MLB Trade Rumors
While
Kris Bryant has been the focal point of most Cubs trade speculation this winter, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that right-hander
Yu Darvish’s name “seems out there in trade talks,” though he cautions that it could be little more than a matter of due diligence as the Cubs keep an open mind. Heyman adds that he spoke to a pair of executives with two other clubs, neither of whom expects a trade to ultimately come together.
All of that said, it’s worth breaking down the Darvish scenario a bit more extensively. First and foremost, it’s not surprising to see Darvish or any other high-priced Cubs player pop up on the rumor circuit. Changes to the team’s core looked inevitable heading into the current offseason, given the dwindling control remaining for so many key players. The Cubs already non-tendered
Originally posted on MLB Trade Rumors | By Steve Adams | Last updated 12/22/20
While Kris Bryant has been the focal point of most Cubs trade speculation this winter, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that right-hander Yu Darvish’s name “seems out there in trade talks,” though he cautions that it could be little more than a matter of due diligence as the Cubs keep an open mind. Heyman adds that he spoke to a pair of executives with two other clubs, neither of whom expects a trade to ultimately come together.
All of that said, it’s worth breaking down the Darvish scenario a bit more extensively. First and foremost, it’s not surprising to see Darvish or any other high-priced Cubs player pop up on the rumor circuit. Changes to the team’s core looked inevitable heading into the current offseason, given the dwindling control remaining for so many key players. The Cubs already non-tendered Kyle Schwarber, and ESPN’s Buster Olney
The Cubs saved an additional $2.5 million in 2020 with no luxury tax
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Photo by Mary Turner/Getty Images
Back in October, I posted here about Major League Baseball claiming $3 billion less revenue in 2020. (The headline says “losses” that refers to lost revenue, not actual “losses.”)
Those revenue losses were largely due to teams not having fans in the stands for the 60-game pandemic season.
Major League Baseball payrolls plunged to $1.75 billion during the pandemic-shortened season from $4.22 billion, and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers led with $98.6 million the smallest for the top spender in 20 years.
This was, of course, due to the agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association that players would get paid 37 percent of their salaries for 2020, the same proportion as the number of games played.
Lucky to Have Yu and Kyle, Popular Players, Rule 5’ers, Marquee Tentacles, and Other Cubs Bullets
Trying to decide how long I can make it into the day without seeing any Mandalorian finale spoilers. (Don’t put ’em in the comments!) Can I at least make it to lunch?
• It remains deeply absurd that Kyle Hendricks did this on Opening Day after the shutdown and reboot:
12 Days of #Cubsmas shutout innings on Opening Day pic.twitter.com/8zSGQLWY77
• Whatever happens with the rest of the roster this offseason, David Ross has to be thrilled that he at least gets that guy and Yu Darvish at the front of his rotation … assuming no trades (The Athletic): “Theo’s comments were spot-on [about the front two being among the best in the game]. I think that’s still the scenario, right? Yu and Kyle are huge pieces to us going forward. Now, if there’s something that makes sense from a GM standpoint honestly, I do stay out of that stuff, I’m not giving you guys any
MLB expansion might not happen for a long time
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Photo by: John Greim/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Major League Baseball last expanded in 1998, when the (then) Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks were added to the group, making a 30-team league.
That’s quite some time in the expansion era; since expansion of baseball began in 1961, the previous longest gap between expansions was 16 years, between the addition of the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners to the American League in 1977 and the creation of the Colorado Rockies and (then) Florida Marlins in the National League in 1993.