With the first game of the 2024 regular season just over the horizon, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Seoul Series roster deadline:
The Dodgers and Padres will open regular season play in South Korea tomorrow morning with the first game of two regular season games occurring as part of the Seoul Series. Before right-handers Yu Darvish and Tyler Glasnow take the mound, however, the clubs will have to submit their rosters for the series. As noted by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the deadline to set rosters ahead of the games has been set for 9pm CT this evening, roughly eight hours before first pitch, which is scheduled for 5:05am CT Wednesday morning. Those roster decisions being made are fairly limited, however, as the clubs will be choosing players not from their entire organization but just the 31-man travel roster they brought to Seoul. The Padres are expected to select a pair of prospects to the 40-man roster ahead of this evening’s deadline— Opening Day center fielder Jackson Merrill and third baseman Graham Pauley— but will not need to make a corresponding move to do so as their 40-man currently stands at 36.
2. Snell to undergo physical:
The lengthy free agency of reigning NL Cy Young award winner Blake Snell has finally come to a close, as the southpaw signed on with the Giants on a two-year, $62MM deal with an opt-out after the 2024 season. The deal adds another front-of-the-rotation arm to the San Francisco pitching corps alongside Logan Webb while deepening the club’s starting rotation mix, which offered little certain behind Webb prior to the addition of Snell. The 31-year-old southpaw will have to undergo a physical before his pact with the Giants becomes official, though, and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that said physical is expected to be completed today. While the physicals players undergo prior to finalizing deals in free agency are often something of a formality, they can at times alter or even scuttle a deal. The Giants famously saw an agreed-upon 12-year, $315MM deal with shortstop Carlos Correa fall through last winter due to concerns over his physical, and more recently free agents such as James Paxton and Gary Sanchez have seen the terms of their deal revised after their physicals raised concerns for their respective new clubs.
3. MLBTR Chat today:
While the start to the regular season is right around the corner, a handful of the winter’s top free agents remain unsigned. Are you wondering what’s next on the hot stove, or how your favorite team stacks up with the end of Spring Training in sight? If so, tune in this afternoon when MLBTR’s Steve Adams hosts a live chat with readers at 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, and that same link will allow you to join in on the chat once it begins or read the transcript after its completed.
