The Sizzling Range has begun to warmth again up after slowing down over Thanksgiving. With extra exercise certainly on the horizon, listed here are three issues we’ll be maintaining a tally of across the baseball world all through the day at the moment.
1. Snell introductory presser at the moment:
The Dodgers are scheduled to carry a press convention at 2:30pm native time this afternoon the place they’ll formally introduce left-hander Blake Snell after he signed a five-year deal with the membership. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and GM Brandon Gomes will each be in attendance to area questions from the media. Even after signing Snell, the membership might need to make additional rotation additions (a reunion with Clayton Kershaw appears inevitable, on the very least) and loads of work nonetheless stays for the reigning champs within the lineup and bullpen as properly. L.A. stays on the periphery of the Juan Soto market. They’d prefer to re-sign Teoscar Hernandez, but when neither hitter lands with them, they might pivot to Anthony Santander as they search for nook outfield assist. In the meantime, the membership’s aid corps misplaced Blake Treinen and Daniel Hudson to free company and retirement, respectively, making veteran aid assist a possible precedence this winter.
2. Choices dwindling on the catching market:
The Rangers signed catcher Kyle Higashioka to a two-year deal yesterday in a transfer that took one other catcher off the board pretty early within the winter. This 12 months’s crop of free brokers behind the plate was sparse to start with, and it’s solely thinned additional as Higashioka joins Travis d’Arnaud, Austin Hedges, and Jacob Stallings in having discovered new houses already. With groups just like the Rays, Orioles, Cubs, Blue Jays, and Padres all doubtlessly available in the market so as to add behind the plate, Danny Jansen and Carson Kelly are the highest names forward of an assortment of mid-30s veterans comparable to Gary Sanchez, Elias Diaz, and James McCann. The shortage of high quality choices behind the plate may create a seller-friendly commerce marketplace for catchers, however few apparent commerce candidates on the place exist. Minnesota’s Christian Vazquez stands as essentially the most logical identify accessible, however the $10MM he’s owed in 2025 eclipses his market worth by just a few million. May the upcoming Winter Conferences contain a mad sprint to lock up the remaining catchers in the marketplace?
3. MLBTR Chat In the present day:
With the Winter Conferences simply days away, the 2024-25 offseason has begun to ramp up with a variety of noteworthy signings in latest weeks which have already taken six of MLBTR’s Prime 50 free brokers off the board. Whether or not you might have questions on who your favourite crew will probably be concentrating on this winter, or a commerce proposal behind your thoughts, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will probably be right here to reply your questions throughout a reside chat scheduled for 1pm CT. You possibly can click on right here to ask a query prematurely, take part reside as soon as the chat begins, or learn the transcript as soon as the chat is full.
