Post Winter Meetings Free Agency thread

[thawv]

13 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

And you remember all of it😬

You aint kidding!!!

[thawv]

12 hours ago, Stratos said:

I used to buy a lot of the Baseball Weekly newspapers.

It's crazy to remember back when the internet didn't exist you'd wait for the next morning to read the boxsxore in your local newspaper haha, and once a week they'd publish the stats for all players on each team.

"How bout that!!!"  (said in Mel Allen's voice)

[Bertz]

Do we think the Tigers would be down to do a young player swap with Jace Jung?

[Bertz]

21 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Do we think the Tigers would be down to do a young player swap with Jace Jung?

Well crap, looks like Keith slides to 1B, not 3B.

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

why would they not just sign a 1B that hits better than Gleyber rather than continuing the charade that he can play 2B

[Post Count Padder]

Teoscar back to the Dodgers, 3 years $66 million. Dodgers now have 5 OF (Hernandez, Pages, Edman, Conforto, Outman) for 4 spots. Though Outman sucked last year.

[Bertz]

One of the few deals this winter where I said "that's it?"  Curious to see if it's a hometown discount or if the other corner bats are about to have a rough time.

[Stratos]

Teoscar's contract apparently has 23m in deferred money so that's nice.  But still counts towards the current luxury tax right?

[Bertz]

Figure they're certain to move one of their walk-year pitchers.  They clearly want it to be Montgomery but Merrill Kelly in his walk year on a super cheap contract would make a lot of sense for us.

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Figure they're certain to move one of their walk-year pitchers.  They clearly want it to be Montgomery but Merrill Kelly in his walk year on a super cheap contract would make a lot of sense for us.

If Walker Buehler gets 1/21 in this market I have no issues with acquiring Montgomery if it costs us nothing valuable.

[NorthsideAvenger]

So.....give the DBacks what, 2 years before they look to unload Burnes contract?

[Rcal10]

5 hours ago, Stratos said:

If Walker Buehler gets 1/21 in this market I have no issues with acquiring Montgomery if it costs us nothing valuable.

Montgomery isn’t going to cost anything remotely of value. And the Dbacks would have to take some of his salary to move him. But, sure. If they ate $5M of his salary I might be fine with the Cubs  taking him. Similar to a Bellinger trade. 

[CubinNY]

17 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Montgomery isn’t going to cost anything remotely of value. And the Dbacks would have to take some of his salary to move him. But, sure. If they ate $5M of his salary I might be fine with the Cubs  taking him. Similar to a Bellinger trade. 

Montgomery is a good bounce-back candidate. He signed late, got pissed, etc. But I don't think he's what the Cubs are looking for although he is left handed. 

[SOFNR]

I'd rather throw Wicks or Assad out there then pay Montgomery 24 mil this year. Maybe if the Diamondbacks were eating a decent amount of the salary. I sure hope they are aiming higher.

[Rcal10]

15 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Montgomery is a good bounce-back candidate. He signed late, got pissed, etc. But I don't think he's what the Cubs are looking for although he is left handed. 

I agree that I wouldn’t hate him as a bounce back option. But his salary would have to be more like $16M to $18M in order for me to like taking that chance on him. I agree he had a lot of things not to right for him last year. Another option on that same team is Rodriguez. Not sure what he would cost. But I would imagine he doesn’t have much surplus value, he shouldn’t cost much either. It looks like the Dbacks have to cut some payroll so he is also an option. And……he is left handed🤷

[Rcal10]

17 minutes ago, SOFNR said:

I'd rather throw Wicks or Assad out there then pay Montgomery 24 mil this year. Maybe if the Diamondbacks were eating a decent amount of the salary. I sure hope they are aiming higher.

If they are $7M or so from his contract, I think Montgomery would be ok. There is a very good chance last year was just a fluke year for him. He does have a solid chance at a bounce back. So at $17M I wouldn’t mind him in the rotation. But they aren’t getting much if anything back to move him. Maybe Mervis or less.

[CubinNY]

Who the horsefeathers cares about how much money he is making? What difference does 5 million dollars make to the Cubs roster plans? How much he’s paid has little to do with his performance. The name of the game is winning. 

[CubinNY]

I mean would it be better if he had an ERA of 4 if the Cubs were only paying him 10 million dollars? 

[Rcal10]

2 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Who the horsefeathers cares about how much money he is making? What difference does 5 million dollars make to the Cubs roster plans? How much he’s paid has little to do with his performance. The name of the game is winning. 

I think you know who cares about what someone costs. I think you know they have this imaginary line they will not go over. We all agreed they are working with about $40M. So then following that line of thinking I would guess a reasonable person would know why it matters what a guy makes. If they have to pay $24M for him that is less they will spend elsewhere. So saving $7M means they can get a better player in another move. Of course production matters. I would much rather have a good player at $20M than an average player at $10M. And for a team like the Cubs payroll, especially at this level shouldn’t matter much. But we know it does. 
 

[Bertz]

So Bregman is the last lock to get 9 figures left on the market, and he seems like he could sign any day now.  Hopefully no huge dominoes hanging out at the top of the market means FA can keep humming along.

[SOFNR]

17 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Who the horsefeathers cares about how much money he is making? What difference does 5 million dollars make to the Cubs roster plans? How much he’s paid has little to do with his performance. The name of the game is winning. 

If we're paying 24 mil I'd rather get a better pitcher. Hell, Ive got my concerns about Castillo but if you're going to spend 24 on a new pitcher this year he's much higher on the list. If were going to drop that much on the last pitcher its going to limit what they can spend on the bullpen. Id rather get someone whos likely to be good. Montgomery was awful last year and projects to be about as valuable as Assad or Wicks this year.  He might bounce back. Paying 24 mil for a bounce back guy is not my preferred route at this point.

[CubinNY]

46 minutes ago, SOFNR said:

If we're paying 24 mil I'd rather get a better pitcher. Hell, Ive got my concerns about Castillo but if you're going to spend 24 on a new pitcher this year he's much higher on the list. If were going to drop that much on the last pitcher its going to limit what they can spend on the bullpen. Id rather get someone whos likely to be good. Montgomery was awful last year and projects to be about as valuable as Assad or Wicks this year.  He might bounce back. Paying 24 mil for a bounce back guy is not my preferred route at this point.

What does it matter how much they are paying him? if he’s posting a 2 ERA or whatever else elite metric you want the Cubs will be winning. If he sucks they will be losing. There isn’t a lot of good pitching on the market or available.

im not saying I want the cubs to trade for him, but the money doesn’t matter 

[Dfan25]

A Twins beat writter will be or was on the score today to talk about a posible fit between Cubs and Twins for Pablo López 

[Rcal10]

7 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

A Twins beat writter will be or was on the score today to talk about a posible fit between Cubs and Twins for Pablo López 

Yes, and Bruce Levine seems to think the Cubs are trying to make that happen.

Edited December 28, 2024 by Rcal10

[Dfan25]

8 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Yes, and Bruce Levine seems to think the Cubs are trying to make that happen.

Twins are looking to cut payroll , but probably want to stay competitive . Would think the Cubs would need to include someone like Wicks maybe as part of the deal ? 
 

Obviously they would need to give more than that . Pablo i think has 3 years at 18 on AAV left on his deal .

Edited December 28, 2024 by Dfan25