According to NBC Sports the Oakland Athletics aquired Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar from the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays got catcher John Jason, minor league shortstop Daniel Robertson, and Boog Powell. Zobrist is a big name he will play second base for the Athletics, but will likely play other positions,such as outfield. Zobrist is set to make 7.5 million this year and will be a free agent after this year. Escobar singed for the next two seasons, at five million and seven million, with a club option for 2017.
According to CBS Sports John Heyman the Yankees amd Stephen Drew have agreed to a one year five million dollar deal, plus incentives that could bring the total to 6-7million. Drew has played 1,021 games in his nine year career. Hitting .256 with 97 home runs and 442 RBIs he will play most of the season at second base for the Yankees. Stephen Drew played for the Redsox in 2013 and helped them win a World Series. He hit .253 in 124 games that year. Last year Drew hit just .162 with seven home runs and 26 RBIs combined with Boston and New York.
For the first time since 1965 baseball writers selected four players in one year. Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and Craig Biggio. Randy Johnson was a five time Cy Young winner, with 303 victories and 4,875 strikeouts. He got 97.3 percent of the vote by the Baseball Writers o America. It was the eighth highest in the history of voting. Pedro Martinez deserved to be in the Hall as well. He had a great career most with the Redsox. He was a three time Cy Young winner he was on 91.1 percent of the ballots. Pedro was 219-100 struck out 3,154 batters and let the Majors in ERA five times. He also led the Redsox to end the 86 year curse in 2004 of a World Championship. John Smoltz was picked on 82.9 percent of the ballots. He was the 1996 Cy Young winner he was 213-155 and 154 saves. He went 15-4 in the postseason. He joins Tom Galvine and Greg Maddox who were inducted last year. Craig Biggio 3,060 hits in 20 seasons with the Houston Astros. Mike Piazza fell 28 percent short, Clemens received 37.5 percent and Bonds 36.8 percent. All did not make it but those that did will be inducted in Copperstown on July 26th.
The 2015 MLB Hall of Fame will be introduced Tuesday at 2PM. This years ballot is the most intresting because it has some questionable names on it like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds. The pitchers John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez all deserve to be in the Hall. The question though is should players that took PEDs should be able to be inducted into Baseball's Hall Of Fame. There are many names that are in question like I said before but the two biggest names are Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, both great players but were involved in the PED scandal. There are many clean players on the list Pedro Martinez,Randy Johnson, John Smoltz all deserve to be in because they didn't cheat there way to get there.
According to Nick Carfardo of the Boston Globe The Cubs are one of seven teams that have shown interest in James Shields. The Redsox, Angels, Dodgers, Rangers, Blue Jays, Giants and the Cubs are the seven teams in on Shields. Shields and new Cubs Manager Joe Maddon have a connection in Tampa Bay. Shields pitched for Maddon from 2006 -2012 and posted a 87-73 record, in 218 games 217 starts with a 3.89 ERA. In his last year with Tampa he struck out 1,250 batters while allowing 1,439 hits, with 340 walks. James Shields was second on the Cubs list if they didn't sign Jon Lester. The Cubs just singed Lester probably as the number one starter if they sign Shields as the number two starter it will be fun to watch. Shields turned 33 in December and turned down the Kansas City Royals offer so it may be a reunion for Joe Maddon and James Shields.