As the early part of the offseason continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Soto meeting with teams:
The bidding for superstar outfielder Juan Soto is already getting underway, and the first order of business is for interested clubs to meet with Soto himself. That’s a process that’s set to play out this week, with the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Mets, and the incumbent Yankees all known to have scheduled a meeting at this point. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported yesterday that Toronto is first in line to meet with Soto this week as they look to add a star hitter to complement Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after missing out of Shohei Ohtani last winter, though the two New York teams have generally been regarded as the favorites for the 26-year-old phenom to this point in the process.
2. What’s next for the Angels?
The Angels have been the most aggressive team in baseball this November with a number of moves already in the books. They shipped Griffin Canning to the Braves in order to land slugger Jorge Soler, then replaced Canning in their starting rotation by signing veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks to a one-year deal. They’ve now added further reinforcements by bringing in veteran catcher Travis d’Arnaud on a two-year pact.
There’s reason to believe that aggressiveness could continue, as well; with Logan O’Hoppe entrenched as the club’s starting catcher and d’Arnaud now in the mix as an above-average backup option, it would seem likely the club is set to move on from Matt Thaiss, who served as O’Hoppe’s backup this year and the club’s primary catcher in 2023 while O’Hoppe was injured. The Athletic’s Sam Blum relayed uncertainty from GM Perry Minasian regarding what Thaiss’ future with the club is following the move to land d’Arnaud. With the non-tender deadline scheduled for next week and Thaiss projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for $1.3MM, a decision on his future could be imminent.
3. Rays stadium plans remain murky:
A report yesterday from Tampa revealed that the Rays’ home of Tropicana Field could be fixed for the 2026 season. That news took the unsurprising step of more or less officially ruling out the possibility of the club returning to their ballpark in 2025 while also leaving their medium-term future uncertain. The city of St. Petersburg, which owns the stadium and is responsible for any repairs, has an insurance policy that would cover $25MM of the $55.7MM required to repair the Trop. Whether the city will look to do so is not yet clear, and until they make that decision the Rays won’t know whether they’ll be nomadic only in 2025 or for the next three seasons until their new stadium is built for the 2028 campaign. In the meantime, they’ll need to find a place to play for next season in the near future, as commissioner Rob Manfred recently suggested that there needs to be a plan in place by late December.
If the Rays need a temporary home then the Yankees minor league park in Tampa is the obvious solution. They can construct some temporary seating to get the capacity up to around 16-18K.
That would be more than 50% to almost doubling the current capacity of 11,000 or so. Not sure if that is doable, considering things like restrooms and concessions. Between the TV contract issue and the lack of seating no matter the temporary location, one has to wonder how much the Rays spend this season and next on their roster.
I don’t think they can do that. They need a closed roof, really. Too many rainouts…
A closed roof with HVAC would be ideal, but that would be new construction or a serious renovation project. There are no closed roof stadiums until you get well out of the Tampa area. I do not claim to know how MLB and the Rays will deal with this issue, but I do know any solution is going to tick off a bunch of people.
As someone who has season tickets to the Dunedin Blue Jays Low A team and also goes to Clearwater and Tampa for games during the MILB season, all of the options are not good. Dunedin (Blue Jays) is too small and has no parking, Clearwater (Phillies) is not as small but is right off US 19 (evening games and rush hour would be fun) and needs some work to host MLB teams, and the stadium in Tampa is brutal in the afternoons and evenings.
I also wonder if division rivals want to sacrifice their minor league development to help the Rays.
Should move to Oakland. Hear there is an opening
Oakland Rays works very nice, just be better….
rmull – The weather in Tampa from June thru October is terrible, tropical with many rainstorms and severe lightning. They averaged only 16K in a climate-controlled MLB stadium, who do you think would show up for an open-air minor league stadium experience? I think sharing in Miami is the logical solution for at least June thru October.
