2020-2021 OFF-SEASON NEWS AND RUMORS

Wonder if the Jays will pivot to Javy Baez after the miss on Lindor. If Lemahieu's not careful the Yankees may turn to Javy Baez and pair him with Gleyber Torres up the middle..they'd be a ton younger and more dynamic up the middle for sure. And if Friedman's focus remains on a right handed infield bat that can handle LHP, perhaps Baez won't be too far down his list either. He's got a career OPS north of .870 VS LHP and would certainly improve LAD's defense up the middle at either position. Elite defender..just won the NL gold glove @ SS for 2020, but of course has plenty of quality 2B work under his belt as well. Doubt he'd be penalized in FA if he were to make another pit stop at 2B. Another chance to flex his versatility and willingness to be a team guy. Should help his value, actually. Would also likely help LAD's leverage over Boras/Seager, which could help the team in the long run

Another one of those star SS heading for FA in 2021, so rental price for a star talent? Or the trusty ole Dodger tax? Baez is with Wasserman. IIRC, LAD and Wasserman connected for Puig, Maeda and a couple other guys over the years

 

yeah but if JT and/or Kike are back

 

One thing I’ve seen a lot and it once again accompanied the Bryant report, is that the Cubs are supposedly telling teams that they have no interest at all in moving Baez, so don’t bother asking. There’s a lot of belief that the two sides are working towards a deal on an extension and feel that they can make it work even if it isn’t until he’s a FA.

I wonder if the Blue Jays may now turn their focus to the Rockies. Both Arenado and Story would fill holes for them while also being their best chance at buying down big time talent.

 

Smells like PR/trade leverage ploy stuff with Baez, especially after seeing the return for Lindor. And Cubs wanting a ton for Bryant in his walk year, but also not having any plans to pay him and keep him around..that also smells like PR. But the Cubs did just make the postseason, so maybe they can successfully sell " we're keeping one of our studs. " Boras said moving Bryant would be complex and we sort of know where he's going with that. But then for the Cubs, again, there's going to be PR backlash in Chicago if they deal fan fave Bryant in general, let alone if they get a shitty rental caliber return for him in a trade. Bryant's just done too much there, is too established..MVP, face of the team that broke the curse, heartthrob value, etc. His situation is just so different, that I can understand the Cubs playing hardball here. Looks like the Mets and Cubs broke off talks for Bryant last week

Great point on Story. Keep forgetting about that dude. Yeah could definitely see the Jays making a play for one of Story or Arenado at this point. Was always weird to me how the Jays were so active for a SS..they have a pretty good young guy in there already in Bo Bichette. I mean Lindor's an upgrade, obviously, but it's not like SS is a problem there. Maybe they would've moved Bichette to 2B? And Biggio, like pops Biggio, would've move around to different positions or just out to the OF? Guessing that Lourdes Gurriel would have been heading to Cleveland..were rumors surrounding the Indians/Lourdes. Arenado feels like the next to move given all his bickering with the ROX and him just making it clear that he's ready to gtfo

 

Story's career home/away splits are pretty troubling too, BTW

Also not a guy that handles power pitching very well

 

Padres have supposedly made an offer to Tatis Jr at 11 Yrs and around $320M. They think a deal could be reached by next week.

 

That's cheap.

 

Eh, not really. He’s due like $550k this year before 3 years of arbitration, so 4 years of team control getting bought out. That’s close to a $30M AAV for a dude that wouldn’t have made that for another 4-5 years.

 

A Cubs random(seems like a blogger) twitterer said this morning that something big is happening today and it’s going to upset Cubs fans. Now a reporter for the Mets is saying that he’s hearing that Bryant is could be moved by the end of the weekend.

 

business wise it makes zero sense to lock in that soon
one injury could make that a painful team damaging mistake wow
have to wonder if the concern was that he would develop an attitude w all the other guys making bank on the team
if that's the case it makes it an even larger mistake

 

Tryin to buy a little loyalty. Can't say that I blame them. They are the Padres. Could better understand playing hardball with elite talents if you're an org that's actually accomplished something. TBT, they should hand blank checks to any stud willing to wear those Doug Heffernan UPS uniforms

 

So the Pads will rip up his contract or extend him?

 

He has 4 years of control still, so they wouldn’t have anything to tear up.

 

The price doesn’t really save the Padres much for taking on the risk. The one thing it does, it locks in his prime years and nothing beyond that. If you let him hit free agency he would likely command a 10-12 year contract which would include 3-4 junk years on the end.

 

So they are not buying out his arbitration years. Sounds like a good deal to me.

 

i meant they could have let him play another 2-3 years and still been in the drivers seat
anything can happen and locking him in long term now isn't playing the odds
what if he breaks his wrist next year and is never the same ?

 

Huh? Yeah they’d be buying out his 3 years of arbitration, plus one more of the minimum wage seasons since he hasn’t reached that status yet. Unless he’s a super 2 and I missed that.

 

I honestly think that it could be more expensive if the numbers and years are true(some folks are saying that they’re hearing only 10 years). I mean, he could be looking at 600K. $7M, $18M and finally like $25M in the last year of control. It likely doesn’t start saving the Padres money until year 5 and who knows what the CBA is then. It is a HUGE gamble by the Padres, but if he stays healthy it will potentially go down as the best big contract in the games history.

 

I get that. Someone said it would be an extension instead of ripping up his cheap years. Unless I misunderstood the post I quoted

 

I agree with you. I was just trying to figure it out too, because the total dollar amount doesn’t seem like it will be a huge savings in the end for the risk. The time the contract ends, which would be when Tatis is 33, is the one good thing for the Padres.

I will say, position players aren’t as risky as pitchers longterm. And from what I’ve heard about Tatis, he has a great work ethic - so he is the type of player you feel more comfortable gambling on.