Morning Briefing: Miami Marlins' Issues Continue

Good morning, Mets fans! While the Mets bolstered their team by signing Jason Vargas, the Miami Marlins hardships continued. Jeffrey Loria is being sued by Miami-Dade County. Check out the appropriate links below.

Latest Mets News

According to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, the Mets and the aforementioned Vargas have agreed on a two-year contract with a club option for 2020. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets out the financial aspects of the deal: Vargas will earn $16 million over the two years and will have a chance to earn an extra $3 million via incentives.

2017 was a tale of two seasons for the 3-5year-old. Vargas excelled during the first half, pitching to a 2.62 ERA and making the All-Star team. Despite his success, his peripherals predicted a significant breakdown and thus, Vargas’s luck vanished in the second half. Despite his horrid second leg, Vargas still contributed 179.2 effective innings for the Royals and will hopefully remain as a quality innings-eater for the Mets.

Despite the obvious improvement to the roster, all of the Mets pitchers weren’t satisfied with the Vargas signing. DiComo notes Zack Wheeler is concerned that his rotation spot may be in jeopardy. Wheeler didn’t help his cause as he struggled through another injury-plagued season in 2017. The final three spots in the Mets rotation will be filled by the group of Wheeler, Vargas, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman, and potentially Rafael Montero.

The newest Mets Todd Frazier and Adrian Gonzalez reported to Spring Training.

Heyman also reports Tim Tebow has a decent chance to start the 2018 season with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

Latest MLB News

Results from a pair of arbitration hearings were released yesterday. The Royals won against reliever Brandon Maurer and will pay him $2.95 million, instead of the $3.5 million he sought. The Marlins also won their arbitration hearing against pitcher Dan Straily. He’ll receive $3.375 million, which is a raise of more than $3 million dollars from his 2017 salary.

The Rangers signed pitcher Edinson Volquez to a multi-year deal. Although Volquez is currently recovering from Tommy John Surgery, the Rangers are hoping he can contribute in 2019.

Jeff Wilson of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram details Bartolo Colon‘s quest to crack the Rangers’s 2018 rotation.

Nick Piecoro of AZCentral notes that Jorge De La Rosa has agreed to return to the Diamondbacks on a minor league deal. Many pundits were hoping that De La Rosa would sign with the Mets as he would easily fill the role of the Mets LOOGY.

For some reason, the Twins signed Anibal Sanchez to a split major league deal. Despite some early career success, Sanchez has failed to post an ERA under 4.90 since the 2014 season.

The Cardinals will sign reliever Jason Motte to a minor-league deal. Although Motte established himself as one of baseball’s top closers throughout 2012-14 seasons, he’s since pitched ineffectively.

Oakland Athletics prospect Jesus Luzardo has created a foundation in memory of the athletic director of Douglas High School, Chris Hixon.

Latest NL East News

The consequences from the sale of the Marlins is not over for former owner Jeffrey Loria. Doug Hanks of The Miami Herald reports that the Miami-Dade County is suing Loria over a disagreement regarding profits from the sale of the team.

Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post wrote about the uncertainty regarding Nationals GM Mike Rizzo’s contract.