jpx7
Very Flirtatious, but Doubts What Love Is.
I don't disagree, but I think those numbers vs LHP would look a lot better if the Braves had had a full season of Little King vLHP God Mode.
Looking Ahead - The 2020 Offseason Thread
- Thread starter clvclv
- Start date
I don't disagree, but I think those numbers vs LHP would look a lot better if the Braves had had a full season of Little King vLHP God Mode.
Having Ozzie in the lineup will help against lefties. They missed him a lot this year.
Not what they are expecting probably. 1 expensive year of a star coming off a pretty bad year (even if it was a 60 game season) simply isn't worth that much.
Freshmaker
Arbitration Eligible
Jose Urena, a trash baseball player and worse human being, has been DFA'd by the Marlins
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Sign him to a minor league FA deal. Once he arrives at ST, have the team fill pillow cases with bars of soap. You know the rest.
Was rolling around the idea of trading for Heyward if the Cubs ate enough of his contract. But it seems like Brantley is the better player, should be considerably cheaper per year, and should sign for 2 years instead of the 3 guaranteed years Heyward has remaining. I suppose if the Cubbies ate enough of the contract, it would be worth it, but I can't imagine a scenario in which they eat more than half of his remaining salary right now.
I'm coming around on Pham pretty quickly. Not sure the Padres have room to pay him $8 million if they're looking for a Clevinger replacement for the rotation. Offer him $10 million for one year if that's what it takes. Then you could reasonably bring Ozuna back if there's a DH and the lineup would be insanely deep - especially if you could bring Shaw in to platoon with Riley with Duvall's money. Even if you don't get Ozuna you'd conceivably have enough left to play on Brantley/Pederson/Rosario/Santana.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
I'm not necessarily advocating for Pham. The point I was trying to make is that given all of the possible non-tendered players that may be out there, is it a plausible strategy to find an everyday player instead of putting together a platoon which could possibly cost more. I think Duvall did a great job this year, but I wonder if he can repeat his performance in 2021. Further, if we are trying to find him a platoon partner, his playing time is going to go down dramatically and he's probably going to come in around $5 MM in arbitration (I'm going slightly above the 60-game projection of $4.4 MM and well below the 162-game projection of $7.1 MM). I just think Duvall is too iffy a player to invest that heavily in, 2020 results aside.
But to my main point, is that if you take Duvall's $5 MM and add at least another $5 MM for a platoon partner, would the Braves be better off letting Duvall walk and try to find an everyday LF for what may be a lesser price. The other possibility is to non-tender Duvall and hope you can sign him to a lower amount, which could make the platoon route work better financially. I don't think anyone has a handle on the market and what I am suggesting may be way off base, but supply may outstrip demand this off-season, which would conceivably (though not necessarily) drive salaries down.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
I was going to suggest they sign him and make him Acuna's roommate.
A healthy Albies would have essentially replaced 31 PAs taken by Camargo where he produced a .625 OPS vs LHP. Someone else can do the math, but I'm going to guess replacing those poor 31 PAs with 1.000 OPS wouldn't move the overall team line much.
Further, the Braves posted a 99 wRC+ in 2019 vs LHP, when they already had JD at MVP level and Albies posting a 1.100 OPS vs LHP.
The fact remains the Braves need to replace the JD/Ozuna bat in the lineup with someone approximating that level of production.
salmagundy
Boras' Client
Maybe have to rethink any Pham signing.
MLB provided a lot of info on Pham wrist problems. This is just a lead in on Pham story with a little follow up.
Padres outfielder Tommy Pham underwent surgery to repair a a tear of the triangular fibrocartilage complex in his left wrist at some point in the past couple of months, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. The specific timing of the procedure remains unclear. The Padres did not announce the surgery at the time it was performed.
A third surgery and, more importantly, Pham’s recovery from said procedure are all the more noteworthy given that the 32-year-old outfielder is up for arbitration for the final time this offseason.
MLB provided a lot of info on Pham wrist problems. This is just a lead in on Pham story with a little follow up.
Padres outfielder Tommy Pham underwent surgery to repair a a tear of the triangular fibrocartilage complex in his left wrist at some point in the past couple of months, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. The specific timing of the procedure remains unclear. The Padres did not announce the surgery at the time it was performed.
A third surgery and, more importantly, Pham’s recovery from said procedure are all the more noteworthy given that the 32-year-old outfielder is up for arbitration for the final time this offseason.
