Financial news: Stuart Sternberg has decided to up the payroll to $170M this season so I'll have about $20-25M to play with. Vidal Brujan and Brandon Marsh are at the point where they warrant extensions so most likely the money gets spent there although their current arb #s are baked into the totals so it may not affect this season so much. Austin Meadows is as good as gone, so we'll get a comp first-round pick for him since of course I made him the qualifying offer. Jose Alvarado is the guy I'd like to sign but he wants 3 yrs at $15M per which is no bueno. Evan Godwin is ready to step into his role so if I can't get him back at a more reasonable # once FA gets underway I have my replacement.
As I've noted, with Christian Little ready to take over the #5 spot in the rotation I'm going to need to do something with Daniel Lynch and/or Dustin May, both were disappointments last year. Also in the pitching department Jack Leiter may be ready soon. Another dilemma is going to be what to do about Nick Gonzales. With Wander back the infield is kind of full, and Nick can't play SS. I may gauge the trade market for him but I'd like to keep him around.
Some notable retirements around baseball: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers retired his #22), Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, and J.D. Martinez. Gonna be weird facing the Yankees without Stanton or Hicks.
Also this year's FA class is loaded with Fernando Tatis Jr, Cody Bellinger and Pete Alonso all opting out of their contracts. Other big names include Eloy Jimenez, Michel Baez, Bo Bichette, JT Realmuto (again), Jacob deGrom (coming off a torn labrum), Corey Seager and Michael Conforto. And Austin Meadows of course.
November 8:
Welcome the new Austin Meadows! His name is Judson Fabian and he's probably going to be NL Rookie of the Year after a great debut campaign in Miami where he hit 281/334/486 with 28 HR and 94 RBI, he's a 55/60 RF/LF. The cost was very tolerable as Lynch goes back to his old team, Greg Jones was going to lose his backup IF job to Nick Gonzales anyway and although Mitchell Verburg's scouting ratings are great and he always seems coveted by other teams in "make this work" lists, in the year and a half he was with the Rays he never wowed me and could never seem to get through an inning without giving up a hit which was borne out by his 96 hits allowed in 90 innings (to go with 26 walks). Some of that is due to our shaky infield D, and he did only allow 5 HRs in those 90 innings and had a 2.79 ERA this year. He'll probably thrive better on Miami. Anyway, one of the reasons I also dealt for Fabian when it looked like we were set in the OF is that Nick Schnell's ratings have taken a hit since his long-term injury and he doesn't look like the player he was when he came up a couple of years ago. So right now the projected OF from L-R is Bishop, Marsh, Fabian with Torkelson at DH. Fabian's a RH hitter too which gives us some more balance. Oh yeah, and the deal opens up 2 40-man roster spots, which as usual are like gold, considering Wander, Schnell and Asa Lacy all need to come off the 60-day IL during the winter. Meanwhile, look for a future deal involving Schnell.
November 16:
It's a 4-year deal, buying out his first 2 free agency years for $13.2M/year which is what he was projected for in arbitration next season. Not bad for a guy who averaged 6 WAR over the last two seasons.
November 18:
Some awards updates: Keibert Ruiz, Wander Franco (despite his truncated season) and Spencer Torkelson won the Platinum Bat awards for C, SS and DH respectively.
Well he didn't win it as a Ray, but he's a Ray now:
Tarik Skubal won the AL Cy Young, but Shane McClanahan ended a close second, getting 10 first-place votes to Skubal's 15 and finishing behind him 149-136. Matt Manning was 4th and Tyler Glasnow 5, with Kantaro Yokoyama in 3rd. Mike Soroka won the NL version unanimously.
The juniors won the MVP Awards with Ronald Acuna taking it in the NL and Vladimir Guerrero in the AL.
First The Beatles, now Alec Bohm...
December 8: The first of the big free agent signings took place today. First in the boring news Cody Bellinger re-upped with the Dodgers for 5/131. Bo Bichette signed a 8/96.6 deal with Milwaukee and Brian Reynolds left Pittsburgh for the Chicago Cubs on a surprising 7/141 pact.
Very important update:
December 9: More big FA signings: Fernando Tatis Jr. signed a 8/240 deal with the Dodgers, who had Corey Seager opt for free agency, and the Mets re-signed Pete Alonso to a 4/79.4 deal.
December 15: The Dodgers missed the playoffs this season for the first time in ages, so they've come out with both barrels, signing the top 2 starting pitchers on the market. They got Michael Baez, who left the division rival Padres, for 5/95, and Jacob deGrom for 2/34. Earlier the White Sox signed Nick Senzel, the best 3B on the market, for 6/64.
December 18: Seconds after he hit a big HR for the Rays in Game 5 of the ALDS IRL here in 2020, this happened:
Good luck in Milwaukee! I was willing to give him a higher annual salary, but only over 3-4 years. He'll now join fellow AL East refugee Bo Bichette as the Brewers have been aggressive in free agency this offseason. And at least he won't be competing against us with an AL team.
December 19: JT Realmuto cashed in as a free agent once again, signing a 4/60 deal with the Rockies at age 34. The Blue Jays shipped Byron Buxton to Houston for pitcher Tylor Megill.
December 20: Paddack is back!
Well we made the predicted Nick Schnell deal, and got a nice haul for him. The big name in return of course is Chris Paddack, who won 10 games for us after his trade deadline acquisition from San Diego in 2022 as part of a 20-win season and was a mainstay in the rotation of the 2023 WS-winning team before getting hurt in early 2024 and becoming a free agent after being dealt to the Dodgers. He signed a 2-year deal with the Cubs last year and had an up-and-down year that still netted 1.9 WAR and he'll give up fewer homers in the Trop than he did at Wrigley. The Cubs are retaining 60% of his salary so we're paying $4M for a decent 5th starter (sorry, Christian Little - you're my multi-inning relief ace now). But the key player in the deal is Berdin, the #81 prospect in MLB and the 7th overall pick in the 2024 draft by Colorado, who dealt him to the Cubs last season. He's 6'6", 230 with a great hit and power tools, a pretty good defensive OF with a rocket for an arm. Here's a look under the hood:
Now it's not all wine and roses with him, as his numbers in A ball didn't live up to those tools and he's now been traded twice in a year and a half. But a 70 gap power and 60 power rating - right now, not potential - don't grow on trees. Bienick is a really good relief prospect who was a 3rd round pick of the Cubs in 2024, a groundballer who throws 98.
December 22:
It's Rule 5 Draft time, and although we didn't lose anyone last year, this year was different. The White Sox took C Zach Britton, whom we had at AAA Durham. I liked having him as depth, but Britton deserves a shot at the majors so good luck to him in Chicago. I was more worried about losing reliever Steven Casey, who has 70 stuff and would seem a natural for Rule 5 to stick in the back of someone's bullpen for a year. Britton was one of only 2 players taken, the other was OF Chase Davis a power hitter who blasted 32 HRs in AAA for the Mets' affiliate. He of course was taken by the Yankees in a New York thing.