QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 17, 2017 -> 11:57 PM)
What is this based on? They were going to talk extension with Samardzija, didn't go far. Bartolo Colon took more money. Freddy Garcia stay d, but he knew Ozzie well and didn't get to free agency.
It is a pipe dream to think it will make a difference. Let some other team pay him $17 million in 2018, and watch how interested he will be if you take your same offer which is as good as any other team's, and add the $17 million you would have paid him in 2018 to the $30 million or so you offer to pay him in 2019. Added bonus, you save the prospects you would have sent to Baltimore.
17 million would be better spent helping to pay for Prado in a deal for Yelich.