New Hope, New Fish ~ A Miami Marlins Dynasty (MLB The Show 16)

[Number999]

The Houston Astros have won the 2016 World Series!

Hah... that just goes to show you what I know! The Houston Astros have improbably, impossibly, won the first World Series in their franchises history! It is simply incredible. The Houston Astros first entered the MLB back in 1962. They made the World Series back in 2005, and that was their only appearance in the 55-year history of the Astros. Now though, they've finally done it. After years of tanking, years of bring scrutinized, years of 100-loss seasons... it's all worth it. The talent that the Houston Astros were able to acquire from those losing seasons has accumulated into a Championship team. They're World Series Champions. Houston is celebrating, and they've earnt it. But let's dive a little bit deeper as to just how the Astros managed to dismantle the New York Mets in a mere 5 games, the final score tallies of each game are below, bolded are the ones that the Astros won since they're the Champs.

2016 World Series:
Game #1: (W 6-0)
Game #2: (L 4-5)
Game #3: (W 5-4)
Game #4: (W 2-1)
Game #5: (W 6-5)

Game #1: Due to the National League defeating the American League in the 2016 All-Star Game (7-2), the Mets had home-field advantage despite obtaining an inferior record. With the opener taking place in New York, the pressure and feeling was monumental. The Mets lost a heart-breaker on the road in Game #1 last year vs Kansas City in 14 innings after Jeurys Familia allowed Alex Gordon to hit a game-tying homer down 3-4 in the bottom of the 9th. This time, there would be no heart-break... just domination. The Astros jumped Matt Harvey allowed getting 2 runs off him in the 1st inning and never looked back. At the end of the day, Harvey only went 5 innings and allowed 4 earned runs. Hansel Robles allowed another 2 in the top of the 8th inning, but none of the insurance runs mattered with how Dallas Keuchel pitched. He pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just 5 hits, walking no batters, and striking out 9 hitters. Colby Rasmus hit 2 homers and drove in 3 runs, while Carlos Santana and George Springer each had home runs of their own. It was total domination by Houston in Game #1 even while they were on the road.

Game #2: The New York Mets were no slouches though. They responded to a Game #1 loss, and with Jacob deGrom on the mound they gave him the support they needed to win. deGrom wasn't even overly dominant, allowing 3 runs off 4 hits in 7 innings of work. But Lance McCullers was even more inferior, giving up 7 hits, 2 walks, to combine for 5 runs allowed. The main catalyst behind the run generation for the Mets was Lucas Duda who crushed a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 5th inning to give the Mets the lead, 5-3. The Astros would only be able to get 1-run back the rest of the way on a Carlos Correa single in the top of the 8th, but that was all they could muster against Hansel Robles. Jeurys Familia eventually captured his 8th save of the playoffs as the series was tied back up at 1-1 headed to Houston for the next 3 games.

Game #3: It felt like the was a tiny turning shift as the series shifted towards Texas. The New York Mets busted out to a 4-0 after the top half of the 2nd inning. David Wright, Alejandron de Aza, and Curtis Granderson were all responsible for driving in the keys runs as Granderson hit a 2-run bomb. You could've said Doug Fister was imploding and with Noah Syndergaard on the mound, the Astros were finished before the game had really started. But you would be wrong with that assumption. The Astros took back 2 runs in the bottom of the 2nd, and finished off a comeback rally with 2 runs in the 5th and 1 run in the 6th to steal a 5-4 lead back in their favor. Syndergaard was rocked, and he had allowed 8 hits and 3 walks for 5 earned runs sky-rocketing his ERA. It was the whole Astros lineup who made him pay. Rasmus, Springer, and Valbuena all hit home runs with Carlos Gomez driving in another runner on a single. Pat Neshek, Ken Giles and Luke Gregerson shut the door out of the pen for the Astros the rest of the way as they won Game #3 and took a 2-1 series lead vs the Mets.

Game #4: This was the back-breaking game for New York. Despite the fact he did not have the greatest Game #1 vs Houston, or even having a bad Game #6 vs Miami, the Mets decided to use Matt Harvey on short rest in a pivotal Game #4 on the road in Houston. The decision was... ehh, I'd say it paid off. Matt Harvey pitched a damn fine game, but it wasn't good enough to rival Colin McHugh's. Harvey allowed just 3 hits all night striking out 7 batters, but giving up 2 runs in 7 innings killed him. The first came in the 3rd inning by giving up a 1-run donger to Jason Castro that put the 'Stros up 1-0. The next? Not even really his fault... Carlos Santana got on base thanks to a throwing error by Neil Walker. Eventually, Castro came back up to the plate and drove him in with a gapper that became a double to give the Astros a 2-0 lead through 5 innings. The only run the Mets would get off McHugh was on a double by David Wright in the 7th inning where McHugh was then pulled. But just like In Game #3, the Astros bullpen shut the door. Josh Fields, Will Harris, and Luke Gregerson all did their job as the Astros won Game #4 2-1, and now took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the New York Mets.

Game #5: With the Mets demoralized over losing 2 straight 1-run ballgames, the Astros could smell blood in the water. They came out in Game #5 and jumped all over New York. Scoring 4 runs through 6 innings, 2 crucial runs scored in the bottom of the 8th inning to gift themselves a 6-1 lead would end up becoming crucial in their Championship. Jacob deGrom had allowed 4 runs through 5.2 innings, but the 2 runs tacked on at the very end came off Jerry Blevins. Why would those be so important? Well even though they were trailing 1-6, the Mets collected themselves and tried to push a rally that would send the series back to New York. Yoenis Cespedes hit a big triple that drove in 2 runs and Danny Muno even had a big 2-RBI hit. But sadly, the comeback would fall just short. Dallas Keuchel had actually gone 8 innings and pitched really damn well throughout before having to get yanked. Luke Gregerson allowed a run of his own to Muno, but then he buckled down. On a 2-2 count vs David Wright he threw a fastball up and in that Wright just couldn't catch up too. The Astros erupted in celebration, as they had defeated the New York Mets in the 2016 World Series in just 5 games.

