Players and teams have reported to their respective spring training facilities, and Major League Baseball is back for the 2020 season. In fact, in just a couple of short weeks, baseball games will be played, and next month, they will start to count for the regular season.
Despite the excitement for baseball to be back, news has still been rampant around the league. While a lot of the focus has still been on the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, other news is circulating as well.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of those news stories from this last week:
Clevinger Undergoes Knee Surgery
The Cleveland Indians took a big blow to their starting pitching rotation as it was reported this week by MLB.com and The Athletic’s Zack Meisel that Mike Clevinger will be out six to eight weeks as he is undergoing surgery to repair a partial tear in the medial meniscus of his left knee.
While the Indians still have quality arms in Shane Bieber and a returning Carlos Carrasco, but losing Clevinger will not help as the team battles with both a loaded Minnesota Twins team and an up and coming Chicago White Sox team.
Last season, Clevinger went 13-4 with a 2.71 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 169 strikeouts over 126 innings in 21 games started. Luckily, this injury should not knock Clevinger out for the season, but sadly for Indians’ fans, the 25-year-old starting pitcher will be unable to start the season with Cleveland as he rehabs from the surgery.
Rule Changes for 2020
Major League Baseball announced a series of new rules for the 2020 season. Here is a brief rundown of the passed rules for the upcoming season:
Three-Batter Minimum: This rule calls for all pitchers (starters or relievers) to have to face a minimum of three batters before being substituted. The exception to this rule is if the inning ends, in which case the pitcher can be relieved even if he hasn’t faced the three batters.
Roster Changes: Under the new rules, teams will now be able to keep 26 players on their active roster, although teams can only keep up to 13 pitchers. There are exceptions for doubleheaders and two-way players, but the general rule is that they can keep 26, instead of the 25 players on the roster. In addition to this rule, in September, callups will be limited as each team will be able to carry 28 players, with a maximum of 14 pitchers on the roster.
Pitcher Injury Reinstatements: If a pitcher is put on the injured list, the time has increased from 10 days to 15 days before that pitcher can be reinstated.
Challenge Time Reduction: Coaches will now only have 20 seconds instead of 30 seconds to decide whether they want to challenge a call on the field or not.
Red Sox Sign Pillar
After finalizing their deal to send Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Red Sox have brought in another outfielder for their roster in 2020. The Red Sox have brought in Kevin Pillar on a one-year, $4.25 million deal.
The Betts trade brought in right fielder Alex Verdugo, but that meant that all of their outfielders (Andrew Benintendi and Jackie Bradley Jr. being the other) were left-handed. Bringing in Pillar gives them a little versatility to this mix.
The 31-year-old played for the San Francisco Giants last season and hit .259/.287/.432 in 611 at-bats. In that time, he hit 21 home runs, 88 runs batted in, 83 runs scored, and 14 stolen bases. While he may not have been brought in to be a starter, he will be a quality fourth outfielder that can occasionally get a spot start while also protecting against possible injuries this season for the Boston Red Sox.
Roenicke Brought In As Red Sox Manager
As a result of the Astros’ sign-stealing controversy, three teams lost their managers. Going into this last week, only one of those teams had not hired a manager, but that has changed now.
The Boston Red Sox, needing to replace manager Alex Cora, have named Ron Roenicke as their interim manager for the 2020 season.
The Red Sox are also being investigated for their part in a cheating scandal in 2018. Commissioner Rob Manfred said on Sunday that investigation was likely be concluded within a couple of weeks. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports that the interim label will likely be removed after the investigation is completed.
Roenicke last served as a manager back in 2011 through 2015 when he served as the manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Red Sox hope that Roenicke can bring calm to what has been a crazy offseason that has seen them fire their manager, trade their best player (Mookie Betts) and could include other penalties pending the cheating investigation.
Mariners Bring In Walker, Gonzalez
The Seattle Mariners announced a couple signings this week as they have brought in starting pitcher Taijuan Walker to a one-year, $2 million deal and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez to a minor league contract that would pay him $750 thousand if he makes the big league roster.
Walker broke into the league in 2013 as a 20-year-old with the Mariners. He pitched there for four seasons before being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Last season, with Arizona, Walker only pitched one inning after having gone through Tommy John surgery and suffering setbacks last year.
Still, when healthy, Walker has been a solid pitcher. In 2017, he went 9-9 with a 3.49 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, and 146 strikeouts in 157.1 innings with Arizona. The Mariners will hope he will be able to slot into their rotation this season.
The team also brought in Gonzalez. Last season, between the Cubs and the Indians, he hit .200/.289/.283 with three home runs, 10 runs batted in and 21 runs scored.
While those numbers are largely unimpressive, the Mariners are hoping that the former All-Star can regain some of his form as he is still just 34 years old.
