OFFSEASON NEWS/RUMORS Thread

The bidding for free-agent pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto has yet to hit $300 million, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Passan noted how "multiple reports suggested teams already had offered Yamamoto deals in excess of $300 million."

"Those reports, sources said, are inaccurate," he reported. "Multiple high-ranking officials trying to sign Yamamoto told ESPN that teams were asked to give a preliminary bid at the start of the process to ensure they were serious — but not necessarily in the neighborhood of where the deal is likely to land. Since then, those officials say, his agent, Joel Wolfe, has not solicited a new round of bids."

BleacherReport
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Dodgers seek additional Starting Pitching
by Steve Adams | MLB Trade Rumors — 4 hours ago

The Dodgers added a playoff-caliber arm to their staff when acquiring Tyler Glasnow from the Rays, but they’re still searching for more starting pitching, general manager Brandon Gomes told reporters Monday (via Fabian Aradaya of The Athletic).

That shouldn’t come as any real surprise. Los Angeles included a member of its rotation, right-hander Ryan Pepiot, in the package to acquire Glasnow from Tampa Bay, so they didn’t really add to their depth at all in the swap. Glasnow also has a lengthy injury history, with last season’s 120 frames representing a career-high. While the Dodgers surely feel he’s an upgrade on a per-inning basis, they also can’t simply bank on Glasnow making 30 starts and occupying a workhorse role atop the rotation.

As it stands, the L.A. rotation would feature Glasnow, Walker Buehler (who’ll be on an innings limit in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery), Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan. Candidates for the fifth spot include Michael Grove, Gavin Stone, Ryan Yarbrough and prospects Nick Frasso and Landon Knack.

There have already been indications that the Dodgers would continue to be active in the starting pitching market, albeit none as concrete as an on-record declaration from the team’s general manager. The Dodgers have been a prominent participant in the bidding for NPB ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and they’ve also reportedly shown interest in trading for White Sox righty Dylan Cease. Other rumored targets have included free agent righties Lucas Giolito and Seth Lugo (who’s since signed with the Royals). A reunion with Clayton Kershaw remains eminently plausible, although Kershaw wouldn’t be available to pitch until next summer at the earliest.

The Dodgers are less than $2MM from the second luxury tax threshold, per Roster Resource’s projections, although their actual bottom-line payroll clocks in under $200MM thanks to deferred money not only in the Shohei Ohtani contract but also the significant deferrals in the Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman deals. As a third-time luxury payor, they’ll effectively be taxed at a 62% clip for the next $20MM they spend and a 95% clip for the $20MM after that, and 110% for any money spent thereafter.

Yamamoto’s lingering presence in free agency has continued to hold up other aspects of the market, though he’ll have to sign a deal by early January — and reports have suggested he could look to finalize a deal before Christmas. Once he’s made a decision, pitchers like Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Shota Imanaga, Marcus Stroman and Giolito could accelerate. Similarly, the White Sox (Cease) and Guardians (Shane Bieber) could increase their efforts to trade prominent starters of their own, knowing that the teams who missed on Yamamoto will be motivated to find alternate options elsewhere.
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• Tyler Glasnow said he chose No. 31 because that was his jersey number in Little League. He said it was perfect since he was coming back home.

also perfect since he’ll be playing for a little league manager

 

• According to The Athletic's Andrew Baggarly, the San Francisco Giants "have been assured they will be given every consideration" by Yamamoto after meeting with him last week in the Bay Area.

yamamoto’s agent, when asked to comment…

 

Dodgers considering $250MM+ offer to Yamamoto
by Anthony Franco | MLB Trade Rumors — 2 hours ago

The Dodgers are considering presenting an offer in the $250-300MM range to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, reports Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. Reports from yesterday indicated that teams are likely to put forth contract proposals to the NPB star this week, with a decision perhaps coming by Monday.

Yamamoto’s landing spot and price point are perhaps the biggest remaining story of the offseason. The 25-year-old righty has emerged as the clear top free agent after Shohei Ohtani came off the board. It is believed the field has narrowed to seven teams: the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Giants, Red Sox, Phillies and Blue Jays.

This morning, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic indicated Philadelphia and Toronto are more on the outside of the market and could be longer shots. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith echoes that with regards to the Jays, reporting that Toronto is less likely to be one of the top finalists on Yamamoto than they were on Ohtani.

Meanwhile, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes that the pitcher’s visit to the East Coast last week only consisted of a stop in New York to chat with the Yankees and Mets. While the Red Sox and Phils conducted in-person interviews with Yamamoto, officials from both teams met with the pitcher and his representatives in Los Angeles.

In recent weeks, there has been increasing speculation the price tag could exceed $300MM. That’s particularly true when considering the accompanying posting fee that would be owed to his former team, the Orix Buffaloes. An MLB club would owe the Buffaloes 20% of the contract’s first $25MM ($5MM), 17.5% of the next $25MM ($4.375MM), and 15% of additional spending.

An offer of $250MM to Yamamoto, which seems a conservative estimate of his earning power at this point given the robust interest, would require a $39.375MM posting fee. That’d put the total commitment a little north of $289MM. If a team were to offer Yamamoto $300MM, that’d come with a $46.875MM posting sum that pushes their spending to nearly $347MM.

Of course, that’s even before getting to luxury tax implications — which would come into play for the known suitors aside from Boston and San Francisco. The Dodgers have a competitive balance tax projection around $256MM, as calculated by Roster Resource. That places them right on the border of the $257MM second threshold of penalization.

