The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors for a mailbag episode. We spent the entire show answering questions from listeners, including…
- Can the Braves seriously go into the season with this rotation depth? (1:50)
- Could the Braves add to the bullpen before the season starts? (9:25)
- Why is David Robertson not signed? (13:00)
- Could the Mets and Jose Iglesias reunite on a one-year, $5MM deal with a vesting option? (17:10)
- Should the Cubs have signed Jose Iglesias instead of Justin Turner? (24:35)
- Could there be a battle forming for the final rotation spots for the Tigers between Casey Mize, Kenta Maeda and Jackson Jobe? (30:35)
- Are the Mariners waiting for a pitching injury on another team to trade Luis Castillo? (38:05)
- When a team like the Dodgers does significant deferrals, what year’s payroll does the money go on? (43:50)
Check out our past episodes!
- Alex Bregman, The Padres Add Players, And No Extension For Vlad Jr. – listen here
- Pete Alonso’s Deal, And Potential Landing Spots For Bregman and Arenado – listen here
- Jack Flaherty Back To Detroit, Max Scherzer, And What’s Next For The Padres – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
It’s very surprising that Jose Iglesias hasn’t been snapped up already. I’m guessing his agent must’ve been (over) shooting for the moon.
Agree. I read somewhere that he’s looking for 2 years and no one is willing to pay for the second year. Could be all rumors though.
Braves should work on another extension for Acuña. Leverage the team options and lower salary now for added years.
I’m sure there’s conversations, but I can’t imagine Acuna’s representation really is willing to listen to anything but an overpay while Acuna’s going through rehabbing on his 2nd ACL injury missing significant time.
What does an extension look like?
“What does an extension look like”…They’re usually written on some form of paper product using 21st century writing instruments. Sometimes, early drafts of “extensions” are done via computer or tablet.
Then there’s typically lawyers or accountants and signatures involved and many times there are celebrations when the signing is done. Hopefully, this gives you a better idea of what an extension “looks like”.
Wiseass! LOL.
“Wiseass”…Hey, There’s still weeks to go before the season starts. What’s a boy to do to kill the time?
Was somebody a lawyer in a former life, related to a lawyer, or watch a lot of courtroom dramas?
I’m fairly certain you can find someone like that somewhere, yes.
All I can think of is Andy Griffith.
Perry Mason. You can watch it on MeTV.
I think it would take effect starting next year, with the Braves increasing his annual salary starting then, and relinquishing the club options. If he’s worth 40-50m a year on a 12 year deal on the open market next offseason, and the Braves have him for 4 more years at $68m, something like 8-300 starting next year might be enticing, considering he’d be making around $20m more per year for the first 3 years of it. Maybe with a player option after year 5, and escalating salaries starting over $30m. If he’s still hitting 40 HRs a year at 36 he probably gets one more decent sized deal after that.
…and if he’s still an MVP caliber player after year 5, obviously he opts out and gets another 300m contract. Braves don’t get a ton of added value that way, so maybe it would have to be after year 6, or maybe they get some club options tacked on at the latter portion of it again.
With team options, the Braves can retain Acuna as far out as 2028. Do the Braves really want to start buying out the years of a player in his early 30’s with a UCL surgery on each knee?
@SalaryCapMyth — that’s exactly why I don’t think an extension is looked at til down the road, where he can prove his health. Sure, he may want to explore FA the closer he gets to it, but if he’s expecting Ohtani/Soto money from ATL without proving his health, ATL isn’t going to insult him with a low-ball offer trying to avert risk.
Exactly what I was going to say. No…no they don’t. They have no idea what they would be getting that far out on two surgically repaired knees. I wouldn’t give it any thought at all until after the 2026 season.
I agree. I just don’t think it’s in the Braves best interest. In four more years what does Acuna look like? I am not even certain he is ‘that guy’ in Atlanta right now. He just isn’t on the field enough. The fans like him, but I think their would be less angst letting him walk than Freeman or McCann for instance.
Now, if he shows full mobility and has another MVP caliber season this year then maybe you think about extended it out a few year, though it would certainly cost more after a solid year.
@SalaryCapMyth Great points. They’ve got him through age 30 on the cheap. He’s had the one great year, just the one, since 2019.
From 2021 through 2024 his line reads
3.7, 2.6, 8.2, 0.0 bWAR.
That’s performance and fragility sending a strong message.