I’d really like to know why St Pete gets to make the call on whether or not to replace the roof. The Rays would be severely impacted if they can’t play in The Trop, especially financially. It was the city who made the DUMB mistake of drastically reducing their insurance coverage to save a few bucks with just 3 years to go, what morons. Why should the Rays have to suffer for the gov’s idiocy?
Believe it or not, there’re thousands of fans who hate the Trop and it’s Arena baseball atmosphere. I’d rather sit outside with an actual sky above me than go to that pitiful stadium. Yes….I live there.
always: From what I understand it wouldn’t just be the sky above you, it would be the rain while sitting out an hours-long delay.
always – Try sitting outside in July or August during the day. The heat, humidity, and constant threat of rain and storms is not something you’d enjoy.
Used to go to games in Atlanta when I lived in NC. Yes, warmer, and people sweated, just like they do all over the country in open stadiums. Amazingly, people actually didn’t have enough of a problem that they didn’t show. Trust me, I’m not alone in Tampa Bay with my hate of the Trop.
always – I know The Trop is not liked by many, both in and outside the Tampa/St Pete area. But there is no other MLB team outside of Florida that plays in tropical weather.
It’s the torrential rain, violent lightning, and oppressive humidity combined that would keep people away.
Trust me, I know half of Florida (the over 70 crowd) can tolerate very warm temperatures. I’ve visited communities there where elderly residents have all their windows open in the middle of 110° heat index days!
Florida sounds gross, always has. Why did Disney build there??
What does the “gov” have to do with it?
St Pete owns the stadium as is required to provide a stadium in the contract agreed to with the team.
All depends no. What the Lease says…
Sharing Miami is, at least, likely a part of the solution. Perhaps they secure a minor league facility to avoid massive rescheduling for either franchise. Hard to envision them totally avoiding playing outdoors with limited crowd capacity. As long as they satisfy the MLPA’s requirements for player facilities then you live with the downside(s). S**t happens.
I spent everyday outside in Tampa for two years tramping around, it’s not the rain you have to worry about so much as the smothering heat. Rainy season mostly picks up late summer /early fall, not much rain in the spring and early summer.
Where is the minor league team supposed to play? Will a division opponent really want the Rays to play there? Will player’s association sign off on playing in a minor league stadium and its lack of amenities? It may sound “obvious” to you but there is so much to work out logistically. Realistically Orlando may be the best bet.
The Truthman: the commissioner has no problem with the A’s playing in a minor league park. I wonder what his objections would be if the Rays did that as well.
It says the Rays attendance was roughly 16,500 for 2024. But did that many people actually show up? As a Cardinals fan I can tell you the attendance numbers are inflated and have been for years. If its actually only 11000 showing up every night then the minor league park idea is probably OK.
Average attendance includes all the 10-13k nights and bigger crowds on weekends, giveaway days, and Yanks/Red Sox/etc.
Like I said are that many people actually showing up? If the Cardinals say 30000 tickets were sold there is probably 10000 people in the stands. Is that how it is in Tampa or is it different? I don’t know because I don’t live there or watch their games.
The Tampa ballpark is deficient in many ways when compared to MLB standards, including the lighting of the field. Too dark for MLB play (sufficient for Spring Training, but barely). Add that the comments of the others with the exception of the guy who doesn’t mind sitting outdoors on a Sunday afternoon in July and August getting fried regardless of the SPF used. Plus, I believe the MLBPA will need to weigh in on the stadium in all respects before the decision to play there can be finalized. The Tampa ballpark is not the Sacramento park.
Was so dumb for the franchise to re-up in Saint Pete. Not a mlb city. Rays ownership rolled over after years of stalemate and are already paying the price.
Why bother with temp seating? Aren’t there only like two hundred Rays fans?
Soto will sign with the Red Sox and will destroy the Green Monster and ruin Fenway Park with an average 60+ HR per year for the first 10 years of the contract. At least 25 per season will go over the Monster. His defense and SB will also both improve a lot and fast and he could very well be patrolling CF in Fenway in 2 years as one of the best defensive CF in MLB. His defense and speed are both vastly underrated now as it is and they will both get much better and very soon. .
