Ralph Freso/Getty ImagesIn a widely expected move
Mike Napoli Jersey , the Arizona Diamondbacks picked up the $14.5 million club option for first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, MLB.com's Steve Gilbert reported
Monday.Goldschmidt averaged .290 and slugged .533 while posting 33 home runs and
83 RBI in 2018. His 5.1 WAR ranked 18th among MLB position players, per
FanGraphs.Picking up Goldschmidt's option was a no-brainer for Arizona.
According to Spotrac, he'll be theninth-highest-paidfirst baseman in baseball
along with Matt Carpenter next season. Goldschmidt's salary is a bargain
relative to his production.The big question is whether the Diamondbacks look to
cash in on Goldschmidt's trade value before he hits free agency in 2020.After
notching 93 victories and reaching the National League Division Series in 2017,
Arizona went 82-80 in 2018. The team finished 9.5 games back of the NL West
champion Los Angeles Dodgers and 8.5 games out of the last wild-card spot.The
franchise may be trending downward next year, especially considering it could
lose A.J. Pollock and Patrick Corbin as free agents this winter.In September,
general manager Mike Hazen didn't say one way or the other whether the
Diamondbacks might start tearing down their roster this offseason, perNick
Piecoroof theArizona Republic:"I don't have an answer for that right now.There's
obviously a myriad of avenues and realities that we're going to talk through. We
have a solid core of talent on this team and for the majority of the season
we've been in first place. We're going to start [in] the next few weeks to
really [assess] where we stand. I think that will dictate what happens
next."Even though he's entering the final year of his contract, trading
Goldschmidt would likely mean receiving a top prospect or two to get a rebuild
underway.Of course, the Diamondbacks could trigger a long-term rebuilding plan
and re-sign Goldschmidt anyway
Carlos Baerga Jersey , using him as a veteran leader much like how the Cincinnati Reds lean on Joey Votto. Piecoro speculated Goldschmidt might prefer
to stay in Arizona rather than leave for a bigger market.Locking Goldschmidt in
for 2019 was the easy part for Hazen and the Diamondbacks front office. The hard
part is deciding what to do next. CINCINNATI (AP) — Talk about finishing with a
flourish.Rookie Heath Fillmyer struck out a career-high nine, collected his
first major league hit and run batted in, and the Kansas City Royals wrapped up
their road schedule with a 6-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday
night.The only run Fillmyer allowed was Jose Peraza’s 14th homer in the first
inning. Fillmyer (4-2) retired 11 straight batters in one stretch against a
Cincinnati team that has scored three or fewer runs in 13 of its last 14
games.“My curveball was working well against lefties, and I had a real nice
slider against righties,” Fillmyer said. “I was able to keep them
off-balance.”He allowed four hits and two walks while tying his career high with
7 1/3 innings.“He threw the ball well,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He
spotted it well and changed speeds well. He did a nice job of executing the game
plan. When he makes a mistake lately, they don’t seem to hurt him. He was down
in the zone and changed speeds.”Fillmyer also chipped in to the Kansas City
offense with a sixth-inning RBI double.“If I missed that one, I was never going
to get a hit,” he said. “It was right down the middle. It was nice to get the
monkey off my back.”Adalberto Mondesi tripled, scored two runs and stole two
bases to spark the Kansas City offense. Whit Merrifield
Yonder Alonso Jersey , who went into the game tied for the American League lead in hits and leading in stolen bases, extended his season-high hitting
streak to 16 games with a third-inning single. He also stole two bases.Alex
Gordon tacked on a solo home run to help Kansas City to a third straight win and
fourth in its last five games.The Royals finished with a 26-55 road record. They
need one win in their last four games to avoid matching their single-season
record of 106 losses, set in 2005.The Reds have lost five straight games, all to
teams with worse records, and six of their last seven. Cincinnati’s offensive
struggles date to the start of a 10-game road trip in Chicago on Sept. 14.“We
may have looked flat because we didn’t get a lot of hits and there was no
activity, but we have been doing all our preparations before the games and
trying to finish strong,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “Since Chicago, we haven’t
got good results. We didn’t score a lot of runs in Chicago either, but we had
better at-bats.”After lasting six innings in his previous start, a win at
Miami
http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-jose-ramirez-jersey , Reds starter Cody Reed (1-3) could manage just 3 2/3, giving up six hits and
three runs with two walks and two strikeouts.“I wasn’t as sharp,” Reed said. “I
didn’t have the back-foot slider to righties that I had the last two games. I
rushed myself a little warming up before the game, but I felt fine.”40-40
MANMerrifield is the first player since Houston’s Jose Altuve in 2014 with at
least 40 doubles and 40 stolen bases in the same season. The only other Royal
with that combination is Johnny Damon in 2000.CHANGEUPRHP Michael Lorenzen (3-2)
now is scheduled to start Cincinnati’s game on Saturday against the Pirates.
Sunday could be a bullpen day with RHP Sal Romano (8-11) starting, Riggleman
said.ELUSIVE WINThe Reds lost their last seven interleague games to finish 10-10
against AL teams. They fell one win short of matching their single-season record
for interleague wins. Kansas City finished 6-14 against NL teams.UP NEXTRoyals:
RHP Glenn Sparkman (0-3) makes his fourth start in the opener of a
season-ending, four-game series against division champion Cleveland.Reds: RHP
Anthony DeSclafani (7-7), originally scheduled to start on Saturday, was moved
up to start Friday against Pittsburgh in place of RHP Luis Castillo, who was
shut down for the season.
