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Art Deco · 04-27-2022, 09:55 AM

Going to be an interesting offseason as we have some rebuilding to do. We're going to lose the following free agents: Adley Rutschman, Dustin May, DL Hall, Diego Castillo, Tanner Scott, Yoelqui Cespedes, A.J. Puk, Marcus Semien, Willy Adames.

We have Diego Cartaya ready to step in to Rutschman's place where he'll share time with Corey Collins. It will be a step down but not a huge step as Cartaya's glove is almost as good and while he'll hit with less power than Rutschman, he'll likely hit for a higher average.

Losing May will be a bit more problematic as he's a legit #2 starter and they don't grow on trees. Everyone thinks prospect Dave Cedeno can eventually be that guy and he'll have the inside track on a rotation spot but we'll see.

The bullpen will have to be rebuilt with the losses of Castillo, Hall and Scott, with the first two truly outstanding in their time with us. Landon Knack will take on a more prominent role, and I'm sure we'll be trading for or signing an arm or two.

Stu Sternberg is giving me a payroll of $150M. If we keep everyone we still have we're looking at a $115M payroll so there's room to play. Here's a list of everyone due more than the minimum this season:

Some interesting choices here. Uehara is pricey for a short reliever at $8.5M but given all our other losses in the pen we'll likely keep him (unless we can deal him for something almost as good and much cheaper). Luis Castro is ticketed elsewhere as despite his good ratings he's the latest ̶S̶p̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ ̶T̶a̶p̶ ̶d̶r̶u̶m̶m̶e̶r̶ first baseman to fail for us, and with the Dominic Scavone acquisition we'll slide Kelly Crumpton and his 40 3B glove over to 1B and play Scavone at 3B. That will shave almost $7M off the total, so while I never spend to my limit (I like to leave about $20M to play with to start the year) that still gives us around $20M to add in salary. Also it would be nice if Victor Robles bounced back to justify his $20M salary - he's gone from 6.0 WAR in 2025 with the Giants which inspired us to sign him, to an acceptable-but-pricey 3.2 WAR in 2026 to a lousy 1.9 WAR last year. The fact that he's still a net positive with the glove is the only thing keeping me from trying to dump him as he we don't have a legit CF alternative.

OK, we pulled the trigger on a Castro deal:

The two minor leaguers we threw in are nobody who was likely to make the team in the future. Panzini is the key, he can start as well as relieve:

Impressive numbers in the (old) PCL last year as a starter, he also has 70 stuff as a reliever. Right now I'm penciling him as the 5th starter behind Hays, Ryan, Ginn, and Cedeno. Williams meanwhile is a reliever with 70 stuff, 55 movement and 50 control and can start if needed but is probably better suited to the pen.

Awards season:

We didn't win any Gold Gloves, no surprise there.

But we did take this one:

By the way Diego wants $12M/year to extend, I inquired. My vote went to DL Hall, who finished second, but that should give you an idea of how good the back of our bullpen was this past season.

We took one Silver Slugger Award, for Adley Rutschman at catcher.

The awards keep coming:

Congrats to Kelly! Memphis OF Kevin Alcantara won the NL award.

It's about to become James Hays award season around here, but first this remarkable stat about him which just popped up in my inbox:

Wow. Mathewson, The Big Train, Pedro - and Hays.

Speaking of Hays, here's the outcome of the least-suspenseful Cy Young voting ever:

A.J. Puk fourth? In this economy? Joe Ryan was a solid 2nd, and those two will form a return 1-2 punch this season as Ryan enters his last year of team control.

Matt Semon of El Paso took the NL Cy Young. He has to be first ever single-digit winner who wasn't a closer to win the award as he went 9-4, 2.36 on the year. He made 32 starts which meant he had a whopping 19 no-decisions but led the NL in strikeouts (200) and WHIP (0.87) in his 190.1 IP.

MVP time:

Hays becomes the first pitcher to win MVP and Cy Young since Justin Verlander in 2011. He was nearly 4 WAR ahead of the nearest player in the league but still only got 20 of the 32 first-place votes, showing the inherent anti-pitcher bias in the voting. Andrew Greckel got some down-ballot votes and finished 14th.

Over in the NL Ronald Acuna Jr. won his second consecutive (and third overall) MVP after a .334-37-135-8.6 WAR season. He was a unanimous selection.

