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Everyone thought once Soto signed, the flood gates would open.
So let’s get this week started!
I really hope we bring Teo back, and I REALLY hope we don’t lose Walker Buehler!
Boras having quite the off-season.
The Yankees went from $47.5M x 15 years ($712.5M) to 16 years ($760M) after Boras asked for new offers early Sunday evening.
Then Juan Soto took the Mets’ deal.
The in-depth story of how Soto’s sweepstakes happened, by Rosenthal, Mooney and Will Sammon: ($$$$)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5932790/2024/12/08/juan-soto-mets-free-agent-deal/
NOT much, if anything, on how involved (or not involved) the Dodgers and Red Sox were.
Rosenthal on his podcast expects a 3 year deal for Teoscar to actually happen:
Also says (!!!!) Dodgers ARE in fact looking at high end relievers.
With the signings of Conforto and Treinen the Dodgers now need to turn their attention to resigning Teo. The price probably just went way up with the Soto contract. I don’t think the money is the big issue with resigning him. I think it is more the length of the deal. Dodgers don’t want to go over 2 or 3 years and I believe he and his agent are seeking 3 to 5 years.
What are the alternatives if we whiff on Teo????
Free Agents:
Santander
Bader
Grichuk
Profar
Verdugo
Possible Trades:
Bellinger
Suzuki
Roberts Jr.
The Dodgers may have a better chance of getting Luis Robert Jr. from CWS (if they choose to overpay, which AF does not) over Garrett Crochet. Boston is very much involved in trade discussions with CWS for Crochet, and they are rumored to be willing to include uber SS prospect Marcelo Mayer (#10 overall prospect). LAD cannot match that. Mayer would not be the only piece in that trade package, and Boston is willing to pay it. It will not be another top 25 prospect. The BoSox have 2 of MLB top 10 prospects (per Baseball America), and 4 of the top 25, including #1 overall OF Roman Anthony.
For comparison, the Dodgers top prospect is #26, Dalton Rushing.
I find it hard to believe AF will be satisfied with just adding Conforto to the outfield. I would hope that if he has to he will increase the years of the contract offer to Teo to 4 years. I can’t envision anyone offering him 5 years; the strikeout problem he has will not age well making even 4 years a risk.
The Soto signing for $765 million further confirms the value of the Ohtani deal that seemed crazy last year. As hitters, Soto and Ohtani are comparable with Soto having a slightly higher career OPS. Soto has the better OBP and Ohtani has more power. Soto is much younger and plays OF, but Ohtani is a much better base runner. Just as offensive players only, the Ohtani contract at $700 million is better than Soto contract at $765 million. Of course, Ohtani is also an all star pitcher, his contract has $680 million in deferrals and NPV of $460 million, and the additional marketing revenues probably pay for his whole contract. Maybe the economics of MLB have changed forever, but it seems that the Dodgers are better off not signing Soto to that deal.
The Conforto deal at $17 million is peanuts to the Dodgers, but unless there are deferrals, it seems like a slight overpay for a 32 year old platoon player who is injury prone with OPS of 759, 718 and 729 the last three seasons he played. But Friedman is a genius so it will probably work out.
Great to see Treinen back again with the Dodgers. He was crucial to the Championship and played for only $1 million in 2024. He is a bullpen leader and when healthy one of the best relievers in the game. Important to retain and reward the players who sacrificed to win a World Series title. And Blake was one of the most important contributors.
Phillies agree to sign RHRP Jordan Romano to a 1 year $7.75MM deal pending physical.
What if Betts starts the season in RF and Lux at 2B? That solves, at least at the start of the season, the infield and outfield situation, and at trade dateline and depending on the situation, move Lux and return Betts to 2B.
I must say I have been upset with the way the Dodgers have handled the Teo hernandez situation .We could have signed during the season .We could have signed him after the World series
I am very outdone.But it doesn’t matter.
Dave Roberts seemed to indicate on MLB Network that Mookie is going to SS, and Lux will play 2B. Mookie will have all of the offseason to prepare for SS. Now the cynical me understands that Doc is not going to say Mookie is going to play 2B, and Lux is going to be traded. I will let AF/BG decide what happens with Lux.
Doc also indicated that Edman is ticketed for CF.
Still have 2 months to finalize a roster.
Alex Bregman back to Houston is gaining traction. Bregman is happy in Houston. Can Houston afford both Bregman and Kyle Tucker? Probably not. However, there is no urgency in moving Tucker now, especially in a weak AL West.
I’m just tuning in here and have not read today’s comments on the previous thread yet. I have thoughts on Soto signing with the Mets. I think the Mets were given assurances that if they were the high bidder Soto would sign with them. Otherwise if the Mets were not given that assurance they could have said they were out of the Soto contest and Soto’s offer from the Yankees would have been much lower.
Conforto was a good signing, I guess. Boring though.
Astros apparently are willing to listen on Kyle Tucker.
They really want to bring back Bregman and won’t be able to keep both guys.
Since Bregman will probably get in the 170-200 million range this winter while Tucker might get twice that much next winter, they’ve decided Bregman is the way they want to go if possible.
So what are we prepared to give the Astros for one year of Kyle Tucker? Next year will be his age 28 season.
He is not represented by Boras and was willing to talk extension with the Astros this year, so it’s possible we could extend him without his going to free agency.
Per Doug McKain:
Andrew Friedman says that Roki Sasaki is a major priority for the Dodgers:
“He is someone that obviously is a major priority for us and we’re going to do whatever we can, and know that there are a lot of other teams that are going to do the exact same thing.”
Friedman went on to say Sasaki is capable of being the best pitcher in the world.