For the Mets, this is devastating. Back-to-back World Series defeats in 5 games. They became the first team since the Texas Rangers in 2010 and 2011 to lose back-to-back World Series. Even though both series went just 5 games, the games were still close a remarkably long way through and man... you had such a great journey. The awesome month of September, fending off the Cardinals and the Dodgers, dethroning the Giants of the even year success, surviving Miami after coughing up a 3-0 NLCS lead... and it just falls short. The Astros bullpen was awesome. Their young hitters come through in the clutch, but man if it isn't a bitter sweet end to such a great 2016 MLB Year. Credit to the Houston Astros, they've earned it! Rest up and relax this entire offseason, for you guys are the Champions and no one will ever be able to take that away from you.

NL Postseason MVP: David Wright (.299, 3 homers, 8 RBIs)
AL Postseason MVP: Luis Valbuena (.373, 5 homers, 12 RBIs)
World Series MVP: George Springer (.333, 3 homers, 5 RBIs)

2016 World Series Champions: Houston Astros

Spoiler

This is the 2016 MLB Playoff Roster for the Houston Astros to see who gets a ring!

Houston Astros 2016 Playoff Roster:
SS Carlos Correa (21-years old, 94 overall)
2B Jose Altuve (25-years old, 93 overall)
SP Dallas Keuchel (28-years old, 93 overall)
CF Carlos Gomez (30-years old, 87 overall)
CP Luke Gregerson (31-years old, 87 overall)
RP Ken Giles (25-years old, 86 overall)
SP Lance McCullers (22-years old, 86 overall)
SP Doug Fister (32-years old, 86 overall)
RF George Springer (26-years old, 85 overall)
SP Colin McHugh (28-years old, 85 overall)
RP Will Harris (31-years old, 83 overall)
LF Colby Rasmus (29-years old, 83 overall)
RP Pat Neshek (35-years old, 82 overall)
1B Carlos Santana (29-years old, 81 overall)
C Jason Castro (28-years old, 80 overall)
SP Mike Fiers (30-years old, 80 overall)
3B Luis Valbuena (30-years old, 79 overall)
CF Jake Marisnick (25-years old, 77 overall)
RP Josh Fields (30-years old, 77 overall)
LF Preston Tucker (25-years old, 77 overall)
1B Jon Singleton (24-years old, 74 overall)
SP Scott Feldman (33-years old, 73 overall)
2B Tony Kemp (24-years old, 71 overall)
C Austin Romine (27-years old, 69 overall)
RP Edwin Jackson (32-years old, 67 overall)

[Number999]

2017 MLB Offseason ~ Retirements

These are a list of the 2017 MLB Offseason Retirements around the league.

2017 MLB Offseason Retirement List:
* RF Ichiro Suzuki (43-years old) - Miami Marlins
* 1B David Ortiz (41-years old) - Boston Red Sox
* SP Bartolo Colon (43-years old) - Baltimore Orioles
* RP Joki Uehara (42-years old) - Boston Red Sox
* SP R.A. Dickey (42-years old) - Toronto Blue Jays
* RP Jason Grilli (40-years old) - Atlanta Braves
* C A.J. Pierzynski (40-years old) - Atlanta Braves
* SP Bronson Arroyo (40-years old) - Washington Nationals
* C David Ross (40-years old) - Chicago Cubs
* CP Fernando Rodney (40-years old) - San Diego Padres
* SP Mark Buehrle (38-years old) - Free Agency
* SS Everth Cabrera (30-years old) - Free Agency
* 2B Albert Callaspo (33-years old) - Free Agency
* LF David DeJesus (37-years old) - Free Agency
* 1B Adam LaRoche (37-years old) - Free Agency
* SP Tim Lincecum (32-years old) - Free Agency
* SP Kyle Lohse (38-years old) - Free Agency
* 1B Justin Morneau (35-years old) - Free Agency
* 1B Michael Morse (35-years old) - Free Agency
* CP Joe Nathan (42-years old) - Free Agency
* RF Alex Rios (36-years old) - Free Agency
* CF Grady Sizemore (34-years old) - Free Agency

Those are obviously not all of players who retired, but I just listed the most notable ones along with players who felt like they had impressive enough careers to be mentioned in that sort of group. Instead of doing a whole fancy write-up for each legend in my mind, I've decided instead to just give a short little write-up on each guy I felt was worthy. It should also be mentioned that the majority of these guys retired on their own free-will due to age, while some others didn't totally play this past year and have just decided now was the time to announce their retirement, anyway, let's go through some of these legends.

Ichiro Suzuki: I mean, what else is there really to say about Ichiro? He's spectacular. At the age of 43, he got to do things nobody thought were even plausible. Obviously he was declining but he still managed to break 3,000(finishing with 3,017) hits this year which was an awesome moment for MLB as well as surpass Pete Rose's hit total if you also factor in his Japanese league hitting numbers. He played in 2,468 games and finished with a batting average of .311... he's incredible. It's a shame, a really true shame, that he never got his shot to play in the World Series(falling 1 game short this past year, the closest he's ever been) He got to play those last few games vs New York though, which if you asked anybody at the age of 43 if they could be starting in an intense playoff game, they'd take it. He's been awesome, and there can be no complaints regarding his career.... we bid you adieu, Ichiro.

David Ortiz: Another one of those guys who's just a living legend. He played 128 games this past year, and still managed to belt our 34 homers even at the age of 41-years old. Big Papi is just absurd. Coming from Minnesota in 2003, is he arguably the most beloved Boston sports player ever? It's a close. He had 2,434 hits, 537 home runs, 1,743 RBIs, a career OPS of .925... he even won 3 rings with the Red Sox and helped break the curse. He wasn't able to retire with a ring, but he can take some solace in the fact that he beat the Yankees one last time in the postseason before he retired and that he pushed the eventual World Series Champions, the Houston Astros, far harder than any other team this postseason. He retires with a WAR of 59.14 and man... the greatness being lost this offseason in Ichiro and Big Papi is tremendous, two legends going out together.

