Yeah there's more there that we don't know yet, supposedly HOU management ghosted him and Boras in the middle of negotiations this week, just stopped responding to their calls.
2021 MLB offseason - news and notes
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That is something. Well, it's also completely lit Cashman on fire. I can't look at NYY anything without people calling for his and/or Hal's head. Wrongfully so, IMO. Separate thread.
Tommy Pham would make a lot of sense for Cleveland… you know, if they were actually into signing players to major league contracts. He hasn't been very good the past couple of years, so he should be relatively cheap, but he's still a clear upgrade on Oscar Mercado as a right-handed hitting left fielder. I believe they even had interest in Pham back at the 2018 trade deadline before the Cards dealt him to the Rays instead.
Dolan said payroll would increase this year, but that's only true if it's due to arbitration. Their biggest acquisition of the off-season has been to bring Sandy Leon back as the presumptive backup catcher. Even if Andres Gimenez or one of the other young shortstops can stick this year and free up Amed Rosario for significant time in left field, they still need another right-handed corner outfielder to minimize the struggles of Bradley Zimmer and Josh Naylor.
Dolan said payroll would increase this year, but that's only true if it's due to arbitration. Their biggest acquisition of the off-season has been to bring Sandy Leon back as the presumptive backup catcher. Even if Andres Gimenez or one of the other young shortstops can stick this year and free up Amed Rosario for significant time in left field, they still need another right-handed corner outfielder to minimize the struggles of Bradley Zimmer and Josh Naylor.
Weird trade for the Dodgers. I know Pollock is decently overpaid, but you'd think they'd want to keep him around as Bellinger insurance. For the erratic Kimbrel, replacing Jansen?
Especially because Bellinger has not seemed to figure it out. 4 singles, 1 BB, 17 Ks in 28 spring PAs (.148/.179/.148).
Sox were interested in Pollock, who would have been a great fit. Seems Bloom is still poking around.
View: https://twitter.com/buster_espn/status/1509930111025487880?s=21&t=VZCkZpek3G7gf-O1ilXTsQ
I was thinking Pollock would have fit pretty well on the current Sox, but I doubt we wanted all of that salary, would have had to give up a decent prospect I think
So they traded him straight up for Kimbrel but would have required a prospect from the Red Sox? That sounds a little fishy.
I think Kimbrel has negative financial value right now, but is still a positive baseball contributor. If the Dodgers were looking for bullpen help, then I can see how there just wouldn't be a match with the Red Sox.
Form what I saw elsewhere, it sounds more like they were shopping Pollock around before Jansen signed elsewhere. Had they been able to shed his salary for a prospect, they'd have resigned Jansen. When they couldn't get a good prospect for Pollock and Jansen signed with Atlanta, seems the backup plan was to just do a swap for Kimbrel to replace Jansen.
Pollock gets $13 million this year and has a player option for $10 million next season. Last season he had a bWAR of 3.1 and an fWAR of 3. That seems like a pretty good deal? White Sox are saving $3 million shipping Kimbrel out and getting a starting OF? Did they pick up some of Craig's contract?
He hasn't played 120 in a season games since the Royals were in the World Series. When he's healthy he's still productive, it's just not something that happens very often.
View: https://twitter.com/ken_rosenthal/status/1510306277611638784?s=21&t=3T24Kl6PpUtyKYfp3BkG7w
Justin Upton DFA’d.
He’s having a nice spring. 5 for 15, 3 homers and a 3:1 BB:K ratio. Owed 1/$28M this year.
Terrible outfielder, but still barrels, walks and hits lefties quite well. .380 expected wOBA against LHP in 20-21 is about as well as Dalbec hit them last year. Good pull hitter.
There’s no way we’d take on that money in a trade without additional prospects (which they don’t have), but there’s no long-term financial penalty and the Sox are already over the threshold this year. He’d also be a decent fit for playing time if he clears waivers and signs for the minimum.
Justin Upton DFA’d.
He’s having a nice spring. 5 for 15, 3 homers and a 3:1 BB:K ratio. Owed 1/$28M this year.
Terrible outfielder, but still barrels, walks and hits lefties quite well. .380 expected wOBA against LHP in 20-21 is about as well as Dalbec hit them last year. Good pull hitter.
There’s no way we’d take on that money in a trade without additional prospects (which they don’t have), but there’s no long-term financial penalty and the Sox are already over the threshold this year. He’d also be a decent fit for playing time if he clears waivers and signs for the minimum.
