chw42

He was gonna get $13 million had he stayed here. I don't see him getting $8 million from another team, but you never know I guess.

Spotrac had us at $171.5 million projected payroll before Pollock declined the option. Subtract $8 million from that and we're at 163.5 million. If we stay at around the $195 million payroll mark, that leaves us about $33 million in space for FAs and trades.

It honestly seemed that way when I saw his first interview here. The fact that he straight up turned down $8 million when he probably doesn't get more than that anywhere else tells you how much he didn't like playing here.

I don't know. Kimbrel didn't exactly work out well, but the writing was already on the wall with him. Also, there's not exactly a lot of elite relievers in FA and available in trade right now.

I think there could be an argument had that the Dodgers need premier bullpen arms after what happened to them in the playoffs. They had nobody that was elite. All their relievers were good and that's fine for the regular season, but they collectively choked in the playoffs. Jansen or Efflin does nothing for them. They already have a handful of those types of relievers. Hendriks is a clear upgrade in the 9th inning.

A Conforto/Gallo and Pollock platoon doesn't seem so bad. However, you can probably throw in Tyler Naquin to that platoon and it'd work out similarly.

I was thinking you could try Lopez as closer. He actually had better peripherals than Hendriks last year.

Good thing Harrison isn't back. That guy would be a nice utility player, but he is not a full-time 2nd baseman.

I never thought I'd see Fields this good at running the ball after seeing how slow he seemed last year. Dude was getting tripped up by d-line men last year behind the LOS.

Lux is coming off a 3 WAR season with 4 more years of cheap control. Hendriks is owed $28 million over the next 2 years and is coming off a decent season where he didn't look as elite as he has in the past. If a trade like this were to work out, the Sox would either have to eat money or include another prospect with Hendriks.

With Diaz getting $20 million a year for 5 years, does that make Liam's 2 years $28 million remaining seem...cheap? In all honestly, Liam's arm issues scare the s%*# out of me. There were certain games where it looked like his arm was about to fall off. He's getting older and he's a guy who's getting by on velocity. I don't think his margin of error is real high if he isn't throwing 98+. The problem is that maybe a team like the Dodgers would take him, but his luxury tax hit is $18 million this year because of that stupid guaranteed option we put during the 4th year of his contract. So to a team like LA, who is near the top threshold of the luxury tax, Liam costs them a lot more than $13 million. So which team needs an elite closer? The Phillies? The Yankees? The Blue Jays? Boston? Every team there besides Toronto is also near the luxury tax threshold. Maybe the Phillies don't care coming off a WS appearance. This would also more or less be a salary dump so you can go sign a mid-tier SP or another OFer. You have to ask yourself if those guys are worth it over one of the best closers in the league. Assuming his arm doesn't fall off over the next 2 years.

He's got back and knee problems. The only thing that'll help him is some HGH so his injuries can recover.

The lack of an exaggerated shift will help Gallo a decent amount. And maybe that'll be enough to make you forget about that 40% K rate. He has been an effective player before despite having a K rate near that number. FWIW, this is Gallo's spray chart last year on pulled/straight away grounders/liners that were either barrels, solid contact, or flares. Let's just say he gets 9 extra hits from that (just from eyeballing). And I think that's being kind of generous. His batting average improves from .160 to .186. His overall OPS, assuming those hits are singles, goes up to .690. Better, but that's still pretty bad. I did a similar lookup for Grandal and it looks like he would gain about 10 hits from the lack of a shift. That would have brought his average from .202 to .232. That would have brought his slugging up to about .300. While the shift should help Grandal, it won't lift him out of awfulness until he finds his power again. The same could be said about Moncada. All 3 of these guys get about 10 extra singles from the shift going away. It's not a bad improvement on batting average, but it will not change who they are as hitters.

He won a gold glove a year ago. He's a decent left fielder and the metrics back it up.

Gallo has the much higher ceiling, but his floor will have every fan hating him. Benintendi's floor is much higher, but the likelihood he gives you anything more than a 3 WAR season is pretty low.

Benitendi is a way better defender. But yeah, he really didn't take advantage of the short porch in Yankee stadium. Even though his slugging was similar to what it was in KC, his ISO was 2x what it was in KC. His BABIP dropped 60 points after he got traded. Whether that was the smaller stadium, change in approach, small sample size, IDK.

