Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/31/20: Jimmy Yacabonis, George Springer, and Eric Thames

Good morning everyone! Happy final day of 2020! Make sure to celebrate responsibly and safely tonight should you choose to do anything at all. With that, here’s what you need to know to kick off your Thursday.

In Mariners news...

• The Mariners agreed to a minor league deal with Jimmy Yacabonis, who you may have forgotten pitched for the team in 2020.

Around the league...

• Check out Baseball Prospectus’ best of short relief for 2020, which includes a work by our very own Kate Preusser.
• R.J. Anderson at CBS Sports tries to picture what a Francisco Lindor trade would look like in this baseball landscape.
• Evan Drellich at The Athletic has the latest on a potential vaccine timeline for MLB players. ($)
• An interesting direction to go in...

• The race for George Springer’s services is apparently down to the Mets and Blue Jays, which is unsurprising.
• Former Seattle Mariner and more recent KBO star Eric Thames will be going to Japan to play with the Yomiuri Giants.
• Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs remembers the unique career of Phil Niekro.

Anders’ picks...

• This, from a buddy of mine, might have been the most true statement of 2020.