2019 – After a second opinion, Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Perez resigns himself to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a tear in his throwing elbow. He will miss the entire season as a result.
2019 – San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer takes a leave of absence from his duties after a video showing him physically abusing his wife Pamela in a public park a few days earlier surfaces on the web.
2019 – The Phillies introduce their new marquee player in free agent OF Bryce Harper, just signed to a record-breaking 13-year deal worth $330 million.
2019 – Newspapers in Montreal, QC report that a prospective ownership group led by Stephen Bronfman has proposed an innovative solution to resolve the chronic ballpark problems of the Tampa Bay Rays: have the team play a significant portion of its season in Montreal, without breaking its punitive lease on sub-par Tropicana Field which runs until 2027. The team could then move permanently to Montreal if it still cannot find a new home in the Tampa area.
2019 – Manny Machado signs the biggest free agent contract in history, agreeing to a ten-year deal worth $300 million with the San Diego Padres. This tops the $275 million given by the Yankees to Alex Rodriguez following the 2007 season. There were many teams interested in the infielder’s services, but only the unlikely Padres, in the middle of a rebuild, were willing to to give the kind of long-term commitment that Machado was seeking.
2019 – As spring training gets underway, Bruce Bochy, long-time manager of the Giants and winner of three World Series titles with the team, announces that he will retire at the end of the season.
2019 – The Yankees sign their young ace Luis Severino to a four-year contract extension for $40 million, with an option for a fifth year at $12.25 million.
2019 – Kyler Murray, the 9th overall pick in the 2018 amateur draft by the Oakland A’s, announces that he is giving up baseball to concentrate on becoming an NFL quarterback. Murray, an outfielder, was originally committed to give professional baseball a try and accepted a $4.66 signing bonus from the A’s, but his plans changed after a tremendous season as a junior at the University of Oklahoma that saw him win the Heisman Trophy as the best college football player in the nation. He has declared for the NFL draft and is expected to be a top pick.
Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, a member of the 500 Home Run Club, a Triple Crown winner, the first player to win the MVP Award in both leagues, and the first African-American manager in major league history, passes away in hospice care in Los Angeles, CA at the age of 83. He was also a senior executive for Major League Baseball and was still serving as the honorary President of the American League.
The long-rumored trade of All-Star C J.T. Realmuto is finally completed as the Phillies agree to send three young players – C Jorge Alfaro and Ps Sixto Sanchez and Will Stewart – in return for the outstanding young backstop.
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