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Mariners Moose Tracks, 1/28/20: Ryan Braun, Starling Marte, and the Universal DH

Some Tuesday morning links.

St Louis Cardinals v Pittsburgh Pirates Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Good morning folks! Here are some links to kick off your day.

In Mariners news...

  • A Mariners connection to the recent tragedy.
  • Baseball America named its top 20 catching prospects in baseball, with Cal Raleigh checking in at No. 20.
  • In case you missed it, Baseball Prospectus released their Preseason Top-101, with two Mariners in the Top-10. Our recap is here.
  • The ZiPS projections from Dan Szymborski of FanGraphs will be released for the Mariners today. Here’s his preview of the depth chart.
  • The latest episode of the Lookout Landing Podcast was another installment in our “Why I’m a Mariners Fan” series, focused on getting a sense of how folks from all over have come to enjoy this team and community. This week’s guest is Jeva Lange from The Week magazine!

Around the league...

  • Ryan Braun said this could be his final season playing baseball.
  • With Nicholas Castellanos now in the fold, this makes some sense.
  • Pretty deep, but also potentially messy.
  • Jim Callis awards the top tools among the MLB Pipeline top 100 prospects.
  • This would be pretty big news, obviously.
  • Clayton Kershaw isn’t impressed by the behavior of the Astros thus far this winter, noting they haven’t shown “a lot of remorse” in an ESPN interview.
  • Curious how this will go...
  • Ben Clemens of FanGraphs did due diligence on home run rates, making sure some of our commonly referenced stats like xFIP (everything the same as regular Fielding Independent Pitching, except all pitchers are treated as though they have league-average HR/FB%) still line up. The short answer - the best hitters hit far more home runs per fly ball than the worst hitters, but the best pitchers barely give up fewer dingers per ball in the air than the worst pitchers.
  • So we always seem to hear...
  • The Diamondbacks got much stronger, adding outfielder Starling Marte to their roster yesterday in exchange for a pair of prospects.
  • A former Mariner has found a new home in an old home.
  • If only we knew of a team that could use some starting pitching...

Anders’ picks...

  • Another very touching Bryant tribute.