SRB

Among all position players he has the 26th highest fWAR (23.7) in baseball since 2015 despite having played in far less games (at least 100+ games less) than everyone else on the list other than Aaron Judge and Trea Turner. For him going forward it will be about his health, but I don’t think there is much question about the talent. And since 2018 he has the 63rd highest fWAR in baseball, tied with Lorenzo Cain. I'm not denying he's a fantastic player, this kind of mega-deal just seems like way too much to me. I'll be interested to see what Trevor Story gets. In my opinion he is significantly better than Seager, but I'll bet he has to settle for a much smaller deal.

Am I missing something? Seager seems like the most overrated player in baseball, and now that's confirmed by this deal. You give $300+ million to a perennial MVP candidate, not a guy who hasn't managed a >4.0 fWAR season since 2017. I guess age really is that big of a factor for front offices. A couple extra years in your 20s is hard to overstate in terms of free agency value. (Also a strong argument for the MLBPA to overhaul the arbitration system.)

Sounds like another bat-first catcher with questionable framing skills. The front office must be confident that the magic they worked with Narvaez is translatable to similar players like Severino and Sullivan. April 2019 writeup from Fangraphs: (Sullivan went on to have a great season at AA in 2019.)

2020-2021 stats 1. Corbin Burnes: 2.34 ERA, 1.74 FIP, 9.9 fWAR 2. Brandon Woodruff: 2.70 ERA, 3.03 FIP, 6.8 fWAR 1. Jacob deGrom: 1.63 ERA, 1.67 FIP, 7.5 fWAR 2. Max Scherzer: 2.81 ERA, 3.11 FIP, 7.2 fWAR Projected 2022 salaries 1. Corbin Burnes (age 27): $4.0M 2. Brandon Woodruff (age 29): $7.1M 1. Jacob deGrom (age 34): $33.5M 2. Max Scherzer (age 38): $43+M

I don't know anything about the return they got, but if they were looking to sell high it seems like they timed it pretty brilliantly.

A record payroll and the Mets are going to finish third or fourth in the NL East Given the cursedness of the franchise, I bet deGrom is not healthy again next year and they therefore spend $40+ million on Scherzer to effectively tread water pitching-wise.

Not a bad deal, the breakout seems real and Toronto needs pitching badly, although he did fade quite a bit to close out 2021...

Fantastic deal for the Twins (but makes sense for Buxton too - I would be happy taking $100,000,000 guaranteed and calling it a day )

Jordan Luplow traded to the Diamondbacks. I'm not sure how much the Dbacks gave up, but Luplow would have been perfect for us to pair with Tellez at 1B against LHP and to serve as a fifth OF/bench bat. Oh well

Pretty good deal for the Mets with Escobar, but personally I didn't really want him back that much. Zero excitement factor. I'm more bummed about the Mets getting Mark Canha, also on a decent two-year deal.

Terrible signing by the Cards in my opinion

Sadly it's become an irrelevant forum for egotistical writers to grandstand, considering the arguable greatest player of all time is very likely to fall off the ballot this year. Might there be a number who can get a bit sanctimonious, sure. But can you say with certainty Bonds or Clemens would get 75% from any group, be it former players or even fans? To some degree, it kind of feels like there is some notion that they are taking a “we didn’t create this mess; you decide how to handle it,” in just passing off the lot of them to the era committee. I can’t completely blame them. They have murky instructions and a plethora of options (take the numbers at face value, put none in, try to divine who would be in the Hall without steroids and who wouldn’t). With no set standards of course you aren’t going to get consensus. It's tough to say, fans might hate Bonds at this point just as much as the writers, but in the end that is also the writers' fault for deliberately torpedoing his legacy with tabloid journalism. Few people have an accurate understanding of the Bonds allegations, even though everyone thinks they do. I won't get into it here, but the popular notion that Bonds is the arch-villain of taking massive doses of steroids is far from certain. Even if you want to keep steroid-users out of the HOF, the simplest bright line is to simply keep out anyone who actually tested positive and was suspended by MLB. And they don't have to divine anything with regard to Bonds. Even taking the anti-Bonds position at face value, it is undisputed that he did not start taking illegal substances until 1999-2000. He had already had one of the greatest careers of all time if he had retired then and there. The sole reason to not include him in the HOF is that they don't like him on a personal level.

