Morning Mound Visit: sabermetrics news - 2/13/20

FanGraphs | Jake Mailhot: The Diamondbacks signed David Peralta to a three-year, $22 million extension, and then Nick Ahmed to four years and $32.5 million. This buys out a collective five years of free agency time, and it’s quite odd to buy out a veteran outfielder and a light-hitting infielder in the same jump.

Baseball Prospectus | Shakeia Taylor ($): Looking back on the history of African-Americans in baseball, from the owners of the Negro Leagues to Jackie Robinson to now Dusty Baker and even Adam Jones, CC Sabathia, and Curtis Granderson, there is no bigger shame on the sport that there is, other than when the Astros wanted an out from a scandal, only a single black manager to speak of.

The Ringer | Zach Kram: The Red Sox claimed that they traded Mookie Betts for financial flexibility, but the evidence is pretty scant. For one, the savings are largely minuscule, likely less than a percentage point of their total revenue. There’s also no evidence the tax hurts them as much as they think because the CBA expires in two years; there’s no knowing what they would actually owe. Most of all they effectively punt 2020, a year in which they primed to win 95+ games until they traded their best player.