2023 Offseason MLB News/Rumors Thread

The Gray Eagle

The Gray Eagle

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The Marlins signed Trey Mancini to a minor league contract. So that means they still haven't given a single major league free agent contract to anyone. And we think it's been slow around here!

I would have liked to see us get Mancini on a minor league deal-- he's not worth a major league roster spot right now but he is only 31 and he's been a solid RH power bat in the past. He's mashed at Fenway too: .338/.401/.563 in 172 PAs.

No big loss as he is probably washed up, but on a minor league deal he would have been a good risk-free gamble for us.
 
Sad Sam Jones

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Mancini wants an opportunity to turn the minor league contract into a major league one. He'd have to be nuts to sign with the Red Sox behind Casas, Yoshida, etc, rather than a team like the Marlins where the only thing blocking him from a regular job is the broken remains of Avisail Garcia.
 
The Gray Eagle

The Gray Eagle

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It's not exactly wide open for him with the Marlins either. They still have Josh Bell, and Arraez has played first base. They probably will have Bell and Jake Burger DH-ing a lot. Mancini isn't really an outfielder unless you are desperate, and they have some promising young outfielders who need to play.
Doesn't matter much since he is probably done anyway and isn't worth a major league spot on anyone's roster right now. Hopefully the Red Sox sign someone new, but if they don't, Mancini theoretically could have been battling Bobby Dalbec for a backup RH 1B/DH role. As of now, Dalbec is the backup first baseman. Maybe they use Refsnyder there, but none of them should be guaranteed a roster spot.
 
CarolinaBeerGuy

CarolinaBeerGuy

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Mancini has looked cooked the past two seasons and hasn’t played the outfield regularly since 2019. I’m rooting for the guy, but it’s a hard road back.
 
Sad Sam Jones

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If he makes the team, he'd be splitting DH/1B duties with Bell. There's at least an obvious path to that because they don't have a regular DH currently on the roster. That's Garcia's best bet to get playing time, but he's looked even worse the past couple of years and is only still getting opportunities because of his contract.
 
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Bread of Yaz

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Yelling At Clouds

Yelling At Clouds

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Bread of Yaz said:
Apparently DiScalfina going to MN plus a minor league prospect, no mention of fourth player yet. Looks like Woo and Miller staying put. Nice move by Seattle

Twins trade Jorge Polanco to Mariners for 4 minor-league players - The Athletic
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DiSclafani isn’t a huge loss, but trading him away puts a lot of pressure on their front five. Gonzalez is 19 and has a ton of power (though he does strike out a lot, so there's some risk). Topa is a good reliever. The other guy is kind of whatever from what I gather. If the Red Sox had made their equivalent of this move (which probably would have meant giving up Bleis), the main board would be pissed.

I will say, at long last, that I do think the 2024 Mariners are, right now, better than any version of the 2023 Mariners. But man, they sure did take the scenic route.
 
Scoops Bolling

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Wingack said:
Lots of prospect guys raving about Gonzalez on Twitter.
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Yeah, Gabriel is a legit OF prospect. Stumbled a bit in High A, but bad luck/small sample size may explain it. He's in that back end of the Top 100 to Top 150 glut of guys. Between him, Rodriguez, and Jenkins, the Twins have an enviable glut of young OF talent coming up. And this adds more opportunities for Brooks Lee I imagine, who could outperform Polanco this year. They've also got Austin Martin who can take some ABs. I dig this for Minnesota.

Edit: Jesus, I forgot about Julien and Royce Lewis. I'm kinda surprised they got so much for a guy they clearly wanted to move, but Polanco is so cheap and MI is weak in FA so I guess the market was still strong for him.
 
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opes

opes

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Local chiming in: The twins already have the IF depth to pull this off without losing much. Jolien already would fit in at a starter at SS or 2b. Polanco is a great player for his position, but this really is selling high on him knowing they already have the hole they can fill full time. This isnt a loss trade for the Twins at all.
Brooks Lee obviously will be called up once the prince made out of glass breaks again. Buxton will never play a full season. Most overrated Twins player ever.
 
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chawson

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Turner's deal with the Jays is one-year, $13 million with $1.5 million in incentives.
 
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chawson said:
Turner's deal with the Jays is one-year, $13 million with $1.5 million in incentives.
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Starting to understand the Toronto philosophy here. "Well, darn, we didn't get Ohtani. So we're hosed after 2025 when half of the team walks out into free agency. Let's add around the edges and hope for a wildcard spot in 2024 and start figuring out who we can trade in 2025."
 
jon abbey

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Wow. His stuff definitely deteriorated last year, four years is crazy.
 
dynomite

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jon abbey said:
Wow. His stuff definitely deteriorated last year, four years is crazy.
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Yeah this seems like a lot for a 32-year-old LH RP with a career 4.50 FIP (3.88 ERA, so maybe he can beat his peripherals?). I get that there are opt-outs so the actual 2024 AAV is probably low, but this still doesn't seem like a high priority signing for a Padres franchise that seems to be working to cut payroll.
 
jon abbey

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MIN signed Santana with the money they saved on moving Polanco to SEA, so they ended up with a 5 for 1 deal there essentially.
 
