploying a biting slider and changeup with vital fade to make up his present arsenal. He has brief arm motion coming from an even bigger body, but it surely’s the uncooked stuff that excites evaluators at this early stage of his growth.”
