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Art Deco · 10-02-2023, 11:22 PM

As always we start with a retirement roundup.

Notable MLBers: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers retired #22), Brandon Crawford, Eugenio Suarez, Matt Carpenter, Enrique Hernandez, Jacob deGrom, Didi Gregorius, Josh Bell, Yu Darvish, Trey Mancini, Robbie Ray, Mike Yastrzemski, Whit Merrifield, Willson Contreras, Ryan Pressly, Corey Knebel.

Former Rays: Hunter Renfroe, Ryan Yarbrough, Erasmo Ramirez, Andrew Kittredge.

Started the offseason with a trade:

This is a swap of backup OFs as after another down season I've soured on Jones and while my AGM wasn't thrilled about the deal Lara has more upside and is rated 65 power with 70 potential as well as 60 eye with 65 potential. He's 45/50 for contact but so was Jones. Jones is a little bet better in the field and on the bases but we're talking about 35 HR if Lara played every day. He won't of course (the OF is set with Alcantara/Chourio/Auer and L.Acuna is the primary backup) and still has two option years left so it's likely he starts at Durham. Lara did hit 11 HR in 216 AB between Pittsburgh and San Diego last year in his first MLB action.

Awards season:

Gold Glove: No Rays won

Reliever of the Year: Houston's Jonathan Sprinkle (37 saves, 2.07 ERA) got the nod over our outgoing free agent Camilo Doval, who finished a distance second with 5 first-place votes. In the NL veteran Edwin Diaz took 28 first-place votes after a 10-win, 44-save season with a 1.30 ERA.

Silver Slugger: No Tampa Bay winners here either, a rarity.

Rookie of the Year: 30-year-old Japanese import Tsuneharu Sugihara won in the AL after hitting .282-29-96. I thought our Waylin Santana would get the nod after winning 20 games but he ended up fourth with only 3 first-place votes. The NL nod went to Arizona's Ryan Clifford (.233-36-102), who just nosed out his teammate Druw Jones, 92-83 with each netting 11 first-place votes. Jones really had the better season at 3.6-2.7 WAR but so be it.

Cy Young: Waylin Santana, getting no respect. Apparently a 20-2, 2.36, 4.5 WAR season is not enough to win the Cy. Not only did he lose to Seattle's Logan Gilbert, who admittedly was a worthy winner himself at 14-8, 2.66 with 5.2 WAR, but he only received my first-place vote to Gilbert's 29. It's unusual to see WAR as the trump card in OOTP's Cy Young voting but there it is. The NL was a much closer race with Milwaukee's Logan Henderson (both Cy Youngs are named Logan) edging out Washington's Shohei Ohtani by the razor-thin margin of 164-162 and 16-14 in first-place votes. Henderson was 14-9, 2.60 with an MLB-best 6.4 WAR while Ohtani was 13-6, 2.56 with 5.9 WAR as a pitcher. Ohtani also hit 41 HR and earned 2.3 WAR as a hitter and deserves to win the NL MVP; we'll see if that happens next.

MVP: The Yankees' Aaron Judge won his 3rd MVP in the last 6 seasons, taking 22 first-place votes and outdistancing Seattle's Julio Rodriguez. Our Kevin Alcantara actually finished third with his big power numbers despite not becoming a regular until May. Judge hit .275-41-85 and earned 5.7 WAR. In the NL Shohei Ohtani was the rightful winner, beating out teammate Luis Garcia, who had a tremendous .326-31-142, 6.7-WAR season but didn't pitch.

November 24: We lost all our arbitration cases that we didn't settle and have to end up spending about $5M on payroll than anticipated. And then we really got hit with the hammer: I tried getting cute and made the $21.8M qualifying offer to Jeffrey Springs, figured I'd net a draft pick since Springs was asking for 5/120 when I got his extension quote. But surprise, surprise - Springs took the QO and now I was suddenly $10M over budget. But the Padres were nice enough to bail me out:

Cronin is only making $1.6M so we saved about $20M. And it's possible he might be useful to our bullpen as a lefty reliever but if not I'll gladly cut him. Or trade him. Phew!