As a payor for the third straight year, they’d be taxed at a 62% rate for spending between $257MM and $277MM and at a 95% clip on money from $277MM to $297MM (with a 110% tax on any spending thereafter). Signing Yamamoto would push them past the $277MM threshold with ease, quite likely tacking on another $17MM or more in taxes in year one. To be clear, only the amount paid to Yamamoto would factor into the competitive balance tax calculation; the posting fee is not part of that calculus.

Of course, the deferrals in the Ohtani deal (along with lesser but still notable deferrals for Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman) lower their immediate raw payroll. Their actual salary commitments for next season are south of $200MM, well below the approximate $223MM mark they carried into 2023.

Los Angeles certainly isn’t the only team weighing an offer in this range for the three-time Sawamura Award winner. If Yamamoto signs elsewhere, Harris suggests that L.A. is likelier to turn to the trade market for pitching help as opposed to pivoting to another top free agent like Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery. The Dodgers already struck for Tyler Glasnowon the trade front but remain on the hunt for starting pitching behind their top three of Glasnow, Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller.

 

MLB Network✓@MLBNetwork
"If Yamamoto does not go to the Dodgers, I think the Dodgers and Burnes become a potential pairing."
@jonmorosi gives insight on Brewers trade talks and an overlooked bat on the free agent market.
#MLBNHotStove
6:39 AM · Dec 20, 2023 · 28.8K Views
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me every morning awaiting yamamoto’s decision…

 

impressive

 

Dodgers sign pair to Minor League Deals
MLB Trade Rumors — 51 minutes ago



The Dodgers have signed right-hander Nabil Crismatt and outfielder Travis Swaggerty to minor league deals, per each player’s respective transaction tracker at MLB.com. Each has been assigned to Triple-A Oklahoma for now but could be in big league camp as non-roster invitees.

Crismatt, who turns 29 on Monday, has thrown a combined 170 innings over the past four MLB seasons. Most of that has some with the Padres but he also made appearances with the Cardinals and Diamondbacks, with a 3.76 earned run average in that time. His 21.5% strikeout rate is right around typical league averages but his 7.4% walk rate and 50.5% ground ball rate are both strong.

It’s a solid track record but he’s coming off a challenging season. He made six appearances for the Padres early in the year and wasn’t in great form, sporting an ERA of 10.80 when he was placed on the injured list with a hip strain. He was activated off the IL in June and made one more appearance before being designated for assignment. He elected free agency and landed with the Diamondbacks, making one appearance for that club before getting designated for assignment again. Between the two organizations, he had a 6.86 ERA in 59 Triple-A innings for the year.

Despite the frustrating 2023, Crismatt has shown an ability to get outs at the major league level before and will give the Dodgers some non-roster depth in their bullpen. If he is able to crack the roster at any point, he is out of options.

Swaggerty, now 26, was once a highly-touted youngster. The Pirates selected him with the 10th overall pick in the 2018 draft but has had his trajectory altered by injuries. A dislocated shoulder required surgery in 2021, then he battled vertigo and migraines in 2023. Due to those challenges and the minors being canceled by the pandemic in 2020, he’s been limited to 146 total games played over the past four years, only five of those at the major league level.

The 141 minor league games he played in that stretch led to a batting line of .242/.342/.397. He drew walks in 12.6% of his plate appearances but also struck out in 25% of them. He has a decent floor since his speed and defensive abilities are considered assets, but his offense might still be a work in progress due to so much missed development time. For the Dodgers, there’s no harm in taking a non-roster flier on a former first-round pick.

The club is currently slated to have an outfield mix consisting of James Outman, Manuel Margot, Jason Heyward and Chris Taylor, with Miguel Vargas and Andy Pages also on the roster. If Swaggerty is in good form in 2024 and gets his contract selected, he still has one option remaining.

 

Foul Territory@FoulTerritoryTV
"Every guy who gets this close to free agency wants to test the market" Corbin Burnes says he would have to be blown away by an extension to avoid free agency if he were traded.

11:20 AM · Dec 19, 2023 · 148.5K Views​

looks like one less option for whoever loses out on yamamoto
all the more reason friedman and co need to be all in

 

how rumors work…

2 hours ago (bleacher report):
“ohtani and yamamoto attending tonight’s rams game together” ​

updated 1 hour ago (twitter sources):
“both ohtani and yamamoto on the guest list for the game, unconfirmed (but speculated) that they’ll go together” ​

10 minutes ago (heyman/ ny post):
“although both are on the guest list, they were never scheduled to attend together, and yamamoto says he’s not going”​

*update, just now…
bleacher report retracts their initial rumor lol

 

Would love to see a Rams win to further their wildcard push and a plethora of Stafford-Kupp hookups to help me in my bid for fantasy greatness!

Edit: sorry, wrong thread.

 

• The San Francisco Giants have reportedly been told that they're no longer in the bidding for ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Giants officials have met with Yamamoto and are "enamored" with him, although it doesn't appear that the feeling was mutual (via Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic). He'll likely be headed elsewhere, although he could sign with another franchise on the west coast. Per Pavlovic, the "expectation" is that he will end up in Los Angeles or New York amid interest from the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and New York Mets.

i just have this (disgusting) feeling yamamoto will choose the yankees, and the brewers won’t trade burnes, the white sox will ask too much for cease, snell (thanks to boras) will want too many years, and we’ll get stuck with giolito