Started the offseason with a couple of deals, one big and one small.
The small one:
We were non-tendering Poche anyway but I shopped him first to see if anyone would offer something for him and sure enough the Cards offered up Burleson who actually has a pretty decent bat with 70 contact and 55 power. He's been stuck at AAA the past three years with only cups of coffee each season with St. Louis. Burleson's a lefty hitter which doesn't fit our roster well since we already have
Austin Wells in the role of lefty-hitting backup OF but he gives us an extra asset.
And here was the big deal:
Of the group I was considering trading (Arozarena, Bethancourt, Paredes, Diaz), Yandy was the only one who drew real interest as well as he should given he's one of the game's top OBP guys. But he was making $10M and we needed to free up our 1B/DH logjam to make room for the likes of Jung and Manzardo. So off he goes and in exchange we get a very good starting pitcher. We did have options to fill the open spot in the rotation but none are good as Brash, who is coming off a hell of a season:
The control and stamina are issues to be sure but starters with 75 stuff don't grow on trees and we have multi-inning guys like Pepiot and Perkins to take over in the 6th.
Meanwhile we were offered nothing for Bethancourt so I'll probably non-tender him and go with either
Rene Pinto or a veteran to back up
Patrick Bailey. Paredes was re-signed at $5M to avoid arbitration as was Arozarena at $10M since we didn't get a lot offered for him coming off the down season. Just going to have to hope he bounces back.
There were also a couple of big early-November deals in MLB as Cleveland is apparently slashing payroll. First they sent 2B Andres Gimenez to the Twins for a package of prospects led by pitcher Chase Dollander, and then they shipped Triston McKenzie, coming off 3 straight 3+ WAR seasons and just signed to an extension, to Seattle for another prospect package led by pitcher Tanner Witt as the Mariners fill the Matt Brash hole in their rotation.
Awards season:
Gold Glove: We did have a winner but not the one I expected.
Shane McClanahan took the AL pitcher award but
Jose Siri (whom I voted for) lost out to Parker Meadows for the CF nod despite leading the AL in ZR at the position.
Reliever of the Year: Houston's Ryan Pressly took home the AL award after a brilliant 45-save, 1.99 ERA, 3.6 WAR season while Edwin Diaz was also a no-brainer in the NL with 47 saves, a 1.32 ERA and an amazing 4.2 WAR as a reliever, coming back strong from missing all of 2023 with his WBC celebration injury.
Silver Slugger: No winners for us.
Rookie of the Year: Boston's Cedanne Rafaela won in the AL after a .300-14-80, 4.1 WAR season with our Jace Jung taking third thanks to his first half in Detroit and big September with us. In the NL Colorado's Zac Veen was an unanimous winner after a huge .328-16-63, 31 SB, 6.1 WAR season.
Cy Young: Luis Castillo was a near-unanimous winner in the AL after a 14-9, 2.70 season with the only skunk at the party being me who voted for McClanahan who finished fourth. Newly-acquired
Matt Brash placed fifth. The NL award went to Atlanta's Spencer Strider with 23 first-place votes thanks to a 15-9, 3.28 season with 227 whiffs in 186 IP.
MVP: Seattle's Julio Rodriguez took the AL trophy and while his .292-28-81 line isn't awe-inspiring his 75 steals and 8.1 WAR were in what turned out to be a Rickey Henderson-like season. Philly's Trea Turner took a narrow NL vote (19-11, 365-324) over Atlanta's Matt Olsen as he hit .347-33-92 with an MLB-best 8.2 WAR. Olsen led MLB in total bases, had a 1.021 OPS, led the majors with 50 HR and had 133 RBI, good for 7.8 WAR.
November 24: Relievers were on the move as the Jays sent closer Jordan Romano to Houston for an OF prospect and Milwaukee dealt Devin Williams to the Mets for a couple of minor leaguers.
Having traded Yandy, the AI GMs of other teams are offering us 1B in trade and an amusing one came from Houston which wanted to send us Jose Abreu for
Zach Eflin and prospect
Brock Jones, which I declined.
November 25: Arbitration hearings were held and we ended up paying about $2M extra in total for McClanahan, Siri and
Ryan Thompson. Our payroll now sits at a shade under $110M so we have about $28M to spend.
Another trade for us:
We add to our pitching depth with Canterino, who had a sneaky-good year with Washington despite an unsightly 4.93 ERA. He was a BABIP victim (.336) with the Nats with a decent 62/144 BB/K ratio in 137 IP and he kept the ball in park (12 HR). That was all good for an impressive 2.8 WAR last year. Right now he's probably depth at Durham despite proving himself as an MLB starter but pitching injuries happen and they happen often. The price wasn't bad as Busch was someone surplus to our requirements given all the 1B-types we have and he didn't do well at Durham after being sent down by us in May (211/370/423, at least he drew walks).
