Jake Odorizzi was linked to the Mets last winter, though in a recent podcast appearance alongside former Twins teammate — and current Met — Trevor May on The Chris Rose Rotation, Odorizzi indicated that the team’s initial interest was generated by team president Sandy Alderson. (Mike Puma of the New York Post has an account of Odorizzi’s comments.) Once Jared Porter was hired as the Mets’ GM, however, the interest dissipated, and the situation didn’t reignite after Zack Scott took over the job after Porter’s resignation. “Early on, I thought I was going to be a member of a certain team, then some people took over that team and they pretty much hated me, so it fell through. It was Trevor’s team,” Odorizzi said.
Odorizzi reportedly drew interest from several teams beyond only the Mets, but he didn’t end up finding a new club until early March, when he signed a two-year deal with the Astros worth $23.5MM in guaranteed money. The long wait didn’t sit well with the right-hander, who described his free agent stint as “the single most frustrating time I’ve had in baseball. At certain points you think you are going to be a member of a certain team and then it falls through or whatever maybe and it’s like, ’All right, now what?’ And it’s March and I am still sitting at the house. It’s like, ’What the hell is going on right now?’ ”
More from around the baseball world…
- X-rays were negative on Buster Posey’s left elbow after the Giants catcher was hit by a pitch during the seventh inning of tonight’s game with the Marlins. Posey remains on the basepaths after being hit, but was replaced by Curt Casali at catcher in the bottom half of the inning. Manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including NBC Sports Bay Area’s Marcus White) that Posey suffered an elbow contusion. Casali was already likely to start tomorrow’s game, though if Posey needs a bit of recovery time short of an proper IL stint, the Giants might have to call up Chadwick Tromp or Joey Bart so they aren’t shorthanded behind the plate.
- Tigers manager A.J. Hinch provided Chris McCosky of the Detroit News and other reporters with some updates on injured players. Miguel Cabrera (left biceps strain) will be on the injured list beyond the 10-day minimum, as Hinch said the veteran slugger wouldn’t be available for the Tigers’ series with the Pirates from April 20-22. However, Cabrera is making progress with baseball activities, taking grounders and hitting in an indoor batting cage. Hinch said the plan is for Cabrera to take on-field BP during that Pirates series, “and once he does that for a few days, then we will make an assessment on what’s next for him after that….We’re going to go series by series with him.” As for Nomar Mazara, the Tigers outfielder hit the 10-day IL last Thursday due to a left abdominal strain. Hinch also expects Mazara’s IL stint to last beyond 10 days, estimating “a couple of weeks” but noting that the nature of the injury makes it difficult to project a specific timeline.
- Yoshi Tsutsugo is off to a rough start, with only a .154/.214/.179 slash line over his first 43 plate appearances of the season. This performance has already cost Tsutsugo playing time, and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wonders if it might lead the Rays to part ways with Tsutsugo altogether, maybe as soon as May when Ji-Man Choi is off the injured list. It would essentially be a punt on the $7MM salary Tsutsugo is owed this season, and while the low-payroll Rays would be loath to eat that much money, Topkin writes that “the Rays may decide Tsutsugo is a lost cause.” The terms of Tsutsugo’s two-year, $12MM contract prevent him from being sent to the minors without his permission. Tsutsugo was pretty average (98 wRC+, 99 OPS+) over 158 PA in his first Major League season in 2020, with the obvious caveats that he had to deal with the pandemic on top of the difficulties of adjusting to a new league.