That's actually a pretty dumb statement.
In 2020 Eovaldi had a 6.9 million value per FanGraphs, while making a pro-rated 6.3 million. So it was a net positive.
And he finished the season looking very healthy and sharp. 52 K's and only 7 walks in 2020.
Baseball Trade Values has Eovaldi's "AFV" at 22.4 million.
That indicates that if you unload Eovaldi for nothing in return except salary relief of 17.0 million, you've made a bad move, you've lost 5.4 million.
Yes, you're saving $65 million. But it remains to be seen what they post in WAR. I realize most people would play the under, but it would only take about 9 total WAR from the 2 of them over 2 seasons to be worth $65 million.
True.
Cora was a seemingly hot commodity after 2017, and DD did the quick swoop to sign him. You never really hear if other teams were in the hunt or not.