As Spring Training rolls on, new storylines manifest themselves every day. A couple of items around the league caught our attention on Friday. They form the focus of our March 11, 2016 MLB News Roundup.
First, news broke out of Pittsburgh in the late afternoon that the Pirates had come to terms with third baseman David Freese on a one-year, $3 million deal. The contract contains no incentives, and is guaranteed in full. Left-handed pitcher Jesse Biddle was designated for assignment in order to create space for Freese on the roster.
The Pirates, who were in need of a man at the hot corner due to the defection of stalwart Pedro Alvarez to the New York Mets, will get a steady glove out of the 33-year old Freese. The seven-year veteran, formerly of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, became a full-time third baseman in 2011 with the Cards and struggled in his first three seasons in the role. He committed twelve, eighteen, and eleven errors in each season from 2011-2013, respectively.
However, in each of the past two seasons, both sent with the Angels, Freese committed just eight errors. Still not spectacular, but at best it shows progress, and at worst it shows a lack of defensive regression. His defensive WAR was a flat zero last season, so his glove won’t cost the Pirates many, if any, games.
At the plate, Freese is a career .276 hitter. His best season with the lumber came in 2012, when he swatted a career-high twenty home runs and drove in seventy-nine runners. Last season, he recorded a mediocre .257 batting average, but still managed to hit fourteen home runs, second only to his 2012 total for a single season in his career.
Over in the American League, Oakland Athletics righty Jarrod Parker broke his right elbow for the second time. Parker, 27, has not pitched since the 2013 ALDS. He has had Tommy John surgery twice, once in 2009 and once in 2014, and broke his elbow for the first time while rehabbing his second Tommy John injury
Parker was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks and made his major league debut for them, pitching in one game in the 2011 season. He joined the A’s the following season, and put up his best year as a pro. In 2012, he won a thirteen games and struck out 140 batters, both career-highs, while carrying a 3.47 ERA, a career-low. John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle broke the news. The timetable for his return is uncertain, as is the future of his career.
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