November 25: Cleveland traded its longtime All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase to Texas for C Luis Campusano.

November 28: Hall of Fame voting was opened today. My ballot (in alphabetical order): Beltran, Braun, Cano (1st year), Felix Hernandez, Mauer, Posey, Pujols (1st year), Alex Rodriguez, Sabathia.

November 29: Atlanta, 74-88 last year, appears to be in a rebuild as after already shipping out starter Ian Anderson to Arizona they traded starter Kyle Wright to Cleveland for a pair of pitching prospects. Wright is coming off a 5.1 WAR season in which he had a 2.58 ERA.

November 30: And the Atlanta fire sale continues with SS Vaughan Grissom off to the Dodgers for prospects after he hit .251-21-77 and was good for 4.6 WAR.

We made another trade and look who's back:

Who says you can't go home again? Traded to Philly in December 2020, the overpowering lefty Alvarado is back in Rays colors. His always-nasty 70 stuff combined with 70 movement (and 45 control) will play in any bullpen, and he's saved 73 games over the last two years for Milwaukee and Minnesota. I still like Peguero as our closer but he should become our primary setup man. McKee was a 19th-round pick who's overachieved in the minors but still looks like a 5th starter at best and has poor control.

Despite losing Garrett Cleavinger to free agency we may now have too many bullpen lefties with Alvarado, Andrew Nardi, Jovani Moran returning from injury and the just-acquired Cronin. This may impact how the rotation shakes out as I might need Jack Perkins as a righty now and have lefty DL Hall move into the rotation.

December 2: Texas sent three prospects to the White Sox for slugging 1B/OF Andrew Vaughn.

December 4: The Mets sent a package of prospects to the Cardinals for OF Dylan Carlson. Also we had the first big free-agent signing of the winter as veteran 3B Nolan Arenado joined Texas on a 3/88 deal.

December 10: Houston fixture Yordan Alvarez was dealt to Seattle for pitching prospect Thomas White. Alvarez is "wrecked" and only played 106 games for the Astros but still hit 27 HR. Also the Rockies unloaded the final year of Kris Bryant's mega-contract on Detroit for a two-star potential minor league pitcher.

December 11: After three years away in Chicago and Texas, 40-year-old Paul Goldschmidt has returned to St. Louis on a 2/30 deal. Goldy still has it, hitting .278-31-82 with the Rangers this year.

December 13: The first of our free agents signs elsewhere as Garrett Cleavinger joined the Angels for 1 year at $2.6M. Also the lottery for next year's draft was held and Texas jumped from 6 to snag the top spot and Oakland dropped from 1 to 4.

December 14: And another member of our bullpen has a new home as Camilo Doval inked a 2/17.4 pact with the Mets. Also the Giants signed C Cal Raleigh for 2/27.

December 15: Former Ray Pete Fairbanks isn't as overpowering as he used to be but he's still pretty good, saving 19 games for the World Champion Dodgers this year, and we'll be seeing more of him as he joined the Yankees for 2/15. Speaking of veteran relievers Jhoan Duran signed with the cross-town Mets for 3/25 as they continue to beef up their pen.

December 16: The Mets can't stop signing relievers, adding lefty AJ Minter for 2/9.

December 22: Added P Santiago Suarez and C Mac Guscette to the 40-man roster. Had 3 spots open but not too many guys eligible for Rule 5 that I was worried about losing. Suarez was the Southern League Pitcher of the Year last season despite a 4 ERA and Guscette is a bat-first catcher who could fill in if needed.

December 23: The Rule 5 Draft:

An interesting mix of fading vets (Keller, Valdez) and one-time prized prospects who've dimmed (Wilson, Cross, Troy). We lost veteran Griffin Canning who had pitched for us at Durham last year but was never in our plans.

December 28: Alex Vesia, who's turned into one of the game's better closers and is coming off a 42-save, 1.71 ERA season with St. Louis, signed a 3/36 deal with the Phillies.

December 30: The Mets sign another reliever, and it's one of our free agents as Seranthony Dominguez goes there for 2/9.2.

