2023 Offseason MLB News/Rumors Thread
- Thread starter DeadlySplitter
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I mean it's better than trading for him, spending $17.5M and watching him put up a -0.8 bWAR before finally releasing him.
Joey Bart (no options) is available.
View: https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1736911374305886359
View: https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1736911374305886359
Amazing he's still only 24. He was one of the top pitching prospects in baseball a couple years ago. Looks like he never found a 3rd pitch, and struggles with BB and HR. Might be an interesting flyer project. He might even take an MiLB deal.
Wow the whole market now is Boras guys:
“Get ready for Scott Boras season. Boras represents the top four remaining free agents in The Athletic’s Top 40 Big Board – center fielder Cody Bellinger, left-handers Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery and third baseman Matt Chapman. He also represents the two pitchers most in demand on the trade market – White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease and Brewers righty Corbin Burnes.”
“Get ready for Scott Boras season. Boras represents the top four remaining free agents in The Athletic’s Top 40 Big Board – center fielder Cody Bellinger, left-handers Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery and third baseman Matt Chapman. He also represents the two pitchers most in demand on the trade market – White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease and Brewers righty Corbin Burnes.”
Francisco Mejia signs a minor league deal with the Angels.
When Cleveland traded Mejia for Brad Hand and Adam Cimber in 2018, everyone thought the Indians had made a terrible deal, but prospects do miss and both teams ended up with a bag of mixed results. Hand was a good stat-compiling closer for essentially two years (the 2018 stretch run, a full season and then COVID-shortened 2020). He was always too streaky to be an elite closer... he'd be unhittable for two months and then unusable for a month. He finally avoided the bad stretches in 2020 thanks to the season only lasting 60 games, but in what turned out to be his last appearance for the team, he ended Cleveland's season with a total meltdown against the Yankees in the playoffs, retiring only two of the six batters he faced and taking the loss. Cimber had been enjoying a good rookie season when Cleveland acquired him, but how he'd been striking out a batter per inning is a complete mystery. In Cleveland he could never miss a bat, although he turned out to be at least mediocre for a couple of years. The two were certainly more valuable than a backup catcher who has put up a 2.2 bWAR in 355 career games.
The Padres return varies on how much weight you place on trading him themselves. If he was the only way to acquire Blake Snell from Tampa, then it worked out pretty well for them. In 2+ years with the Padres, Mejia never developed into a capable catcher. It seemed like his swing changed. As a prospect, he was all about the hit tool, as evidenced by his 50-game hitting streak in Hi-A. I first saw him play in Lo-A and was struck by how really small he was – definitely shorter than the 5'8" he's always been listed at. His problems catching were well-known, but his arm strength was talked up. My concern was always that if he couldn't catch, he didn't have enough pop to play the outfield. Well, his power since arriving in the majors hasn't been bad, but it seems he must have altered the swing to max out the pop and destroyed his ability to hit for average in the process. Still, the Padres were decisive early enough to deal him while he still had trade value and the Rays ended up with a deal they would regret.
Mejia is still only 28, so this is a nice flyer for the Angels. Maybe he does have the tools to be a serviceable catcher and maybe now he's at a point where he understands that an ability to catch is the only way he's going to get another shot staying in the majors.
When Cleveland traded Mejia for Brad Hand and Adam Cimber in 2018, everyone thought the Indians had made a terrible deal, but prospects do miss and both teams ended up with a bag of mixed results. Hand was a good stat-compiling closer for essentially two years (the 2018 stretch run, a full season and then COVID-shortened 2020). He was always too streaky to be an elite closer... he'd be unhittable for two months and then unusable for a month. He finally avoided the bad stretches in 2020 thanks to the season only lasting 60 games, but in what turned out to be his last appearance for the team, he ended Cleveland's season with a total meltdown against the Yankees in the playoffs, retiring only two of the six batters he faced and taking the loss. Cimber had been enjoying a good rookie season when Cleveland acquired him, but how he'd been striking out a batter per inning is a complete mystery. In Cleveland he could never miss a bat, although he turned out to be at least mediocre for a couple of years. The two were certainly more valuable than a backup catcher who has put up a 2.2 bWAR in 355 career games.
