While folks around the world do their Black Friday shopping, here’s three things we’ll be keeping an eye on in the baseball world in the coming days:
1. Willy Adames Likely Staying Put
Early in the offseason, there had been speculation that the Brewers might deal shortstop Willy Adames, who represented an intriguing, low-cost alternative to the top four shortstops on the free agent market. This outcome has become far less likely in recent days, however, as it was recently reported that Adames and Milwaukee have engaged in extension discussions. While no extension seems imminent, when combined with Jeff Passan of ESPN’s report that the Brewers are hoping to build around Adames, Corbin Burnes, and Brandon Woodruff this winter, the contract discussions certainly seem to indicate Adames will be playing for the Brewers on Opening Day 2023. If the Brewers have truly decided to hold onto Adames, that would further limit the shortstop market this offseason, with Elvis Andrus and Andrelton Simmons representing the second tier of options available to clubs who miss on Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson.
2. Kodai Senga Meeting With Teams
Right-hander Koudai Senga has drawn widespread interest across MLB as he prepares to make the jump from Japan this offseason. Recently, he has begun taking meetings with teams, including the Padres, Mets, and, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Rangers. Those three teams are far from the only ones with known interest in Senga, however, as the Cubs, Giants, Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays are just a few of the teams who have been connected to Senga this offseason. Senga’s preference is reportedly to play in a big market with a chance to win right now, so it’s no wonder that the teams that have been most aggressively connected to him are the larger markets in the sport. Now that the offseason slowdown that comes with Thanksgiving is out of the way, it’s possible we will begin to see Senga meeting with more teams in the coming days.
3. When Will Masataka Yoshida Be Posted?
It has been reported that NPB slugger Masataka Yoshida will be posted for MLB teams to sign this offseason, with multiple teams, including the Yankees and Blue Jays, already showing interest. The window to post players typically ends on December 5th, meaning there’s less than two weeks left for Yoshida’s Buffaloes to post him, beginning his thirty day negotiation window with big league clubs. When posted, Yoshida will join a corner outfield market littered with both talented players and age- or injury-related concerns about many of those talented players, potentially making Yoshida, 29, one of the most attractive options on the market behind Aaron Judge. Still, as with any player making the jump from Japan to stateside ball, there will be questions about just how much of his elite production in Japan will transfer over into the majors. Whenever Yoshida ends up being posted, his market will be among the most interesting to follow this offseason.
Adames reminds me of a calmer version of Baez.
Hello, Newman;
Adames is a true team leader; a steady SS that makes all the plays; a clutch player; a smart player; a mentor to the younger players; and the Brewers most valuable position player. A 180 from Baez.
I never heard or read any “speculation that the Brewers might deal shortstop Willy Adames…”.
The day after the WS to the day ST starts is Silly Season.
The Brewers have a significant number of arbitration eligible players. I’m sure they would consider moving just about anyone to free up money if the trade made sense.
Crab L. Winston;
I’m totally aware of the Brewers issues with arbitration this offseason.
I doubt the Brewers FO would consider moving their best and most important position player and team leader that they control for 2 more years and will be playing for $10m in 2023…..especially when they have no one in that organization that can play his position. Until Adames was acquired they had major problems at SS, and in fact when he was acquired that team took off.
Talk of trading one of Burnes or Woodruff makes sense because they still would have one of them coming back, along with Peralta, Lauer, Ashby and some prospects as starters. The team could still contend in 2023. But they’re not contending anytime soon with Luis Urias or Mike Brosseau playing SS.
So sure – if they want to go into a deep rebuild and punt on 2023 and maybe 2024, then I’m sure they could get some prospects for Adames. Then again, they just picked up the option on Wong that makes about the same as Adames – had they bought him out they could have saved $9m.
I will say this…..
While the Brewers are one of the 7-8 teams I follow closely, I don’t live in the Milwaukee area so I don’t hear the latest ebbs and flows. But the Stearns thing surprised me, and it makes no sense at all to me. Not sure I recall the last time an MLB exec was kept on salary as an “advisor” but took a year off. Sounds like BS to me. And the owner has – perhaps temporarily – taken over as spokesman for Baseball Ops. I know he was involved before, but now he seems to be the driving force. Consequently there is the possibility that some things many change there….including the way the Brewers Baseball Ops is run.
