Teams really not buying into Santander as anything but an okay player that had a career year in 2024. The Blue Jays had to do something and were not really willing to pay the cost for the top guys and wanted to add someone they can claim is their “Greg Swindell” big signing… Santander at least got enough money to be financially well off for the rest of his life.
I could see Dana signing a guy like Palanco if they've got the money to play LF, if not he will trade Caratini to get the money. Hopefully Pressly agrees to let Dana trade him without the extension. Dana doesn't seem like the type of guy to try to mess with even though he seems like a nice guy. I could see Dana making Pressly the 12th bullpen guy and tanking his future FA money.
I’m sure they will be but they need to be careful how they treat Pressly. No contender needs a malcontent in the clubhouse. Houston signed Pressly to a contract with a no trade clause and if he doesn’t want to be traded they should accept that and move on. Not worth the risk of it getting ugly and whatever leverage Brown might think he has, Pressly has more in this situation because the contract favors him.
Who broke camp as the 13th position player last year? Or are suggesting that Singleton is the 12th or 11th guy? BTW when we are down to just arguing who the 13th position player will be, we all have way too much time on our hands.
You made me intrigued enough to do the math (i.e. find an inflation calculator on the internet) Swindell's 4 year, $17.5M contract in 1992 would be worth $39,125,000 today Not that "normal inflation" and "baseball salary inflation" are comparable at all
At the same time, the best player in the sport Barry Bonds signed a massive 6/44 contract. So yeah, sports inflation and normal inflation aren't the same thing. I think a player coming off what he did in Pittsburgh would get what Juan Soto did, or at least in the ballpark. The money available nowadays has gotten absurd.
It’s absurd… but it’s also being very selectively given (and when it’s given, boy is it given)…. While middle tier contracts and salaries have hit a bit of a stagnation compared to middle tier salaries in other leagues. Yes, some teams have gotten smarter… while many have just continued to maintain a low payroll, despite not necessarily being in a destitute market like Oakland. Talking more about Cincy, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee types. These are markets that historically draw well when the team is winning, all have favorable TV deals (with limited competition) and just a slight bit more spending could really supplement some of the younger talent. Even Seattle could afford to spend more. KC went against the MO last off-season, spent, made the playoffs, and now is in position to really solidify a core that may put a stop to Baltimore’s expected “dominance” of the league pseudo-Astros style.
I get what you are saying, but we have too many platoon types on the roster already, and we need some flexibility on our bench. I hated last years roster makeup for that exact reason. Would much rather that 13th position player have more flexibility on defense and have at least a little value on the bases also. And I understand that most of our platoon types hit from the other side, but we just have such a limited overall bench when we have so many players who can only compete against one arm side of pitching
Part of the reason we have had so few at bats from that spot is having a guy like Salazar on the bench as the 13th and Dusty refusing to play him We would be much better off with your last idea, letting guys like Whitcomb/Dezenzo etc have that spot
I seem to remember big Jon being pretty decent once he got consistent playing time. Pretty sure he had an ops of like 750 or close to it.
If the Astros are gonna hold onto Meyers and Chaz, I'm perfectly OK with Singleton as a regular pinch hitter 4 OFers,4 IFers, Dubon,Yordan, 2 catchers. The odds that a 13th player is getting any meaningful innings is slim. Singleton at least has a clear role where he can be "rotation player" if you will. PH and occasional DH start against RHP. I would have liked an OF bat, but at this point it's pretty clear a decent LH platoon bat is all we're getting with Dezenzo/Whitcomb/Leon being the 4th OFer.
He finished well in August in September His best month before August was June when he had a .703 OPS, when you add in how bad he is on defense that's not good Now in August he had an .810 OPS but only 44 at bats, then in September .851 in 49 at bats. So once they got him OUT of playing everyday against everyone and used him in favorable situations, he hit well So I guess that is the question. Do you believe in the 93 strong at bats at the end of his age 33 season, or the 700+ at bats he had before that? I do like his approach at the plate and how he battles, but I just hate when you have a DH only type like Yordan already, two OF's who are platoon guys if you want them to be successful, and then another no defense value platoon guy as one of your bench guys. He doesn't fit what we need the most at the end of the roster
I’m not really sure. Looking at his splits and game log, it doesn’t look like he really excelled with consistent playing time. He played almost every game in May and posted a 684 ops. Didnt play consistently in June then played every day in July and posted a 605 ops for that month. Then he was limited to mostly bench duty in August but posted an 810 ops. Sept brought more inconsistent playing time but he again excelled posting a 861 ops. I think his health (I want to say I read he has diabetes) makes it hard for him to play everyday and I also think he struggles against lefties. But it appears he does really well when he is played almost exclusively against righties for 30-70 pa/month. He works counts and doesn’t swing at bad pitches and doesn’t strike out too much. He walks a lot and has very tantalizing light tower power and can hit absolutely majestic homers. But he is easily induced into ground balls (albeit hard hit grounders). Like I said, I think he could bring really good value in a role where he is primarily deployed as a pinch hitter for Pena or McCormick against RHP at crucial points in the game, and as the backup 1B and DH. There’s plenty of value in that role to justify him on the roster, and clearly the front office agrees, because he’s still on the 40 man roster.
Right now the bench consists of: Dubon, who plays every position except C, Trammell, who can play all 3 OF spots, Caratini, who can play C and 1B well, and Singleton, a bat-only 1B/DH. Their everyday players feature a 3B (Paredes) who can play all across the infield and 2 OF (McCormick and Meyers) who can play all 3 OF spots. There’s plenty of versatility on their roster, even with Singleton as the 13th guy. His ability to generate offense against RHP is enough value to justify his spot.
If we get the version of Chas and Pena that need to be pinch hit for late in games, we are screwed anyway Last year was a disaster for Chas but in 23 he had a .770 OPS vs RHP, it's just that he was so dominant (1.009) vs LHP that he gets mentioned as a platoon type (even by me lol) Pena is a .670 type against RPH so certainly Jon would represent a better option than what Pena has been so far there. But who is our SS if Jon gets a big hit and ties a game in the 9th? And who else are you going to use him as a pinch hitter for? I guess if you end up going with Jake/Chas/Dubon as your OF then he would have options to pinch hit for Jake also, but if that is our OF i'm not sure it matters who the 13th guy is
