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Art Deco · 04-05-2025, 01:01 AM

Retirements:

Notables: Freddie Freeman (Atlanta retired #5), Jose Altuve (Houston retired #27), Madison Bumgarner, Nick Castellanos, Tim Anderson, Justin Turner, Starling Marte, Robbie Ray, Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber.

Former Rays: Alex Cobb, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Travis d'Arnaud.

November 4: Well we traded for a starting pitcher:

Diaz had never really caught fire for us (and spent most of 2026 at AAA) like he did in Houston as a heavy-hitting catcher, and his defense was always suspect anyway so we used him mostly as a DH against lefties. So I was thrilled to be offered Horton for him. The former first-round pick of the Cubs turned in a very solid 2027, going 11-12, 4.67 with 185 whiffs in 185 IP and earned a decent 2.9 WAR. He'll make a very good 4th/5th starter for us. Horton is arb-eligible this winter and will get about $3.1M which is roughly what Diaz would have cost but a better allocation of money.

November 6: An interesting trade by division rivals Baltimore and New York as the Yankees sent Spencer Jones to the Orioles for Coby Mayo. Jones hit 33 HR with a .244 BA in his first full season while Mayo has hit 30, 28 and 29 homers the last three seasons, while hitting .230-.245 so superficially at least they're very similar.

November 9: The big news is that we signed a contract extension with Parker Meadows. The gold glove-caliber CF (+11.5 ZR last year) is getting a 4/18 deal coming off a season he earned 2.5 WAR despite playing only about 2/3 of the time. Meanwhile we settled all of our arbitration cases except for Caminero, Gasser and Mead, who wanted long-term contracts I wasn't prepared to give - in the case of Caminero, just yet, and not at all for the other two.

Awards Season:

Gold Glove: We had two winners, unfortunately they're guys who are leaving us as McClanahan (P) and Rutschman (C) were honored.

Reliever of the Year: Felix Bautista wuz robbed. Despite a 13-win, 29-save, 1.57-ERA, 3.5-WAR season he finished a distant second to Detroit's Ben Joyce who had 12 wins, 38 saves, and a 1.95 ERA and 2.8 WAR. Guess those extra saves made the difference. In the NL the Giants' Taylor Clarke got 29 of 30 first-place votes thanks to a 36-save, 2.49 ERA season.

Silver Slugger: There were three Rays winners: Rutschman (C), Isaac (1B) and Caminero (3B). Former Ray Jonny DeLuca won the AL CF award with Cleveland after a 33-homer season that came out of nowhere, guess we lost the Sam Hentges trade with them.

Rookie of the Year: Another stunner as Houston OF Luis Baez (.297-28-77, 3.3 WAR) took the award over Baltimore's 29-year-old Cuban import SP Luis Orta, who led the AL with 7.0 pitcher WAR after going 18-11, 3.56 and our Hagen Smith, who merely went 17-6, 2.90 with 4.8 WAR. Baez took 19 first-place votes to 9 and 2 for Orta and Smith, a head-scratcher. The NL winner was Arizona's Yosy Galan, who took 29 of 30 first-place votes after hitting .254-44-117.

Cy Young: A hell of a going-away year for Mac:

A bit surprised Orta didn't get a few first-place votes, but pitcher WAR is not something heavily weighted by OOTP come awards time. Smith finished fourth. In the NL Philly's Andrew Painter won rather convincingly over Miami's Eury Perez (24-3, 191-123) thanks to a 14-5, 2.65 year.

MVP: Baltimore's Jackson Holliday was one vote shy of unanimous after his 9.2 WAR season that saw him hit .318-29-85 and play Gold Glove D. Caminero finished third and got the other first place vote (it wasn't mine). Jackson Chourio was unanimous in the NL as the Milwaukee superstar earned 9.4 WAR with a .348-41-145 mega-season.

November 25: We lost our three arbitration cases and will have to pay a total of $1.6M more than hoped. Rutschman and McClanahan unsurprisingly rejected the qualifying offer, so draft picks here we come. So right now our payroll sits at an even $100M, meaning we have a max of $10M to add so it's going to have to be dollar in, dollar out if we make any moves.

December 1: The Dodgers traded P Dustin May to the Rockies, and vagabond veteran closer Liam Hendriks went in a deal from Washington to St. Louis, making it 4 teams in 4 years for the 38-year-old despite racking up 117 saves in the last three seasons.

December 5: The first of our big three free agents found a new home as Jeffrey Springs signed a 3/71 deal with the Dodgers. Also veteran Jacob deGrom moved across the state from the Dallas area to Houston, joining the Astros on a big 2/59 contract. Washington also dealt longtime IF CJ Abrams to Philadelphia.

