MLB Roundup 12/15: Angels out on Corey Kluber

Angels out on Corey Kluber

Saturday was a pretty dull day in the baseball offseason, which is of course going to happen from time to time. With many of the biggest names having signed, these days will happen more and more in the weeks ahead. The biggest piece of news probably came later in the day when it was reported that the Angels are out on Corey Kluber. The Angels have of course been aggressive this winter, signing Anthony Rendon and going to the end of the Gerrit Cole negotiations as well. After missing out on Cole, the Angels are still in desperate need of pitching. They have been connected to some of the bigger-named arms on the free agent market, but have also been rumored to be active on the trade market. Part of that trade market is Corey Kluber, who the Indians seem likely to trade for reasons. The only way this makes sense to me is if these talks are heating up and Cleveland is ready to make a move within the next day or two. If not, I’m no sure the value of taking yourself out of any negotiations.

Sox Spin: As the Red Sox look to trade David Price for their own reasons, this is good news for them. The Angels have been one of the speculated landing spots for Price, so them being out on Kluber makes it more likely they’d look at Price, though these aren’t the only two starters on the market.

MLB and MiLB publicly fighting

The MLB and MiLB negotiations have been extremely public for a while now, garnering the attention of politicians, including presidential candidates. that doesn’t appear to have gotten anyone closer to figuring this out, though. The two sides have been exchanging public statements for the last couple of days, culminating in Rob Manfred publicly declaring the possibility of MLB walking away from MiLB completely and starting a new minor-league system from scratch. I think there is more gray area in this whole situation than many (myself included) have accepted, but ultimately taking baseball away from these communities is still bad for the long-term viability of the game. I don’t see any way around this. I would also note — and this is far from an original thought — how angry Manfred seems to be getting. As the commissioner, you’d expect him to be able to handle a little pushback better than he is, but he’s just not good in the face of public criticism. That doesn’t make me feel great about what could be on the horizon when the next CBA negotiations start to heat up. Should be fun!

Sox Spin: The Spinners are still in the crosshairs of this, which stinks a lot.