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Art Deco · 01-18-2022, 09:20 PM

Let's bask in the trophy:

Oh yeah! We weren't the best team in baseball this year (that probably was Atlanta or the Angels) but we won the games when they counted and it's a great achievement after starting the year 46-46 and fire-saling our two best relievers. Now our attention turns to 2026 and we have some decisions to make. I exercised the team option on Tyler Glasnow's contract at $17.6M. It's expensive for the season he had last year but not for the one before when he was the AL Cy Young winner. His stuff is still rated high, even if he dropped from 11.9 to 9.7 K/9. There's also the team option for another 2025 underachiever to consider and that's Brandon Lowe. The former MVP had a miserable year with a meager 1.0 WAR, and although he had nice 2024 at 3.9 WAR he was only 1.6 the year before that as 2021's 7.3 stands out as a massive outlier among his career numbers. He had been a bargain earlier in his long-term contract but at $11M for one more season I'm leaning against not exercising. Ed Howard's a decent player who can certainly at least put up 1-2 WAR for the league minimum and Taylor Walls deserves some more playing time.

Elsewhere we could stand to upgrade CF as Jarren Duran has averaged a little over 2 WAR over the last 3 seasons. We have no heir apparent though, so unless we make a trade for one he'll probably be the guy again. We've traded for 3B rentals the past two seasons (Bregman and Chapman) which tells you a lot about our confidence in Carter Kieboom, entering the final year of his contract at $6.1M. Kieboom was yet another guy who cratered this year, plummeting from 4.7 WAR in 2024 to 1.1 this year, with only about 20% fewer at-bats.

We did make one trade immediately after the season ended:

I really had no interest in keeping Dennis Santana and while I wasn't offered any decent prospects for him, I've always been intrigued by Hall, whose numbers in Baltimore have never matched his ratings (70 stuff, 50 movement, 50 control). He's been homer-prone but I chalk a good bit of that up to his home ballpark. He'll give us another lefty option in the pen.

Elsewhere I'd also like to give Slade Cecconi a shot at the rotation as he put a solid season in Durham (10-10, 3.83, 59/150 BB/K ratio in 163 IP with only 9 HR allowed and good for 3.5 WAR). Glasnow, May, Rasmussen and Ryan are locks for the rotation with Tarik Skubal a question mark as he took a big step back this season. JT Ginn might deserve a look in the rotation although he's been valuable in the pen. Tyler Rogers, Griffin Canning, and of course Matt Chapman are all gone as free agents.

Here are the salaries we're looking at with everyone not listed making the minimum. Right now this crop clocks in at $126M with Stu Sternberg giving me a payroll of $140M next season.

I'm likely to drop or trade Lowe, Matt Foster and Luis Garcia which would free up $18M and give us some room to make improvements possibly at 3B and CF.

MLB News: Notable retirements included Giancarlo Stanton, Lorenzo Cain, Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen and Zack Wheeler. Former Rays hanging up the cleats included Colin Poche, Alex Wood and Tim Beckham.

Another quick trade:

Traded 30-year old RHP Matt Foster and 28-year old minor league RHP Luis Garcia to the St. Louis Cardinals, getting 25-year old RHP Jake Miller in return.

We moved out two relievers we didn't want to keep for a live arm in Miller, who in a brief stint with the Cards last year struck out 18 in 9 1/3 innings. He has 70 stuff in relief and will either help our pen or go to Durham next year.

Awards season: Matt Chapman won the AL Gold Glove once again at 3B, Christian Chamberlain finished 2nd in AL Reliever of the Year voting, Adley Rutschman won the Silver Slugger Award at C, and this one, despite a season truncated in mid-August:

Good to see Angelo DiSpigna placing third.

Francis Martes of Houston won the AL Cy Young after a 14-7, 3.56, 5.5-WAR year which saw him fan 204 in 192 IP, while Walker Buehler took his 3rd straight Cy in the NL after going 12-6, 2.77 with an impressive 43/251 BB/K ratio in 193 IP. Joe Ryan finished 5th in the AL voting.

Bo Bichette took home the AL MVP, getting 30 of 32 first-place votes. He hit .319-34-96 and was the runaway WAR leader in the AL at 8.6. Wander Franco finished 5th. Over in the NL Cody Bellinger won the award, his 2nd after winning in 2019, in a close vote over Fernando Tatis Jr. He was .285-40-102 with 7.6 WAR.

November 28: Interesting trade between Milwaukee and Boston where the Brewers sent closer AJ Minter and a couple of prospects to the Sox for young slugging 1B Triston Casas, who is coming off a down year.

November 29: Matt Chapman has found a new home in San Antonio, where he went to the Alamos on a 5/105 deal.