04-27-2022, 09:55 AM	#616
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,588	2027-28 Offseason, Part 1 Going to be an interesting offseason as we have some rebuilding to do. We're going to lose the following free agents: Adley Rutschman, Dustin May, DL Hall, Diego Castillo, Tanner Scott, Yoelqui Cespedes, A.J. Puk, Marcus Semien, Willy Adames. We have Diego Cartaya ready to step in to Rutschman's place where he'll share time with Corey Collins. It will be a step down but not a huge step as Cartaya's glove is almost as good and while he'll hit with less power than Rutschman, he'll likely hit for a higher average. Losing May will be a bit more problematic as he's a legit #2 starter and they don't grow on trees. Everyone thinks prospect Dave Cedeno can eventually be that guy and he'll have the inside track on a rotation spot but we'll see. The bullpen will have to be rebuilt with the losses of Castillo, Hall and Scott, with the first two truly outstanding in their time with us. Landon Knack will take on a more prominent role, and I'm sure we'll be trading for or signing an arm or two. Stu Sternberg is giving me a payroll of $150M. If we keep everyone we still have we're looking at a $115M payroll so there's room to play. Here's a list of everyone due more than the minimum this season: Some interesting choices here. Uehara is pricey for a short reliever at $8.5M but given all our other losses in the pen we'll likely keep him (unless we can deal him for something almost as good and much cheaper). Luis Castro is ticketed elsewhere as despite his good ratings he's the latest ̶S̶p̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ ̶T̶a̶p̶ ̶d̶r̶u̶m̶m̶e̶r̶ first baseman to fail for us, and with the Dominic Scavone acquisition we'll slide Kelly Crumpton and his 40 3B glove over to 1B and play Scavone at 3B. That will shave almost $7M off the total, so while I never spend to my limit (I like to leave about $20M to play with to start the year) that still gives us around $20M to add in salary. Also it would be nice if Victor Robles bounced back to justify his $20M salary - he's gone from 6.0 WAR in 2025 with the Giants which inspired us to sign him, to an acceptable-but-pricey 3.2 WAR in 2026 to a lousy 1.9 WAR last year. The fact that he's still a net positive with the glove is the only thing keeping me from trying to dump him as he we don't have a legit CF alternative. OK, we pulled the trigger on a Castro deal: The two minor leaguers we threw in are nobody who was likely to make the team in the future. Panzini is the key, he can start as well as relieve: Impressive numbers in the (old) PCL last year as a starter, he also has 70 stuff as a reliever. Right now I'm penciling him as the 5th starter behind Hays, Ryan, Ginn, and Cedeno. Williams meanwhile is a reliever with 70 stuff, 55 movement and 50 control and can start if needed but is probably better suited to the pen. Awards season: We didn't win any Gold Gloves, no surprise there. But we did take this one: By the way Diego wants $12M/year to extend, I inquired. My vote went to DL Hall, who finished second, but that should give you an idea of how good the back of our bullpen was this past season. We took one Silver Slugger Award, for Adley Rutschman at catcher. The awards keep coming: Congrats to Kelly! Memphis OF Kevin Alcantara won the NL award. It's about to become James Hays award season around here, but first this remarkable stat about him which just popped up in my inbox: Wow. Mathewson, The Big Train, Pedro - and Hays. Speaking of Hays, here's the outcome of the least-suspenseful Cy Young voting ever: A.J. Puk fourth? In this economy? Joe Ryan was a solid 2nd, and those two will form a return 1-2 punch this season as Ryan enters his last year of team control. Matt Semon of El Paso took the NL Cy Young. He has to be first ever single-digit winner who wasn't a closer to win the award as he went 9-4, 2.36 on the year. He made 32 starts which meant he had a whopping 19 no-decisions but led the NL in strikeouts (200) and WHIP (0.87) in his 190.1 IP. MVP time: Hays becomes the first pitcher to win MVP and Cy Young since Justin Verlander in 2011. He was nearly 4 WAR ahead of the nearest player in the league but still only got 20 of the 32 first-place votes, showing the inherent anti-pitcher bias in the voting. Andrew Greckel got some down-ballot votes and finished 14th. Over in the NL Ronald Acuna Jr. won his second consecutive (and third overall) MVP after a .334-37-135-8.6 WAR season. He was a unanimous selection.