Some other things to note from other players. Bartolo Colon played his final year with the Orioles. He finishes with a 229-168 record, over 3000 innings pitched, 2347 strikeouts, and a WAR of 46. Koji Uehara also retired with Ortiz and he had a decent final year with a 3.76 ERA. RA Dickey decided to call it quits in an under-whelming postseason run by Toronto faltering in the ALDS to the Detroit Tigers. He finishes with a career record of 105-95, and a career ERA of 3.97 which isn't so bad for a knuckle-baller who only found his calling in baseball after a decade into the league. Jason Grilli retired and he gathered 673 holds in his career. A.J. Pierzynski played 140 games in a dreadful final year for Atlanta but hit 195 homers and was hit by a pitch 131 games in his career. David Ross went out with that heart-breaking homer by Justin Bour to eliminate them in the playoffs. Fernando Rodney finishes with 274 career saves. Mark Buehrle didn't play this last year so his record is still 214-160. Same goes for Lincecum but his record is 108-83. Just crazy to see so many former great players riding off into the sunset.

Those are all of the big names! I feel like Ichiro and Big Papi are really in a class of their own when it comes to this stuff. An additional thing I do want to add as can be seen in the picture is that both Ichiro Suzuki and David Ortiz were both indeed inshrined to the Major League Baseball Half of Fame. It really is just awesome to see. All of baseball should be happy for both of them. But just as some careers wind down, others open and new opportunities become available. The offseason is upon us and it is every single teams goal to improve and try to make a run at the postseason next year. That is no different for the Marlins, and we will see what they decided to do in terms of retaining players to see how the foundation will be laid for the future.

[Number999]

2017 Miami Marlins Offseason ~ Managing Contracts

Before we can get into any of the Free Agency fun(and it will be fun with me doing some previews and all that to see who's out there), the Marlins have made some crucial decisions regarding their own players before heading into this Free Agency. Some players are arbitration eligible, some aren't, and some are set to become free agents. It is on Miami to make the smart moves to improve this offseason in order to make sure they're improved for the 2017 MLB Regular Season. I have decided to list all of Miami's Free Agents and where their contracts currently stand before proceeding onwards. These are not the final offers, but instead what the Marlins are currently negotiating.

Pitchers:
Jose Fernandez (97) - Offered $3,510,000 in arbitration
Jarred Cosart (79) - Offered $850,000 in arbitration
Tom Koehler (77) - Offered $1,860,000 in arbitration
Carter Capps (85) - Offered $2,380,000 in arbitration
Mike Dunn (78) - Offered $1,080,000 in arbitration
Bryan Morris (76) - Offered $1,060,000 in arbitration
David Phelps (70) - Offered $550,000 in arbitration
A.J. Ramos (83) - Offered 4-years/$12,000,000

Position Players:
Martin Prado (80) - Offered 2-years/$10,000,000
Adeiny Hechavarria (82) - Offered $2,570,000 in arbitration
Marcell Ozuna (77) - Offered $850,000 in arbitration
Chris Johnson (70) - Offered 1-year/$2,000,000

So just a couple of notes. These only include players who were offered full deals or were offered arbitration. Players with stuff such as contract renewables and all that are not listed since it's fairly basic and there are so many of them. If there is anything big that happens between now and February, it will be mentioned. In terms of some of the moves Miami decided to make... all fairly simple. They are trying to lock down AJ Ramos as their closer for the next few years. They are trying to bring back veterans such as Prado and CJ. All of the moves make sense so far and they have decided, at least thus far, they will not pursue a mammoth contract with Jose Fernandez just yet.

[Number999]

2017 MLB Offseason ~ Top Free Agents All-Around

MLB Free Agency is upon us. I would say of any sport, this is where the craziest deals can happen. Just absurd contracts all over the place. I'll do my best to lay out the landscape, but with how wild and crazy things can get sometimes you really never know what any player is going to decide. To show what this class is offering, here is a list of the Top 10 Free Agents in baseball this offseason that teams will be shelling out cash to sign.

The Top 10 2017 MLB Free Agents:
* CP Kenley Jansen (29-years old) (95 OVR)
* 1B Edwin Encarnacion (34-years old) (91 OVR)
* CP Mark Melancon (32-years old) (89 OVR)
* SP Stephen Strasburg (28-years old) (87 OVR)
* CF Carlos Gomez (31-years old) (87 OVR)
* CP Greg Holland (31-years old) (84 OVR)
* 3B Justin Turner (32-years old) (84 OVR)
* SS Alexei Ramirez (35-years old) (83 OVR)
* 1B Kendrys Morales (33-years old) (83 OVR)
* CF Rajai Davis (36-years old) (83 OVR)

So there you have it.. the top 10 biggest names out on the open market. Keep in mind, a number of these names are dealing with "qualified" offers but after those are done with they can fetch whatever is out there for them across the league. If you're in need of a closing pitcher, you are in luck with the number of quality ones out there at the moment. Edwin Encarnacion is a little bit up there in age, but he's coming off a year where he hit a career high in homers at 47. If you want a damn amazing #2 or if you believe he's an Ace, Strasburg could be a great option. There are some impressive names out there that aren't listed. Wilson Ramos Kendrys Morales, Chase Utley, Erick Aybar, Angel Pagan, Franklin Gutierrez, etc... are all names also out there that some teams with some budget spending could go after if their current clubs are not able to reach agreements with them.

Let's see what goes down this offseason.

[Number999]

2017 MLB Offseason ~ Team Re-Signings

Before we can dive into Free Agency, we must first take a look at some of the re-signings teams decided to make regarding their own players. There are just two big qualifiers to fulfill this page. The contract must be worth over a million dollars, and the player must be re-signing with their old team, as opposed to signing a new one. The list of re-signings are laid out below. Please also keep in mind these can and will be edited upon if there are any big re-signings that go on in the future, just in case you don't see a name here. The majority of these deals are avoiding arbitration and also extending a star player into the future.

