MLB 2022-2023 hot stove

Chicago White Sox RHP Mike Clevinger is under MLB investigation following allegations of domestic violence involving the mother of his 10-month old daughter and child abuse, according to numerous reports. Olivia Finestead, 24, contacted the MLB's Department of Investigations and provided them with details of incidents involving physical, verbal and emotional abuse. It is alleged that Clevinger choked her and then, two weeks later, slapped her in a hotel room and threw used chewing tobacco on their child. Clevinger was with the San Diego Padres at the time of the alleged incidents. In December 2022, the White Sox signed Clevinger to a one year deal and have indicated to the press that they were unaware of the allegations at the time.


The Padres have released a statement: "We are aware of MLB's investigation and completely support their efforts under the Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse policy. Due to the ongoing investigative process, we cannot comment any further at this time."


Clevinger faces potential disciplinary action regardless of whether he faces any criminal charge or conviction under the provisions of the MLB's policy. Ironically, he's a friend of Trevor Bauer who had his suspension cut recently by an independent arbitrator, was reinstated to the MLB and subsequently released by the Dodgers.
 
Chicago White Sox RHP Mike Clevinger is under MLB investigation following allegations of domestic violence involving the mother of his 10-month old daughter and child abuse, according to numerous reports. Olivia Finestead, 24, contacted the MLB's Department of Investigations and provided them with details of incidents involving physical, verbal and emotional abuse. It is alleged that Clevinger choked her and then, two weeks later, slapped her in a hotel room and threw used chewing tobacco on their child. Clevinger was with the San Diego Padres at the time of the alleged incidents. In December 2022, the White Sox signed Clevinger to a one year deal and have indicated to the press that they were unaware of the allegations at the time.


The Padres have released a statement: "We are aware of MLB's investigation and completely support their efforts under the Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse policy. Due to the ongoing investigative process, we cannot comment any further at this time."


Clevinger faces potential disciplinary action regardless of whether he faces any criminal charge or conviction under the provisions of the MLB's policy. Ironically, he's a friend of Trevor Bauer who had his suspension cut recently by an independent arbitrator, was reinstated to the MLB and subsequently released by the Dodgers.
Well sounds like it's good riddance for Clevinger

 
After their trade of Michael A. Taylor to the Twins, the Royals have executed another trade, this time sending Adalberto Mondesi and a player to be named later to the Red Sox in exchange for LHP Josh Taylor.

Mondesi fills a gap for the Red Sox in the middle infield, but has spent much of his time with the Royals injured, as he's only appeared in 40% of the possible games he could have played for the Royals since 2018, due to right shoulder impingement, a groin strain, left shoulder subluxations, a left hamstring strain, an oblique strain and a torn ACL. When healthy, Mondesi has shown some pop at the plate, hitting 38 home runs, 54 doubles and 20 triples from 1366 plate appearances, as well as swiping 133 bags. He's also amassed 23 Outs Above Average and a 13.3 Ultimate Zone Rating in 2126 career innings at shortstop.

However, Mondesi has struggled with strikeouts, being struck out 30.2% of the time against a 4.4% walk rate, and he's hit .244/.280/.408 in the major league.

The Royals have added some help to their bullpen, although Taylor missed the 2022 season with a back injury. When healthy, Taylor has pitched 102 1/3 innings in the MLB for Boston, for a 3.69 ERA. He's set to earn $1.025 million in 2023 and is controllable to the end of the 2025 season through arbitration.



 
The final votes for the Hall of Fame inductions will be tallied today and we should find out shortly who has made the 75% cut-off to get enshrined in Cooperstown and who will have to try again either next year or through other means. So far, based on Ryan Thibodaux's Hall of Fame tracker, only Todd Helton and Scott Rolen are tracking towards induction this year. As of this morning (US time), Helton had appeared on 80.1% and Rolen 79% of the 177 public ballots in the tracker, but the public ballots comprise only a fraction of the total ballots submitted.

Link to the tracker (it's a spreadsheet hosted on OneDrive):

 
The Oakland Athletics are reportedly in agreement with free agent first baseman Jesus Aguilar on a one-year, $3 million contract, pending a physical. Once the signing is finalised, a player will need to be designated for assignment from the 40-man roster to make room for Aguilar. He turns 33 in June and has played in the past nine MLB seasons for Cleveland, the Brewers, the Rays, the Marlins and the Orioles. His career has been marked with ups and downs and he's coming off a down year spent with the Marlins (who released him in August) and the Orioles.

The deal increases the Oakland payroll to $79 million by opening day, which is a marked increase on last year's opening day roster payroll of $48 million.





 
The Miami Marlins are in agreement with LHP Devin Smeltzer on a minor league deal, which contains a non-roster invitation to Spring Training, and which would pay Smeltzer $1 million for any time spent in the majors. Smeltzer has previously pitched in the major league for the Twins in each of the past four seasons. Half of that experience came in 2022 when he started 12 games for the Twins and also made three appearances in relief, totalling 70 1/3 innings. He pitched to a reasonable 3.71 ERA but only struck out 13.9% of opponents.

 
The New York Mets made their signing of OF Tommy Pham official and in a corresponding move, designated LHP Taylor Saucedo for assignment. Saucedo turns 30 in June, and was a 21st round selection by the Blue Jays in 2015. He made his major league debut in 2021, posting a 4.56 ERA in 29 appearances. He wasn't much of a strikeout pitcher (17.4% strikeout rate) but induced ground balls at 60.3%. In 2022 he made four appearances before landing on the injured list with a right hip injury. He began a rehab assignment in June but never made it back to the majors and was placed on waivers by the Blue Jays at the end of the season. The Mets claimed him off waivers and have held on to him for a few months while they sort out their bullpen options. The Mets may struggle to get him through waivers without another club making him a claim as he is a LHP and has a couple of option years left, as well as less than two years of MLB service time.

 
Scott Rolen is the only candidate elected to the Hall of Fame from this year's class.



According to Sarah Langs, Rolen's 10.2% vote share in his first year of eligibility is the lowest in a player's debut year on the ballot who was eventually elected to the Hall of Fame.



Todd Helton missed out on election to the Hall of Fame by 11 votes.

 

largebus

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 22, 2017
8,741
7,951
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Liverpool, Nationals, Pelicans
Helton will be there next year no probs.
Clevinger's career is over considering what happened to Bauer. Some culture they got down in San Diego
 
Helton will be there next year no probs.
Clevinger's career is over considering what happened to Bauer. Some culture they got down in San Diego

His former partner, Monica Ceraolo, alleged back in 2019 that he threatened her and their children. He also breached COVID protocols in 2020 while with Cleveland. Cleveland traded him to San Diego in 2021.





Nothing to do with the ball club, but the individual.
 
2020 article from the NY Post on Clevinger being scratched from a start for Cleveland after violating the COVID safety protocol.

 

TheBigHorne

Club Legend
Feb 19, 2022
1,925
5,270
Don't ask me about my username
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Philadelphia Eagles, 76ers, Phillies
Helton will be there next year no probs.
Clevinger's career is over considering what happened to Bauer. Some culture they got down in San Diego
If they miss the playoffs again the place might implode. 2022 may have been their best chance to win it all as despite LA's losses they'll still be around and be around for a while.
 

largebus

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 22, 2017
8,741
7,951
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Liverpool, Nationals, Pelicans
His former partner, Monica Ceraolo, alleged back in 2019 that he threatened her and their children. He also breached COVID protocols in 2020 while with Cleveland. Cleveland traded him to San Diego in 2021.





Nothing to do with the ball club, but the individual.

The bigger problem with my post was that I forgot he moved to the White Sox.
Who in any case are a shambles.
 
Jeff Kent had his final year of eligibility on the Hall of Fame ballot and attracted just 46.5% of the vote. So he'll have to find another way of getting in the Hall of Fame.

The votes for each candidate were as follows (from the MLB):




PlayerVotesPercentage
Scott Rolen29776.3%
Todd Helton28172.2%
Billy Wagner26568.1%
Andruw Jones22658.1%
Gary Sheffield21455.0%
Carlos Beltran18146.5%
Jeff Kent (last year on ballot)18146.5%
Alex Rodriguez13935.7%
Manny Ramirez12933.2%
Omar Vizquel7619.5%
Andy Pettitte6617.0%
Bobby Abreu6015.4%
Jimmy Rollins5012.9%
Mark Buehrle4210.8%
Francisco Rodriguez4210.8%
Torii Hunter276.9%

Maybe it's because I've been playing with Jimmy in MLB the Show 22, but Rollins only getting 50 votes seems low. I would have liked to have seen Billy Wagner get in the Hall of Fame this year, and he might have a good shot at it next year. I doubt A-Rod, Manny or Pettitte ever sniff the Hall of Fame.

The following players did not receive the 5% minimum threshold to remain on future ballots so are no longer eligible to be voted in to the Hall of Fame through the main process:

PlayerVotesPercentage
Bronson Arroyo10.3%
R.A. Dickey10.3%
Mike Napoli10.3%
Huston Street10.3%
Matt Cain00%
Jacoby Ellsbury00%
Andre Ethier00%
J.J. Hardy00%
Jhonny Peralta00%
Jered Weaver00%
Jayson Werth00%

 
Players up for Hall of Fame eligibility next year include Adrian Beltre, Chase Utley and Joe Mauer. A better class than this year, I feel. All three have legitimate shots to be first ballot Hall of Fame entrants.
 

largebus

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 22, 2017
8,741
7,951
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Liverpool, Nationals, Pelicans
Rollins declined pretty badly after he turned 30, and even at his best he was a home brand Derek Jeter.
Still a great payer though, and way more deserving than Harold Baines.
 
