ChiSox59

Yah. For the Sox to do this means that Jose must have had no interest in signing a 2 year $25-28M deal the past few months.

WOW. Kind of significant news. Jose should take it.

May as well give Fulmer one more shot. Not going to get anything of value for him right now, and as CWS said, he is out of options.

Other somewhat interesting names to hit the market today: Derek Dietrich Eric Thames Martin Perez

The intent there would obviously be higher AAV for shorter term. Still seems crazy, especially with Turner still there.

Calhoun's option also declined.

Yah, Dietrich definitely looked more interesting before his 2nd half nosedive. But if not for his 2nd half nosedive, he wouldn't be available. And unlike Yolmer, Dietrich can play the OF, has quite a bit of pop and can get on base. I am not proposing the guy as a solution to anything, but he's a decent fit as the 25/26th man type on a cheap 1 year deal. Could fill in at 2B until Madrigal is ready, move around thereafter. Just another option.

Derek Deitrich also just became a FA and is a decent choice as bench piece.

Add Eric Thames to the list of poor fielding RF/DH that make a little if you squint hard enough. At least he hits left handed.

I agree, but it begs the question why it hasn't happened yet.

I am not citing FG as the barometer. I am just sharing the relevant information released by FG this am. I did not recall McDaniel's predictions from last offseason, but obviously that is an important set of data. I do feel like McDaniel's estimates, on the whole, were light - so would not be surprised to hear that is a trend.

That was done by Bowden. 75% of the posters here are more in the loop than Jim fuckin' Bowden. 1/$11M seems light, but 3/$60M is never going to happen. It'll be somewhere in the middle, but hoping McDaniel is closer!

I wasn't talking about you specifically.

Yah, I don't think things are quite that cut and dry. I am sure Boras is aware of who has interest and to what extent. If he is going into this blind, there is no way he is going to opt out this offseason. May as well take the $23.75M and opt out next year.

Timing on free agency is really tough to predict, but if JDM opts out, I feel like his timing may be a bit quicker than that. I would assume he has a pretty good idea that someone is willing to beat his current 3/$63 he has left on his deal if he does in fact opt out today, At this point, I think JD doesn't out out, takes his $23.75M for 2020, and then opts out after next year when his salary reduces to $19.35M. Going to be tough for him to beat $23.75M AAV for 2020.

I don't think anyone really thinks Wheeler is a "top of the rotation" pitcher. He is a solid #3 on a team with a good rotation, obviously better on shitty teams. He would be a nice rotation piece on all 30 clubs, but this guy isn't an elite starter by any means, and not sure anyone here thinks that.

Going into last offseason, the expectation was that Machado and Harper would both beat $300 million.

And Hamels, and Abreu, and Miley, and Kuechel, and Gregorious. But yah, I guess the other half were relatively close.

Kiley McDaniel at FG predicted 4/$68M for Wheeler. While I think he will beat that, this proves the $130-$150M talk was in fact crazy.

Here is the article for those wondering: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2020-top-50-free-agents/ Some pretty good values in there. Quite a bit lower than being discussed here Here are the top 15, and then a few that may be of interest. Cole - 7/$242 Rendon - 7/$211 Strasburg - 5/$150 Donaldson 3/$71 JD Martinez - 3/$77 Grandal - 4/$70 Ozuna - 4 / $70 Bumgarner - 4/$64 Wheeler - 4/$68 Gregorius - 3/$48 Castellanos - 4/$56 Keuchel - 3/$45 Ryu - 2/$32 Moustakas - 2/$32 Gibson 3/$45 Puig 3/$39 Hamels 2/$28 Gardner 1/$13 Encarnacion 1/$11 Miley 1/$9 Chris Martin 2/$12 Jose Abreu - 1/$11

I think the Sox gotta give Abreu the QO if he’s even the slightest bit interested in testing the market. If someone offers him something stupid that we shouldn’t match, at least get something for it. And if he takes it, that’s not a terrible result at this point.

I'd honestly be fine with Mazara if the rest of the FA adds are quality.

There is PLENTY to spend it on.

Likely because he was forced to play in the field (no DH) and wore down as the season dragged on...like most catchers do. Oh look - another positive to signing Grandal!

If Abreu requires a 3 year deal, are you still in that boat? Also, JDM and Grandal had the same OBP last season. JDM only slightly higher for his career. I don't think anyone thinks Grandal is a better overall hitter than JDM. It just comes down to fit, handedness, positional flexibility, etc. Grandal checks every box, JDM checks 1. Again, I'd be fine with JDM. But he really does complicate things.