Official 2024 Off-Season Thread!

Enscheff said:
AA paid 3/34 for Lopez, who he thinks may be what Lugo already is. Not stoked about that.
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I think Lopez compares favorably to Lugo. He is 4 years younger and has a much better FB hitting a new high of 98 mph on average this last year while Lugo was at 93 which was his lowest since 2017. I think Reynaldo is a better reliever right now. Lugo was very mediocre as a reliever the previous 3 years before converting to starting. I also notice Lopez seems to always pitch better in the second half according to his splits. Lopez was lights out in the second both of the last 2 years. Lugo has one season as a decent SP pitching only 5.5 IP per start with 2 very mediocre years as a reliever before that. Lets not pretend Lugo is a safe bet. If its with the Royals I would bet he posts an ERA north of 4 and pushing 5.
 
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I’m not upset that the Braves didn’t sign Lugo specifically.

It’s just concerning that the most glaring weakness for the team going into the winter (starting pitching depth) is the only area of the team that hasn’t been addressed.
 
cajunrevenge said:
I think Lopez compares favorably to Lugo. He is 4 years younger and has a much better FB hitting a new high of 98 mph on average this last year while Lugo was at 93 which was his lowest since 2017. I think Reynaldo is a better reliever right now. Lugo was very mediocre as a reliever the previous 3 years before converting to starting. I also notice Lopez seems to always pitch better in the second half according to his splits. Lopez was lights out in the second both of the last 2 years. Lugo has one season as a decent SP pitching only 5.5 IP per start with 2 very mediocre years as a reliever before that. Lets not pretend Lugo is a safe bet. If its with the Royals I would bet he posts an ERA north of 4 and pushing 5.
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I am a bit suprised Lugo's stuff played so well in his extended time starting.

I thought of him as a two pitch guy, and usually those guys get exposed starting a bit.
 
Lugo got an opt out after year two. I wonder if that was the sticking point. Braves haven’t given any of those.
 
Thiccy Minaj
1:20 How do the Braves improve the rotation? Any chance at Yamamoto?
Steve Adams
1:23 The Braves continue to demonstrate over and over that they have minimal appetite for the type of long-term free agent deal that Yamamoto will command. If there's anyone to make an exception for, it's the 25-year-old FA ace, but I don't think it'll happen.

Also, their convoluted sequence of Kelenic/Stassi/Fletcher trades pushed them into the second luxury tier, so any deal to which they sign Yamamoto would be taxed at an extra 42% under the CBT.

Side note: I do not understand the Braves' sequence of trades, which added about $31MM to the payroll all for the sake of swapping out Nicky Lopez for a worse/more expensive version of the same skill set (David Fletcher) and rolling the dice on Kelenic.
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While I share a bit in his confusion over this sequence of moves, I do at least appreciate the potential of cheering for another Braves star hitter.
 
chop2chip said:
I’m not upset that the Braves didn’t sign Lugo specifically.

It’s just concerning that the most glaring weakness for the team going into the winter (starting pitching depth) is the only area of the team that hasn’t been addressed.
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We have a lot of starting pitching depth. The question is how usable will those options be for the playoffs. We can give AJSS Waldrep Ynoa and Anderson opportunities to lock down a job during the first half of the season and if things aren't looking good we can get another arm at the deadline. I'm sure Lugo will be available then as well.
 
That Lugo deal is fine based off performance, but there’s significant concern over his elbow holding up. It’s a ticking time bomb.
 
Enscheff said:
I suppose we just agree to disagree that Heyward/Verdugo/Rosario are equally as likely to be unplayable as Kelenic in 2024, or even close to as risky. I'm beyond tired of arguing the semantics of the word "risk".
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Heyward for one had a far below average wRC+ with platoon advantage 2/3 years which seems pretty unplayable to me.

Rosario is a better bet to be average though possibly not healthy.

Verdugo seems pretty different from other two but my recollection is there wasn't too much special about his numbers.
 
Nerfherders said:
I'm no accountant, but I wonder what the real value of that Ohtani contract is without interest and factoring in an inflation rate? One would assume getting the deferred money now means investing it at 6-10% for the next 20 years, at a minimum.

It seemed like alot of work, but I like getting Kelenic. I hope it pans out. One thing to note is that he absolutely raked in AAA whenever he was sent down:
126G, 95/28/98/16, .302/.374/.567/.941

The talent is there.
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Pacific League though ?
 
Royals have done well the past few days. Decent prices for useful pieces they can likely flip at the deadline if they want.
 
zbhargrove said:
Can’t shake the feeling we are going to end up with Cease.
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If we do, it will hopefully not be anything close to what the rumored asking price is. I’d rather see what we have developing on the farm than watch what we have developing for the Chisox…..
 
In fact, Cease is just yuck. I would MUCH rather run Elder out there over him.
And I wouldn’t trade Enscheff’s selfie portfolio for Elder.
 
His 4.58 ERA is desirable ? - maybe you guys are right - I’m sure you are - but he looks really “meh” to me.
The sharpest knife in the drawer I certainly am not….
 
Hulavol said:
His 4.58 ERA is desirable ? - maybe you guys are right - I’m sure you are - but he looks really “meh” to me.
The sharpest knife in the drawer I certainly am not….
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He's going to be 28, still with 2 years of control. His peripherals were much better than the 4.58 ERA (3.72 FIP). His velocity did dip a bit, down from 96.9 mph to 95.8 mph and his K-rate per 9 dipped from 11.10 to 10.88 (which is still very good). With Cease, if we feel like we can knock down his walks a bit (which we've had some success with), he still has very high upside. If the White Sox are actually asking for the rumored packages we've heard, I doubt anyone is going to trade for him. I believe his price will be much more manageable later in the off season. I still think something like AJSS (or Waldrep but I'd much rather keep Waldrep)/Grissom/other low level prospects get it done eventually. And to think you'd run Elder out instead of him? Then you need to look at Elder's peripherals and velocity/control numbers again (walking 3+ per 9 ain't gonna work when you're striking out less than 7 per 9 and averaging 90.9 mph on your fastball).
 
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