OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Offseason at the Crossroads

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah it's sort of astonishing that he's only getting 2 years. That's not even a commitment that covers the whole window we are going to do nothing to maximize, but if he plays like he has the past two years, it's an insane value. As Kiley McDaniel pointed out immediately on twitter, Zobrist performed like this and then got 4/56 from the Cubs.

Gotta think the Mets might have a trade in the works. They have like 500 players on their 40-man now.

Edit: I guess the upside for the Pirates is that he's not coming to the NL Central, just another NL team that will be better than them in the WC race. Though at this point I expect Gonzalez to get a very similar deal from like the Cardinals or something just for the hell of it.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Yeah, would a been a good add.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

So the Phillies have hired Machado's old hitting coach and mentor, and the White Sox are hiring his entire extended network of family and friends. It's amazing what weird lengths teams are trying to go towards to save what is relatively speaking not that much money. I get the reticence that teams have towards investing huge amounts of money into players who only have 2-3 prime years left, but it's just sort of absurd that there's this much foot dragging over two 26 year olds who have put up such incredible numbers.

It's arbitration deadline day so that might freeze the stove again. Hopefully NH has several devices plugged in to keep the latest tabs on what the lowest market value he can offer to Galvis is.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Lol... you know what will get him to sign? A proper contract.

Jesus, man, it's not that hard. This is just hard to stomach after report after report are coming out showing record profits for the league in the billions. On top of teams for the last couple of years moaning that "Oh, we're not spending in FA because the players are so old and near their downturns". There are two 26 year old MVP, HoF tracking talents out there and 80% of the league is saying, "Nah, we're good here. So much risk" and the ones that are trying are haggling like an old man at a restaurant, "I know you said $30 for the steak and lobster, but you didn't give me a lemon wedge and you didn't hustle out here after it was cooked, so how does $10 sound, with a $3 tip?"... all while holding a money clip 9 inches thick with $100 bills.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Jesus Christ lmao

 

[DanielPlainview]

League profits =/= Pirates profits. Their attendance was down last year. Their off-season activity seems to have done nothing to improve consumer confidence, so I would expect more of the same for 2019, if not worse. At some point, the ownership will either "find" the money (if it exists as some/many would like to believe) or declare the city won't support them and that they wish to move.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

LeMehieu is getting 2/24, which is reasonably expensive for a bench player, even for the Yankees. Presumably they are looking at him as someone who can give them very good defense and whose power will still play there (as everyone's does, obviously). But you have to figure this takes them definitively out of the Machado colluding.

Maybe they are positioning to do something really wild like package Ellsbury with Andujar for Kluber or Realmuto or something. Hard to see why they are going after a reasonably good 2B, even on a good deal, with Torres already in the fold.

As a side note, it wouldn't be a terrible idea to inquire about Tyler Wade.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Idk why, but the Pirates giving Machado a huge 1 year deal and trading Cervelli seems just crazy enough to possibly happen.

 

[Winger for Hire]

 

[cheesedanish87]

Its getting pretty frustrating watching all the teams around the Pirates getting better while the Pirates are doing nothing.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

The file and trial thing is another nail in the work stoppage. At this point it seems like a decent bet that the Phillies will end up with Machado. They don't really have anyone there besides Franco who did put together a salvageable season last year and has some control, but any prospect is far away and it is an obvious fit. Harper also makes some sense, and they seem poised to get one of the two. I'd say if we want our hopes up for Machado, we'd need the Phillies to sign Harper, leaving basically no competition for the White Sox. But still, you have to think that he'd be able to get close to what he wants.

I think the only way for a team to get him with less commitment would be to give him the huge deal, with more of a premium paid in years 1 and 2 or something, after which he could opt out. So essentially it would involve an up front commitment of 2 years, 55-60 million, and then like 22ish a yeah for a long time. So let's say hypothetically, 10 years 230 million, but with 30 this year and 25 next, and then 8 years at an AAV of 22.5. And that's probably under what he really wants, and maybe the type of offer he has in hand already.

I'll set my sights on the no less utopian hope of snagging Marwin and hoping he can put together one of his great seasons either this year or next. With the Yankees seemingly getting LeMehieu for a utility role, I wonder 1) what that means for both Gregorius and especially Andujar, and 2) what that means concerning Gonzalez's asking price.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Now we can wait even longer before we dump Cervelli's salary for no reason.

