OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post

Art Deco · 07-17-2020, 02:17 PM

Some early notable FA Signings:
Philadelphia Phillies: Signed free agent SP Jacob deGrom to a 4-year contract worth a total of $158,000,000.
Philadelphia Phillies: Signed free agent RP Ken Giles to a 3-year contract worth a total of $20,100,000.
Chicago Cubs: Signed free agent SP Tyler Anderson to a 2-year contract worth a total of $22,000,000.

Phillies breaking out the checkbook here. Nice pickup for the Cubs, I like Tyler Anderson but not $22M like.

Trade of note:
The Baltimore Orioles traded 25-year-old first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and 23-year-old minor league first baseman Dan Pruitt to the Boston Red Sox, getting 27-year-old shortstop C.J. Chatham in return.

Mountcastle should be Boston's 1B with Eric Thames retiring.

And a biggie from us:

The Tampa Bay Rays traded 25-year-old third baseman Abraham Toro, 22-year-old minor league catcher Kevin Melendez and 23-year-old minor league right fielder Tim Tawa to the Boston Red Sox, getting 26-year-old third baseman Rafael Devers, retaining 5% and 22-year-old first baseman Triston Casas in return.

Boston is looking to rebuild, and made Devers available. It hurt some to part with Toro, who actually gets on base more than Devers does, but Devers hits for more power and average, is a little better defensively and was 2 WAR better than Toro last year. With $50M to spend on payroll, absorbing Devers' $16M contract wasn't a big deal as I'm still in win-now mode. Devers effectively has another year on his contract at $21M, and he does have a player option for $21M in 2025 but I hope he does so well the next two seasons for us that he'll feel the need to opt out of it. Not looking forward to going against Toro 18-19 times a season for the foreseeable future, and Devers makes the lineup even more lefty-heavy but such it is.

The other part of the deal nets us Triston Casas, a serious power-hitting prospect that could be our 1B of the (near) future if Bohm doesn't get it done. The editor page shows he can hit 35-40 HR now and he did launch 4 in 32 big league at-bats along with 30 in 393 at AA. He'll start at Durham. Casas can also fake it at 3B (40 rating) if necessary. Melendez is a decent catching prospect but Keibert and Ronaldo have the position covered for years and Melendez was Rule 5 eligible. Tawa wasn't, but I can't swing a dead cat without hitting a good OF prospect in this organization and he's still 2-3 years away.

Another (minor) deal:

The Tampa Bay Rays traded 24-year-old minor league third baseman Osmy Gregorio and 21-year-old minor league catcher Emilio Morales to the Colorado Rockies, getting 23-year-old minor league third baseman Cory Acton in return.

This was to open the 40-man spot that Gregorio was filling. He was a bit disappointing in AA last year and with Devers holding down the fort for at least 2 years to come he was a luxury on the 40-man I could no longer afford. Acton is a decent 3B prospect that doesn't have to be protected from Rule 5 so the price was Morales, an OK but nothing special catching prospect. Yes, I've dealt away two catchers in the system now but still have Chris Betts and Patrick Bailey in the pipeline.

OK, time to turn on the siren:

This is the deal I alluded to in the last post. Edwards needed to go, not on merit but on position blockage with Brujan and Franco on the middle infield, and while I could use him as a backup infielder it's kind of a waste of his talents. So I turned him into Tork - yes, another top-notch power-hitting OF prospect but at least he's a righty batter - and I picked up two pieces that will immediately help the roster. The lesser of the two is Bannon, but he's a 2B/3B who 1) bats right 2) can play both positions decently and 3) has some pop of his own. He hit 300/352/502 with 14 HR in 257 AB for KC last season and while I don't buy that completely, knock about 30 points off each of those slash numbers and you still have a quality infield backup who can also occasionally DH against lefties. The bigger piece is Barlow, who's been an outstanding reliever for the Royals three years running now, and finished 3rd behind Alvarado for reliever of the year. The last two years he's been at 1.5 WAR, very good for a reliever and he doesn't give up HRs (only 9 allowed in 198 IP the last 3 seasons). He can close too, he had 16 saves in the second half of the season after Hunter Harvey went down for the Royals. Cairo was no problem to include, he hit .215 at High-A Charlotte and while he's fast and he's excellent defensively it's another position of excess with Nick Gonzales and Greg Jones ahead of him. Getting back to Torkelson, if he hits at Durham this season like he hit at AA last year, I can see him taking over LF in 2024 with Meadows sliding over to right to replace Max Kepler, whose 1.4 WAR last year is eminently replaceable.

