Mel Antonen

AL West preview: A's look strong, but cannot afford to be slow out of the gate

AL West preview: A's look strong, but cannot afford to be slow out of the gate
Projected finish for 2020: A's, Rangers, Astros, Angels, Mariners. After two consecutive seasons of 97 victories and wild card postseason losses, the Athletics are the favorites to win American League West this season. That's assuming Oakland gets off to a fast start, something that hasn't happened in the last two years. In a 60-game season, the Athletics can't afford another slow start. In 2018, the A's were 31-29 after 60 games, good for fourth place in the AL West. Last season, the team...
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Mel Antonen

Nats fan Fauci hopes fans can return to MLB games later this season

Nats fan Fauci hopes fans can return to MLB games later this season
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, is a baseball nut. His voice fills with excitement talking about the Nationals' World Series title. His coronavirus mask is covered with Nationals logos. An autographed Patrick Corbin jersey hangs in his D.C. home. And even though a deadly coronavirus outbreak has hammered the United States and caused Major League Baseball to reduce this season's schedule to 60 games played in stadiums with no fans, hope springs eternal with...
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Mel Antonen

Looking at MLB's pandemic response and the 2020 schedule

Looking at MLB's pandemic response and the 2020 schedule
Major League Baseball's summer version of spring training is off to a rocky start with conflicting messages for a sport trying to restart during a pandemic. On Monday, the fourth day of training, the inefficient return of the players' coronavirus test results brought new questions about whether baseball can get its 60-game season off the ground. Also on Monday, Major League Baseball announced the schedule for a 60-game season that reduces travel by keeping American League East, West and...
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Mel Antonen

AL East camp preview: Pitching-strong Rays will challenge Yankees for division supremacy

AL East camp preview: Pitching-strong Rays will challenge Yankees for division supremacy
Baseball is back with the wackiest, shortest and potentially dangerous season of all time. Haul out the asterisks. A schedule has yet to be released, but games start July 23-24. A batter chasing a .400 average could define this season. A 10-game hitting streak could mean MVP candidacy. There will be no fans in the stands - at least at the start of the 60-game schedule - and a summer version of spring training starts Wednesday when players begin reporting to home parks across the...
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Mel Antonen

NL East camp preview: Looking at possible DHs as pitchers will focus on mound work

NL East camp preview: Looking at possible DHs as pitchers will focus on mound work
The century-old debate about the designated hitter has come to an end - at least for this season. The coronavirus changed for 2020 the look of baseball - no fans at games, runner on second to start extra innings, a 60-game schedule - but it also might change history and tear down the final wall that stands between the National and American leagues. When the regular season starts July 23-24, the NL teams will use the designated hitter in all of its games, not just when they are playing in AL...
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Mel Antonen

A personal tale from the front line of battling COVID-19

A personal tale from the front line of battling COVID-19
Baseball is ramping up, and so is the coronavirus. As fans anticipate baseball's start next month, the acceleration of COVID-19 could still put a premature end to the 60-game season or even to the postseason. The virus is nothing to take lightly. I know first-hand. In 2020, I have battled two formidable foes while facing life-and-death situations: I knocked out a rare autoimmune disease that attacked my liver and gave me - at best - a 50-50 chance of survival. Before my treatments ended, I...
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Mel Antonen

Change is the buzz word as baseball revs up to resume 2020 campaign

Change is the buzz word as baseball revs up to resume 2020 campaign
Finally. After months of acrimonious negotiations, there's going to be a baseball season. It will be the most abbreviated season in the game's history - 60 games - and brings back memories of 1981, when labor issues couldn't be resolved and teams played about 105 games each. So forget about watching those replays of classic historical games. Say goodbye to watching Game 7 of the Braves-Twins World Series in 1991. Or the 1995 American League Division Series Game 5 between the Mariners and the...
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Mel Antonen

Astros fire Luhnow and Hinch after MLB levies penalties in sign-stealing case

Astros fire Luhnow and Hinch after MLB levies penalties in sign-stealing case
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were suspended by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred Monday for allowing the team's uniformed personnel to steal signs electronically during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Luhnow and Hinch were suspended through the 2020 World Series. The Astros also were fined $5 million - the maximum allowed under MLB rules - and they'll have to forfeit first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. About an hour the initial report...
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Mel Antonen

With rotation shored up, Rangers on the rise

With rotation shored up, Rangers on the rise
Anthony Rendon, are you paying attention? Do you think that you made a bad career decision? The Angels have third baseman Rendon, but the team that might have the best chance of beating the Astros in the American League West in 2020 is the Texas Rangers. Why? Because the Rangers are building a rotation this offseason, and their latest addition is Corey Kluber, the two-time American League Cy Young Award winner the Rangers got from Cleveland in a trade on Sunday. So, I wonder if Rendon, after...
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Mel Antonen

Addition of Rendon gives Angels powerful lineup, but they still need pitching help

Addition of Rendon gives Angels powerful lineup, but they still need pitching help
SAN DIEGO - The Nationals lost another home-grown superstar and the Angels have another superstar in their lineup. And it looks as though there are going to be plenty of 13-11 games next season in Anaheim. Anthony Rendon, a free-agent third baseman whose late-inning postseason heroics helped the Nationals win the World Series, has signed a seven-year, $245 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels. Last offseason, the Nationals lost outfielder Bryce Harper, who signed a $330 million contract...
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Mel Antonen

Manfred: Investigation of Astros on sign stealing continues toward uncertain discipline

