Around the MLB 2018

[Kurtz]

St Louis and San Francisco should be desperate right now, having missed out on Stanton. Boston should be even more desperate to answer this move. All 3 teams could use a massive upgrade at 3B.

This is a very opportune time to start a bidding war for JD between these 3 teams, I think.

Boston's probably set with Devers, but STL and SF are absolutely in the market. Open question with the Giants have the pieces necessary, though.

And that's part of the problem...there aren't many teams with a need at 3B, and with the prospects to pay full freight. We know there's one in STL with both, and with interest in Donaldson. But 3B is a pretty deep position these days, and if the Cards find someone, who knows if there'll be anyone offering a bounty at the trade deadline.

Yeah, I'm talking about making the move now, while Devers is still a question mark in Boston and before Baltimore wakes up and puts Machado on the block. If we move on that now, the environment is great for a significant return on JD. Waiting until the deadline may render the return scarcely better than the comp pick we'd get.

[polo007]

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[So_Fresh]

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Jays are in on everyone. lol.

[metafisical]

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Jays are in on everyone. lol.

Atkins pretending to do work.

[polo007]

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[BramptonYute]

Angels get Kinsler

[polo007]

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[polo007]

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[Schad]

Remarkably, the Dodgers are now below the luxury tax threshold, as AA has done his old friends a favour by taking back their three big expiring contracts (Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy) in exchange for shipping Matt Kemp back to LA.

Clever move in a lot of respects for Atlanta, assuming that they aren't terribly concerned about competing this season; front-loads all of the money owed in 2018, rather than paying Kemp over two years, and gets some possible trade bait in Kazmir/McCarthy, assuming one or both can remain healthy.

[polo007]

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It was a masterful stroke of genius for the Dodgers.

And they made it work only by convincing Gonzalez to waive his no-trade clause, telling him that if he declined to waive it, he’d be buried on the bench in 2018 with limited at-bats.

It wasn’t a threat, but a promise.

Gonzalez certainly wasn’t about to spend the final year of his contract, and perhaps his career, cheering on All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman on the bench, so he only agreed, agent John Boggs said, if the Braves agreed to designate him for assignment and make him a free agent.

Done.

“My final decision was not based on playing time,’’ Gonzalez said in a statement, “as I had agreed to a limited bench role. It is a way to test the free-agent market and see what opportunities are out there for me so I can make the best decision moving forward for me and my family. Lifting the no-trade clause is the hardest decision I have ever made in my career due to the fact that I loved every single second being a Dodger."

“I have talked through this whole process with (Dodgers president) Andrew (Friedman) and the Dodgers organization, and they are giving me this opportunity to see if there is a better fit for me somewhere else. As the roster stands right now, there might not be a spot for me on the roster.’’

Gonzalez will officially be a free agent on Wednesday where he can sign for the minimum salary, and have the Braves pay him for playing elsewhere, perhaps in his hometown of San Diego.

The Padres still badly want free agent first baseman Eric Hosmer, but if nothing else, this could give them a little leverage.

[dagger]

Remarkably, the Dodgers are now below the luxury tax threshold, as AA has done his old friends a favour by taking back their three big expiring contracts (Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy) in exchange for shipping Matt Kemp back to LA.

Clever move in a lot of respects for Atlanta, assuming that they aren't terribly concerned about competing this season; front-loads all of the money owed in 2018, rather than paying Kemp over two years, and gets some possible trade bait in Kazmir/McCarthy, assuming one or both can remain healthy.

Jeff Passan has an interesting theory about the Dodgers and Yankees getting out of the luxury tax - it's window dressing before the go out and spend on a $300 million payroll next winter. In the meantime, they save some money they don't want to spend anyway this winter, and look responsible, so the entire baseball world doesn't go crazy at their profligacy. Maintaining the weak tax structure is vey much in their interest. If they regularly stay in the tax, given their fantastic media deals, they risk 28 other teams digging in for a serious cap/tax in the next CBA.

[polo007]

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[So_Fresh]

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Wow... all the reason to trade Machado now.

[polo007]

On Wednesday, ESPN Radio host Dan Le Batard brought MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on air to grill him on baseball in South Florida. It got very explosive, very quickly.

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Le Batard: Rob, were you aware of Jeter’s plan to trade players and slash payroll?

Manfred: You know, it’s interesting. We—

Le Batard: Yes or no, please.

Manfred: You know, I’m happy to do yes or nos—

Le Batard: You can elaborate afterward, I just want to know if you were aware of the plan. Did you approve a plan that had “slash payroll” again for South Florida?

Manfred: We do not approve operating decisions by any ownership. New owner, current owners or not. And as a result the answer to your question is no.

Le Batard: Rob, Rob—

Manfred: I’m not gonna be deposed like this is some adversary thing. You want me to ask me questions, I’ll answer them the way I want to answer them. If that’s not good enough, we’ll move on.

Le Batard: No, that’s fine, but you’re coming on here and saying you weren’t aware of Jeter’s plan to trade players and slash payroll? We’re starting with a lie, Rob. That’s where we’re starting. You can’t tell me you’re not aware of that.

Manfred: I’m not going to sit here and have you call me a liar. I explained to you that we do not get involved in operating-level decisions in the ownership process, the ownership approval process. Clubs make those local decisions by themselves.

Le Batard: Were you aware of his plan though? Were you aware of it?

Manfred: No. No. We did not have player-specific plans from the Miami Marlins or any other team that were approved in the ownership process. Those are decisions individual owners make, and they do not have to be cleared by us or approved by us.

[JaysRule15]

Saw the interview. It's definitely hard to pin down a smooth talking lawyer like Manfred lol.

[polo007]

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[Schad]

Some good news: Mookie Betts won his arb case for $10.5m, making Boston's payroll a bit more unwieldy and reducing their chances of getting him extended prior to free agency.

[polo007]

[Lateral Quicks]

I'm with the owners on this one. The cat's out of the bag that paying extraordinary amounts to aging free agent stars is a recipe for disaster. The solution is to pay players more in their prime years, but that won't change until the next collective agreement is negotiated (in 2021 I believe).

Free agents will still get paid lucrative salaries, but not the gross overpayments of yesteryear.