Official 2024 Off-Season Thread!

[Enscheff]

I have to assume there are provisions for any Ohtani contract if he never pitches again. Easiest way is to tie him to incentives based on innings pitched.

This may be the most interesting contract in the history of sports.

Had he not been injured some team would have given him $50M for 12 years and it would just be a massive contract. Massive, but standard.

But now that he's not guaranteed to pitch, it seems like he is going to sign something like a $365M deal (still the new record) that let's him opt out after 2 years if he proves he can pitch again. If he can't pitch again no team can pay him $500M to be an OF/DH, so all teams will want to protect themselves. Perhaps the winner will be whichever team agrees to assume all risk that right arm carries and gives him $500M anyways.

I hope the Braves stay far away from this circus. This contract can sink a team's payroll for a decade.

 

[50PoundHead]

The White Sox haven't always made the most sense even though I understand they have different people running things now. I'm pretty much 100% sure he's a sweetener or just an "OK, we'll take him on to get this particular prospect" guy if that's the team. If he stayed healthy and pitched around a 4.20 ERA, they could probably get something decent in return for him at the deadline.

I'm not sure Tampa Bay would want to pay him anything so we'd basically have to give him to them.

Agree. Just saying Gonzalez makes no sense for the White Sox and a little sense for the Rays.

 

[striker42]

Agree. Just saying Gonzalez makes no sense for the White Sox and a little sense for the Rays.

If they go into full rebuild, Gonzales makes some sense to eat some innings. If you get incredibly lucky and he puts together a little renaissance, you might even be able to deal him at the deadline for something small. But he makes no sense for any team at the price tag he carries. We'd have to kick in value to get a team to take him.

 

[bravesfanforlife88]

NY is a media circus and Ohtani is a notoriously private person.

Knowing our beat writers are Bowman and O’Brien should help you’d have to think?

 

[thewupk]

Knowing our beat writers are Bowman and O’Brien should help you’d have to think?

Sure. And West coast baseball is generally dead from a national media viewpoint. Dodgers are the best bet for everything he's looking for.

 

[striker42]

Sure. And West coast baseball is generally dead from a national media viewpoint. Dodgers are the best bet for everything he's looking for.

I think the Dodgers are the prohibitive favorite. Ohtani is already familiar with the city, it's easier to travel to Japan from LA than Atlanta, there's a much larger Japanese population in LA than in Atlanta, and the Dodgers have more money than God.

I honestly don't think we're players for Ohtani. I think Ohtani's side is using us to try to squeeze more out of LA. We're the Dodgers biggest competitor for an NL title so they would not want to see Ohtani come to Atlanta.

We may not be the paupers we once were but I still don't see the Braves giving out the biggest contract in the history of baseball.

 

[ixiXSolidXixi]

Sure. And West coast baseball is generally dead from a national media viewpoint. Dodgers are the best bet for everything he's looking for.

Dodgers have a chance of winning 2-3 years at most. Freeman just turn 34 and the rotation is falling in pieces. Buehler is a free agent next year.

 

[striker42]

Dodgers have a chance of winning 2-3 years at most. Freeman just turn 34 and the rotation is falling in pieces. Buehler is a free agent next year.

The Dodgers can afford to plug their holes through free agency and they also have a top farm system. Between promoting from within, trading from depth, and signing free agents, the Dodgers wont rebuild, they'll just reload.

 

[CyYoung31]

Plus, the Dodgers always have a top 5 farm system, which is something that they can plug holes with through trades even if the prospects themselves don’t bear fruit.

 

[Heyward]

Cant see AA give Ohtani the contract he'll probably want. Especially if he cant pitch again. Goes against everything he is as a GM. But would be crazy if we landed Ohtani but agree i think it's a leak to make LA up their offer.

 

[Hudson2]

Ohtani is too much of an unknown to give 500 million to if he never pitches again or at least to the level he was. He’s an amazing hitter but would you wanna be stuck paying 40-50 million a year to a DH? You can get that production for half that price.

 

[bravesnumberone]

Someone connected to Ohtani is playing Morosi like a fiddle to get the most money possible out of the Dodgers.

 

[mfree80]

As he always seems to do, AA grabbed an OF that was not on anyone’s radar, and got him for a very low price, without giving up any of the trade chips that we were talking about. Watch the Braves coaches tweak his swing and make him a solid player.

I suspect that there will be at least one more addition that we are not expecting, and likely one more that we have been talking about.

I also expect a signing or two in the vein of Pillar last year who emerge and have a solid season.

As someone said before, we are witnessing a master class in the art of GMing.

We are really fortunate.

 

[UNCBlue012]

Bowman: The Braves haven’t shown interest in Shohei and their interest in Cease has been overblown. But there’s still a feeling they’ll make a couple more significant moves

 

[bravesnumberone]

Lol Bowman just **** all over that. If it was DOB, I'd say both of them would be Braves by tomorrow, but Bowman seems to usually be in tune with someone.

 

[GovClintonTyree]

Someone connected to Ohtani is playing Morosi like a fiddle to get the most money possible out of the Dodgers.

This is correct. Pigs would fly before AA would pay full retail (two way or one way) for Ohtani.

 

[GovClintonTyree]

Knowing our beat writers are Bowman and O’Brien should help you’d have to think?

Sure. Show him O’Brien sitting over facing the corner ignoring everything with his Beats on and Bowman parked at the first table next to the Crab Rangoon, Sesame Chicken and Fried Wontons at China Buffet, the guy won’t even ask for an opt out clause.

 

[GovClintonTyree]

As he always seems to do, AA grabbed an OF that was not on anyone’s radar, and got him for a very low price, without giving up any of the trade chips that we were talking about. Watch the Braves coaches tweak his swing and make him a solid player.

I suspect that there will be at least one more addition that we are not expecting, and likely one more that we have been talking about.

I also expect a signing or two in the vein of Pillar last year who emerge and have a solid season.

As someone said before, we are witnessing a master class in the art of GMing.

We are really fortunate.

Actually, Pillar himself would be a good Pillar replacement, if he’s down.

 

[Hudson2]

Bowman: The Braves haven’t shown interest in Shohei and their interest in Cease has been overblown. But there’s still a feeling they’ll make a couple more significant moves

I believe the part about us not being in on Ohtani but I don’t believe the Cease part. He makes a ton of sense unlike Ohtani. We heard the same thing about us not being in on Murphy last year either and at the time it made sense bc we had 2 good catchers.

 

[striker42]

I believe the part about us not being in on Ohtani but I don’t believe the Cease part. He makes a ton of sense unlike Ohtani. We heard the same thing about us not being in on Murphy last year either and at the time it made sense bc we had 2 good catchers.

If we're not very interested in Cease it's probably because we're focused on another high end pitcher. My hope is Glasnow. He's a a health risk but he's a difference maker when healthy.