Oh, and Blake Snell should be glad to have outlasted on the roster the guy he called a "slapdick prospect" back in the 19-20 offseason when Edwards was acquired in the Tommy Pham deal. Meanwhile, Durham's going to be fun to watch next year with an OF of Torkelson-Schnell-Bishop with Casas at 1B, they better order extra baseballs. Not to mention Trevor Larnach and Andrew Vaughn are still around.

And in the annual ritual of trading Rule 5 eligible guys for players who aren't here's a deal:

The Tampa Bay Rays traded 24-year-old minor league right fielder Kameron Misner and 24-year-old minor league second baseman Chase Strumpf to the Los Angeles Angels, getting 24-year-old minor league catcher Zach Britton and 23-year-old minor league catcher Noah Cardenas in return. Placed RP Austin Franklin on the 40-man roster.

Misner would be one of the top OF prospects in most organizations, but in this one he's a footnote. Still he could probably hit 25 HR in the bigs right now although with a low average. Strumpf projects as a utility guy at best. These 2 Rule-5 eligibles bring us a pair of fine catching prospects in return (you were worried about our catching depth after trading Melendez and Morales, you say?) both of whom were #1 draft picks. Hopefully this Zach Britton will have a better showing for the team that his namesake the pitcher. Franklin grabs the last 40-man spot for now, I was torn between him and Drew Strotman (and I'd like to keep both) as their profiles, scouting and numbers were virtually identical. It'll be good to have a true reliever on the 40-man I can call up during the season, that was a bit of an issue this past year.

Meanwhile around MLB, Ray-for-a-couple-of-months-in-2021 Taylor Rogers, who closed for Houston last year, signed a 1-year, $8.2M deal with the Dodgers, who along with the Yankees seem to sign all the closers on the market each offseason. Speaking of one-time closers, Delin Betances signed a 2-year, $1.7M total deal with Washington to bolster (?) their bullpen.

December 11 (I'm going to start dating these): The Blue Jays acquired Sonny Gray from the Reds in a deal that sent prize SS prospect Miguel Hiraldo the other way along with another prospect. Good pickup for the Jays assuming he can stay healthy (he's currently recovering from an arthritic elbow which doesn't sound great).

December 12: The Cardinals shelled out $78.1M over 5 years for Mike Clevinger, the best starter on the FA market. Clevinger is coming off a couple of semi-down years since leading the league in ERA in 2020, but is still worth a shot; I was going to make him a 2-year offer for about $35M but that wouldn't have flown as it turns out.

Had Clevenger stayed in Cleveland, he'd be throwing to Gary Sanchez as the former Yankee signed a 7/53.5 deal with the Indians. I know that's one bat I'll be glad not to see anymore in the Yankee lineup. Right now their starting C is Robinson Chirinos but I'm sure they'll find a way to upgrade.

Another blockbuster!!!!

It was time to finally get off the Snellacoaster, and he was entering the final year of his contract. In the three years I've managed the team the only true sustained spell of success he had was in the first half of 2021, and then he proceeded to get hurt and miss almost all of the rest of the season. So to get the uber-consistent Thor in return is a great deal, even if he too is in the final year of his contract. Of course Snell is capable of outpitching Thor this year, it's just not very likely. But the Mets not only get Snell but they get Yonny to fill a rotation hole which they have now with deGrom gone to free agency, and Josh Lowe could be the CFer next year depending on how things shake out. The deal also opens up a pair of 40-man roster spots which is not insignificant. Strotman is grabbing one of them for now.

The Tampa Bay Rays traded 26-year-old minor league left fielder Cal Stevenson to the Chicago Cubs, getting 23-year-old minor league shortstop Jason Willow in return.