December 9: NL Reliever of the Year Taylor Clarke was dealt by San Francisco to Detroit for a prospect.

December 10: Big news out of New York as the Yankees dealt Gerrit Cole, entering the last year of his mega-contract, to Milwaukee for a couple of prospects. The 37-year-old Cole is coming off a 13-11, 4.01 season.

December 13: It was a big free agent day as our top two guys from last year signed on the dotted line. First Adley Rutschman signed a massive 7/262 deal ($37+M/yr) with St. Louis and then Shane McClanahan joined Jeffrey Springs in Tinseltown thanks to a 6/219 contract the Dodgers gave him ($33M/yr). We'll have fun at next year's draft with 2 1st-round comp picks.

December 15: Speaking of the draft the Cubs were the big lottery winners, moving up from 7th to grab the first pick.

December 22: The Yankees acquired their Gerrit Cole replacement, trading for San Francisco vet Logan Webb, and signed another former Giant, OF Jung-hoo Lee to a 4/54 deal.

December 23: Added C Dominic Keegan and P Spencer Schwellenbach to the 40-man roster. Keegan is penciled in as our backup catcher, and Schwellenbach has an outside chance of joining the staff.

December 24: Nothing like a holiday Rule 5 Draft. It was very active and there were a fair number of "name" players taken, so here are the first two rounds (Toronto ended up taking 5 guys):

As you can see we lost Brendan McKay (again) but picked up Jackson Baumeister, who probably won't make our club but we'll take a look at him in spring training.

December 28: This time we picked up a guy who should definitely make our team, signing veteran lefty reliever Tanner Scott to a 1-year, $1.8M deal. He'll replace the departed Sam Hentges as our top left-handed option in the pen. We also signed a professional IFA to a minor-league deal, 33-year-old Taiwanese OF Xing-Peng Fan, who rates 65 contact but only 35 power and can play a 60 RF. He'll give us depth at Durham.

December 30: The Phillies signed OF Seiya Suzuki to a 4/58 deal.

December 31: Former Rays 3B Isaac Paredes signed a big 7/131 deal with the Giants after doing his usual 25-HR, 85-RBI thing with the Cubs last year after we dealt him there last winter.

