moonslav59

9 teams went over the tax line- nearly 1/3 of the league... Dodgers: $103MM Mets: $97.1MM Yankees: $62.5MM Phillies: $14.4MM Braves: $14MM Rangers: $10.8MM Astros: $6.5MM Giants: $2.4MM Cubs: $570K Teams pay escalating penalties for exceeding the threshold in consecutive seasons. The Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, and Phillies have all paid the tax in at least three straight years — subjecting them to the highest escalator fees. Texas and Atlanta are second-time payors. Houston, San Francisco, and the Cubs did not exceed the threshold in 2023 and are marked as first-time payors.

Halftime, and ND is looking okay. Weird how the NCAA didn't make all the first round playoff games prime time events. They are playing during NFL games: how dumb!

Oh, you mean AAV, not total dollars, and even then it's $18M vs maybe $29M. I hate this deal. I'm not defending it.

I do think Crochet and Fried are pretty close. D Williams and Chapman are not very far apart. We lost O'Neill and they lost Soto and got Bellinger. We lost Pivetta, Jansen & Martin, and they lost Holmes and Cortes. Not miles apart.

You do know this isn't a "bidding war" for Sasaki, right?

Same money?

Hey. maybe we can plan of Buehler for 15 starts to start the year, then swap places on the IL with Sandoval, and Sandoval can finish the season with 15 starts. 15+15=30. WHAT A PLAN!!!!

Top FAs left, per MLBTR projections: 200/7 Burnes (might get 250/8) 182/7 Bregman (might get 200/8) 125/5 Alonso (maybe 130/5) 115/5 Flaherty (125/5?) 80/4 Santander (95/5?) 60/3 Teoscar (69/3) 60/3 Manaea (66/3?) (End of top 11) 56/4 Scott (64/4?) 44/4 Hoffman (48/4?) 27/3 Estevez (30/3?) Not interested.... 45/3 Profar (56/4?) 36/2 Torres (45/3?) 24/2 Pederson & Heaney (25/2?) (End of top 25) Others of interest: 21/1 Pivetta (76/4?) 20/2 Quintana (22/2) 16/2 Minter (17/2) 14/1 Yates (15/1) 14/2 Kittredge (15/2), 13/2 Kahnle, 11/1 Robertson, Jansen, Martin, Sewald 16/1 Scherzer, 15/1 Buehler, 13/1 Gibson, 12/1 Verlander, Morton, L Lynn

Two... https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/u/uwasana01.shtml

Perfect fit for their lame philosophy, yes.

Oh... I remember. I was just listing the pitching pattern.

Walker to HOU for $60M/3. (Exactly what MLBTR projected.) PHI signs Kepler for $10M/1.

Signed Paxton for the end of '22 and all of '23: he missed '22 and part of '23. Signed Hendriks for the end of '24 and all of '25: we've yet to see one pitch. Signed Sandoval for the end of '25 and all of '26: any guess what will (not) happen? But hey, in 2023, we played it safe and signed iron man Kluber.

We'll be lucky if he's ready by opening day 2026.

I agree, Nick. This signing is horrible, especially for a team that is pinching pennies. This likely means we will not sign a big FA pitcher. If all we end up signing is Bregman, Teoscar or Santander, it will still be a failed winer.

This is just what I hoped we did NOT do.

Sandoval is a Sox Type 2 signing. Type 1: Add or extend a pitcher with a long or recent history of injuries: Sale, Nate, Whitlock, Richards, Kluber, Hill & Wacha Type 2: Add a pitcher you know is out for a few months, hope they come back at the end of year one but always ends up being year two, if that: Paxton, Hendriks & Fulmer Type 3: Add pitchers who seem to have no major injury history, but once they join the Sox, BAM! Thornburg & Giolito I'm sure I forgot someone.

You wonder, if the Mets end up winning a ring, if cohen will seek a new shiny toy.

I feel the same way, and even if Anthony or Campbell never help in the OF in '25, our OF is still a strength. LF: Duran v R/ Ref v L CF: Rafaela v R/ Duran v L RF: Abreu v R/ Rafaela v L

It was easy to forget just how good he was in differing roles before the 2023 bummer season. He showed some nasty stuff before this season, so I am very hopeful this season was the real Houck.

I might have Castro 28th or 29th.

Mitch Keller is no top of rotation starter, but he'll be just 29 in April. The Pirates extended him, and back-loaded the deal, so they appear to be looking to unload him, already (year 2 of a 5 year deal.) He'll be 33, when his contract ends. His tax hit is a reasonable $15.4M. (He'd get more as a FA.) His 3 year numbers: 4.13 ERA (103 ERA+) 3.92 FIP/1.31 WHIP with about 9Ks and 3 BB per 9IP (1.1 HR/9) Here is how he ranks among 153 SP'ers with 200+ IP since 2022: 15th in IP at 525 and 14th in GS, so looks durable & dependable 35th in fWAR at 7.5 (avg 2.5 per season) Near Wacha & Bassitt 59th in xFIP at 3.91 (Near Flaherty, Monty and Bello) 63rd in FIP at 3.93 77th in ERA- at 97 (Near Singer, Rodon, Monty, Flaherty & Stroman) By the rankings, he looks like an okay #3 SP'er, with a solid workload that pushes his value up to maybe an okay #2. So, to me, he looks like an upgrade over Crawford and Giolito and maybe Bello, depending on what direction Bello takes. I'd like him in our rotation, but would prefer we just sign Burnes or not have to give up anything and just sign Flaherty or Manaea. What would it take to get him? His salary is a drag on PIT's budget: $15,4M>$16.9M>$18.4M>20.4M, but he's not a "dump." I certainly would not give a top 3 prospect for him, and would hesitate to give up Arias, but I would consider Abreu or Bleis, Cespedes or JH Garcia. I'm not sure they'd take Rafaela, even if we added DHam. If we were looking to expand the trade, maybe asking for switch-hitting Reynolds to play LF might be a fit, instead of signing Teoscar or Santander. His career splits are .842 vs R and .772 v L, so he does not really fit the big bat v LHP need. He turns 30, soon and is signed through 2030 at a tax hit of just $13.3M. His pay goes up, too, but not as quickly as Keller's. I'm not sure I really want him. I think I'd rather keep Abreu & Rafaela.

At this point, I'm just throwing things at the wall. Of course, the best plan is to just spend, and then spend some more. Burnes or Flaherty Bregman or Teoscar (maybe Santander) If we can't get one of the above, get one plus Hoffman, Scott, Manaea or Estevez.

Could be, but part of the deal could be to make STL pay it off.

Castillo is better than Crawford, Gio and Bello, but we could get some money thrown in.