The fallout between the Brewers and Corbin Burnes is the worst nightmare of any team going into the arbitration process with their star player a nightmare the Guardians are thankfully very good at avoiding. Burnes, speaking with the media shortly after he lost his arbitration case against the Brewers, said the relationship between him and his team is "definitely hurt" from the whole process Jose Ramirez Hoodie.There's no denying that the relationship is definitely hurt from what transpired over the last couple weeks. There's really no way getting around that. Obviously, we're professionals, and we're going to go out there and do our job, keep doing what I can every fifth day that I go out there. But with some of the things that are said, for instance, basically putting me in the forefront of why we didn't make it to the postseason last year, that's something that probably doesn't need be said. We can go about a hearing without having to do that.That's ... yikes. Now, granted, if the Brewers waive the largest bundle of money in front of Burnes he'll probably return in free agency when the time comes, but this certainly isn't what you want to hear your former Cy Young pitcher saying at the start of spring training. Especially when the whole thing transpired over such a small gap between what he wanted and what the Brewers wanted to pay him. Was the public tongue-lashing from a star pitcher worth that $740,000 to an owner, Mark Attanasio, worth north of $700 million? Well he's comically rich, so probably. Thankfully, this whole situation is what the Guardians have historically avoided. Most recently, they avoided arbitration with all seven of their eligible players for the 2023 season, including their own former Cy Young-winning pitcher, Shane Bieber. Things could have easily gone the same way with Bieber as they did for the Brewers with Burnes. Bieber and the Guards eventually agreed on a $10.01 million salary for 2023 the same thing that the Brewers were trying to pay Burnes and now the only spring training video we get of him is throwing off a mound. Bieber may have ended up being a bit of a lucky underpay for the Guardians, as MLB Trade Rumors estimated him to make $10.7 million in arbitration. But MLBTR also estimated Burnes at $11.4 million, so his floor was quite a bit higher than Bieber's. Cleveland also came in over a couple MLBTR projections, including Zach Plesac, Aaron Civale, and James Karinchak. We don't know what Bieber was asking for, but if they ended up going to court, the Guardians could have waltzed into the courtroom and spouted velocity dips and health history as a reason to not pay him his worth for the 2023 season. It could have been Bieber coming out upset that his team decided to go to court instead of just paying whatever it was he was asking for despite all his years in the organization and his 2020 Cy Young win. Cleveland Guardians newsPalacios brothers fulfill lifelong dream to team up for the Netherlands MLBRichie Palacios and his brother Richie Palacios T-Shirt, Josh, will be playing for the Netherlands in the WBC when the exhibition tournament starts next month Sam Hentges T-Shirt. Sure, it's no "both my kids are playing against each other in the Super Bowl" like the Kelce brothers in the NFL, but it's yet another reason why the World Baseball Classic is so great. MLB: Bally network troubles could lead to end of blackouts 92.3 The FanIt's been discussed before, but one potential benefit of the Bally Sports network going under and MLB subsequently taking over could mean the end of regional blackouts for those markets. Not surprisingly, it doesn't sound like MLB is too fond of the blackouts, at least from a fan perspective. "I don't relish any of this," Manfred said at a spring training media day. "I think it's necessary to have a centrally based solution to what's a really serious problem and move us forward to our next stage of delivering games to fans, delivering them where they want to watch them, and without the kind of blackouts that we've had in the old model."Zach Plesac, Aaron Civale enter Guardians camp under pressure to bounce back from injury-plagued year ClevelandThe back of the Guardians rotation is filled with question marks, mostly related to health. This could be the last season for Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac to prove they can be healthy for a full season before the three-head prospect monster of Gavin Williams Zach Plesac T-Shirt, Daniel Espnio, and Tanner Bibee starts making noise at the major-league level. Around the leagueHall of Fame broadcasters Tim McCarver died at age 81 yesterday.Harold Ramirez and Luis Rengifo won their arbitration cases. Mookie Betts is beefed up. "As of now," Shohei Ohtani is an Angel. Takeaways from FanGraphs' recently released playoff odds. The Phillies extended reliever Seranthony Dominguez. Kevin Gausman Carlos Baerga T-Shirt, good? The 2025 free-agent class could be wild.
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