davell

You have to think the Braves could be talked out of Shelby Miller at this point.....

double

Craig, Contreras has done the EXACT same thing as Pena has. He re-signed(a few days earlier) and now they(and others) wait until Nov.20th to see if they get added(obviously Contreras is a lock) That said, even after my explanation-I'm still [expletive] wrong and SSR is right. I hate reading those AZPhil rules and stuff because after I read through some long ass paragraph that was hard to decipher, I failed to read the 2 line paragraph underneath it. Which clearly states anyone who's a FA after the season expires IS free to sign with another team. The January 15th stuff is ONLY if the team hasn't offered a successor contract by that time-then those guys are full FA. So yes, Contreras, Pena, whoever.....Could very well have jumped ship if they wanted to do so. My guess is it's just not something minor league guys do though, unless they've truly had a bad experience with the organization. Craig, why do you think Pena has no shot at being added, by the way? The reports have been excellent. He's hitting 95 regularly as a starter this past season and his K rate jumped up a bunch. Manuel thinks he'll be on their top 30 list. AZPhil thinks he's close to a lock to get added.....Just based on that(and the fact we've got a bunch of open spots), I think he's getting added at this point. Maybe even over a guy like Vogelbach. Manuel made it sound as if he'd definitely get taken in the Rule 5, by the way.

Read thru AZPhil's stuff- He signed a successor contract. Teams have until January 15th to offer them to their own minor league FA. Its not until that point that the player actually becomes an unrestricted FA.

I really didn't think they'd move him. But Dombrowski certainly has no issues moving youngsters. He seems like a hard guy to place a value on though.

Wouldn't that be a way to circumvent the Rule 5 though? Is there maybe a rule that keeps teams FROM adding guys not currently on the 40 man to theirs? It'd kind of make sense.

I'm VERY fuzzy on these rules. He's been in the org since 2009, so he's been Rule 5 eligible previously.(like Contreras) I think he'll get added because his stuff took a leap this past season and based on a few things out there, he'd get snatched up by someone. He's in the same boat as Contreras. He could have been picked last year too. No idea if we have right of refusal on guys after they've already gone past the 6 year mark or not. But if Pena could have just signed with another team after the season was over, I'd have thought we'd have heard a bunch of stuff on it, because Contreras would have been in the same situation. I may very well be wrong, but I don't think he had a chance to sign with another team this off season prior to re-upping with us. Edit- No explanation on Chen or Bautista, but I definitely don't think they've got a chance at a 40 man spot.

What am I missing here? Did other teams even have a chance to sign him? He was in our system obviously. It looks like we just did what looks to be a procedural move, prior to adding him to the 40 man at whatever date that is.

Yeah, that's occurred to me too. Trading Castro for prospects. I remember quotes from Theo explaining there's a singular baseball ops budget and that it was all encompassing. That said, I have ZERO idea if overages come out of it(my guess is no). And to make matters even more confusing(but a reason I'm very excited about this Cuban class) is the extremely late info that came in recently that Maddon spent a day with Moncada and came close to getting him to sign late. Considering the timing and all of when Moncada signed and for how much he signed for......We evidently had the ability to give him. 30+ mill(plus pay the overage). Based on the teams trajectory and all, I can't think that's money that was going to count against whatever our budget winds up being. So that goes against a true baseball ops budget, first and foremost, unless there IS just a separate fund Theo has set aside for IFA's......And that IS what I'm operating under. I'm assuming if its discretionary funds, it doesn't ALL have to/will be spent at once just because its there. But if you were to assume we had 30( not counting for the original 3ish that would have been in the baseball ops budget.......I'll haphazardly guess we've got around 20 of it left to spend on these guys this off season. I could obviously be wrong on all of this, but its why I've been so excited about what we can accomplish this year on this front-especially with the lack of teams involved.

