Opinion

There's what Madison Bumgarner is actually making, what he's actually worth and how much he might make in his next contract.

Spoiler alert: These three things are all very different.

After Wednesday's announcement of the 2017 Hall of Fame inductees, most of the talk is about Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, performance-enhancing drugs and the like. I wrote something on the subject if you're not sick of it yet.

Full disclosure: When I began working on this story, one of the sections was titled, "Colorado Rockies: Sign Mark Trumbo."

It made sense. The Rockies were an ideal fit for Trumbo, who could have easily surpassed 40 home runs playing first base at Coors Field and allowed Ian Desmond to slot into the outfield mix.

Instead, the Baltimore Orioles swooped in and signed Trumbo for three years and $37.5 million, per FanRag Sports' Jon Heyman.

Major League Baseball's reigning home run champion has a new contract, and it's not the most expensive contract signed this winter.

Not even close.

The bulk of the action we'll see this offseason on the MLB trade market is likely already in the rearview.

That doesn't mean there's not still time for another blockbuster deal to be pulled off between now and the start of spring training, though.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are still searching for a second baseman, the Houston Astros are still shopping for a front-line starter and a number of teams continue to test the waters for Chicago White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana.

When it comes to opt-out clauses, the New York Yankees tend to opt in.

They aren't always happy about it. They don't always do it right away. But when Alex Rodriguez opted out of his deal during the 2007 World Series, the Yankees turned around and gave him a bigger contract they would come to regret.

Brace yourselves, steroid hard-liners: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are going to the Hall of Fame.

Not this year. According to results released Wednesday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, Bonds got 238 votes, or 53.9 percent, and Clemens got 239, or 54.1 percent. (As a side note, anyone who voted for Clemens but not Bonds or vice versa should have their voting privileges immediately revoked.)

For a lucky few, today's the day Cooperstown called to say, "Welcome."

For everyone else: "Thanks for playing."

The Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2017 was finally announced Wednesday. To nobody's surprise, this is the fourth straight year that the Baseball Writers Association of America voters selected multiple players for induction.

For the first time since the waning days of the George W. Bush administration, the San Francisco Giants didn't win the World Series in an even year.

Now, as we prepare to inaugurate President Donald J. Trump, San Francisco will look to usher in an era of odd-year dominance. 

First, they've got spring training issues to sort out, including position battles in left field, at third base and the back end of the rotation, where a former franchise cornerstone is trying to resuscitate his career.

The Los Angeles Dodgers need a second baseman. You know this. They know this. Your great-aunt Meredith who doesn't follow baseball knows this.

Yet as I type these words, Enrique Hernandez and his .190/.283/.324 2016 slash line sit atop L.A.'s second base depth chart. For a team with the game's gaudiest payroll and legitimate World Series aspirations, that's a bad look.