Amusing side note: While shopping Busch I noticed the Pirates were trying to get rid of their Bryan Reynolds contract and briefly entertained the thought of shipping them Arozarena along with Busch for Reynolds which they would have accepted. As much as an improvement that would be and even though we could afford Reynolds' $24M contract this year with Randy going the other way, I did not want to be on the hook after 2025 for $28M/year through 2030.
November 28: The free agents are now freed, and the international class, where you can often find bargains relative to their MLB counterparts, was a dud this year with nobody worth signing.
November 29: San Diego sent Yu Darvish, who missed much of 2024 with a torn labrum, to Detroit for a couple of players including C Jake Rogers.
November 30: Here's a biggie: Cleveland sent young SS Bryan Rocchio to Toronto for Bo Bichette, who is headed into his final year of team control. It's strange because the Guardians began the winter offloading a couple of big names in Gimenez and McKenzie. And Toronto then shipped out veteran starter Kevin Gausman to Texas for 6 minor leaguers.
December 2: First big free agent signing of the winter is former Dodger C Will Smith joining the Mets on a 5/124 deal. Guess they weren't sold on Francisco Alvarez. Meanwhile let the Diego Cartaya era begin in LA.
December 4: Cleveland acquired 2B Nico Hoerner from the Cubs for prospect Christian Cairo, son of MLB veteran Miguel (and who played Little League ball with one of my sons).
December 7: The first of our free agents signs elsewhere and it's the big one as Zach Wheeler joins the Red Sox on a 4/88 deal.
December 9: The rival Cards and Cubs hooked up on a deal that saw Chicago send Seiya Suzuki to St. Louis for a couple of prospects with the Cubs retaining 100% of Suzuki's salary.
December 11: The Cards continue collecting outfielders as they acquire Anthony Santander from Baltimore for top prospect Joshua Baez (a Rays standout later in the decade in my 2021 save)
December 12: In a shocking upset of a free agent signing the Kansas City Royals of all teams grabbed the top FA on the market, inking OF Juan Soto to a 5/175 pact, which also seems a bit light and short of term considering he's only 26. Guess he'll have another big payday in 2029-30.
December 13: And there goes Jalen Beeks. A weapon out of the pen who had 244 whiffs over the last two years for us, he signed a big 2/36 deal with the Mets who have him listed as a starter despite his 35 stamina. The Cubs meanwhile signed the second-rated free agent on the market, swiping veteran 1B Paul Goldschmidt from the Cards on a 2/62 deal. The 37-year-old slowed down a little in 2024, dropping him his 6 WAR average of 22/23 to 3.6 but still had 36 HR and 121 RBI.
December 15: The draft lottery results were announced and the big winners were the Rockies, who jumped from 10th to 1st. Cleveland also came up large, leaping from 15th to 3rd. Milwaukee was the big loser, dropping from 1st to 6th.
December 16: A couple of veteran starters found new homes as Frankie Montas joined the Mets for 5/62 and Pablo Lopez landed with Atlanta with a 3/31 deal. The Cubs sent 1B Matt Mervis to Miami for pitching prospect Evan Fitterer and a minor league SS.
December 18: The top free agent catcher, Danny Jansen, is White Sox-bound on a huge 7/151 deal.
December 20: Added 1B Kyle Manzardo, IF Tommy Saggese, IF Carson Williams, and P Matthew Peguero to the 40-man roster.
All no-brainers with Manzardo and Williams top-100 prospects, Saggese close to it, and Peguero could be in our bullpen next year. There are some guys I'm afraid of losing (Ronny Simon, Isaiah Campbell, Alex Ayala Jr., Heriberto Hernandez and Franklin DaCosta to name a few) in tomorrow's Rule 5 draft but such is life.
Well we did lose a couple of players in the Rule 5 draft but nobody we'll miss. Brendan McKay, our first-round pick back in 2017 who never panned out due to injuries, was taken by San Francisco, and Mitch Haniger, whom we signed to an MiLB deal early last season and spent the entire year at Durham (much of it on the bench), was taken by the Angels.
December 28: AL Reliever of the Year Ryan Pressly signed with the White Sox for 2/22.
December 29: The biggest free agent still on the market signed today as SS Tim Anderson joined the Diamondbacks on a 4/119 deal. Also old friend Yonny Chirinos joined the Angels for 1/2.8.