There WAS talk about Adames being traded. One of the Brewers top prospects is Brice Turang, a shortstop, who had a good year in AAA and looks ready for the majors.
An apparent replacement, a team at their ceiling for payroll and a player that would probably bring back a pretty decent haul in a trade.
Samuel is re-living his best life as the hard-nosed baseball analyst who calls it how it is. We have careers, and then we have our dream careers. Sigh.
pdxbrewcrew
The talk on Turang was that he’d play 2B.
Some of the talk on Turang was he’d play 2B if the Brewers didn’t pick up Wong’s option. There was also talk that he’d play short if the Brewers decided to trade Adames.
One team that won’t be signing any high priced free agents?
The Pittsburgh Pirates
Their owner counts his money like Ebenezer Scrooge. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had the first penny he ever made hanging on his wall
You are correct. He should take that penny down and use it to sign deGrom and Kershaw. Should be enough, right?
It never fails to amaze me how easily some people on here are willing to spend other people’s money.
if he took that penny down 30 years ago and started spending on their players instead of trading them or letting them walk in free agency they wouldn’t have to rebuild every 3 or 4 years.
they wouldn’t have to rebuild every 3 or 4 years.
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All small market teams have to occasionally rebuild. All things being equal, $200M payrolls > $100M payrolls.
The Bucs haven’t been to the World series since 1979 and have only made the playoffs 6 times over the past 43 years
Hah! It’s baseball. You buy a team, you should invest in the product.
you should invest in the product.
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Of course. But teams with $400M in revenue have more to invest than teams with $200M in revenue.
I’m not saying they should spend like the Dodgers. When’s the last time they even signed a decent free agent?
While your point is valid, we don’t know specific revenues of teams other than the Braves. We don’t know what Nutting ownership nets from the Pirates compared to another small market team like Guardians and their ownership.
Forbes publishes an annual report of each team’s revenue and profits
Teams like the Pirates, Marlins, Rockies, Tigers, ans Nats don’t look like they are trying to win. I’ll give the Nats a pass since they won the world series a few years ago. The others are stagnant!
The issue continues to be “not wanting to” versus “they suck at this”.
One of the reasons why the Nats were so bad, and the same reason why the RS were weak, is that they are suffering financial hangovers from when they did win. Both team paid out an enormous amount of salaries for players that added little or nothing last year.
The Marlins made two signings last year, and traded for a top-tier catcher, and all three sucked.
The Rockies not only make the same mistakes over and over, they occasionally invent new ones.
Some of these teams probably want to win, but they just aren’t particularly adept at doing so,
Joe – Teams that receive revenue sharing should be required to spend a minimum set amount on payroll.
It’s not rocket science.
Joe – Please don’t lump my team in with the others.
Just a few months ago Bloom spent $140M like a drunken sailor on a shortstop who no longer has the arm strength to play the position and who is nothing more than an average hitter.
Bloom has given out his share of bad contracts and you know it.
It never fails to amaze me people go to bat for owners who don’t spend, despite the Pirates getting plenty if other people’s money to do so. The Pirates get revenue sharing from other teams and get roughly $100 million from TV deals before a ticket is even sold, yet won’t spend any of it.
No one is required to give them a dime. Don’t like the way they do things, don’t spend your money on their product. But don’t think that you should get to decide how things are done because you buy a ticket. That’s not how business works.
ever hear oil the luxury tax that small market teams receive annually, hiflew?
The Pirates ownership receives roughly $50 million every year
Ever hear of operating expenses? The cost of running an MLB team is not limited to player salaries. They have to pay front office staff, scouts, minor league players, concession workers, security, and many other employees. There are literally hundreds of people that are being paid with that roughly $50 million a year.
I’m not saying the owner is not making money, but those payments for small market teams are not meant to allow them to compete with the Dodgers of the world in terms of payroll. They are meant to keep hundreds of jobs alive in those markets because otherwise the team will have to move to a more lucrative location.
Hmmm thought this is a forum for opinions. And on that thought MLB should act. If you can’t filed competitive teams by not spending accordingly then in reality they should have some control. I have seen a game in Pittsburgh. It’s a beautiful park and a shame they can get it together for their fans.
Look up the attendance when they made the playoffs back to back years with mccutchen. Then stop wondering why the owner doesn’t spend. Also spending doesn’t equal winning. That’s not defending the owner that’s just using facts.
