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Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman is getting into his second and doubtlessly ultimate season in Toronto, as he appears set to hit free company at season’s finish. The 29-year-old addressed his long run future with the group with Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star, saying he’s open to an extension however lifelike about his future.
“I do know the Blue Jays get pleasure from having me right here and need to proceed having me right here,” Chapman stated. “I do know I need to proceed to be right here and be part of this staff. I’m positive conversations might be had alongside the best way however, once I signed that two-year deal, I used to be anticipating they must pay Bo and Vladdy and all these younger guys.”
With Manny Machado seemingly headed for the open market subsequent winter, Chapman figures to be the second finest third baseman accessible. Offensively he’s hit 27 dwelling runs in every of the previous two seasons, and has hit not less than 24 within the final 4 162-game seasons, whereas his glove has been value 18 Outs Above Common over the previous two seasons and 40 over his profession. One other high quality season ought to set Chapman as much as do very properly in free company, whether or not that be for the Blue Jays or elsewhere.
Right here’s some extra bit and items from across the American League as full squad exercises start:
- The White Sox made their signing of infielder Elvis Andrus official at present, confirming the one-year, $3MM deal. Normal supervisor Rick Hahn addressed the signing with reporters (together with Scott Merkin of MLB.com) in Arizona, confirming the expectation is that Andrus might be Chicago’s on a regular basis second baseman. Leury Garcia, Romy Gonzalez, Yolbert Sanchez, Lenyn Sosa and non-roster invite Hanser Alberto have been all of the earlier candidates to man second, however Andrus will bump some mixture of these gamers into bench/utility roles. With Tim Anderson entrenched at shortstop, this would be the first time Andrus has logged time at one other defensive place, as all of his profession 16,606 innings within the discipline have come at brief. There appears little doubt about Andrus’ capacity to deal with second after all, given his monitor report of high quality glove work on the extra demanding shortstop place.
- Talking of free company, Roch Kubatko of MASN experiences that the Orioles are nonetheless concerned within the free company market, and have their eyes on a couple of main league gamers. Jurickson Profar stands out as comfortably the highest-profile participant remaining in a really skinny free agent discipline. Profar does make some sense as an improve over Austin Hays in left discipline, though it’s additionally not an apparent match. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic did report again in January that the Orioles have been concerned in Profar, though they didn’t seem significantly assured of getting a deal carried out. Exterior of Profar, there’s no accessible free agent who’d drastically alter Baltimore’s payroll for the upcoming season, however it’s value noting right here CEO John Angelos’ comments concerning the staff’s payroll transferring ahead.
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