Rival Roundup, Vol. 27: So It Begins

Well, the season ended in an official capacity nearly a week ago, and I’m curious whether I’m the only one who feels like we are much further removed from the Fall Classic. I certainly don’t sit numbly in my living room until pitchers and catchers report (even Rogers Hornsby had the sense to look out the window), but there is something to be said for the fact that as baseball fans, we can largely set our clocks to the rhythm of the game and its nightly schedule, for over half the calendar year.

The second baseball goes away, the days get shorter, and you have to endure that liminal period between the end of the traditional workday and the start of your syndicated Wheel timeslot without so much as a “tonight’s lineup” notification. It’s wild stuff.

But, thank goodness, there’s another piece of timekeeping that can help us brave the winter months together. What time is that? Why, it’s...

RIVAL ROUNDUP TIME, BABY.

• Much like the Twins, the Chicago White Sox had a couple key options to decide on at the start of the offseason. Most notably, they bring back Tim Anderson, who has a chance to really cement himself as the face of the franchise in the event that Jose Abreu moves on from the club.

• Josh Harrison is bought out; the 12-year veteran played nearly 120 games of decent, unspectacular infield/utility. Speaking of veterans, the aforementioned Jose Abreu (36 years old) as well as Johnny Cueto (37) and Elvis Andrus (34) are all back on the open market; those are some big names to watch, even if they are all past their relative primes. Still, each of them had great seasons (3.0+ bWAR each) and could all likely hold on a bit longer to support a contender.
• Elsewhere in veteran free agency, it sounds like Zack Greinke is not done yet. I certainly thought 2022 would be the end for ol’ Zack; a 38-year-old pitcher returning to his original franchise in a non-contending season is usually not code for “I could do this all day.” Nonetheless, the righty proved that he can at least do it for most of the day — he clocked a 111 ERA+, his highest since splitting 2019 with the Diamondbacks and Astros, despite a plummeting strikeout rate, and an arm with enough mileage by this point to keep him well under 200 innings.
• Names such as Tucker Barnhart, Daniel Norris, and Andrew Chafin have either reached free agency by natural means, or taken matters into their own hands and opted out of their contract (Chafin) in Detroit. The Tigers are the first team in the division to make an acquisition, claiming 30-year-old infielder Andy Ibanez off waivers from Texas, in a move that pundits are calling “a transaction.” But they’ve got a fry cook on the payroll, and they’re looking at fish.

• Finally, Jose Ramirez had successful thumb surgery this week, and he took plenty of photos.

I say “finally,” but I mean like, “finally” for this article. Not, “and that’s a wrap on the offseason.” I figured you knew that already, but I’m also at the part of the article where I want to add some text to buffer between the linkdump section and the poll to close things out, so you lucky sons of guns get to read this rambly little morsel. Lucky you!

With free agency officially open, we’ll see if anything major goes down by this time next week.

See you then!