Who is this offseason’s top free agent? MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand posed that question to a handful of executives, who came back pretty well split between Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon. Those who pointed to Cole as the likely recipient of the winter’s biggest deal pointed to Rendon’s lengthy injury history and the leaguewide scarcity of ace-level starting pitching. On the other hand, Rendon’s backers pointed out that the highest ceilings in free agency belong to star-level position players, who are generally viewed as less risky from a health perspective than pitchers are.
- Which organizations pursue each player will no doubt dictate their respective market values in the coming months. To that end, ESPN’s Buster Olney (subscription link) is hearing chatter the Dodgers figure to be in the Rendon market. The idea, per Olney, would be move Justin Turner to first base to split time with Max Muncy while deploying Cody Bellinger solely on the grass. Whether the Dodgers would be best-served beating what is sure to be a robust market for Rendon when their internal options are already formidable is debatable, but Olney notes that the Dodgers’ collection of cheap young stars gives the team ample financial flexibility to make a splash in free agency. Further, he argues that Rendon is the Dodgers’ ideal hitter- patient, with contact and power skills- although of course LA wouldn’t be the only organization to appreciate a player with Rendon’s superstar track record.
- In the wake of the Red Sox parting ways with Dave Dombrowski, WEEI’s Rob Bradford sat down with Giants’ special advisor (and former Blue Jays’ GM) J.P. Ricciardi to discuss how the position has changed in recent seasons. Ricciardi pointed to a number of differences in heading a front office now versus the 2000’s, when he was running things north of the border. Perhaps most interestingly, Ricciardi opined that front offices in 2019 have become extremely averse to trading young players, which he attributes partially to fear of being second-guessed with fans and media more attuned to the transactional landscape. Ricciardi’s thoughts are worth checking out in full for fans interested in how the role of MLB executive has changed over the past decade.
- One person who won’t be taking over for Dombrowski is former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, reports Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. Cherington and the organization parted ways after Dombrowski was brought aboard in August 2015. Nevertheless, as Mastrodonato explores in detail, Cherington deserves some credit for the Sox’s 2018 World Series roster, which certainly had the imprints of the vaunted farm system he and his staff had put together before his exit.
No fricken way the dodgers get rendon that’s like the last team he’d go to
A team with deep pockets that is always in the playoffs and been to the Series the last two most likely three years after this year? No clue why he’d want to go to a crap hole like that.
Don’t forget the weather!
Why would he not want to play in LA?
maybe he goes home to texas, or maybe put him in the same line up with the best player in baseball to the angels, and they sign Cole as well.
Oh boy! Life long Angels fan, but I wouldn’t sign there!
Because twinsfan said so. What other reason would you need?
Even if they offer the most dollars?
Agree. Dodgers pursuing an expensive FA infielder when they already have an abundance of options?? No way. Pitching will be the priority this winter. The ONLY scenario where adding Rendon makes sense would be following a trade of Muncy, Lux or Seager to add another #1 SP. Very unlikely, but conceivable.
Why, twinsfan, why?
Dodgers biggest free agent is Friedman and I wouldn’t be suprised if he already signed an extension.
thats the perfect guy the phillies need to take over if Middleton fired Klentak
No! Let him leave!
Bigger question is, why would anyone ( besides polar bears & penguins) want to play in Minny?
I hear they got a lotta lakes…
The Dodgers also highly value the ability of a player to play multiple positions. He’s a great player, but Rendon is pretty much exclusively a third baseman these days.
You’re completely nuts if you don’t think Rendon can handle first.
Even then, its pretty silly to think the Dodgers would pass up on an opportunity to sign Rendon just because he can only play third base.
Dodgers do not need a first or third baseman.
They need pitching
Dodgers don’t really NEED any position players if that’s the way you’re looking at it. But Turner’s contract is done after next season and he has been in a defensive decline the last year+ anyways. Not that he’s not capable of playing 3b still, and not that they don’t have other plausible options to fill that role internally. Why wouldn’t you look to improve a position if you have the financial flexibility to do it?
Why do sportswriters keep predicting the Dodgers will use their “financial flexibility” to sign another big ticket free agent when they’ve never been right about that before? What exactly is so mysterious about the Friedman game plan that it so badly fools people who are supposedly in the know?
