The class of 2018

[davell]

ICYMI: The incredible free agent Class of 2018 and how a dozen stars could hit the market simultaneously. Column: https://t.co/Q6juVf3HGL

 

Harper, Donaldson, Kershaw, Keuchel, Fernandez, Harvey, Price, Heyward, McCutchen, Machado, Adam Jones, Richards, Corbin, Shelby Miller, Pollock, an assload of closers, some good vets.....Good God.

[UMFan83]

Let's see how many of them sign extensions over the next 2 years.

[Guest]

Let's see how many of them sign extensions over the next 2 years.

 

Or just see their stars dim. Counting on any pitcher to still be a star in 3 years is a gamble, Donaldson and Jones will be 33, McCutchen will be 32, Pollock 31. It certainly looks like it'll be a very good class, but most classes look good 3 years out, and Passan especially oversells it(you can have 38 year old Nelson Cruz! Or have Jean Segura be replacement level for your team!).

[Guest]

Let's see how many of them sign extensions over the next 2 years.

 

Or just see their stars dim. Counting on any pitcher to still be a star in 3 years is a gamble, Donaldson and Jones will be 33, McCutchen will be 32, Pollock 31. It certainly looks like it'll be a very good class, but most classes look good 3 years out, and Passan especially oversells it(you can have 38 year old Nelson Cruz! Or have Jean Segura be replacement level for your team!).

 

Yeah. It's Bryce Harper or bust.

[davell]

Kershaw.

[Guest]

Kershaw.

 

Otani or Fujinami.

[minnesotacubsfan]

[expletive] it BUY THEM ALL THEO. BUY. THEM. ALL.

[davell]

Kershaw.

 

Otani or Fujinami.

 

You sir, just trumped me.

[Cubswin11]

Harper, Otani and Fernandez please

[philosophizer75]

I want otani. Wowza

[toonsterwu]

It's going to be a fun class, even after guys sign, stars dim. I mean, looking through the articles on 2018, a guy like Drew Smyly could be available. At that point, he could be a guy who never found the consistency ... or he could be a young arm ready for a monster contract. Isn't Ross a FA as well at that point? Who knows what he will be then - a guy whose slider usage ate him up, or a still effective TOR arm. I suspect we'll see Adam Jones star start to dim soon, but he may hang on long enough for another solid multi-year deal.

 

Hopefully, though, at that point, we'll have won a World Series, and started the process of signing our youngsters down long term. Even with the potential for impact talent and with a larger payroll, ideally, we'd only visit FA for special talent/special acquisitions (namely ... one could see SP being a monster issue that winter, what with Arrieta's cheap seasons and Lackey's contract coming to an end ... part of the reason why I wouldn't mind adding one more piece now, if possible, so that we can better bridge the gap when said gap comes. Of course, the bigger, better hope is that we've started seeing arms develop and come up).