Brandon Belt agreed to a one-year deal with the Giants for $6.2 million to avoid arbitration. Belt is a pretty darn nice player. Unfortunately, he’s always getting hurt. After appearing in 145 and 150 games in 2012-13, Belt then dipped to 61 games in 2014 before being limited to 137 games last season. More concerning is the fact that he’s picked up a few concussions, but as of this writing everyone assumes Belt will be fine. He hit 18 homers and stole nine bases last season while posting a .280 batting average and .350 OBP. There were only two other first basemen that could match all four of those numbers. They were Paul Goldschmidt and Joey Votto.

Carlos Beltran lost 10 pounds this offseason and he hopes getting in a bit better shape will help him to steal a few more bases this season. Good luck with that Carlos. The 39 year old in April outfielder has stolen a total of five bases the past three seasons. The bat is still pretty solid though as Beltran is coming off a .276-19-67 season with an .808 OPS over 531 plate appearances. Not many players have been better at the age of 38.

Just flipping great. The Blue Jays announced, well, that they won’t be announcing their closer until at least midway through spring training according to GM Ross Atkins. That means we’re at least a month away from knowing whether newly acquired Drew Storen or last year’s hero, Roberto Osuna, will the Jays Opening Day closer. Osuna was great last season with 20 saves, a 2.58 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 9.69 K/9 mark and 4.69 K/BB ratio. Couldn’t have done much more actually. However, the team still considers him a long-term answer in the rotation and I have to think he ends up losing out on the 9th inning gig. Why would the Jays have dealt for Storen if they were going to slot him into the 8th inning? Storen, who is due $8.4 million this season, and last season he saved 29 games until the Nationals added Jonathan Papelbon to work the 9th. I expect Storen to open the year as the closer. So should you.

Dexter Fowler is still without a home. Sounds like he’s going to have to really lower his expectations to find a deal. According to Buster Olney, it sounds like some front office folks don’t believe that Fowler will be able to better the 2-year, $20 million deal that was signed by Howie Kendrick. The soon to be 30 year old Fowler is coming off the best season of his career finishing just three homers short of a 20/20 season with 100 runs scored. That’s a hell of an effort. Fowler owns a .363 career OBP and has stolen at least 11 bases each of the past seven seasons for good measure. He’s a very effective leadoff man. I’m shocked he isn’t getting more love.

Sounds like Yovani Gallardo is going to end up with the Orioles. A very underwhelming signing. For more on Gallardo see Pitching and More Pitching.

Evan Gattis is likely to miss 4-6 weeks after requiring surgery for a hernia. That means he’s likely to miss nearly all of spring training and it’s possible he might miss the start of the regular season. The 29 year old slugger hit 27 big flies last season while driving in 88 runners. He only hit .246, and his .285 OBP was just pathetic. He no longer qualifies at catcher, he didn’t appear there once last season, and in many leagues is only going to be DH eligible this season since he appeared in just 11 games in the outfield last season. He has no speed so that’s not an issue, but a slow start cannot be dismissed given the time he is slated to miss.

J.D. Martinez signed a 2-year deal with the Tigers to buy out his final two seasons of arbitration eligibility. The deal, worth $18.5 million, pays Martinez for the player he has become that last two seasons. After all, Martinez did hit 38 homers with 102 runs batted in last season. 

How did it all start for Wonder Woman?

 

 

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of the 2016 MLB Draft Guide which includes more than 600 Players Ranked, auction values, rookie reports, hitting and pitching targets as well as all the info you need if you’re ready to start playing DFS.