Cespedes is definitely in the driver's seat with this deal, huh? 
Wow!
Wow!
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mets got fleeced
overpaid for someone who was in a bad position[quote=jjgold;5683305]I win again like usual
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[quote=Whippit;7921056]miami won't lose a single eastern conference game through end of season[/quote]Comment -
Rodney to the Padres?
Perhaps that huge ballpark will save him a time or two...
Don't know why anyone would want that guy!Comment -
MLB should retire Roberto Clemente's number
The time has come for Major League Baseball to honor Roberto Clemente and retire his No. 21 for all teams and for all time.Comment -
My favorite number for baseball players is 34. Nolan Ryan was a prime exampleComment -
amazing how cespedes is such a solid player and cant stay with any team for a period of timeComment -
All about the Benjamin's.Comment -
It appears to me the Nats were pushing very hard to get him, but he wanted to play for the Mets (likely because he wants to win a World Series) The Nats were giving him the long term contract he wanted, and the Mets didn't want to go that long. Based on what other every day players have received this year he is not being hugely overpaid, this contract seems in line with those others.
Six weeks ago, Jeff Todd asked MLBTR readers which of the four nine-figure contracts given to pitchers this offseason was the best. 37.6% of you said you preferred Jordan Zimmermann’s deal — the cheapest of the four.
Of course, Jeff couldn’t ask a similar question about contracts for hitters, because the only hitter to agree to a deal over $100MM to that point was Jason Heyward. The hitting market was slow in coming, but now, finally, there have been two other hitters to cross the nine-figure threshold.
Heyward’s deal was the most expensive, at $184MM, although deferrals reduce its present-day value to about $5MM less than that. The deal also contains an opt-out after 2018, and possibly another after 2019 if he stays healthy. He also receives full or limited no-trade protection throughout the contract. Heyward is, of course, highly talented and very young and athletic for a free agent, but in a poll following the announcement of the deal, most MLBTR readers thought the Cubs overpaid.
The Orioles’ Chris Davis received somewhat less than Heyward, at $161MM and with very significant deferrals. He gets a partial no-trade clause but does not receive an opt-out. Davis is over three years older than Heyward and his skill set isn’t nearly as well rounded, which could lead to reasonable questions about how he’ll age over the life of the deal. Davis’ power is, however, second to none.
Justin Upton’s $132.75MM contract with the Tigers is the most recent of the three. Upton gets an opt-out after 2017, as well as limited no-trade protection. He’s between Heyward and Upton in age. He doesn’t have Heyward’s defensive or baserunning value, and he doesn’t have Davis’ power either, but he’s blossomed into a reliable offensive threat, and his deal is a considerably smaller commitment than Heyward’s, at least.
Davis’ deal might be the riskiest of the three, given his age and issues with strikeouts. But one could argue that there’s more upside in Davis’ deal, too, given that he does not have an opt-out. What you think about the Heyward deal likely depends to some degree on how you weight defense in your assessment of a player’s value (and in your assessment of how he’ll age). Upton’s skill set is perhaps the easiest of the three to grasp — he’s a good, consistent power hitter who gets on base and plays decent defense in an outfield corner. He hasn’t yet blossomed into the MVP-type player he looked like he might be when he was a prospect, although he’s young enough that we might not have seen the best of him yet.Comment -
Are there any free agents out there that you would want your team to sign?
I wouldn't mind the Blue Jays signing Yovani Gallardo to add some depth to the rotation.Comment -
Notable free agents still unsigned:
Ian Desmond, Howie Kendrick, Dexter Fowler, Austin Jackson, David Freese, Justin Morneau, Juan Uribe, Alex Rios.
Yovani Gallardo, Mat Latos, Doug Fister, Tyler Clippard, Casey Janssen, Neal CottsComment -
Surprised Fowler is still there. Decent bat, some speed. Curse of Coors Field perception?Comment -
i'd take Latos for the bucsComment -
Ha! You beat me to it Arch! I was very high on Latos before his injury.