They’ve had consecutive 100 loss seasons and with the lowest payroll in the National League
If spending doesn’t equal wins apparently neither does not spending
In 2018, they played .509, and drew only 1.465M. It is not a robust baseball town in the best of times.
Joe – Kansas City, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Oakland, Cleveland, Baltimore …. all with histories of being great baseball towns.
When you have year after year after year of losing your best players because ownership won’t pay them, and year after year after year of really bad baseball, yeah a portion of the fanbase will lose interest. Can you blame them?
And when that happens, it takes a while to get it back.
I’ve been a Bucs fan since 1966, was a season ticket holder for 30 years and enjoyed the good and the bad times.
This owner who paid $97 million for the franchise said that if attendance increased substantially he’d increase the payroll
Between 2013-2015 attendance records were set at PNC Park.
By 2019, the franchise was in yet another rebuild.
In each of the 7 years Nutting has owned the franchise, his profits have averaged $45 million annually
I have a valid reason to be angry as do many other Pirate fans that post on there boards
You don’t like my opinions, don’t read them. Better yet, mute me because my rants aren’t going to change
As a Jays fan I get bent out of shape knowing our owners are mega rich, can out spend the Yankees easily.
So I really do feel for Pirates fans, Redss fans, Rays fans, even the Brewers and Angels fans have cases against their owners
At least in Texas they spend stupidly and hope it’ll work. I’d rather that then what’s going on in Pittsburgh
The fact that those attendance records still put Pittsburgh at 15th in MLB in attendance just shows that Pittsburgh is no longer a Major League city and the Pirates need to move to a city with fans that will actually support the team.
As a Jays fan I get bent out of shape knowing our owners are mega rich, can out spend the Yankees easily.
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LOL!
The NYY have better than double the Jays’ revenue.
TheMan – Great post! And I might add PNC Park is arguably the best park in MLB.
I dont know exact numbers but I do know the Rogers conglomerate could purchase the Yankees with pocket change
Im pretty sure Cohen is the only one with more available funds to throw at their team
Yes I understand how business works, I understand they have budgets to ensure profits and some teams have more jerseys sales better tv deals etc
I think you’re missing the point sir.
I wish owners were fans and not just trying to squeeze every dollar out of the franchise
Don’t locals despise him more for buying and jacking up prices at the local ski resorts?
I would think Jose Iglesias belongs on that tier above Andrelton Simmons who looked absolutely done last year.
Totally agree. Simmons has been on a downward spiral for the past 3-4 years, and last year he completely crashed and burned in Chicago. Any team interested in him should question the direction of their organization.
I think a possible Yankee pursuit of Yoshida is dependent as are most off season on Judge. Can’t see the Yankees pursuing good bat/bad glove type to patrol the spacious confines of left field at Yankee Stadium. Could see them sticking him in right though.
I agree with you. To me, Yoshida translates to Steven Kwan with no glove or speed. No thank you! re-sign Benny, find Nimmo or trade for Reynolds.
Yes, Kwan would be a good comp, if he can play close to that talent I would sign him in a minute. Kwan killed the Yanks!
Except I mentioned Kwan WITH NO GLOVE OR SPEED. lol
Not exactly the same player. : )
I read the other day that the Dodgers were interested. But no mention in this article.
Free Willy? No?
After watching Simmons I can tell you that he is not the second tier of anything. I can not imagine a situation where he would be a better option than seeing what your current AAA SS can do.
If I’m an owner, and I hear that my GM contacted Simmons’ agent, it’s time for an emergency meeting, and he needs to walk me through the thought process that led up to that conversation.
Yoshida seems to have durability issues. In 7 seasons in Japan Yoshida has only appeared in 140+ games twice and 120+ games four times. Add the poor defensive ratings and you wonder are teams going to bid on a guy that can’t stay healthy in the field or a DH?
Rsox;
Because it’s the off-season and the media exaggerates everything.
Almost all teams have guys in AAA that are better than this guy, have upside in their future, and play for far less money.
The smart teams are quiet. They’ll make measured moves when it’s time…..and Thanksgiving is hardly time. Will be some moves at the winter meetings.
Brewers to build around their best players this winter? Yet they trade their most productive hitter from 2022 for three quarters on the dollar.
I’d say more streaky than productive. For all the HR he hit, quite a few were solo shots, and I believe also occurred when the score was rather lopsided.
There was chatter around them moving Adames? I missed that. Where from?