Bertz

I like Grossman a lot, I think he brings to the table a lot of what our offense lacks. He's also probably average in CF? My only worry with him is if his offensive efficiency would suffer some in an everyday role. I think if it's an either/or, you're basically debating between an elite defense/average offense and a good defense/good offense. Net production is likely about the same, so it's about cost and what shape you'd rather have it come in.

Very nice to see. I generally like the idea of building the defense into an elite unit, since I don't think we're going to invest enough to actually fix the the offense. That said, even with the chilly offseason I think he's been projected to get 3 years, and there are enough red flags in his offensive profile that I'd be hesitant. I like Kiermaier as an alternative. You lose some durability and certainly gain some offensive downside, but they mean out to basically the same player and Keirmaier is only on a 2 year deal (that the Rays would give up player value to get out of).

I like Riley Thompson getting some Top 10 love

Asked and received

I actually kind of hope Porter gets the Mets' job. I don't want the new GM to go to be a Theo/Jed retread. Of the names we've heard connected to the job, give me Billy Owens.

Wow

If you have to trade Willson, time to target the Phillies for Abel or Howard. Yeah, Howard especially would be a perfect centerpiece for a Willson deal. Howard plus Luis Garcia maybe?

I'm inferring that he's a big time spin guy. If his command is fine, and his velocity is fine, that's gotta be what got him his K Rate and his interest here.

Bauer to the Angels, Springer to the Mets, Realmuto back to the Phillies?

It also sounds like McCann is joining whichever they go with. I wonder if this is going to be the opposite of the last few offseasons, where the top guys sign essentially first and we go down the list from there.

The names in here are generally pretty strong. Chris Myers isn't dismissed, but doesn't get a lot of length. Boog Sciambi is called a long shot, sounds like he's the caliber of guy they're aiming for but doesn't sound likely to leave his gig at ESPN. Wayne Randazzo tends to sound the most likely, though none of the names were really identified as a full on favorite.

This is probably pretty bad news for the players. The White Sox were one of the few teams that looked likely to spend, and now they've filled their two biggest holes for $15M. I guess I could see them getting another OF and pushing Eloy to DH, or getting another SP so that Kopech doesn't have a spot until there's an injury?

He's been pretty great since basically the moment he left the Cardinals. I'd guess he's legit a top ~20 SP.

I think the Contreras trade is much too light and the Bryant trade is much too heavy. IMO this is a good way to think about prospect valuation: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/an-update-to-prospect-valuation/ https://blogs.fangraphs.com/putting-a-dollar-value-on-prospects-outside-the-top-100/ FG's use of future value numbers (e.g. a 45 or a 55) to rate prospects is extremely clunky. But, it's in these situations where it's really helpful, and you see why they do it. In practical terms, this is what FG's values correspond to 60 or higher - An elite prospect, usually top 10-15 overall 55 or higher - A top 50 caliber prospect 50 - A top 100 caliber prospect 45 - A team top 10 caliber prospect 40 - A team top 30 caliber prospect 35 - A prospect, but super far away or very low ceiling So with this you can start to build a trade. Bryant's due ~$20M this season, so he's got maybe $5-10M in value? So you'd expect maybe a 45 and 40? Or to use our system as an example, someone else's Cole Roederer and Riley Thompson. Your trade without Robles is probably about right, maybe a smidge light. Contreras is a little harder to gauge, and probably depends on how real you think his framing gains this year are. If you think they're real, he's got something like $50M in value. So a hitter on the border of a 50/55, plus two or three more 45s. To use our system again as an example again: think like Brennen Davis, Adbert Alzolay and Cole Roederer.

IMO they won't, they just don't want teams sitting on their hands for another 6 weeks while they wait to figure it out. The MLBPA is going to end up giving the league expanded playoffs for this year in exchange for the DH and a few other things.

There's also talk the Reds are heavily shopping Sonny Gray. 85 wins might honestly win the Central this year.

That run on 4th and 1 was soooooo dumb. If I cared about this game I'd actively be shooting my forehead with heroin right now