On the heels of an early-morning deal, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Position Players arrive in camp:
While many hitters report to camp early, today marks the date position players are meant to report to camp for roughly a third of the league, along with the first full-squad workouts for many teams. It’s the final reporting date of the spring, after which point all players are expected to be at Spring Training (with some exceptions such as those for players dealing with visa issues or that have yet to sign). Teams reporting today include a 101-win Orioles club that added ace right-hander Corbin Burnes just before camp began but announced a UCL sprain for last year’s ace right-hander, Kyle Bradish, shortly thereafter, as well as a Mariners club that completely retooled its starting lineup this winter after missing the postseason by just one game last year.
2. When will Anderson sign?
Reporting over the weekend indicated that the Marlins recently extended an offer to longtime White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. The Marlins have long been considered an obvious fit for the 30-year-old, who flashed star potential at times from 2019-22 as he hit .318/.347/.474 while earning two All Star appearances, a Silver Slugger award, and an AL batting title. All that came crashing down in 2023, however, as Anderson posted the lowest wRC+ among all major league regulars last year while turning in characteristically average defense at shortstop. In spite of Anderson’s struggles, however, a weak market for shortstops leaves him as one of the best available, and few teams have a bigger need at the position than Miami.
Though the Marlins have been connected to Anderson most frequently throughout the winter, they aren’t the only team for whom the shortstop could make some sense. The A’s have a clear hole at shortstop and have added other bounceback candidates such as Alex Wood and Ross Stripling this winter, while the Angels or Giants could use Anderson as a veteran complement to youngsters Zack Neto and Marco Luciano, respectively. With position players now reporting to Spring Training, will Anderson get a deal done in the coming days?
3. What does the Hendriks deal mean for Woodruff?
As previously mentioned, right-hander Liam Hendriks agreed to a two-year guarantee with the Red Sox earlier this morning. The relief ace is coming off an injury-marred 2023 campaign and is set to miss most of the 2024 season, though has been among the very best arms in the game when healthy in recent years. In many ways, his free agency greatly resembled that of right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who dominated to a 2.28 ERA in 11 starts last year but struggled with shoulder issues before eventually going under the knife back in October. Like Hendriks, Woodruff isn’t expected to return to the mound until the mid-summer at the earliest but has been an elite arm in the past.
Could Woodruff’s market begin to pick up with Hendriks off the board? Early indications were that Woodruff could pursue a two-year guarantee of his own this winter, though there hasn’t been much buzz regarding his free agency this winter outside a loose connection to the Mets earlier in the offseason.