2015 MLB spring training thread

So the Yankees were outbid by $6.5 million?

Old George is working overtime on his grave spinning.

 

Technically $13 million (Yankees are over their allotted spending on international free agents as well, and would have to pay the 100 percent tax, too), but yeah, George would not have let the Red Sox outbid him. Oddly, I had seen the other day that the Yankees were considering going to $50 million ($100 million total). It's possible they just wanted to bid up the Red Sox on him.

 

I wonder how real the interest by other teams was in this case. There are very few teams with a realistic shot at this one given the high price tag.

 

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Isn't Bogaerts their starting shortstop for 2015? As I mentioned, everything I've seen and read points to Moncada ending up at third base or second base, possibly even the outfield, rather than shortstop.

 

I didn't say I was sure, just that it's a possibility. Mookie Betts can also plays short.

 

What I'm saying is I wouldn't be so sure that signing Moncada opens the door for the Red Sox to trade Bogaerts. I don't think it does.

Betts made 13 appearances at shortstop in the New York-Penn League in 2012. Since then, he played shortstop only once, making an error on his only fielding chance in an Arizona Fall League game.

More importantly, Moncada most likely won't be a shortstop in the majors, so Bogaerts is still Boston's primary long-term option there.

 

Mark Teixeira is gluten-free. That oughta cure his wrist.

Mark Teixeira of New York Yankees hopes new diet will keep him healthy - ESPN New York

No word on whether he is a vegetarian who eats fish.

 

Josh Hamilton meets with MLB officials about a disciplinary issue - LA Times

With Hamilton, you automatically assume the worst.

 

If its a discipline issue, it certainly isn't plate discipline.

 

Tweet from Ken Rosenthal: "Asked a baseball executive if Hamilton’s discipline was for PEDs. His response: “Worse.” The executive declined to elaborate."

Sigh!

 

Impossible. Nothing is worse than PEDs. Murder is close, but nothing matches PEDs.

 

I thought his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was keeping him off the stuff?