However, I still think he a few solid years left in that arm.
Also, Dexter Fowler. He's a pest (ala David Eckstein) and just seems to be a Pirates killer.
Maybe David Freese and Alex Rios, too...Comment -
mlb tweeted that Desmond leads SSs in homers since 2012
second is Tulo and he isn't close (he missed a lot of time of course)[quote=jjgold;5683305]I win again like usual
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[quote=Whippit;7921056]miami won't lose a single eastern conference game through end of season[/quote]Comment -
42 is hangin' in the rafters of just about every stadium, I believe..... not necessarily forgotten.......Comment -
- The Angels and right fielder Kole Calhoun have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $3.4MM, tweets SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo. Calhoun, whom Swartz projected to earn $3.6MM, had filed for a $3.9MM salary, while the team had countered with a considerably lower $2.35MM sum. His eventual salary comes in a good bit north of the $3.125MM midpoint between those two sums. The 28-year-old Calhoun qualified for arbitration as a Super Two player by the narrowest of margins this offseason, as he finished the year with two years, 130 days of service time, meaning he landed precisely on the cutoff. As such, this will mark the first seven-figure salary of his young career. However, if the quietly solid outfielder continues at his current trajectory, there will be plenty more to come. Over the past two seasons, Calhoun has batted .263/.316/.435 with 43 home runs and high-quality defense in right field, resulting in his first Gold Glove Award in 2015. With Calhoun’s case now resolved, the Halos have avoided arbitration with all of their eligible players.
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Calhoun is solid player,better to keep what they have instead of dipping in free agents and hoping to get qualityComment -
Korean first baseman Dae-ho Lee, who has spent the past two seasons playing for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, is weighing offers from three Major League teams, according to a Japanese media report (hat tip: Han Lee of Global Sporting Integration, on Twitter). Recently, Jee-ho Yoo of Korea’s Yonhap News Agency wrote that Lee was planning to return home this weekend after training with his former team, the Korea Basbeall Organization’s Lotte Giants, in Arizona. However, Yoo now reports that Lee will postpone his trip to meet with an MLB club. It’s not clear whether the team with which Lee is meeting this weekend is a new entrant into the bidding or if he’s continuing negotiations with a club to which he has already spoken. Notably, Yoo also says that the Hawks would like to re-sign Lee and are slated to begin their own Spring Training next week, perhaps creating an urgency to make a decision.
A right-handed hitter, the 33-year-old Lee is an accomplished player in both NPB and in the KBO. He’s OPSed well over .800 across the past four seasons in Japan, including a very strong .282/.368/.524 batting line with 31 homers and 30 doubles this past season in Japan. A former KBO MVP, Lee has a lifetime batting line of .303/.387/.514 and a career-high 44 home runs, coming back in 2010 (although that was at age 28, and he’s traditionally been more of a 25- to 30-homer bat).
Lee, who is listed at 6’4″ and 286 pounds, is limited to first base and designated hitter from a defensive standpoint, but there are many clubs that could look to add someone of that skill set with his type of upside — especially if the current asking price is one year, as the Japanese report above indicates. The Astros don’t have a definitive answer at first base to begin the season, for instance, and Lee could present competition for Jon Singleton and serve as a stopgap to top prospect A.J. Reed. The Cardinals could consider him a potential platoon partner for Brandon Moss and/or Matt Adams, while the Mariners could look at him in a similar light and hope to pair him with Adam Lind. All of those fits, of course, are speculative.
Back in December, Lee’s reported goals were to sign with a winning club that offered the opportunity for regular playing time. It might be difficult to come by a contending team with a notable hole at first base or DH at this point (although Houston does fit that bill to some extent). Lee met with multiple clubs at last month’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, though little has been reported in terms of the teams to which he has actually spoken. The Pirates were said at one point to have some interest in Lee, though Pittsburgh does have Mike Morse and the since-acquired Jason Rogers as potential in-house options as right-handed-hitting first basemen.Comment
They must like him though.
