It's party time in the Tampa Bay area as the Rays had their World Series parade celebration along Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg. Now the task of defending the title starts with the offseason. But first a look at the trophy:
Word from the bossman:
And the more important word from the bossman:
By way of comparison, our 2023 payroll was $116.5M, and with everyone coming back (except Syndergaard and TJ McFarland, who are free agents), the payroll would be $134.9M based on arbitration estimates. There are a few players not coming back at their salaries (I'm not paying Ty Buttrey $7.5M to be a middle reliever, for example) so we will have plenty of money to spend. The dilemma now becomes how much to tinker with a 115-win team that just swept the World Series, especially given the glut of talent that's major-league ready but without a spot. Sure I'd love to have Syndergaard back, but I'm not going to give him a 6-7 year contract (3 might be the most I'd consider), but I bring him back, what about Dustin May, Asa Lacy and Shane Baz at Durham? All of them should be pitching in the majors. Hell, Shane McClanahan deserves to start. Fried and Paddack are going into their last year of arbitration and will be FAs next winter so perhaps I deal one of them. It's good to know money's not going to be an issue but I'm not going to spend it just to spend it.
Checked in with Syndergaard, and here's what he's looking for:
Nope.
NOTABLE RETIREMENTS:
Ex-Rays: Evan Longoria, Chaz Roe, Jake Odorizzi
Others: Joey Votto, Daniel Murphy, Corey Kluber, Todd Frazier, Kyle Seager, Yan Gomes, Dellin Betances
Surprise, surprise:
GLASNOW WINS AL CY YOUNG AWARD
I have to admit I voted for Cole, more innings, more Ks, higher WAR, but I suppose Glasnow's ERA crown tilted it in his favor. And Tyler Glasnow is 30? Where do the years go? Elsewhere, Mike Soroka (22-4) won the NL Cy Young, Vlad Jr. made it two-for-two as AL MVP after winning the Triple Crown, and Cody Bellinger and his 65 HRs won the NL MVP. Oh yeah, and I won AL Manager of the Year for the second straight season. Wander Franco finished 3rd in the AL MVP voting which is fine, but if you had told me when I bought OOTP back in April that he'd finish just behind Mike Brosseau I would have asked for my $40 back.
BIG TRADE ALERT!!
Well this was a biggie. Time to start dealing from our prospects & outfield glut and in the process we got one of the best young starters in baseball who's signed through 2027 on a team-friendly deal. Manning was 6th in MLB in pitching WAR (5.5) this past season, going 15-14, 3.62 with a mediocre Detroit team with an outstanding 59/243 K/BB ratio in 211 IP. There's really nothing not to like here. His first couple of seasons in MLB were a bit of a learning process but even in a down year in 2022 with the "happy fun ball" he still earned 2.4 WAR. Of course Detroit likely nets more raw talent in this deal and I may have made them the best team in the AL Central next year if Baz can approach what Manning has done. He certainly has the stuff and potential to (he may never match Manning's control though) and Kirilloff if given a chance to play every day should hit at least .290 with 25 HR. We've got our ace replacement for Syndergaard, still have a bunch of fine young pitchers coming up (Lacy, Jimmy Lewis, Seth Johnson, Mack Anglin) and of course even with Kirilloff dealt we still have a glut of quality OF prospects. And we actually added one here in Ashford, who has serious potential with 70 current speed and 55 *current* power, and he's a 60 in RF. He hasn't played above rookie ball but the tools are undeniable, he just needs to make enough contact. Finally, the deal opens up a 40-man spot which is a big deal this offseason because I'm
really looking at losing someone good in Rule 5 this time.
Some free agent news:
So he signs for nearly $30M/year with the Cards. Glad he went back to the NL obviously, and we'll get a comp pick as of course I made him the 1-year, $15M qualifying offer. Was the trade last offseason with the Mets worth it? Flags fly forever, I doubt Snell would have done much better (even though he did with the Mets) and we didn't miss Yonny Chirinos (whom the Mets signed to a 3-year extension as well). And the comp pick could turn out to be an excellent prospect. By the way, I got a message that the fan interest almost completely crashed when Syndergaard signed with St. Louis, I guess that World Series win a month ago is forgotten.
