For all you MLB lovers here is your MLB BITES: Angels Trading Hector Santiago; Prince Fielder Gets Neck Surgery; Aroldis Chapman Traded for Monday!!!
Flip and get the latest news on The Angels Trading Hector Santiago; Prince Fielder undergoing Neck Surgery + Aroldis Chapman Traded to the Cubs…
ClebNSports247.com has the latest happening in major league baseball with it comes to Hector Santiago, Prince Fielder + Aroldis Chapman.
First, we just got word that the The Angels have received inquiries from a number of teams about left-hander Hector Santiago. Accroding to the teams, they WANT Santiago on their team!
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports on Twitter:
“#Pirates and possibly #Astros could also be in play for Hector Santiago. #Marlins aiming their sights higher at the moment.'”
The 28-year-old pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Hector Santiago is in high demand. The Angels are open to offers for their $5 million dollar a year pitcher.
According to YB:
He’s more appealing than a number of arms that are of similar quality but either hit free agency at season’s end or are making considerably more money. The lefty is in the midst of his weakest season at the MLB level but still owns a respectable 4.32 ERA with 7.8 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and a career-best 38.7 percent ground-ball rate. His 91.8 mph average fastball is a notable step up over last season’s average of 90.3 mph and represents the highest mark he’s ever posted in a full season out of the rotation.
Moreover, Santiago has long outperformed those metrics. As a fly-ball pitcher who generates a large number of pop-ups, Santiago has been able to routinely post BABIP marks that are considerably lower than the league average (having Mike Trout and Kole Calhoun in the outfield doesn’t hurt), and he’s also proved to be adept at stranding runners; his 76.6 percent left-on-base percentage is 14th in MLB over the past five years among starters with at least 500 innings pitched. Those factors have contributed heavily to the career 3.78 ERA Santiago has been able to post out of the rotation in spite of ERA estimators that project his earned run average to check in somewhere in the vicinity of a full run higher.
As for, slugger Prince Fielder, he needs surgery to repair a herniated disk in his neck which will be a season ending procedure!
The Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said Monday that Prince Fielder is out for the remainder of the 2016 season, per Bill Jones of CBS Dallas/Fort Worth.
Meanwhile Bill Jones of CBS Sports reports:
“Jon Daniels says Prince Fielder is out for season…Dr. Drew Dossett confirms earlier diagnosis…herniated disc in neck…needs surgery.”
The 32-year-old Fielder closes the year on a .212/.292/.334 slash line with eight home runs and 44 RBI. His ongoing neck problems have become a serious concern, especially since his 2014 campaign ended in virtually the same fashion. After three consecutive seasons of appearing in all 162 games, Fielder has now averaged just 96 games played in the three seasons since.
Though the Rangers have raced out to the AL West division lead despite receiving inadequate production from the six-time All-Star, they will certainly miss Fielder’s glass-shattering dingers and his base-running blunders.
The Prince has left the building.
Last but not least, The NY Yankees Aroldis Chapman Traded to the Chicago Cubs!
The Chicago Cubs are doing everything in their power to create the best possible team to get them to the World Series and acquiring Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees could get them closer.
It’s been years since the Cubs have won a World Series and now the Cubs trade for Chapman a risk, but potential payoff too hard to ignore.
NESN reports:
The Cubs entered play Monday with a 59-38 record, the best in Major League Baseball. And still, they went out and made a potentially huge upgrade to their major league roster by reportedly acquiring Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees.
Among the players going to New York in the reported trade is the Cubs’ top prospect Gleyber Torres. The infielder landed on just about every list of top prospects entering the season, and has a high ceiling. The Cubs also gave up Billy McKinney, another top prospect and Adam Warren, a pitcher with big league experience.
That’s obviously a lot to give up for a pending free agent. While there’s already some reported interest in signing a contract extension, there’s no guarantee Chapman stays in Chicago after the season.
All of that being said, however, the Cubs should be applauded for their aggressiveness in acquiring Chapman. (Of course, that’s strictly from a baseball perspective as any apprehension for Cubs fans upon acquiring someone with domestic violence allegations like Chapman has is not only understandable but even warranted).
But from a baseball standpoint, Cubs fans should love this trade. These sorts of opportunities are tough to come by. No one knows that better than the Cubs, a team that hasn’t even been to the World Series since 1945. If not now, when?
For as good as the Cubs have been this season, their bullpen certainly could have used an upgrade. Sure, they’re in the top half of almost every relief category in baseball, but shutdown relief pitching in the playoffs now is as important as it’s ever been. Look no further than the Kansas City Royals last season.
Obviously, the Cubs or any team in baseball would prefer to hold on to their prospects for as long as possible, giving them a shot to flourish at the highest level. But not every championship team is filled with homegrown players. Almost all of the Cubs’ roster was built through trades or free agency.
There’s potential for Torres and McKinney to be good major leaguers some day, but if the Cubs want to achieve their team potential at the major league level, it wasn’t going to be with those two players, at least not any time soon anyway. And does anyone really think, given Epstein’s track record, that the Cubs aren’t going to replenish their farm system sooner rather than later?
Prospects are necessary to facilitate these sorts of trades that augment the big league roster, either filling holes and/or taking advantage of teams that aren’t in a position to contend and need to get the most for their most valuable big league players. Few baseball executives, if any, strike that balance better than Epstein. To this day, it’s still evident with the Red Sox, and chances are, it’s going to continue in Chicago.
The risk for this kind of a trade on the Cubs’ end is undeniable, but it’s a risk they had to take.
