Chicago White Sox

Nice pickup for the Tigers, so far they seem to be having an excellent offseason.

The best show on TV has returned! What do you guys think of the new format? Personally, I think it will be awesome. The ability to swap out partners is a political game changer and it’s going to add some real fireworks.

Hahn has implied they aren’t done yet, so they’ll certainly be adding a reliever and a starter before the offseason is over. And let’s be honest, they purposely leaked that adding Eaton instead of a pricier OF would allow them to do other things and that to me is clear indication that the pursuit of Hendriks is real. Obviously no guarantee they get him, but I do think he’s the #1 priority.

And they invested big bucks into the surrounding area which totally kills them.

What is there is to be worried about beyond 2021 though? Next year is the only season that has real risk from a financial standpoint. I still think they sign Hendriks.

He was pretty damn with the Yankees.

Why not just use a platoon Collins/Mercedes for a few weeks? The idea of DHing Leury is simply unacceptable in this day & age and makes me have flashbacks to the Kotsay over Thome decision.

What did he say? And if this team plans to DH Leury a single game then god help us all.

If he’s willing to take 2/$35M I think you just go ahead and do it. Obviously there’s risk at his age, but he looked great last year in the starts I watched and even with some regression I think he’s easily worth that contract.

I’d love your 3/$50M idea

Title says it all - which players would you like to see extended and what kind of financial framework to you envision being required? The top two guys will likely be Lucas Gioito and Lance Lynn and for me it’s no different. With three year of control left, I think it’s now or never time with Giolito. Buying out a year or two of free agency would be huge and I’d look to start with Aaron Nola’s 4/$45M extension as a starting but would be prepared go sweeter than that. In a perfect world, I’d say something like 4/$50M in guaranteed money plus a club option at like $23M for the 2025 season. I believe that means Lucas would hit feee agency at 31, so perhaps that 5th year will be a bit of hang-up, but it’s definitely what I’d shoot for. As for Lynn, a two year extension beyond the 2021 season is what makes the most sense to me. No idea what he might cost though as there aren’t a ton of great comps. As good as Lynn has been, he’s not getting Verlander’s 2/$66M extension, but something like 2/$40M seems way too light IMO. Does 2/$50M work? Is that too much rich? Again, no idea here but he‘s going to want a nice sized AAV if he agrees to forgoe free agency.

Now that I wouldn’t like, but I definitely could see La Russa doing it.

Definitely. It’s not an ideal signing, but it’s pretty clear the budget isn’t as robust as it could be and at least they’re leaving themselves open for a future improvement in RF by not going multi-year here.

I fully agree with what you’re saying, but the big difference here is we’re only committing to one year of Eaton vs. three years of Melky. That’s the one plus coming out of this.

I knew you were Al’s Beef all along

@Look at Ray Ray Run - Where is your wife from again?

I’m hoping the reason for the theoretical switch is they got a better idea of what Hendriks will cost and decided to pivot in that direction.

That table is wrong or outdated then.

This really is the test for the new pro scouting department. We have failed so many times with these types of reclamation projects, but perhaps new scouting blood and an increased focus on analytics will lead to better evaluations.

fWAR captures framing, bWAR does not

Adam Eaton had a 117 wRC+ vs. RHP over his four seasons with the Nationals, driven by a .289 BA & .378 OBP. That’s nowhere near as good as 2018 to 2019 Joc, but it’s a massive upgrade over Mazara if we get that player and the skill-set blends in nicely some of the more free swingers on team. My biggest gripe is the fact Eaton’s defense is trending in the wrong direction. I know he’s been injured a ton and perhaps with a clean bill of health he turns things around defensively, but it’s definitely frustrating they went with such a high risk player after two straight years of terrible production out of RF.

Reading and masks aren’t recommended down here

I stand corrected!

Nothing in article says the Mets are interested in him, although I see Martino says that in the tweet it originated from.

You’ll learn to love Spanky in the 49 games he plays next year!