2018 – One of the few remaining first-rung free agents left unsigned, P Jake Arrieta, inks a three-year deal with the Phillies worth $75 million. Alex Cobb is now the last pitcher still looking for a team.
One year after placing a near-record 17 players on the disabled list, the Rangers get the news they most dreaded, as ace starter Yu Darvish will need to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the entire season and probably more.
A coup in the front office of the Texas Rangers results in Chuck Greenberg, who masterminded the team’s purchase from bankruptcy court last summer, resigning as Chief Executive Officer and managing partner in favor of Nolan Ryan. Other members of the ownership group cite philosophical differences as the cause of the rift that pushed Greenberg aside.
Rockies P Aaron Cook breaks a finger when he accidentally slams a door on his pitching hand and will miss the start of the season.
San Diego Padres relief pitcher Doug Brocail undergoes angioplasty. Brocail had complained of chest tightness that radiated into both arms. He was already being treated for an abscessed tooth and asthma.
The Kansas City Royals complete a five-year deal with outfielder David DeJesus, locking up one of the cornerstones of their youth movement through 2010.
First baseman Nick Johnson agrees to a $16.5 million, three-year contract extension with the Washington Nationals, a deal that ties him to the club through the 2009 season.
The first contest played at Petco Park, the Padres’ new home, establishes the record for the best-attended game in college baseball history when 40,106 fans watch Tony Gwynn’s San Diego State Aztecs beat the University of Hawaii, 4-0. The previous mark of 27,673 was established in 2002 when state rivals LSU and Tulane met in the Superdome in New Orleans.
The Red Sox replace Joe Kerrigan, who was fired last week, with Grady Little, who will manage the team for two years, compiling a 188-136 (.580) record and making one appearance in the postseason as the AL wild card. The once-popular skipper’s contract will not be renewed for 2004 when he becomes the target of fans’ angst for not pulling out starter Pedro Martinez with a three-run lead in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the ALCS, a contest Boston will eventually lose in the eleventh on Aaron Boone’s walk-off home run.
The Yankees release outfielder Ruben Rivera for stealing Derek Jeter’s mitt out of his locker, and selling it on the black market for $2,500. There are rumors that Rivera also took other memorabilia items, such as things belonging to Roger Clemens, but Clemens denies it. Rivera had been signed to a one-year contract for $1 million.