Yeah, I hate to say it, but it might be better if JD has somewhat of an off-year, lessening the appeal of opting out. It's a crazy way to think, but that's what all these opt-outs and other crap do to you.
Timlin has 4 rings, 2 with the Jays and 2 with the Sox. In 1992 he recorded the last out of the Series in Game 6 and got the only save of his post-season career.
Not trying to knock Kimbrel at all. He's one of the best relief pitchers in history. He was a great acquisition by DD. But his stuff is clearly diminished and his price will now be exorbitant.
Kimbrel's 6-out save in Game 4 of the ALCS must be the heart attack save of all time. It started with Tony Kemp getting gunned down by Mookie to prevent a double and ended with the catch by Benintendi on Bregman with the bases loaded. That was some crazy stuff.
One thing about Kimbrel is/was, no matter what the peripherals, he doesn't blow many saves and his save % is always high. We saw some where he got his ass saved by fielders, of course.
If it was only for undisputed great players, there might be some long stretches with no one getting in. Some people would say that's boring.
I get your point, but no matter how it was there would be something to complain about.
moon, I don't know if you caught this, but look at how these arb projections changed since your first post on this thread. Here are the projections from that post on Oct. 29:
18.7 Mookie Betts
11.9 Xander Bogaerts
7.9 Jackie Bradley Jr.
4.8 Eduardo Rodriguez
3.4 Brock Holt
2.3 Tyler Thornburg
2.3 Sandy Leon
1.5 Matt Barnes
1.4 Brandon Workman
1.4 Steven Wright
1.2 Heath Hembree
1.1 Blake Swihart
It's a tough question. First you have to look at the AAV. $35 million or even a bit more? It certainly takes a huge chunk out of the budget. But if he stays healthy and plays up to his capabilities he could be an 8 WAR player for 5 years or more. FanGraphs says 8 WAR is worth about $65 million or something. So that's surplus value.
Of course the length of the contract is almost certain to come back to haunt.
The Yankees being cheapskates with their playoff shares has become a bit of a story.
https://nypost.com/2018/11/26/just-how-stingy-the-yankees-were-with-their-playoff-shares/
Ah yes, Josh Rutledge. I recently learned that his wife Laura is a sideline reporter for ESPN on college football games. She was in the news because she got slammed into by a couple of players going out of bounds. (She was okay.) One of the players thought he would be nice and offered to go on a date with her. That's when Josh's name came into it LOL