[GirlySports]

and ton of baseball news, the biggest one is Yankees trading Gary Sanchez for Josh Donaldson + others.

The Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees have made a big, big trade: the Yankees are sending catcher Gary Sánchez and infielder Gio Urshela to Minnesota in exchange for third baseman Josh Donaldson, catcher Ben Rortvedt, and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Kiner-Falefa, you may have seen, was just traded to the Twins the other day from Texas for catcher Mitch Garver.

This is a big one. And not just because it puts Donaldson on the same team as Gerrit Cole, with whom he shares some contentious history.

Donaldson, the 2015 AL MVP, hit .247/.352/.475 (127 OPS+) with 26 doubles, 26 homers, 72 RBI, 73 runs and 3.2 WAR in 135 games for the Twins last season. While he’s past his peak and has had a number of injuries in recent years, he’s still a big bat and a strong defender who will join Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the heart of the Yankees’ lineup. He’s still owed $50 million over the next two seasons. The Yankees are taking all of that money on.

Sánchez, once thought to be a future superstar, is a three-time All-Star but his inconsistency and his poor defending have tried the patience of Yankees coaches and Yankees fans. His last couple of seasons at the plate have been pretty poor. A lot of people have said that he’s the kind of guy who could use a change of scenery. Now he gets in in Minnesota where he’ll join Ryan Jeffers behind the plate, replacing the aging and oft-injuried Garver, who is now with the Rangers.

Other news from Craig Calcaterra

Spoiler!

Dodgers sign Clayton Kershaw
Legacy trumps a shorter commute, as Clayton Kershaw inked a one-year, $17 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. There had been much speculation that Kershaw was thinking about signing with his hometown Texas Rangers, but in the end he decided to stay with the only organization he’s ever known.

Kershaw is no longer the perennial Cy Young candidate he once was, but he’s still a more-than-solid pitcher when healthy. Last year he went 10-8 and posted a 3.55 ERA over 121.2 innings with his typical peripherals, but injuries really took their toll, with an elbow injury causing him to go on the shelf at the end of the season and miss the playoffs.

Giants sign Carlos Rodón
The San Francisco Giants have signed lefty starter Carlos Rodón to a two-year $44 million deal. He’ll make $21.15 million in 2022 and he has an opt-out after the season. If he declines to exercise it he’ll make $22.5 million in 2023.

Rodón was outstanding in 2021, going 13-5 with a sparking 2.37 ERA (183 ERA+) with 185 strikeouts and only 36 walks in 132.2 innings while finishing fifth in the Cy Young balloting. For the Giants he replaces the departing Kevin Gausman at the top of the rotation. The move had got to be a welcome one for Rodón as far as ballpark goes, given that Oracle Park was the least friendly home run park in the majors last season, while the White Sox’ park is pretty hitter-friendly.

Nelson Cruz signs with the Nationals
Nelson Cruz and the Washington Nationals have agreed to one-year, $12 million deal with a mutual option for 2023 that includes a $3 million buyout, so it’s basically a $15 million deal. The Nats are Cruz’s seventh team, but his first NL team. Made possible, of course, by the new CBA which puts the DH in the National League.

Cruz, who will turn 42 this season, hit .265/.334/.497 (130 OPS+) with 32 homers and 86 RBI in 584 plate appearances between the Twins and Rays. He’s sitting at 449 career homers right now, which puts him at 40th on the all-time list. If he and the Nats pick up his 2023 option he’ll have a shot at 500 dingers for his career.

Athletics trade Chris Bassitt to the Mets
The Mets’ already strong rotation got stronger over the weekend as they acquired starter Chris Bassitt from the Oakland A’s in exchange for righty prospects J.T. Ginn and Adam Oller.

Bassitt, 33, was 12-4 with a 3.15 ERA (130 ERA+) across 152.1 innings for Oakland in 2021, while making the All-Star team and finishing 10th in the AL Cy Young balloting. Over the past four seasons he’s got a 3.23 ERA (129 ERA+) across 412 innings. An ace in Oakland, in New York he’ll slot behind Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer alongside Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker. Not too bad, folks.

In Ginn the A’s get a 22 year-old former first-rounder who reached High-A in his first professional season last year . Oller, 27, was originally a 20th-round choice by the Pirates in 2016. He's spent five seasons in the minors as a swingman. Ginn is clearly the longer-term prize there for the A’s, but with Oakland’s fire sale and presumed cellar-dwelling over the next couple of years, Oller’s arm could be useful.

Reds trade Sonny Gray to the Twins
The Minnesota Twins have acquired starter Sonny Gray and right-handed prospect Francis Peguero from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Minnesota’s 2021 first-round draft pick, righty Chase Petty.

Gray, 32, went 7-9 with a 4.19 ERA (114 ERA+) in 26 starts last year. He’s posted a 136 ERA+ in his last three seasons with the Reds while striking out 10.6 batters per nine innings. He’s signed through the 2022 season for $10 million. The Twins will hold a club option worth $12 million on his services in 2023.

Peguero, 24, appeared in 28 games with the Reds' High-A affiliate last season. Petty, who won’t turn 19 until next month, is a hard-throwing righty, who threw five innings in rookie ball after signing as the 26th overall pick last year. He throws hard as hell but he’s young and young, hard-throwers will either break your heart or take a long time to develop, so we’ll see.

Blue Jays sign Yusei Kikuchi
The Toronto Blue Jays’ rotation is already pretty dang solid, what with Hyun-Jin Ryu, José Berríos, Kevin Gausman, Alek Manoah, and Ross Stripling hanging around, but they added another arm by signing free agent Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year, $36 million contract. The deal will pay him $16 million in 2022 and $10 million in both 2023 and 2024.