There’s no chance they want to commit to a particular salary on a multiyear deal in advance. Team options with an expensive buyout, maybe. An incentive laden deal with a low base, maybe. But let’s face it, there’s at least a fair chance Acuna either never plays in MLB in his 30s, or he’s so mediocre, even close to replacement level, that not only would you rather put that money towards other players, but he’s not really worth putting on the field.
Say you’re AA—-if Acuna’s agent came to you tomorrow and offered you a $22m option for his 2029 age 31 season with a $7m buyout, would you go for it? Atlanta has the $17m option with a $10m buyout for 2027, which is pretty much a retirement policy, where if Acuna isn’t worth the 7m difference between the option and the buyout (and which gives up on the 17m team option in 2028), he’s probably done as a player.
It’s an odd arrangement for a terrific young player, at the point the deal was made, but locking in the 17m team option but adding a similar arrangement for his age 31 season ups the guarantee to Acuna while giving the Braves another FA year if they want it. That ups his guarantee by 14m, 31m really, since it would obligate them to pick up his 2028 option now.
If I’m Atlanta I’d think twice about adding just 31m to his guarantee.
It’s a pity he was so bent on personal goals in 2023. It was clear he was on borrowed time. It reeked of Trout continuing to play CF when he was at least three years past its making sense.
RE: Luis Castillo, the Mariners are reportedly undecided yet as to whether they’re the opening day starter will be Castillo or Gilbert. If they go with Gilbert instead of Castillo, that may be an indicator that something is up. But then again it would seem that if they were shopping him then giving him the opening day start would be a better showcase than not giving him the opening day start.
MLB GMs won’t care if he pitched on Opening Day, or the day after. It just doesn’t figure in to their evaluation. They’d also know full well what Seattle’s trying to do.
Besides, why would you start Castillo over the guy who led the league in IP and WHIP, and had the better ERA, FIP, K, B, K::B, H…?
If the Dodgers end up paying Ohtani $700m dollars, then that’s what his contract is.
I think a good way to explain the structure of it would be to compare it to a lottery payout. You get less if you take the lump sum, more if you take the payments. At the end of the day, one is more than the other. Could Ohtani invest the $460m now and make more than $700m by the time he was to collect the full amount? Probably, but Dodgers will still end up paying him $700m.
Your ignorance is so woeful, it’s offensive. Shoo.
Yeah, I am pretty sure that’s some serious Dodger blue bias going on right there..lol
Clearly, the structure of a deal matters, especially when you’re dealing with set limits and escalating penalties for surpassing those limits.
Just measuring how much a player receives over the course of their contract only tells a small portion of the story. Everyone knows what’s been going on over the last few offseasons, and everyone knows the Dodgers are taking advantage of some loopholes in the rulebook.
Kudos to the Dodgers for having an owner that will spend literally whatever it takes, but let’s not act like it isn’t absolutely absurd and something needs to change.
Who is currently projected to be the everyday starters in the St. Louis Cardinals line up on Opening Day???
Plus….. who would it take in trade for the Cardinals to obtain Jackson Holliday from the Orioles??
JFC stop with Iglesias and the Mets.
They. Do. Not. Want. Him.
If he has (had) a multi-year deal on the table and passed on it to rejoin the Mets then he’s an idiot.
Just because Cohen is a billionaire doesn’t mean he wants to set money on fire, $5M for Iglesias comes to over $10M. This is the place that Stearns is gonna be useful to Cohen. You can shave tens of millions off your roster by employing replacement level guys for these fringe guys, especially at the highest tax bracket, and especially when these replacement guys are often pretty close to the production that fringe guys can provide, sometimes with higher upside.
Iglesias had a great year, it ended better than expected, now he should cash in on it somewhere else and leave it on a positive note with the Mets.
Iglesias commenting on Mets Twitter is so weird.
Dodgers are owned by Guggenheim Baseball Management, a part of Guggenheim Partners, a global investment firm. The MLB deferral calculation is pretty conservative. Guggenheim can take the deferred money and invest it and make more money than they’ll eventually have to pay out. So makes sense to defer salary from their standpoint.
David Robertson should fire his agent!!!
Yes, the cubs should have signed iglesias like I said all along over turner because they have greater need at 3rd especially if shaw goes down. Like somebody else said smith not ready so he was expendable same as workman who played only AA last year and not yet yet ready either.