OT: Baseball offseason and free agents 2019-2020 edition
- Thread starter Alvious
- Start date
I think the biggest domino that comes out of his decision is Boston's going to be under the luxury tax gun because of it, which means they may need to look at moving Betts. Approximately 30 MLB teams would be interested in him, so...
No thanks.
As good as JD Martinez is (and he's quite a hitter), his relegation to the DH (he's a complete liability in the OF) makes him a 5 fWAR player at best. His 2020 projections are for about 3.5 fWAR. Eloy's 2020 projections are for 2.8 fWAR. For the sake of argument, assume the difference will be 1.5 fWAR,or about $15M if you are buying fWAR on the FA market.
JD is due $62.5M over the next 3 years. Eloy is cost controlled during those same years. So you would give up a prospect or two for JD, and take on that big contract when you have a comparable asset already on the club.
If you are going to trade for a guy, go get Adam Eaton if you can (I assume that Nats will pick up his option. He's very underrated).
I obviously would kill for a player of his ilk on the Sox but... I don't think he'd come cheaply even as a rental.
He's 1000% not signing an extension and there's no way in hell Bloom would be dumb enough to grant a negotiation period for a potential trade partner to talk extension anyways, so I'm not so sure I'd trade for him if I'm the Sox. Not at the point to start trading from their upper echelon of farm capital quite yet IMO
But.... they shouldn't be such pussies and go after him when he's a free agent, but we've all seen that movie before
Eaton was wildly hated by Abreu and the Sox in general. That ain't happening.
Nope, I don’t think he ends up in Chicago either. I’d expect the Dodgers to take a shot at him. The Braves would be on the list, perhaps, though they telegraphed their intentions by re-upping Markakis for the 12th time. St. Louis would be in on him. Milwaukee could be interested, too, though I’d guess they’d be all in on SPs. Doubt Boston trades him within the AL, but if so, the Angels are a logical choice. Moreno seems to find cash, and the Red Sox won’t get as much as he’s worth without a negotiating window. Halos could build a deal around Jo Adell. And I keep hearing Texas wants to make a splash, too, but I have no idea why they’d go in on a deal like this would take.
So Abreu runs the roster?
jk
Seriously, what did Eaton do to piss off the Sox? They traded for him.
Eaton was on Team Drake LaRoche. Nobody (except Purdue football) wants an eighth grader hanging around.
Ozzie said basically the entire team hated him. Remember he got into it with Todd Frazier this year and the Toddfather said the same thing. Where there is smoke there is fire.
I guess he was the same way in Arizona. The exact word used to describe him to me by one of his teammates on the sox was "bitch". He was (is?) just a total bitch in the clubhouse I guess.
Jimmy Rollins was the one who told Drake Laroche to GTFO of the clubhouse in 2015 by the way, and Frazier (literally) stuffed Eaton in a locker in a physical altercation. That's why they got into it again on the field earlier this summer.
That whole team was such an island of misfit toys it was disgusting
Didn't read this post before my last response. Totally forgot Ozzie called him out publicly like that this summer
Man, if the Angels traded Jo Adell for a rental Mookie they'd be nuts IMO, but that'd be a huuuuuge score for Boston. That said if they do land Cole then maybe they really do go all in and make that type of splash
Trout, Mookie, Cole and the Japanese Babe Ruth with Joe at the helm would be quite a show. Sounds like a pipe dream.
I can’t wait to see where Rendon ends up. I gotta believe Stras ends up back in DC, but Rendon will command huge dollars. Hard for DC to let him walk though.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/11/mlb-free-agent-predictions-2020.html
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/11/mlb-free-agent-predictions-2020.html
That's a great story.
So the Nats hold a cheap ($9.5M option) on Eaton. If he's as caustic in DC as he was here, maybe they decline it. It's pretty hard to overlook a personality that is despised by 24 other guys, but he's a lefty guy with a high OBP and a passable RF. Not easy to find guys like that.
Moreno’s never been shy, and you don’t hire Maddon to have a slow build.
They also do have the end of Pujols’ contract in sight, just two more seasons. And Adell is good enough to get Boston’s attention. But you’re right, I would think it only really makes some sense as an add-on to Cole.
No way they decline it. He's a really, really good player. They'll almost assuredly pick it up and if they don't like him they may look to move him. Could get a decent return for him even though he'd be a rental
I wonder which of them will catch him! He's elusive.
I wouldn't hate this at all. Then sign Castellanos for DH. Gregorious can stroke it and is way more steady at SS... something tells me the Sox would bitch out though because Anderson is the face of the team and he'd cry if they moved him off SS
Do you believe last year was just luck or have Gig, TA and Moncada really improves. If the latter, adding LuBob and Eloy makes one heck of a young core. And if Maddy proves to be high contact, high OBP MLB player then they really need to start focusing on pitching.