If Javy and Starlin wound up being dealt, it'd make sense. I mean you can work your way to an offseason where Zobrist fits in, you just kinda have to jump through some hoops to do it. If Zobrist were still available and other FA targets get snapped up then it's potentially a good option, but it's pretty down the list of contingencies for me. Won't argue that. It seems like he's going to sign relatively quick too, which would take us off him unless we make an early trade or 2.

Its us, the Dodgers, and who? I'm sure the Giants will get a guy or two. The Royals are over their budget, but I'd think they spend almost everything they've got on the ML team. My guess is the Reds will become serious now that they've committed to rebuilding.(They were in on EJM). But outside of them, I guess 1 or 2 teams will break agreements they've already made for next year? Can't see too many doing it honestly. And the Yanks and Red Sox can just watch. Our real competition seems to be MLB. If they drag their feet in making some of these guys eligible, teams can at least try to offer enough money to get these guys to hold off until next signing period. But the ruling for Machado/Estevez should conceivably open the flood gates. If not, there's still plenty of guys to grab. Theo saying he wants to add pitching "at all levels" of the organization tells me we'll likely be heavy on the pitching. The Morejon report was a ton better than BA's(which was still solid in its own right). But differing from maybe being the best J-2 pitcher in this years class, which was weak- to being a 1-1 candidate in the Amateur Draft......Quite a difference, kind of mirrors the EJM reports in a way that they were so far off too.

Korean closer Seung-hwan Oh, nicknamed "the Final Boss," is traveling to the U.S. to meet with MLB clubs. Read more: https://t.co/rCm462goM5 No idea how good this guy is......But I'd sign him for his nickname alone.

If Javy and Starlin wound up being dealt, it'd make sense.

I think it'd very likely mean Starlin. Based on Theo saying today they can't go spend on a reliever because they need to save for starting pitching, I figure we're pretty tight monetarily and some salary would need to head out to accommodate Zobrist. Unless they drop off Price or Greinke anyway.

Would LOVE Zobrist.

I could see Gardner as our CF.

Who will be the next top player from Cuba to sign? Here's a list of Cuban players to watch this Hot Stove season. https://t.co/tawl3nZYWX

@PWSullivan sully you look great on tv https://t.co/g8fDaKuIKf

They did re-sign Peña, at least. Oh cool. I was figuring he'd get rostered for us at this point and was surprised at AZPhil's report he wasn't. Doesn't make much difference really. He can still be selected in the draft, but it is an expression by the team that they're wanted. I think there's a good chance he'll get added to the 40 man.

I think there's a fairly solid chance Price would provide more WAR than those 3 guys combined next year. I'd say Jackson being added would definitely do it. That said, if we're restricted to the 130ish area(no idea), then taking a more well rounded approach of some sort makes sense to me, even if I'd absolutely LOVE Price for the Cubs.

If you can get Heyward, trade Javy+ for Carrasco/Salazar/etc, and signed Shark or someone else in that realm, it'd be an awfully nice off season. I'd be extremely happy with it and it seems doable. That said, it doesn't get talked about here because playoffs are a crapshoot or whatever.(they are, I'm not arguing it) But fielding a lineup including Heyward, Montero, and Schwarber in the playoffs(bad to pitiful against lefties) doesn't set up well when there's a fairly solid chance you'll see Kershaw or Bumgarner in the playoffs, with a pretty decent chance that Price winds up on one of those teams as well. I get that you can't truly build for the possibility of facing any certain team. But building a slightly more balanced team could still be on the agenda to where this type of scenario(facing any playoff team with a dominant lefty or two) doesn't automatically look like we're in a match up from hell.

They did re-sign Peña, at least. Oh cool. I was figuring he'd get rostered for us at this point and was surprised at AZPhil's report he wasn't.

Damnit

Tommy Hanson may be in a coma, per Twitter. Hope its just a hoax.

Theo: "You can pretty much apply that one going forward, at least until we get a TV deal." #Cubs