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Art Deco · 06-17-2020, 06:46 PM

Set forth most of my goals in the post-mortem after the wild card loss to Toronto, but it's no secret that C and 3B have been problem spots for several years now. Papered over that with rentals last year in Baez and Sal Perez, but would rather have a longer-term solution. So I identified two young players with enough experience to step right in who are blocked with their respective teams: The Dodgers' Keibert Ruiz and Houston's Abraham Toro, who are blocked by Will Smith and Alex Bregman respectively.

Ruiz was good enough to force his way on LA's post-season roster, and Toro had filled in admirably in a couple of extended stretches the last two years when Bregman was injured.

Here are Ruiz's numbers (he's a 60 defensively so we're not talking about a bat-only guy):

As you can see there's nothing to sneeze at here, and in some ways Ruiz is the Wander Franco of catchers in that he rarely strikes out as well, just 47 times in 870 at bats between AA, AAA and MLB. But since Smith is entrenched and they have Diego Cartaya behind Ruiz, he was available for trade.

Toro, meanwhile, in 441 AB over 2020 and 2021 hit 25 2B, 18 HR, 52 BB and a .270 average, playing 50 defense, good for 2.6 WAR - not Brooks Robinson but not Alec Bohm either.

So yes, I acquired them both. Here are the details on the two trades:

November 1: Traded 26-year-old minor league starting pitcher Riley O'Brien and 23-year-old minor league starting pitcher Joe Gobillot to the Los Angeles Dodgers, getting 23-year-old catcher Keibert Ruiz, 27-year-old reliever Tony Gonsolin, 25-year-old minor league third baseman Luke Heyer, 20-year-old minor league starting pitcher Jimmy Lewis and 23-year-old minor league starting pitcher Josiah Gray in return.

Gobillot turned out to be the key here for LA to get the deal done, he's a control lefty in low-A who I guess could grow up to be Ryan Yarbrough but he seems to come up in a lot of "make this deal work" lists. I could have O'Brien back for Heyer making this a 4 for 1 (I shopped Heyer and O'Brien came up). Heyer is an interesting case. He's listed at the #1 prospect in MLB right now but neither I nor the Dodgers seem to believe it as he's been available in trade. He's 25 and played the last two years in the Midwest league, but he has 4-star potential and the scouting reports are glowing and he plays a position of need (although only with 45 D). I've always liked Gonsolin and he's a power arm for the pen, Gray has fine potential as a starter, and Lewis is a flamethrower. Obviously I really like this deal.

November 1: Traded 30-year-old reliever Taylor Rogers, 25-year-old minor league second baseman Taylor Walls and 26-year-old minor league left fielder Randy Arozarena to the Houston Astros, getting 24-year-old third baseman Abraham Toro, 24-year-old minor league right fielder Matthew Barefoot and 21-year-old minor league starting pitcher Jayson Schroeder in return.

Had to give up more here for Toro, but Walls and Arozarena had no real shot at a role and it was unfair to keep him in AAA for a third (fourth?) straight season. Walls hasn't hit above the AA level but will make a decent backup for Altuve and Correa. Rogers was going to command $7.5M in arbitration, a reasonable number, but he's not the dominating closer he save totals imply and I have lots of bullpen arms as discussed earlier. Meanwhile, Barefoot is kind of an Arozarena-lite, a 15-HR, 20-SB type potentially who gets on base, has good speed, etc. Schroeder is another arm with potential. Neither of the last two are Rule 5 eligible, which is good considering Gonsolin, Gray and Heyer from the Dodgers trade all are.

Meanwhile, this travesty of justice took place:

Kelenic did have the slightest of WAR edges on Wander, 5.2 to 5.1, but that was because Wander missed 6 weeks. The vote was close at least, but still a joke. Maybe it will give him some motivation for 2021. Sadly in another injustice, I lost out on Manager of the Year to Aaron Boone, who should really give it back after those two games he left his starters in too long against Chicago in the ALCS. C Joey Bart won the NL Rookie of the Year, but it was with the Mets, not the Giants, who inexplicably traded him to New York for Luis Guillorme mid-season. Man, if I had known I could have offered San Francisco better.

In other awards, Nate Pearson won the AL Cy Young while Jake deGrom took yet another in the NL. Gavin Lux (.357-49-140) was unsurprisingly the NL MVP, but in a bit of a shock Yordan Alvarez won the AL MVP award. I voted for Ohtani, who had a combined 9.1 WAR (more than anyone else in the AL) thanks to 27 HR and a 307/402/604 triple slash to go with a 17-10 record and 237 K's in 211 innings. He really is the modern-day Babe Ruth but myself & only 2 others voted him #1. Meadows finished third (which is where I had him, behind Ohtani and Trout), ahead of Ohtani who placed fourth.