Kikuchi, 30, became a free agent after declining a $13 million player option with the Seattle Mariners following last season. Which seemed a bit risky given that he cratered pretty badly in the second half last year, but the bet on himself paid off. The Blue Jays are betting that they’re getting something more like the first-half version of Kikuchi, who posted a 3.48 ERA and a 98/34 K/BB ratio across 98.1 innings in 16 starts while making the All-Star team, as opposed to the second-half Kikuchi, who posted a 5.98 ERA and saw his strikeout rate plummet while getting shuffled to the bullpen.

That unevenness has been par for the course in Kikuchi’s three seasons in the majors. I suppose the Jays are the best place for him, though. I mean, Robbie Ray was all over the place before coming to Toronto and they straightened him out. Or, at the very least, they provided a decent environment in which he could straighten himself out. Maybe there’s special sauce there. Maybe lightning doesn’t strike twice. Maybe Kikuchi, who saw his spin rates drop precipitously after last season’s foreign-substance crackdown, has . . . other issues. I dunno, but we’ll soon find out.

The Phillies sign Jeurys Familia
The Phillies have signed reliever Jeurys Familia to a one-year, $6 million deal. It could run as high as $7 million with incentives.

Familia, 32, has 125 career saves over the course of his career, but he’s been pretty erratic over the past few seasons. He was pretty respectable last year, though, and did see his strikeout rates rebound after a couple of campaigns in which it had dropped. For now he’ll be behind Corey Knebel on the depth chart, but he’s another late-inning option for Joe Girardi. And God knows he could use as many options as he can get given how the Philly pen has gone over the past couple of years.

Other Signings
There were a lot more signings than just those:

The Rangers have signed starter Martín Pérez to a one-year, $4 million deal. Pérez, who came up with Texas and pitched for them from 2012 through 2018, was basically a league-average pitcher over 114 innings with Boston last year;

Adam Ottavino has agreed to a one-year, $4 million contract with the Mets. Ottavino posted a 4.21 ERA out of the Red Sox' bullpen last season while striking out 10.31 batters per nine innings. He kills righties but is vulnerable to lefties;

The Astros have signed Niko Goodrum to a one-year, $2.1 million contract with some incentives. Goodrum could, potentially, take over shortstop if Carlos Correa signs elsewhere, but he’s a super utility guy, really, capable of playing all over the place;

The Rockies have agreed to a one-year contract with free agent right-hander Alex Colome. Financial details are as yet unknown. Colome was terrible in the first half last year but rebounded in the second half. He’s probably more relevant to fantasy players than anything else, though, as someone will have to get save chances in Colorado, so why not him?

The White Sox signed Josh Harrison to one-year, $5.5 million deal with a club option or a $1.5 million buyout for 2023. Harrison, 34, hit .279/.341/.400 with eight homers and 60 RBI in 558 plate appearances with the Athletics and Nationals in 2021. He’ll probably be the Sox’ starting second baseman in 2022;

The White Sox have also agreed to a two-year contract with reliever Joe Kelly. The financial terms are not yet known. Kelly, 33, posted a 2.86 ERA and a 50/15 K/BB ratio over 44 innings with the Dodgers in 2021. And he’s yet another weapon for Tony La Russa who now has Kelly, Liam Hendriks, Craig Kimbrel, Kendall Graveman, Aaron Bummer and Garrett Crochet in a pretty loaded bullpen;

The Rockies signed shortstop José Iglesias to a one-year, $5 million deal. I’d say this means that Trevor Story is, officially, not re-signing with Colorado, but the odds of that ever happening were always zero, so bother. Iglesias hit .271/.309/.391 with nine homers with 48 RBI in 511 plate appearances between the Angels and Red Sox last year;

The Angels have signed catcher Kurt Suzuki to a one-year, $1.75 million contract. He played for the Halos last year too, hitting .224/.294/.342 with six homers in 247 plate appearances while backing up Max Stassi;

The Cardinals signed righty Drew VerHagen to a two-year, $5.5 million contract. VerHagen, 31, pitched in Japan for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters over the past two years, posting a 3.49 ERA and 216/62 K/BB ratio across 208.2 frames. In his last go-around in the States he posted a 5.11 ERA and 156/75 K/BB ratio over 199 innings for the Tigers from 2014-19. There’s a chance he could start for the Cards, but he’ll probably be a swingman;

The Orioles signed righty Jordan Lyles to a one-year, $5.5 million contract with an option for 2023. This deal was done before the lockout but not announced until the weekend. If they mentioned it back in December I have completely forgotten it. Hell, I had forgotten that Javier Báez had signed with Detroit until yesterday. The lockout messed with me man. Anyway, Lyles started 30 games for the Rangers last year and led the league in home runs and earned runs allowed, so that’s something;

The Diamondbacks have agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million contract with righty Ian Kennedy;

The Brewers have re-signed reliever Brad Boxberger to a one-year, $2.5 million contract;

The Cubs have signed shortstop Andrelton Simmons to a one-year $4 million contract plus incentives. Simmons has always been a glove-first player, but he hit a crappy .223/.283/.274 over 451 plate appearances with the Twins last season, and even Simmons’ glove — which ain’t quite what it once was — is not enough to cover that. For what it’s worth, Jon Heyman, who broke the news of this deal, said that this signing will not preclude the Cubs from pursuing a bigger name free agent shortstop, so figure that Simmons could, theoretically anyway, be a super utilityman or something; and

The Nationals signed free agent right-hander Steve Cishek to a one-year $1.75 million contract. Cishek, 35, posted a 3.42 ERA and 64/41 K/BB ratio across 68.1 innings for the Angels last season.