Elephant Rumblings: White Sox add top catcher in Grandal

A’s Coverage:

• Johnson: Peter Gammons suggests A’s could trade Marcus Semien in near future...
• Killion: Why are A’s avoiding the simplest path to staying in Oakland? ($)
• Callis, Mayo and Rosenbaum: 30 intriguing Rule 5 prospects - 1 for each team...

MLB News:

• Merkin: Catcher Yasmani Grandal inks 4-year, $73M deal with White Sox...
• Martino: White Sox to pursue free agent Zack Wheeler after signing Yasmani Grandal...
• Drellich: Rob Manfred on the status of the investigation into the Astros, and where it might lead... ($$$)
• Passan: MLB officially approves sale of Royals to John Sherman...

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Sarris: How good can Yoshitomo Tsutsugo and Shogo Akiyama be, and where might they sign? ($$$)
• Passan: ESPN’s 2019 All-MLB Team - A panel of voters selects the squad...
• Baumann: Yasmani Grandal Doesn’t Complete the White Sox’s Puzzle, but He’s an Important Piece...
• Longenhagen: On 40-Man Decision Day and the Prospects Who Moved...
• Linden: Is It Better to Burn Out or to Fade Away?

Today in Baseball History:

• 1890 — At the American Association annual meeting in Louisville, the Philadelphia Athletics are expelled for violating the league’s constitution. A new team in Philadelphia is admitted, plus entries from Boston, Washington and Chicago, replacing Syracuse, Toledo and Rochester.
• 1952 — Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Harry Byrd, who won 15 games and posted and a 3.31 ERA, is selected American League Rookie of the Year by BBWAA voters. Byrd will be the last Athletics player to win the Award until Jose Canseco in 1986.

Best of Twitter:

• I could watch this for days...

• This is one of the best Walker arguments I’ve seen...

• One of the most underrated players in the game finds a new home...