MLB Week in Review
12/26/20 -1/1/21
Saturday 12/26/20: The Texas Rangers sign RHP Kohei Arihara after being posted by a team in Japan called the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
The Rangers signed Arihara to a 2 year $7.5 million dollar contract while posting around 1.5 million to claim him from his former team in Japan. Arihara a 28 year old starting pitcher had a 3.65 ERA in 882 innings in Japan. Arihara’s fastballs sit in the low 90’s, along with that he throws a wide variety of off-speed pitches. He can throw a splitter in the high 80’s along with a change up, slider, and curveball. The Rangers pick up a solid starting pitcher for their rotation. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to coming over to pitch in professional baseball in America.
Sunday 12/27/20: An offseason blockbuster between the Tampa Bay Rays and the San Diego Padres: LHP Blake Snell is sent over to the Padres in return for a slew of players. The Rays received RHP Luis Patino, C Francisco Mejia, RHP Cole Wilcox, and C Blake Hunt.
The Rays traded Blake Snell who is a solid proven left handed starting pitcher in the Major Leagues. He won the Cy Young award in 2018, has a career ERA at 3.24, a career WHIP at 1.24, and an overall record at 42–30. With the Rays trading away Snell they were able to clear a lot of their cap space. Snell is slotted to make $10,000,000 in 2021 and around $35,000,000 through 2023 bringing him to free agency in 2024. Along with this cleared cap space the Rays received some well ranked prospects and some decent added talent for the 2021 season.
The Padres had to pay for a top of the rotation starter by trading away some top prospects; Luis Patino: Patino is ranked as #16 overall prospect by Baseball America. He has an electric fastball in the upper 90s topping out at 100 mph, a slider and changeup sitting in the low to mid 80s. Patino pitched out of the bullpen for the Padres in the 2020 season. He pitched in 11 games with an ERA at 5.16. If he can continue to improve on his control it is expected that he can be a solid arm wherever the Rays want to use him. Francisco Mejia: Mejia, 25 years old, struggled a little in 2020, however he gives the Rays more depth behind the plate and on the bench. Mejia is a free swinging switch hitter. He spreads the ball all over the field when putting balls in play. Behind the plate he has a good arm but struggles with catching and framing. He is a solid piece for the Rays to add along with veteran Mike Zunino who is heading into his 30 year old season. Cole Wilcox: Wilcox, a 6'5" RHP, was drafted by the Padres in the 3rd round (80th overall) in the 2020 draft. He has only played in college for Georgia. There he had a 1.57 ERA striking out 32 while only walking 2 in 23 innings. He has a fastball with some sinking life to it that sits in the 90s topping at 99 mph. Along with that he has a decent Slider, and needs to work on his changeup. This acquisition is a solid arm for the Rays farm system. Blake Hunt: Hunt, drafted 69th overall in 2017, is a Catcher who gets good praise for his defense behind the plate. The Rays hope he can progress with his bat. During instructs he showed good pop from his bat. Hunt could be a great piece for the Rays behind the plate in the future if he can progress well through his Minor League career.
Monday 12/28/20: Another blockbuster trade for the Padres. It looks like the Padres are looking to go for it all this year and compete with their division rivals, the Los Angles Dodgers. A trade between the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs: The Padres acquire 4 time all star RHP Yu Darvish, C Victor Caratini, and cash. Sending RHP Zach Davies, SS Reginald Preciado, SS Yeison Santana, CF Ismael Mena, and OF Owen Caissie to Chicago.
The Padres receive yet another proven top of the rotation starting pitcher with a career ERA at 3.36 and WHIP at 1.16 and a 71–56 overall record in Yu Darvish: Darvish, a 2020 runner up for the Cy Young award, is 33 years old and coming off a very well pitched 2020. Darvish was the NL wins leader in 2013. He is set to make $22,000,000 in 2021 with his contract paying him out $59,000,000 from 2021–2023 becoming a free agent in 2024. For this talent it going to cost the Padres a lot of money which to me shows that they are all in for the 2021 season. Victor Caratini: Caratini, at age 27, adds a middle aged Catcher to the Padres roster. With a career average of .250 he gives the Padres more options for their lineup. Defensively he is good behind the plate, in fact he is one of the best framers in Major League Baseball. The Padres also got cash. Assuming some to help pay for some of Darvish’s large contract.
