jacksonianmarch

I like Urshela, but am also realistic as to his abilities. He was a utility guy for awhile for a reason. When he was hitting .290 with 20HRs, he was someone you could pencil in without worry. When he is barely OPSing .700 and missing games due to injury, you cannot. Yanks need to go for it this year and cannot risk having a typically productive position (3b) be manned by a bit of a wild card offensively.

I doubt the Yanks would prioritize a guy like Sanchez when Volpe is still there. Also, I do not think Cash would sell low on Torres. Torres, when he is right, is an all star starter and not someone you should have to package two of your top 5 prospects with to get a guy with less control and similar upside. If the Yanks deal Torres, it will be for someone willing to pay for the 2019 Torres and not the 2021 Torres. This is why I think Torres is going to man 2b for us this year. Getting him off SS is helpful and since he switched to 2b, he hit over .300 and had an OPS around .850.

I do not see the Yankees dealing Dominguez or Volpe. Every single other prospect is on the block, IMO. And yes, Voit is still on this team, and yes, if healthy, he is a really solid 1b. But a few red flags here. He is an enormous human and is not a kid as he turns 31 in February. He had a meniscal tear repaired (ie they removed part of his meniscus). You don't generate new cartilage, once gone, it's gone forever. So he now has less cartilage in that knee and twice this past year, he "bruised his bone" running the bases. That tells me that, while they had to remove the flap of meniscus, he is dealing with an arthritic or repetitive use condition that his enormous body cannot handle. So, if he shows up to camp a slender 220lbs and running without pain, then I will happily eat my words. But I think Cashman is very much aware of the possible chronicity of his knee issues and will not go into 22 leaning on Voit to be a starter. I actually think there is a better chance that Voit isnt on the team (non tendered or traded) than there is he is on the team. With that being said, Seager mans SS and Torres mans 2B. Lemahieu can handle either 3B or 1B. Yanks can go after Chapman or Olsen to fill out their infield. I think Urshela either stays on as a pure IF utility guy (unless a good trade partner is found) while Wade stays on as the swiss army knife. Worst case, you stick Urshela at 3b where he can play pretty sweet D, have Lemahieu play 1b. But I would rather add another lefty beyond Seager. I also do not deal off Volpe. Volpe, IMO, looks like a strong bet to be a really good big league 2b. Torres has three more years of control and comes with his own concerns. I think it makes little sense to deal off Torres when his stock is low, but Volpe is the internal replacement if Torres falls off the face of the earth. So that brings me to Olson. He is young, big power, good eye, really cleaned up his K issue and played half his games in the canyon of Oakland Coliseum. Coming to NY, he could be a 40+HR guy. Oakland likes certain qualities in prospects. They typically do not like long range prospects (like Dominguez). They are going to want to prioritize long term control, so no true veterans. They like velocity from their pen arms (Albert Abreu), versatile high impact position player prospects (Peraza) and a starter (Schmidt).

Something is up here. Berrios is at least a 2. He’s only a year away from FA and was staring at a Corbin deal on the open market. Instead, he locks in a couple mil less than Corbin for one more season? The players who’ve signed this far seem to be signing team friendly deals in anticipation of a lockout.

Depends. A's are one of the early investors in multi inning relievers. They always seem to like things that others dont

Pretty rough year for the prognostications, I admit. Do you feel like this is the strangest off season for both teams? Sox over-achieve and essentially hasten their rebuild which may push their ownership to spend earlier than anticipated. Yanks go from being odds on favorites to represent AL in the WS to barely backing in and rapidly falling out of the POs. Two ends of the spectrum here. Both teams with gaping holes at critical spots on their team and no obvious way to go beyond the Yanks signing Seager (which has been the most common prediction I have seen)

I’d have loved Pina for the Yanks. We need to have a defense first guy who isn’t a total auto out with the bat

Another trade partner would be Oakland for Olson. Yanks and A’s have dealt with each other many times in the past and Oakland is under pressure to lower salary

Heck, add catcher to that list as well. The guy I wanted was dealt to Detroit in Barnhart. I would love to see the Yanks bring in a veteran catcher with solid catching chops who can swing it a bit. Yan Gomes makes sense. We have some depth in Higgy and Sands, but we would need someone who could take the lions share of the starts and have the younger guys earn the job.