Another Rule 5/loaded Durham OF crunch trade. Stevenson could lead off for a lot of MLB teams, including the Cubs, as kind of a Ryan Boldt-type. He can hit .270-.280, have a .360 OBP or better, and steal bases and play a decent LF. But there was no room for him at the inn so off he goes to our favorite trading partners the Cubs. Willow's main attribute is that he isn't Rule 5-eligible but he's a halfway decent prospect that'll probably get thrown into another deal in the next year or two.

December 13: Around MLB, the Tigers sent Kennys Vargas, who's hit 76 HR the last 2 years, to Oakland for a couple of prospects. Vargas will fill the hole left when Matt Olson became a free agent. Also Cleveland signed 36-year-old OF Lorenzo Cain to a 3-year, $46.2M deal. Cain's coming off a nice season but good luck with that.

December 14: Will Harris, who did a great job for us last year, signed a 2-year, $20.4M deal with the Cubs. Not sure I'd have wanted to go 2 years and that much $ for him, though, given his age.

December 15: The Cardinals made quite the splash today with 3 big moves. They signed our buddy Joey Gallo to a 7-year $140M contract, also signed our buddy Brad Hand to a 3-yr, $18M deal (so no dance with Hand this offseason), and traded good-hitting C Andrew Knizner to the Yankees for Jonathan Loaisaga, so the Yankees get their catcher. Knizner doesn't have Sanchez's power but he's a good one, somebody I was looking at during 2021 before getting Keibert Ruiz.

December 16: Signed P Jose Alvarado to a 2-year, $21M contract extension.

Alvarado was set to be a free agent at year's end, and we very well couldn't let the best reliever in baseball walk for nothing hence the extension. Of course there's always risk with relievers but now that we have more money to spend than in past years it's a risk worth taking in his case.

December 19: Lost P Tommy Romero in the Rule 5 draft to Colorado.

Those damn Rockies again. Last year they took Joey Wendle from us, which wasn't that big a deal but I really didn't want to lose Romero. I ended up adding Tanner Dodson as the 40th man since he popped up more often in "make this work" trade offers. Romero was Durham's closer last year and could have been part of this year's bullpen, but such are the breaks. The Rockies also took Cal Stevenson, whom the Cubs neglected to protect after getting him in trade from us; in fact, they were the only team to take more than 1 player, grabbing 3 which is quite a few to commit to keeping on the active MLB roster so I'm hoping maybe we get Romero back.

December 28: Hope everyone had a good Christmas. We're back with a couple of trades.

Traded 21-year-old minor league left fielder Oneill Manzueta to the Chicago Cubs, getting 23-year-old minor league center fielder Grant Richardson in return.

Manzueta was probably a mistake to put on the 40-man as he was only in A ball, where he hit .290 with some power and is already a 70 left fielder. He probably would have slipped through but put him on the 40-man I did and now I need room for what's coming in the next trade. So I rang up my old buddies the Cubs again and they were kind enough to offer Richardson, who ain't a bad prospect but probably not as good as Manzueta so if anyone's going to benefit from my roster mismanagement, let it be the team that traded me Brandon Marsh.

Traded 19-year-old minor league center fielder Willie Gonzalez to the Milwaukee Brewers, getting 24-year-old reliever Aaron Ashby and 23-year-old minor league starting pitcher Slade Cecconi in return.

Gonzalez was my 2021 $5M international free agent signee. He didn't exactly set the world on fire in his first extended action in the DSL this year but he's still highly regarded as a prospect. But for every Wander Franco there are 20 guys are who aren't Wander Franco so I'm going to play the odds here and hope he isn't contending for the NL MVP come 2028. And I get a couple of things I really want: an excellent lefty for the bullpen and a top-notch starting pitching prospect. Ashby can be used for three batters or he can go multiple innings as he had a 2.94 ERA in 52 innings for Milwaukee over 25 appearances with a 19/62 BB/K ratio and those numbers were supported by his minor league track record. Cecconi is potential 60 stuff with 55 control with 4 60-70 potential pitches. Scouting projects him as a mid-rotation starter and I'm going to start him at AA Montgomery this year.

