MLB Betting News on This Week’s Gossip

Posted by Alex Murphy on Tuesday,June 16, 2015 5:54, EDT in

We’re about a month away from the MLB All-Star game – can you believe how many Royals would be starting for the American League if voting ended today? Some of you MLB betting fans for other teams need to start voting too – seriously.

As teams start to decide whether they are buying or selling, here are some of the latest rumors to emerge from the senior and junior circuit. The Tampa Bay Rays just signed veteran outfielder Grady Sizemore to a minor league deal. The Philadelphia Phillies just released Sizemore, who is now heading to Port Charlotte to start workouts and then receive his assignment to a minor league squad.

Taking a Look at the MLB Betting News on This Week’s Gossip

The New York Mets are set to designate right-handed pitcher Dillon Gee for assignment.The Mets have been trying to shop Gee for almost nine months now, because they have a number of solid pitching prospects that are said to have higher ceilings than Gee. Even so, he has worked well in the rear of the rotation for several years now with the Mets, so it wouldn’t be a big surprise if the Mets had already made some trade negotiations and just wanted to do this to free up a place on the 40-man roster.

Even though Gee has done relatively well for New York in the past, this season he has managed just a 5.90 ERA in 39 2/3 innings, although a lot of those runs came against the Atlanta Braves in just one start. He spent about two months of the 2014 season on the disabled list with a strained lat muscle, and he has also missed some time in 2015 because of a strained groin. The fact that he makes $5.3 million could be a problem with trading him as well. For teams that want a fourth or fifth starter, though, Gee could be the right answer. He did put together a 3.91 ERA with 2.9 walks per nine innings and 6.5 strikeouts per mine innings in 639 2/3 innings between 2010 and 2014, with a 46 percent ground ball rate, above the league average. If the Mets are going to trade him after designating him, though, they’ll still probably have to eat a lot of the remaining money on his contract ($3.24 million).

In San Diego, respected manager Bud Black has been fired after nine years at the helm. Bench coach Dave Roberts will manage the club until the team picks an interim manager to run the team for the rest of the season. In the past, gossip has spread about Black’s firing, but it is a surprise to see it happen. After 1,362 games managing the Padres, Black has amassed a record of 649 wins and 713 losses, which is not bad considering that the Padres almost always have one of the league’s smallest payrolls. He has received many kudos for helping the young pitchers in San Diego during his time there. Even though the team is middling at 32-33 right now, it’s hard to blame Black. The talent in the outfield and at shortstop has been iffy all year, and the Padres need more left-handed bats to combat strong righties on the mound.

In other Mets news, the team has sent Kirk Nieuwenhuis to Triple-A Las Vegas, taking him off the 40-man roster. The Mets had just taken him off waivers from the Angels, which may indicate that they like his depth for the organization but don’t like him enough to put him on the roster. Nieuwenhuis has produced regularly for the Mets as a fourth outfielder and option off the bench. His batting line sits right about the league average, and he can play in all three outfield positions.