Looking at long-range payroll commitments, there’s a fairly sizable gap between the top-five spenders and the number six club (the Padres, at a total of $396MM). Here’s that top-five:
| Rank | Team | Total |
| 1 | Angels | $651.00 |
| 2 | Yankees | $612.00 |
| 3 | Dodgers | $533.36 |
| 4 | Nationals | $488.68 |
| 5 | Phillies | $488.50 |
That list isn’t remotely surprising. Some other deep-pocketed teams have pared back or simply not yet agreed to blockbuster extensions with existing stars. The handful of teams listed above have each recently agreed to monster contracts with one or more superstars.
Looking at a team’s future outlook involves quite a bit more than its contractual commitments. We’d want to consider controllable young talent, the prospect pool, and a wide variety of business factors in assessing which organization is best-situated for the long haul.
Here, though, we’ll just focus on the deals that are already locked in. First, I’ll re-list each of those five teams’ eexisting commitments. Then, you will vote for the one that you’d most prefer to have were you operating a large-budget franchise. (Click on the links to expand the image.)
The Angels feature two mid-prime superstars, including the greatest player of this generation.
The Yankees have an ace, a former MVP who could still return to his former glory, and a group of quality players.
The Dodgers had only limited future commitments until they struck a bold deal to keep one of the game’s best players.
The Nationals are all-in on high-grade rotation pieces.
The Phillies spent big to pluck high-end talent from division rivals.
Which is the best slate of contract commitments? (Poll link for app users; response order randomized.)
What’s going on in Anaheim is complete malpractice
What? Those contracts are both good. Everyone gets on the Angels for bad management, but since the Pujols deal bad luck has been by far the biggest problem
I’m with you on that bkbkbkbk
Considering Upton has an extra year right now he’s the worse contract
The Human Rain Delay
It’s looking that way now. No one expected him to break a toe running into concrete at dodger stadium, and I didn’t expect what I’ve seen this year.
The guy is in his age 32 season. Players are not suppose to die that quickly.
I thought he ran into the low LF wall in Anaheim against the Dodgers during the pre-season freeway series..
Prior to COVID-19, Upton and Pujols combined for 50 million in salary this year which is more than 26% of the Angels payroll. By the time those two are off the books, Trout and Rendon may no longer be in their prime and the Angels will once again be paying top dollar for 2 aging superstars.
And I know we’re less than a month in, but Rendon is looking NOTHING like the player he was in D.C. Right now, he’s no better than Upton. He needs to come around before Stassi comes back to earth.
The LAA could give Pujols and Upton’s money to Trout and it would be much better spent.
Then Angels signed Pujols then a 3 billion dollar tv deal.
Upton was not a free agent, they traded from him. Then they extended him one year at a lower AAV.
That’s just information. Absorb it as you like.
Don’t try to confuse me with the facts!
The Angels having no money committed to pitching – so accurate
Their starting pitching is doing quite well. They can’t get any relief pitching.
Which is the exact opposite of the last few years when they had good relief pitching and horrible starters. The Angels can’t seem to find the right mix.
The Angels haven’t had good relief pitching for years. They haven’t had good starters since Weaver started to tank.
They had a good backend of the pen last year, I should’ve said
Fred,
What has typically happened, is the Angels find a back end of the pen as the season progresses. There isn’t a lot of time to find the right combination this year.
Very true Halo
False
bk, what’s false? Please Explain.
Last year, Cody Allen was the closer.
Guys bkkkkkkkk are always going to against the Angels and try to be funny. Just shows how little they know about the Halos or any otber team.
Is for or against me, the English is tough?