Heard it here first
I want whatever you are smoking!!! Go Rangers
Vaping allowed
Well that had a familiar cadence and tone…
Just a reminder that Soto hits left-handed.
And is a gap hitter.
And played this past season with a short RF wall.
@EHenderson You should go into stand up comedy, that’s the funniest post I’ve read in a while.
I don’t know what the Angels are doing. Their cross town rival just won the WS with the help of their former star Ohtani. And your reaction is to trade for a 16 million a year DH and sign a backup catcher for 6 million a year? And these are moves that couldn’t have waited these are moves that had to be made early in the offseason???
The Angels won 63 games in 2024. Unless the team is going to spend massive amounts of money, and spend it wisely not on guys like Soler, then what’s the point here?
It’s ok to be a bad team for a period of time. But the Angels haven’t made the playoffs in a decade. Their farm system is not good. Their high draft picks spend almost no time in the minors they just learn on the job when no other team does this. I just don’t get it.
@blackpink. Quick Question who is tda blocking. Same thing with soler he replaced calhoun/sano. Just like you said the farm system needs help signing two years deals or trading for them is what you do when you have holes. Last year perry signed a whole bunch of aaaa guys, and it burned them
He’s blocking Thaiss the Angels are now going to have to trade him or just let him go.
If you are a team that already has everything upgrading backup catcher might make sense. It made sense for the Braves to have Darnaud these last few years. But the Angels aren’t the Braves. That’s money that could have been spent on one of the numerous other holes on the team.
And what on earth do they need Soler for???
@blackpink so you wouldn’t sign a veteran backup to help your young catcher. Thaiss can’t do that. He’s a dh, that can’t hit.
Teams that win 63 games need to trim the fat Thaiss, and fit the bill.
They need soler so calhoun isn’t the dh, in the five hole.
Obviously the only argument you have is
too blindly bash it With no reasoning behind it
Dude you sound like an extreme homer. I don’t hate the Angels i want to see them getting better and this isn’t how to do it.
Yes teams need a backup catcher. But they had one already. And they need all kinds of other things.
And Soler isn’t worth 16 million a year.
The Angels aren’t a player or 2 or even 5 away from being a contender. They are an awful team they should be looking to the future not spending money hoping they can win 70 games instead of 63.
Anyone who throws around the term homer is clearly a homer.
Thaiss is horrible dude. He’s blocked by his own abilities, not tda.
The angels havnt spent much money at all and improved so far. Health is and always has been the big question mark
They dont have the ability to spend over a billion dollars in an offseason. It’s just not realistic.
Just how many Designated Hitters do the Angels have on their roster now?
@drdback. Just soler. Trout doesn’t want to dh. He’s fine with left field.
I don’t understand everyone getting upset about what the Angels are doing. Everyone complains when teams don’t spend money, and then they complain when they do spend money. The fact is that the Angels are such a bad team that just adding legitimate big league talent literally anywhere at any position is a good thing, whether it’s a starter or not. Even below average players are an improvement, so who cares how much they’re spending or what position they’re going to occupy? The fact is, the Angels have improved, and shouldn’t that be the point of the offseason for every team?
Spending 6 million dollars on a backup catcher for a 63 win team, who btw had a decent backup catcher already making far less, is dumb. It’s dumb dumb dumb.
No every team should not be trying to improve. If your team is close to being a playoff team and the budget allows it then sure spend away and improve. But if your team won 63 games you probably should be focusing on the future and not 2025. Save the money spent for when it can actually matter.
@J.H. they aren’t even fans, just trolls. I only comment on angels articles, because that’s my team.
It’s not trolling to disagree with what a team does in the offseason. And if you only comment on Angels stuff cool but thats not me. I find the offseason interesting. This is where teams start the foundation for what’s to come and in the Angels case it’s no surprise with moves like these that they haven’t made the playoffs in a decade.