NL East:
The Atlanta Braves have re-signed RP Jim Johnson for 1-year/$1,200,000
The Atlanta Braves have re-signed CP Arodys Vizvaino for 1-year/$1,900,000
The Miami Marlins have re-signed CP A.J. Ramos for 4-years/$12,000,000
The Miami Marlins have re-signed 1B Chris Johnson for 1-year/$2,000,000
The Miami Marlins have re-signed 3B Martin Prado for 2-years/$10,000,000
The Miami Marlins have re-signed RP Carter Capps for 2-years/$5,000,000
The Miami Marlins have re-signed SP Tom Koehler for 2-years/$4,400,000
The Miami Marlins have re-signed RP Mike Dunn for 1-year/$1,500,000
The Miami Marlins have re-signed SS Adeiny Hechavarria for 1-year/$3,200,000
The Miami Marlins have re-signed RP Bryan Morris for 2-years/$3,000,000
The Washington Nationals have re-signed SS Danny Espinosa for 1-year/$2,000,000
The Washington Nationals have re-signed SP Tanner Roark for 2-years/$5,000,000
The Washington Nationals have re-signed CF Ben Revere for 1-year/$2,000,000
The New York Mets have re-signed CP Jeurys Familia for 1-year/$2,500,000
The New York Mets have re-signed SP Jacob deGrom for 6-years/$49,200,000
The New York Mets have re-signed 2B Danny Muno for 4-years/$3,640,000
The New York Mets have re-signed C Travis d'Arnaud for 1-year/$3,600,000
The New York Mets have re-signed SP Steven Matz for 1-year/$1,300,000
The New York Mets have re-signed SP Zack Wheeler for 1-year/$3,100,000
The Philadelphia Phillies have re-signed SP Vince Velasquez for 1-year/$1,300,000
The Philadelphia Phillies have re-signed SP Aaron Nola for 1-year/$1,400,000
The Philadelphia Phillies have re-signed LF Tyler Goeddel for 5-years/$6,000,000

NL Central:
The Chicago Cubs have re-signed 3B Kris Bryant for 1-year/$1,700,000
The Chicago Cubs have re-signed SS Addison Russell for 1-year/$1,500,000
The Chicago Cubs have re-signed LF Kyle Schwarber for 4-years/$7,200,000
The Chicago Cubs have re-signed SS Javier Baez for 1-year/$1,200,000
The Chicago Cubs have re-signed RP Pedro Strop for 1-year/$1,700,000
The Chicago Cubs have re-signed RP Justin Grimm for 1-year/$1,100,000
The Milwaukee Brewers have re-signed SP Wily Peralta for 1-year/$2,200,000
The Milwaukee Brewers have re-signed RP Sam Freeman for 1-year/$1,100,000
The Milwaukee Brewers have re-signed RF Domingo Santana for 3-years/$2,280,000
The St. Louis Cardinals have re-signed SP Michael Wacha for 4-years/$24,800,000
The St. Louis Cardinals have re-signed SP Alex Reyes for 6-years/$19,800,000

NL West:
The Arizona Diamondbacks have re-signed CP Brad Ziegler for 1-year/$1,800,000
The Arizona Diamondbacks have re-signed SP Archie Bradley for 1-year/$1,100,000
The Colorado Rockies have re-signed SP Jeff Hoffman for 4-years/$3,240,000
The Los Angeles Dodgers have re-signed C Yasmani Grandal for 1-year/$2,900,000
The Los Angeles Dodgers have re-signed RP Luis Avilan for 1-year/$1,500,000
The Los Angeles Dodgers have re-signed SP Alex Wood for 1-year/$3,000,000
The Los Angeles Dodgers have re-signed SP Ross Stripling for 5-years/$8,000,000
The Los Angeles Dodgers have re-signed SS Corey Seager for 1-year/$1,800,000
The Los Angeles Dodgers have re-signed LF Scott Van Slyke for 1-year/$1,100,000
The Los Angeles Dodgers have re-signed RP Chris Hatcher for 1-year/$1,100,000
The San Francisco Giants have re-signed SP Jake Peavy for 1-year/$5,400,000

AL East:
The Baltimore Orioles have re-signed C Matt Wieters for 3-years/$29,700,000
The Baltimore Orioles have re-signed 2B Jonathon Schoop for 1-year/$3,500,000
The Boston Red Sox have re-signed CF Mookie Betts for 1-year/$1,700,000
The Boston Red Sox have re-signed C Blake Swihart for 5-years/$11,500,000
The Boston Red Sox have re-signed RF Nomar Mazara for 4-years/$14,000,000
The New York Yankees have re-signed SP Nathan Eovaldi for 1-year/$2,700,000
The New York Yankees have re-signed C Gary Sanchez for 1-year/$1,100,000
The New York Yankees have re-signed SP Michael Pindea for 1-year/$4,400,000
The New York Yankees have re-signed SP Luis Severinof for 1-year/$1,600,000
The New York Yankees have re-signed CP Aroldis Chapman for 1-year/$5,200,000
The New York Yankees have re-signed RP Delin Betances for 1-year/$5,100,000
The Toronto Blue Jays have re-signed 1B Edwin Encarnacion for 4-years/$44,400,000
The Toronto Blue Jays have re-signed RP Jeremy Jeffress for 1-year/$1,300,000
The Toronto Blue Jays have re-signed SP Marcus Stroman for 1-year/$1,500,000

AL Central:
The Cleveland Indians have re-signed RP Tommy Hunter for 1-year/$2,400,000
The Cleveland Indians have re-signed SS Francisco Lindor for 1-year/$2,000,000
The Detroit Tigers have re-signed LF Nate Schierholtz for 1-year/$1,800,000
The Detroit Tigers have re-signed 3B Nick Castellanos for 1-year/$3,500,000
The Detroit Tigers have re-signed CF Anthony Gose for 1-year/$1,700,000
The Detroit Tigers have re-signed RP Justin Wilson for 1-year/$1,800,000
The Kansas City Royals have re-signed RP Tim Collins for 1-year/$1,400,000
The Kansas City Royals have re-signed RP Kelvin Herrera for 5-years/$22,000,000
The Kansas City Royals have re-signed RF Jarrod Dyson for 1-year/$1,100,000
The Minnesota Twins have re-signed CF Danny Santana for 2-years/$1,100,000
The Minnesota Twins have re-signed CF Byron Buxton for 1-year/$1,300,000
The Minnesota Twins have re-signed RF Miguel Sano for 4-years/$11,200,000

