2019-20 Offseason Discussion

jon abbey

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Honestly I don't know what people are expecting, there are moves almost every day leaguewide. The Brewers made the wild card game, and have already lost/gotten rid of 10 of their 25 players from that team.
 

chrisfont9

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when did the mlb offseason turn so slow and boring?

you guys are the only one's keeping it alive for me.
Become a Mariners' fan, it's much more entertaining until about mid-March, then it kind of drops off for six months.

I suspect the contract tender deadline is worth waiting for, if you're a GM. Hamels just signed, Wheeler and Rendon are getting offers now, etc. Also why did they ever feel rushed into signing big contracts by Thanksgiving? The NFL and NBA both have these contract rushes as soon as free agency opens, and it's not really about anything besides applying artificial pressure to sign guys.
 

67YAZ

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Other intesresting non-tenders: Steven Souza Jr., Taijuan Walker, Blake Treinen, Addison Russell.
There’s nothing interesting about Addison Russell these days. His bat has been declining for 3 years and defense for the past 2. And the writers around the Cubs have been dropping pieces like this for the past year - he’s aloof, distant, and immature as a teammate. Whether or not he has improved as a person & a father is an open question.

Someone will probably give him a spring training invite, if only as a favor to Boras. I hope it’s not the Sox.
 

JBJ_HOF

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BOS had demoted him already, right?
I don’t think so. His “demotion” was what he actually wanted. He was here to oversee pitching development and he ended up having to hold Carl Willis and Dana LeVangie's hands the the MLB level last 4 years, travel which he didn't want. His family is in the Bay area. I'm guessing when this opportunity arose they let him take it as a courtesy to him for 4 years going above and beyond.
 

Tyrone Biggums

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There’s nothing interesting about Addison Russell these days. His bat has been declining for 3 years and defense for the past 2. And the writers around the Cubs have been dropping pieces like this for the past year - he’s aloof, distant, and immature as a teammate. Whether or not he has improved as a person & a father is an open question.

Someone will probably give him a spring training invite, if only as a favor to Boras. I hope it’s not the Sox.
Russell is a trash human being. Hard Pass
 

chawson

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With Feinsand report linking the Cardinals to Bumgarner, who should command “a deal worth at least $100 million,” we might be able to see a market for a potential Price trade (which I still don’t think the Sox should do, but whatever).

Bumgarner and Price may be roughly comparable, depending on your lens. Price is obviously older by nearly four years — no small thing — but they’ve each been worth 6.2 fWAR from 2017-19, factoring lengthy injuries to both. If anything, the swing is in Price’s favor, considering it took a younger Bumgarner nearly 100 more IP to amass that production, he may have lingering shoulder issues from a weird injury, and he did it all in a pitcher’s park in the NL West.

If the Twins, Reds, Cardinals, White Sox and Braves are in on Bumgarner at Wheeler money (5/$120) — plus maybe the non-Yankee losers of the Cole sweepstakes too (LAD, ANA, SD?) — it’s not a stretch to think that one of the runners up would give something for Price at 3/$96.

Maybe not a prospect, but a legitimate major league player that fills one of the holes we currently have. Considering some were thinking we’d have to package Betts or Benny in order to move him, this would be much better.
 

Plympton91

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Price ended last season on the disabled list with a bad forearm. The forearm is connect to the elbow. Unless somebody hires Dave Dombrowski, nobody is going to be interested in paying $30 million over multiple seasons for a pitcher who hasn’t demonstrated that he’s healthy.

