harmony

The column suggests the Seattle Mariners would like to take back their trade of Ketel Marte to Arizona. After that trade the Diamondbacks got 16.8 bWAR: 14.1 bWAR from Marte, 2.9 bWAR from Taijuan Walker and -0.2 from Zac Curtis. The Mariners got 17.3 bWAR: 10.6 bWAR from Mitch Haniger and 6.7 from Jean Segura (who was later included in a trade for Gold Glove winner J.P. Crawford, who has posted 2.8 bWAR at a fraction of the cost). The M's even got 0.4 bWAR from Walker over five 2020 starts in his return to Seattle as a free agent.

At the end of his age 23 season Pablo Sandoval reportedly weighed 278 pounds but weighed in at 240 pounds the following February: https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/02/18/giants-notebook-pablo-sandoval-weighs-in-at-240-pounds/ Coming off his age 23 season, Rafael Devers weighs 240 pounds, according to Baseball Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/deverra01.shtml

An improved Rafael Devers falls within the range of possible outcomes. So is the career of Pablo Sandoval, who had slightly better numbers than Devers through their age 23 seasons. Each option carries risk.

FWIW In the Over the Monster Pick 5 contest back in October I had the Red Sox landing Alex Cobb: https://www.overthemonster.com/2020/10/21/21526062/mlb-offseason-preview-predictions-trevor-bauer-marcell-ozuna-jackie-bradley-jr-andrew-benintendi

Righthand-hitting outfield prospect Jordyn Adams (and change) might be a more realistic target. Or not.

Most of those "multiple websites" were merely the echo chamber repeating a rumor first shared by Ken Rosenthal: https://theathletic.com/2305777/2021/01/06/rosenthal-francisco-lindor-yu-darvish-blake-snell/

FWIW Baseball Trade Values assigns a surplus value of $21 million to Christian Vazquez and $37.5 million to Brandon Marsh.

Thank you for the correction.

Back in November free agents Kolten Wong and Taijuan Walker were part of one poster's offseason plan for the Seattle Mariners: https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2020/11/15/21566234/harmonys-offseason-plan Targeted free agents Chris Archer, Keone Kela, Jake McGee and Jake Lamb also remain available.

Liam Hendriks got four years: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/01/white-sox-to-sign-liam-hendriks.html

Maybe the Red Sox did ... or even offered Jon Lester more. Or not.

Pardon the typo: Garrett Richards turns 33 years old this season.

The same can be said of Garrett Richards, who turns 33, and Chris Sale, who turns 32. Not to mention J.D. Martinez, who turns 34.

Hyun Jin Ryu has posted 16.9 fWAR in 807 career MLB innings, including 6.6 fWAR over the past two seasons. Nathan Eovaldi has posted 12.9 fWAR in 966 career innings, including 0.7 over the past two seasons. Garrett Richards has posted 12.1 fWAR in 804.2 career innings, including 0.7 over the past two seasons. Steamer and ZiPS project 2021 WAR of 2.9 and 3.0 for Ryu, 2.5 and 1.2 for Eovaldi and 1.5 and 1.1 for Richards. Ryu has made 41 starts over the past two seasons; only 26 pitchers have made more starts.

FanGraphs Depth Charts project 2021 starting pitching WAR of 12.9 for the Blue Jays and 12.6 for the Red Sox (including 2.6 from Chris Sale): https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=14#SP https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=3#SP

With the shift of Adam Ottavino's 2021 salary, Cot's Baseball Contracts now projects 2021 40-man CB payrolls of $201,961,667 for the Red Sox and $199,071,623 for the Yankees. So the Sox edged closer to the luxury tax threshold while the Yankees retreated. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WWRsQNsGZkWuJZwlY8--xVBXMJGjh230D45KiHTHuvY/edit#gid=1520401900 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hl2xgQQReB8qPSoa2YAaDcBfkw0qYeFQFizVP3m2JZs/edit#gid=1520401900

Cesar Hernandez may have preferred the Cleveland vibe at any price. Or not. And Enrique Hernandez may have needed more money to come to Boston ... despite the Alex Cora connection.

Lefthand-hitting free agent Joc Pederson has played most of his MLB innings in center field.

Not if a pending free agent prefers to play elsewhere.

Chaim Bloom thinks outside our tiny box.

First trade between the rival Red Sox and Yankees since the trade deadline in 2014 when the Sox dealt infielder Stephen Drew and cash to the Yanks for infielder Kelly Johnson. Only the second trade between the two clubs in the past 23 years.

Too many fans want the Red Sox to spend right up to the luxury tax threshold. The front office might want to hold back. The Sox have already spent $17 million of the reported available $30 million on Kike Hernandez and Garrett Richards. If the Sox planned to crash through the first CBT limit they probably would have set their sights higher. Or not.

Steamer and ZiPS project 2021 WAR of 1.5 and 1.1 for Garrett Richards and 0.4 and 0.8 for Brad Hand. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/garrett-richards/9784/stats?position=P https://www.fangraphs.com/players/brad-hand/9111/stats?position=P

We all hope Jameson Taillon fully recovers but in this MLB interview six years ago Dr. James Andrews stated: "Most studies have concluded that 70-80% of pitchers return to their previous level of competition following surgery assuming that they follow rehab protocols." Regarding a second surgery: "The rehabilitation takes longer and the success rate of return to pitching is not as good as with the first Tommy John surgery." MLB | Pitch Smart | FAQ | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM Dr. Andrews answers frequent questions related to Tommy John surgery Perhaps the recovery rates have improved. Or not. Two months ago San Diego beat reporter Kevin Acee wrote in a piece about Mike Clevinger: "Of the 42 major league pitchers who have had two Tommy John surgeries, the majority did not pitch in the majors again after their second or fared poorly over a short period. But many of those pitchers were well into their 30s at the time of the second surgery." https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/story/2020-11-17/padres-second-tommy-john-surgery-mike-clevinger-nathan-eovaldi

Alex Cobb is owed $15 million in 2021 (with an AAV of $14.25 million) while Anthony Santander is projected to earn between $1.7 million and $3 million. Are those the players the Red Sox want to approach the luxury tax threshold?