I counciled Bloom away from Matz, but Gray is the move I would float to Bloom. Gray is a power pitcher who had weird splits in Colorado. The guy has been dominant in the past, but also suffers from maddening inconsistency on a dying franchise in a place where balls act like superballs when hit. I think he is the "buy low" candidate here with the biggest upside. If the sox can right him, his stuff plays up as a 2 or fringe 1

If I am Bloom, I stay away from Matz with a 10 foot pole. The guy has been really injury prone and essentially been a barely above replacement level player his whole career. He debuted in 2015 and has a total WAR of 7.9.

Whitlock was a starter his whole career before the Rule V pickup. He would be the easiest to transition as he has pretty much always had success at every level starting. The one thing I would want to see with Whitlock is if his enormous stuff in short outings translates into longer outings. He was never a 98mph pitcher in the Yanks system

I honestly do not think Houck is a starter long term. Maybe he figures out his change a little more, but he is the kind of guy who is death to a lineup first turn around and then can get flamed the second time. Honestly, I think Houck may be your closer

Right now, the Yanks are backwards in terms of their usual. They have historically been top heavy in the pen, shallow in the rotation and deep in the lineup. They're deep as hell in the pen, deep in the rotation and really shallow in the lineup with multiple glaring holes and nobody ready to fill them. Our rotation right now is Cole Severino Taillon Montgomery German with Gil, Cortes, Schmidt and others in the wings. We can definitely improve on it, but that is a deep rotation with many options, a surefire ace in Cole, a wild card former ace in Sevy, and two solid mid rotation arms who could peak above that in Taillon and Monty. German is no slouch either. But the lineup has no true CFer (Cash has admitted it), no SS (Cash has admitted that), and a very concerning, injury prone (and maybe chronically injured) 1B. Three major holes at spots with historically big production for the team. Heck, you can rattle off multiple HOF or near HOF level players from each of those positions.

No, I think it could be bigger. They have a lot of guys with huge arms who would do well in short stints. I think Chad Green is as good as gone, IMO. And his return could be added to the pile for a guy like Castillo, if they want to add to the rotation, or could be used for Reynolds who Cashman apparently has a massive hard on for

Yanks still have these guys who are destined to start 22 in AAA and have big league cups of coffee: Abreu Nelson (likely a change of scenery guy this offseason, IMO) Schmidt Garcia Ridings (dark horse for a big league job out of ST, guy chucks over 100 with a nasty slider) Gil Other top 30 guys who could make their debuts in 22: Medina(if converted to relief) Gomez Sauer (if they convert him to relief) Vasquez (if they convert him to relief) Wesneski (if they convert him to relief) Waldichuk (if they convert him to relief)

Cashman intimated that he would be dealing from his reliever stash in comments today. Makes sense. Their pen is so stacked right now that you literally cannot fit any of the high end arms that are in AAA. Chapman Holmes J Rodriguez Loaisiga Green Peralta King Luetge That's 8 guys and doesnt include German or Cortes, two guys who have high end value and may not make the final rotation.

Young former big leaguers dropping. Sucks man. Enjoy your life!

AHHHHH. This is why the Mets are stuck. Their 1st pick in next year's draft is the Rocker pick, making their 1st rounder for sucking ass in 2021 subject to forfeiture. Okay, that makes sense

I have also read multiple stories about the Mets predicament in signing players this offseason and the fact that they'd lose a pretty high 1st rounder to do it. Unless everyone in the baseball community is wrong here, I think I am right

I continue to be concerned about Castillo coming to Boston. It's the type of pitcher Bloom salivates over. The return would be exorbitant, but he would be a possible ace in the making. Plus, the sox have had a national league Dominican fireballer come over before and it worked out pretty well last I checked.

I think the sox would have loved the 5 year deal at that price for ERod. I dont think Bloom would have authorized that opt out. It places the risk entirely on the team with no massive upside should he right the ship

I agree. I think ERod was expecting a 9 figure pay day. When he saw one wasn't out there, he hedged his bets on a long term deal should his body betray him yet also gave himself the chance to hit the market again should his body hold up. It is a win win for both teams. Honestly, the Tigers don't need him for more than two years. Their minor league and rookie pitching depth is really solid. They need a guy who can show them what it takes to be a champion

MLB qualifying offer rules explained WWW.MLB.COM Any fan can understand and appreciate the excitement of a big offseason addition for his or her favorite team. But sometimes it feels like you need to be schooled in contract law to understand the ins and outs of baseball's Collective Bargaining Agreement, especially in regard to free agents, qualifying Actually, looks like I am right

That's not what is being reported for the Mets who will get a pick for Rocker's lack of signage. "Any team that signs a player who has rejected a qualifying offer is subject to the loss of one or more Draft picks. While a team's highest first-round pick is exempt from forfeiture, any additional first-round picks are eligible"