Two ex-players join Jones, Thome on Hall ballot
Chipper Jones and Jim Thome lead a group of 19 newcomers on the ballots for election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame that will be mailed this week to more than 425 members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Jones, the former Atlanta Braves third baseman, and Thome, the longtime first baseman who spent his prime with the Cleveland Indians, are joined by former infielders Omar Vizquel and Scott Rolen and pitchers Jamie Moyer, Chris Carpenter and Kerry Wood.
Former closer Brad Lidge and former first baseman/left fielder Carlos Lee, both ex-Astros, are also among those making their first appearance on the ballot. Players become eligible for Hall of Fame election once they’ve been out of the majors for five seasons. All candidates played in the majors for parts of at least 10 seasons.
Players must appear on 75 percent of the ballots to earn election. Trevor Hoffman, the former San Diego Padres closer who finished five votes shy of election last January, and former outfielder Vladimir Guerrero (71.7 percent) are the top returning vote getters from the 2017 ballot that elected Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez.
Nationals first spring game
The Astros will open spring training games against the Nationals on Feb. 23 in the teams’ shared complex in West Palm Beach.
The Astros plays their last game in Florida on March 25 against the Marlins in Jupiter.
The Astros have not announced their other spring dates — when players report — yet, but MLB released the spring training schedule.
Phillies cutting ties with Appel
Mark Appel, the righthander the Astros selected No. 1 overall in the 2013 draft ahead of Chicago Cubs star third baseman Kris Bryant, was designated for assignment Monday by the Phillies.
The Phillies have seven days to trade Appel or place him on outright waivers. They DFA’d him Monday to clear a 40-man roster spot for another minor leaguer they sought to protect from next month’s Rule 5 draft.
Team trades Laureano to A’s
Rather than add Ramon Laureano to their 40-man roster to protect him from December’s Rule 5 Draft, the Astros traded the righthanded-hitting outfielder to the Oakland Athletics for righthander Brandon Bailey.
Bailey, the A’s sixthround draft pick in 2016, doesn’t yet need to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft and thus wasn’t added to the Astros’ 40-man roster. The A’s added Laureano to their 40-man roster after acquiring him.
The Astros instead used their two open 40-man roster spots to protect lefthander Cionel Perez and righthander Dean Deetz from Rule 5 selection. Any offseason additions will require removing a player from their 40-man roster via outright waivers or a trade.