Nats and Phillies are the in the worse position in my attempt to have an unbiased opinion. I really like the angels and Yankees long term. Nats seem to be in the worse position overall in terms of future commitments :/
Yankees have all that money tied to a pitcher (a great one, but still). One bad injury and a pitcher can be out a year+
Double Maybe triple that concern for the Nats then? Lol
Nats are tied up in high quality starters. Which isn’t bad per say, Especially bc the defer money makes it a bit more manageable. But they are playing roulette with baseball health gods in a way. Stras goes down, Max goes down. Idk how much Space they have to add more
If he’s injured and is out a year plus, they’d presumably save a lot via insurance. Now, if he comes back from that injury and isn’t the same/plays poorly, then they’re screwed.
out of all the teams i say the dodgers have the best future, because look at thier roster. they have big money coming off they will have money to sign guys like cody and seager and they have alot of cheap minor league players to replace higher end guys like turner and kershaw. heck look at thier rotation now all players from their minors
Not sure what the recent stock market has done to the Nats investments, but they are actually in a great position because most likely they will have made the money and more by saving the money now, investing it and paying players in the future. It is a great strategy and why they like to have contracts with deferred money.
I voted for the Angels. When you’re paying Mike Trout, it will never be a bad investment. Plus Pujols will be coming off the books after next season.
I did as well. Yankees have Stanton long-term, so I don’t know how good an investment that is. Nationals have great pitching, but Scherzer is getting old and has only one more year yet they’re still paying him long-term. Phillies: Harper < Trout. Dodgers have a good mix because they have a bunch of money coming off, but having a bunch of money doesn't guarantee another superstar comes in. The Angels already have two superstars, one of which is one of the few players better than Betts.
I'm definitely not saying the Angels are the best team of the bunch (they're vying with the Phillies for the worst) or that they're set up the best for the future, considering the money other teams are likely to spend between now and 2023. All I'm saying is that between money to spend and money already spent on a superstar, I'd take the latter, especially since I don't think they went more than a year too long on Rendon and got Trout for a discount.
That was my thought, too, largely.
NYY- I don’t want Stanton on my ledger.
PHI- I don’t want Nola or Wheeler at those figures.
WSH- I wouldn’t want that amount of money tied up in just my staff.
The two LA teams looked to be in the most enviable positions. I’d rather have my bird in hand, though, with Trout and Rendon. The Dodgers are going to have to pay out for Kershaw again real soon. That was the tie-breaker, for me.
since kershaw already 32 you think they will be willing to give him big money again knowing they have a stack minor league and could have his replacement on the team already. i say they sign him for a smaller shorter deal if anything
I’m not sure, to be honest. He’s a homegrown star; and if he asks for 4 or 5 yrs at a high rate, it may be hard for them to say no. It wouldn’t be as easy as passing on someone else’s FA, I think. It’ll be interesting to see.
He wont get 4-5 years imo and if he asks we just have to wish him well in that new ballpark in Texas
It might get a tad awkward but Fried has to take the emotions out of this if at all possible- By 2022 I fully expect May and Urias to be better options than Kershaw on the mound so you have to ask yourself do you want to shell out 20+ mill for a 4 starter? Price and Buehler will still be there as well as many other options like Gonzo Ferg Strip Miller Santana White Beetter etc etc
Id set the high bar at 3/50 for Shaw and TBH Im not even trying to ink that deal if I dont have to– Would be nice to go year to year or maybe a 2/40…….. It will be awkward but nobody is more professional than Kershaw and he knows the deal….. The choice will ultimately be his which direction he wants to go
Very odd and unique situation here as nobody else in the league has the excess of Sp that LAD does s
How many Angels have had TJ? What moron left Otani in for 42 pitches in one inning knowing he is still coming back from TJ?
I think it’s a riot that they foolishly spent on Fat Albert. Have they even played a playoff game since that signing?
Yes, 2014, though they didn’t win any games.
Chill. The 42 pitch thing is tired. Ohtani clearly wasn’t fully recovered (and implied as much in an interview). There isn’t much you can do. Either send them out for 60-80 pitches or you don’t.
I have to agree with bk on this one. At some point you have to take the chance and send the pitcher out there to really know and just tossing 3 or 4 pitches won’t tell you anything.
Not trying to start a thing, but counter point is after…30? 35? We knew he didn’t have it. No pitcher in this day in age should throw 40+ pitches in an inning. Especially not your recently injured pitching jewel of the system
Telling an injured guy to keep pitching when he’s gassed is just asking for him to mess with mechanics that much more. Dangerous game
You’re saying hang them because they let him throw 20 more pitches? It seems like a pretty arbitrary distinction.