Manfred: Investigation of Astros on sign stealing continues toward uncertain discipline
SAN DIEGO - Evev though Major League Baseball has interviewed 60 witnesses, and read 76,000 emails and troves of instant messages investigating the Astros' alleged electronic sign stealing, commissioner Rob Manfred isn't sure when the investigation will finish and what the appropriate discipline will be. "The review has caused us to conclude that we have to some followup interviewing," Manfred said at a Winter Meetings press conference Wednesday at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. "It is my...
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Mel Antonen

Cole's deal eclipses Strasburg's, focus turns to Bumgarner, Ryu

Cole's deal eclipses Strasburg's, focus turns to Bumgarner, Ryu
SAN DIEGO - Stephen Strasburg's record $245 million contract with the Nationals didn't last long. That's because the New York Yankees are back. They've shed their conservative financial image. The Yankees signed free-agent starter Gerrit Cole to richest contract ever given to a pitcher - nine years and $324 million - late Tuesday night at the Winter Meetings. Cole's average salary is $36 million, also a record, beating Zack Greinke's $34.4 million. Cole's yearly average is higher than...
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Mel Antonen

Does signing Gregorius remove Phillies as suitor for Rendon?

Does signing Gregorius remove Phillies as suitor for Rendon?
SAN DIEGO - The Philadelphia Phillies have signed free agent shortstop Didi Gregorius and that's both good and bad news for the Nationals. One, it makes the Phillies lineup stronger, especially if Gregorius can shake off his struggles with the Yankees from a year ago. But it also helps the Nationals in that it likely takes away one less team speculated to be in the competition for signing free agent third baseman Anthony Rendon. The Phillies believe they have taken care of their two biggest...
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Mel Antonen

Managers resigned to - but slow to warm to - new rule for relief pitchers

Managers resigned to - but slow to warm to - new rule for relief pitchers
SAN DIEGO - Angels manager Joe Maddon likes the idea of quickening the pace of the game. He doesn't like the idea of making relievers pitch to three batters or finish an inning before coming out of the game, a rule that Commissioner Rob Manfred might implement for 2020. "I don't like it. I haven't liked it from the beginning," Maddon said during his Winter Meetings press conference. "I don't quite get it. I'm all for messing with the pace of the game. I think that's important. "The...
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Mel Antonen

Strasburg's record deal likely won't be a record for very long

Strasburg's record deal likely won't be a record for very long
SAN DIEGO - Thanks to a record seven-year $245 million deal, pitcher Stephen Strasburg is staying with the Nationals. Strasburg, 31, who opted out of the four years left on his $100 million contract, will spend his career with the Nationals. He's on a path to make the Hall of Fame, but the question is how long will his record contract be a record? Apparently not long. Various media reports, including ESPN, MLB Network and MLB.com, say that teams will start making their offers to Gerrit Cole,...
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Mel Antonen

Modern Era Committee selects Simmons, Miller for Hall of Fame

Modern Era Committee selects Simmons, Miller for Hall of Fame
SAN DIEGO - Catcher Ted Simmons, who played in the shadows of Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk and Gary Carter, will join the three backstops in the Hall of Fame in July. Simmons, who caught at least 150 games in eight different seasons, was voted into Cooperstown by the Hall's Modern Era Committee Sunday at baseball's Winter Meetings. The Modern Era Committee, one of four rotating committees that considers various periods, also voted in Marvin Miller, the pioneering union executive that led the...
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Mel Antonen

Will stalled free agent market slow action at Winter Meetings?

Will stalled free agent market slow action at Winter Meetings?
SAN DIEGO - Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings are this week at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, a 15-minute walk from Petco Park, home of the Padres. It's an event where reporters and pundits take a kernel of corn and in seconds turn it into a jumbo bag of popcorn. Trade rumors are what make these meetings beautiful. But some years, such as last December in Las Vegas, there was more speculation than action. The podium in the press room stood most empty. Little happened. This December, if the...
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Mel Antonen

Modern Baseball Era Committee weighing some tough choices in Hall of Fame vote

Modern Baseball Era Committee weighing some tough choices in Hall of Fame vote
The Dodgers played in the World Series four times from 1974 through 1981, but they don't have a position player representing that era in the Hall of Fame. That could change when the Hall of Fame's Modern Baseball Era Committee considers Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, who has the strongest case to be in Cooperstown. The committee covers players from 1970 through 1987 and meets Sunday with the results announced that evening at the Winter Meetings in San Diego. Garvey played in five World...
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Mel Antonen

Fans could see a new Braves world in 2020

Fans could see a new Braves world in 2020
Last offseason, the Nationals' Mike Rizzo went to work early on building his roster, getting catchers Kurt Suzuki and Yan Gomes and relief pitchers Trevor Rosenthal and Kyle Barraclough. This offseason, it is the Braves, defending National League East champions, that are roster-building early. The Braves signed free-agent lefty pitcher Cole Hamels to an $18 million contract, adding to a list of transactions. They spent $98 million this offseason by signing three relievers - Will Smith, Chris...
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Mel Antonen

As NL East teams remake bullpens, Hudson is a popular free agent solution

As NL East teams remake bullpens, Hudson is a popular free agent solution
The Braves, who have won two consecutive National League East titles, have been the most productive team in the early days of the hot stove season, signing two relievers for their bullpen. But in a division where the four top teams have bullpen arms on their shopping list, what will each do this offseason? The Braves signed lefty Will Smith, who had 34 saves as a closer for San Francisco last season, and re-signed Chris Martin, 33, a reliever they acquired from Texas before the July 31 trade...
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