HBT Weekend Wrap

So hey, you catch the game last night? This giant dude in spandex pants totally threw a ball made of dead pork skin at another dude in shiny pants and then he ran super fast across a bunch of painted lines while more shiny-pant-wearing dudes chased him and leapt for his glistening spandex buttocks until he eventually crossed this other line which is apparently magical and makes the crowd stand up, bump chests, and clink bud-lights with each other. PIGGERS ARE NUMBER ONE! PIGGERS ARE GONNA GO ALL THE WAY THIS YEAR!*

At least that’s what I took from yesterday. Maybe I’m just not getting it. Oh well.

I continue to not believe that someone not only took Vernon Wells and his contract, but that someone actually sent valuable players back to Toronto for him. It’s always possible that Wells wins the Triple Crown this year and carries the Angels to a world title, but really: is there any trade that, at the time it happened, looked worse than this one?
Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon are now Rays. Pfun Pfact: Jeff Francoeur will make more money in 2011 than Manny will. Chew on that one for a while.
There is on and off talk about Vlad Guerrero going to Baltimore. I’m not sure where else he would go, really.
The Blue Jays have close to zero in salary obligations for 2012. Pujols! Pujols! Pujols! (sorry, just trying to rile up Cardinals fans).
Sparky Anderson’s number is going to be retired by the Tigers. Better late than never.
This says it all about the Jays-Angels trade.
Nolan Ryan predicts 90 wins for the Rangers. 50 of them will come against the Angels, I gather.
Pro Tip: when a casino tells you to leave, you had better leave.
Some great personal musings by our own Drew Silva.
Papelbon is apparently on the block. Before Friday I would have said that his contract made him untradeable, but we now know that no contract is untradeable.

Kind of a short list, but the rest of the weekend news involved some tepid Armando Galarraga trade rumors and some random arbitration-avoiding signings. Not the kind of stuff that excites a man. Oh well. Pitchers and catchers report in three weeks. We can tough it out until then, right?

*This, of course, comes from the greatest cartoon ever written about working at home.

Free agent lefty reliever Aaron Loup has been given a locker in the Padres’ clubhouse, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reported Sunday. Per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, Loup received a one-year MLB deal with a club option for 2020. The Padres will shift right-hander Garrett Richards to the 60-day injured list to make room on the 40-man roster.

Loup, 31, began the 2018 season with the Blue Jays and was traded to the Phillies for minor league right-hander Jacob Waguespack at the midseason deadline. The veteran left-hander pitched just two innings in Philadelphia before hitting the injured list with a forearm strain and returned for a handful of appearances at the end of the year, bringing him up to a 4.54 ERA, 3.2 BB/9, 10.0 SO/9, and 0.3 fWAR across 39 2/3 combined innings.

Assuming health issues don’t complicate his next campaign in San Diego, Loup will be added to the bullpen alongside fellow left-handers Matt Strahm and José Castillo (with the possible late addition of southpaw reliever Brad Wieck, who underwent surgery for testicular cancer earlier this year). There are worse places to be — according to FanGraphs, the Padres’ ‘pen jumped from second-worst in 2017 to second-best in the league with a cumulative 3.53 ERA, 3.31 FIP, and 8.7 fWAR in 2018.