Of more concern is that the Red Sox acquired Jesse Winker from the Reds for a couple of prospects. Winker's a consistent 25-30 HR, .290-.300 hitter. I just wonder where they'll play him since they have Ozuna in LF and Verdugo in RF and I don't think he's a CF. He should definitely make their lineup scarier in some fashion, though, and a lot will depend on Abraham Toro repeating his breakout year (he did slump in September). The Sox think Toro's breakout is real, though, as they gave him a 5-year contract extension.
December 7: Designated P Tanner Dodson and P Dany Jimenez for assignment and placed them on waivers.
Unlike previous seasons where I had enough 40-man room that I dealt some Rule 5-eligible guys rather than possibly lose them, this year it's about opening spots on the 40-man. Dodson has good stuff but atrocious control, and Jimenez is making $2.2M so if someone claims him so be it. Needed the spots for Heston Kjerstad and Nick Frasso, and I still need a couple of more spots for the likes of Jhon Diaz, Patrick Bailey, and Jimmy Lewis. Kind of resigned to losing Owen Miller even though (and because) he's an ideal MI backup and Luke Little possibly.
December 12: Designated P Austin Franklin for assignment and placed him on waivers; Franklin was claimed by Washington. Assigned P Tanner Dodson and P Dany Jimenez to AAA Durham.
Franklin was the next choice to go to open up a 40-man spot, for Jimmy Lewis. Unfortunately he didn't sneak through waivers like the other two as Dodson's inconsistency and Jimenez's salary were enough for other teams to give them a pass.
MORE BIG TRADE NEWS!
Whenever a fanbase thinks a young player isn't playing enough or needs to be promoted, the #Free(PlayerName) hashtags hit social media. Well this trade is a #Free(PlayerName) trade. Yusniel Diaz deserves to play every day somewhere instead of where he's spent the last 2 1/2 seasons on the short end of a RF platoon as a 4th outfielder. And Clarke Schmidt is probably already pitching IRL for the Yankees by the end of the 2020 season while in this save he's been stuck at Durham for 3 years. So best of luck to these guys in Milwaukee. And in return we get a guy I've coveted for a long time and also deserves a #FreeKestonHiura hashtag as the AI, after playing him every day in 2020 and being an All-Star, has turned him into a part-time player the last 3 seasons rather inexplicably. Luis Urias is pretty good himself, but... Anyway Hiura isn't probably going to get everyday at-bats with us either, given that we have a guy named Vidal Brujan at 2B. But he will DH against lefties and spell Brujan (and spell Wander occasionally with Brujan sliding to SS) and who knows, maybe he takes at-bats from Seth Beer against RHP at DH. Anyway his contract is extremely cheap (he's signed for the next 4 seasons at a total of $30M combined) and he can rake. We weren't terrible against lefties last year (although we often could be) but we could have been better and my plans now are to platoon Spencer Torkelson with Nick Schnell in left, meaning Torkelson and Hiura replace Diaz and Bannon as the Schnell/Beer platoon partners, which to me is a clear upgrade. This of course means Bannon is now expendable as the bench would be Ronaldo, Casas, Hiura and Torkelson vs RHP. And yes the deal opens a 40-man spot too.
December 19: The Rule 5 Draft
The Rule 5 draft was a bore, with only two players taken, none of whom were ours. Yes, this means the Rockies for once did not take someone from us.
Some free agent updates: The Dodgers as always sign all the big-name relievers, they got Aroldis Chapman for 1 yr/$5M, Milwaukee shelled out $39M over 3 years for Kenta Maeda, the Rockies signed soft-tossing Brad Keller for 4/34.6 which should get ugly real fast, and 34-year-old Kyle Hendricks, although still pitching well, got 5/85 to stay with the Cubs in a deal that shouldn't age well.