The Rundown Lite: Red Sox Have Checked on Hoerner & Shaw, Puerto Rico May Exit WBC, A’s Extend Wilson

As much as I’m looking forward to baseball, I have to admit that it’s really nice to have nothing to do on Saturdays for the time being. The only thing on the calendar is my son’s baseball work in the evenings, but his throwing program has been reduced because they’ve begun early-morning bullpens on Fridays. And while I question the choice to have pitchers and catchers working out at 6am when it’s below zero outside, I do like freeing up Friday afternoons.

I went through it the other day and figured that we have 14-16 hours a week of baseball work, and that doesn’t include games. The pitching program at our travel facility is really strong and has gained recognition among a lot of local athletes, across high school, college, and the pros. One draft prospect was sent there to improve his extension, and others have come in to make similar mechanical tweaks or hone certain pitches. Like the lefty who was drafted out of high school last summer and was trying to figure out his cutter.

His organization had him throwing a slow breaking ball and calling it a cutter, but now it’s a much firmer offering with sharper break. I spent some time talking with him because he went to the same high school as my brother-in-law, which is also near where I grew up. What’s cool is that, just like you’ll see with kids who are throwing from 46 feet, this young man’s dad had his phone out to record the bullpen.

The difference, of course, is that the son in question here was pumping mid-90s gas. Despite all the obvious differences from one pitcher to the next, a common trait you see in guys who throw hard is that they are elite movers who get maximum efficiency out of their bodies. They’re explosive, yet still very smooth. I love being able to see just about every level of the sport on display at the same time, like a living example of baseball evolution.

And now that I’ve spent about 60 minutes distracting myself from this thing, let’s get to it.

• According to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox have “checked in about” both Nico Hoerner and Matt Shaw. The consensus is that nothing is close, and no one believes Hoerner will actually be moved, but a Shaw trade continues to make sense under the right circumstances. Jeff Passan is among those to note the fit between the Cubs and Sox, though he’s skeptical of something actually getting done.
• This would make a lot more sense for the Cubs if they have an extension in place for Hoerner, as that would effectively make Shaw a utility player for several years to come. The same is true for James Triantos and a number of other prospects who work primarily in the infield.
• Though the Cubs have already depleted a farm system ranked no higher than 18th by evaluators, they could still deal from it if the right offer presents itself. If anything, the lack of obvious impact position players on the farm gives them greater impetus to trade a few more players away.
• If the Cubs are really considering a Shaw trade and they want to get maximum value for him, they need to move him before painting him into a corner positionally. Gotta keep that leverage high.
• Due to the denial of medical insurance coverage for several players, Puerto Rico is strongly considering pulling out of the upcoming WBC. Dr. José Quiles, president of the Puerto Rico Baseball Federation, shared his thoughts on the topic with Jay Fonseca.
• “We are considering not participating in this edition [of the WBC],” Quiles explained. “It’s a discussion we’ve already had. If we are not playing under equal conditions, we will not participate. It’s a decision that is almost, almost, made. We are issuing a warning. We’ll see what happens in the coming days and we will make a final decision.”
• I have to think this will be resolved without one of the field’s best squads boycotting.
• As Passan first reported, the A’s and star shortstop Jacob Wilson have agreed to a seven-year, $70 million extension that includes a club option for an eighth year. The 23-year-old finished second to teammate Nick Kurtz in AL Rookie of the Year voting after slashing .311/.355/.444 last season.
• This deal could end up being wildly valuable for the A’s even if Wilson doesn’t develop a little more power, but it’ll be an insane steal if his pop improves. He’s basically Luis Arraez at this point: A contact hitter who is near the bottom of the league in terms of bat speed and hard-hit rate. Only Arraez (62.6) and Steven Kwan (63.7) had slower average swings than Wilson (63.9) last season, so that might be something for Jack’s kid to work on.
• I know a lot of folks will probably take issue with that, seeing as how those players all carry at least a .281 career batting average. But the thing is, Kwan (112) and Arraez (117) aren’t elite offensive producers. Arraez has to bat at least .315 in order to have significant value, and we’ve seen over the past two seasons that he’s merely pedestrian when he’s not hitting everything.
• Among the top 30 batting averages last season, only nine had wRC+ marks lower than Wilson’s 121. Hoerner was one of those with a 109, but what the Cubs second baseman lacks in power, he makes up for elsewhere. One of those areas is speed, where Hoerner has a decided advantage over his colleague. Wilson’s sprint speed is in the 39th percentile, and he only stole five bases as a rookie. That’s more than he stole in any minor league season, so we can be pretty sure he’s not turning into Billy Hamilton in the future.
• The White Sox have signed outfielder Austin Hays to a one-year, $6 million deal that includes a mutual option for 2027.
• As shared by Washington Examiner White House correspondent Christian Datoc, Sammy Sosa apparently showed up in the Epstein Files because he attended a party with ol’ Jeff and friends back in 2005 or ’05. This was brought to my attention by CI’s Jacob Zanolla, but we opted not to craft a whole post around it because *gestures broadly at everything going on* it’s easy to see how the reaction would quickly get out of hand.