Edit: actually makes a ton of sense for the Dodgers. Basically like a one year deal and can't imagine they gave anything up. He's trended dramatically down so it's not the upgrade they'd like I'm sure, but leaves open opportunities for Hedges and the prospects, and costs virtually nothing without the risks associated with Cervelli.

 

[cheesedanish87]

Yeah, Toronto was probably just happy to get rid of Martin's salary.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Numbers and names haven't come in yet but the Dodgers are giving up two minor leaguers and the Blue Jays are reportedly paying a bunch of it down. No surprises, but Heyman and Rosenthal saying that they are also still in on Realmuto. That could mean that they're more willing to move Ruiz or Smith... Smith can eventually play 1B I suppose, but if they had Realmuto, they would seem to have a glut of catchers. I can't really see them being in on Cervelli still, since why get two stopgaps when you already have Hedges.

Sort of confusing. Nobody wants to spend premium money and all the big market teams are hoarding moderately above average infielders and catchers...


Edit: Kenny R pumping the brakes



The prospects are Ronny Brito and Andrew Sopko, way down the list for both unsurprisingly.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Those are the only two, so NH can go back to skiing at $even $pring$

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Cue the jokes, but this makes a good amount of sense in terms of the fifth starter/bullpen situation. He doesn't have huge upside but is another depth option. I imagine the plan is to keep him in the mix, and he could be DFA'd again before spring training. If his spot stays, he competes in camp for a job, then probably same deal to have around for depth. Not really news, but reasonable depth.

I'm waiting for the depressing calculation of the current payroll now that all the numbers should be in order.

Edit: apparently Slegers has options available, so this makes obvious sense as depth.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Is that Jiri's son who Americanized the Slegr surname?

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Heyman practically works for Boras, and even this is a half-hearted way to convey this which reveals it's almost obviously a leverage tactic...



... if we believe hard enough, it can be us.

Honestly, I just cannot for the life of me see Machado aging that poorly. I guess maybe the risk is lesser for an AL team, where you can always count on him becoming more of a DH once he gets up there in years, but given the money that exists, he seems like even more of a sure bet than Harper to build around.

 

[Winger for Hire]

The glove of Brooks Robinson and the bat of Ron Santo. He's Adrian Beltre that plays SS and teams are balking at paying him. GTFO.

And over in the other camp you have a young Frank Robinson and there's like 3 teams seriously interested.

This league is broken. These two should have 60 offers in front of them (multiples from each team and some from Japan). This is like Patty Kane and Steven Stamkos hitting the market and only getting offers from 5 teams.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Small Bucco news... Typler Eppler is taking his talents to Japan.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

I dont care if it completely blew up in their face, if the Pirates nutted up and came over the top of these big markets that are dicking Machado around...that would make me soooo happy.

 

[Winger for Hire]

So much innuendo... I don't know where to start for a joke.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Feels like everything is going to remain in a kind of standstill until one of Harper or Machado signs. Philly needs to just step up and offer the huge contract.

Some rumors are flying about the Padres acquiring Kluber in order to flip him for Senzel. That would be bad news in some obvious sense, though I'm still sort of on the train that the more of a bloodbath the NL Central is, the better. It would be far worse if one of the other teams got him. Right now, my read is that those teams are still in striking distance, and a Reds team with Kluber is probably as good as we are. I'd take my chances competing for the division, though I think whatever problems are likely to surface for this team will be over the long haul. Just taking a panoramic view of last year, that's sort of how things tended to shake out, and so maybe we've grown from that as a relatively young team, but I think the same kinds of things will show their head at some point or another.

None of that is to say that the path we seem to be committed to is the right one. Obviously, we need to bring in a handful of players, and the number of reasonable options is dwindling.

 

[Winger for Hire]

The team is totally going to use Blass' retirement to try to draw any negative sentiments about the team away from the news.

Fans: The team is floundering
Team: Shh, you want to ruin Steve's last season of being a Pirate?

Fans: You guys didn't make any moves during the trade deadline.
Team: Remember that Spet 28th is Blass Bobblehead night!!

 

[cookthebooks]

this off season is depressing. not just the pirates, but all of baseball. its just wholly broken right now