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2018-2019 MLB Offseason Thread


Beau Vine

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The Nationals have been the most active team in baseball this winter, as a Dozier signing would lengthen a list of moves that reads like this in chronological order: trading for reliever Kyle Barraclough, signing setup man Trevor Rosenthal, signing catcher Kurt Suzuki, trading for catcher Yan Gomes, signing prized left-handed starter Patrick Corbin, trading starter Tanner Roark, signing first baseman Matt Adams and, before the hot stove cooled for the holidays, signing starter Anibal Sanchez. Now the Nationals have their second baseman of the immediate future and, in filling that spot along with their other glaring holes, can turn their attention to the final steps of a critical offseason.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/sports/2019/01/10/nationals-agree-deal-with-second-baseman-brian-dozier/

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This dude is not a fan. 

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If the Yankees were looking for an infield shoreup in free agency, you’d think they’d want someone with the ability to play multiple positions and present an average at worst bat. 

Instead, they signed DJ LeMahieu, and I am Mad Online about it. LeMahieu started his career with the Cubs before becoming the Colorado Rockies’ primary second baseman in 2012. He has had exactly one season where he was an above average player, posting a 130 wRC+ and 4.4 fWAR in 2016. That’s great! He was basically Didi Gregorius, who is a really good player.

Unfortunately, the rest of his career he averages a 78 wRC+ and a paltry 1.2 fWAR over 150 games. He really isn’t a very good player, and while the Yankees are clearly betting on the upside of 2016, the floor is awful low, especially at $12 million in AAV.

As for that prospective upside, that’s also confusing. LeMahieu ranked 202nd in baseball in max exit velocity in 2018, and 183rd in barrels per plate appearance %. By those metrics, he was a little worse than former Yankee Starlin Castro. Yet his average exit velocity was roughly equal to Mike Trout’s, and his hard hit percentage - rate of balls hit harder than 95 mph - was pretty much the same as Juan Soto and Jesus Aguilar.

Now the Yankees clearly plan to use DJ as a utility infielder, giving him time around the diamond. The problem with that is he hasn’t played anywhere but second since 2014. Asking a guy to adjust to a new league and new team is hard enough without hoping he remembers what is was like to play third base five years ago.

All in all, this deal smells a lot like the Brandon Drury acquisition last season, which went poorly. Both players were guys that hadn’t really produced at all in the majors, but if you squinted you could see productivity. In Drury’s defense, he battled migraines his whole career and that obviously affected his ability to play. For LaMahieu, he’s just not that good, and I’m left scratching my head at why the Yankees will think he’ll succeed in a new city, new league, and essentially new positions.

 

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On 12/21/2018 at 6:17 PM, Goo Punch said:

Reds got fleeced. 

On a intellectual level I agree with you, but it's been so fun seeing my relatives in Cincinnati be over the moon that they suddenly have the most news-worthy player in baseball.

Sometimes it's about more than the pure performance.

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38 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Not going to bother looking, but wasn’t one of Bryce harper’s draft demands to be put on the 40 man? I feel like somebody has asked for that previously, whether they got it or not. 

Lots of guys did; then MLB made a rule not allowing it.

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I talked to a member of the MLBPA Exec Committee today, and he said that basically all of the guys who are free agents are getting zero offers or getting multiple offers for the exact same terms.  That sounds exactly like 85-87.  I assume the owners just figured all they had to do was avoid the huge paper trail they left in those years and everything would be fine.  

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Here's the other thing I've heard that is a kind of brilliant backdoor to collusion: 

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Teams hiring the same exact company as a “consultant” to value players. And all 30 teams hire the same company so they know they all have the same data and values without technically communicating. 

 

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mlb.com has every team’s projected lineup if the season started now. Check out Balt’s... 

1. Cedric Mullins, CF
2. Jonathan Villar, 2B
3. Trey Mancini, DH
4. Chris Davis, 1B
5. DJ Stewart, RF
6. Renato Nunez, 3B
7. Joey Rickard, LF
8. Richie Martin, SS
9. Chance Sisco, C

 

That is not the best. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/each-mlb-teams-projected-opening-day-lineup/c-302718516

 

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13 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

mlb.com has every team’s projected lineup if the season started now. Check out Balt’s... 

1. Cedric Mullins, CF
2. Jonathan Villar, 2B
3. Trey Mancini, DH
4. Chris Davis, 1B
5. DJ Stewart, RF
6. Renato Nunez, 3B
7. Joey Rickard, LF
8. Richie Martin, SS
9. Chance Sisco, C

 

That is not the best. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/each-mlb-teams-projected-opening-day-lineup/c-302718516

 

Just wait until you see their rotation 

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1 hour ago, spystud13 said:

mlb.com has every team’s projected lineup if the season started now. Check out Balt’s... 

1. Cedric Mullins, CF
2. Jonathan Villar, 2B
3. Trey Mancini, DH
4. Chris Davis, 1B
5. DJ Stewart, RF
6. Renato Nunez, 3B
7. Joey Rickard, LF
8. Richie Martin, SS
9. Chance Sisco, C

 

That is not the best. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/each-mlb-teams-projected-opening-day-lineup/c-302718516

 

That lineup brings a tear to my eye thinking about all the great lineups the Astros started back in 2012, 2013, 2014 

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1 hour ago, spystud13 said:

mlb.com has every team’s projected lineup if the season started now. Check out Balt’s... 

1. Cedric Mullins, CF
2. Jonathan Villar, 2B
3. Trey Mancini, DH
4. Chris Davis, 1B
5. DJ Stewart, RF
6. Renato Nunez, 3B
7. Joey Rickard, LF
8. Richie Martin, SS
9. Chance Sisco, C

 

That is not the best. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/each-mlb-teams-projected-opening-day-lineup/c-302718516

 

tenor.gif

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22 hours ago, spystud13 said:

That is not the best. 

Last year the O's got close but ultimately failed to be the worst team in franchise history, with the 1939 St Louis Browns triumphant. Much like A&M and Neo-Nazis, 1939 is a gold standard they can never reach but they will certainly try.

Can they finish more than 64.5 games out of first place? Can they win less than 25% of their games? Can they threaten the all time major league record of 134 losses?

Those seem like longshots but they will try and as a longtime Orioles fan who wept bitter tears during the 2014 and 1997 American League Championship Series I look forward to see if Peter Angelos' club can achieve the sort of history they always seemed destined to achieve. They kind they always deserved to make. The 2003 Detroit Tigers better be worried because the birds are gunning for them.

Edited by Valmy77
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There is nothing more annoying on Twitter than this bullshit. Rosenthal gets beat to the scoop, so has to repeat what Passan has already said. Then he fucking replies to himself to subtweet himself, to only again repeat what Passan has already said.  

 

 

Jesus shit, it's Wilmer fucking Flores, a guy only known for crying. 

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