Jose Abreu

His teammates seem to be the most supportive though.

Right, and there's also next to no chance that they get as close to the luxury tax line as the Cubs, and I say that as someone who thinks they're gonna spend a lot of money in the near future

Pitching, yes, but where did you get the premium part from? Not saying you're wrong, I just don't remember that

I think the answer depends heavily on when the draft was. For drafts that are around now, he's probably going in the top 5. I'm doing an auction tonight and he'll definitely go for ~$50 which is about his full value. If this were 2 weeks ago, cut $15 off that, and he probably wasn't even a 1st rounder.

It exists, but I also think that it's far less of a factor than the casual fan would think. As in, some players can be very slightly better or very slightly worse in "clutch" situations, but you won't find a good hitter consistently crater or a AAAA guy become an all-star in such spots

Jimenez

109 MPH EV, .770 xBA, double play

Feels like Benyamin Bailey hasn't played in awhile.

I understand not thinking that they're gonna sign big name free agents, but thinking that they're gonna maintain some of the lowest inflation-adjusted payrolls in franchise history is honestly an impressive level of front office hatred

I still believe that Martinez is gonna opt out.

Luis Gonzalez has a 101 wRC+ now. That's a nice turnaround.

I agree on the tier 2 comment and that's why I'm trying to go tier 1 and tier 3 in my auction draft. Ideally, I want to get one of Barkley/CMC/Kamara (or Bell/DJohnson if the prices get outrageous) and then pair that back with one of Kerryon, Aaron Jones, or Montgomery, who I think are all primed for big years

Exactly. You two have been nailing it with your posts lately

Do you really think that signing Abreu for about 2 years to ~10-12 AAV is gonna preclude a team with basically no payroll from retaining a reliever or catcher? Because saying Alonso is a better fielding 1B isn't really saying much, and the value gained from playing him there over Abreu is almost negligible

I think this concern is just fear mongering from the anti-Abreu people. Yes, he has stated that he prefers 1B, but like you said, what old 1B doesn't prefer to play the field? I can basically guarantee you that if he signs a new contract here, he isn't gonna become a clubhouse cancer or anything and complain that he's DHing while Vaughn plays 1B.

No, I'm saying he believes it but he has just always been extremely pessimistic. He'll hear a quote and spin it in the most negative way possible. It's just his writing style

Fegan will always write with the more negative angle because the Twitter folks will eat it up

How many teams are in the league and how much did Saquon/CMC/Kamara go for? My 10 team auction is on Monday and I can't tell if they're gonna go low 50s or high 60s. The entire league has just been messing with each other and nobody knows what to expect

Abreu

Oh, they will

Absolutely, and I don't think he's a good defensive 1B, but I'm just trying to make a point that you shouldn't just look at one stat. If you don't like his wRC+ or fWAR, maybe look at his exit velocity and hard hit rate instead. Even better, look at them in conjunction with each other.

They're all in the negative range because Fangraphs adjusts those ratings based on position, and anyone playing first base provides far less value than someone playing shortstop or center field, for example. The stat you're probably looking for is range runs (RngR), for which he is second to last. Regardless, I still find it funny that the people who think he's below average/bad based solely on 1 or 2 Fangraphs stats conveniently ignore that Fangraphs also says he's the #8 defensive 1B in the league this year

It's so nice having one of the best position players in the sport on our roster. Other than a few one year flashes ('16 Eaton, '14 Abreu, '12 Rios, etc.), I can't remember the last time you could say that about one of our guys. Ordonez/Thomas?

Anthony Rendon hates baseball but is elite at playing it. Even if Moncada is similar (and FWIW, I think he likes it and just shows emotion differently than other players), I don't think it's too big of a deal

It's fair from a value standpoint, but in the same way that 12/650+ is fair for Trout instead of 12/428, or 10/350+ is fair for Machado instead of 10/300. I feel like the $/WAR calculations always end up being a little too optimistic in terms of what the player actually gets. I see Cole getting more like 7/225 but could be wrong.