Off-season, non-Twins, baseball news and signings 2021-2022

[nicksaviking]

I would have at least liked to have heard the Twins linked to Gray. This AAV isn’t an issue for them.

Scherzer isn’t coming here, but we need to hear the Twins linked to Ray, Rodon and Stroman, even if I don’t actually want to pay Stroman.

[bean5302]

23 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

4 years and 56M.  I had him at 15M AAV in my offseason plan, that move could end up looking really good.

You definitely had that one nailed. I expected him to be well under that.

[bean5302]

8 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I would have at least liked to have heard the Twins linked to Gray. This AAV isn’t an issue for them.

Scherzer isn’t coming here, but we need to hear the Twins linked to Ray, Rodon and Stroman, even if I don’t actually want to pay Stroman.

Having the Twins linked to a starter at 5+ years would be pretty shocking considering they weren't willing to get near the AAV and years for Berrios.

[Danchat]

Wow, guys are flying off the market today. This is great! This is how free agency should always work, it's just too bad it took the CBA expiring to get this to happen. If only baseball could learn...

[Vanimal46]

5/$110 for Gausman signing with the Blue Jays. 

[tony&rodney]

Apparently there is plenty of money in MLB. I hope the CBA can be resolved reasonably (within two months). Neither the players nor the owners win in a work stoppage. 

[Mike Sixel]

I don't give a crap who they are linked to, only who they succeed at signing. So far, not looking great.

[wsnydes]

Kluber one-year, $13M to Tampa.

[Vanimal46]

Scherzer 3/$130 to the Mets. Wowza. 

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Scherzer 3/$130 to the Mets. Wowza. 

Wow. 

But sure, they just don't have any money anymore...... No one should fall for the owners crying poor, but they will because US sports fans....

[wsnydes]

32 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Scherzer 3/$130 to the Mets. Wowza. 

Thats...insane...wow!

[Squirrel]

32 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

But sure, they just don't have any money anymore...... No one should fall for the owners crying poor, but they will because US sports fans....

That's a different topic for a different thread, which you are welcome to start. But I don't want to drag down this transaction/news thread with this exploration that will take it off the rails. Thanks.

[Linus]

Looks like Ray is going to Seattle…….

[Vanimal46]

Texas signs Corey Seager. 10 years $325 million 

[LewFordLives]

5 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Texas signs Corey Seager. 10 years $325 million 

I like Seager, but man, that seems like an overpay.

[Vanimal46]

1 minute ago, LewFordLives said:

I like Seager, but man, that seems like an overpay.

I concur. Seager was my pipe dream signing for the Twins but 10 years is pretty crazy. Texas is living like it’s the early 2000s again trying to buy a decent roster. 

[Vanimal46]

This would put a wrench in our idea to trade Jeffers or Garver for pitching. 

[tony&rodney]

12 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

This would put a wrench in our idea to trade Jeffers or Garver for pitching. 

The Pirates are trading a GG power hitting catcher for 3 players, all decent but none of them highly rated. The Twins could have traded 3 players to Pittsburgh for Stallings. Not saying they should have but Pittsburgh way underplayed their hand. A similar trade would have been Wallner, Hajjar, and Strotman ... for Stallings. Miami has really done well this offseason thus far.  That kills any trades with Miami. Oh well. No reason for Miami to look further when the Pirates are still around.

[Vanimal46]

Alex Cobb finalizing a deal with San Francisco. 

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

3 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

This would put a wrench in our idea to trade Jeffers or Garver for pitching. 

Yeah, Miami ostensibly is looking for outfield help too (even after signing Avisaíl García) but it seems like the Twins' big advantage in a hypothetical trade might have been that they had depth to trade from at either position.

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Alex Cobb finalizing a deal with San Francisco. 

Dang. He was my cheaper choice. Twins going to sit on their billions and do little. Sigh. 

[beckmt]

Don't worry, we will soon be in dumpster diving territory. 

[Danchat]

Baez to Tigers on a 7 year deal. The deals keep coming!!