Nerfherders
Well-known member
The thing that stood out to me the most from that is that a 32 year old player could still be in his arbitration years. I have to imagine the players would want to reduce that time period where a team controls a player before free-agency.
At least an age limit anyways. May be something like after age 25 your clock automatically starts while you're on a MLB affiliate. Pretty rough for guys like him or a guy like Jeff McNeil to make any real money when you're controlled for 7 years at friendly prices, and then enter FA for the 1st time in your career in your mid 30's.
This is the reason I've been big on trading for Rosario for some time. Unlike Duvall - or Pederson - he's a LEGITIMTE middle of the order bat that can play every day with a fixed salary. They were discussing him with one of the Twins' beat writers this morning on XM, and he said they've been beating on doors everywhere trying to find a taker because his sources put the chance he's non-tendered at over 95%. Who cares which side he hits from? He doesn't need a platoon partner. Non-tender Duvall and send them Weigel for him so you don't need another 40-Man Roster spot to sign a DH - apparently they'll take whatever return they can get at this point. You've now "solved" LF for $11 million (give or take), and it actually only cost you around $5 million of what you have left - whatever number that is. If that leaves AA with ~ $20 million to spend, there's potentially enough left to make a deal for Bryant (assuming the prospect cost is reasonable and he wants to get another hitter on a one year deal with everything to prove), or he can circle back to Ozuna or Cruz if there's going to be a full-time DH in 2021.
I'd argue the best-case scenario would be to add Rosario and sign Cruz - even if you have to up the offer to get him to take a one year deal. Gives you one more year to evaluate Riley's changes while keeping a close eye on Bryant's reaction to potentially being somewhere other than Chicago AND without committing 4 high-salaried years to someone that's ONLY going to be a DH like Ozuna. Waters replaces Rosario next season and you have the money available to sign Bryant to replace Riley if you need to.
If Rosario were a "legitimate middle of the order bat that can play everyday", the Twins would not be looking to non-tender him to save $9M. Such a player at such a price would be an extremely valuable trade target, and Rosario carries no such value.
His career .710 OPS vs LHP tells me is not an everyday middle of the order bat, and his lack of trade value around the sport reflects that fact.
He is, however, exactly the type of OFer the Braves need, and you've had him pegged as an ideal target from day 1. He (and Duvall) can fake it as an everyday OFer for a while until Pache is ready, at which point he moves into a platoon role with Duvall. If the Braves get him for $5M+, he slots in at the exact spot at the exact price AA should be shopping.
I also agree that if the DH is in the NL in 2021 I would prefer to see Cruz as the DH. I think adding Rosario and Cruz would put this offense in a great spot, and it shouldn't cost too much cash to make it happen. Add a bargain BP arm or two, and let Riley try to build on his 2020 improvements. Those moves plus a Morton addition have always been my best case scenario off season, even though I still feel like AA overpaid for Morton a bit and I'm not a huge fan of the Smyly deal.
His career .710 OPS vs LHP tells me is not an everyday middle of the order bat, and his lack of trade value around the sport reflects that fact.
He is, however, exactly the type of OFer the Braves need, and you've had him pegged as an ideal target from day 1. He (and Duvall) can fake it as an everyday OFer for a while until Pache is ready, at which point he moves into a platoon role with Duvall. If the Braves get him for $5M+, he slots in at the exact spot at the exact price AA should be shopping.
I also agree that if the DH is in the NL in 2021 I would prefer to see Cruz as the DH. I think adding Rosario and Cruz would put this offense in a great spot, and it shouldn't cost too much cash to make it happen. Add a bargain BP arm or two, and let Riley try to build on his 2020 improvements. Those moves plus a Morton addition have always been my best case scenario off season, even though I still feel like AA overpaid for Morton a bit and I'm not a huge fan of the Smyly deal.
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MadduxFanII
Swallowed by Mark Bowman
Braves and Camargo agreed to a contract at $1.36 million, which is below projections and not unreasonable as a "let's give you one more chance to see if you can be an acceptable utility guy" deal.
Freshmaker
Arbitration Eligible
Camargo coming back for $1.3M. I woulda just let him walk, but this is a significant savings over his Arby projection
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MadduxFanII
Swallowed by Mark Bowman
Non-guaranteed contract, as an FYI.
UNCBlue012
Well-known member
The #Braves and LHP Grant Dayton today agreed to a one-year contract for the 2021 season worth $900,000.
jpx7
Very Flirtatious, but Doubts What Love Is.
Same. I was hoping he’d be replaced with someone better.