MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP
AP source: Wieters, Nats agree to contract
After waiting and waiting to find a free-agent deal, four-time All-Star catcher Matt Wieters finally found a match with the Washington Nationals. Wieters and the Nationals agreed in principle on a $10.5 million contract for 2017, pending a physical, according to a person familiar with the deal. The contract includes a player option for 2018 worth another $10.5 million, the person said, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Tuesday because nothing had been announced yet. "We just thought that, 'Hey, if we're going to make this move, it's better now, than later in the spring, when he has to go into the season without knowing the pitchers.' And knowing our system and knowing us, there's a lot to learn," Nationals manager Dusty Baker said after his team's workout Tuesday, "because he's coming from the other league." Wieters has played his entire career in the AL with the Baltimore Orioles after being taken with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2007 amateur draft. The defending NL East champion Nationals had opened spring training — the first official full-squad workout was Sunday — with Derek Norris, who batted .186 for the San Diego Padres last season, projected as their starting catcher. Wilson Ramos, an All-Star in 2016, left Washington as a free agent and joined the Tampa Bay Rays. "We signed a guy who obviously struggled to sign with a team," Norris said of Wieters, "and (the Nationals) saw an opportunity where, maybe, they got a cheaper price tag than they initially sought out. He's an established guy." Now the question becomes how this affects Norris, and Baker indicated that it is likely he will be traded. But Baker also noted that "there's a chance" Norris sticks around, because "you don't want to just give him away." As for Norris' take on the situation, he said: "Still trying to earn a job. I'm still going to fight for a starting job. I don't care if it's Pudge Rodriguez in the prime of his career or Yadier (Molina) or Matt Wieters. As of now, I'm still competing for a starting job. I'm trying to help a team win, and whatever transpires, transpires." Baker described Norris as "extremely disappointed, but he realizes that it's a business and we were trying to get better in the position." Wieters, 30, is a switch-hitter, with a .256 career batting average with 117 homers and 437 RBIs over eight seasons.
Royals working through grieving process after Ventura’s death
Nearly a month after losing prized pitcher Yordano Ventura in a car accident, manager Ned Yost has thought about so much through all the pain and grief: What could the Kansas City Royals have possibly done to better support him?
Yost and general manager Dayton Moore have spent hours discussing the loss of Ventura, and Moore had even offered Ventura the option to stay with him in Kansas City.
“It's just tough. It's a tough deal,” Yost said. “We're getting through it, as a group. It's getting a little easier every day.”
At Royals camp this spring, Yost has shared the very sentiment that Ventura's mother did with the Kansas City contingent during its trip for the funeral. He had never seen such pain in the face of his players as he did when Ventura's casket was open. “The message that I gave my boys was the message that Yordano's mom gave us when we were there. It's about learning from this situation, loving your family, just living and leading,” Yost said Tuesday, speaking to The Associated Press during Cactus League media day. “She said, ‘Just lead the younger guys, teach them about this and learn from this situation, be careful who your friends are.' It was tough.” Ventura died Jan. 22 back home in the Dominican Republic, just more than a year after helping the Royals capture a World Series title, while on a stretch of highway near the town of San Adrian. He was 25.