Aug 18, 2006
38,708
48,563
Melbourne
AFL Club
Carlton
The following players did not receive the 5% minimum threshold to remain on future ballots so are no longer eligible to be voted in to the Hall of Fame through the main process:

PlayerVotesPercentage
Bronson Arroyo10.3%
R.A. Dickey10.3%
Mike Napoli10.3%
Huston Street10.3%
Matt Cain00%
Jacoby Ellsbury00%
Andre Ethier00%
J.J. Hardy00%
Jhonny Peralta00%
Jered Weaver00%
Jayson Werth00%


Twas a lot of very average players on this year's list and rightfully got bugger all votes

On CPH2005 using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
The Oakland Athletics traded LHP Cole Irvin and RHP Kyle Virbitsky to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for INF Darell Hernaiz.

Cole Irvin turns 29 next week and remains under team control for four more seasons. On first blush, this is a trade that heavily favours the Orioles. While Irvin's splits suggest that he has benefited from playing in pitcher-friendly Oakland (his home splits last season were significantly better than his away splits), Irvin is an experienced and cheap starting rotation pitcher who will offer the Orioles plenty of innings. Irvin came up to the major league with the Phillies and he made 19 appearances in the MLB for them in 2019 and 2020, with an ERA of 6.75. However, the A's sent cash to the Phillies to take him and he pitched 359 1/3 innings in 62 starts for the A's over 2021 and 2022, with an ERA of 4.11.

Irvin doesn't strike out many betters (strikeout rate of 16.8% for the A's) and doesn't walk many batters (5.2% of batters faced took walks against Irvin), but he also doesn't induce may groundouts (37.6% groundball rate). As noted above, his career with the A's was better at the Coliseum (3.44 ERA at home) than away from the Coliseum (4.88 ERA away). Given that he'll be lined up to pitch in hitter friendly parks like the Rodgers Centre and Yankees Stadium, his figures may not be so good this coming season.

However, Irvin likely slides into at the Orioles' rotation as at least the #2 starter (behind free agent signing Kyle Gibson).

In exchange for Irvin and Virbitsky, the A's have taken on a prospect who was ranked #16th in the Orioles' organisation, but also a player who has come up through the ranks quite quickly. The Orioles selected him in the fifth round of the 2019 draft. With no minor league baseball played in 2020, he made his professional debut in 2021 for the Orioles in Class-A, hitting six home runs in 94 games. In 2022, he jumped three levels during the course of the season, going from Class-A to High-A and then finishing the season in Double-A. He played in 105 games across all three levels combined, stealing 32 bases and hitting 12 home runs. He hit .273/.341/.438 combined at all three levels, but he did seem to meet his ceiling at Double-A, with some poor batting results in the cup of coffee he had in Double-A at the back of the season. It's likely that Oakland will start him in Double-A at the outset of the 2023 season (he is not on the 40 man roster). Hernaiz is Rule-5 eligible at the end of the 2023 season.

 
In order to create a space on their 40 man roster for the acquisition of Irvin, the Orioles designated LHP Darwinzon Hernandez for assignment. Hernandez is an archetypal boom or bust pitcher. He strikes out 32.3% of the batters he faced in the MLB (85 1/3 innings), but he also walked 17.7% of the opponents he faced. However, he managed a 3.17 ERA with the Red Sox in 2020-2021, but was blasted for 17 runs (16 earned) in just 6 2/3 innings pitched for the Red Sox in 2022. The Red Sox designated him for assignment earlier in the off-season, and he went to the Orioles in a trade (for cash considerations). The Orioles now have a week to either trade him or pass him through outright waivers.
 
After designating LHP Daniel Castano for assignment to make space for Johnny Cueto, Castano has made it through waivers unclaimed and has been assigned outright by the Marlins to Triple-A Jacksonville.
 
The New York mets have agreed a deal with catcher Michael Perez. It is not announced whether the deal is a minor league deal, but it is likely to be as Perez was outrighted off the roster in October 2022. Perez has played in the MLB for the Rays, Pirates and Mets across the last five seasons and is known to be a defence-first type of catcher.
 
The Houston Astros finally found a replacement for James Click, who was let go by the Astros after the World Series. The Astros have hired Braves VP of Scouting Dana Brown as their new GM.



dana-brown-astros-300x200.jpg
 
The Orioles have agreed to a $1.85 million salary with RHP Austin Voth for the 2023 season, avoiding an arbitration hearing. The deal contains a club option for 2024. The Orioles claimed Voth off waivers from the Nationals in June 2022, and he pitched 3.04 ERA in 83 innings for the Orioles.

 
Back