Of course as a fan you want your team to do well. And it’s admirable to root for them through the bad times. But things need to change. The Dodgers are making the Angels look like fools they went and took Ohtani and won a championship while the Angels won 63 games last year. The Angels need to understand giving 16 million to a DH who isn’t that great of a hitter or 6 million to a backup catcher isn’t going to move the needle.
Why should they ‘save money?’ That doesn’t even make sense. And if you followed the Angels at all you’d know that yes, even TDA and Soler do actually move the needle for them.
And speaking of the Dodgers, they’re only paying $2.5m less for a much, much worse backup catcher. You should go to the Austin Barnes article and pop off there.
They save the money for when their prospects develop and they can compete again. This is what the Astros did are you not aware of that? Same division. The Astros had a bigger payroll than the Angels in 2024 but I believe over the past decade the Angels have actually spent more money. The Astros spent almost nothing and rebuilt their franchise then started spending when it made sense. Thats what a smart team does.
I’m not big on Soler, but d’Arneau was a fine signing.
Kyle Hendricks hasn’t been a “legitimate big league talent” for a number of years. 2/12 for a 36 year-old backup catcher is insane. Soler can hit homers but the DH spot will be needed for their chronically injured $400 million centerfielder. Blackpink is exactly right – every one of these moves is questionable at best. Moreno is the worst owner in baseball. Spending money for its own sake is not a good strategy for building a winning team. And Minasian makes Neal Huntington and David Forst look like Branch Rickey.
I don’t have a problem with the Hendricks signing because it’s just 2.5 million. It’s worth a chance that he bounces back and if he doesn’t it will help them get a higher draft pick. It’s just 2.5 million.
But 22 million for Soler and Darnaud is ridiculous. Thats money that could be used when it matters and it’s not going to matter in 2025. And good gosh Soler isn’t even good.
But why does money spent this year or even next year matter for in the future? They can’t bank cap space for future years, and you have no idea what their finances and budgets are.
It’s not about cap space it’s simply about saving your organizations resources for when it actually matters. Spending g money to be a 500 at best team, which is exactly what the Angels do, is pointless.
The team has a budget for the next 4 years. I don’t know what it is but it exists I promise you that. They can save the money for years 4 and 5 when the team might actually have a shot at competing instead of spending evenly just to hopefully be a 500 team.
Again the Astros did this. And it worked great. That should be the blueprint for all mid to major market teams looking to do a rebuild. The Cubs did it too just not as well.
@J.H. he also doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Soler is making 13 million. I had to divide 26 by 2 to figure it out.
Baseball reference says he’s making 16 million a year over the next 2 years. It’s possible they are wrong but it’s more likely you are wrong.
@blackpink giants sent money to the braves. That’s why it’s says 13 million cash. Payroll was his original contract number. It’s on spottrac as well
I looked it up. It doesn’t mention the Giants sending money to the Braves but on this site it says there was a signing bonus and Soler is making 13 million not 16 million.
It’s still a bad contract at 13 million. It’s less bad but still bad.
2/12M for a good hitting backup catcher that also plays some 1B is not insane.
@blackpink yeah I checked too. Giants must’ve paid the 9 million dollar bonus upfront.
It’s less expensive than free agency. Probably looking at 3-4
Either way two year deals aren’t bad.
Blackpink, I could only laugh at you. How does signing 2 year deals affect them 4 years down the line. It doesn’t, and trust, there not going to lose money in doing so. Also, there not going to bust way over the tax line for a few years, and even be close to losing money. If they even ever do it at all in the near future.
They could take the money they are spending now and instead save it for later. I swear I explained this already in detail.
1. Only way we have even a slight chance to sign Soto is if Guerrero signs an extension as well
2. The Angels additions of Hendricks, d’arnaud, and Soler would be a home run offseason if this was like 2018 lol
3. Oakland Rays?
I don’t see Vladdy signing an extension this close to free agency unless the Jays overpay by a greater margin then Boston did with Devers. If they did that, it might almost be worse then letting him walk or trading him at the deadline.
Make the temporary move to the empty stadium on the west coast.
The Oakland Rays
Sunday: How about the Superdome? At least it’s a little bit closer than Oakland.