December 5: Traded 30-year-old third baseman Yandy Diaz to the Chicago Cubs, getting 23-year-old minor league catcher Adam Kerner in return.

Farewell to Yandy, clearing a 40-man spot for Shane Baz and picking up a nice catching prospect in the process. We'll always have the 2019 Wild Card Game. Meanwhile, what was once an organizational weakness is fast becoming a strength, with Ronaldo Hernandez, Chris Betts, Kevin Melendez and now Kerner in the pipeline behind Keibert Ruiz. Kerner's good defensively, and hit over .300 at every level until a 30-game promotion to AA where he did struggle.

In FA news around the league, Houston signed Max Scherzer to a 2-year $58M deal, something they pretty much had to do since Verlander and Greinke became free agents, while the Cubs signed Trevor Story to a 5-year, $117M deal to fill their hole at SS (guess Dansby Swanson wasn't the answer) created by the departure of Javy Baez, and the Red Sox signed Buster Posey to a 4-year $75M deal which I'm guessing isn't going to age too well.

December 6: Traded 20-year-old minor league reliever Taj Bradley, 29-year-old right fielder Hunter Renfroe and retaining 50% to the Minnesota Twins, getting 28-year-old right fielder Max Kepler and 23-year-old minor league reliever Garrett Gooden in return.

Here's a biggie. While I appreciate the 84 HR and gold-glove defense Renfroe has provided in RF the past two seasons, it came at the expense of an OBP in the .280s and he's only been a little over a 2 WAR player. Kepler is an upgrade of about 50 points in OPS, about 1 WAR, very little dropoff in defense (60 to Renfroe's 65) and is on a team-friendly contract (6.75 this year, 8.5 next, and a team option for 10 in 2024). The upgrade in RF came at the expense of Bradley, a fine prospect who was Rule 5 eligible and not currently on the 40-man so he was bound to be taken. Gooden is a live arm who fanned 128 in 108 innings at regular-A and 11 more in 7 innings at High-A. If he's 1/10 of Doc Gooden, I'll be thrilled. Incidentally in a rare reversal of fortune, I was the one retaining $ here, 4.1M to be precise. That's OK because we still have close to $30M to spend this winter.

More FA News: Former Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez signed a 5-year, $54M contract with Colorado. Don't think he'll be challenging for any ERA titles soon. Former Ray Avisail Garcia signed a 1-year, $7.7M with the Cubs and Ryan Pressley re-upped with Houston for 3 years, $30.6M.

December 7: The Tampa Bay Rays traded 29-year-old minor league catcher Michael Perez to the New York Mets, getting 23-year-old minor league catcher Saul Garza in return.

Minor deal, but I am trading away the catcher on my 40-man with the most MLB experience. Garza looks like he could grow up to be Michael Perez. Key here is that opens a 40-man spot for 3B Osmy Gregorio, who is often sought in "make this work" trades which tells me he'd be taken in the Rule 5 draft.

No big FA signing today, but the Blue Jays acquired Aaron Nola from the Phillies in a deal that saw Derek Fisher in return. Nola hasn't been quite what he was in 2018-19 recently but still a good move for them.

December 8 transactions of note:

Los Angeles Angels: Signed free agent SS Marcus Semien to a 4-year contract worth a total of $82,400,000.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Signed free agent RF Jorge Soler to a 3-year contract worth a total of $28,800,000.
The Seattle Mariners traded 25-year-old catcher Cal Raleigh and 24-year-old minor league reliever Levi Stoudt to the Atlanta Braves, getting 25-year-old reliever Touki Toussaint and 24-year-old minor league second baseman Braden Shewmake in return.

What's interesting here is that Semien signed a 4-year deal with the Phillies last year for $16M/season but it had a player opt-out and he bet wisely as his 2021 was a bounceback to his MVP-caliber 2019 season, and he was able to parlay that into about another $4-5M/year from the Angels. LA had lost Andrelton Simmons to free agency last winter when he signed with the Marlins, and ironically they picked up former Miami SS Miguel Rojas. However Rojas had a serious injury and is going to miss a good chunk of this season, hence the signing. In the Seattle-Atlanta deal, Raleigh was a young catcher I was eyeing for acquisition at times last year but I'm glad I held out for Ruiz.

