Although it has taken nearly two months, we are hopefully back in the groove when it comes to baseball storylines on a day-to-day basis. And today could be significant, as the 2022 MLB Hall of Fame Class will be announced on the same day the MLB and MLBPA will have consecutive days of negotiations for the first time since late November.
In terms of the Hall of Fame, there is still plenty of uncertainty as to who will earn their election. David Ortiz appears to be in the best position, while Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are in their best respective positions to date to earn the call. However, with a significant portion of the overall ballots still remaining to be counted, plenty of movement in the final numbers can occur.
Of course, while neither is likely to make it this year, a fun narrative for former Braves and fan favorites Andruw Jones and Billy Wagner is that both players either improved or maintained significant support from their 2021 numbers. This could allow for their chances over the next few years to grow to eventually reach the 75% they need to make it to Cooperstown. It will be very interesting to see where the final numbers end up, not only revealing who makes it this year but also which players look to be in good position to make it in the future.
Stay with Talking Chop throughout the day on when and where the announcements will be made and who will officially be elected to the 2022 MLB Hall of Fame class.
Braves News
- While it seems the Freddie Freeman storylines may be recycled content at this point, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic chimed in with his perspective on Monday. While many of the same details from previous reports were discussed, Rosenthal reiterated the Braves did have talks with the Oakland Athletics about first baseman Matt Olson as an alternative to Freeman through trade if Freeman were to sign elsewhere. The main focus from Rosenthal is that a quick resolution could occur for Freeman’s free agency once the offseason resumes.
- If Freeman were to sign elsewhere and Olson winds up not making sense to acquire, Talking Chop looks at how the Braves could turn to Anthony Rizzo as a sensible option at first base.
- Grant McAuley and Cory McCartney dive into what reasonable expectations look like for Charlie Morton in 2022 on the latest edition of Battery Power.
MLB News
- Both the MLBPA and MLB met on Monday to resume negotiations to find a path toward agreement so the baseball offseason, and eventually the 2022 season, can resume. Though nothing significant came from yesterday’s meetings, one small sign of progress is that both sides will meet for a second straight time today.
- While a second day of meetings could be considered a positive, a bit of negative news also seemed to be embraced for the first time on Monday.
Heard MLB owners gave mixed signals about timing of 2022 season. On the one hand, they say they’re hoping to reach a deal on time for a full season.
But in today’s session they also indicated they’re willing to lose games. That was a first for these talks.
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) January 24, 2022
Though the likelihood of a shortened or delayed season remains an unknown, the revelation that this possibility has been acknowledged could mean that it will still be a while before an agreement is reached.
- The Royals signed pitcher Colten Brewer to a minor-league contract.
- Speaking of the Royals, former Kansas City Manager Trey Hillman, who most recently served as the Marlins Bench Coach, joined the Angels Player Development staff.