07-17-2020, 02:17 PM	#90
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,930	2022-2023 Offseason, Part 2 (December) Some early notable FA Signings: Philadelphia Phillies: Signed free agent SP Jacob deGrom to a 4-year contract worth a total of $158,000,000. Philadelphia Phillies: Signed free agent RP Ken Giles to a 3-year contract worth a total of $20,100,000. Chicago Cubs: Signed free agent SP Tyler Anderson to a 2-year contract worth a total of $22,000,000. Phillies breaking out the checkbook here. Nice pickup for the Cubs, I like Tyler Anderson but not $22M like. Trade of note: The Baltimore Orioles traded 25-year-old first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and 23-year-old minor league first baseman Dan Pruitt to the Boston Red Sox, getting 27-year-old shortstop C.J. Chatham in return. Mountcastle should be Boston's 1B with Eric Thames retiring. And a biggie from us: The Tampa Bay Rays traded 25-year-old third baseman Abraham Toro, 22-year-old minor league catcher Kevin Melendez and 23-year-old minor league right fielder Tim Tawa to the Boston Red Sox, getting 26-year-old third baseman Rafael Devers, retaining 5% and 22-year-old first baseman Triston Casas in return. Boston is looking to rebuild, and made Devers available. It hurt some to part with Toro, who actually gets on base more than Devers does, but Devers hits for more power and average, is a little better defensively and was 2 WAR better than Toro last year. With $50M to spend on payroll, absorbing Devers' $16M contract wasn't a big deal as I'm still in win-now mode. Devers effectively has another year on his contract at $21M, and he does have a player option for $21M in 2025 but I hope he does so well the next two seasons for us that he'll feel the need to opt out of it. Not looking forward to going against Toro 18-19 times a season for the foreseeable future, and Devers makes the lineup even more lefty-heavy but such it is. The other part of the deal nets us Triston Casas, a serious power-hitting prospect that could be our 1B of the (near) future if Bohm doesn't get it done. The editor page shows he can hit 35-40 HR now and he did launch 4 in 32 big league at-bats along with 30 in 393 at AA. He'll start at Durham. Casas can also fake it at 3B (40 rating) if necessary. Melendez is a decent catching prospect but Keibert and Ronaldo have the position covered for years and Melendez was Rule 5 eligible. Tawa wasn't, but I can't swing a dead cat without hitting a good OF prospect in this organization and he's still 2-3 years away. Another (minor) deal: The Tampa Bay Rays traded 24-year-old minor league third baseman Osmy Gregorio and 21-year-old minor league catcher Emilio Morales to the Colorado Rockies, getting 23-year-old minor league third baseman Cory Acton in return. This was to open the 40-man spot that Gregorio was filling. He was a bit disappointing in AA last year and with Devers holding down the fort for at least 2 years to come he was a luxury on the 40-man I could no longer afford. Acton is a decent 3B prospect that doesn't have to be protected from Rule 5 so the price was Morales, an OK but nothing special catching prospect. Yes, I've dealt away two catchers in the system now but still have Chris Betts and Patrick Bailey in the pipeline. OK, time to turn on the siren: This is the deal I alluded to in the last post. Edwards needed to go, not on merit but on position blockage with Brujan and Franco on the middle infield, and while I could use him as a backup infielder it's kind of a waste of his talents. So I turned him into Tork - yes, another top-notch power-hitting OF prospect but at least he's a righty batter - and I picked up two pieces that will immediately help the roster. The lesser of the two is Bannon, but he's a 2B/3B who 1) bats right 2) can play both positions decently and 3) has some pop of his own. He hit 300/352/502 with 14 HR in 257 AB for KC last season and while I don't buy that completely, knock about 30 points off each of those slash numbers and you still have a quality infield backup who can also occasionally DH against lefties. The bigger piece is Barlow, who's been an outstanding reliever for the Royals three years running now, and finished 3rd behind Alvarado for reliever of the year. The last two years he's been at 1.5 WAR, very good for a reliever and he doesn't give up HRs (only 9 allowed in 198 IP the last 3 seasons). He can close too, he had 16 saves in the second half of the season