Absolutely worth a shot. I'd go after him right away; his value will only increase if it is announced that there will be a DH in the NL.

Sadly it's become an irrelevant forum for egotistical writers to grandstand, considering the arguable greatest player of all time is very likely to fall off the ballot this year.

Hopefully the vsLHP splits are real and sustainable. Not the most exciting guy in the world, but we need a backup who is not Luke Maile and the market is pretty thin this year. At 28 years old, he's surprisingly young for a free agent C, probably some upside still left both defensively and offensively. Career splits Narvaez vs. RHP: .279/.356/.422/.778, .337 wOBA, 112 wRC+ Severino vs. LHP: .262/.324/.441/.765, .325 wOBA, 102 wRC+ 2021 splits Narvaez vs. RHP: .289/.365/.440/.805, .346 wOBA, 115 wRC+ Severino vs. LHP: .293/.342/.476/.818, .349 wOBA, 120 wRC+ I like it!

The thing about moving Buxton to a corner OF is that you might as well just move JBJ or Cain. They are all elite so it is really hard to say, but honestly Buxton might be a better defensive CF than even JBJ or Cain. His offensive breakout is also 100% real in my opinion. I've watched him fairly closely and it wasn't just 2021, he was noticeably transformed about halfway through 2020. Definitely not just a hot streak, he is a different player at the plate. It's like watching an MVP.

Clint Frazier seemed like the quintessential change-of-scenery guy prior to his health issues. I'd love to take a flier on him, though if the Yankees are dumping him so soon (quite amazing given his hype coming into 2021) that does not bode well for his health.

Need to take this thread back in a time machine to when some thought he was a bust after 2019. A great advertisement for xFIP

Hard pass at that price. I'm not sure why he would be so expensive when he signed for 2 years/$13.4 million from 2020-21.

I would massively "overpay" to get Buxton. I'm comfortable betting against his injury issues because in my opinion they are flukey (it's not like he has a core injury that keeps getting reaggravated), and I'm not sure I buy the idea that some guys are just naturally fragile. He's a top 5 talent in all of baseball when firing on all cylinders. Not too often a guy like that is actually available in a trade. That being said, basically zero chance we are even considering him. We already have two expensive players on the roster who derive most of their value from CF defense.

Great deal for Manny and perfect situation for him as the Braves are likely going to be even better in 2022 with Acuna back and given how much money they have to spend this offseason. I guess we are going to need to sign a free agent to back up Narvaez? I'll go with Adrian Houser as longest tenured on the 40-man roster, my standard. Dang, that trade seems like it was yesterday

Maybe front offices are not as naive as fans (or maybe they are), but Olson has always been very underrated. I think he would be much cheaper than J-Ram while giving us a similar boost. Olson would be a massive add for us. Certainly will still be quite expensive though. If the A's want Tellez then ok I guess that's fine, but he would at must just be a non-entity in the trade. I'd rather keep him as a potential cheap DH option unless Oakland is foolish enough to actually attach a lot of value to him.

Sadly, to me it's a no-brainer that you withhold the qualifying offer. Can't gamble on him accepting and the team having no money to fill various holes, unless ownership is willing to set a record payroll after gambling on the draft pick.

I'm not sure what their payroll situation is, but I don't think this is necessarily a rebuild/tank type move. They are still going to be competitive next season like they were for most of 2021. The loss of Miley will likely be more than canceled out by Castillo not having another down season.

I'd pass on re-signing Boxberger and take a chance on a cheaper guy who can be the next Boxberger. Relief pitcher roulette.