TA was aided big time by luck. Moncada not so much. He evaporates baseballs on contact. He'll always carry a way higher than normal BABIP. Giolito absolutely not. Assuming his stuff stays as is, he'll be a top of the rotation starter for a good while. His improvement was the best I've ever seen over the course of one year. It was really amazing
Why so on TA? I know he swings at everything, but so do a lot of guys in this day and age. I like the fire he brings to the team. He’ll never be a gold glove but I do think he has improved enough to stay at SS. Having Madrigal next to him won’t hurt. Robert is a CF too. Looks capable of being a plus defender. I wouldn’t move him now.
Too many people worry about being good at making contact IMO. If he struck out 20% of the time but had a .180 ISO or .800+ OPS I'd take that instead. The type of contact matters. I want hard contact, not consistent contact. For him to be truly elite he'll need to steal a ton of bases
I wanna say TA had the highest BABIP in baseball but just an average hard contact rate. That screams regression.
And Gregorious is objectively better defensively than him. I don't think they make a run at him, but hypothetically if they did they'd be forced to move TA to CF.
That said I don't think it's remotely being considered
I would be content w Suzuki type offensive production. Or Rod Carew.
The Sox really need to secure at least two quality SPs in my opinion. I wonder, w the flux of pitching, if they can get Hameln on incentive laden prove it contract similar to Grandell last year.
Also, I think they should sell McCann at his high water mark, pursue grandell relentlessly and then bring up Seby and Collins for C and DH duties.
I’m not sold 2020 is the year, I like 2021. Eloy should be solid, LuBob a true contributor, a better understanding of what young pitching we have, move off Colome, rid of Herrera and place setting for Maddy and Vaughn.
Do spend a year enduring the young catchers, maybe even some Perez time. Pursue only FAs that change the game and play into 2021. As for Hamels, a prove it deal around some notable building might bring him back for 2021 - if needed.
Ichiro is a first ballot HOF. I would put the chances of Madrigal producing what Ichiro did at less than 1%.
If we know they'd be selling high on McCann, 29 other GMs do as well
I think they should absolutely go after Grandall, but Collins and Seby are not the answer as backup catcher, zavala especially. Collins is horrific and lazy defensively. Pairing Grandal and McCann would be incredible IMO
Hamels on a prove it deal with be awesome I think. Same for Alex Wood
Also, don't be shocked if Herrera has a rebound year. His pure "stuff" was fine, still 96-98, his command was terrible though. Relievers have large year to year variance. Wouldn't be surprised if he's suitable again next year.
Do you think a pair of mid-level SPs like Alex Wood, Wade Miley, or Julio Teheran are more likely? I think Zack Wheeler seems like a longshot and two of the lesser guys seems to make it more possible to sign someone like Castellanos or Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (and even Grandal). Is signing four mid to upper level free agents really in the cards for the Sox this offseason?
At least he wouldn't turn around and give it to the Trump re-election campaign, but by all means, keep lining the Ricketts' pockets, and those of their Presidential candidate!]
Edit: Also, no White Sox fan gives two craps about Reinsdorf taking public money in 1990. It's now common practice for owners negotiating with cities for stadiums. That doesn't mean I agree with the practice. I don't. But I just don't give shit since it's an accepted part of the business of sports now.
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I wouldn't mind any one of those pitchers as long as they are in addition to a Wheeler/Bumgarner/Ryu signing, not in place of one.
That's interesting. I don't see them signing one of those and an additional mid-level free agent SP and I couldn't be less interested in the Sox signing Ryu. Watched that up close in L.A and don't think it plays in the Rate. Would love Wheeler or Bumgarner, but will be surprised if the Sox land either. Unfortunately, Sox free agent signings outside of ELo have not worked out great.
That's what I've been thinking, but I keep seeing people of all sorts talking about it like it is.
I really like Julio. Atlanta used to churn out really good pitchers.
@chicagocatfan24 - do you think Cooper is over hyped or that good?
And why won’t the Sox hire true talent developers for the minors? It’s like the NU O coaching staff moonlights as Sox minor league hitting and fielding coaches...
I think Jerry is in line behind the Ricketts. He has gotten his, now they want theirs.
Cooper adapts with the times in spite of what it might seem like publicly. At his core he's still a slob from Brooklyn. I know the young guys on the team love working with him, and the "Giolito went back to his HS coach last winter" story was total BS. EVERY pitcher in baseball has a guy they work with in the offseason.
And when Getz was hired as director of player development I got a text that it was a "grand slam hire". Not totally sure what his methodology is, but he's well regarded in the industry at the very least, so there's that.
Hostetler also was brought in from Atlanta and isn't home grown. I do think they have a lot of work to do in their