after Hunter Harvey went down for the Royals. Cairo was no problem to include, he hit .215 at High-A Charlotte and while he's fast and he's excellent defensively it's another position of excess with Nick Gonzales and Greg Jones ahead of him. Getting back to Torkelson, if he hits at Durham this season like he hit at AA last year, I can see him taking over LF in 2024 with Meadows sliding over to right to replace Max Kepler, whose 1.4 WAR last year is eminently replaceable. Oh, and Blake Snell should be glad to have outlasted on the roster the guy he called a "slapdick prospect" back in the 19-20 offseason when Edwards was acquired in the Tommy Pham deal. Meanwhile, Durham's going to be fun to watch next year with an OF of Torkelson-Schnell-Bishop with Casas at 1B, they better order extra baseballs. Not to mention Trevor Larnach and Andrew Vaughn are still around. And in the annual ritual of trading Rule 5 eligible guys for players who aren't here's a deal: The Tampa Bay Rays traded 24-year-old minor league right fielder Kameron Misner and 24-year-old minor league second baseman Chase Strumpf to the Los Angeles Angels, getting 24-year-old minor league catcher Zach Britton and 23-year-old minor league catcher Noah Cardenas in return. Placed RP Austin Franklin on the 40-man roster. Misner would be one of the top OF prospects in most organizations, but in this one he's a footnote. Still he could probably hit 25 HR in the bigs right now although with a low average. Strumpf projects as a utility guy at best. These 2 Rule-5 eligibles bring us a pair of fine catching prospects in return (you were worried about our catching depth after trading Melendez and Morales, you say?) both of whom were #1 draft picks. Hopefully this Zach Britton will have a better showing for the team that his namesake the pitcher. Franklin grabs the last 40-man spot for now, I was torn between him and Drew Strotman (and I'd like to keep both) as their profiles, scouting and numbers were virtually identical. It'll be good to have a true reliever on the 40-man I can call up during the season, that was a bit of an issue this past year. Meanwhile around MLB, Ray-for-a-couple-of-months-in-2021 Taylor Rogers, who closed for Houston last year, signed a 1-year, $8.2M deal with the Dodgers, who along with the Yankees seem to sign all the closers on the market each offseason. Speaking of one-time closers, Delin Betances signed a 2-year, $1.7M total deal with Washington to bolster (?) their bullpen. December 11 (I'm going to start dating these): The Blue Jays acquired Sonny Gray from the Reds in a deal that sent prize SS prospect Miguel Hiraldo the other way along with another prospect. Good pickup for the Jays assuming he can stay healthy (he's currently recovering from an arthritic elbow which doesn't sound great). December 12: The Cardinals shelled out $78.1M over 5 years for Mike Clevinger, the best starter on the FA market. Clevinger is coming off a couple of semi-down years since leading the league in ERA in 2020, but is still worth a shot; I was going to make him a 2-year offer for about $35M but that wouldn't have flown as it turns out. Had Clevenger stayed in Cleveland, he'd be throwing to Gary Sanchez as the former Yankee signed a 7/53.5 deal with the Indians. I know that's one bat I'll be glad not to see anymore in the Yankee lineup. Right now their starting C is Robinson Chirinos but I'm sure they'll find a way to upgrade. Another blockbuster!!!! It was time to finally get off the Snellacoaster, and he was entering the final year of his contract. In the three years I've managed the team the only true sustained spell of success he had was in the first half of 2021, and then he proceeded to get hurt and miss almost all of the rest of the season. So to get the uber-consistent Thor in return is a great deal, even if he too is in the final year of his contract. Of course Snell is capable of outpitching Thor this year, it's just not very likely. But the Mets not only get Snell but they get Yonny to fill a rotation hole which they have now with deGrom gone to free agency, and Josh Lowe could be the CFer next year depending on how things shake out. The deal also opens up a pair of 40-man roster spots which is not insignificant. Strotman is grabbing one of them for now. The Tampa Bay Rays traded 26-year-old minor league left fielder Cal Stevenson to the Chicago Cubs, getting 23-year-old minor league shortstop Jason Willow in return. Another Rule 