AL West:
The Los Angeles Angels have re-signed Geovany Soto for 1-year/$3,400,000
The Los Angeles Angels have re-signed RF Kole Calhoun for 1-year/$2,900,000
The Los Angeles Angels have re-signed SP Tyler Skaggs for 1-year/$3,400,000
The Los Angeles Angels have re-signed SP Matt Shoemaker for 1-year/$2,500,000
The Los Angeles Angels have re-signed SP Garrett Richards for 1-year/$3,300,000
The Los Angeles Angels have re-signed 2B Johnny Giavotella for 1-year/$1,300,000
The Texas Rangers have re-signed 2B Jurickson Profar for 1-year/$1,300,000
The Texas Rangers have re-signed CP Shawn Tolleson for 1-year/$1,700,000
The Texas Rangers have re-signed 2B Roughned Odor for 1-year/$1,500,000
The Texas Rangers have re-signed 3B Joey Gallo for 1-year/$1,800,000
The Texas Rangers have re-signed C Robinson Chirinos for 1-year/$1,600,000
The Texas Rangers have re-signed C Brett Nicholas for 3-years/$1,740,000
The Houston Astros have re-signed LF Colby Rasmus for 3-years/$15,300,000
The Houston Astros have re-signed C Jason Castro for 2-years/$9,800,000
The Houston Astros have re-signed CF Carlos Gomez for 4-years/$52,630,000
The Houston Astros have re-signed SS Carlos Correa for 1-year/$2,100,000

Those are the re-signings for now! Bolded are ones that are worth over $5,000,000 over the course of the deal.

[Number999]

2017 MLB Offseason ~ Free Agent Signings

Here are the signings that took place in the 2017 MLB Offseason, Free Agency wise.

Starting Pitchers:
Jeremy Hellickson signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 3-years/$20,100,000
Stephen Strasburg signed with the New York Yankees for 6-years/$163,200,000
Brett Anderson signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for 2-years/$10,800,000
Derek Holland signed with the Baltimore Orioles for 1-year/$4,200,000
Brandon Beachy signed with the Minnesota Twins for 1-year/$1,800,000
Jered Weaver signed with the Baltimore Orioles for 1-year/$3,100,000
C.C. Sabathia has signed with the Miami Marlins for 1-year/$2,000,000
Jordan Lyles signed with the Chicago Cubs for 1-year/$1,800,000
Cliff Lee signed with the San Diego Padres for 1-year/$4,000,000

Relief Pitchers:
Yusmeiro Petit signed with the Texas Rangers for 1-year/$2,400,000
Bobby Parnell signed with the San Francisco Giants for 1-year/$1,500,000
J.P. Howell signed with the San Francisco Giants for 1-year/$2,600,000
Trevor Cahill signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates for 1-year/$2,000,000
Carlos Villanueva signed with the Los Angeles Angels for 1-year/$1,700,000
Travis Wood signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 1-year/$1,500,000
Ryan Webb signed with the Chicago White Sox for 1-year/$1,400,000

Closing Pitchers:
Mark Melancon signed with the Chicago Cubs for 3-years/$24,600,000
Greg Holland signed with the Philadelphia Phillies for 4-years/$32,400,000
Kenley Jansen signed with the New York Yankees for 7-years/$84,700,000

Catchers:
Wilson Ramos signed with the Boston Red Sox for 1-year/$5,400,000
Nick Hundley signed with the New York Yankees for 1-year/$4,400,000
Chris Iannetta signed with the Kansas City Royals for 1-year/$3,200,000

1st Basemen:
Kendry Morales signed with the Los Angeles Angels for 2-years/$16,400,000
Mitch Moreland signed with the Cleveland Indians for 2-years/$7,000,000
Mark Teixeira signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks for 1-year/$4,400,000
Chris Carter signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 1-year/$1,700,000
Brandon Moss signed with the Cincinnati Reds for 1-year/$3,300,000
Mike Napoli signed with the Chicago White Sox for 1-year/$1,600,000
Pedro Alvarez signed with the New York Yankees for 1-year/$2,200,000

2nd Basemen:
Darwin Barney signed with the Washington Nationals for 1-year/$2,600,000
Chase Utley signed with the Cleveland Indians for 1-year/$1,010,000

3rd Basemen:
Justin Turner signed with the Los Angeles Angels for 1-year/$5,600,000
David Freese signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks for 1-year/$1,800,000

Shortstop:
Erick Aybar signed with the Kansas City Royals for 1-year/$5,600,000
Didi Gregorius signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 2-years/$4,400,000
Alexei Ramirez signed with the Texas Rangers for 1-year/$7,200,000
Eduardo Escobar signed with the Atlanta Braves for 1-year/$1,800,000
Marwin Gonzalez signed with the Tampa Bay Rays for 1-year/$1,400,000

Left Fielders:
Drew Stubbs signed with the Washington Nationals for 1-year/$3,400,000
Ryan Raburn signed with the Cleveland Indians for 1-year/$1,700,000
Dustin Ackley signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates for 1-year/$1,100,000

Center Fielders:
Cameron Maybin signed with the Cincinnati Reds for 1-year/$1,700,000

Right Fielders:
Josh Reddick signed with the Atlanta Braves for 3-years/$17,700,000
Franklin Gutierrez signed with the Washington Nationals for 1-year/$3,100,000
Avisail Garcia signed with the New York Yankees for 1-year/$2,500,000
Shane Victorino signed with the Oakland Athletics for 1-year/$4,100,000

There were two big qualifiers for this list. The first one was that the player have to sign with a new team and not re-sign with their old team. This is why guys such as Edwin Encarnacion and Carlos Gomez aren't listed here. The second big qualifier is that the contract must be worth over $1,000,000 in order for it to be listed, just to mostly weed out the minor league players that shifted around. Now that it's been stated, let's analyze some of the major moves that happened! I'll admit, I was kinda under-whelmed since I was hoping Encarnacion would get 200M+.