04-05-2025, 01:01 AM	#166
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,684	2027-28 Offseason: Part 1 Retirements: Notables: Freddie Freeman (Atlanta retired #5), Jose Altuve (Houston retired #27), Madison Bumgarner, Nick Castellanos, Tim Anderson, Justin Turner, Starling Marte, Robbie Ray, Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber. Former Rays: Alex Cobb, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Travis d'Arnaud. November 4: Well we traded for a starting pitcher: Diaz had never really caught fire for us (and spent most of 2026 at AAA) like he did in Houston as a heavy-hitting catcher, and his defense was always suspect anyway so we used him mostly as a DH against lefties. So I was thrilled to be offered Horton for him. The former first-round pick of the Cubs turned in a very solid 2027, going 11-12, 4.67 with 185 whiffs in 185 IP and earned a decent 2.9 WAR. He'll make a very good 4th/5th starter for us. Horton is arb-eligible this winter and will get about $3.1M which is roughly what Diaz would have cost but a better allocation of money. November 6: An interesting trade by division rivals Baltimore and New York as the Yankees sent Spencer Jones to the Orioles for Coby Mayo. Jones hit 33 HR with a .244 BA in his first full season while Mayo has hit 30, 28 and 29 homers the last three seasons, while hitting .230-.245 so superficially at least they're very similar. November 9: The big news is that we signed a contract extension with Parker Meadows. The gold glove-caliber CF (+11.5 ZR last year) is getting a 4/18 deal coming off a season he earned 2.5 WAR despite playing only about 2/3 of the time. Meanwhile we settled all of our arbitration cases except for Caminero, Gasser and Mead, who wanted long-term contracts I wasn't prepared to give - in the case of Caminero, just yet, and not at all for the other two. Awards Season: Gold Glove: We had two winners, unfortunately they're guys who are leaving us as McClanahan (P) and Rutschman (C) were honored. Reliever of the Year: Felix Bautista wuz robbed. Despite a 13-win, 29-save, 1.57-ERA, 3.5-WAR season he finished a distant second to Detroit's Ben Joyce who had 12 wins, 38 saves, and a 1.95 ERA and 2.8 WAR. Guess those extra saves made the difference. In the NL the Giants' Taylor Clarke got 29 of 30 first-place votes thanks to a 36-save, 2.49 ERA season. Silver Slugger: There were three Rays winners: Rutschman (C), Isaac (1B) and Caminero (3B). Former Ray Jonny DeLuca won the AL CF award with Cleveland after a 33-homer season that came out of nowhere, guess we lost the Sam Hentges trade with them. Rookie of the Year: Another stunner as Houston OF Luis Baez (.297-28-77, 3.3 WAR) took the award over Baltimore's 29-year-old Cuban import SP Luis Orta, who led the AL with 7.0 pitcher WAR after going 18-11, 3.56 and our Hagen Smith, who merely went 17-6, 2.90 with 4.8 WAR. Baez took 19 first-place votes to 9 and 2 for Orta and Smith, a head-scratcher. The NL winner was Arizona's Yosy Galan, who took 29 of 30 first-place votes after hitting .254-44-117. Cy Young: A hell of a going-away year for Mac: A bit surprised Orta didn't get a few first-place votes, but pitcher WAR is not something heavily weighted by OOTP come awards time. Smith finished fourth. In the NL Philly's Andrew Painter won rather convincingly over Miami's Eury Perez (24-3, 191-123) thanks to a 14-5, 2.65 year. MVP: Baltimore's Jackson Holliday was one vote shy of unanimous after his 9.2 WAR season that saw him hit .318-29-85 and play Gold Glove D. Caminero finished third and got the other first place vote (it wasn't mine). Jackson Chourio was unanimous in the NL as the Milwaukee superstar earned 9.4 WAR with a .348-41-145 mega-season. November 25: We lost our three arbitration cases and will have to pay a total of $1.6M more than hoped. Rutschman and McClanahan unsurprisingly rejected the qualifying offer, so draft picks here we come. So right now our payroll sits at an even $100M, meaning we have a max of $10M to add so it's going to have to be dollar in, dollar out if we make any moves. December 1: The Dodgers traded P Dustin May to the Rockies, and vagabond veteran closer Liam Hendriks went in a deal from Washington to St. Louis, making it 4 teams in 4 years for the 38-year-old despite racking up 117 saves in the last three seasons. December 5: The first of our big three free agents found a new home as Jeffrey Springs signed a 3/71 deal with the Dodgers. Also veteran Jacob deGrom moved across the state from the Dallas area to Houston, joining the Astros on a big 2/59 contract. Washington also dealt longtime IF CJ Abrams to Philadelphia. December 9: NL Reliever of the Year Taylor Clarke was dealt by San Francisco to Detroit for a prospect. December 10: Big news out of New York as the Yankees dealt Gerrit Cole, entering the last year of his mega-contract, to Milwaukee for a couple of prospects. The 37-year-old Cole is coming off a 13-11, 4.01 season. December 13: It was a big free agent day as our top two guys from last year signed on the dotted line. First Adley Rutschman signed a massive 7/262 deal ($37+M/yr) with St. Louis and then Shane McClanahan joined Jeffrey Springs in Tinseltown thanks to a 6/219 contract the Dodgers gave him ($33M/yr). We'll have fun at next year's draft with 2 1st-round comp picks. December 15: Speaking of the draft the Cubs were the big lottery winners, moving up from 7th to grab the first pick. December 22: The Yankees acquired their Gerrit Cole replacement, trading for San Francisco vet Logan Webb, and signed another former Giant, OF Jung-hoo Lee to a 4/54 deal. December 23: Added C Dominic Keegan and P Spencer Schwellenbach to the 40-man roster. Keegan is penciled in as our backup catcher, and Schwellenbach has an outside chance of joining the staff. December 24: Nothing like a holiday Rule 5 Draft. It was very active and there were a fair number of "name" players taken, so here are the first two rounds (Toronto ended up taking 5 guys): As you can see we lost Brendan McKay (again) but picked up Jackson Baumeister, who probably won't make our club but we'll take a look at him in spring training. December 28: This time we picked up a guy who should definitely make our team, signing veteran lefty reliever Tanner Scott to a 1-year, $1.8M deal. He'll replace the departed Sam Hentges as our top left-handed option in the pen. We also signed a professional IFA to a minor-league deal, 33-year-old Taiwanese OF Xing-Peng Fan, who rates 65 contact but only 35 power and can play a 60 RF. He'll give us depth at Durham. December 30: The Phillies signed OF Seiya Suzuki to a 4/58 deal. December 31: Former Rays 3B Isaac Paredes signed a big 7/131 deal with the Giants after doing his usual 25-HR, 85-RBI thing with the Cubs last year after we dealt him there last winter.