Who likes high school baseball?
The offseason has reached its “international signings” era, which means the big news of the week is teams reaching agreements with 16-year-olds you’ve never heard of in all your days. Roki Sasaki’s presence in the worldwide market — despite the near certainty that he agrees to terms with the Los Angeles Dodgers — is the closest thing to a known commodity that the IFA pool usually sees.
For those of us still residing in divisions like the American League Central, we have to be content with the 16-year-olds.
- Let’s start with Cris Rodriguez, a Dominican power bat who is locked in with the Detroit Tigers for a $3.2 million signing bonus.
Detroit Tigers with their big international signing today, Dominican outfielder Cris Rodriguez for $3.2 million.https://t.co/aCRAKA5LSP pic.twitter.com/3eqyrWGt1F
— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) January 15, 2025
- It came out this week that the Ishbia brothers — the only names publicly linked to the impending sale of the Minnesota Twins — have a minority stake in the Chicago White Sox. If they won the bid for our franchise, they’d have to sell their stake, but I thought it was an interesting detail that had previously gone unreported. The brothers got in on the game in 2021, meaning they’ve been at least marginally invested in baseball for about four years already.
- Our friends at Royals Review have the minor-league coaching staff updates for Kansas City, featuring highlights like Rusty Kuntz’s son (the more reasonably-named Kevin).
- In addition to acquiring 25 new minor-leaguers with their international money, the Cleveland Guardians also sent some of their own IFA cash reserves — as well as Myles Straw and some cash from other sources — to the Toronto Blue Jays, in exchange for a player to be named later.
Guardians are sending Myles Straw, international pool $$ and cash to the Blue Jays for a player to be named later
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) January 17, 2025
- Finally, after months (years, even) of leaks and speculation, the successor to the Nintendo Switch — the Nintendo Switch 2 — was finally confirmed as a “real thing” in a stealth-dropped (though highly-predicted) presentation on Thursday. While a dedicated Direct is scheduled for early April, the silent two-minute trailer unveiled the name and design for the new console, while also teasing the next entry in the Mario Kart series.
Huh?
Relevance to baseball?
Know what, guys? I wouldn’t worry about it.