The biggest and most block-bustier is obviously that of the two monster signings by, of course, the New York Yankees. Signing Stephen Strasburg to a monster contract, in year #6(the final year) of the deal he will be paid over $30,000,000 annually. He's a beast, even if he didn't have the greatest year last season going 7-15 with a 3.90 ERA. Still, many of those losses are not his fault. The Yankees are banking on him, Mashairo Tanka, Michael Pineda, Luis Severino, and Nathan Eovaldi to form an elite pitching rotation that will thwart off the Blue Jays and Red Sox. They also accomplished this by going out and signing the best closer in baseball, Kenley Jansen. Now they have Jansen, Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman, AND Delin Bentances in their bullpen. How the hell is anybody ever going to get a hit off that group? Perhaps he Yankees have a trade in store to improve some hitting with one of these arms.

Other than Jansen, there were two other closers who go pretty big contracts as well. Those include Mark Melancon ad Greg Holland. Melancon will be heading to Chicago where he'll likely replace Hector Rondon who gave up a season-ending game-winning homer in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs up 3-2 vs the Miami Marlins to end their season(ty Bour) As for Holland, he'll be competing with Jeanmar Gomez of the Phillies who's coming off a good year where he had 49 saves and was overall really impressive for Philly in a year where they surprised some people.

That's really just about it for Free Agency. I will add more if other new deals are signed.

[Number999]

Marlins retain majority of their players, quiet 2017 FA

As we enter mid-February of 2017, the offseason has cooled down for Major League Baseball as the NBA and NHL hit the final stretch of their regular seasons. It had been quite an offseason for many clubs, with massive trades being triggered by various organizations. Still, even with all that action, the Miami Marlins were one of the clubs who opted to stay more silent when it comes to making splashy deals. Below are all of the notable deals that Miami locked down on. In the spoiler will be 1-year contracts for essentially, nobodies in the minors(at least for the time being)

Miami Marlins Re-Signings:
* Jose Fernandez (1-year/12.68M)
* Carter Capps (2-years/5.00M)
* A.J. Ramos (4-years/12.00M)
* Keone Kela (1-year/560k)
* Adeiny Hechavarria (1-year/3.20M)
* Justin Bour (1-year/560k)
* Martin Prado (2-years/10.00M)
* Jarred Cosart (1-year/2.43M)
* Mike Dunn (1-year/1.50M)
* Adam Conley (1-year/550k)
* Marcell Ozuna (1-year/2.14M)
* Tom Koehler (2-years/4.40M)
* Bryan Morris (2-years/3.00M)
* J.T. Realmuto (1-year/510k)
* Tomas Telis (1-year/410k)
* Chris Johnson (1-year/2.00M)
* David Phelps (1-year/583k)
* Avery Romero (3-years/170k)

As you can see, all fairly basic deals. The biggest surprise was really how much money Jose Fernandez was able to win in arbitration, but with how elite he's been you can't really complain too intently. A nice thing for the Marlins bullpen was that they were able to lockdown A.J. Ramos on a remarkably cheap deal for the next 4 years at only around three million annually. The deal will take Ramos all the way until he is 34-years old, and by then Miami can re-assess their closer situation. The main goal of the offseason was retaining a lot of the core that Miami had from last year, and then making some deals trade-wise that could help flip some assets into more immediate help. This involves retaining veterans like Martin Prado who while he didn't hit amazingly, contributed to a positive locker-room atmosphere. But Miami didn't just retain their own guys, while they were quiet for a large portion of Free Agency, they did make a few key signings!

Marlins Free Agency Signings:
* CF Danny Santana (2-years/1.10M)
* SP Jose Rodriguez (1-year/80k)
* C Kareem McKinney (1-year/80k)
* SP C.C. Sabathia (1-year/2.00M)
* RF Eric Young Jr. (1-year/600k)

So a couple of notes from these signings. The first one is that Danny Santana was not literally signed straight from Free Agency. He was instead acquired by the Marlins in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft from the Minnesota Twins. Here's a little explanation as to why... he was straight up awful for the Twins last year. After having a great outing for 2014, he was dreadful in 2015. He hit 0 homers in 91 games. He batted .215, he struck out a crap-ton of times... he was all-around just awful. With the Twins already having a young up-and-comer in Byron Buxton (who had a solid 2016 year hitting .288, 10 homers, 50 RBIs in 145 games) there wasn't a need to keep Santana around there. They also have Eddie Rosario, Oswaldo Arcia, and Miguel Sano in their outfield... Santana was expendable. Thus, the Marlins decided to pick him up and hope he fulfills the role that Ichiro had last year. A solid backup 4th outfielder to Stanton / Yelich / Ozuna. The fact he's a switch hitter and can play any spot in the outfield is also quite nice.

