| http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-giancarlo-stanton-jersey , Trevor Bauer, Zack Greinke and Madison Bumgarner appear to be available for teams looking to bolster starting rotations.Hometown star Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, the two top free agents, remain unsigned heading into the traditional high-point of the offseason.Catcher J.T. Realmuto, third baseman Kyle Seager could be among the position players dangled as trade bait in the suites of Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay, where executives and agents gather next week for the annual swap session, which in an age of complicated finances and medical records serves as a midpoint for talks as much as a place to finish deals.Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein predicted the week will be “really active.”“It seems like there is plenty of trade talk, and there are still a lot of good free agents out there,” he said. “A couple of moves have already occurred that sort of always set the stage for increased activity in the next week or so.”First baseman Paul Goldschmidt (Arizona to St. Louis) and second baseman Robinson Cano (Seattle to New York Mets) are among the All-Stars already traded since the end of the World Series.Pitchers Patrick Corbin ($140 million for six years with Washington) and Nathan Eovaldi ($68 million for four years with Boston) already struck big deals in a free-agent market moving more swiftly than last offseason’s, and third baseman Josh Donaldson took a $23 million, one-year agreement with Atlanta.Nineteen of 164 players who exercised major league free agent rights have announced deals, up from eight heading into the meetings last year.And with A.J. Pollock, Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel still unsigned, there’s plenty more holiday shopping. And for the bottom of the market, there is sale time in January http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-giancarlo-stanton-jersey , February and even March.It’s not like the old days when teams made deals as soon as the market opened and tried to fill all their needs by the end of the winter meetings.“Things are slow,” Oakland general manager Dave Forst said. “I don’t think it’s that different from last year. Maybe the winter meetings will kind of jumpstart things.”Also on-deck at the meetings:HALL OR NOTHINGOrel Hershiser, Albert Belle and George Steinbrenner will be considered for the Hall of Fame when a 16-member panel votes this weekend in Las Vegas. Results will be announced Sunday at 8 p.m. EST.Harold Baines, Joe Carter, Will Clark, Lee Smith, Davey Johnson, Charlie Manuel and Lou Piniella are included on the ballot. The Hall of Fame board-appointed Today’s Game Era Committee includes Hall members Greg Maddux, Roberto Alomar, Joe Morgan, Bert Blyleven, Pat Gillick, Tony La Russa, John Schuerholz, Ozzie Smith and Joe Torre.PICK-N-PACKThe Rule 5 draft is the last item of business at the winter meetings http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-giancarlo-stanton-jersey , held Thursday morning before clubs clear out of town. Teams scour each other’s 40-man rosters, looking for players left off. Royals pitchers Brad Keller and Burch Smith, Tigers outfielder Victor Reyes and Texas outfielder Carlos Tocci were among those picked last December in the Rule 5.HEAR THISEight announcers who called games in the early days of radio are candidates for the Hall’s Ford C. Frick Award that honors broadcasting excellence. Waite Hoyt, Harry Heilmann, Connie Desmond, Pat Flanagan, Jack Graney, Al Helfer, Rosey Rowswell and Ty Tyson are all deceased.Hoyt and Heilmann already are in the Hall as players — Hoyt was the top pitcher on the famed 1927 Yankees, Heilmann played alongside Ty Cobb in the Detroit outfield and hit .403 in 1923. No player in the Hall has also won the Frick award.The prize will be announced Wednesday. Much like the Philadelphia Phillies, Vince Velasquez has struggled since early August. The right-hander will be on the mound Saturday night as the Phillies face the Miami Marlins in the second game of a three-game series in Philadelphia. Velasquez will try to help the Phillies win their first series since Aug. 5 — which also came against the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.Velasquez (9-11, 4.30 ERA) has a 6.66 ERA and a 1.644 WHIP over his last six starts, and opponents have a .900 OPS against him in that stretch. The Phillies are 2-4 in those outings, and they’ve fallen out of the playoff race with a 12-23 record over the last six weeks. Article continues below ...Philadelphia beat Miami 14-2 on Friday. With 16 games remaining, the Phillies are 7 1/2 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East and five games back of the St. Louis Cardinals in the race for the second NL wild-card spot.Velasquez gave up five runs on seven hits in four-plus innings against the New York Mets last Sunday on a rainy afternoon at Citi Field. It marked the fifth time in six starts that Velasquez has gone four innings or fewer.“I was missing spots kind of the whole game and the conditions got the best of me Dellin Betances Jersey ,” Velasquez told the Delaware County Daily Times after the outing. “I can’t let that happen.”Velasquez has a 2-1 record and a 2.08 ERA in three starts against the Marlins this season. The 26-year-old is 4-2 with a 2.57 ERA and 1.000 WHIP in nine starts against Miami in his career.The Marlins were not sure who would start on Saturday as of Friday night. Manager Don Mattingly said it would likely be a bullpen game with the team playing its sixth contest in five days.The Phillies are hoping their offense from Friday night carries over to Saturday against whichever pitcher the Marlins use.The 14 runs they plated were the most since a 17-5 win over the Pirates on July 6. The Phillies hit five homers on Friday night, including a pair by Aaron Altherr and the 31st of the season by Rhys Hoskins.“Big night for Rhys, and really up and down the lineup, we got contributions,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said after Friday’s win. “I thought we had a good offensive approach all night.”Hoskins, who was starting at first base for just the third time this season on Friday, has four homers and seven RBIs in his last six games. He is now hitting .253 with an .868 OPS this season, and Hoskins’ 31 homers tied him for the eighth-most in the National League.Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto hit his team-leading 21st homer of the season Friday night. It improves on a career-high for Realmuto, who has 71 RBIs.Miami (57-90) has lost six of its last seven games, and the team has hit the 90-loss mark for the first time since finishing 71-91 in 2015. Philadelphia, meanwhile, is 10-7 this year against the Marlins, and the franchise has hit 75 wins for the first time since finishing 81-81 in 2012. |