[Otto von Ballpark]

16 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

The Pirates are trading a GG power hitting catcher for 3 players, all decent but none of them highly rated. The Twins could have traded 3 players to Pittsburgh for Stallings. Not saying they should have but Pittsburgh way underplayed their hand. A similar trade would have been Wallner, Hajjar, and Strotman ... for Stallings. Miami has really done well this offseason thus far.  That kills any trades with Miami. Oh well. No reason for Miami to look further when the Pirates are still around.

Power hitting catcher? Stallings has a career ISO of .116, with a .123 last year -- league average for catchers last year was .163. His projected 2.5 WAR for 2022 is good, but Garver posted 2.1 WAR in just 61% of the PAs last year. (And even Jeffers projects for 1.9 WAR for 2022, prorated to the same number of PAs as Stallings.)

And the return isn't so bad for Pittsburgh either. Thompson is old but he's already had success as a MLB SP with a sneaky good debut in 2021 -- that may not continue in Pittsburgh, but the Twins don't really have anyone equivalent right now. Beyond that, Connor is a speedy CF almost 2 years younger than slugging RF Wallner -- they may have some similarity in draft position, current level, and prospect grade, but guys like Connor tend to be the more attractive trade targets.

[Otto von Ballpark]

1 hour ago, Danchat said:

Baez to Tigers on a 7 year deal. The deals keep coming!!

Reported 6 years, $140 mil for Baez, with an opt-out in there somewhere....

[tony&rodney]

3 minutes ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Power hitting catcher?

You are correct, my mistake. However, Miami clearly gets the better end of this trade. The two pitchers are back end starters or relievers. Some thought Dobnak might be good as recently as last Spring Training. He still might be fine. That is a fair comp to Thompson. Miami clearly is stacked with young pitchers.

I prefer Garver and Jeffers myself, although Stallings has a good glove. My wish for the Twins included adding good pitchers and although I like the Twins catchers I hoped to see a trade with Miami bringing back a high end pitcher like Cabrera and/or Meyer.

[Otto von Ballpark]

1 minute ago, tony&rodney said:

You are correct, my mistake. However, Miami clearly gets the better end of this trade. The two pitchers are back end starters or relievers. Some thought Dobnak might be good as recently as last Spring Training. He still might be fine. That is a fair comp to Thompson. Miami clearly is stacked with young pitchers.

I think it's a solid deal for Miami too, they should be ready to compete and they needed a catcher. Although to be fair to Pittsburgh, they are nowhere near ready to compete and may not really need Stallings.

Also, a lot of pitchers are likely future back-end starters or relievers. That doesn't mean every team will view them all as interchangeable. I don't think Dobnak and Strotman are doomed to forever repeat their difficult 2021 seasons, but it seems pretty clear they would be buy-low trade targets right now, rather than adding positive value to a deal like this.

[nicksaviking]

The Twins certainly burned though the goodwill they got for extending Buxton in record time.

So far it looks like there have been 24 free agents who have gotten deals of greater than 10M total this free agency. But only 12 teams have made those deals.

MLB is broken, this isn't how player re-distribution should work. 18 freakin' teams are more or less sitting on their hands, and for the most part, those are the teams that most need to improve their rosters.

[nicksaviking]

So even truly awful, glove-only back up catchers are getting 5M now, and Pittsburgh of all teams is cutting the check. 

Sorry Twins, looks like even the worst of the worst teams has acknowledged inflation is real and it's happening. Stop hiding in the bushes and come out and face the monster.

[Otto von Ballpark]

5 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

So far it looks like there have been 24 free agents who have gotten deals of greater than 10M total this free agency. But only 12 teams have made those deals.

MLB is broken, this isn't how player re-distribution should work. 18 freakin' teams are more or less sitting on their hands, and for the most part, those are the teams that most need to improve their rosters.

I feel like it is working, somewhat. Seems like the better teams are losing players, and the lesser teams are gaining players. Not every team, of course, but the free agent market is a fairly limited supply -- there may not be enough to spread them out even further.