Post Winter Meetings Free Agency thread

[Jason Ross]

Just now, NorthsideAvenger said:

Could either Kim (the former Padres player or the INF that Korea posted this offseason) be an option for the Cubs?

Probably not on the price he's going to command - the Cubs don't likely have the double digit figures over multiple seasons to give him.

[WhyCantWeWin]

That comment from Hawkins TT posted is pretty clear that they are going to give Shaw a shot at winning the job. 
 

One year stop gap that can get benched halfway through the year is what they will probably pick up. 

[Rcal10]

Back to getting a pitcher, is this a scenerio that could work on a 3 team deal. Cubs send Alcantara to the white Sox, white Sox sent Robert to the Mariners and Mariners send one of their young pitchers to the Cubs. Depending on who they send,  (Woo, Miller, Kirby or Gilbert)someone has to send the Sox another prospect or two. 
I am just not too excited about Castillo(unless he only cost Bellinger) or Luzardo. All 3 teams have already talked with Crochet so all FO should know about what the other teams want. 

[NorthsideAvenger]

23 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

Probably not on the price he's going to command - the Cubs don't likely have the double digit figures over multiple seasons to give him.

Just for clarification are you talking about Ha-Seong or Hyeseong?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 hours ago, squally1313 said:

Is there anything to suggest workman would have a better April in the pros than Shaw would? Or is this more about wanting shaw to check all the boxes on his way up before giving him the spot? Because if that’s the case, I still lean towards Shaw skipping his AAA graduation ceremony and jumping in the deep end. He’s done more at AAA than PCA ever did, and yeah, it was a rough 6-8 weeks for PCA but he came out of it alright and if our alternate third base plan doesn’t involve league average production anyways…might as well run with Shaw and give yourself the chance that he’s a unicorn?

Very possible!  In this example i think the difference comes down to scope of role.  Workman provides value with the glove and if you have Solano you can ease the bat in as much as Workman earns.  Workman’s ceiling is a utility type so he’s meeting his future today.  With Shaw when he comes up you want it to be playing most days and i think you want to give him more AAA time than he’s had so far to be sure he doesn’t fall on his face in a season you need to compete.

EDIT: Also recall the presupposition is that the FO views Workman as a shade below league average as a hitter, so while there may be acclimation it’s with the assumption that Workman is a well rounded bench IF now

[Backtobanks]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

Back to getting a pitcher, is this a scenerio that could work on a 3 team deal. Cubs send Alcantara to the white Sox, white Sox sent Robert to the Mariners and Mariners send one of their young pitchers to the Cubs. Depending on who they send,  (Woo, Miller, Kirby or Gilbert)someone has to send the Sox another prospect or two. 
I am just not too excited about Castillo(unless he only cost Bellinger) or Luzardo. All 3 teams have already talked with Crochet so all FO should know about what the other teams want. 

So, you think the Cubs are getting one of the Mariners' young pitchers for Alcantara?  The Cubs would need to add two more prospects to have a chance.

[Jason Ross]

2 hours ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

Just for clarification are you talking about Ha-Seong or Hyeseong?

Was speaking Ha-Seong. But Hyeseong has little interest for me. His bat looks like it sucks on ice. And while he may provide some defense, I think the Cubs are covered on "guys who play some defense but can't hit" with like, a Luis Vazquez.

[Rcal10]

45 minutes ago, Backtobanks said:

So, you think the Cubs are getting one of the Mariners' young pitchers for Alcantara?  The Cubs would need to add two more prospects to have a chance.

Actually there is no reason to discuss this anyway. Mariners don’t want to add payroll. Robert would add payroll. But I do not think Woo or Miller will cost 2 more high end prospects for Woo or Miller. The problem is Seattle doesn’t want salary, so that wouldn’t work anyway. 

[chibears55]

All the Yankees Bellinger trade talk that made it seem like it was close, im wondering if it wasn't close at all, only because if it was you'd think that deal would of been made by now considering the Yankees aren't getting Tucker now and that was supposedly the hold up as far as if Yankees got him or not.

[Rcal10]

7 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

All the Yankees Bellinger trade talk that made it seem like it was close, im wondering if it wasn't close at all, only because if it was you'd think that deal would of been made by now considering the Yankees aren't getting Tucker now and that was supposedly the hold up as far as if Yankees got him or not.

The hold up was the money. Still is, I imagine. 

[Backtobanks]

4 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Actually there is no reason to discuss this anyway. Mariners don’t want to add payroll. Robert would add payroll. But I do not think Woo or Miller will cost 2 more high end prospects for Woo or Miller. The problem is Seattle doesn’t want salary, so that wouldn’t work anyway. 

According to Baseball Trade Values Alcantara's value is about 19, while the Mariners young starters are well over 50.

[chibears55]

The deadline for Sasaki is in January,  can he make his decision before the deadline or does it have to be after ?

Just wondering because if Hoyer is actually going to make a legit offer for him, he probably won't be making any FA offers or trade offers for a SP until he knows about Sasaki right ?

[Tim]

2 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

The deadline for Sasaki is in January,  can he make his decision before the deadline or does it have to be after ?

Just wondering because if Hoyer is actually going to make a legit offer for him, he probably won't be making any FA offers or trade offers for a SP until he knows about Sasaki right ?

