The hot stove continued to simmer on Friday. Let’s take a look at what’s cooking across Major League Baseball.
Nationals Up Their Offer to Harper
According to Jim Bowden of The Athletic, the Washington Nationals have increased their initial offer to Bryce Harper, reportedly by a considerable amount.
“[The] Nationals last offer to [Harper] was actually ‘much more than the $300 million being reported by the media’, according to a source,” Bowden tweeted. “The [initial] ten-year, $300 million offer was actually just the team’s first offer […]”.
Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reported in early-November that Harper met with the Nats on the last weekend of the season, received the aforementioned initial offer, yet declined to accept it.
A few days before Christmas, the 26-year-old superstar met with Washington owner Ted Lerner for five hours, again per Janes.
Harper is a career .279/.388/.512 hitter with 162-game averages of 32 homers, 91 runs batted in, 32 doubles, and a 139 OPS+ rating. In 159 games last season, the left-handed slugger hit .249/.393/.496 with 34 homers, 34 doubles, a majors-leading 130 walks, and a 133 OPS+ rating.
Yankees Still Trying to Move Gray, Keeping Tabs on CC
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke with the media on Friday, giving updates on two current (for the time being) Yanks hurlers.
The longtime executive told Lindsey Adler of The Athletic that veteran left-hander CC Sabathia “has follow-up appointments this month following his heart procedure in December”, referring to the angioplasty the 38-year-old underwent last month, as per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
Cashman also brought up 29-year-old right-hander — and current trade block resident — Sonny Gray, doubling-down on his intent to trade the former A’s standout yet keeping his options open in the event Sabathia experiences any setbacks.
“The CC circumstance certainly has given us pause,” Cashman said, as per Adler. “We want to make sure we’re covered and protected.”
David Lennon of Newsday quoted Cashman as being a bit more direct in his intentions to trade Gray.
“We’re entering the winter open-minded to relocation,” Cashman told Lennon. “It’s probably best [for Gray] to try somewhere else.”
Gray, 29, has a 4.51 earned-run average, 4.40 fielding independent pitching rating, and 1.416 WHIP over 41 appearances (34 starts) with New York since being traded to the Yanks during the 2017 season.
Minor Moves
As per Mike Mayer of MMO, the Los Angeles Dodgers have signed 33-year-old outfielder Paulo Orlando, most recently of the Kansas City Royals, to a minor-league contract.
Orlando has a .263/.289/.384 slash line through 278 games over four MLB seasons, all with Kansas City. In 93 plate appearances last season, the Brazil native hit .167/.194/.200.
The Kansas City Royals have signed minor-league right-hander Kyle Zimmer to a one-year major league contract, as per the team.
Zimmer, 27, has a 3.54 ERA over 85 MiLB appearances (49 starts) over six minor league seasons, most recently with Triple-A Omaha and Double-A Northwest Arkansas in 2017.
A former first-round pick of the Royals (fifth overall, 2012), Zimmer has dealt with his fair share of injuries since being drafted (elbow, 2012; bicep tendonitis, 2013; shoulder, 2014 and 2015; thoracic outlet syndrome, 2016; shoulder, 2017; fatigue, 2018).
Kansas City designated infielder Cheslor Cuthbert for assignment as the corresponding move.
The Toronto Blue Jays traded 31-year-old right-handed reliever Oliver Drake (designated for assignment earlier in the week) to the Rays for cash considerations. Drake pitched to a 2.21 ERA over 20.1 innings (19 appearances) after being claimed off waivers by the Twins in August.
Over the course of 2018, Drake went from Milwaukee to Cleveland (waived in May), to the Angels (waived in July), to Toronto (waived in August), to Tampa (Nov 1), back to Toronto (Nov 26), and now he’s back with Tampa Bay again.