Stand up comedy is not in your cards.
Angels, Rays, A’s lol.
Soto, highest bid takes all
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Turn your notifications off?
I only come here to read the posts by mlbtr’s number one windbag, blowhard, no nothing poster who loves to argue with everyone and post his incredible brilliance about all 30 teams, while not paying $3 per month for the content. You know who he is.
Just scroll down one comment!
I will be shocked if Soto signs anywhere else but in New York and with the Yankees. But with Boras controlling the top free agents I fear this offseason is going to drag on and on like it has in recent years past. Perhaps he learned something from last year but I highly doubt it. What happened last year with the “Boras 4’was bad for the game. It was bad for the players involved. It was bad for the fans.
@Blackpink in the area
Maybe get back to the days where players played the game and if you want a real job, you can go work your 9-5 job like the rest of us.
I am sure there is something in between a standard 9 to 5 job and a 600 million dollar contract.
Athletes work ten times harder at their jobs than you do at yours. Maybe if you realized you could go alot farther in life by not limiting yourself to 9-5 you would stop complaining on what every one else has and you don’t.
@metsin4
Where did I complain about what everyone else has that I don’t? It seems like the clowns are coming out in force the past week, on this site.
If it’s 10 times harder, and it’s not, then 10 times the salary would be fair. The country is messed up. Where I live in Colorado there is barely a middle class anymore. It’s a bunch of poor people and then a few rich people. Sure the poor people got raises but rent has skyrocketed so the majority of people living here have no money and the only hope of home ownership is to inherit it.
Well you get what you vote for. You and others did that to Colorado. I live in a very nice house with a low mortgage in North Carolina. I plan on buying a new home after the holidays. Granted the prices have gone up due to everyone fleeing high costs areas like yours. The key is getting what you can afford and building your net worth over time. Anyone can do it. It just requires not spending outside of your means and progressing in a career field that pays more as your skills increase. And your right, being an elite athlete is drastically harder then 10x the average job. If it was easy we all would have done it.
I don’t vote bozo. Both sides suck the idiots in charge in Colorado spent 138 million dollars over the last 2 years housing homeless and migrants. And why are there so many of those in Colorado? Because the state allows it and other states don’t so they end up here.
But the red states are messed up too. Trying to control women’s rights. Who thought that was a good idea? Never been to North Carolina. I lived in Greenville South Carolina a while back for work. I went in people’s houses I was a cable guy and they had maids there. Like full attire it looked just like the movie The Help. And everyone seemed to think it was totally fine and normal. Safe to say I haven’t been back since.
Bozos don’t vote.
Give me an, “S”.
Trade Trout and make Major League Baseball better because of it!
Drink bleach, and make the comments section better.
@609Collectibles
Trout has no interest in winning a championship. He is just happy playing baseball and being paid. That’s it.
Trade a guy in the wrong side of 30 who can’t stay healthy and has a huge contract.
You’ll have to eat over $100 million to do it and you’ll piss off your remaining fans. You’ll get next to no prospect return.
Sounds great.
Move the Rays, period. It’s time, the weather gods spoke it.
It’s a funny one. There’s been relatively little noise about moving the Rays out of town permanently, as opposed to temporarily. It’s definitely tempting to think that if the roof had blown off before the paperwork and money was lined up for the new park (I think that’s basically in place now?) then there may have been considerably more emphasis on franchise relocation, because then everything would have been up in the air. So, in that sense, maybe the weather gods have spoken by delaying the demise of the Trop until it was just about safe for the Rays to remain in St Pete.
Hasn’t the county threatened to pull its funding of the new stadium if the Rays don’t play in Pinellas County next year (and ’26 and ’27)?
Ah, I’d missed that if so. The plot has obviously thickened.
I don’t know if that was mentioned here. A member of one of the Facebook ballpark groups has been posting information and articles from the Tampa Bay area and that threat was included in several articles. I get some of it. If they play elsewhere, the county loses tax revenues and local employees lose work. But what is the alternative?