Look at the way that the Dodgers handled Buehler’s first start, and the quick hook they gave him. He went to the pen after the early exit, and got more pitches in. I get what you’re saying 60-80 or you don’t, but he clearly wasn’t right. He should’ve been pulled. I’m a Dodgers fan obviously, but I pay enough attention to the Angels to know they should’ve brought the hook earlier.
dave frost- You might think it’s foolish The Angels spent big bucks on Albert. But it netted The Angels a huge TV contract. I’ve never read or heard Arte Moreno complain about the contract. Just moronic fans. And yes they played in the post season with Albert and Trout.
It shows teams need balance. Boston could not improve this off season and in fact traded away payroll because they had so many expensive short term deals and wanted to reset the tax threshold to pay Devers,
Devers is gotta show more before they pay him long term
Nats fan here, and the table for the Nats (and perhaps the others) is misleading.
The Nats have deferred monies in several contracts.
Scherzer for example is only committed to the Nats for 1 more season (2021).
But he gets payments stretched out well beyond that for his deferred compensation.
So if paying Max $15M in 2025 when he is 42 seems stupid, that’s because they were also able to pay Scherzer well under market value for the duration of his actual playing time in DC.
Trying to assess contracts and value in this way is foolish.
I’ll just double down on why this is such a foolish exercise.
Scherzer counts nothing toward Nats payroll or luxury tax from 2022 forward. Not a dime. For MLB payroll purposes and MLB Luxury tax purposes all of Scherzer’s contract is accounted for in his playing days with the Nats 2015 – 2021.
Bruno, I won’t argue against the validity of the strategy- but that 15m dollars still comes out of Washington’s coffers. So you do have to account for it in this exercise. You could only throw it out if the question was based on luxury tax implications or something.
It is and isn’t. It’s still cash out that they’re paying him in 2022, 2023, etc. This exercise isn’t measuring the value of these deals per se so much as it is measuring the mix of future commitments. If teams want to mortgage their future for a brighter present, that’s their right, but we should still include that mortgaging when talking about the future.
I disagree. First, this exercise is indeed measuring the value of the deals. What else does “best” mean?
That’s why (IMO) it’s so worthless.
Again using Scherzer as the example. Look only at the snapshot from 2021 and forward, his contract looks just stupid. Look at his contract in full perspective, it’s probably one of the better free agent pitcher signings.
Nobody looks at Mets payroll today and says, “hold on, we need to factor in Bobby Bonilla’s payments”. Because the deferred payments don’t affect current salary or luxury tax compensation.
Scherzer isn’t earning any salary from 2022 forward. It’s been “earned” in the past. He’s just collecting deferred payment.
Bobby Bonilla is only being paid 1 million dollars, however. Max is going to be making 15m per. The former figure doesn’t really hurt that much, whereas the latter may hinder WSH quite a bit. That’s why no one speaks of Bonilla. How could the Mets ever point to that and say we almost landed so-and-so, but we could only offer 29m vs the 30 he asked because we’re still paying Bonilla? If they choose, too, the Nats could point to the 15m figure as a reason they need to cut spending. I grant you it doesn’t effect the luxury tax, but it may well impact financial decisions.
Are you saying you’re unable to assess a deal with deferred money? Why? It’s not hard
As was said above, it’s about future payroll commitments. Not how great each signing was. Washington is paying Max 15M each year for a decade? Thats a lotta dough they’re paying out you want to ignore.
You’re not wrong saying they got great value paying Max 15M or whatever while he played there not 30, 100%. But they are paying the rest going forward. It deserves to be on “future payroll commitments.” Even if they resign Max, that money is still due….
The team may have purchased an annuity to cover some of the additional deferred cost. After the Mets and Madoff, I don’t think teams will solely rely on anticipated projected revenue.
