Balta1701

I don't see that as a nightmare scenario. The nightmare scenario is that catcher is terrible, RH never upgrades it thinking McCann can handle it and the pitchers like him, and we win 94 games and miss the wild card by 1 win. And I'll admit I'm risking that, but the payoff is potentially developing a tolerable catcher internally, and I take that risk to try to develop the guys we have internally. If the bolded comes true...that's why in my version, I make sure I don't spend every cent I have this offseason, or at the very least I make sure I have some extra contracts that end next offseason. If I sign Calhoun and Abreu to 1 year deals, Moustakas to a 2 year deal, and Cole to an 8 year deal, I've got $25 million freeing up in Abreu and Calhoun next offseason and can move that money elsewhere if Vaughn takes a spot. So in that world, I've got $25 million to fill RF and C next offseason without increasing payroll at all; if someone like Adolfo had a breakout year that could be enough to get me Realmuto, otherwise I can try lower levels of the FA market. If Collins did break out, then I could have $25 million available for a serious run at a RF.

Personally yeah that's what I'd do. Give Collins his shot, catchers take forever to develop anyway, and if we're bad at that position, we won't be the only team who's bad at that position, and that's an easy one to add defensive backups a the deadline. My setup has always been - maximize what we can get internally, as the internal options are the guys who make it possible for us to afford other positions. If we can turn Collins into something tolerable, a 2 win catcher over the next 2 seasons, we fill that spot with average production and do so without spending money. So skip Grandal, but give me the frontline starting pitcher (and yes I know we won't get that one but that's how I'd do it).

Backup catcher and gaining experience is exactly what I want from Collins in the first half of the season. I didn't think he was good at the position but he wasn't Steroids Castillo bad back there to my eyes; maybe his game calling needs work but there's time for him to learn that and improve. If we come out in the first half and the catching spot is a genuine weakness, it's more because of McCann than because of Collins, and backup catcher is a reasonably cheap thing to acquire in June if we have to send him down.

There ya go.

I see no reason why Mookie Betts would sign that contract right now. If he has another MVP caliber season, that would look like a "Starting point" for him, something he could readily beat by testing the free agent market. That is very far from "Blowing his socks off".

Are we prepared to go into nearly Trout-like dollars for him? Because that's what "Blowing his socks off with a deal" would be.

Add Vaughn to that list.

Whosoever holds this bat, if he be worthy, let him wield the power of Yoan.

RH literally said that teams don't really do that any more. The acquiring team doesn't want to be forced to give the player an insane contract to make sure he signs without testing the market, and the team sending the player out doesn't want the deal to fall apart if the guy can't be extended - Boston's fanbase knowing they got stuck with Betts because the White Sox couldn't extend him? Not happening.

With like 150 pitches in a game by the Nats, if putting down a series of signs takes a few extra seconds, that’s a nontrivial increase in the length of each game.

Given that he's likely not the only QO player we'll sign, I'd have signed him for that.

Is it really? This is a pretty big claim with no evidence provided. How do you assess that? Most MLB players who get to 3 WAR start off near 0, so that seems fairly common. Very few become 5 WAR players.

This concept reminds me of the Mark Teahen trade. Convince yourself a guy is better than he is, trade for him, extend him based on how good you've decided he is.

If they got to keep the money...they wouldn't be. That money is not tied to Greinke, they could keep it.

Effectively they would be turning those 2 good prospects into the last 2 months of Greinke and the extra $20 million they got from the D-Backs, to allow them to sign Cole/Wheeler while still staying under the tax line (they'd probably have to move Reddick also but again, do-able). Turning those 2 prospects into 2 months of a pitcher to make a run at the series and $20 million for the next 2 years, not a bad move on paper.

It sounds like he's still unhappy about being left off their postseason roster, which is probably a fair point. That's one obvious problem with trying a setup like that; you have to make decisions in baseball that won't leave everyone on your roster totally happy, and as a consequence eventually everyone's gonna know.

IMO he's clearly holding a grudge and wanted this to be a big deal.

Indiana Football is ranked in the top 25 of the AP and Coaches Polls. I believe this is a strong indication of "yes".

If the Astros gave Greinke away for virtually no prospect return, would you take on his full remaining contract and leave the Astros with the money coming from Arizona? I might.

Wouldn't Object To ≠ would be good at.

But you're only considering 1 season in the case you just gave, and yet the guys being signed are for 3 or 4 year deals. So yes, guys are coming back from injury and young...but you also don't want to lock up that much money on 2 starters for multiple years when you do have that many guys who can take the ball. So yeah, my setup may not be as good as yours next year (bring in stras and there's a good chance that it is), but my setup is playing the long game.

While it's a limitation, if your organization is insistent that you're keeping Abreu around, then yes you have to plan for your DH position to be filled by a 1 year guy this year, or at least have some flexibility to move your DH to other positions. I kinda like Moustakas for the second reason; throw him a 1b glove this year, tell him to learn that position and become a true utility guy by next year, give him a 2 year deal and he covers 3b, 2b, 1b, and maybe you could talk him into a corner OF spot, along with DH, and he also fits in by giving some LH balance. There's 500+ PAs available in year 2 for him if we can do that with him.

He's a guy who should have put in calls this week to teams. If he doesn't have anything close to that kind of money on the table then he should accept it, and his agent should have been telling teams that if they didn't put solid offers on the table he'd just take the QO.

I still need a Nova/Teheran type to be either a bullpen longman or a starter for brief periods, I'll grant you that, but there's no earthly way that I am writing down a rotation that doesn't include Cease, Kopech, and Giolito next year because developing those guys into our rotation is perhaps our #1 priority right now. Lopez has shown enough to me that I believe he can pitch a good number of innings and at the worst be a solid 5th starter with some upside, so since I need slots open for those 4 guys. That leaves me saying that 2 expensive starters is a "diminishing returns" point; I'd rather get one of them and use the funds available elsewhere.

He's made a total of $21 million in his career so far and he's got a guaranteed $18 million with no doubt right now? Unless some team has a better offer on the table right now, yeah I'd take that if I was in his shoes. I'm more risk-averse than a lot of ballplayers are, but it makes sense to me.