(keep checking this post if interested over the next 24-36 hours as it will be frequently updated)
A look at this year's World Series trophy:
Bossman Stu Sternberg has given us a $160M payroll, but I'm not going anywhere near that to try to keep a bit more of a challenge. We'll probably end up somewhere in the $120-130M range. Right now, most of the young core of this team still isn't arbitration-eligible with only Jhon Diaz and Blake Money eligble this offseason. Next year will be fun when Nate Clark, Jasson Dominguez, Joe Barker, Alec Sachais, Ricky Widmar, Andy Aparicio and Isaac DeLeon all become eligble but for now we can still play on the cheap. We'll be losing Shane McClanahan and Keibert Ruiz (they'll both get qualifying offers but I doubt they take them). Mac was great over the past decade and he has the 5 rings to show for it, but we have plenty of pitching depth. Ruiz on the other hand will be creating a bit of a hole as the jury's out on Carlos Perez as a full-time catcher, and we're kind of thin at the position especially after Robbie Burkes' decision to play in the NFL (again, WTF?). So look for a deal to pick up a catcher as our top prospect at the position, Will Quintana, probably needs another year in the minors and even then I see him more as a backup. Daniel Espino is also gone as he's exhausted his arbitration years. He'll be missed too but we have plenty of arms in relief too (I'm thinking Tim Siqueiros can take his role). Elsewhere there are some guys on the 40-man who may get dealt for the next crop that has to go on, I'm looking at Chris Sharp, Tyler Gough, Mike Lammers, Jeremy Bowers etc.
Also we have the perennial outfield glut, and Spencer Torkelson will probably be going as he's been the odd man out due to his inability to stay healthy over the last 3 years and the ill-advised contract we gave him which still has two years at $14.1M on it. Judson Fabian is in his final year of team control as well and could be dealt as we have Dayle Jenkins and Victor de Jesus ready to go. Also Nate Clark could be the leftfielder and his DH slot can be turned over to Isaac DeLeon and others.
Some notable retirements around MLB: Manny Machado, Andrelton Simmons, Blake Snell.
Let the trading begin:
We take care of our outfield glut and our hole at catcher in one fell swoop. Now this is only a temporary solution at catcher since Moreno is going into his final year of arbitration eligibility and we'll have to pay him $12-13M this year, but that's $1-2M less than what we were paying Tork to ride the bench when he wasn't getting himself hurt. Hopefully he gets healthy and gets at-bats in Detroit (the team he currently was recently drafted by IRL). And getting Angeac in the deal isn't too shabby either, the #2 overall pick in 2027. He hasn't quite developed or put up the numbers to justify that selection but he still projects as at least a 65 power hitter. The fact that Detroit was willing to deal him probably says something, though. Parker was a B-/C+ prospect who can play 2B and OF but isn't anything that exciting.
In awards news, we dominated the Platinum Stick awards with Joe Barker (1B), Ricky Widmar (SS), Judson Fabian (LF) and Jasson Dominguez (CF) taking the honors.
Texas's Wil Diaz won the AL Cy Young as expected, but amazingly Christian Little finished second and got 13 first-place votes despite only pitching 88 innings this season. Weird. Jack Flaherty won for the third time in four years over in the NL, with the one year he didn't (last year) being the one in which he missed most of the season with injury.
Vlad Guerrero Jr. was named AL MVP once again, his first time as a Yankee. It's the 6th time in the past 8 seasons he's won and the second straight. Jasson Dominguez finished 3rd and Bobby Witt Jr 4th in the voting, with Nate Clark, Ricky Widmar and Joe Barker finishing 7-8-9. Victor Mesa Jr. of Columbus won in the NL, with a 318/378/553 season with 39 HR, 125 RBI and 7.6 WAR.
November 10: Traded 27-year-old minor league third baseman Aidan Meola to the Chicago White Sox, getting 25-year-old minor league reliever Ed Thomas in return.
Meola was taken by the White Sox in the Rule 5 draft but returned to us and then we put him on the 40-man, but they want him back and were willing to part with the lefty Thomas, their #1 pick in 2027 who's probably miscast as a starter but throws in the high 90s and should make a decent lefty reliever.
November 12: More big trade news:
Au revoir, Judson. The World Series MVP, who was going to be a free agent at season's end, is headed to Philly in a deal that brings us our catcher (or co-catcher depending on how Carlos Perez pans out) of the future in Corpus, who projects to be a .260-.270, 25-30 HR guy and was impressive during a brief callup with the Phillies last year (11/7 BB/K ratio in 44 AB, 3 HR). With Gabriel Moreno on board, Corpus will probably play at Durham this year and job-share with Perez in 2031. Fabian's spot will be taken by either Dayle Jenkins or Victor de Jesus or some combination thereof.
November 28: First big FA signings of the winter, with JJ Bleday, whom we once had and dealt back in 2022 to San Diego to get Chris Paddack and then turned into a star in Colorado, going to Milwaukee on a 5/109 deal, while SS Adael Amador went to Philly on an 8/190 deal. Amador's only 26 and earned 11 WAR over the last two seasons as he's emerged as one of the NL's top shortstops. He's another Rockie refugee. Also in former Ray news the Mets and Yankees hooked up on a deal which saw Emerson Hancock return to the AL in a deal for JT Schwartz. And finally one more former Ray in the news as Nate Lowe re-signed with Philly on a 4/82 deal.
December 2: Two massive deals incoming!
Well we found Chris Sharp a home, and thanks to an MVP season in the IL last year his trade value increased to the point where he became the centerpiece in a deal to land of the league's best starting pitchers. That of course would be Jon Hayes, who's put up seasons of 4.6, 6.5 and 4.8 WAR the last three years. He was 6th in MLB in WAR, 3rd in strikeouts. We'll have him for the next two seasons before he's eligible for free agency, and apparently the Twins wanted the deal from a cost-cutting perspective (and they need a 1B). Bowers is a solid lefty reliever who's been hurt but should be back early in the season, and Navarro is a flyer of a prospect included to get the deal over the line.
Of course now we have a real surplus of starters, hence this deal:
So in a neat bit of symmetry, we traded away a 1B prospect, a lefty reliever and a 19-year old CF prospect for a frontline starter, and now we traded away a frontiline starter for a 1B prospect, a lefty reliever and a 19-year-old CF prospect. Of course Hayes > Anglin, and the centerpiece of this deal, Harms is about 4 years behind Sharp and doesn't need to go on the 40-man. Morfin is a decently lefty reliever and I like Bonds better than Navarro, whom we dealt to Minnesota, as he has much more power potential. Some more details about Harms, aptly named for what he does to baseballs:
Yes, we really don't need another 1B prospect with Joe Barker entrenched, Rodolfo Rivas at Durham and Caleb Picciotti having a great year at AA Montgomery. But he was the best prospect offered for Anglin and I'm all about value. Meanwhile, the Phillies have become the new Cubs as this is our second deal of the offseason with them and fifth or sixth in the last year or two, with separate deals bringing in Rivas, Dayle Jenkins and Romulo Canelon coming to mind. I'll miss Anglin a little as he was someone we drafted and brought through the system and turned into a top-notch pitcher. But he was frustrating over the last two years as his performances didn't match his stuff and his WAR. He was probably a victim of our mediocre defense but he's put up two straight years of ERAs closer to 5 than 4. My guess is he thrives in Philly, getting to pitch to the pitcher instead of a DH and probably has better defense behind him.
December 4: More free agent signings as Jack Little, who led the league in ERA for Philly last year, signs a 6/138 deal with the Rockies where I can assure you he won't lead the league in ERA. Quality leadoff-type guy Jarren Duran signed a 5/42 deal with Atlanta, and the well-traveled reliever Edwin Diaz went for a 1/4.5 deal with Washington.
December 5: Not thrilled to have to face Heliot Ramos 18-19 times a season but we will as the Blue Jays signed the hard-hitting former Giants OF to a 4/77.6 deal. Ramos was worth 5.1 WAR last year off a 313/372/482 season and that was in a tough hitters' park.