I get so sick of hearing about the Bobby Bo contract –
The Mets paid David Wright last year (to not play) more than they payed Bobby Bo the entire decade
Looks like the Dodgers will have plenty of room to re-sign/extend their own star players and maybe another good free agent or two. I picked them.
they will and this story forget one guy . justin turner who deal up in a year or two and he making over 10mill. i dont know why they didnt bring him up
Justin Turner’s deal end after this season
With DH likely coming to NL, and JT can still play a good 3B, Nelson Cruz’s contracts seem to be a floor for JT. LA will pay to keep him imo. He’s been basically a captain for the last 5 years here
but he already 35 and they could easily replace him if they wanted with a guy name edwin rios. dodgers may pay him again or give him a smaller shorter deal because of his age nd they have his replacement in rios
Rios is a passable spot starter here and there, but he’s not going to be a long term 3b solution for the Dodgers. He’s just not consistently routine enough. He’s never really been which has been the problem fitting him somewhere with the bottleneck in the upper minors. Its still a huge weakness the dodgers have tried to fill over last few years, but haven’t been able to. They’ll resign Turner and hope to turn it over to Hoese. They’ll resign Kersh shorter term bigger money. But C’mon let’s at least be honest about guys, not have unrealistic rose colored takes.
I like Rios, but really there’s no room for guys like him or Beaty, Peters etc.. To me it makes them secondary parts in trades when you can produce the Reks and McKinstry’s of the world can hit and play an actual position.
Well said Blue —
Yea the hope is Hoese for the future at the corner indeed –
Kershaw will be very very very interesting come 2021 off-season-
On one hand the Dodgers can probably move entirely off of him and not sweat it. On the other its Kershaw….Then comes the money side of the equation
I love Kershaw but I hope theres a number of years/million that we just say NO
Lets take the Rich Hill of 3/45 as a base. I know he’s more valuable but at the time of that signing SP was more of a need than it will be in 2022 (most likely/lot can happen) I dont know if Id exceed that and would probably aim for something more like a 2/35 – 2/40
He will be able to get more from a team Like Texas…if he does we have to let him walk if that is indeed what he wants at this point
Coming from a Halos fan I voted for Nats. Main reason is elite starting pitching seems to be what has separated the top contenders from pretenders. The teams who can score alot of runs but not prevent them seem to me, teams like the Angel’s that don’t invest in top end pitching. They HAVE to get a true ace and be able to rely on them to give them innings which should lead to more opportunities to win. It sucks to watch across town and hear your friends and family talk about the Dodgers. They seem to get it. Start with Kershaw years ago and build with veterans and young high end prospects who can come up and contribute and mostly replace the fading veteran player. What do the Angels not understand? They continue to strike out and miss the top arms. I think if they want to have a chance to get Trout where he should be (playoffs and championships) then get some damn top starters to contend year by year. If not then I fear that wild card chance every season.
Cole wasn’t going to sign anywhere but NY. Wheeler was going to stay on the east coast. I think Eppler has done a good job with the rotation considering whats happened with Ohtani and the death of Skaggs. Just need to get bp straighten out.
what about turner he making over 10 mil? we can talk about nelson and his nothing deal. but forget turner and his big deal.
Complainers gonna complain, but I like this exercise. End of the day, deference or anything else, these are the monies guaranteed to be paid out. It’s fun to think… how does Hicks+Cole+Stanton effect Judge? was that thought out by them, or did they get ahead of themselves?
With Nats, all that pitching and rely on younger hitters. Risky but interesting. They were one of the first to really use deferments, so I think it’s good to see how much real money they are paying out going forward. That’s gonna affect their spending way more than the AAV on paper like some wanna look at
Honestly If upton was playing better, itd be a really close call btwn the LA teams. His struggles pushed me toward LAD, but I admit I’m biased as well. Add on I feel more confident Friedman building a winner over the Angels, and that was my tie breaker. Again, fun to see people’s thought process tho. Not really a wrong answer if you can justify it
Surprised the Nats didn’t get more love. The Stras deal was too much but they only have dollars committed to 3 top SP’s. All 3 of those guys are worth it today. I have a hard time thinking that Scherzer and Corbin won’t be worth it for the entirety of their deals.
Are these future commitments anything signed from 2021 on?
