As is commonly the case the week after the Winter Conferences, there was a flurry of transactions for us to cowl at FanGraphs since we bought again from Orlando. So many reduction pitchers got here off the board. The Padres re-signed Michael King on Thursday night time whereas Meg’s Seahawks have been staging a fully silly comeback in opposition to my Rams; San Diego adopted that up yesterday by signing a Korean infielder with the musical identify, Sung-mun Track. Earlier this week, the Twins signed Josh Bell to hit in the midst of their order, whereas the Phillies added Adolis García to switch proper fielder Nick Castellanos, who continues to be technically on the roster however positively gained’t be when the season begins. The 2 strikes impressed Michael Baumann to match them to infants placing each single factor they see into their mouths. Beautiful.
Then, yesterday, two large trades went down. Eric Longenhagen has you lined on the Rays-Orioles swap that despatched Shane Baz to Baltimore, whereas Brendan Gawlowksi analyzed the three-team commerce between the Rays, Pirates, and Astros. After all, there are a variety of high-profile free brokers nonetheless on the market, together with 4 of the highest 5 on Ben Clemens’ Prime 50 checklist and 6 of the highest 10.
We gained’t be overlaying any of that in at present’s mailbag; you will discover all of the related buzz in Jon Becker’s newest version of the Matrix Reloaded column. As a substitute, we’ll reply your questions concerning the place gamers with probably the most WAR who by no means made an All-Star crew, whether or not baseball ought to use WPA as pitcher wins, the windup, and extra. However first, I’d wish to remind you that this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. For those who aren’t but a Member and wish to preserve studying, you possibly can join a Membership right here. It’s one of the best ways to each expertise the positioning and assist our workers, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, when you’d wish to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an electronic mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
