There is one other factor with keeping Xander, which is that there's a chance 2022 doesn't go as well as expected for him for one reason or another, and the opt-out becomes less certain.
Urquidy has a projected 2022 fWAR of 1.5. Not very exciting. His peripherals, especially FIP, don't look that good.
There are reasons he's only equal value.
And Cole's deal looks a little shaky right now.
Which raises the question, what are the biggest money deals that have actually turned out as wins for the team?
Max Scherzer 210 million (with deferrals)
Derek Jeter 189 million
Manny Ramirez 160 million
One could say that, but Verdugo's price goes up too, so I don't think it's quite that simple. And it tends to diminish the loss of Hall of Fame talent.
Yes, but as I've said, I don't think Bogaerts would bring back talent resembling Verdugo. I think we actually got more than equal value with Verdugo.
If you get back truly equal value, by definition you haven't gained a thing.
It's not just the "measly draft pick". It's the draft pick plus one year of Bogaerts.
We're a contending team, so we don't want to make ourselves worse just for the sake of getting more than the draft pick.
You're talking about a limited field of teams to trade with. $20 mill is a chunk of change for a rental. If it wasn't for the Dodgers we might not have been able to trade Betts.