The next two signings are more a bit more unknown. Jose Rodriguez comes from Ohio and he's a left-handed precision pitcher. He likes to avoid contract, and despite his smaller structure at being 5'10" he can actually throw some heat. He's expected to be in the minors, but could serve as a solid long-relief option if Miami so chooses. The other smaller notable signing is that of Kareem McKinney. He's a 21-year old from California who can actually switch-hit and be pretty solid from both sides of the plate. He's expected to play in the minors, as J.T. Realmuto and Tomas Telis will man the back-up role for Miami in the big leagues. and yes, this also does mean Jeff Mathis was let go this past offseason. Hopefully this means a backup catcher of Miami's can actually finally hit a baseball above .200

As for the final 2 Miami signings, this was a place where the Marlins were trying to think outside of the box. C.C. Sabathia just pitched his final year with the Yankees and you know... he actually did alright. A 3.73 ERA, 150+ innings, 110+ strikeouts... not insane and lights out like he was in the past, but a solid pitcher nonetheless. The Marlins are bringing him in on a small deal to see if he could play a long-relief role that David Phelps sorta played last year for Miami. This avoids him having to pitch for long stretches every so often. It could breathe a second wind into his career essentially. If it flops, it won't hurt Miami too badly. If he's a raging success, the Marlins front office look like geniuses. As for the final signing, the Marlins wanted some speed and hadn't drafted Santana yet... Young Jr.. is basically a worse-hitting older, faster version of Santana. Maybe he gets a shot to play a few games if injuries plague this Marlins next season.

As you can deal... very far from flashy by Miami. They didn't go out and drop a ton of cash on a guy like Strasburg or even made 1 big signing like they did last year with Wei-Yin Chen. They're keeping it in-house right now and they know what they want. Some of the notable "big" FAs left don't really fit their mold. Rajai Davis is far too old and plays the outfield, Rich Hill, CJ Wilson, and Alfredo Simon are all past their prime as starting pitchers. Then after that you get your Jimmy Rollins and Marlon Byrd's of the world. Free Agency is just about over, and now it's time to focus on trades and preparation and setting up the roster for Miami to take that big step for Year #2 of the Arison regime.

Minor Leaguers Marlins Resigned:

Spoiler

* (SP, 73) Justin Nicolino (2-years/1.50M)
* (SP, 69) Eric Jokisch (1-year/450k)
* (SS, 68) Miguel Rojas (1-year/410k)
* (SP, 67) Kendry Flores (2-years/1.10M)
* (LF, 67) Cole Gillespie (1-year/650k)
* (RP, 65) Colby Siggs (1-year/60k)
* (2B, 64) Juan Samuels (1-year/60k)
* (3B, 64) J.T. Riddle (1-year/70k)
* (RF, 64) Austin Dean (1-year/70k)
* (SP, 64) Tyler Kolek (1-year/80k)

These are other names that signed 1-year deals that I'm too lazy to fully list their overalls.

Andre Rienzo, Xavier Scruggs, Alfredo Colon, Jason Lopez, Austin Nola, Brian Anderson, Justin Twine, Jarlin Garcia, Ivan Pineyro, Joel Pena, Kyle Barraclough, Jose Urena, Elliot Soto, Paul Clemens, Johnny Bailey, Brian Ellington, Justin Bohn, Casey Soltis, Blake Anderson, Chris Devenski, Nefi Ogando, Peter Mooney, Brady Shoemaker, Jake Esch, Tim Berry, Isael Soto, Jose Feliz, Destin Hood, Isaac Galloway, James Roberts, Jeremy Dooley, Nick Wittgren, Austin Brice, Matt Juengel, Stone Garrett, Miguel Del Pozo, Cody Ege, Chris Reed, Sean Donatello, Jose Jose, Victor Araujo, Junior Sosa, Josh Naylor, Adrian Neto, Felipe Fernandez, Freddie Braski, Phil Whiteside, Derrek Odom

[Number999]

Miami acquire Raisel Iglesias, Jose Quintana in big deals

While Spring Training is right around the corner, that does not mean that teams have buckled down ready to see what happens before making any deals. Nope, that is far from the truth. The Miami Marlins within hours have just made a fairly boring day for baseball in late February a fun day to discuss the wild happenings going down. First, in the mid-afternoon hours a deal reported by Ken Rosenthal made it's way into the headlines. The Marlins had agreed to a deal with the Cincinnati Reds to bring in Cuban veteran pitcher Raisel Iglesias, the full details of the trade below.

Miami Marlins Trade:
SP Jarred Cosart (79)
SP Jason Lopez (64)
C Kareem McKinney (75)

Cincinnati Reds Trade:
SP Raisel Igelsias (84)
RP Jumbo Diaz (75)

The deal comes as an absolute stunner. There were no prior talks about discussion of a Marlins/Reds deal weeks before the deal took place. Of course, there were rumors last season about Miami acquiring a 3rd arm for the rotation but nothing truly came to full fruition. Now, here it is just a little over a month before the 2016 MLB Regular Season is set to take place. In order to fully analyze the deal well, let's look at this from a purely baseball perspective rationalizing each side's decision to pull the trigger on the move.

From the Marlins perspective, they obviously lacked a 3rd key arm in the MLB Playoffs. It can't even be denied at this point. Jose Fernandez and Wei-Yin Chen were both impressive at points later in the postseason as opposed to when they struggled early on vs the Chicago Cubs in the NLDS. It required key starts from Adam Conley and short-ested starts from Fernandez and Chen to salvage the series. Wouldn't it have been nice to have a strong 3rd arm you could trust in that situation? Well the Marlins believe they have that ma now in Iglesias. He posted a 11-6 record last year in 2015 with over 170 innings pitched a 3.30 ERA, nearly reaching 200 strikeouts! Iglesias season was mostly ignored since the Reds were just below average finishing the year with a 73-89 record. But combine his season, his relatively age at 27-years old, the fact he signed a 7-year/27M contract which means he's remarkably cheap the next 5 seasons, and the fact that he's Cuban in a Miami market... he's literally a perfect fit!

Now let's view this from the Reds perspective. Let's be frank... Cincinnati isn't making the playoffs within the next few years unless things miraculously change. While Iglesias is cheap, his contract allows him to be traded off for assets. While 27 certainly isn't old, he could be in his 30s by the time Cincinnati makes a run at the playoffs and hopefully, be a title contender. Thus, the Reds decided to make a move acquiring more young assets. Jarred Cosart isn't exactly bad by any means and is only 26, has a few years of arbitration, and only had a 3.82 ERA after a horrendous start to last season. He's expected to be the #3 arm in a rotation that consists of Homer Bailey, Brandon Finnegan, Anthony DeSclafani, and Dan Straily. The other asset the Reds picked up was a young starting pitcher who's just 22 in Jason Lopez. Lopez was a prospect in the Marlins system who has an arsenal of pitches and could be projected to be a #3-#5 pitcher if he reaches his full potential. Finally, the last asset the Reds were able to get was Kareem McKinney... despite signing with the Marlins just a few months ago, he's been moved to a place where he may be able to play back-up right away! The Reds don't have a solid back-up to Devin Mesoraco and figure McKinney could step up right away in a limited role. He's only 21-years old, and with his hitting capabilities already, he could fit brilliantly either as a back-up or a pawn in a future deal Cincy wants to pull off.

