2015-2016 Offseason Thread

[Otto von Ballpark]

Price also gets an opt out after 3 years.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I keep thinking the bubble will bust. It doesn't.

[Andrew]

Price also gets an opt out after 3 years.

did not know about the opt out. Could pull a Grienke and end up with more money. Smart contract for Price, however I feel like the Red Sox(and Detroit as well) are going to become the new Phillies. That's when Price realizes he doesn't want to be on a team that refuses to rebuild and he chooses opt out.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

did not know about the opt out. Could pull a Grienke and end up with more money. Smart contract for Price, however I feel like the Red Sox(and Detroit as well) are going to become the new Phillies. That's when Price realizes he doesn't want to be on a team that refuses to rebuild and he chooses opt out.

They may have inked a few regrettable deals last winter, but the Red Sox are hardly close to becoming the present-day Phillies.  Swihart, Bogaerts, and Betts are among the better young position players in the game, plus Rodriguez and Owens as young SP, and even after the Kimbrel trade, they still have the #8, #13, and #40 prospects on MLB.com's current top 100 list.  (And the already canned the GM that signed those regrettable deals last winter.)

 

And I suspect that Price's opt out will have nothing to do with the state of the franchise at the time, and entirely to do with the market for Price's services.

[zenser]

Trumbo to Baltimore for Steve Clevenger

[USAFChief]

Gordon Beckham to ATL for $1.5m.

 

Was once known as "the savior" on White Sox internets.

 

Ya just never know about prospects.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Gordon Beckham to ATL for $1.5m.

Was once known as "the savior" on White Sox internets.

Ya just never know about prospects.

What's weird about Beckham is, he wasn't just a prospect -- he was a player.  Age 22, less than a year after being drafted, he posted a 109 wRC+ in MLB, solid rates across the board.

 

Since then, he's got a wRC+ of 78, never higher than 90 in any single season (and falling as low as 63 last year).

[Hrbowski]

Zack Greinke signs with the Dbacks.

[bluechipper]

Zack Greinke to the Diamondbacks. Wow, I did not see that coming. What are the Dodgers going to do now?

[Winston Smith]

 

Zack Greinke to the Diamondbacks. Wow, I did not see that coming. What are the Dodgers going to do now?

Nolasco?

[biggentleben]

I would think this puts them either 1) hard into the Johnny Cueto sweepstakes, or 2) hard into the Shelby Miller trading.

[bluechipper]

Jeff Samardzija to the Giants for $90M over five years. So that's what a 30 year old pitcher with a career 4.09 ERA, mostly in the NL, and coming off a 4.96 ERA is worth?

 

I actually do understand the move though. He's got some upside still, and he should greatly benefit by playing in AT&T, and the Giants really need someone to go with Mad Bum.

[USAFChief]

A couple things:

 

Pretty obvious MLB is swimming in money.

 

There is no indication free agent prices are leveling off, so to acquire the players to win, a team needs to either pay up, or be good enough at other talent acquisition methods to be able to avoid it.

 

Since pretty much no team is good enough to avoid it, pay up. Don't whine about market size, or trot out other excuses. Pay up, or don't tell us you're serious about winning.

[TheLeviathan]

MLB has too much money.  How about you lower my ticket prices a little bit.

[theBOMisthebomb]

That's what you get for cheering for the Braves - or any Atlanta team.

[biggentleben]

 

That's what you get for cheering for the Braves - or any Atlanta team.

 

Helps when you quote what you're talking about.

[bluechipper]

Ryan Madson to the A's for 3 years and $22M. I would think the A's could use $7M a year better than on a 35 year old setup man.

[USAFChief]

Ryan Madson to the A's for 3 years and $22M. I would think the A's could use $7M a year better than on a 35 year old setup man.

On what? In a world where Pelfrey gets 2/16, there isn't a better use of $7m per yr in free agency.

 

This is 2015, soon 2016. 7m represents about 5 percent of a typical team's salary structure. Less than that for some.

 

It's what it costs.

[bluechipper]

 

On what? In a world where Pelfrey gets 2/16, there isn't a better use of $7m per yr in free agency.

This is 2015, soon 2016. 7m represents about 5 percent of a typical team's salary structure. Less than that for some.

It's what it costs.

Yeah that's true. I just usually think of the smaller market teams relying on bullpens made up mostly of guys making the minimum and then trading them once they get too expensive. 

[ashbury]

This is 2015, soon 2016. 7m represents about 5 percent of a typical team's salary structure. Less than that for some.

A typical team, yes. But this is Oakland. I don't know what the new TV money does for their budget, but the past couple of seasons their major league player expenses have been in the neighborhood of $90M. Maybe they are pocketing huge profits, but I think that one is just a market that's highly constrained financially.

[biggentleben]

The $7M wasn't surprising, it's the 3 years on Madson that's really shocking with him.

[TheLeviathan]

The Madson contract might mean upgrading our bullpen will be more expensive than it first appeared it would be.

 

They still have plenty of money to do it though.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

The Madson contract might mean upgrading our bullpen will be more expensive than it first appeared it would be.

 

They still have plenty of money to do it though.

Yeah, the reliever deals do seems to be going high.  But reliever salaries are so modest to begin with, it really shouldn't affect our strategy.

 

I mean, the difference between a $15-20 mil contract, and a $20-25 mil contract, spread over 3 years, just isn't that great.

 

And O'Day, Soria, and Madson will quite likely be the top 3.  The remaining relievers may see a bump, but I don't expect any to beat Madson's guarantee.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Mark Lowe to Detroit for 2 years, no money details released yet, but this Detroit paper speculates it will be $6-7 mil AAV ($12-14 mil total guarantee).

 

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2015/12/07/tigers-interest-in-cespedes-seem-unrealistic-despite-reports/76923244/

[biggentleben]

It depends on where you look, though. Jim Johnson signed back with the Braves for $2.5M.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Mark Lowe to Detroit for 2 years, no money details released yet, but this Detroit paper speculates it will be $6-7 mil AAV ($12-14 mil total guarantee).

 

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2015/12/07/tigers-interest-in-cespedes-seem-unrealistic-despite-reports/76923244/

 

More than I thought but I'd still take that over what Madsen got.

[biggentleben]

Rockies sign Jason Motte (2/$10M) and Chad Qualls (2/$6M) to multi-year deals. Not bad prices for two fairly reliable relievers, albeit not elite guys.

[Squirrel]

Some of these deals are also being discussed in the Winter Meetings threads in the main forum for another point of reference.

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/20927-winter-meetings-tuesday-thread/

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/20917-winter-meetings-monday-thread/

[biggentleben]

This Shelby Miller stuff is absolutely fascinating to me - it seems each team competing is talking DOWN what they are offering to the Braves, yet the Braves are reporting they are having increasing offers from the four teams making the biggest plays - Diamondbacks, Cubs, Red Sox, and Rockies.

[biggentleben]

 

Some of these deals are also being discussed in the Winter Meetings threads in the main forum for another point of reference.

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/20927-winter-meetings-tuesday-thread/

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/20917-winter-meetings-monday-thread/

 

Yes, but some of us stay here for non-Twins stuff and head into that forum for Twins-related materials. If I'm talking about the Twins, I head to that forum, otherwise, I stick here.