What a difficult assignment- All theses teams have some fleas and some bright spots
Idk for THIS exercise if LAD is such a slam dunk as the poll suggests- Pollock and Price have to be considered underwater no matter how much you like/dislike them at this point BUT then you probably have one of the best contracts in Muncy in all of MLB (outside arbs ofc) (Shout out to Whitt though )
Angels have 3 total years of Albert/Upton still that makes getting Sp difficult the next 2 years so its difficult to pick them
Yanks have Stanton (barf) and Thank you from the bottom of my Blue heart for that
Nats are risky but you can see how that pays off handsomely if all are healthy come the postseason but theres really nothing behind them on the books and Turner is coming up soon and then Soto will always be on the forefront of their minds
Between this and your constant “the dodgers won’t pay kershaw”, it’s amazing how much you undervalue pitching
David price is making 16M the next two years. That’s within a million Of the aav of what they have paid Rich Hill, Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy. Price had a 3.00 era before his injury that he pitched thru LAST YEAR in the AL EAST. Are you just out of the loop or what?
They gave 10M to guys who won’t throw a pitch and we’re coming off major surgeries, just to see what you get. Jimmy Nelson, Alex Wood was another throw at the wall They didn’t need…
It’s way more likely the dodgers take the 20M from Kenley, 12M for Kelly betwn salary and buyout, the 10-20M they play with annually for a random pitcher, plus add Kersh is gonna go down from a. 31M aav most likely….. take all that to re-sign kershaw and let the kids fill out the pitching staff…. like they’ve done repeatedly under Fried… than let the best pitcher in the last 50 years To walk over Brandon McCarthy money
There’s a LOT of money the dodgers spend on pitching, and a fair amount that’s wasted every year. To say Fried has no idea how he’s gonna handle these guys approaching free agency is shockingly naive
Finally… still hating on pollock huh? He scorched the ball when he got healthy last year and looks like 2017 pollock in 2020. Do you even watch the games…? Jeez man you have some out there takes for what seems to be your favorite team
Since I know you’re gonna claim I’m a homer and making stuff up. No
Pollock so far. 324/375/676/1.051 ops. That’s a 190(!) wRC+ and he’s already worth 1/2 a win. He’s been the 7th best hitting OF per wRC in the entire game. He’s the 11th best bat in THE ENTIRE GAME thus far, min 40 PA
He’s also 4x as many PA as his playoff appearance I know you’ll mention
Again do you watch the Dodgers? How is that underwater? Just admit you don’t like the guy, you’re not assessing his worth. It’s an old act from you based on nothing
Because 40 at bats is not far off his plate appearance average per season.
Kyle Seager is having a monster season so far. Can we put him in the same category you have Pollock?
Dodgers overspent for a player they did not need. Underwater? More like under the influence for entertaining the thought of signing an injury-prone Pollock when you had cheaper options with more bang for the buck.
Yes, out there takes bc I realize we cant pay everyone-
Yes Pollock is underwater if you cant see that, well I cant help you….
We have already been doing what I have been saying by trading Kenta Maeda – Yes Brusdar is nice but the real reason we traded him was he wanted to be a starter and that would up his cost to around 10 mill a year (Brusdar makes a half mill per) Money is def a factor even for us and while Kenta is worth 10 mill we could make that sacrifice bc we have SOOO much SP in the tank…. Same theory applies to Kershaw in just a more grander/emotional scale but it takes taking off the roses colored glasses to see it.
Lastly comparing money to the past is not a useful exercise –
For one – None of those pitching contracts worked out well with already hurt players BMC Kaz Hill
Secondly – This is post pandemic so all money isnt equal
And lastly and most importantly our time arc with graduating Sps is much much better now allowing us to let Shaw walk much much easier. Then add on top we have Offensive pieces coming up on free agency and Turner a free agent you have to spread the money around smart
Now if Shaw didnt have a back problem this is probably all mute,,,, but he does and you have to look deeper than the surface to move forward and make proper calls for the org as tough as that may be
This isnt an act…this is what I would do and isnt that what this website is all about? You can question that 7 days a week and twice on Sunday but this is no act my friend…
Do you care to throw out a number your comfortable with? You just say sign sign sign but whats your high bar for Kersh???? I said 3/50 whats yours???? Put yourself out there at least with a firm number instead of just calling me a non fan everytime I say anything negative in your eyes
1. Oh please. You just don’t like pollock and you’re looking for a reason to claim he’s a lost cause. Now you can’t point to his postseason stats so you’re saying he’s going to arbitrarily get hurt. What happens when he’s healthy all year? Then what’s your complaint?
