Thanks. If he could be got for 2M or something like that I would greatly prefer him to singleton. He’s an actual major league quality bat overall and an above average one against RHP. Useful Ph and a guy that could play 1B 20 times a year and DH 40 times a year against RHP when Yordan is in Left field (figure he gets 50 games there) Chas is in CF and Jake is sitting the bench. If he was the only guy signed other than backup catcher as a scramble to stay under the tax I wouldn’t absolutely hate it. Maybe he gets 5 or 6 which wouldn’t really interest me near as much then.
I agree that he would be an upgrade over Singleton and would not be upset if they got him for that cheap. I would like it better if Abreu was a few years younger and could reliably play 150+ games though. What I hope they do is sign a LH bat who can play 1B once per week vs a RHSP to help keep Abreu fresh. Vogelbach played DH exclusively in 2023, only played 5 innings at 1B in 5 games in 2022, and was 99th out of 110 1B in OAA in 2021. I think he's a bat only guy who would likely require Abreu to start too many games. I think if he could be had for $7M-$8M then maybe Brandon Belt would be a better fit and they ( he and Abreu) could be used to keep each fresh and productive.
A lineup that included Murphy and McCormick would necessitate the sale of Guinness in the ballpark, which I would warmly welcome with open arms. EDIT: omg they could name it Doran's Pub how can i make this a reality?
I generally have a super simplistic concept of replacement level and average. Replacement is the value of the (30 x 13) 390th best position player or Pitcher. Average is the 15th best player at each fielding position. 75th best SP and 120th best relief pitcher. Based on 390 position players, 150 SP and 240 RP. For these purposes, DH is considered a position. Then I use Median as the type of Average.
Mariners probably make a run at Matt Chapman now if I had to guess (and so much for the Breg to D-Backs rumors- although they clearly were in the market for a 3rd baseman)
At this point I am leaning toward believing Houston is going to add a top of the rotation pitcher. The market is too deep so there will be value there and Crane has proven he loves big time pitchers and is willing to approve/force deals for them. Cease, Burnes, Glasnow, Bieber, and Darvish are trade options. Gray, Snell, Rodriguez, Yamamoto, and Montgomery are free agent options. So there’s 10 ToR SP on the market, I would imagine Houston will go get one.
They want less strikeouts in their lineup and he carried a high salary. So they accomplished 2 things: cleared some payroll to make room for a different player, and eliminated their most strikeout-prone hitter. They may go after Justin Turner or Donovan Solano in free agency, but more likely they will either roll with Jose Caballero (who doesn’t k much) or make a trade; Willy Adames may be an option. But they also seem like a match to swap one of their young pitchers for one of cincinatti’s young infielders. Anthony Rendon would be the wild card but Seattles Gm is always down for a trade.
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-pipeline-2024-rookie-of-the-year-candidates Spencer Arrighetti is mlb.com’s pick for Houston’s 2024 ROY. I think Loperfido or Corona could also be options, along with Whitley.
All of this Bregman-Arizona rumors has me wondering who exactly would be our biggest competitors to sign away Bregman and Tucker, and Altuve for that matter. I have a tough time believing Arizona will shell Bregman’s asking price…but I suppose the same could’ve been said about the Twins and Correa. What IS clear is that players are getting well-beyond Crane’s (antiquated?) stance of not signing players beyond 6-year terms. They will have no shortage of suitors…I could see SFG, CHC, and maybe SEA going after Tucker assuming they strike out on Ohtani. I guess time will tell. Hopefully they stay pat as Astros!
They dumped Sewald at the trade deadline when they were still in the mix of a playoff run in what seemed like a salary dump. Im hoping trading suarez is a sign that SEA is still trending in this direction where they are prioritizing saving money
