Morning Rundown: Dave Parker elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Winter Meetings kicks off with some Hall of Fame news
On Sunday, former Pittsburgh Pirates Dave Parker was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Classic Baseball Era committee.
Parker played 11 seasons with the Pirates, winning the MVP in 1978 after hitting .334/.394/.585 with 30 home runs, 117 RBI, and 20 stolen bases.
During his time with the Pirates, Parker hit .305/.353/.494 with 166 home runs in 1301 games. He hit a total of 339 home runs during his career.
He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 27 with Dick Allen and the rest of the class, which will be announced on January 21.
Juan Soto surpassed Shohei Ohtani for the biggest contract in the history of the sport after signing a 15-year deal with the New York Mets worth $765 million.
It was around five teams that seemed to be in the running for Soto but it also seemed like one of the New York teams were the favorite. After playing for the Yankees this past season, he will now switch to the Mets.
Ohtani’s deal was worth $700 million last offseason with the Dodgers, and it seemed over the last couple of days Soto was going to surpass that.
He did and now has the largest contract in baseball history.
At 26 years old, Soto is just entering his prime, which has him well on the way to becoming a Hall of Famer. He hit a career-high 41 home runs in 2024 and has 201 so far through seven seasons in the bigs.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed outfielder Michael Conforto to a contract, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The deal is worth $17 million over one year.
Conforto, 31, hit .237/.309/.450 with 20 home runs and 66 RBI with the San Francisco Giants last year. He put up a 112 wRC+ and 1.3 fWAR in 130 games. He put up reverse splits, hitting much better against lefties than against righties.
MLB.com looked at each team’s biggest need going into the Winter Meetings. Here’s a look at what they had for each NL Central team:
Pirates: Corner Outfield
Cubs: Bullpen Depth
Cardinals: Thump from the Outfield positions
Brewers: Infield
Reds: Corner Outfield/Offense
After non-tendering Bryan De La Cruz and Connor Joe, it’s no surprise that corner outfield is the biggest need for the Pirates right now.
The Pirates have signed right-handed pitcher Tanner Rainey to a minor league contract that comes with an invite to major league spring training.
It was first reported by Aram Leighton of Just Baseball.
Rainey pitched for the Washington Nationals this past season, posting a 4.76 ERA with 44 strikeouts and 29 walks in 51 innings pitched.
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Watching NFL Game Day and a few minutes ago they posted a short list of teams in professional leagues who have the longest absence from the playoffs - the Pirates were in there at 9 years. One of the guys says "the Pirates, I thought they were really good?" The other guy says "no, they had a pitcher by the name of Paul Skenes who was really good last year, but the Pirates have not been very good".
Sign Pete Alonso. Trade Keller for corner OF and bullpen. This fills major holes while making the team more balanced. Creates a spot in OF rotation for Bubba. Is financially palatable for BN.
Zero chance it ever happens for a number of reasons.