2. Lmfao. You claim you’re such a fan. Yet you called him Kyle Seager. COREY looks healthy for once. He had 2 major surgeries he had to recover from in 17. Now he’s not slicing the ball to left, he’s driving it. He leads THE MAJORS in hard hit balls. So yeah. I’m pretty happy so far with both their play and even happier because you told me I’m a homer for saying they would be in line for a strong 2020. Negative. We’re seeing highly talented players- Pollock AND Seager- finally healthy and showing their stats from 17/16 aren’t flukes. That’s them healthy
3. I keep mentioning the lesser pitcher contracts because it’s the same franchise with the same front office, and it speaks to their thought process+ willingness to spend. Same reason with them spending 10M on Jimmy Nelson and however much more on Alex wood
You mention Kenta/Brusdar. You realize that supports my method of how I believe they are going to build right? Have young guys in the pen, cheap with many years of control. Let them refine their pitches so if you ever want them in the rotation (Urias) you stretch them out next year. Then spend your money on other pieces of the staff. There’s a lotta money leaving with Kenley and Kelly before Kershaw is up to re sign.
I think the FO May have finally learned after Kelly+Kenley decline, spending money in the pen is risky and honestly a crapshoot. I think it’s more likely we see 7 guys who have 1-3 service years in the pen than 5 of those same guys in one dodger rotation at the start of the year
They love depth. And they don’t seem keen on giving young guys rotation spots as rookies. Look at Gonsolin and May just last year. IMO, They’re gonna spend money on pitching. They just have ever since fried arrived.
I see no way they trust 5 guys with 3 years or less in a rotation to fully hold it down all year. I mean, we spent 15-20M on Nelson+wood to be our 8-9th on the depth chart… and you think 2 years later they want to have 5 slots at 500K and nothin more? Extreme much? You just think they’re handing the keys to the kids, no training wheels? I don’t see it for a World Series contender
You want a number? Fine. He’s worth at least 25M a year. If he’s feeling nice maybe we get it down to 20M. 3 years would be my preferred, 5 year the Max. Go look at the pitching market, he’s worth it. It’s a smarter investment than 20M a year in a closer. So I think it’s closer to Arrieta and Wheeler AAV than Rich Hill. I think it’s a pretty safe bet lmfao
The kids will pitch for this franchise. But I see no way they are the entire staff. And I think it’s a safer bet we spend on a starter than on a reliever. Given all that, what starter would you really rather sign than Kershaw after 2021, that’s a free agent?
Finally, stop complaining about money. They just gave Mookie the largest new money contract ever DURING the pandemic. Kinda shoots your “they’re poor” message out the window. The Lux Tax isn’t a hard line either. They’ve paid it many times in last decade( most money in all of baseball) and they were going to pay it in 2020. You’re just grasping at straws lol
You used 40 at bats to crown a player and you accuse others of grasping at straws? I’d say if you needed a full novel to justify your weak, incompetent argument then you lost. LA didn’t need Pollock when they signed him, they overpaid him, they could’ve used his dead weight in other areas. And he’s injury prone. That cannot be refuted. But hold those 40 plate appearances close to your heart.
Lmao you’re so out of touch. I said those at bats plus his prior 3 months at the end of 2019 of 850+ OPS ball are way more predictive than the 11 postseason at bats pollock haters have clung to. My entire point is just 40 at bats is already 4x as much time as the dumb 11 playoff at bats HRD cited repeatedly all offseason+covid break. So how dumb are the complainers that point to his playoff record?
I have no doubt pollock will have a very good entire 2020. But I can only cite the at bats that have happened and you seem mad about that
I’ve been on the pollock train since he signed. He looks like 2017 pollock that was a stud with the Dbacks… the roster is stacked. Not like he held them back from signing anyone else… like Mookie…. you’re complaints are pointless
But you’re mad he’s been a top 10 hitter now 20% into the season? Ok….
Speaking of out of touch Nelson is getting sub 1 million not 10 silly
You want to ink Kershaw for 5/100 ? Thats all emotion there and that will get you into major trouble
Please Ive given you Pollocks last 7 yrs as examples mot his playoffs in 19….where he didnt start ofc
I mean, I said I preferred 3 but would go Max 5. So my preferred is 3/60 for an actually reasonable deal he’d sign
You want him to sign for rich hill money that’s just not plausible.
