Free agency thread

[Sports Guy]

10 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Greinke's numbers were trending the wrong direction last season plus he's 38 years old. I'd like to see Elias make some moves for decent players, but I don't think Greinke is worth the risk on an Orioles team that isn't going to win this year. 

 

 

Would he be worth it if he came here and mentored GRod and Hall and made them better pitchers?  
 

Im not advocating for Greinke.  I didn’t want him and glad we didn’t sign him but the whole, you don’t sign anyone unless you are a contender has to stop.  There are a lot of reasons to bring in vet talent to help these younger players.

[OriolesMagic83]

1 hour ago, waroriole said:

That’s a stupid contract for Bryant. Especially if you’re the Rockies. I was never a fan of signing Bryant, but this is far and away a lot worse than I thought it would be. 

Isn't Bryant thought of more as an OF going forward.  He definitely could be a DH the last couple of years of the contract.  At least DH is an option for Colorado now. 

[Sports Guy]

Just now, OriolesMagic83 said:

Isn't Bryant thought of more as an OF going forward.  He definitely could be a DH the last couple of years of the contract.  At least DH is an option for Colorado now. 

I think they play him all over the place but my understanding is they signed him for third for now.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

The Rockies are something else lol.

[OriolesMagic83]

Would Trevor Story be a more cost effective option for the O's instead of Correa.  I can't see the O's signing anyone to a 10 year deal, even if a player is Ripken incarnate.  Resigning Story probably would have been a better option for Colorado too, but he had no interest in resigning.

[Three Run Homer]

So I go on mlbtraderumors and the top Orioles-related story is still the Chris Owings signing.  

Some people are probably fine with the O's standing still while everyone else makes moves, but I am not.  Even if we accept that the O's are not likely to contend this year, they owe the fans a little more hope for reasonable production at 3B and the starting rotation at least.  A team that goes into the season with Kelvin Gutierrez as its regular third baseman deserves to be relegated to AAA.    

[Just Regular]

12 minutes ago, Three Run Homer said:

So I go on mlbtraderumors and the top Orioles-related story is still the Chris Owings signing.  

Some people are probably fine with the O's standing still while everyone else makes moves, but I am not.  Even if we accept that the O's are not likely to contend this year, they owe the fans a little more hope for reasonable production at 3B and the starting rotation at least.  A team that goes into the season with Kelvin Gutierrez as its regular third baseman deserves to be relegated to AAA.    

Angels got Matt Duffy for $1.5M.   To the extent I try to keep critiques of un-made transactions limited to ones that actually happen, I would have been sad about this one if we were actually trying this year.

[Just Regular]

Schwarber off board inches Mancini closer to top of available list for clubs wanting a competent DH/1B bat.

Freeman, Castellanos, Conforto still just $$$, and Soler and Pham floating as guys who could threaten being better and cheaper.    McCutchen, Eddie Rosario and Pederson picking teams clears some of the similar types.

Padres perhaps need to offload some stuff to bolster their Freeman bid.    You figure the serious Freeman bidders asking Castellanos, etc. to please be patient.

 

[Barnaby Graves]

3 hours ago, Ripken said:

Chris Bryant to Colorado for 7/182

...something, something, big market... something, something, Rocks trying to win... something, something....

 

This is a clear shot across the bow, the Rockies are saying they want to top the Chris Davis deal.  Mr. President we cannot allow a disaster contract gap!

[SteveA]

Freeman to the Dodgers, 6/162

[geschinger]

5 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

They have 3 top 100 guys according to MLb.com but 2 of them aren’t likely to be up for another 2 years (if they make it of course).

They actually were a surprising team last year.  I thought they would win 60 games.  The idea that they won 74 was definitely a bit of a surprise.

I respect that they want to bring in good players and give the fans something to watch.  They have very little long term money on the books.  System isn’t ranked highly but Law (who ranked them 25th) mentioned that they have alot of guys with good upside and thinks 2020 hurt some of them.

I don’t know.  They are in a tough division and probably see this as an opportunity to grab a good player now but it’s still a surprising overall move.

You are too kind giving them respect for this move.

I see a dysfunctional organization. If they had the money to spend they should have done so while Arenado was there and kept him. Between what they are still are on the hook for to Arenado and Bryant they are now spending $220m over the next 7 years for 3B.  They also give a no trade clause to a player on the wrong side of 30 whose track record of staying healthy is not great.  They got fleeced by St Louis last year and now they’ve been fleeced again by Boras.

[seak05]

Given the final numbers in the Freeman deal, one would somewhat conclude the Braves didn’t really want him back

[DrungoHazewood]

12 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

What is 26M now?  Around 3 WAR?

Let's say it is.  Since the start of 2018 Bryant has played about three seasons worth of games and has been worth a bit over 10 wins.  So 3+ wins a season.  They're paying him to continue to to that for the next seven years, through his age 36 season.  It's a deal from 10 or 20 years ago when either the GM didn't believe in age-related decline, didn't care about an ugly back end of the deal because he knew they'd be in the playoffs a lot in the next 2, 3, 4 years, or was counting on PEDs to arrest the normal aging.

Which of those do you think applies to this deal?

Amazing they'd pass on a better home grown player at the same position, then sign this contract.  

[DrungoHazewood]

14 minutes ago, seak05 said:

Given the final numbers in the Freeman deal, one would somewhat conclude the Braves didn’t really want him back

Through his current age (31) Freeman has been worth 43 wins.  Through age 31 Eddie Murray was worth 53 wins.  From 32-on Eddie was worth 15.  He had just two more 3+ win seasons in the tank. The Dodgers are counting on Freeman to age much better than Eddie.  Good luck with that.

I suppose when you have $500M+ a year in revenues normal guidelines like "you're an idiot to sign a guy on the wrong side of 30 to a 5+ year deal" just don't apply. 

[Matt Bennett]

I would have liked Matt Duffy for the 1.5 Mil he got. More than Odor for whatever we got him for (half of 1.5?). Oh well. Neither are course altering. 

Urias, Odor, Mateo, Gutierrez for 2B/SS/3B? 

Cadyn Grenier, Richie Martin, Rylan Bannon, Mason McCoy, Shed Long, Chris Owings in line to replace in case of failure and/or injuries. Mostly crap. But there will be bodies. Maybe a guy or 2 surprises us. 

Gutierrez has a great frame but his back leg like kicks out from underneath him as he’s swinging. I feel like he loses all power doing this. 

I’d say biggest FA priority is getting another real major league SP in here. Even knowing we aren’t trying to actively compete, do you guys think 2 Opening Day rotation spots should be going to the Lowther, Akin, Kremer, Baumann, Wells crowd?