The linked article says close friends of Rendon dont think he will want a long term deal. He may be willing to go 5 years. If thats the case the Dodgers will absolutely be hard after him.
Even if that rumor turned out to be true (which frankly seems unlikely), five years of Rendon is still going to cost at least in the neighborhood of $150M. List the contract commitments made by this Dodgers FO that exceeded $100M. Use this space: __
How often have “friends” quotes or being used as sources been correct in players true intentions? The Dodgers already have Turner locked in, and have too many young players in the pipeline to worry about signing Rendon.
No position player as good as Rendon has been on the market. Machado and Harper are both not as good, they were just younger thus the commitment. 150 million for 5 years of Rendon would be a steal. This is not Eric Hosmer. Fill in the blank of a position player free agent worth that kind of money recently. Theres been good reason to stay away
The quality of the player isn’t the point. The point is, the Dodgers under Friedman haven’t committed as much as $100M to anybody so the chances they’d commit more than half again that much for Rendon seems to be approximately zero, especially since the logic depends on rejiggering the infield in a way that only makes sense to sportswriters. A much more likely scenario beyond 2020 is Seager moving to 3B and Lux taking over at short. The right side would continue to be the platoon-heavy revolving door it has been mostly under Friedman.
They haven’t spent 100 million because there hasn’t been anyone of quality to do so on. Its not some magic number Friedman has been afraid to cross. Im sorry but to think they wouldn’t spend 150 on Rendon is just wrong. The issue would be if he takes that in a bidding war. Not will they spend it. His production for 150 is a no brainer. This isn’t Eric Hosmer were talking about. They offered Harper the largest AAV deal ever so clearly they aren’t afraid when the quality is there.
After 2019, Turner only has one more year left on his contract. However a cheaper alternative would be moving Seager to 3rd, Lux to 2nd and, again, gradually bringing up a prospect to acclimate to 2nd.
A Rendon signing would be more welcome than signing Pollock. Rendon is more expensive but at least you can count on his health and playability.
I am not interested in how much they pay him. I don’t want a team that’s cost-effective I just want the team to be effective. So if they make Rendon a joke offer like they apparently did for Harper then what was the point? I’m not fooled that’s for sure.
A joke offer is the highest AAV ever? They gave him a very nice short term offer. He didn’t want a short term deal. There was no joke about it
Because we all knew he was always going to get a much, much better offer. And lo and behold, that’s exactly what happened. So yes, a lowball offer is a joke.
Hahahahaha Dodgers & 5 year contracts don’t mix!
Pencil in Gerrit Cole for 6/$210MM to the White Sox.
Better pave the way by trading for Brandon Crawford. The White Sox are a hot mess.
Crawford has a no trade clause in his contract. He isn’t going anywhere.
It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to signing Manny’s brother-in-law in hopes of getting him to sign there.
They called Houston and Atlanta a hot mess too. I like the players the Sox have assembled. People like you will throw shade until they’re kicking your tail. Para bellum.
Nobody ever called either of those teams a “hot mess”, because they new what they were doing in rebuilding. “People like you will throw shade until they’re kicking your tail” The White Sox entering a war with the Dodgers ever would be like Hillary Clinton attempting a Pungu Mayurasana.
You must have been born yesterday, because I clearly remember how bad the rebuilding teams were. The Nats, Braves, Astros, Twins and Cubs were all a “hot mess” during their rebuilds that took years and a lot of losing. Don’t know why I responding to you. You sound like a dope.
The weird thing about the Braves rebuild is most of their core pieces were already in the system before they decided to year it down
Friedman Is a cheap scape
.
Why would anyone think that Ben Cherington would be up for the job again?
Wow – The Dodgers prospectively phasing out Justin Turner by moving him to first and most likely back to third again to spell Rendon on rest days is a sure sign of his time in blue coming to an end. He’s such a positive figure that it’s a shame. He’s still gold glove caliber at 3rd too.
That’s a pretty solid infield though: Rendon/Turner (3B), Seager/Taylor (SS), Lux/Muncy (2b), Muncy/Turner/Bellinger (1B)
Please name a time when Buster Olney has ever been right.