5/loaded Durham OF crunch trade. Stevenson could lead off for a lot of MLB teams, including the Cubs, as kind of a Ryan Boldt-type. He can hit .270-.280, have a .360 OBP or better, and steal bases and play a decent LF. But there was no room for him at the inn so off he goes to our favorite trading partners the Cubs. Willow's main attribute is that he isn't Rule 5-eligible but he's a halfway decent prospect that'll probably get thrown into another deal in the next year or two. December 13: Around MLB, the Tigers sent Kennys Vargas, who's hit 76 HR the last 2 years, to Oakland for a couple of prospects. Vargas will fill the hole left when Matt Olson became a free agent. Also Cleveland signed 36-year-old OF Lorenzo Cain to a 3-year, $46.2M deal. Cain's coming off a nice season but good luck with that. December 14: Will Harris, who did a great job for us last year, signed a 2-year, $20.4M deal with the Cubs. Not sure I'd have wanted to go 2 years and that much $ for him, though, given his age. December 15: The Cardinals made quite the splash today with 3 big moves. They signed our buddy Joey Gallo to a 7-year $140M contract, also signed our buddy Brad Hand to a 3-yr, $18M deal (so no dance with Hand this offseason), and traded good-hitting C Andrew Knizner to the Yankees for Jonathan Loaisaga, so the Yankees get their catcher. Knizner doesn't have Sanchez's power but he's a good one, somebody I was looking at during 2021 before getting Keibert Ruiz. December 16: Signed P Jose Alvarado to a 2-year, $21M contract extension. Alvarado was set to be a free agent at year's end, and we very well couldn't let the best reliever in baseball walk for nothing hence the extension. Of course there's always risk with relievers but now that we have more money to spend than in past years it's a risk worth taking in his case. December 19: Lost P Tommy Romero in the Rule 5 draft to Colorado. Those damn Rockies again. Last year they took Joey Wendle from us, which wasn't that big a deal but I really didn't want to lose Romero. I ended up adding Tanner Dodson as the 40th man since he popped up more often in "make this work" trade offers. Romero was Durham's closer last year and could have been part of this year's bullpen, but such are the breaks. The Rockies also took Cal Stevenson, whom the Cubs neglected to protect after getting him in trade from us; in fact, they were the only team to take more than 1 player, grabbing 3 which is quite a few to commit to keeping on the active MLB roster so I'm hoping maybe we get Romero back. December 28: Hope everyone had a good Christmas. We're back with a couple of trades. Traded 21-year-old minor league left fielder Oneill Manzueta to the Chicago Cubs, getting 23-year-old minor league center fielder Grant Richardson in return. Manzueta was probably a mistake to put on the 40-man as he was only in A ball, where he hit .290 with some power and is already a 70 left fielder. He probably would have slipped through but put him on the 40-man I did and now I need room for what's coming in the next trade. So I rang up my old buddies the Cubs again and they were kind enough to offer Richardson, who ain't a bad prospect but probably not as good as Manzueta so if anyone's going to benefit from my roster mismanagement, let it be the team that traded me Brandon Marsh. Traded 19-year-old minor league center fielder Willie Gonzalez to the Milwaukee Brewers, getting 24-year-old reliever Aaron Ashby and 23-year-old minor league starting pitcher Slade Cecconi in return. Gonzalez was my 2021 $5M international free agent signee. He didn't exactly set the world on fire in his first extended action in the DSL this year but he's still highly regarded as a prospect. But for every Wander Franco there are 20 guys are who aren't Wander Franco so I'm going to play the odds here and hope he isn't contending for the NL MVP come 2028. And I get a couple of things I really want: an excellent lefty for the bullpen and a top-notch starting pitching prospect. Ashby can be used for three batters or he can go multiple innings as he had a 2.94 ERA in 52 innings for Milwaukee over 25 appearances with a 19/62 BB/K ratio and those numbers were supported by his minor league track record. Cecconi is potential 60 stuff with 55 control with 4 60-70 potential pitches. Scouting projects him as a mid-rotation starter and I'm going to start him at AA Montgomery this year. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-17-2020 at 09:16 PM.