I really don’t remember a time where the MLB off-season has been so eventful and controversial. The week of January 19th-25th, 2020 did not have a down moment and the crazy thing is, there were no notable free agents that signed or trades made. This was all off-the-field stuff. I have to break this thing down in sections to cover it all:

Arenado pissed with Rockies

On Monday, Rockies GM Jeff Bridich, put out a memo saying that all Nolan Arenado trade talks are off the table. On that same day, Arenado expressed to MLB.com his thoughts on the Rockies front office in saying that “There’s a lot of disrespect from people there that I don’t want to be a part of. You can quote that.” He further went on to explain that his comment wasn’t necessarily about the trade rumors, but declined to go into specifics. It is assumed, however, that Arenado was referencing the lack of moves made by the Rockies front office since he signed a monster 8yr/$260mil extension prior to the 2019 season. He was most likely promised to be surrounded by talent throughout his tenure, a common woo that front offices use to bring in top-free agents that are looking for a ring.

On the following Wednesday, Arenado followed up his comments with this: “There has been a lot of stuff going on that nobody knows about, and I was reacting to what was said, and [that] was out of character for me because I’m very private with my life. The Rockies have been talking to my agent and me this offseason about a number of things that will remain between us. I will not speak on these things anymore. I’m getting ready for the upcoming season. I’m working hard to get better for my teammates and fans.” Even thought this seems that Arenado wants to put this behind him, front offices rarely put up with being called out like that and decide to not take action. Don’t be surprised if Arenado gets dealt between now and the July trade deadline.

Mets hire new manager

The Mets become the first team that lost their manager to the sign-stealing scandal to find a replacement. Luis Rojas, 38, has been tagged to run the team out of Queens. Rojas has been in the Mets organization since 2006 and was most recently the quality control coach for the team last year. He has also been noted as a rising star in the league.

Upon the announcement of his hiring, some Mets players have come out to show their excitement and support. Pete Alonso has said that Rojas will do “an absolutely excellent job” and “the dude never loses his cool.” Jacob deGrom called him “a good baseball guy and a really good person.”

Good job, Mets. And congrats for coming in 3rd in the NL East in 2020.

2020 Hall of Fame class announced

I’ll keep this one short because this topic deserves it’s own article. Derek Jeter and Larry Walker will hold hands and enter Cooperstown together. Jeter missed the unanimous decision by 1 vote (lame) and Walker deserves to be in the Hall on his wardrobe alone.

Justin Verlander is a hypocrite

Justin Verlander decided to crawl out of whatever hole he and Kate Upton have been hiding in since the sign-stealing scandal was revealed to attend the Baseball Writers Association of America dinner and accept his Cy Young award (Gerrit Cole got robbed). When a player is given an award, they have some allotted time to say their ‘thank you’s’ and shake some hands. During Verlander’s speech he gives praise to the Astros organization their “technological and analytical advancements.” That statement was followed by an assortment of noises in the crowd. Some thought it was funny, most thought it didn’t sit well.

Verlander has been one of the more outspoken players in baseball. He’s talked about the juicing of the baseballs and the broken free-agent system in more recent memory. But then here he is being complicit in one of the largest, most impactful scandals in the history of the game and he has the fucking audacity to say anything positive about the Astros organization and their use of technology. I feel like if you want to have problems with how MLB does things, make sure your own team is being ethical. Verlander should’ve taken Ricky Gervais’ Golden Globes advice to “come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god, and fuck off.”

Mike Fiers is a pedo?

Ok, so this one is sort of crazy and I’m not sure it’s even a little credible. So this guy on Twitter came out of nowhere and accused Mike Fiers (main whistleblower from sign stealing scandal) of having relationships with underage girls. He claims to have proof and is in contact with more than one of these said underage girls. There were hundreds of responses to this guy that, to his credit, did show images and videos of Fiers hanging out with a minor. In one of the videos that I saw with my own eyes, this minor was riding in the passenger seat and Fiers had one hand on the wheel and another hand on her inner thigh. There was also a video of her hanging out in Fiers’ home and he was clearly visible. As expected, lots of people started reaching out to this Twitter user asking him for more info and proof and he stated that he was saving the rest for the “highest bidder.” Shortly after saying that, people berated him for being a scumbag and doing it for the money instead of exposing the truth and getting justice. As of today, the Twitter user has deleted his account. Very suspect but, perhaps, it was foolish to go to Twitter with accusations that could possibly have criminal charges applied in the first place. We shall see if this resurfaces in the future.

In this new digital age, nothing stays hidden forever. It’s so easy to hit up a reporter via text or the masses via social media to get out whatever is on your mind and depending on who you are, it can spread like wildfire. When you are paid millions of dollars to play a kids game, you elect to have everything you say and do be publicized and there’s usually nothing you can do about it. So in the future, how about we don’t cheat to win the World Series, or ‘allegedly’ have a relationship with a minor, but instead, wear kickass Spongebob shirts after being elected into the Hall of fame.