I think writing it with an easily erasable marking implement is probably the perfect thing to use for him.
Agree, yeah. I was on the fence about the Sox side of the $6M option but $12 doesn’t work. Weird that the original reporting was so off and remained uncorrected for six months.
Should have included Koss on your IF list. He'll probably be Worcester's starting SS in April
Sure seems like that’s the team to target and trying to get one of Burnes / Woodruff. A mid market team that has to be disappointed to miss the playoffs seems likely to be potentially interested in shaking things up. That being said, have to imagine the price tag would be pretty high.
No, JBJ's option got accelerated and they paid it already. D'accord on the other expenses.
That blank space in RF seems like it's crying out for some of that remaining budget. $25m for each of Devers and X might be a bit low, although I think if they give them both long term deals, they would be wise to pay less in 2023 and more further out, including 2024, when they know they will have another big chunk of space cleared. Personally I would rather see them go after Rodon than the two bigger names.
Sounds like a contract drafting error where each side's exercise of the option counts for $6m. At least that's what I really want to have happened.
Woodruff's probably a more realistic target given his age. The closest trade comp I can think of is the Paxton trade to the Yankees - Paxton was also 29 years old with a couple years of control left. Seattle netted the Yankees' no. 1, no. 22, and a 5th-round pick in High A. I don't think we'd need to (or should) give up Mayer, but maybe a package headlined by Yorke moves the needle?
The two bigger names being deGrom and ...?
The payment to JBJ was paid early due to the release, but his option buyout was already accounted for in his AAV in 2022 (and 2021 for that matter). He'd have been off the books as far as the luxury tax goes regardless.
I could see it, but Rondon will want more years. Verlander/DeGrom just makes a ton of sense for team with a) lots of money to spend, b) many holes already filled, c) an aversion to long term deals that is not absolute but perhaps a bit higher than other teams in their spending bracket, and d) some non-baseball forces in the front office likely calling for a "splashy" move. Bloom isn't going to do anything stupid just to address point D, but if he can satisfy it while still hitting the other points, that's a nice bonus.
Wasn't it reported that Bloom offered Verlander a contract last offseason? I'd love both of these pitchers on my team of course, but I don't know why Verlander would leave the sweet deal he's got in Houston. I'd assume the AL East isn't ideal if he's chasing 300 wins (not that he'd need it for the Hall). deGrom seems a bit likelier, but maybe it depends how the Mets' postseason goes. I agree both are likelier than Rodón.
Everybody's got a price, and the Astros aren't the Rays but they do need to be a little more frugal than the Red Sox.
Yelich's deal is pretty bad -- 6 more years at 26 mil and then a 6 mil buyout for a guy to play subpar LF that has been a 106 OPS+ hitter the past 3 years. I'm not sure Yelich + Burnes isn't negative value.
That's a good point - one of Yelich's biggest problems is his inability to put the ball into the air. He still hits the ball hard, so you figure with some of those grounders would become singles with the new defensive constraints. I don't think he's got another All-Star season in him, but you figure a few more singles and maintaining his walk rate puts him in the 110-115 OPS+ range for another 2-3 years.
BTV says Yelich + Burnes is negative value. They have Yelich's contract as the third worst in MLB, at -121.0 value, behind only Strasburg (-138.2) and Rendon (-129.5). Even with Burnes at +94.1, the Brewers' side of the deal is a -27.
It's largely based on expenses, yeah. They're at 142 million this year, which is pricy for a mid-market team. Burnes and Woodruff will likely garner significant raises. Trading both would mean a firesale, but trading one for a package highlighted by near-MLB talent would give them more bites at the apple, to quote David Stearns.
Paxton has a player option? I was under the impression that it's a team one for '23 and '24 combined.
If the team declines their 2/26 option, Paxton could then exercise a 1/4 option. Seems unlikely.
Who would give him more??? He hasn’t pitched in ages and finished the year re-injured!
1 year at 4 mil is a very small gamble, if he's got a (relatively) clean bill of health going forward someone will go higher than that.
But don't forget there are only 52 division games starting next year (13 per team), down from 76 (19 per).
Joe Castiglione related a conversation the other day he had with Toronto coach who speculated that the new schedule might produce an outcome where the entire AL East finishes above .500.
It's going to be interesting how this plays out. I think your basic framework here makes sense, with left-handed hitters getting a bit of a boost again.
52-34 outside the division.
I mean....how do you figure this out? How do you construct a team with Tor/NY/TB specifically in mind, as compared to the rest of baseball? If those teams, say, had a preponderance of lefty mashers and the Sox trotted out only RHP all year, then yeah, that's kind of an easy adjustment. But Tampa plays a completely different brand of baseball from New York. And Toronto is a completely different thing altogether.
26-50 is no anomaly. You don't bad luck into a record like that. You're fundamentally lacking in skills and matchups and talent to get your assess beaten that badly in the division. They sucked against the division all year: pre-injuries, post-injuries, and all the times in between. It was trips to Toronto that sent them into multiple skids this year, for example.
Agreed. Lots of teams are doing cheap flyers on the Hill/Paxton/Pivetta reclamation model now: Martin Perez, Johnny Cueto, Zack Grienke, Dylan Bundy, etc etc. Especially since getting to a "team innings pitched" with openers and guys who throw 200 IP is going the way of the dinosaur. Paxton at 1 yr for 4 million would be a great pickup for any team in the league.
So was the scouting spectacularly good against the non-AL East teams?
Lack of familiarity might have worked in their favor.