Perhaps if Price comes out firing in spring training, the Red Sox can move him. And certainly if he’s healthy in July and the Red Sox are not serious contenders, they could definitely get something in a Grienke/Verlander type partially subsidized trade. And even moving him in that fashion in July would save them a good chunk of 2020 luxury tax dollars
 

sean1562

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yea I don’t see price as being a realistic alternative to bumgarner. People don’t want to pay for the decline at the end of his deal, they’d be way less inclined to pay for the already bad backend of prices deal. Unfortunately, price is not in the same class as grienke or verlander. If we move him I imagine we’d have to pick up ten mil a year for the rest of his contract to make that even kind of palatable.
 

dano7594

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Jul 15, 2005
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Price ended last season on the disabled list with a bad forearm. The forearm is connect to the elbow. Unless somebody hires Dave Dombrowski, nobody is going to be interested in paying $30 million over multiple seasons for a pitcher who hasn’t demonstrated that he’s healthy.

Perhaps if Price comes out firing in spring training, the Red Sox can move him. And certainly if he’s healthy in July and the Red Sox are not serious contenders, they could definitely get something in a Grienke/Verlander type partially subsidized trade. And even moving him in that fashion in July would save them a good chunk of 2020 luxury tax dollars
Price's season ended because of the cyst in his wrist. If the Sox included $25-30 mil with the receiving team paying $60 million over 3 years, in todays market that is a great deal.
 

Tyrone Biggums

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Aug 15, 2006
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Same old updates from the national media on Mookie Betts.

View: https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1202976393803354112
This is very risky. Everyone believes he's probably gone and thus the return for him won't be nearly as good as it would have been last year. On the other hand, you're also dealing with potential backlash of trading one of the 5 top players in baseball with the eye of getting something better than a comp pick in return. If a team is going to pull the trigger you're probably looking at the Braves and Dodgers then maybe a few others in the background. I'd say the A's as the number 3 suitor only because Billy Beane has shown zero fear in giving up top prospects for players that have no interest in resigning. But whoever ends up replacing Mookie either in 2020 or 2021 has some rather big shoes to fill. It makes you wonder how this relationship has by accounts gone sideways so fast. Maybe its all baseless speculation but there is that old adage of where there is smoke there is fire. That's what it seems like here. They overspent a lot over the past two seasons so Mookie then becomes the odd man out. I'd like to at least get something for him before the Yankees trade Stanton and use that money to sign Mookie next offseason.
 

sean1562

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Well, there is another NY team that is clearing $40 mil of dead payroll off their books next offseason. Maybe Cohen will bring Mookie to Queens? Looking at their payroll situation, the Mets could totally afford a big Mookie Betts contract
 

Tyrone Biggums

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Well, there is another NY team that is clearing $40 mil of dead payroll off their books next offseason. Maybe Cohen will bring Mookie to Queens? Looking at their payroll situation, the Mets could totally afford a big Mookie Betts contract
Cohen has the reputation of an outsider and someone who shakes things up. This is very plausible as well.
 

Mueller's Twin Grannies

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On a one-year deal at the veteran minimum would be fine by me. They're clearly trying to go cheap on the year and get bargain basement deals, perhaps so they can try to maybe retain Mookie long term, so the devil you know and all that. But if you're talking another deal in the double digits, I'm not so sure I'm down with that, durable or not.
 

Tyrone Biggums

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Which accounts are you referring to?
Smoke around Mookie generally being unhappy here. Not just about the stuff getting thrown at the parade but it seems like ever since the Sox won this has been an undying narrative that is being fueled somehow 2 years later. I mean maybe he's happy and ownership doesn't want to pay him Trout money and has been floating it out there that Mookie wants to leave as a way to handle the eventual PR disaster.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Smoke around Mookie generally being unhappy here. Not just about the stuff getting thrown at the parade but it seems like ever since the Sox won this has been an undying narrative that is being fueled somehow 2 years later. I mean maybe he's happy and ownership doesn't want to pay him Trout money and has been floating it out there that Mookie wants to leave as a way to handle the eventual PR disaster.
Can you cite something substantive here? Not just vague speculation. I have not seen anything that has suggested that Mookie is unhappy in Boston. Not one thing. Bring something more than gut feelings.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Smoke around Mookie generally being unhappy here. Not just about the stuff getting thrown at the parade but it seems like ever since the Sox won this has been an undying narrative that is being fueled somehow 2 years later. I mean maybe he's happy and ownership doesn't want to pay him Trout money and has been floating it out there that Mookie wants to leave as a way to handle the eventual PR disaster.
When and where has Mookie said he doesn’t like here? Every time he was asked last year he talked about how much he enjoyed the Red Sox, his teammates, the management, the fans and the city of Boston as a whole. The reason why he’s going to free agency is because it’s a business decision and wants to get every penny he can.