You sound like you must be married to him.
But yeah, point taken.
“prospectively” not “absolutely.” I hope you learned something.
While the dodgers have not signed anybody above 100m with Friedman. It’s not like they haven’t made contract offers above 100m, dudes just had better deals.
We can speculate all day long about the players they didn’t sign and what if anything they actually offered them, but we don’t have to guess about at all about who they have signed and how much they paid them. After four years of Friedman a definite pattern shows, and it’s an aversion to signing big-ticket free agents and paying the CBT. So keep expecting them to exercise their financial clout if you like but I am not holding my breath. It’s clear to me that they prefer to hang onto the money.
If they were willing to go 5 years max for Harper, surely they offered above 100. That’s not speculation that’s just being logical. Probably only a couple more offers like that I concede, and I won’t hold my breath either likewise. But who knows maybe finally a player will want to win the division for the next 5 years guaranteed easily at a slight discount. I’m the kind of person who likes to be open to possibilities that are feasible.
If the Dodgers were willing to go five and Harper was looking for (and got) 13 then how much they offered annually is besides the point. It very likely would be the same for Rendon. If you give a player a choice between postseasons and $100M larger guarantee, most of them are going to go for the cash. Both Machado and Harper did exactly that, most recently. Besides, players have egos. They’re going to figure they will carry their new team on their shoulders for all those big bucks. So, for as long as the Dodgers have the philosophy that nobody gets one of those gigantic contracts from them then it’s hard to imagine a scenario where they sign any top-line free agents.
I dont think that’s besides the point at all. You say it’s not in their M.O. so I gave an example that contradicts that supposed hard stance. And they were right to not offer Harper that, he’s extremely overrated. While deals like Hill and Pollock don’t look terrible at all. They offered Darvish about 6/100 (basically what he’s worth he ain’t worth 126). They were right to not do that.They got outbid for Greinke by the Dbacks they were right to not do that for Zach. I know you don’t really think it was for under 100 mill right???? They are more than willing, but Friedman will intelligently use some restraint that other less well run clubs won’t use. The only line in your statement I agree with is that it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which it’ll happen you said towards the end but let’s not act like it’s not feasible. He’s the complete opposite of Dave Dombrowski always will be.
My point again is they will never sign those big-ticket free agents by underbidding for them, which is exactly what they’ve done time and time again. Coming in second doesn’t earn an A for effort in my book, especially when everybody and their grandmother has to know they will be outbid. What they deserve instead is a big WTH. I mean, we’re supposed to be impressed by the deals they don’t make? Sorry, but you can count me out on that one. A whiff isn’t the same as a home run just because you took a swing.
Also, I’m not in the least impressed with the argument that the free agents they do sign are cost-effective. As a fan I am only interested in effectiveness (AKA, winning), so mediocre players who don’t cost much are not who I want to see my team sign when they have a real need in a certain area. I know the Dodgers have enough (of our) money to sign anybody they really want to sign. If they don’t, they’ve made a decision to optimize profit over winning.
That’s where we fundamentally disagree then, man. I do give them an A for effort, haha. I am extremely impressed by the deals that they don’t make, we will never agree on that front so no point in beating it like a dead horse. That’d be a waste of our time right.
“ List the contract commitments made by this Dodgers FO that exceeded $100M. Use this space: __” was my gripe. So I listed names of players they were willing to commit contracts to for 100 or more, but just didn’t get em. If Darvish don’t want to take 100 or Greinke 150 that is truly besides the point in my definition. My list of names falls into the original point you made. Cuz they were willing to commit and offer above 100 just the other side wasnt.
Have a nice day sir.
The Dodgers haven’t been willing to give out long-term deals. They’ve been willing to pay high on a shorter term deal. That hasn’t landed them any top free agents recently. If Rendon is seeking a deal that is 7-10 years long, that will rule out the Dodgers.
Oh the Red Sox’s should definitely hire J.P. Ricciardi as their next GM. He was a total disaster when he was with the Jays and no team has taken him on as a GM since. The position of Special Advisor is pretty vague,