As some of you may know, the Angels declined the club options of Aaron Loup and Eduardo Escobar on Friday. With Escobar gone, I guess they must be counting on Rendon. (LOL!) The Red Sox declined their club option of left-hander Joely Rodriguez while the Pirates declined their club option on left-hander Jarlin Garcia. The Padres declined a two year club option on Michael Wacha. The Reds declined their option on Joey Votto and Curt Casali. Marcus Stroman turned down his option with the Cubs while Wade Miley declined his option with the Brewers. Cody Bellinger also declined his option with the Cubs.
Josh Bell exercised his player option and will stay with the Marlins. Andrew Heaney exercised his player option to stay with the Rangers. The Rangers also picked up their option on right-hander Jose Leclerc. The Dodgers declined their option on Alex Reyes. The White Sox declined Tim Anderson’s option. Eduardo Rodriguez opted out of his deal with the Tigers. The Blue Jays and Whit Merrifield both declined their mutual option. The same thing went down between the Padres and Nick Martinez. Hector Neris declined his player option with the Astros.
The General Manager meetings begin tomorrow in Scottsdale, and naturally Nez Balelo will be a very popular guy. The Players Choice Awards are out. Shohei won something and he’s also a finalist for a Silver Slugger.
Former Angels pitcher Dick Drago passed away on Thursday at the age of 78.
Clayton Kershaw had shoulder surgery. He hopes to come back next summer.
The Orix Buffaloes have approved the posting of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Detroit Tigers acquired first baseman Mark Canha from the Brewers in exchange for minor league reliever Blake Holub.
Criticism from bloggers and tweeters played a role in convincing Dusty Baker to retire. Craig Counsell wants big money. I guess he won’t be coming to the Angels. MLB reached a confidential settlement with three minor league teams that were suing it over the loss of their affiliations. This avoids a potential challenge to the antitrust exemption.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi