caulfield12

So, in the end...$100-115 million is the highest possible number Wheeler will go for...whereas Cole is at $250-280 million and Strasburg at $150-180 million. Someone below guesses $120-130 million. Also seems many Mets’ fans are counting on Nimmo returning to form in 2020, and Céspedes not sniffing the field. The scariest prediction on Wheeler, that he blossoms with the Astros and replaces Cole at less than half the price. OTOH, I guess doing that for the Twins would be even worse...because the White a Sox can hardly think about a World Series yet. Wheeler, JDM/Grandal, Moustakas and a RH reliever...get ‘er done!!! Go with a $5-8 million guy in RF for one year, utilizing the savings from Yolmer. Or a second/third tier starter who falls through the cracks and becomes undervalued. If they let Wheeler walk due to CBT reasons, then it'll just be reason 843 why the Wilpons should have been forced to sell the team years ago. Wheeler's potential contract is perfectly reasonable; he doesn't have nearly the mileage on his arm that most 29 year olds do, and if this is supposedly a win now team you don't let a starter of his quality walk because of the CBT in NY. It simply cannot happen. Mike F. Oct 22, 12:36pm 7 likes The stroman trade was all you needed to know.. he is the replacement for wheeler. I would bet that it’s a short terms savvy/equal value move for the Mets, but as usual instead of building from success and rolling with a better rotation all next season, they will pinch pennies, decry that wheeler may break down in a few years.... and watch stroman only make 20 starts... then blame injuries for another 85 win season. Watch him go to Atlanta and replace Dallas this offseason and help them win the division for the next few years....or replace Cole and win 20 For the astros Brian F. Oct 22, 12:44pm I think you're low on the contract forecast. He'll wind up with 5 for 120 or 6 for 130, something like that. At either level the Mets should be in, if they're not going after Rendon (which they wont despite that it would hurt one of their main rivals). If they pass on Wheeler then they need a veteran 5th starter so that Lockett is only the inevitable 6th starter that teams need (if not 7 or 8). If so, they must continue to build their offense and start by benching Cano. No one's talking about how fortunate they were with their offense: every player but Nimmo is likely to be worse in 2020. And that offense didnt sniff the top 5. If you want to be a playoff team you need to add a big bat.

https://theathletic.com/1306612/ Wheeler makes for an interesting free agent case, given that his production has almost exclusively occurred within the last two seasons. Wheeler has been worth 8.9 wins above replacement (according to FanGraphs) since the start of 2018 — a mark that aligns him with pitchers such as Patrick Corbin, Jon Lester and Johnny Cueto (along w/ Hamels, Cain, Zimmerman, Greinke) when they hit the open market. Pitchers who produced between eight and 10 wins above replacement over the two seasons prior to hitting free agency have averaged just less than $23 million per season in their next deal. Seven of the eight received nine-figure contracts. Another two comps here are CJ Wilson and Charlie Morton...with Cain, Zimmerman and Wilson arguably the three biggest disappointments. ... Shortening the contract probably does add a little bit to the average annual value. A deal for three years and $54 million or four years and $64 million would seem to make sense. Five years for $80 million — a deal signed seven winters ago by Aníbal Sánchez with statistics vaguely similar to Wheeler — isn’t out of the question.

Cano and the M’s would be an obvious exception. A-Rod and the Rangers, although any team acquiring him would have believed they were instant contenders because he was that dominating at the time.

Lux is a 2B by trade (200 games in the minors at SS, where they obviously have Seager and 60 at second base)...but they can also play Muncy, Hernandez and even Taylor there. And Taylor/Pollock both missed significant time last season. Pollock, btw.

Or being owned by The Billionaire Next Door instead of someone who runs his team like a fanboy/hobbyist (Illitch, Crane, Ricketts, Cuban, Lerner, Ballmer) who knows his team will appreciate in value by hundreds of millions no matter how much he loses on a yearly basis in the pursuit of a championship.

Except his defensive rankings for 40+ games were surprisingly solid. He would play more first after Madrigal arrives, Moncada will get hurt at least once or twice and there’s also DH and potentially a corner OF spot if he’s willing. That might be pushing it, as he’s more first step quick like a Crede than someone possessing the type of speed for even a corner. But that still gives him four realist spots out of nine.

That’s a lot closer to what Hahn would realistically part with. It does make sense, if they want to create space for Verdugo full time and save some money on their payroll for other areas of need, like the bullpen or back end of the rotation.

There haven’t been many exceptions to this rule...maybe Nick Markakis In 2018, Lowrie for one year then he really fell off, Zobrist was decent in 2018 but fell off...then you’ve got Nelson Cruz and Howie Kendrick. JDM is considerably younger than those examples, and at least he’s been hitting in the AL...in an even more competitive division...but nobody would be shocked if he continued to decline, either, especially if you take into consideration the health issues.

Harper and Boras, in Las Vegas, first meeting where we don’t even know if an official offer was extended...

The day when they outbid everyone in the market and award Betts with a contract almost five times bigger than the current record for the franchise will be a day worth celebrating...but not the way this particular organization has operated since the Albert Belle contract over two decades ago now. Everything else I pretty much agree with, except for it being so easy to pick up the likes of Pederson or Nimmo in trades that help two franchises in “win now” mode. For Pederson, it would likely be Bummer, Fulmer and at least one of those high bust risk minor league outfield prospects. We’re not going to come away unscathed.

Which will only matter if all the bad vibes from last offseason, the Samson debate on second place finishes and the taste of dumping IFA pool money (twice) because we couldn’t find anyone to spend it on is replaced by high/er quality FA signings that affect the next 3-5 years for the franchise. And bringing back Abreu into the fold can hardly be considered be considered one of these key/impactful moves to any but the most casual of Sox fans.

From a fan's standpoint, that's pretty much the dumbest thing ever, to sabotage your own franchise to make a moral and perhaps financial point simultaneously. Nobody is listening to JR anyway, his pre-emptive argument will be lost on the new generation of owners and front office people.

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/rangers/2019/10/31/texas-rangers-make-series-of-roster-moves-on-1st-day-of-mlb-offseason/ Interesting they originally want to rehab Jones and resign him to incentives-laden deal. Hunter Pence for RF!!!

The successes of Tatis and Robert (maybe he had just turned 19) would argue that spending money on 17 and 18 year olds was definitely worth it, even if you only hit the proverbial gold mine once every 5-10 years on average. Or even drafting American-born high school players like Gavin Lux and Jo Adell, for instance.

How the heck are the Reds going to be competitive in 2020?

On May 16, 2008, the White Sox fired Wilder and two scouts after an investigation in Latin America. Federal authorities were called in as well, and the baseball commissioner's office was investigating the parents of several Latin players about bonuses that they may have received from major-league baseball teams.[6] A major league baseball investigator confirmed to the Chicago Tribune that the investigation involved skimming and was limited only to the White Sox.[3] On February 11, 2011, Wilder pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in federal court in Chicago. He was released on bond pending sentencing.[7] On August 28, 2013, U.S. district judge Charles Ronald Norgle, Sr. sentenced Wilder to two years in federal prison.[8] He was ordered to begin serving his sentence on October 31, 2013.[8] He was released from federal prison on October 9, 2015.[9] the-tawdry-tangled-history-of-the-white-sox-latin-american-operations you can google that title under Southside Sox...2 or 3 part article that gives the entire story, but it's mostly related to Brazilian and LatAm signings in the 2006-2007 time period

Baseball America USED to be the best place for trade analysis, rather instantaneously...but everything's pretty much buried behind paywalls at this point.

Does anyone have a clue what Paddy's salary is? I'm guessing $300-500,000 per year...well, at least we have him to thank for Nestor Molina, Abreu, Tatis and Luis Robert. Even if it was $500K per year for less than a decade, he's more than earned his money with those last three, despite all the other issues with LatAm/DR operations.

Usually, thebaseballcube.com is the best site to find transactions, agents, signing bonuses, signing scouts, etc. Just plug in the names. You'd have to also look at Polanco, Arraez, Berrios, Rosario, Sano (he was a big bonus, Michael Ynoa and Sano were so famed in that class a documentary movie was made about it). The Indians would be the other natural place to look, going across their roster. Of course, as someone noted, just getting Luplow, Mercado and Reyes has been a boon for them, enough to keep them from tearing things down and auctioning off the rest of their pitching staff, Lindor and Jose Ramirez (when his value has fully rebounded, will take another half season.)

Sure. IF IF IF IF IF. Which represents the five tier B/C players they will bring in not named Wheeler, JDM and Moustakas.

Or Irquidy out of Mexico City for just $100k, White Sox were outscouted by Astros...gee, it would be nice if we had a pitcher like that so as not to spend nearly $10 million on a Nova. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/08/rangers-sign-bayron-lora.html https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/rangers-trade-for-international-pool-money-to-sign-bayron-lora/ Waiting for a story on the next player the Rangers sign with our IFA money.

https://www.lonestarball.com/2019/10/31/20942330/texas-rangers-transactions-wellington-castillo-chicago-white-sox-free-agents As expected, Rangers declining options on Jones and Castillo. Enjoyed comments on the player they acquired. Another never even was version of Jon Adkins. Fwiw, In the Dallas Morning News, says they are looking to spend approximately $30 million this offseason.

But when have we ever taken on other team’s big/ger contracts in order to bring additional prospects into the fold...? We’re almost always more willing to save money and get less talent in return when dumping our own players. I mean, I guess we got Leury for Alex Rios.

The Yankees are going to have to get creative with pitching, for sure....Gregorious and Gardner are free agents, and/or trying to dump Stanton's contract on someone for 30-50 cents on the dollar opens up space. Not to mention Sabathia, Betances and Encarnacion all off the books, as well. So they're losing $60 million, more or less. That's assuming Aroldis Chapman doesn't opt out!!!! Can Chapman get more than two years and $34.4 million on the open market? MAYBE??? PROBABLY!!! And if he doesn't want to go to a West Coast team (limited no trade list), going FA now opens up possibilities for him if he does want to leave the Yankees (for whatever reason). If so, the Yankees will be down almost $80 million in payroll from 2019...before arb and built-in increases.

This sounds like a 1980's Bon Jovi or Wilson Sisters power ballad.