Summarizing the Happenings from Today in Baseball

By: Chris Larson 

Today was quite a significant day around the game of baseball with several major things happening. As is the case with any day during an MLB offseason, sometimes the perfect storm comes together and a bunch of different things culminate in one day.

That was definitely the case today and the stuff that happened is so significant that the events deserve their own article. With that being said, here is a complete recap of everything significant that happened around the game of baseball today.

1. Odubel Herrera Designated for Assignment by the Philadelphia Phillies 

After having his season suspended during mid-June of last year and missing 80 games, Odubel Herrera's future was severely put into question. People had questions about his future with the Phillies organization, his future as a big league player, and more importantly his future as an individual person. Well, today that future became a bit clearer as the Philadelphia Phillies officially announced that Herrera had been designated for assignment by the organization. The news wasn't necessarily that surprising given that the Phillies had wanted to release Herrera all offseason long. In fact, it was just more of a matter of when it was going to happen compared to if it would ultimately end up happening.

Now with Odubel Herrera out of the fold, the Philadelphia Phillies no longer have to deal with the stain left behind on their organizational culture. Rather, the team can focus on preparing for the 2020 regular season, achieve the goals and mission that it sets out to accomplish this coming season, and focus solely on being as good of a team as possible under new manager, Joe Girardi. The Phillies are reportedly still in the market for a right-handed hitting centerfielder to compliment current Opening Day centerfielder, Adam Haseley. The need grew even more now that Odubel Herrera has been designated for assignment so it will be interesting to see what direction the club goes in to address that need before Opening Day.

2. Matt Andriese is Traded to the Los Angeles Angels 

Following the news that Odubel Herrera had been designated for assignment, both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Angels agreed to a trade. The trade sent relief pitcher, Matt Andriese from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange of pitching prospect, Jeremy Beasley. From both team's perspectives, it was a fascinating trade to say the least. The Diamondbacks are continually looking for pitching depth to add to all levels of the organization and this trade helps them to accomplish that goal. General Manager Mike Hazen has made it a priority to reinforce that depth during his tenure with the organization and Beasley is a way to do just that. For the Los Angeles Angels, they picked up a high strikeout relief pitcher who can compliment their bullpen during the late-innings of a game. Andriese surface-level numbers (4.53 ERA and a 3.4 BB/9) aren't necessarily that appealing, but the metrics become more fascinating when you dig a little deeper.

For instance, Matt Andriese rated in the upper-third percentile in both fastball and curveball spin among the league last season. Furthermore, his overall Barrel Percentage was the lowest (6.0%) that it's been over the five seasons that Andriese has pitched at the major league level. In addition, Andriese experienced a downward trend and was the lowest it's been over his five seasons in the big leagues as well at 33.5%. Those metrics likely played into the Angels decision to target Andriese in trade talks. On the other side of the coin, Jeremy Beasley is still going to be in development mode at the start of this season, but depending on how he does in his development, he could be an option for the big league starting rotation as the season progresses. Between Double and Triple A last season, Beasley posted a 4.49 ERA over 122.1 innings of work with 115 strikeouts and a 1.44 WHIP.

3. Alex Cora Fired by the Boston Red Sox 

After much speculation, the Boston Red Sox officially announced that they would be firing skipper, Alex Cora immediately. Cora was heavily mentioned in the nine-page report that was released by Major League Baseball yesterday regarding the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal and given that the Boston Red Sox were being accused of the same thing, it basically meant that Cora helped with the outcome of two separate World Series Championships. With all of those things combined, the Red Sox didn't want to have the bad publicity surrounding their organizations reputation around the league and the best thing to do was to cut that relationship now before the straining continued on. Furthermore, it is significant because it occurred before Major League Baseball even released the official findings of their investigation pertaining to the Red Sox role in this situation.

Regardless of those findings, many reports indicated that Cora would be in line for a suspension of at least one year, if not two, and that he could even be banned for life from the game of baseball. The accusations and the reported role that Alex Cora played in both of these situations was severe enough to warrant those reports. Should Alex Cora be banned from the game altogether, it's going to be a stiff penalty and one that tarnishes the tenure of Cora in the managerial and bench coach roles at the big league level. After all, it was quite an accomplishment that Cora was able to lead the Boston Red Sox to a World Series Championship during his first year at the helm, but now with the accusations that have been released, there's a lot of skepticism about how successful the team really was after all.

4. Minnesota Twins Agree to a Deal with Josh Donaldson 

The final big news of today was that the Minnesota Twins had come to terms with free agent third baseman, Josh Donaldson on a four-year, $92 million dollar deal. In addition, the contract includes a fifth-year option that could increase the total value to around $100 million dollars. What likely helped push the deal over the finish line was the inclusion of the fifth-year option which was reportedly what Josh Donaldson and his camp were looking for in their new deal. All along, Donaldson and his camp kept receiving four year offers and given that Donaldson will be 34 years old next season, all of the teams interested in his services were hesitant to tack on that additional year at the end of the deal. Therefore, the Minnesota Twins knew they had to step up and by doing so, they were able to secure the deal and make it become official, pending a physical.

During his big league career, Josh Donaldson has played in 22 games at Target Field. Over that span, he slashed: .373/.464/.819 with 31 hits, 7 doubles, 10 home runs, 21 RBI, 13 walks, and 16 strikeouts. Donaldson will add additional offense to a lineup that led all of baseball with 307 home runs last season and one that includes the likes of: Miguel Sano, Nelson Cruz, Eddie Rosario, and Max Kepler. When you add Josh Donaldson to that foursome, it is quite impressive and likely improves the overall results of the Twins heading into this coming season. Furthermore, while the Twins didn't necessarily add a frontline starting pitcher like they should have this offseason, they improved their defense at third base and that will help with run prevention thus hopefully improving the results for the teams pitching staff.