The Padres return varies on how much weight you place on trading him themselves. If he was the only way to acquire Blake Snell from Tampa, then it worked out pretty well for them. In 2+ years with the Padres, Mejia never developed into a capable catcher. It seemed like his swing changed. As a prospect, he was all about the hit tool, as evidenced by his 50-game hitting streak in Hi-A. I first saw him play in Lo-A and was struck by how really small he was – definitely shorter than the 5'8" he's always been listed at. His problems catching were well-known, but his arm strength was talked up. My concern was always that if he couldn't catch, he didn't have enough pop to play the outfield. Well, his power since arriving in the majors hasn't been bad, but it seems he must have altered the swing to max out the pop and destroyed his ability to hit for average in the process. Still, the Padres were decisive early enough to deal him while he still had trade value and the Rays ended up with a deal they would regret.
Mejia is still only 28, so this is a nice flyer for the Angels. Maybe he does have the tools to be a serviceable catcher and maybe now he's at a point where he understands that an ability to catch is the only way he's going to get another shot staying in the majors.
@JeffPassan
Left-handed reliever Yuki Matsui and the San Diego Padres are in agreement on a five-year, $28 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Deal is done. It includes opt-outs after the third and fourth years as well as an injury clause that can convert the fifth year into a club option.
Left-handed reliever Yuki Matsui and the San Diego Padres are in agreement on a five-year, $28 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Deal is done. It includes opt-outs after the third and fourth years as well as an injury clause that can convert the fifth year into a club option.
Lefty reliever who features a splitter. At 5'8" he becomes the 2nd or 3rd shortest pitcher in the majors (Marcus Stroman is listed at 5'7" and fringe major league reliever Clayton Andrews is 5'6").
Cease and/or Burnes are FA next year, right? If they have great years, that's them and Soto all being on the market. More Boras guys at/near the top of the table.
Cease is controlled through 2025.
There are always tons of Boras guys, it's sometimes a conflict of interest for the players, to be honest. But it's rare that the top six guys on the market all have the same agent, even Boras.
There are always tons of Boras guys, it's sometimes a conflict of interest for the players, to be honest. But it's rare that the top six guys on the market all have the same agent, even Boras.
The Mariners and Mitch Garver have agreed to a two-year, $24MM contract, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan (via X).
Cody Bellinger’s market continues to remain very unclear.
View: https://twitter.com/feinsand/status/1739702357812826478?s=12
View: https://twitter.com/feinsand/status/1739702357812826478?s=12
Interesting. I thought KK wanted to get off of the turf. Not a bad little signing for the Jays.
I think both he and Chapman could be looking at shorter deals with a one year opt-out.
Both of them turned down QOs so would cost their signing team picks, unless they go back to their 2023 team.
Yep. And they fit they profile of guys who are good enough to turn down the QO but not so good where it doesn't harm their market.
Kiermaier’s incentives are based on how many great catches he makes against the Red Sox this season. I hate that guy.
Me too.
My only consolation is that I am ready for the Sox to stop trying to put players in new positions on the fly, and I think the only way Garver fit the current roster is to also be the back-up first baseman.
I actually was starting to hope he would sign with the Sox. As usual, Bucholz.
Did the Yankees offer Mister Bader a contract, and if so, what were the terms of the best offer?
No, they released him before the end of the season, as he inexplicably completely lost the ability to hit righties (a hard to believe .503 OPS vs RHP last year), then they traded for a better/younger version in Trent Grisham.
NYY still needs a SP or two but they’re very well set up on paper in the OF after adding Soto, Verdugo and Grisham to Judge and Stanton, with Dominguez on the way back and Jones ready pretty soon.
Doesn't feel that long ago that I was debating the package of prospects in return for CC Sabathia. I guess Matt LaPorta isn't going to work out after all. I remember taking my nephew to a Columbus Clippers game the year they opened Huntington Park and Brantley was their leadoff hitter. I told him Brantley should be pretty good but he doesn't have any power. A couple of pitches later, he parked one into the Wendy's Home Run Deck in right field. In my defense, they did retool his swing when he reached Cleveland to increase his launch angle.
Also this:
View: https://twitter.com/Joelsherman1/status/1743359849931403756
Mariners working to get Luke Raley from the Rays. Another LH corner outfielder seems... questionable. Platoon partner with Haniger? More pieces in the deal perhaps? Seems like there were more straightforward ways to fix this team than what they've done.
View: https://twitter.com/Joelsherman1/status/1743359849931403756
Mariners working to get Luke Raley from the Rays. Another LH corner outfielder seems... questionable. Platoon partner with Haniger? More pieces in the deal perhaps? Seems like there were more straightforward ways to fix this team than what they've done.
I feel like an idiot, probably because I am an idiot, but how do you get tweets to embed? Didn’t that used to happen automatically if you copy/pasted a tweet??