The Cubs receive a group of players in exchange, as it looks as if they are entering a rebuild mode. Zach Davies: Davies is a middle to bottom rotation starting pitcher. With a Career ERA at 3.79 and overall record of 50–36 this 27 year old is a solid proven big league arm that can give the Cubs some innings. He had his standout season in 2017 with the Milwaukee Brewers going 17–9 with a 3.90 ERA and pitching 191 innings. Davies is a low velocity pitcher with a high walk percentage. Overall a solid proven arm for the Cubs. Reginald Preciado: Preciado, a young player (17) out of Panama, is a switch hitting 6'4" Shortstop. He is very young but scouts are impressed with his upside at the plate and potential to grow. Scouts also believe that he is an above average defender with good quick feet. With this acquisition the Cubs add a good young talent to their farm system. Yeison Santana: Santana, signed as an international free agent in 2017 with the Padres, is a Right handed Shortstop with a Minor League Career average of .306. Scouts say that this 21 year old has good body control and showed well at the plate against older competition. Scouts say he may struggle to get bigger in size as he is 5'11". Again for the Cubs this is a good farm system pick up. Ismale Mena: Mena signed a minor league contract in 2019 with the Padres and was then designated for assignment in 2020. Mena is a lefty who scouts say at the plate he makes consistent hard contact. I noticed that in his swing he has a lot of arm movement. At 18 he has plenty of time to mature and is a good piece for the Cubs to have in their farm system. Owen Caissie: Caissie is a Left handed hitter and right handed thrower standing at 6'4". Drafted in the 2nd round (45th overall) scouts say that he has plus raw power to all fields. Scouts mention that he has a questionable bat path but at 18 years old he has plenty of time to make the adjustments he needs. Unfortunately we have yet to see what he can do against Minor League pitching since the season was canceled. Again just another addition to the Cubs farm system as they look for a foundation for a little rebuilding.
Tuesday 12/29/20: Phillies pick up solid bullpen arm in three team deal.
Philadelphia Phillies acquire: LHP Jose Alvarado (from Tampa Bay Rays)
Los Angles Dodgers Acquire: LHP Garrett Cleavinger (from Philadelphia Phillies)
Tampa Bay Rays Acquire: 1B Dillon Paulson, and PTBNL or Cash ( from Los Angeles Dodgers)
The Phillies acquisition of Jose Alvarado adds a solid bullpen arm to their team. At 25 years old Alvarado is in the 97th percentile in Fastball velocity with an average fastball at 97 mph. Along with that he throws an above average cutter usually around 91 mph. To counter his velocity and add deception with those pitches he throws a curveball with average spin rate and a little above average velocity averaging 85 mph. For the Phillies this helps them prop up a struggling bullpen.
For the Dodgers they picked up Garrett Cleavinger, a 26 year old, who was drafted in the third round of the 2015 draft by the Baltimore Orioles. Cleavinger has struggled to put up great numbers through his Minor league career. For the Dodgers he is more of a back of the bullpen pitcher who may have more to improve on. 2020 was his first year in the Major Leagues so his sample size at this level is very little.
For the Rays in this three team deal they got themselves Dillon Paulson: Paulson is left handed standing at 6'3". He was a 13th round draft pick by the dodgers and is now 23 years old. In his Minor league career he is batting .258. For the Rays he adds a solid farm system player. With some maturity the Rays may be able to find him a spot at the Major League level within a couple years. Along with Paulson the Rays received a player to be named later or cash.
Wednesday 12/30/20: No big news around the league. However, that leaves me room to mention baseball and LA Dodger legend Sandy Koufax’s 85th birthday.
The left handed hall of famer played 12 seasons for the LA Dodgers from 1955–1966. Two of those seasons were back when they were the Brooklyn Dodgers. Koufax finished his career going 165–87 with a 2.76 ERA. In his incredible playing time he won an MVP award, 5 ERA titles, 3 triple crowns , 3 Cy Young awards, with 7 all star seasons. Koufax went to the World Series with the Dodgers 3 times winning World Series MVP twice. Happy Birthday to this all time Major League Baseball legend!
Thursday 12/31/20: San Diego Padres sign Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim out of the Korean Baseball Organization.
Kim is a 25 year old who has played 7 seasons in the KBO with a career batting average of .294. Kim has showed solid power at the plate. He has a large leg kick to his swing. To me his swing reminds me of Ronald Acuna Jr.’s. Kim has played at shortstop and third base in the KBO league. With the Padres having Manny Machado at 3B and Fernando Tatis Jr. at SS it appears that the Padres have plans to use him as a utility player on the field while taking advantage of his bat. This is a good pick up for the Padres as we see that this week they have made a strong push to get even more talent on their team. With any player coming from a different country to play baseball it will be fun to watch and see how Kim can adjust to MLB pitchers and dealing with the off the field adjustment in moving to another country.
Friday 1/1/21: Nothing significant happened today in Major League Baseball. However I will mention it was Fernando Tatis’s 46th birthday. Fernando Tatis, father of Fernando Tatis Jr., played 11 seasons in the MLB from 1997–2010. His son Fernando Tatis Jr. is now taking the league by storm. Jr. will celebrate his birthday tomorrow on the 2nd of January.
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