jacksonianmarch

We should be the prohibitive favorite. That being said, nobody knows what Otani is thinking, so we are all in the dark until the signing day comes

I am sure a lot of teams will be looking at those guys. There are a few more teams with big money. I bet the kids are waiting for the Otani sweepstakes to be over. At that point, there will be 5 or 6 other teams with more than $1 mil left in their 2017 budget. My bet is Maitan sees another 7 figure bonus, as well as the catcher whose name escapes me. The rest will probably not be significant

The Mexican League is interesting. Some players excel over there then translate it directly into production a la Aceves from years ago. The guy will get all the chances in the world to play during ST and if he emerges as the best option, he could start until/if Pedey returns

Really? Texas was abysmal this year and is now without Darvish. The Twins are on the upswing, but they were far inferior to the Yankees and got smoked in the playin game. We have the best farm. We have the best young core. We have the second most money available. And we happen to have a hole in the rotation and at DH. We are the favorites here

They do have a selling point, IMO. Their team is far better than the Rangers and Mariners and is on the upswing. The most recent ace from Japan is in a Yankee uniform. The best Japanese player in modern day history (over there at least) also played in NY (Matsui) and we had a short stint with Ichiro too.

The reason why the signings are held up are two-fold. One, the Ohtani saga is rolling along. He is such an impact FA that once his domino falls, others should as well. Also, the big names this year are all represented by Boras. Boras slows things down and typically a big domino falls before the smaller ones do. Also, I think the events of today practically gift wrap Otani to NY. The Yankees acquired the Marlins INTL bonus slot, pushing their total above $4 mil and making them the team with the largest bonus pool EDIT: The amount the Marlins sent over was smaller than initially reported. We are now only $30K behind the Rangers in bonus pool money

The Yankees have been busy NYY dealt Ronald Herrera to the Rangers for LHP Reiver Sanmartin. Both of these players have similar top end velocities. They both top out around 92 mph and make their hay with command and a deep arsenal. Herrera made his big league debut this season and is on the 40 man. Sanmartin finished 2017 in A ball and doesn't need protection NYY dealt Caleb Smith and Garrett Cooper to the Marlins for Michael King and more INTL bonus money. This should push NYY past the Rangers for top INTL slot cache to get Otani. King was drafted in 2016 and had a successful 2017 in A ball. I don't know his stuff yet

Gammons is saying Swihart will be getting reps as a 2b

Peter Gammons saying that Alex Cobb will land either with the yanks or the Cubs. Let the Cubs have that pending nightmare

Pedroia left $40 mil at least on the table in that contract

I’d get it if Pedroia got top dollar. But he signed a team friendly contract because he wanted to stay in Boston and he wanted some flexibility to improve the team. You don’t take a team friendly deal then leave more money on the table

So Pedroia signs a deal that’s under market that is a little long on years and now you think he’s going to give some of it back? That’s a ridiculous ask

The surgery itself is meant to help regrow cartilage and is done when you’re down to a bone on bone situation. Bone on bone situations cause arthritis. I guarantee you he has some arthritis in there

If he can’t play, he won’t “retire”. His contract is guaranteed and he took years over money. He’s going to collect all of the guaranteed money. He’d get the same fanfare ARod got. It’ll be a “retirement” but he’d get paid his money. Pedroia signed a very team friendly contract and leaving money on the table while taking a discount is dumb

The data on Synvisc isn’t very good, but some people swear by them (my father for one). It may delay the inevitable (either full or partial knee replacement), but doesn’t prevent it

The surgery he had has a high fail rate and it’s only done when there’s arthritis in the joint. An arthritic knee is a career ender. If the surgery fails, as it’s prone to do, the Pedroia might be done

Kyle Glaser from BA says that Then was the highest upside pitcher in the entire Mariners organization. That’s insane that we got him for a castoff (albeit pretty goo) reliever. Rumbelow has no shot here, but he’s got big stuff and will likely carve out a solid niche in the Mariners pen

First deal done. Rumbelow to Seattle for LHP JP Sears and 17 yr old RHP Juan Then. Sears is an interesting case. Lefty reliever who struck out 144 in 90+ innings in college then struck out 51 in 27 minor league innings in his debut this year after being drafted in the 11th round. He’s really a one pitch pitcher with a very deceptive fastball that only tops out at 93mph from the left side, but hitters don’t pick it up and it looks like he’s throwing 100. I expect NY to try to sharpen up a slider and see if he flies Then is a 17 yr old RHP with some upside but long odds to reach it. In his debut in the DSL, the teenager held a sub 3 ERA in 60+IP. We would have lost Rumbelow for nothing if he wasn’t added to the 40 man as he’d have been an MiLB FA. So we added him to the 40 man and got two arms for him before the 40 man roster crunch is finalized.

There’s a very real possibility that Pedroia doesn’t return in 2018

I guess the biggest question here is how much are the sox willing to spend? They’re guaranteed to break the lux tax limit. If they go up to the true upper limit of penalties, that gives them about $40 mil to play with but absolutely no wiggle room in season without offsetting the salaries. That’s significant. And right now, the needs are in a few locations. We’ve heard the sox in on Stanton. Not sure if the deals would need to include big league talent We’ve heard the sox in on JD, but it’s Boras so this isn’t getting resolved soon. Santana is on the radar as is Logan Morrison DD has said outwardly that the team will make smaller adjustments rather than a big splash, but nobody seems to believe him. So, if the sox sign Shaw, LoMo, Nunez and go bargain basement with options for the rotation, that should leave them with some cash to improve the team at the deadline. Would that do? Would the sox even sign Nunez as a Pedroia replacement or use internal candidates to see if he can return? The 2b market is deep this year, so they have some moves to make

I would. Moose isn’t a great defender whose offense is entirely power dependent.

I had Santana as my Yankee sleeper prior to this offseason, but he’s anything but that. He’s going to cost an exorbitant amount. 5 straight years of 150+ games. 123 homers in those 5 seasons. OBP .357 or higher 6 years in a row. Solid defensive metrics. Surprisingly good baserunner. Switch hitter without a weak side (higher BA righty, more power lefty). He turns 32 right after opening day. The more I look at him, the more I’m impressed. 15 WAR over last 5 seasons without a season below 2.1 or above 3.7 as a 1b. He’s the model of consistency. You can expect a .360 OBP 20-30 HR and an OPS over .800 with good defense and surprising enough speed to move the base paths. He’s going to get a contract his offseason that a lot of people will scratch their heads about. There are a lot of 1b/DH types, but he’s actually a 1b. All the other guys (Morrison, Duda, Alonso) have had shaky seasons the past few years. Santana is as sure a thing as it gets. My initial thought on him was 4 yrs $56 mil. I’m thinking he gets 5 yrs $80 mil now

Yankees appear interested in Jurickson Profar. They probably want an upgrade on Torreyes, who’s production, especially if pressed into CIF duty, leaves much to be desired. The Yanks could get him on the cheap, probably just with a couple pitching prospects they’d lose in the Rule V anyway. Guys like Feyereisen and Cortes could get the job done for this “fallen from grace” former #1 prospect

Power has a premium. Healy is a good 1b defender with power but little else. The price was a highly paid lottery ticket (top INTL signee from 2016) and a hard throwing, young, big league reliever. That’s a steep price to pay. If this is any indication, the trade market has certainly risen in terms of pay out for power

It takes one bidder bidding against himself. How do you think ARod got his 10 year $250 mil deal in the first place