Kershaw is 32.. will be 33 when his new deal starts?… Look at verlander. Kershaw is not just gonna fall off a cliff and he’s not just gonna magically sign for 15m or whatever you want him to sign for.
We can chock this up to wait and see. But so far I was right about Seager and Pollock when disagreeing with you. I’m pretty confident I’ll be 3/3 on realistic AAV of Kershaws new deal
Unless you want 38/39 year olds Verlander or Greinke, Kershaw and Scherzer are the leaders of the 2022 pitching class and it falls off fast after that. I don’t really think either of them see the market…. This years best arm is Bauer.
I’d give kershaw 5/125 before Bauer (my Max I said above). Mad max is a conversation obviously but other than him? I’d bet Kershaw over the next 5
With Nelson, I messed that up, my bad.That’s what I get for not checking that one
I found out what I was thinking with Nelson. Treinan’s contract. Still a mistake on my end, it was bugging me not knowing where I came up with the figure
At the end of the day, kershaw with a 20M aav next contract is him replacing Kenley on the payroll, and them freeing up 31M in the process. Brusdar is one of many potential closers in our system, and that money is better allocated on the rotation than a closer, given LAD’s options, imo
5/125 is what Im hoping against – He can probably get that from Texas but I wouldn’t want to ink that myself-
I said 3/50 was my high bar, you said 3/60 so I dont think we are that off there
I dont think you understand what I mean by the money is different now based off needs/ future payments but I digress
Pollock is underwater, this isn’t debatable but chalk a tally for yourself if it makes you feel better
Seager is fragile, he will get over a 100 million on the market, we should hold pat-
I guess I just have more faith in the internal youths to keep the flame going till its time to extend Buehler/Belli –
People are going to come after our players this year in free agency and the message cant always be “Re-sign player X”
Next year Joc is gone, Kiki as well and Baez will get more on the market than we Should doll out- These arent reasons to be nervous they are opportunities for guys like May Gonzo Santanna Ferguson Lux McKinstry to step up and keep that ledger clean so in the future we can still be movers and shakers all year long –
I think Fried is going to be a LOT more Tamped down with the ledger than you think. with future commitments starting this offseason
I Think Turner gets done and not much more this offseason and Im fine with that
Not only the Maeda shedding of 10 mill you cant forget them not being near 4/80 for Ryu last offseason so your Rich Hill analogy really has no legs
The org Does have supreme faith in the kids I believe and that will be brought to the table when the time comes in one way or the other
Pujols contract has not been that bad all considering. A few seasons of 90 plus Rbi,s ( yeah I know alot of young anylitic guys out there are gonna say rbi dont matter lol but they do). He has hit atleast 20_ 25 hrs a year except 1 . Injuries beat the man up, as he is aging the way your supposed to in the game of baseball because he played cleaned in my opinion. Now of course no one is worth the amount of money any of these players get and especially any deal over 5 years is crazy. But I give Albert all the respect in the world for competing most of this time on bad feet and hurting and to finish his deal, ( and I know because of the money he is making is why he s finishing the deal . Nope with the $ this man has made in his career he could of packed up his bag and took his ball home A long time ago. The man is oldschool and just loves playing the game of baseball. In around 7 years I am proudly gonna say welcome to Cooperstown Hof Mr. Pujols and thank you for the memories as well, I am even probably going to shed a tear. But I will not thank him for all the damage he did to the mets when he played them geez lol.
No doubt a HOFer. Anyone who says otherwise is foolish
But you’re giving him credit for Mike trout being really really good in front of his weak singles. You get 600-700 PA and you’re happy with 20 of them with HRs… there’s a lot of other results too. You’re giving Albert value for having trout
If Albert was on Det, he has 50 RBI is my point. Hence why rbi isn’t a way to value these types of deal. Too dependent on batting order and talent around you. Still a hof. But it’s been a rough deal…
Double post of my pollock numbers above, deleting to keep page clean. My bad old school met, that reply wasn’t directed at your comment
the angels are cursed