His TD to Mooney was a great throw. He made some good throws in that last drive. But one was a PI that wasn't called and the other got dropped by a receiver when it hit him in the hands. He shows flashes in the passing game, even if he hasn't put it altogether yet. Lamar Jackson couldn't throw for s%*# either when he first started, but then he won an MVP in his 2nd year when he improved dramatically in the passing game. Fields has gotten dramatically better since the mini-bye a few weeks ago. Using his legs has opened up more possibilities for him in the passing game. He's still not a good passer, don't get me wrong, but the trajectory for him is going up and it seems like he's starting to get it. It's clear that Getsy running the offense like he had Aaron Rodgers the first 5 weeks of the season. But ever since the 10 day break they got coming off the TNF loss to Washington, they've used Fields a lot more like a running QB and his numbers have been great since.

That was what, 10+ years ago? Baseball is a different game now.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2023-top-50-free-agents/ Notable crowdsource projections: 7. Carlos Rodon - 4.87 years/$27.2 M AAV - Rodon's market will probably yield higher than the crowdsource projections. There is no way JR is ever willing to go that high for a pitcher. 9. Brandon Nimmo - 4.82 years/$20.7 M AAV - Nimmo at 5 years and about $100 million seems like a very fair deal. But I don't know if the Sox would be willing to commit that much money to a guy with a history of being on the IL. If the Sox do choose to go with a budget around $195 million, they can probably afford Nimmo. It's very likely his market is higher than that as well. 10. Willson Contreras - 3.84 years/$17.4 M AAV - I'm surprised that Contreras is only projected for a deal similar to what Grandal got. But then again, he will have a QO attached. 12. Jose Abreu - 2.23 years/$17 M AAV - This seems much more realistic than Heyman's 3 years and $75 million projection. 17. Andrew Benintendi - 3.67 years/$14.1 M AAV - Not a bad backup plan to Nimmo. But for half the price you get more or less half the player. 26. Jose Quintana - 2.07 years/$11.6 M AAV - Sox were interested at the deadline. They could be again at a fair price point. 28. Sean Manaea - 2.16 years/$11 M AAV - If I had to choose between Manaea and Quintana, I'd probably go Quintana. Manaea's stuff faded hard during the season and that seems to have been an issue with him for a while now. 29. Corey Kluber - 1.26 years/$11.3 M AAV - Would be a nice 5th starter on a 1 year deal. 30. Michael Conforto - 1.66 years/$12 M AAV - Who knows what's going on with him coming off the injury. I doubt Boras would do a club option, so I'm not sure how interested the Sox will be. 32. Johnny Cueto - 1.17 years/$8.8 M AAV - He was great for us, but you have to wonder just how long he can skate by on his tiny margins between success and failure. 39. Michael Wacha - 1.99 years/$9.9 M AAV - Similar tier to Cueto, but would require maybe an extra year of commitment. 42. Mike Clevinger - 1.57 years/$9.1 M AAV - There's upside, but he was so damn bad in the playoffs. Plus he doesn't sound like a guy that contributes to a good clubhouse. 45. Omar Narvaez - 1.98 years/$7.6 M AAV - I doubt they actually address catcher if they address the OF and the 5th starter, but Narvaez wouldn't be a bad guy to have in case Grandal continues his slide. 47. Mitch Haniger - 2.26 years/$12.6 M AAV - Injury issues scare me. His defense isn't great, but the guy will hit you 30 home runs if he's healthy. Him being right handed isn't a good fit for the team though. 48. Joc Pederson - $2.08 years/$11 M AAV - Maybe Rick will finally get his guy when he whiffs on Nimmo and Benintendi.

Didn't the Braves and Nationals clinch in Houston?

I also want to point out that what Maldonado did was bush league. He went up to the plate looking to get hit and he basically ran into the pitch. The only reason they didn't call it was because he was technically moving his elbow closer to his body.

Thompson probably also let Nola go for too long in game 4. It was apparent that the Astros were on him in the 4th before he gave up 3 hits in the 5th. Maybe that's why Wheeler had such a quick hook.

Was Wheeler really worth taking out there? He hit a guy that was looking to get hit and gave up a single.

No team is gonna give Jose $75 million at age 36. That's just throwing money away.

Turner is 2 years older. He might not get the 10 year deal Seager got just because of age.