December 9 MLB moves of note:

Kansas City Royals: Signed free agent RP Martin Perez to a 2-year contract worth a total of $2,070,000.
San Francisco Giants: Signed free agent SS Javier Baez to a 5-year contract worth a total of $149,800,000.
The Kansas City Royals traded 26-year-old closer Tyler Zuber to the New York Yankees, getting 20-year-old minor league center fielder Everson Pereira in return.
The Philadelphia Phillies traded 25-year-old minor league reliever Colton Eastman to the Miami Marlins, getting 23-year-old shortstop Jazz Chisholm in return.

The big name of the 2021 FA class finally signed, as Javy is going to get just under $30M a year from the Giants of all teams. San Francisco has maybe been the worst team the past couple of years so this is clearly about the money. Got a message about how fan interest decreased significantly now that Javy's gone but grow up people, he was always a rental. Meanwhile the Yankees get a good arm for the pen in Zuber, who won KC's closer job last year and saved 24 games, while the Phillies fill their Semien-sized SS hole by getting a good young SS on the rise in Chisholm. Saw that the Marlins were making him available in trade, but I already have a guy named Wander so I had to pass.

December 13: Lost IF Joey Wendle to Colorado in the Rule 5 draft.

Wasn't expecting this, and was considering bringing Joey back in the spring to be the backup MI, but oh well. I was more worried about losing Kevin Melendez or Tommy Romero and I didn't. There were only 6 players taken in the whole Rule 5 draft as it turned out.

December 19 News:

Our good friend Chaz Roe ended up with the Mets, getting 2 years/11.2M, so good for him that's more than I would have been willing to pay. Speaking of what I'm willing to pay, I have two free agent offers out there for 1-year deals: trying to bring back Brad Hand at $7.75M (I know he'll hold me up for more but that was his current ask), and veteran starter Zack Greinke at $15.2M (I have $30M to spend on free agents). Hand is more of a need since right now Jose Alvarado is the only lefty late-inning option in the pen, but Grienke seems like a good deal even though we have 5 fine starters, albeit 5 who have trouble staying healthy at the same time. That and the fact he claims he's leaning to an offer from Boston motivated me. We'll see.

December 22 News

The Mets lost their minds and signed Justin Verlander to a 3-year, $52.4 million contract. Verlander's now 38 and he's coming off two very mediocre years with Houston and missed the playoffs with injury. Early this past season he looked like his old self but faded badly in the second half before getting hurt (or while getting hurt). Meanwhile, I added veteran hurler A.J. Cole on a minor league deal to give us some depth.

