Bryant should receive a contract worth at least the seven-year, $245 million deal the Los Angeles Angels gave third baseman Anthony Rendon after the 2019 season, several GMs and executives predict.
No one is expecting him to join the $300 million club considering he’ll be 30 in January and has been nagged by shoulder, wrist and hand injuries, but there’s a whole lot of teams salivating at the chance to grab him.
In a survey of baseball executives and scouts, there are seven teams that could be involved in a bidding war for Bryant’s services: the San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals.
Bryant’s value has soared this year playing all over the field, while ranking among the league leaders in virtually every offensive category with a slash line of .316/.397/.607 for a 1.004 OPS through Friday. He has 13 homers and 38 RBI, ranking second in the league with 30 extra-base hits, third in total bases, sixth in RBI and seventh in runs.
| MLB Pipeline |
| @MLBPipeline |
|  | ||
 | |||
| Joey Bart went 4-for-5 tonight with a home run, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored He’s now batting .349 with a 1.000 OPS for the @RiverCats #SFGiants | |||
| 6/7/21, 11:15 PM | |||
| Andrew Baggarly |
| @extrabaggs |
A little #SFGiants inside info: Don't be surprised if left-hander Sam Long is the choice to pitch when the Giants need a starter Wednesday in Texas. Long dominated at Double-A Richmond and in two appearances for Triple-A Sacramento, he allowed one hit and struck out 15 in 7.2 IP. 6/7/21, 5:32 PM
Now, it's about who's throwing the nastiest pitches, the more unhittable pitches. …This is going to be the next steroids of baseball ordeal, because it is cheating and it is performance-enhancing. The only way they get through it and to get it out of the game is if they get checked every half-inning. If a new pitcher comes out, they get checked immediately by the umpire.
“A lot of these guys that are not as good as their numbers are saying will be out of the game, They’ll be done. And that’s where it should be because guys are blatantly cheating and it’s not even funny. You’re talking about guys whose careers hitting-wise are going down as well.”
And the pitchers who are the best in the business, well, perhaps won’t be quite so dominant.
“Is it coincidence that [Yankees pitcher] Gerrit Cole's spin rate numbers went down after four minor leaguers got suspended for 10 games?" Donaldson said. "I don't know. Maybe. ...
“In 2017, there were four pitchers that had a spin rate on their fastballs of 2400 rpm or more. Now, that's league average. Think about that. You think everybody before 2017 was throwing the baseball wrong? No. In 2012, I think there were 700 sliders that were thrown at 90-mph or more. The league is on pace right now for 4,000. So, the better you can grip that thing, the harder you can throw it.’’
One GM says that the foreign substance abuse is so out of control that one of his pitchers even asked him: “Where can I get this stuff? Everyone else is using it.’’
The GM refused to help, saying it’s illegal, and that soon, plenty of pitchers could be exposed if they don’t cease and desist.
“Once they start doing that, it'll be gone,’’ Donaldson says, “and you're going to start seeing offense come back into the game.’’
| Bleacher Report |
| @BleacherRepor |
bit.ly/2SfNLVg pic.twitter.com/
GB could fine him about $93K for his absences @brgridiron pic.twitter.com/
The NBA’s first round of the playoffs is complete, and a whole new crop of stars are now free to commit, or not, to Team USA for Tokyo. Tatum headlines that group, along with Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook of the Washington Wizards, and Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat. They join a pool that already included Stephen Curry of the Warriors, Zion Williamson of the Pelicans and Zach LaVine of the Bulls, among others.
There are two other big names whose NBA team lost in the playoffs, perhaps you’ve heard of them? LeBron James and Anthony Davis are officially on vacation, after the Lakers lost in six games to Phoenix, but neither LeBron nor Davis is expected to play for Team USA due to their terrible seasons of injuries, according to a source close to both players. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are on the list, but their Clippers survived Game 7 against Dallas (which has no American stars in the Team USA pool) on Sunday — the final game of the entire first round.
Curry, according to a source, is “50-50” on whether he takes his first crack at Olympic gold. Lillard is believed to have strong interest in playing, though no final decision has been made.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment