First of all, big award news!
Congratulations to Brandon, who is signed to a nice team-friendly contract for several more years. Randy Arozarena finished 7th and Austin Meadows 10th.
Other award winners: Spencer Torkelson (AL) and Cristian Pache (NL) took Rookie of the Year, Lucas Giolito (17-10, 3.40 with 335 Ks) and Freddy Peralta (14-4, 2.84) were the Cy Young winners, and the NL MVP went to Ronald Acuna Jr. for his .339-36-86, 9.2 WAR season.
And of course I've made a few trades:
Adios, Yandy. He had a pretty good season and he's a WYSWYG guy, a high-average, good OBP player with limited power and defensive skills. With Wander taking over third he was relegated to DH last year and I have a DH replacement ready to go (more on that later). In return we get a starter for next season in Peacock, who looks solid with 50 stuff, 65 movement and 55 control. He should be a reliable 3rd-4th starter and with Chris Archer a free agent (I'd like to bring him back but his fine comeback season has probably priced him out of our budget) we have a hole to fill.
The lack of a reliable lefty in the pen was a problem last year as Cody Reed stunk and Colin Poche didn't come back until September. Fletcher gives us one, he was Seattle's closer last year with 26 saves, a 3.16 ERA and 70 whiffs in 57 innings. He was a bit homer-prone with 10 longballs allowed so he should feel right at home in our bullpen. The price was reasonable as Mercado is an okay prospect but a finesse guy so his upside is limited.
Wendle was set to make around $3.2M in arbitration and while he's a nice player to have, Taylor Walls is ready to take over the utility IF role (not to mention we have Vidal Brujan and Xavier Edwards knocking on the door). So we shipped him to the Dodgers for Little, and perhaps this is where my bias from the other save comes into play as Little turned into an excellent pitcher in that. Of course I know it means nothing for this save but Little was still one of the better prospects being offered, even if right now he looks to only have 5th starter upside as it wasn't like I was going to get anything sexy for Wendle.
Also I picked up the $4M option on Mike Zunino's contract. Z is always going to be just shy of the Mendoza Line, but he's still valuable if he hits 21 HR again and continues to provide 70 defense at the catcher position.
Word from the bossman:
$100M would be a team-record payroll I'm pretty sure, which is another reason why I was comfortable picking up Zunino's option.
So these are my state of team thoughts right now.
C: Zunino and Mejia return.
INF: The starting infield all returns, with Ji-Man Choi expected to have a better year, and Lowe, Adames and Franco are fixtures.
OF: Arozarena and Meadows return at the corners, but CF is a mess. I'm hoping Kevin Kiermaier and his $12M albatross of a contract are taken in the Expansion Draft; if not, he might just get DFA'd and we'll eat the contract. I like Manuel Margot, but not as the full-time CF but he'll definitely be on the roster. So that leaves the left-handed side with Josh Lowe a possibility or I move Edwards to CF and make him the leadoff hitter. Vidal Brujan had a disappointing minor league season so he's fallen below Edwards in the pecking order and could be traded for more pitching help.
DH: This is where it gets interesting. Last summer I signed Cuban defector Oscar Colas but didn't bother mentioning it because I thought I was playing 2021 only and he didn't figure into the big club during the season. But he was decent at Durham and I expect him to be at the least the LH side of a platoon at DH, with the right side being someone like Manuel Margot or Mike Brosseau. This is why Yandy was expendable.
Rotation: Glasnow, Yarbrough, Luis Patino, Peacock and Brendan McKay is the rotation right now. Shane McClanahan will be back around mid-season and if he's decently recovered from TJS he has a shot. Another injury returnee is Yonny Chirinos, who has a shot at the rotation as well. Also Joe Ryan is interesting and could make the club as a long reliever. As always we'll bargain shop in free agency and there could be another Archer or Wacha worth picking up.
Bullpen: The big 3 of Anderson, Fairbanks and Castillo returns, joined by Fletcher. Poche, Rafael Dolis and Andrew Kittredge will be back as well to provide quality middle relief. Chaz Roe is a free agent. Cody Reed is shaky to return and we can always fill a spot or two with the usual suspects like Chris Mazza or Josh Fleming or someone like Brett Honeywell. We'll see if we can find an inexpensive free agent to help in this department as well.
EXPANSION DRAFT:
The San Antonio Alamos took Kiermaier!! $12M off the payroll, which now after arbitration sits at $58M. We could sign a pretty decent free agent on a 1 or 2-year deal or make a big salary acquisition now. Here's the full draft, these teams look dreadful:
DONE DEAL!
Welcome to Tampa Bay, Christian Vazquez! It will only be for this year, but he could be the best catcher in Rays history as this position has been a struggle to fill ever since Tim Beckham was drafted instead of Buster Posey in 2008. Vazquez is a free agent at years' end, but so was Mike Zunino, who went the other way in the deal. And while Vazquez and Zunino have equivalent power (Z may have a little more), Vazquez is a .280 hitter instead of a .180 hitter. And as great as Z is defensively (70), Vazquez is even better (80). Of course I had to put Pedro Martinez in the deal as the Red Sox can't resist a player by that name. He's an OK infield prospect but not a top-notch one and Dishmey is even lower. The Sox save $3M in the deal although I think that would be a rounding error for them.