I think they add another SP and still work their butts off to get Sasaki.

You really can't have too much pitching in today's MLB

[Bertz]

3 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

The deadline for Sasaki is in January,  can he make his decision before the deadline or does it have to be after ?

Just wondering because if Hoyer is actually going to make a legit offer for him, he probably won't be making any FA offers or trade offers for a SP until he knows about Sasaki right ?

Sasaki will likely make his decision in early to mid January.

Money doesn't matter, whatever team gets him will use their entire international bonus pool on him, part of the reason for the timing is those reset on January 15th (he might agree shortly before that but wait until after the 15th to sign).  The recruiting for Sasaki is going to be entirely soft stuff.  How competitive your team is, how much he likes the teammates, pitching development prowess, geography, etc.

The team that signs him is also probably going to need to utilize a 6 man rotation, or at least set things up so Roki is on a 6 day schedule.  So teams will just do their shopping, and if he picks you he picks you.  You need 5 non-Roki starters either way.

[Crusader]

18 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

The deadline for Sasaki is in January,  can he make his decision before the deadline or does it have to be after ?

Just wondering because if Hoyer is actually going to make a legit offer for him, he probably won't be making any FA offers or trade offers for a SP until he knows about Sasaki right ?

He can agree to a contract at anytime up until his deadline of January 23. He isn't considered a free agent because he’s only 23; consequently, teams are limited to signing him only with their international bonus money (used to sign amateur players/prospects) + a posting fee, which means he's basically fair game to every team and shouldn't be an impediment on any team from making any free agent signings, and then responding if they are able to sign Sasaki later with future roster adjustments.

Edited December 15, 2024 by Crusader

[thawv]

11 hours ago, chibears55 said:

The deadline for Sasaki is in January,  can he make his decision before the deadline or does it have to be after ?

Just wondering because if Hoyer is actually going to make a legit offer for him, he probably won't be making any FA offers or trade offers for a SP until he knows about Sasaki right ?

He can make his decision any time he wants before Jan 23.  But he's not signing until Jan 15.  That's the week he signs.  Between Jan 15, and Jan 23.

[thawv]

Question for you guys.  What is the payroll resource you guys use?  There's a very large difference with the only 3 that I know of.  How do we know which is the most accurate one?  The biggest difference is pre arb guys, and arb guys payroll.

Current payroll

Cot's 204 mil

RosterResource 215 mil

Sptorac 214 mil

 

Thanks in advance!

[Rex Buckingham]

4 minutes ago, thawv said:

Question for you guys.  What is the payroll resource you guys use?  There's a very large difference with the only 3 that I know of.  How do we know which is the most accurate one?  The biggest difference is pre arb guys, and arb guys payroll.

Current payroll

Cot's 204 mil

RosterResource 215 mil

Sptorac 214 mil

 

Thanks in advance!

[thawv]

3 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

What do you use?

[LBiittner]

13 hours ago, Bertz said:

Sasaki will likely make his decision in early to mid January.

Money doesn't matter, whatever team gets him will use their entire international bonus pool on him, part of the reason for the timing is those reset on January 15th (he might agree shortly before that but wait until after the 15th to sign).  The recruiting for Sasaki is going to be entirely soft stuff.  How competitive your team is, how much he likes the teammates, pitching development prowess, geography, etc.

The team that signs him is also probably going to need to utilize a 6 man rotation, or at least set things up so Roki is on a 6 day schedule.  So teams will just do their shopping, and if he picks you he picks you.  You need 5 non-Roki starters either way.

Isn't January 15 the Cubs earliest signing date because of international monies available? Their 2024 $ is spent, correct?

[LBiittner]

PWis is going to mash in Korea, big time. 

[Bertz]

4 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

Isn't January 15 the Cubs earliest signing date because of international monies available? Their 2024 $ is spent, correct?

As of either today or tomorrow the 2024 period closes and there's a moratorium until Jan 15 for 2025 signings.  So at this point I think he couldn't sign anywhere even if he wanted to.

That's good news because if he had signed early he'd 100% have gone to the Dodgers (they had the most money remaining by a ton), next year it's down to like 80%.

[LBiittner]

5 minutes ago, Bertz said:

As of either today or tomorrow the 2024 period closes and there's a moratorium until Jan 15 for 2025 signings.  So at this point I think he couldn't sign anywhere even if he wanted to.

That's good news because if he had signed early he'd 100% have gone to the Dodgers (they had the most money remaining by a ton), next year it's down to like 80%.

It's widely known most mlb teams have handshake deals with Latin kids prior to official signing timelines.. Someone signing Sasaki will probably break their word to a Latin youngster? I know someone will be there to scoop him up but 

[Tim]

1 hour ago, thawv said:

What do you use?

I think most people use the RosterResource section in FanGraphs. If you're looking for more formal feedback about it, though, feel free to create a poll to see the actual counts of what people pick.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

1 hour ago, thawv said:

Question for you guys.  What is the payroll resource you guys use?  There's a very large difference with the only 3 that I know of.  How do we know which is the most accurate one?  The biggest difference is pre arb guys, and arb guys payroll.

Current payroll

Cot's 204 mil

RosterResource 215 mil

Sptorac 214 mil

 

Thanks in advance!