01-18-2022, 09:20 PM	#436
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,574	2025-26 Offseason, Part 1 Let's bask in the trophy: Oh yeah! We weren't the best team in baseball this year (that probably was Atlanta or the Angels) but we won the games when they counted and it's a great achievement after starting the year 46-46 and fire-saling our two best relievers. Now our attention turns to 2026 and we have some decisions to make. I exercised the team option on Tyler Glasnow's contract at $17.6M. It's expensive for the season he had last year but not for the one before when he was the AL Cy Young winner. His stuff is still rated high, even if he dropped from 11.9 to 9.7 K/9. There's also the team option for another 2025 underachiever to consider and that's Brandon Lowe. The former MVP had a miserable year with a meager 1.0 WAR, and although he had nice 2024 at 3.9 WAR he was only 1.6 the year before that as 2021's 7.3 stands out as a massive outlier among his career numbers. He had been a bargain earlier in his long-term contract but at $11M for one more season I'm leaning against not exercising. Ed Howard's a decent player who can certainly at least put up 1-2 WAR for the league minimum and Taylor Walls deserves some more playing time. Elsewhere we could stand to upgrade CF as Jarren Duran has averaged a little over 2 WAR over the last 3 seasons. We have no heir apparent though, so unless we make a trade for one he'll probably be the guy again. We've traded for 3B rentals the past two seasons (Bregman and Chapman) which tells you a lot about our confidence in Carter Kieboom, entering the final year of his contract at $6.1M. Kieboom was yet another guy who cratered this year, plummeting from 4.7 WAR in 2024 to 1.1 this year, with only about 20% fewer at-bats. We did make one trade immediately after the season ended: I really had no interest in keeping Dennis Santana and while I wasn't offered any decent prospects for him, I've always been intrigued by Hall, whose numbers in Baltimore have never matched his ratings (70 stuff, 50 movement, 50 control). He's been homer-prone but I chalk a good bit of that up to his home ballpark. He'll give us another lefty option in the pen. Elsewhere I'd also like to give Slade Cecconi a shot at the rotation as he put a solid season in Durham (10-10, 3.83, 59/150 BB/K ratio in 163 IP with only 9 HR allowed and good for 3.5 WAR). Glasnow, May, Rasmussen and Ryan are locks for the rotation with Tarik Skubal a question mark as he took a big step back this season. JT Ginn might deserve a look in the rotation although he's been valuable in the pen. Tyler Rogers, Griffin Canning, and of course Matt Chapman are all gone as free agents. Here are the salaries we're looking at with everyone not listed making the minimum. Right now this crop clocks in at $126M with Stu Sternberg giving me a payroll of $140M next season. I'm likely to drop or trade Lowe, Matt Foster and Luis Garcia which would free up $18M and give us some room to make improvements possibly at 3B and CF. MLB News: Notable retirements included Giancarlo Stanton, Lorenzo Cain, Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen and Zack Wheeler. Former Rays hanging up the cleats included Colin Poche, Alex Wood and Tim Beckham. Another quick trade: Traded 30-year old RHP Matt Foster and 28-year old minor league RHP Luis Garcia to the St. Louis Cardinals, getting 25-year old RHP Jake Miller in return. We moved out two relievers we didn't want to keep for a live arm in Miller, who in a brief stint with the Cards last year struck out 18 in 9 1/3 innings. He has 70 stuff in relief and will either help our pen or go to Durham next year. Awards season: Matt Chapman won the AL Gold Glove once again at 3B, Christian Chamberlain finished 2nd in AL Reliever of the Year voting, Adley Rutschman won the Silver Slugger Award at C, and this one, despite a season truncated in mid-August: Good to see Angelo DiSpigna placing third. Francis Martes of Houston won the AL Cy Young after a 14-7, 3.56, 5.5-WAR year which saw him fan 204 in 192 IP, while Walker Buehler took his 3rd straight Cy in the NL after going 12-6, 2.77 with an impressive 43/251 BB/K ratio in 193 IP. Joe Ryan finished 5th in the AL voting. Bo Bichette took home the AL MVP, getting 30 of 32 first-place votes. He hit .319-34-96 and was the runaway WAR leader in the AL at 8.6. Wander Franco finished 5th. Over in the NL Cody Bellinger won the award, his 2nd after winning in 2019, in a close vote over Fernando Tatis Jr. He was .285-40-102 with 7.6 WAR. November 28: Interesting trade between Milwaukee and Boston where the Brewers sent closer AJ Minter and a couple of prospects to the Sox for young slugging 1B Triston Casas, who is coming off a down year. November 29: Matt Chapman has found a new home in San Antonio, where he went to the Alamos on a 5/105 deal. Last edited by Art Deco; 01-19-2022 at 03:35 PM.