Yeah, I was so not enamored by those scenarios I decided not to include then in my post lol
Why Yamamotos situation different than Ohtani’s was? Y seems like a complete free agent whereas O seems to have been limited by the contract offers. Maybe I need a tutorial on the Japanese player coming to the MLB thingy.
Seems like his agent is doing a good job making all the big market fanbases dreamcast on their guy.
"Foreign professionals -- defined as players who are at least 25 years of age and have played as a professional in a foreign league recognized by Major League Baseball for a minimum of six seasons -- maintain exemption from the international bonus pool."
There have been several changes to the MLB-NPB posting system over the years, but this is not directly related to that.
Thanks for that information. So when a player from Japan comes over before his 25th year, how long is an entry-level contract for. Does MLB state that or is that a negotiation? Also why 25 and not a younger age like 18 or 20 or even 21?
"Entry level contract" is the same for a Japanese player (under or over 25) as it is for any other MLB rookie...6 years of team control before he's eligible for unrestricted free agency.
My belief is that it depends on if they've submitted to play in the NPB or not.
I don’t think this is true. Or at least, it’s counter to most of what I can remember reading about the rule change at the time. Most of the reporting was that it was to stop shady recruiting practices in Latin America, and Ohtani (and now others) just got caught up in it. I don’t think the rule was made with NPB in mind at all.
I’m not sure about the exact letter of the law but I think that would probably work. Rintaro Sasaki (no relation to Roki) is supposedly going to try college ball in the US next year; I’m not sure what his future holds but he finished high school as the career HS HR champ, and would have been a first round pick domestically. I doubt his plan is to circumvent the system though.
Hmmm... well I 100% want him on the Sox, but maybe won't feel too awful if he goes somewhere else for absurd money. His floor, IMO, is super high, I will say that. Beyond there, it's hard to say.
I knew I'd read something.....
https://nesn.com/2023/11/red-sox-kickstart-offseason-with-low-risk-high-reward-signing/
As JM3 noted in the minor league thread, the AAA placement is almost certainly provisional (Song got the same designation initially when he came back from PHI), as Helcris has never pitched above A+. He's a ways off still.
Sorry.....it's not the 1st time in life I've been beaten. Just replied before reading the rest.
Unfortunately it seems like no one gave you a satisfactory answer last time you asked this 18 months ago, and I can't remember either. I think you're talking about "Dice-K Tracker" or "Matsuzaka Tracker" or something like that. It was a guy who then did a few more such trackers, I think maybe for Darvish and Ma-kun ahead of their postings. Not to be confused with the more established NPB Tracker site.
IMO, Paxton redux might be the best you can hope for when you consider the injury.
I don't love the idea. The injury he suffered is not an easy one to come back from, especially at 30.
That’s a shame. (edited out because I wasn’t sure how “reliable” we’re considering Heyman - from the article - but @jon abbey post seems like it’s been corroborated elsewhere). He was the first (of 3) starters I wanted added to the rotation this year.
It's pretty knowable that 7/180 wouldn't have done it as it's been reported he turned down higher offers to stay in a situation he liked. Maybe an extra year and a $26M AAV would have done it? That would have been 8/208.
Just curious, what reports are you referring to? Has there been any word at all from the Yamamoto Camp as to a preference?
I genuinely don’t know if we’re considering Heyman reliable or not. But he had a piece in the post two days ago stating several sources said Yamamoto preferred the West Coast, then another talking about the Mets and Yankees in on him too.
Interesting - and Machiavellian - nicely done.
Well a lot of people seem to believe they do have a pitching coach, it's just not announced yet. Also I'm sure it helps to have the guy be part of the conversation but they have plenty of people in place who can tell free agents how things are gonna go.
One guy's off the board and suddenly we're playing catch up to EVERYONE else? Considering the Breslow hire and that he was brought in for his very clear philosophy on pitching and the reports that he's bringing in Andrew Bailey I would be more hopeful than concerned that one guy is off the board. If Yamamoto is the primary target, do you opt for another guy just to be first? Also if it is true that Nola wanted to stay in Philly, was he ever really on the board?
All great points. I pointed it out the other day elsewhere on the board, but last year the first significant free agent signing happened after Thanksgiving and that's fairly typical of every off-season. The only notable moves before that were teams re-signing their own guys (Mets re-signing Diaz, Yankees re-signing Rizzo, Giants re-signing Pederson, etc). That Aaron Nola fits that pattern doesn't really suggest that anyone is "playing catch-up". It's a long winter. No need to panic in mid-November.
Bresbytarian?
& there's other bits about how Breslow embraces both the human aspect as a former player & the analytics side.
https://theathletic.com/5072351/2023/11/20/craig-breslow-free-agency-blueprint/
I'll just assume that wasn't Breslow’s idea to sign Taillon because it was kind of inevitable lol
Someone had to set the tone for the new season. Can't wait to hear from the Never Brezzers.
The hoops you jump through to prop up other team's pitchers while denigrating the Red Sox ones are always impressive. You know the Red Sox also would have been a new team for Taillon, right? Who played in more of a hitters' park with a worse defense?
Amazing.
I'd be curious to see what the spread of expectations are here. Obviously, I want Breslow to do well, but there's a certain kind of familiar hubris to the argument that we're just going to suck up our first choices out of a bunch of tier-1 FA pitchers, or somehow magically make appealing trades for the latter. And we may as well just grab Ohtani too.
You're right, Taillon was better after the ASB. I could see him adding some security to the rotation, but I think aging and expensive league-average starter is less appealing to me as a profile type than elite starter at any cost or promising pre-arb starter. In other words, I think I'd rather have Houck or Whitlock in the rotation next year than Taillon at 3/$51.