So there you have it. A rational deal for both sides. Jumbo Diaz was thrown in as a sort of, "hey could you take him off our hands?" as Miami complied. He's only been in the league since 2014 despite being 33-years old since it was such a grind to get up to the majors. He' isn't expected to be a part of the bullpen barring injury, but it never hurts to have a veteran or two teaching the prospects the ropes in the minors. But just as you thought Miami had done enough on the day to satisfy their rotation... they weren't done! Nope! In fact, they were far from it. Just a couple after hours after the Cosart/Iglesias deal was announced, at rush hour a deal was released that Miami had struck a deal with the Chicago White Sox for Jose Quintana!

Miami Marlins Trade:
SP Adam Conley (77)
SP Justin Nicolino (74)
CF Junior Sosa (54)

Chicago White Sox Trade:
SP Jose Quintana (83)

Holy toledo! It's like MLB thought they were getting a little bit too far out of the news cycle and decided to tell a team to go get their name out there again and man... did Miami do it! Just like in the Marlins/Reds deal, let's analyze this deal from both sides. It's very simple to just look at a trade and play "one team won, one team lost" but that simply isn't the case in baseball with how many analytics and how much information is out there on all of these players. Very rarely will a team have no idea what they're doing and then be taken advantage of by another.

Let's start once again from the Marlins side of things. Last season, you felt like you had a solid year... but you felt like your starting rotation let your team down at some points. Namely, Jarred Cosart and Adam Conley. They did better towards the end of the year, but was that simply momentum as the team picked up steam for a playoff run? Tom Koehler was solid all year, as was Fernandez/Chen. Miami clearly believed in those principles as they showed in these two deals. They got rid of Cosart, and now they got rid of Conley who posted a 4.09 ERA with an awful 1.49 WHIP in 152 innings & 26 games. You'd think it would be difficult to deal Conley... but he's still only 26-years old and is still 2 years away removed from being arbitration eligible. Just a couple of weeks ago, it came out that Quintana had spoken with the White Sox front office about a possible trade... he wasn't unhappy or pissed at the team but... he'd been with the big league club since 2012 and had failed to reach the postseason once despite his individual success. He's always been a dedicated worker, does his job, never complains, comes from a humble background in Colombia and just politely asked for a shot elsewhere after the White Sox finished the 2016 campaign with a division last dreadful record of 65-97. Instead of holding him hostage with his cheap contract the next 5 years, the White Sox complied with a player who has been nothing but a professional since joining them. He was traded to a place where he could win, and now Miami hope he transfers his success with the White Sox over to South Beach.

Now, the White Sox point of view. You have a 28-year old left handed pitcher who's signed cheaply for the next 5 years. He's a damn solid pitcher, even if hardly anybody knows his name. He went 13-10 last year, 212 innings 3.27 ERA, and for his career his numbers are fantastic at 46-44 and 3.42 ERA with 1.24 WHIP. You're far away from the playoffs.. Why not move him? He's not an elite insane arm like Chris Sale. With the news coming out from his requests, the White Sox scouted the market and liked what they saw from Miami. Adam Conley, cheap value with a prospect who can have a bounce-back year. What else though? How about a prospect Miami has been working with who has never been able to break-through... Nicolino! A 25-year old from Florida, he may pitch to contact but he's young and will be cheap for the next few seasons. Perhaps he can break-through with Chicago? The Marlins comply since well... their rotation is looking pretty beefy at this point and they have other prospect arms in Jose Rodriguez, Kendry Flores, Jose Urena, Tyler Kolek, Jarlin Garcia, etc.. that they can go with. Finally, Junior Sosa is just a minor leaguer who isn't expected to do much but was added just to sweeten the pot.

Boom. Just like that, Miami makes two stunning deals and their roster construction looks vastly different. They picked up two pitchers in their primes (27 and 28-years old respectively) from two clubs that don't have the postseason in their future. They made deals by using current younger starting pitchers whom they weren't thrilled with. In order to make the other teams interested, they threw in some prospects (Lopez, Nicolino, McKinney) that they hope don't burn them too badly in the future. With all of that being put together, this now sets up beautifully for Miami. How so? Take a look at what the projected starting roster rotation be for the Marlins in the 2017 MLB Season.

Potential Marlins Rotation:
#1. Jose Fernandez (97, 24-years old)
#2. Wei-Yin Chen (85, 31-years old)
#3. Raisel Iglesias (84, 27-years old)
#4. Jose Quintana (83, 28-years old)
#5. Tom Koehler (79, 30-years old)

It's brilliant and it looks awesome! It's a mix of 3-right handers and 2-left handers. They have their Ace and a Cy Young winner in Fernandez. Then they have 3 just damn solid veterans who know what the hell they're doing and can be trusted. Finally, they have Tom Koehler who's a club veteran and has been with the team since 2012. He's not amazing, but he put his head down last year and nearly pitched 200 innings as well as finishing with a career-best ERA of 3.52, that's not shabby by any means. But do you know what's even better??? They're relatively cheap! Okay, so maybe Jose went be in 2 years but look at the rest of the rotation. Chen is expensive admittedly... but Iglesias! Only worth around 2 million annually for the next 5 years! Quintana? Only worth around 5 million annually for the next 5 years! Those are two amazing deals on pitchers who have dealed as well as both of them have in their careers. The Marlins are looking mighty impressive right now, and should be feared as the 2017 MLB Season looms.