His place on the 40 currently doesn’t mean he makes the opening 26. Cooper Hummel is on the 40. Salazar is an option for the 26, and he’s on the 40. There is no reason to cut Jon loose at this moment. But I think his chances to make the opening day team is less than 50-50. 4 backups for 8 positions means defensive versatility is at a premium among the bench spots.
My question here is, if they didn’t think Singleton (or Hummel) would make the opening day roster, why weren’t they DFA instead of Kessinger, a more versatile player who still had options remaining?
They got back a relief pitcher they thought was interesting for Kessinger. I don’t think Singleton has any trade value. Singleton and Hummel won’t both make the opening day roster. No chance, not enough spots. Probably neither will.
Brown is capable of DFA'ing him and sending him and his contract to Sugar Land for the year if it gets down to it.
I have zero interest in Profar. I have zero faith in him as a player. He's a bad defensive player who pops out the occasional good season to make people think he's finally realized his once great potential. Maybe he did suddenly figure it out, but I expect it to be a mirage.
It has to be the right price. Nobody should sign him fully expecting a repeat of last season. But if you sign him for at a good value contract expecting to endure the 50/50 odds of him being pretty good or nearly unplayable, he can be a good add, especially if your org has a handful of good OF prospects in the upper minors who can likely replace him if he busts. I like his floor because even in the years where he doesn’t produce, he still posts excellent k/bb ratios, so as a bottom of the order guy on a contender he’s not going to be a momentum killer. I also like that he still has immense ceiling, and since he really hasn’t ever been on a team with a stacked lineup, he might still have some untapped ceiling. Again, it’s all about price but I do think he could end up being a good value.
Dodgers just added Yates. In my opinion they now have one of the 2-3 deepest 26 man rosters in MLB history. 5 CY contenders in the rotation. 5 elite RP. 6 All-Star candidates in their lineup. 8 hitters with a projected wOBA >.320. It wouldn’t shock me to see them trade for Luis Robert Jr. (a package of Pages and one of their top 4 prospects likely gets that done).
I think they all but guaranteed a 2027 strike season and a salary cap in the next CBA with the spending of this offseason.
The Astros are being very careful with Pressly. Part of it is that they do not want any chemistry issues and part of it is that there is a genuine level of respect for the fact that until when he asked to be dealt last year, he did everything that the Astros wanted without complaint - and Brown knows that Pressly usually comes through. The Astros expected to be able to trade Pressly based on last season's request - and as far as I can tell, they have avoided any issues. Brown does have a temper - but he is known for being able to navigate difficult personalities. I would be more concerned with Click or even Luhnow in that regard. Ultimately Pressly has a no trade clause and regardless of what he asked for in the past - he has control over the situation and I have to believe that the Astros know that. Based on some of the comments made by Brown about Abreu and McCullers, he is aware that the issue isn't really Pressly as much as it is a desire to avoid additional repeater luxury tax penalties, including in the draft - while also filling holes to compete now.
What I don't understand is with the limitless spending the Dodgers engage in, why was Corey Seager the one guy they refused to break bank on?
If they are healthy, they do have the greatest team ever put together, particularly factoring in there are 30 teams to spread talent around. They are like those Yankees teams that just kept acquiring talent despite already having the best roster in baseball. Hopefully age starts to negatively impact them. Injuries have wrecked their rotation in recent years, but their offenses are still so good. We also need to see when age starts playing a factor for some of these guys.
It’ll be interesting to see that shake out. One conspiracy theory is that the top teams will go balls out the next 2 seasons so that the cap number that gets settled on is still high enough to sustain their competitive advantage. Can’t set a $250M salary cap when 2-3 teams already have $400M/yr committed for the following 2-3 years. It wouldn’t shock me to see a cap set with the allowance that any contracts signed before the new CBA don’t count toward the cap (along with a likely exemption for 1-2 “franchise player” contracts). Advantage Dodgers.
Yeah - he is rich and will be rich........ but he isn't going to be complete "**** it all rich" like he expected. After taxes, his agent costs and living off that amount for 50-60 years, he will be rich but not generationally rich. He supposedly though he would get a deal for over twice what he ended up with.
If you have $50M+ pass thru your hands and your grandchildren aren’t set for life, you ****ed up royally. A $10M+ net worth is enough to ensure “generational wealth”. Sure, you’re not living in a celebrity property in a top 5 zip code in the US, and you’re not influencing national politics. But with $10M+, you live in an extremely nice home, do what you want, likely have an extremely nice vacation home, and can engage in luxury activities like sport fishing etc.
The draft penalties are pretty much gone. You move back 10 spots on your first pick for being $40M over. At this point Crane just wants to save money, which is his choice. It is certainly more efficient to not be wasting money towards a tax if it could be spent improving other areas of the organization. I just think he's making a mistake if he doesn't optimize the 2025 roster when it will be so much easier for Brown to go back below the threshold next year without the contracts that Jim Crane handicapped Brown with (Abreu & Montero).
The Dodgers are one of the teams (along with the Astros) that are talking to the White Sox. The Dodgers need to be careful - they could end up alienating the rest of the owners in the league and numbers matter when it comes to the CBA. The closest thing I have seen to this was the Yankees in the 90's when they developed Jeter, Pettitte, Williams and Posada and then just signed everyone available at every other spot. What is a little sad is that if you gave the Astros the same financial power - the Astros would likely be better.