Which is fine. But it’s also a gamble. Tomorrow Mookie could loom for something in his closet and have a bowling ball fall on his shoulder and horrendously dislocate it, miss the entire season (and more) and he’d be out nine figures. However Mookie is betting that won’t happen and I hope he’s right.

I hope Betts has an awesome 2020 season and resigns with the Sox for as much as possible. This does not seem like a personal decision for him and you have to stop framing it as such.
 

StuckOnYouk

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I love when reporters tell us what "rival" executives think is going to happen. Do rival executives really know what is going on inside the Sox FO?
 

StuckOnYouk

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So 7/245 is the starting point for serious teams now. I would think the Angels and Dodgers knew if they were going to get him they would have to pay more than Price got especially with Cashman drooling all over him.
 

Green Monster

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I love when reporters tell us what "rival" executives think is going to happen. Do rival executives really know what is going on inside the Sox FO?
They certainly don't know everything, but they may have had some exploratory discussions with the Sox FO and are gauging the tone of the conversation.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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I love when reporters tell us what "rival" executives think is going to happen. Do rival executives really know what is going on inside the Sox FO?
Well if, for instance, the rival executive in question works for Tampa Bay, they’ve probably got a pretty good idea of how the guy in charge of Boston’s FO operates.
 

bsj

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On a one-year deal at the veteran minimum would be fine by me. They're clearly trying to go cheap on the year and get bargain basement deals, perhaps so they can try to maybe retain Mookie long term, so the devil you know and all that. But if you're talking another deal in the double digits, I'm not so sure I'm down with that, durable or not.
I’d rather go with a kid
 

YTF

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On a one-year deal at the veteran minimum would be fine by me. They're clearly trying to go cheap on the year and get bargain basement deals, perhaps so they can try to maybe retain Mookie long term, so the devil you know and all that. But if you're talking another deal in the double digits, I'm not so sure I'm down with that, durable or not.
IMO there are too many question marks with this rotation to toss Porcello back into the mix.
 

moondog80

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Sep 20, 2005
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A 1 year deal at the veteran minimum for Porcello just is not happening.

Can you come up with a comp situation where that has occurred?
Where a free agent takes a one year deal to stay with his team? Doesn't that happen all the time? CC Sabathia?

EDIT: Didn't see the vet minimum part. Agree that he gets more than that. But I can see him back for say 5 mil or so?
 

bosockboy

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Smoke around Mookie generally being unhappy here. Not just about the stuff getting thrown at the parade but it seems like ever since the Sox won this has been an undying narrative that is being fueled somehow 2 years later. I mean maybe he's happy and ownership doesn't want to pay him Trout money and has been floating it out there that Mookie wants to leave as a way to handle the eventual PR disaster.
Accounts that have links.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Where a free agent takes a one year deal to stay with his team? Doesn't that happen all the time? CC Sabathia?

EDIT: Didn't see the vet minimum part. Agree that he gets more than that. But I can see him back for say 5 mil or so?
$5 million would surprise me, but I was replying to Mueller's Twin Grannies' suggestion of Veteran Minimum.

1 year for Porcello at $8-10 million seems more likely to me. I'd bring him back at $5 million, if that was possible.
 

BoSox Rule

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Have a missed something in my entire life of following baseball inside and out or does the veteran minimum just not exist? Because I think he just made that up as far as baseball goes.