Baseball this 'n' that

After re-signing Stephen Strasburg to a 7 year deal, the Washington Nationals decided to let their best clutch hitter last season, Anthony Rendon, leave via free agency. Bad idea.

Rendon is heading west to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, also for 7 years, to the tune of $245 million, or, $35 million per season. The Angels get a much needed power bat to complement Mike Trout and, assuming he'll still be there next season, Albert Pujols. The Nats, and the rest of the NL East, will see the Angels in 2020, as the NL East meets the AL West.
==================================
The Mets brought back relief pitcher Brad Brach after a stellar run down the stretch, but now, they've added a pair of starting pitchers in the last 24 hours.

First, they signed former Cy Young winner Rick Porcello away from Boston on a 1 year deal. Same goes for Michael Wacha, who comes over from St. Louis, which treated him like they were asking, what have you done for us lately, due to injury issues and ineffectiveness. Expect to hear a lot of this at Citi Field in 2020:



Remember those Fozzie posters during Wacha's rookie campaign in 2015? The unimaginative fans in Flushing will create some new ones, especially if Wacha, tenatively penciled in as the #5 starter to replace Zack Wheeler (Philadelphia), gets off to a fast start.
=========================================
Over in the Bronx, the Yankees won the Gerrit Cole sweepstakes, which means they'll be lining Scott Boras' wallet with the commission he gets from a 9 year, $324 million dollar deal ($36 million/year), with an opt out after the 5th year. Cole immediately becomes the Yankees' ace, filling a void created by the retirement of CC Sabathia, and relieving pressure on Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka.

On the other hand, they've found a permanent role for Gleyber Torres, as he replaces Didi Gregorius as the starting shortstop. Gregorius is headed to Philadelphia, which already has Jean Segura, who reportedly will shift to second base next season with Cesar Hernandez gone (non-tendered). What the Phillies did was get some offensive protection for Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins, as if they really needed it, with the pitching staff they had.

And there's some bad news for the Phillies, as former ace Cole Hamels returns to the NL East, having signed a free agent deal with Atlanta after spending last season with the Cubs.

You can imagine the so-called experts are already looking at Washington & Philadelphia going 1-2 next season, but don't forget the Braves & Mets, I say. Everyone thought, except moi, that the Phillies would win with Harper, but that didn't happen, and they collapsed late in the season.

This is why they will play the games.