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#12 and #26 prospects per MLB. Price seems pretty reasonable for SD. Surprised Oakland didn’t hold out for more at the deadline.
It's likely that was the best deal they were going to get for Manaea. A full season of Manaea is more valuable than 2.5 months. And the trade deadline could have a smaller pool of potential trade partners. Perhaps wiser to take advantage of the Pads desperation to erase last year's second-half collapse now than wait for the deadline when maybe they're not so desperate.
I saw that earlier. Not that it's the end-all, be-all of revenue generation, but game attendance for the A's is way different than it used to be. Maybe it's a chicken or egg thing whether interest has decreased because they don't spend or if they're not spending because interest has decreased. Obviously there are myriad other factors, but the A's were a different franchise back then.
1991 average attendance at Oakland Coliseum: 33,500 - 3rd in MLB (84-78 record, 4th in AL West)
2019 average attendance at Oakland Coliseum: 20,626 - 23rd in MLB (97-65 record, #1 wildcard)
Chose 2019 to avoid COVID-related reductions in capacity.
I know. I wasn't trying to imply that the 1991 team was bad by any means. I included the records more to show that the present day A's are not a terrible team that's drawing fewer fans because of it.
It is interesting, the same kind of thing could be said about the Indians- wasn’t Jacobs Field one of the toughest tickets in baseball for a long time? And to a lesser extent, the Orioles and Camden Yards?
Yes.
I think the A's should move. Bay Area really should be a one franchise town. Maybe only if they sold it to some techbro and moved the team to San Jose. But I think the Giants own the territorial rights to it.
Cleveland held the consecutive sellout streak that I think the Red Sox snapped a few years ago. Of course, there were other major factors going on... it was the mid- to late-90s when the economy was going strong, Art Modell and the Browns had just abandoned the city and the Indians had the most explosive lineup in baseball with a reputation for come-from-behind dramatics. The payroll landscape was completely different than today, but Cleveland had a top 5 payroll for about half a decade... yes, higher than it is in 2022. The superstars they'd developed were already leaving town one by one, but they were otherwise competitive with everyone in the free agent market.
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Torkelson, Julio, and Witt Jr. are all starting the year in MLB, and all on teams that are ostensibly trying to compete. That’s exciting! Clearly the incentives in the new CBA are having some kind of effect.
Solid trade for both teams. Rays continue churning before it's too late on a player's value (presumably) and get a high draft pick, Tigers needed outfielder help badly even if Greene was healthy.
Seems kind of light for Meadows. Paredes had a lot of prospect hype but hasn’t been very good in about 200 PA in MLB the last 2 years. Plays everywhere in the infield, though, so I assume they see something to make them believe he just needs more MLB at bats to settle in. They needed to make room in the outfield.
Edit: didn’t notice the pick part of it when I first saw it. With that thrown in, too, prob pretty fair deal all around.
Edit: didn’t notice the pick part of it when I first saw it. With that thrown in, too, prob pretty fair deal all around.
That leaves the Rays outfield pretty weak. Roster Resource currently has it as Kevin Kiermiaer, Manny Margot and Brett Phillips. That is pretty ugly and more fitting on a team like the O's or Pirates, not a team fighting for the AL East.
He’s the backup plan for Taylor Walls not panning out in the Joey Wendle role. He’s still young, I assume they’ll send him to Durham. Hopefully it means J Lowe starts the season with the big club now.
I think he’d probably play third in a kind of platoon with Choi, with Yandy shifting between the corners. Lowe is also quite a bad defensive second baseman, and a better outfielder. This could also push him out there some, making space for Brujan/Walls/Paredes to take some keystone reps. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they traded Lowe for a massive haul in the next year or so.
The Red Sox now have 5 lefty relievers on the 40-man, with 9 left-handed hitters in the division’s starting lineups (Mullins, Odor, Rizzo, Gallo, Lowe, Choi, Kiermaier, Phillips, Biggio).
Forgetting about Arozarena already?
Hopefully this move means J Lowe coming up. B Lowe will play a fair bit of left field and Brujan waiting in the wings, too.
Depth charts are always behind reality when it comes to TB, how many years in a row do they have to do this before we just trust that they know what's best for their own situation? MIL got a huge boost last year when TB needed to move Adames, this seems like a nice move by DET.
Roster Resource had him slotted in at DH.
Just snapped him up in my fantast league, since it looks like he is the one getting the call according to a Rays beat reporter.