:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52659413/519996510.0.jpg)
Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s OK, though. We’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network, as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.
* * *
Manny Ramirez last had an at-bat in MLB in 2011, with the Rays at age 39. It wouldn’t be the last time he’d play baseball in North America, as the Cubs signed him to a minor-league deal where he was a player-coach back in 2014, and then he went on to play in the Dominican Winter League where he batted .313/.409/.510 at the age of 42. Now, Ramirez is on the ballot for the Hall of Fame, but that doesn’t mean he’s finished playing baseball. Manny has signed a contract with the Kochi Fighting Dogs, an independent league team in Japan.
This isn’t his first foray into baseball in that hemisphere, as Ramirez also played for a team in Taiwan back in 2013. Say what you want about how it seems as if Manny doesn’t care about the game, but his teammates have often said that it’s an act, and his continuing to play baseball wherever he can well past the point of financially needing to is something else. It’s part of why Theo Epstein’s Cubs signed him to be a coach: there are few in his generation who think about hitting as much or as well as Ramirez did (and does), and putting him in a place to impart that knowledge is a smart move. Now, he gets another chance, at 44, to put it to use himself, even if he has to go to the other side of the world to do it.
Who knows if Ramirez will ever make the Hall of Fame, but that doesn’t seem to be at the forefront for him, anyway, given he’s out here preparing for another season of professional baseball. He might not be adding to his credentials for Cooperstown with the move, but hey, maybe it will help him: after all, there are always complaints about a lack of love for the game in players once they start cashing checks, and Manny is out here playing in a four-team independent league out in Japan even though he’s 44 and made over $200 million in his career.
- The Rays have 15 arbitration-eligible players in 2018, which means they’re going to end up making a few budget-related trades in 2017.
- Dansby Swanson debuted in 2016. Is he ready for a full-time gig in the majors in 2017?
- The Royals and Braves are interested in signing Aaron Hill, who spent 2016 with the Brewers and Red Sox.
- Here’s a breakdown of Team USA’s World Baseball Classic roster. Well, what we know of it so far.
- Jose Quintana obviously puts batters away, and often, but how does he go about doing it?
- The Orioles are looking at "short-term options" rather than at Mark Trumbo. Given how they negotiated against themselves to re-sign Chris Davis a year ago, believe it when you see it and all that.
- The first conceptual artwork of the Rangers’ new stadium was released, and it looks an awful lot like another ballpark in Texas.
- Here’s a look at a number of MLB’s best on the worst days of their career.
- Craig Edwards writes that, unless the standards change, active pitchers not named Clayton Kershaw have virtually no shot at Cooperstown.
- Kris Bryant is officially off the market, as he got hitched. Sorry, everyone, maybe the Cubs have another prospect you can ogle in a few years.