06-17-2020, 06:46 PM	#20
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,067	2021-22 Offseason thread Part 1. Set forth most of my goals in the post-mortem after the wild card loss to Toronto, but it's no secret that C and 3B have been problem spots for several years now. Papered over that with rentals last year in Baez and Sal Perez, but would rather have a longer-term solution. So I identified two young players with enough experience to step right in who are blocked with their respective teams: The Dodgers' Keibert Ruiz and Houston's Abraham Toro, who are blocked by Will Smith and Alex Bregman respectively. Ruiz was good enough to force his way on LA's post-season roster, and Toro had filled in admirably in a couple of extended stretches the last two years when Bregman was injured. Here are Ruiz's numbers (he's a 60 defensively so we're not talking about a bat-only guy): As you can see there's nothing to sneeze at here, and in some ways Ruiz is the Wander Franco of catchers in that he rarely strikes out as well, just 47 times in 870 at bats between AA, AAA and MLB. But since Smith is entrenched and they have Diego Cartaya behind Ruiz, he was available for trade. Toro, meanwhile, in 441 AB over 2020 and 2021 hit 25 2B, 18 HR, 52 BB and a .270 average, playing 50 defense, good for 2.6 WAR - not Brooks Robinson but not Alec Bohm either. So yes, I acquired them both. Here are the details on the two trades: November 1: Traded 26-year-old minor league starting pitcher Riley O'Brien and 23-year-old minor league starting pitcher Joe Gobillot to the Los Angeles Dodgers, getting 23-year-old catcher Keibert Ruiz, 27-year-old reliever Tony Gonsolin, 25-year-old minor league third baseman Luke Heyer, 20-year-old minor league starting pitcher Jimmy Lewis and 23-year-old minor league starting pitcher Josiah Gray in return. Gobillot turned out to be the key here for LA to get the deal done, he's a control lefty in low-A who I guess could grow up to be Ryan Yarbrough but he seems to come up in a lot of "make this deal work" lists. I could have O'Brien back for Heyer making this a 4 for 1 (I shopped Heyer and O'Brien came up). Heyer is an interesting case. He's listed at the #1 prospect in MLB right now but neither I nor the Dodgers seem to believe it as he's been available in trade. He's 25 and played the last two years in the Midwest league, but he has 4-star potential and the scouting reports are glowing and he plays a position of need (although only with 45 D). I've always liked Gonsolin and he's a power arm for the pen, Gray has fine potential as a starter, and Lewis is a flamethrower. Obviously I really like this deal. November 1: Traded 30-year-old reliever Taylor Rogers, 25-year-old minor league second baseman Taylor Walls and 26-year-old minor league left fielder Randy Arozarena to the Houston Astros, getting 24-year-old third baseman Abraham Toro, 24-year-old minor league right fielder Matthew Barefoot and 21-year-old minor league starting pitcher Jayson Schroeder in return. Had to give up more here for Toro, but Walls and Arozarena had no real shot at a role and it was unfair to keep him in AAA for a third (fourth?) straight season. Walls hasn't hit above the AA level but will make a decent backup for Altuve and Correa. Rogers was going to command $7.5M in arbitration, a reasonable number, but he's not the dominating closer he save totals imply and I have lots of bullpen arms as discussed earlier. Meanwhile, Barefoot is kind of an Arozarena-lite, a 15-HR, 20-SB type potentially who gets on base, has good speed, etc. Schroeder is another arm with potential. Neither of the last two are Rule 5 eligible, which is good considering Gonsolin, Gray and Heyer from the Dodgers trade all are. Meanwhile, this travesty of justice took place: Kelenic did have the slightest of WAR edges on Wander, 5.2 to 5.1, but that was because Wander missed 6 weeks. The vote was close at least, but still a joke. Maybe it will give him some motivation for 2021. Sadly in another injustice, I lost out on Manager of the Year to Aaron Boone, who should really give it back after those two games he left his starters in too long against Chicago in the ALCS. C Joey Bart won the NL Rookie of the Year, but it was with the Mets, not the Giants, who inexplicably traded him to New York for Luis Guillorme mid-season. Man, if I had known I could have offered San Francisco better. In other awards, Nate Pearson won the AL Cy Young while Jake deGrom took yet another in the NL. Gavin Lux (.357-49-140) was unsurprisingly the NL MVP, but in a bit of a shock Yordan Alvarez won the AL MVP award. I voted for Ohtani, who had a combined 9.1 WAR (more than anyone else in the AL) thanks to 27 HR and a 307/402/604 triple slash to go with a 17-10 record and 237 K's in 211 innings. He really is the modern-day Babe Ruth but myself & only 2 others voted him #1. Meadows finished third (which is where I had him, behind Ohtani and Trout), ahead of Ohtani who placed fourth. December 5: Traded 30-year-old third baseman Yandy Diaz to the Chicago Cubs, getting 23-year-old minor league catcher Adam Kerner in return. Farewell to Yandy, clearing a 40-man spot for Shane Baz and picking up a nice catching prospect in the process. We'll always have the 2019 Wild Card Game. Meanwhile, what was once an organizational weakness is fast becoming a strength, with Ronaldo Hernandez, Chris Betts, Kevin Melendez and now Kerner in the pipeline behind Keibert Ruiz. Kerner's good defensively, and hit over .300 at every level until a 30-game promotion to AA where he did struggle. In FA news around the league, Houston signed Max Scherzer to a 2-year $58M deal, something they pretty much had to do since Verlander and Greinke became free agents, while the Cubs signed Trevor Story to a 5-year, $117M deal to fill their hole at SS (guess Dansby Swanson wasn't the answer) created by the departure of Javy Baez, and the Red Sox signed Buster Posey to a 4-year $75M deal which I'm guessing isn't going to age too well. December 6: Traded 20-year-old minor league