10-02-2023, 11:22 PM	#101
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,659	2027-28 Offseason: Part 1 As always we start with a retirement roundup. Notable MLBers: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers retired #22), Brandon Crawford, Eugenio Suarez, Matt Carpenter, Enrique Hernandez, Jacob deGrom, Didi Gregorius, Josh Bell, Yu Darvish, Trey Mancini, Robbie Ray, Mike Yastrzemski, Whit Merrifield, Willson Contreras, Ryan Pressly, Corey Knebel. Former Rays: Hunter Renfroe, Ryan Yarbrough, Erasmo Ramirez, Andrew Kittredge. Started the offseason with a trade: This is a swap of backup OFs as after another down season I've soured on Jones and while my AGM wasn't thrilled about the deal Lara has more upside and is rated 65 power with 70 potential as well as 60 eye with 65 potential. He's 45/50 for contact but so was Jones. Jones is a little bet better in the field and on the bases but we're talking about 35 HR if Lara played every day. He won't of course (the OF is set with Alcantara/Chourio/Auer and L.Acuna is the primary backup) and still has two option years left so it's likely he starts at Durham. Lara did hit 11 HR in 216 AB between Pittsburgh and San Diego last year in his first MLB action. Awards season: Gold Glove: No Rays won Reliever of the Year: Houston's Jonathan Sprinkle (37 saves, 2.07 ERA) got the nod over our outgoing free agent Camilo Doval, who finished a distance second with 5 first-place votes. In the NL veteran Edwin Diaz took 28 first-place votes after a 10-win, 44-save season with a 1.30 ERA. Silver Slugger: No Tampa Bay winners here either, a rarity. Rookie of the Year: 30-year-old Japanese import Tsuneharu Sugihara won in the AL after hitting .282-29-96. I thought our Waylin Santana would get the nod after winning 20 games but he ended up fourth with only 3 first-place votes. The NL nod went to Arizona's Ryan Clifford (.233-36-102), who just nosed out his teammate Druw Jones, 92-83 with each netting 11 first-place votes. Jones really had the better season at 3.6-2.7 WAR but so be it. Cy Young: Waylin Santana, getting no respect. Apparently a 20-2, 2.36, 4.5 WAR season is not enough to win the Cy. Not only did he lose to Seattle's Logan Gilbert, who admittedly was a worthy winner himself at 14-8, 2.66 with 5.2 WAR, but he only received my first-place vote to Gilbert's 29. It's unusual to see WAR as the trump card in OOTP's Cy Young voting but there it is. The NL was a much closer race with Milwaukee's Logan Henderson (both Cy Youngs are named Logan) edging out Washington's Shohei Ohtani by the razor-thin margin of 164-162 and 16-14 in first-place votes. Henderson was 14-9, 2.60 with an MLB-best 6.4 WAR while Ohtani was 13-6, 2.56 with 5.9 WAR as a pitcher. Ohtani also hit 41 HR and earned 2.3 WAR as a hitter and deserves to win the NL MVP; we'll see if that happens next. MVP: The Yankees' Aaron Judge won his 3rd MVP in the last 6 seasons, taking 22 first-place votes and outdistancing Seattle's Julio Rodriguez. Our Kevin Alcantara actually finished third with his big power numbers despite not becoming a regular until May. Judge hit .275-41-85 and earned 5.7 WAR. In the NL Shohei Ohtani was the rightful winner, beating out teammate Luis Garcia, who had a tremendous .326-31-142, 6.7-WAR season but didn't pitch. November 24: We lost all our arbitration cases that we didn't settle and have to end up spending about $5M on payroll than anticipated. And then we really got hit with the hammer: I tried getting cute and made the $21.8M qualifying offer to Jeffrey Springs, figured I'd net a draft pick since Springs was asking for 5/120 when I got his extension quote. But surprise, surprise - Springs took the QO and now I was suddenly $10M over budget. But the Padres were nice enough to bail me out: Cronin is only making $1.6M so we saved about $20M. And it's possible he might be useful to our bullpen as a lefty reliever but if not I'll gladly cut him. Or trade him. Phew! November 25: Cleveland traded its longtime All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase