The Team-By-Team Draft Cost of Signing Dallas Keuchel or Craig Kimbrel | FanGraphs
Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel were among the top 10 free agents on the 2018-2019 market. They are still free agents. And at this juncture, teams are likely waiting until after the June draft to sign either player. Both rejected qualifying offers from their previous teams and are tied to draft pick compensation. With May almost over, both pitchers are likely going to require a decent amount of time to get stretched out to the point where they are ready to participate in game action. For major league teams, it makes much more sense to wait a couple weeks to avoid losing a draft pick at this point in the season. At FanGraphs, Craig Edwards breaks down all the intricacies of the draft cost of signing these two talented pitchers.
The Rockies are a team that could theoretically improve themselves by adding either, though Keuchel makes more sense as starter Tyler Anderson appears to be out for an indefinite period of time and Kyle Freeland and Antonio Senzatela are pitching poorly. If Keuchel replicates his 2018 season for the Rockies in 2019, he would easily rate as the team’s second starter after German Márquez.
As for the bullpen, Seunghwan Oh, in particular, has struggled and he was in the team’s plans for a setup role. Wade Davis is currently on the Injured List, but it doesn’t look like he will miss a significant amount of time and Scott Oberg represents an adequate replacement during that absence. It would be hard to envision Kimbrel fitting in on the team (even without his asking price) as he likely wants to go somewhere that would give him the opportunity to close and the Rockies would certainly want to honor their commitment to use Davis as their closer.
Umpires had an outsized impacts on the Cubs series with the Phillies | Bleed Cubbie Blue
After a particularly frustrating series of Chicago Cubs-Philadelphia Phillies baseball, Bleed Cubbie Blue’s Sara Sanchez provides the argument for robot umpires. While it’s true that umpires have greatly improved their accuracy rate in the past decade, an automatic strike zone would get the call correct more often than the human element. Of course, you may prefer that human element and it is well within your right to do so.
MLB teams’ involvement with Cuban players under Justice Department scrutiny | The Washington Post
Will Hobson, Teri Thompson and Christian Red of The Washington Post provide extensive coverage of a Justice Department investigation into smuggling of Cuban players into the United States. The San Diego Padres and, to an even greater extent, the Los Angeles Dodgers are prominently featured in the controversy.
On the Farm
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