Hub World

With the dreaded Lockout of the 2022 season officially over, us baseball fans can go back to doing what we love the most in the off season: following free agency, and bitching that our team isn’t signing anyone.

While there hasn’t been a ton of bombshells so far in the first few days, it has been pretty exciting. Unless you’re like, a Pirates fan or something. Sorry to the few of you still out there.

With that said, let’s take a look at some of the moves:

• Drew VerHagen: 2 years, $5.5M to the Cardinals. The 31 year old righty brings a 3.84 ERA in 97 IP over from Japan. The most notable thing here I guess is that this was the first real move of free agency.
• David Ross: signed as Cubs manager through 2024, with an option for 2025. It wasn’t really his fault for the Cubs’ 71-91 record last season considering they blew the thing up. But a show of confidence is nice here for Ross anyway.
• Martin Perez: $4M to the Rangers. Texas continues their quest to sign every player in the league, and return the lefty after a few years apart.
• Carlos Rodon: 2 years, $44M to the Giants. Now we’re talking! The 29 year old Holly Springs, NC native was electric for the White Sox last season, finishing 5th in Cy Young and posting 185 K’s to only 35 BB’s. Some may say San Francisco overpaid, but they clearly feel they got a dude. Big pickup for Gabe Kapler.
• Clayton Kershaw: 1 year, $17M to the Dodgers. I personally expected Kershaw to leave LA this year, but I guess we’ll have to wait for that to happen. 2021 saw some regression and injury problems, but a healthy Kershaw could still add some value for the Dodgers. Just happy my guy finally has a ring after the 2020 season.
• Steve Cishek: 1 year, $1.75M to the Nationals. Respectfully, a nothing move here. Not sure what this deal is meant to accomplish, but the journeyman reliever is a Nat.
• Yusei Kikuchi: 3 years, $36M to the Blue Jays. If you ask me, Kikuchi didn’t have a crazy 2021, despite making the All-Star roster. Either way, the Jays get some rotation help here to help out their preposterous offense.
• Robinson Chirinos: 1 year, $900K to the Orioles. Not much to say here other than congrats to the veteran catcher on staying in the show for another year.
• Jose Iglesias: 1 year, $5M to the Rockies. Hmm… wonder why they went and got this guy? The Rockies get a solid left side defender with a good contact bat at a decent price.
• Josh Harrison: 1 year, $5.5M to the White Sox. I’ve always been a big fan of this guy, and I think he still has some quality seasons left in him. Don’t expect him to lead an MVP campaign, but do expect consistency and utility around that heavy hitting line up.

Phew boy – let’s call it a wrap on part one here. As I said earlier, some movement, but not the craziest start. Will follow up with more and the latest as news breaks. Credits to the information to the big guys on the bird app: Jon Heyman, Jeff Passan, Ken Rosenthal, and Bob Nightengale.