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The robo-umps have arrived. Plus: The drama in Boston took off after our last edition, we get you ready for fantasy baseball and Ken has thoughts on the Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. I'm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!
At 1:05 p.m. Mountain time today, history will be made: The Cubs and Dodgers will play the first big-league game featuring the new ABS (automated ball-strike system). We've known it's coming for a while now (that link is from July), but here we are.
Well, sort of. It is only spring training -- the technology won't hit the regular season until at least next year. But how will it work? Jayson Stark has a top-to-bottom explainer on what to expect, but here are a couple of takeaways:
Each team will get two ball-strike challenges per game. If the ruling goes in their favor, they'll keep that challenge. (So basically: Teams will get two wrong challenges per game and infinite correct ones.)
There are two big differences between this system and the replay system used for other plays (tags, out-safe calls, etc):
One other previously unforeseen casualty could be the "K-Zone" boxes you see on TV broadcasts during a game, for reasons I hadn't even considered. Here's a quote from Morgan Sword, MLB's executive VP of baseball operations:
"Then there's a secondary issue, which is cheating. There are monitors, big-screen televisions all over our ballparks that display the feed of the game. And it wouldn't be that hard if this box was up there for fans or anybody to yell to the players, right?"
I'm super fascinated to see how it works, and if there are any other loopholes or competitive advantages we haven't considered yet.
From my recent column:
The Blue Jays' failure to sign first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a contract extension should come as no surprise. For the past six years, the Jays have committed one misstep after another in trying to build a long-term relationship with their four-time All-Star.
Guerrero is set to become a free agent at the end of the season after he and the Jays could not reach an agreement before his deadline of Tuesday, the date of the team's first full-squad workout. While he left open the possibility he will re-sign with Toronto, he would reach the open market entering his age-27 season, at a time when the New York Mets and New York Yankees are among the clubs that might pursue a first baseman.
Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins told reporters Tuesday the team "worked very hard" to retain Guerrero. But as club president Mark Shapiro put it, "when it comes to getting a deal done, it's either done or not done." Neither executive was willing to disclose specifics of the negotiations.
The Jays, under previous GM Alex Anthopoulos, signed Guerrero out of the Dominican Republic at age 16. Their next step, if they fall out of contention, could be to trade him at the deadline. More likely, they will lose him in free agency.
Either outcome would be a harsh blow for a fan base that grew to adore Guerrero as a homegrown star, then watched the Jays miss on Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto and other top free agents the past two offseasons. But the relationship between Guerrero and the Jays' current front office rarely has been easy.
The Jays planned to manipulate Guerrero's service time at the outset of his career, took him to a salary arbitration hearing in 2024 and over the years made him a series of extension offers he deemed insufficient. Those offers, according to a source briefed on Guerrero's history with the club, failed to acknowledge shifting dynamics in the market. By reacting more promptly to those dynamics, the Jays likely could have locked up Guerrero years ago for much less than he sought in recent weeks.
More here.
I really try to avoid repeating sections in back-to-back Windups, but after Monday's edition explaining why third base in Boston was such a topic of conversation, the story got way more dramatic.
First of all, Rafael Devers spoke to the media and said, in no uncertain terms, that he does not want to DH -- or play anywhere else that isn't third base. As Jen McCaffrey writes here, it was just a year ago when Devers made headlines by saying Red Sox ownership needed to invest more money to bring in top-tier players. They did that, but one of them just so happens to play Devers' position. Whoops.
For his part, Alex Bregman did his best to avoid further inflaming the drama, giving the "right" answer: He would play second base, or anywhere, really.
But then first baseman Triston Casas poured a little more gasoline on the fire by unequivocally taking a side, saying, "I think it's Raffy Devers' position, I think he's the third baseman. ... He doesn't know any other position. He doesn't want to play any other position. And he's going to fight for it, even if it's with any of the younger guys, any new guy. I mean, I think he's the best third baseman in the league."
Look, this is Boston's problem, not mine, but it does feel relevant to just point out one more time: Bregman won the AL third base Gold Glove last year. Devers has led AL third basemen in errors every year since 2018 and has led all third basemen in errors five times.
As Steve Buckley points out: Devers has earned the right to his opinion. But there's no question whose defense would benefit the team more.
Tangentially related: Nine-time All Star Jose Altuve is playing a lot of left field for the Astros in spring training; enough to think that it might be a full-time position change. So. There's that.
It's draft season, baby. Bragging rights and embarrassing dares are at stake here, so lock in: We're going to get you ready for draft day.