Deweys New Stance

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When I was 9-10 years old in 1955-6, we lived about 25 minutes over the George Washington Bridge From the Polo Grounds. Although we were die hard Dodger fans, my father bought night time partial season tickets to the Giants, where I went and rooted against them every game. But I got to see the young Willie Mays. i will never forget the excitement in that place whenever he did anything. Although we disliked the Giants and detested the Yankees, two players I could never hate: Willie Mays and Yogi Berra.

question: you walk into a bar with a gun that has only two bullets in it. Sitting there are Hitler, Mussolini and Walter O’Malley. What do you do?
Answer: That’s easy. You shoot O’Malley twice.
 
jon abbey

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I'm so curious to see how Boras finishes this offseason, he seems to have decidedly overplayed his hand in general, but it only takes one good bidder per player, so we'll see.
 
moondog80

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jon abbey said:
I'm so curious to see how Boras finishes this offseason, he seems to have decidedly overplayed his hand in general, but it only takes one good bidder per player, so we'll see.
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I posted this in a different thread (I think), but Boras has been here before, and his guys got paid.

AS PLODDINGLY AS this Major League Baseball offseason has proceeded, with dozens of veterans still unsigned while spring training rapidly approaches, it's worth understanding: This is not new. Just over half a decade ago, the free agent market was even slower -- and, for players, far worse.

Three weeks before spring training in 2018, MLB remained at a complete standstill. Over the previous three months, teams had spent less than $700 million combined. The biggest deal belonged to veteran first baseman Carlos Santana for $60 million. A staggering 51 players signed deals between Jan. 25 and Opening Day, compared to 25 last offseason -- all one-year contracts.

The similarities between 2018 and 2024 are striking. Back then, four of the best available players -- Eric Hosmer, J.D. Martinez, Jake Arrieta and Mike Moustakas -- were clients of agent Scott Boras. This year, the four best remaining players -- Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery and Matt Chapman -- are repped by Boras. Shohei Ohtani almost certainly decelerated the market until he ended his historic free agency on Dec. 9 -- just as some executives suggested he did in 2017-18 when he came to MLB from Japan.
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https://www.espn.in/mlb/insider/insider/story/_/id/39378000/mlb-free-agency-2023-2024-update-contracts-snell-bellinger-montgomery-chapman


Doesn't mean it will happen again, but I'm hesitant to bet against Boras. Padres have two more years to pay off on that Hosmer deal, BTW.
 
Wingack

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jon abbey said:
I'm so curious to see how Boras finishes this offseason, he seems to have decidedly overplayed his hand in general, but it only takes one good bidder per player, so we'll see.
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The problem I think he has this year, is that his two big ticket players, Snell and Bellinger, teams have some real legitimate concerns about them when looking at their pricetag.
 
DeadlySplitter

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Huh? I was expecting 150M at most, sheesh.

And tons of opt outs after what would have been his arbitration period? Royals gave in quite a bit here
 
nattysez

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And, in doing so, he hopes not only to send the Royals on a proper trajectory after a dismal 56-106 finish in 2023 but convince fans to vote yes on putting $1 billion toward a stadium estimated to cost $2 billion. The team is considering two stadium locations -- one in downtown Kansas City, the other in North Kansas City, which is part of Clay County -- around which an entertainment district would be built. The Royals' current home, Kauffman Stadium, was built in 1973 and renovated in 2009.
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There we go. I knew there had to be a rationale for doing this now.

Also, Bobby Witt is his son's agent. Bobby Witt made $22m over his 15-year MLB career. He might get close to that on this deal, depending on how his son pays him for his services.
 
SouthernBoSox

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I didn't have the Royals spending $400+ million more than the Red Sox on my bingo card.

Good for them
 
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DeadlySplitter said:
Huh? I was expecting 150M at most, sheesh.

And tons of opt outs after what would have been his arbitration period? Royals gave in quite a bit here
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Bit of a confusing contract at first glance, will have to see all the details.

Witt certainly had a very good year and has the pedigree, but doesn't seem like the Royals got enough back for guaranteeing so much $ and giving Witt all those opts outs.

I guess they have him locked in for 7 years until age 30 or so, presumably at relatively low rates given his service time. But Witt is either going to bail after 7 years or get overpaid from the Royals if it turns out he is hurt/not as good as they hoped in his age 30-34 seasons.
 
Marciano490

Marciano490

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nattysez said:
There we go. I knew there had to be a rationale for doing this now.

Also, Bobby Witt is his son's agent. Bobby Witt made $22m over his 15-year MLB career. He might get close to that on this deal, depending on how his son pays him for his services.
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Thanks for saving me the trouble, my first thought was I wonder if Jr is making more a year than his dad did over his whole career. Glad pops caught some of that commission at least.
 
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