As is usually 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 had 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 title, Sung-mun Tune. Earlier this week, the Twins signed Josh Bell to hit in the midst of their order, whereas the Phillies added Adolis García to interchange proper fielder Nick Castellanos, who remains to be technically on the roster however undoubtedly gained’t be when the season begins. The 2 strikes impressed Michael Baumann to check 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. In fact, there are a variety of high-profile free brokers nonetheless on the market, together with 4 of the highest 5 on Ben Clemens’ High 50 record and 6 of the highest 10.
We gained’t be masking any of that in at the moment’s mailbag; you’ll find all of the related buzz in Jon Becker’s newest version of the Matrix Reloaded column. As an alternative, we’ll reply your questions concerning the place gamers with essentially the most WAR who by no means made an All-Star group, whether or not baseball ought to use WPA as pitcher wins, the windup, and extra. However first, I’d prefer to remind you that this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. For those who aren’t but a Member and wish to maintain 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, for those who’d prefer to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an e-mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.