jacksonianmarch

It wouldn't be following a trend if a hitter cannot pitch. It would be the norm. Maybe he can hit, who knows.

Jonathan Mayo calls the Yankees minor league pitching "the deepest in baseball". He raved about the fact that you have guys with huge stuff up and down the system from the DSL all the way to AAA. While the top 100 guys are the ones getting all the pub, we were easily able to get McCutchen, Britton and Happ last deadline without touching our top 5 and outside of Britton (Tate was #6), without touching our top 15. Our biggest area of need is the offensive side of things. We have Florial who is coming off a wrist injury that killed his season, but outside of him, we don't have any big time hitters in the A+ and up levels. Below that, we have a ton of talent, especially in the INTL realms. You'll see them soon enough.

That is a possibility. The arb contracts aren't guaranteed and can be released with only a 10% commitment in ST.

The dropping average has a lot to do with good players not seeing anything in FA last year and even the best players signing below expected deals. Heck, some good players coming off very good years were available into the last week of ST last year. The problem last off-season was the Yanks and Dodgers sitting out to reset. This offseason, the Yanks have dipped into the pool and are over the first threshold, but aren’t going all the way to the final threshold in preparation of future expenditures. It’s better for baseball when the Yankees are signing the best players to massive deals. When they’re dealing from their farm and filling out a pen, the offers get stunted. The Sox are now out of any bidding due to being against the final threshold. The cubs are at their max being up against the cap. LA has been muted in their FA search. With all the money in baseball right now, the players expect to see a fair share of it. Tony Clark has said that the union expects a 50% share of revenues. Being under that by 8% and having some of the best FAs to hit the market in years not see record setting offers is troubling to the sport

He’s a fine middle relief option. His propensity for the homer makes him a poor late inning option. I highly doubt he’s obtained for the $2-$3 mil being bandied about

Because the current CBA was aimed squarely at NY, BOS, LA, and Chicago. It was promised that the taxes wouldn’t stunt contracts. By having the big boys sitting on the sidelines, owners weren’t as “generous” and contracts dropped. The only way to ensure contracts rise is to ensure the big boys are always in on the negotiations

Because the concerns the players rallied behind for years have finally come to light and the stars or former stars are pissed about it. The grumbling from Kris Bryant and Evan Longoria is just the beginning. The guys who pull their strings (the agents) are feeding them all a line and come Dec 2021, they’ll be convinced they’re being held in a slavery type agreement even though they’re making 8 figures. The NBA went through this when their profits soared and now guys are making $40-$46 mil a year. It’ll happen in America’s pastime too

The CBA right now favors the small market teams. Right now the players are feeling the crunch more than before. You’ve got a savvy group of billionaires who found a way to make their businesses more marketable and their revenue streams rise. With the new lux tax implications, you have teams pocketing record profits by effectively seeing a huge benefit to resetting or staying under the final hurdle. You’re seeing benefits given to teams who forcibly suppress their best talent for an extra month to hold onto control for an extra year. Then there’s the lux tax. The only team so far to cross the final hurdle is now deserted of minor league talent and staring a ten spot drop in the first round in the face while also seeing a 100 spot drop in a comp pick for their all star closer due to being over the first hurdle. All the while, your most profitable team drops below the first limit for the first time since the lux tax was initiated to avoid a 50% tax on their overages while dropping their salary to revenue percentage below 30%. And all of this while seeing an entire market fall after 2017 and two of the brightest stars in the sport hitting FA at 26 yrs old and are still unsigned. The players are going to strike. I can almost guarantee it. Trickle down economics may or may not work for countries, but dragging up economics works for sporting teams. The huge contracts drag up value in arbitration and drag up value for the next few tiers of players. The stagnation at the top has seen the average salary drop for the first time in 2 decades and it doesn’t look to be changing any time soon. The issue with the CBA is all about timing. The Sox are running into their issues with the lux cap this year. By next year, the issues will effectively rip apart the squad or incur such penalties that even Henry will struggle to allow. The following year, Betts hits FA a year before the expiration of the CBA. This is why the Yanks will see the benefit of the new CBA in keeping their team intact. When we will need to look into extending Sanchez, Judge, Severino and start paying arb values that matter to Andujar and Torres, the new CBA will be in effect

Never said your guys sucked. Man you like to make hyperbole

I don’t believe Machado’s final contract will be at $25 mil AAV. I bet the final deal will be around $28-$30 mil.