Yep, the problem here is compounded by it needing a rapid solution, whereas alternative venues that might potentially work physically and geographically have teams in situ that already have conflicting schedules for 2025.
Alamodome
The schedule needs to be rearranged so that the Marlins and Rays can play the season at the Loan Deppot Stadium.
CP77: Relevance questionable, but two of the biggest soccer teams in Italy – AC Milan and Inter Milan – both play in the same stadium, the San Siro. However, they both hate it.
And Roma and Lazio also share the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. It’s a thing in Italian soccer but, as you say, not so popular with clubs and fans.
This seems plausible, makes sense that’s why MLB won’t do it.
Is there a stadium in TN?
That is supposed to be one of the states that is high up on the list the next time they expand to 2 more teams. This could help get fans pumped for a home team even though the TB team would only stay till 2027
Dave Dombroski was going to be part of the expansion management team (in TN) a few years back (or 3?) then there was a delay COVID probably had something to do with it. PHI needed a GM so he took the job – a good gig better than Uber
Lol
Everytime I see Soto, I still think Mario. Great pitcher on bad teams in the 80s.
The Angels are aggressively putting together another pos team.
It is hard to imagine the Blue Jays signing Soto with Vlad in his walk year, and Bo Bichette. The idea of moving Vlad to 3B seems risky, A defensive left side of Vlad and Bo does not appear to be championship material unless you have a lineup that can outhit defensive liabilities. Until a great pitching staff shuts down your lineup in October.
The thing is, Vlad is already a mildly mediocre first baseman. Moving him over to third at least allows him to use his big arm, which is wasted at first.
It would also take him away from first where he likes to wander and make the pitchers cover a lot for him at first.
Despite all the shots at his weight taken by some posters here, he’s changed a lot from when he first came up. If you go back and look at video of his early Jays career, he really looked pudgy and unfit for 3rd. He’s since put on decent muscle and shed some of the fat. He’ll never be a skinny-mini but he looks much more athletic these days. He doesn’t need to be a gold glover, just half decent. If he gets a full spring training preparing to play 3rd, I think he could be just that.
How quickly can Montreal get Olympic Stadium up to spec?
2028. It started a major (C$870M) renovation in July.
From what I saw in early 90’s…. By 2090… my guess..
The Rays should move to Nashville
I’m laughing at ANY team that wants to sign a ONE dimensional player in Soto for somewhere between 500-700 million dollars! Think of how many high end players you could get for that money or fill the several needs your team might have instead of signing an egotistical player just wanting to be the highest paid player! EVERY team should tell Soto and his agent to go kick rocks! It’ll come down to the two NY teams and I’ll be laughing at them when it’s all said and done!
@Terry B. I doubt he gets that. how many teams can afford it. The only way it happens is if Cohen bids against himself
OMG the Angels are ready to move on from Matt Thaiss?!? That’s SOOO aggressive! I didn’t realize Soler is a “slugger”? Still a last place team. They only sign players willing to take a hometown discount to play at in front of family one last time. But not ready for Prime Time Dodgers
The Angels are the Braves and Phillies rejects.
Angels finished bottom 4 in every offensive stat, in all of the Majors. They have no depth at the major league level. So they have to rely on prospects who aren’t no where near major league level. So Perry is trying to fix that. Yes the Angels need pitching. That goes without saying. Hopefully they can add pitchers who can actually help the rotation. But when a team loses 99 games. That team needs everything
They now have depth at catcher.
Heres an odd stat: Thaiss has never been caught stealing in 6 attempts. Not exactly newsworthy but for a catcher…well, not exactly newsworthy.
You’re welcome.
Not likely to happen, but I’m imagining a playoff series between the A’s and Rays. Stranger things have happened. Also, if TB needs a regulation MLB field to call home in 2025 there’s always Doubleday Field at Cooperstown. Not sure what attendance would look like since there’s just a 2-lane road to get out there, but it would be a super cool season to remember.
Should play in Nashville until a new stadium is built in Florida in the next few years.