to Texas for C Luis Campusano. November 28: Hall of Fame voting was opened today. My ballot (in alphabetical order): Beltran, Braun, Cano (1st year), Felix Hernandez, Mauer, Posey, Pujols (1st year), Alex Rodriguez, Sabathia. November 29: Atlanta, 74-88 last year, appears to be in a rebuild as after already shipping out starter Ian Anderson to Arizona they traded starter Kyle Wright to Cleveland for a pair of pitching prospects. Wright is coming off a 5.1 WAR season in which he had a 2.58 ERA. November 30: And the Atlanta fire sale continues with SS Vaughan Grissom off to the Dodgers for prospects after he hit .251-21-77 and was good for 4.6 WAR. We made another trade and look who's back: Who says you can't go home again? Traded to Philly in December 2020, the overpowering lefty Alvarado is back in Rays colors. His always-nasty 70 stuff combined with 70 movement (and 45 control) will play in any bullpen, and he's saved 73 games over the last two years for Milwaukee and Minnesota. I still like Peguero as our closer but he should become our primary setup man. McKee was a 19th-round pick who's overachieved in the minors but still looks like a 5th starter at best and has poor control. Despite losing Garrett Cleavinger to free agency we may now have too many bullpen lefties with Alvarado, Andrew Nardi, Jovani Moran returning from injury and the just-acquired Cronin. This may impact how the rotation shakes out as I might need Jack Perkins as a righty now and have lefty DL Hall move into the rotation. December 2: Texas sent three prospects to the White Sox for slugging 1B/OF Andrew Vaughn. December 4: The Mets sent a package of prospects to the Cardinals for OF Dylan Carlson. Also we had the first big free-agent signing of the winter as veteran 3B Nolan Arenado joined Texas on a 3/88 deal. December 10: Houston fixture Yordan Alvarez was dealt to Seattle for pitching prospect Thomas White. Alvarez is "wrecked" and only played 106 games for the Astros but still hit 27 HR. Also the Rockies unloaded the final year of Kris Bryant's mega-contract on Detroit for a two-star potential minor league pitcher. December 11: After three years away in Chicago and Texas, 40-year-old Paul Goldschmidt has returned to St. Louis on a 2/30 deal. Goldy still has it, hitting .278-31-82 with the Rangers this year. December 13: The first of our free agents signs elsewhere as Garrett Cleavinger joined the Angels for 1 year at $2.6M. Also the lottery for next year's draft was held and Texas jumped from 6 to snag the top spot and Oakland dropped from 1 to 4. December 14: And another member of our bullpen has a new home as Camilo Doval inked a 2/17.4 pact with the Mets. Also the Giants signed C Cal Raleigh for 2/27. December 15: Former Ray Pete Fairbanks isn't as overpowering as he used to be but he's still pretty good, saving 19 games for the World Champion Dodgers this year, and we'll be seeing more of him as he joined the Yankees for 2/15. Speaking of veteran relievers Jhoan Duran signed with the cross-town Mets for 3/25 as they continue to beef up their pen. December 16: The Mets can't stop signing relievers, adding lefty AJ Minter for 2/9. December 22: Added P Santiago Suarez and C Mac Guscette to the 40-man roster. Had 3 spots open but not too many guys eligible for Rule 5 that I was worried about losing. Suarez was the Southern League Pitcher of the Year last season despite a 4 ERA and Guscette is a bat-first catcher who could fill in if needed. December 23: The Rule 5 Draft: An interesting mix of fading vets (Keller, Valdez) and one-time prized prospects who've dimmed (Wilson, Cross, Troy). We lost veteran Griffin Canning who had pitched for us at Durham last year but was never in our plans. December 28: Alex Vesia, who's turned into one of the game's better closers and is coming off a 42-save, 1.71 ERA season with St. Louis, signed a 3/36 deal with the Phillies. December 30: The Mets sign another reliever, and it's one of our free agents as Seranthony Dominguez goes there for 2/9.2.