Wieters relieved to get deal with Washington
Cubs give reliever Strop juicier contract
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Matt Wieters finally has a new team. One crazy accident turned his free agency into a harrowing experience.
Wieters cut his left wrist when a five-gallon glass water container broke in his garage on Nov. 1, delaying his offseason preparation — and, he thinks, his chance to find a deal.
“It’s tough finding a team when you can’t do anything baseball-related,” Wieters said Friday, when the catcher took batting practice and ran conditioning sprints at spring training with the Washington Nationals after his signing was announced. “They told me I was very lucky that it wasn’t worse than it was.”
Wieters’ contract is worth $10.5 million in 2017, and the 6-foot-5, 230-pound catcher has a player option for another $10.5 million in 2018.
Now Wieters is working on getting up to speed with the pitching staff for the reigning NL East champions.
“There’s definitely enough time,” Wieters said. “As a catcher, I’d love to have as much as possible. Being able to listen (to the pitchers) and how they pitch will help me out a lot.”
General manager Mike Rizzo described Wieters as “a leader in the clubhouse and on the field” for the Baltimore Orioles, the only major league club the fourtime All-Star has played for until now. CUBS: Chicago and reliever Pedro Strop finalized an $11.85 million, two-year contract that includes a club option for 2019.
The deal announced Friday supersedes a $5.5 million, oneyear agreement from earlier this month.
Strop went 2-2 with a 2.85 ERA in 54 appearances last year, helping Chicago win the World Series. CARDINALS: St. Louis signed Cuban outfielder Jose Adolis Garcia to a minor league contract and invited him to their big league spring training camp.
Garcia, the younger brother of Atlanta Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia, was the MVP of Cuba’s top professional league last year and was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball in December. WORLD BASEBALL: Dilson Herrera has inflammation in his right shoulder and will not throw for a couple days, taking the Colombian infielder out of the World Baseball Classic and hurting his chances for making the Cincinnati Reds.
Herrera, who turns 23 next Friday, also experienced shoulder soreness for parts of last season, including during spring training. YANKEES-PHILLIES: Hello there, Aaron Judge.
In Tampa, Fla., the 6-foot-7 Judge belted a solo homer off a scoreboard in left-center field in the fifth inning of the Yankees’ 9-4 victory over Philadelphia on Friday. Didi Gregorius also connected for New York, and touted prospect Clint Frazier hit a tworun triple in the eighth.
GIANTS-REDS: In Scottsdale, Ariz., San Francisco’s Chris Marrero hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth and drove in four runs as the Giants rallied after Madison Bumgarner gave up two runs on two hits in the top of the first of a 6-4 victory. NATIONALS: Last week, Dusty Baker for the first time publicly acknowledged he would like Washington to extend his contract beyond 2017 before the season started.
A week later, nothing has changed. Nationals GM Mike Rizzo has only praised Baker’s work in leading the club to 95 wins last season, but a contract extension has not been offered.