Our arb requirements do rise as the years go on. But we don’t have a dead farm system by any means, which gives us the option to develop players or trade for cheaper replacements. Plus, by the time our pre arb guys get really expensive, the new CBA will be in place

Medicals $15 mil Price $31 mil Eovaldi $17 mil Pedroia $13.75mil Vazquez $4.3 mil That’s $78 mil or so Sign Bogey at $25 AAV Betts final arb at $28 mil Now you’re at $131 mil Bradley final arb year $11 mil Beni’s first arb year $5 mil Erod’s Second arb year $7 mil Barnes second arb year (if closer) $5 mil Now you’re at $159 mil The limit for first penalty is $208 mil in 2020. If you’re gonna reset, you’ll need to replace Sale, Porcello, Holt, JDM, 1B and probably 2B for $49 mil.

The biggest question there is what’s the direction? If they re-sign Bogey and let Sale, JDM and Porcelli go, they’re not gonna be competitive

That’s probably not terribly wrong. It’s too early to project since his glove work is the worry. If he was a glove guy who was breaking out offensively, then I’d say that’s hooey. But as a hitter who has plateaued defensively as a minus defender at the keystone, I can see how that projection would be slapped on him. If a position change is in the offing, it’s hard to project someone as a big leaguer without first seeing them in their new position

We are both gonna make the playoffs and if the non division winner can win the WC game, we’ll have a redux in the ALDS I’m sure. It’ll be fun

Sox have approached Bogaerts about an extension. Clearly, if the sox do re-sign him, they cannot announce it til after opening day for lux tax implications. Xander will be 27 for the entirety of the first season of his new deal, so I would expect a king's ransom for him. With Machado likely looking at close to $30 mil AAV, I think Bogaerts likely nabs a deal in the 6 yr $150 mil range. I would be shocked if the sox went that route as it would essentially mean the end of Sale and JDM in Boston

Maybe I am reading this wrong, maybe not. When I see you note you have Eovaldi and Pearce, it seems as if you're assuming they're better than Happ and Britton. If not, then my mistake. Either way, yes, the sox have Eovaldi and Pearce. Yet those two are far from reliable players. Eovaldi has never been consistent and is in rarified air in terms of a healthy rehab from a second TJS. Pearce is a journeyman utility player. Those two took you on the ride of your life in the playoffs, don't get me wrong, but expecting them to be the highlight of your squad is fools gold. I have far more faith in the returning trade duo in NY than you should in the ones in Boston. But the sox, outside of bringing those guys back, have left holes that weren't there last year with Kelly and Kimbrel gone, whereas the Yanks added Lemahieu and Paxton while replacing Robertson with Ottavino

And the #36 pick in the draft was worth $1.967 mil last year, so that should rise to around $2mil. With the 5% overage, we should see an additional $2.1 mil in bonus pool to go along with the #36 pick in the draft

Shed Long is the #6-#8 prospect (based on publication) in a loaded Cincy system (from #6-#8 in baseball). He slashed .261/.353/.412 as a 22 yr old in AA last yr with 12HR and 19SB as a 2B. He's a lefty hitter who has power and speed plus a solid enough hit tool to eventually project to hit for a decent average. The biggest question is his defense. He is a converted catcher who has tremendous range, a fringe average arm and below average hands. His offensive game plays very well for the position, but if he has to move to the OF, that may not fly enough to profile as a starter. He will likely start the season in AAA. If his defense improves, he may push the Yanks to use him in an otherwise loaded middle infield. If not, he may push his way into the OF mix due to his power and speed combo

It may end up being a trend, but Ball isn't good at either. You have to be a good enough pitcher to get innings. Ball has sucked ass as a pitcher

That's ridiculous. Happ pitched circles around Eovaldi for the final two months of the season. Eovaldi has a good October and all of a sudden, he's amazing. I have seen this before. Newsflash, he's gonna be maddeningly inconsistent for you. Pearce is a journeyman platoon mate. Happ and Britton will have a higher WAR than Eovaldi and Pearce in 2019. Those are the two players we each acquired at the break last year

They locked up the middle of their pen with guys good enough to close for other squads. They dealt from a strength and picked up a guy with ace stuff and production without the durability to man the #2 spot in the rotation. We locked up Happ for the next 2 seasons. We locked up CC on another one year deal. We returned Gardner, although I don't believe he's a guarantee to start. We also signed Lemahieu, who allows us a "jack of all trades" style player that Cashman has been yearning for for years. Our only subtractions are Gray and Robertson, both have been replaced with players who had superior seasons in the year prior. Based on pythag, we should have been 99-63. The sox should have been 103-59. I anticipate we have closed that gap on paper

Bogey is going to get a big contract. Machado is still seeing a huge contract offer. Bogey isn’t going to pass up a 9 figure contract

We also got and kept Happ

He’s going to. He’ll be in Cincy on a contract year. No pressure. He’ll be great