reliever Taj Bradley, 29-year-old right fielder Hunter Renfroe and retaining 50% to the Minnesota Twins, getting 28-year-old right fielder Max Kepler and 23-year-old minor league reliever Garrett Gooden in return. Here's a biggie. While I appreciate the 84 HR and gold-glove defense Renfroe has provided in RF the past two seasons, it came at the expense of an OBP in the .280s and he's only been a little over a 2 WAR player. Kepler is an upgrade of about 50 points in OPS, about 1 WAR, very little dropoff in defense (60 to Renfroe's 65) and is on a team-friendly contract (6.75 this year, 8.5 next, and a team option for 10 in 2024). The upgrade in RF came at the expense of Bradley, a fine prospect who was Rule 5 eligible and not currently on the 40-man so he was bound to be taken. Gooden is a live arm who fanned 128 in 108 innings at regular-A and 11 more in 7 innings at High-A. If he's 1/10 of Doc Gooden, I'll be thrilled. Incidentally in a rare reversal of fortune, I was the one retaining $ here, 4.1M to be precise. That's OK because we still have close to $30M to spend this winter. More FA News: Former Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez signed a 5-year, $54M contract with Colorado. Don't think he'll be challenging for any ERA titles soon. Former Ray Avisail Garcia signed a 1-year, $7.7M with the Cubs and Ryan Pressley re-upped with Houston for 3 years, $30.6M. December 7: The Tampa Bay Rays traded 29-year-old minor league catcher Michael Perez to the New York Mets, getting 23-year-old minor league catcher Saul Garza in return. Minor deal, but I am trading away the catcher on my 40-man with the most MLB experience. Garza looks like he could grow up to be Michael Perez. Key here is that opens a 40-man spot for 3B Osmy Gregorio, who is often sought in "make this work" trades which tells me he'd be taken in the Rule 5 draft. No big FA signing today, but the Blue Jays acquired Aaron Nola from the Phillies in a deal that saw Derek Fisher in return. Nola hasn't been quite what he was in 2018-19 recently but still a good move for them. December 8 transactions of note: Los Angeles Angels: Signed free agent SS Marcus Semien to a 4-year contract worth a total of $82,400,000. Los Angeles Dodgers: Signed free agent RF Jorge Soler to a 3-year contract worth a total of $28,800,000. The Seattle Mariners traded 25-year-old catcher Cal Raleigh and 24-year-old minor league reliever Levi Stoudt to the Atlanta Braves, getting 25-year-old reliever Touki Toussaint and 24-year-old minor league second baseman Braden Shewmake in return. What's interesting here is that Semien signed a 4-year deal with the Phillies last year for $16M/season but it had a player opt-out and he bet wisely as his 2021 was a bounceback to his MVP-caliber 2019 season, and he was able to parlay that into about another $4-5M/year from the Angels. LA had lost Andrelton Simmons to free agency last winter when he signed with the Marlins, and ironically they picked up former Miami SS Miguel Rojas. However Rojas had a serious injury and is going to miss a good chunk of this season, hence the signing. In the Seattle-Atlanta deal, Raleigh was a young catcher I was eyeing for acquisition at times last year but I'm glad I held out for Ruiz. December 9 MLB moves of note: Kansas City Royals: Signed free agent RP Martin Perez to a 2-year contract worth a total of $2,070,000. San Francisco Giants: Signed free agent SS Javier Baez to a 5-year contract worth a total of $149,800,000. The Kansas City Royals traded 26-year-old closer Tyler Zuber to the New York Yankees, getting 20-year-old minor league center fielder Everson Pereira in return. The Philadelphia Phillies traded 25-year-old minor league reliever Colton Eastman to the Miami Marlins, getting 23-year-old shortstop Jazz Chisholm in return. The big name of the 2021 FA class finally signed, as Javy is going to get just under $30M a year from the Giants of all teams. San Francisco has maybe been the worst team the past couple of years so this is clearly about the money. Got a message about how fan interest decreased significantly now that Javy's gone but grow up people, he was always a rental. Meanwhile the Yankees get a good arm for the pen in Zuber, who won KC's closer job last year and saved 24 games, while the Phillies fill their Semien-sized SS hole by getting a good young SS on the rise in Chisholm. Saw that the Marlins were making him available in trade, but I already have a guy named Wander so I had to pass. December 13: Lost IF Joey Wendle to Colorado in the Rule 5 draft. Wasn't expecting this, and was considering bringing Joey back in the spring to be the backup MI, but oh well. I was more worried about losing Kevin Melendez or Tommy Romero and I didn't. There were only 6 players taken in the whole Rule 5 draft as it turned out. December 19 News: Our good friend Chaz Roe ended up with the Mets, getting 2 years/11.2M, so good for him that's more than I would have been willing to pay. Speaking of what I'm willing to pay, I have two free agent offers out there for 1-year deals: trying to bring back Brad Hand at $7.75M (I know he'll hold me up for more but that was his current ask), and veteran starter Zack Greinke at $15.2M (I have $30M to spend on free agents). Hand is more of a need since right now Jose Alvarado is the only lefty late-inning option in the pen, but Grienke seems like a good deal even though we have 5 fine starters, albeit 5 who have trouble staying healthy at the same time. That and the fact he claims he's leaning to an offer from Boston motivated me. We'll see. December 22 News The Mets lost their minds and signed Justin Verlander to a 3-year, $52.4 million contract. Verlander's now 38 and he's coming off two very mediocre years with Houston and missed the playoffs with injury. Early this past season he looked like his old self but faded badly in the second half before getting hurt (or while getting hurt). Meanwhile, I added veteran hurler A.J. Cole on a minor league deal to give us some depth. Last edited by Art Deco; 06-19-2020 at 06:57 AM.