Mike Moustakas came off the market when he signed a surprisingly large contract (four years, $64MM) with the Reds in December. It turns out that the Blue Jays were among the runners-up for Moustakas, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, who tweets that they made him a three-year, $30MM offer. The Reds obviously blew that proposal out of the water, however, and the Jays pivoted to a much cheaper corner infielder Travis Shaw (one year, $4MM). A third baseman for most of his career, Moustakas is set to handle second in Cincinnati. That position is spoken for in Toronto (Cavan Biggio), as is third (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.), so it seems likely Moustakas would have worked at 1B extensively for the first time in his career had the club won the bidding for him. Instead, the Blue Jays will hope for a bounce-back season from Shaw, who was teammates with Moustakas in Milwaukee last year.
Let’s move over to the NL East…
- The Braves lost their top free agent, Josh Donaldson, to the Twins’ four-year, $92MM offer over the winter. Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos acknowledged afterward that the team put forth an offer that came up short. Heyman has some details on it, reporting that the Braves were willing to go to four years in the range of $75MM to $90MM to retain Donaldson. That’s a wide gap, so it’s unknown just how much money Donaldson would have left on the table to re-sign with Atlanta. Regardless, the club now looks to be in much less impressive shape at third, where Austin Riley and Johan Camargo are competing for the starting role.
- Infielder Neil Walker signed a minor league contract with the Phillies over the winter, but he has no plans to play below the MLB level. “I’m not going to concede to the notion of retiring as a 34-year-old who is in good shape,” Walker told Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription link). “But I’m not going to play in Triple A.” For now, Walker’s continuing to compete for a reserve role in Philadelphia, but if he’s unable to find a big league job with the Phillies or another team this season, it’s possible it’ll be the end of the line for the longtime second baseman. The switch-hitting Walker did still have something to offer at the plate last season, though, as he batted .261/.344/.395 (99 wRC+) in 381 trips.
- As a back-to-back Cy Young winner, it doesn’t seem that Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom has to change anything. But the ace is now working on adding more curveballs into his repertoire, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News writes. According to FanGraphs, deGrom’s usage of the pitch ranged from 7.9 percent to 10.8 percent from 2014-18. The number dropped to 3 percent in 2019, when opposing hitters had their way with it to the tune of a .364 weighted on-base average. That was the only pitch deGrom threw last year that hitters could even muster a .300 mark against. He was dominant overall, notching a 2.43 ERA/2.67 FIP with 11.25 K/9 and 1.94 BB/9 over 204 innings.
I think Travis Shaw has the chance to be an extreme bargain for the Jays who can control him via arbitration for 2021 if need be.
Travis Shaw 2019: 230 AB’s, BA .157, OPS 551, War -1.
How are you getting that Travis Shaw has the chance at being at extreme bargain.?
Probably by looking at his 2017 and 2018 seasons and thinking he will bounce back closer to those
Probably because they are not signing him before the 2019 season. The 2020 season has not happened yet and does still have a chance to be an extreme bargain.
He’s about as much a bargain as Daniel Murphy.
Jimmertree is just a troll on these threads. He’s got to be the least knowledgeable person I’ve seen on them. Many people in the baseball world are saying there’s a good chance Shaw could be a absolute bargain and a potential comback player of the year. #scoutseyes Hahahaha
I don’t recall ever insulting any poster in these pages. Ever.
There is never a reason to personally insult any commenter in these pages.
Please keep it professional.
Look at his 2017-2018 seasons
Don’t care about his 2017-18 seasons when he’s blocking a young player with potential. AND he could’ve been signed for less than $4-mil.
Shaw has looked like a cut candidate in spring action so far.
@chesteraauthur. That’s a nice, biggotted point of view you have there against U.S. citizens. Does that sort of thing work well with your eastern views of acceptance, piece and harmony?
Who’s chesterarthur?
Wut?
I think in the Moose to Toronto scenario Vlad makes the inevitable move across the diamond to 1B a bit earlier than expected as well as getting some DH work to keep him fresh. Groshans looks like he could be legit and could be the 3B of the future. Regardless Vlad isn’t a long term 3B.
I wish they did have moose, that would have been an amazing deal at 3 for 30. He would clearly be a credit to the team of youngins but oh well
Your thoughts on moving Guerrero to 1b make more sense than this article
It is still spring training of course, but so far Austin Riley appears to be greatly improved. I’m hoping that his hard work this off season translates well into the regular season too.
Josh said he wanted to stay in Atlanta, if the Braves did offer up to 90 million as the article speculated, it’s essentially the same as the Twins money and my question is how do you spend that much money anyway. How do you spend that much money, it’s not like you are a policeman or some person who works in a factory for 14 an hour and takes another job in which he receives a 2 dollar an hour raise. How much money does he need to live, seems the Braves were compatible to the Twins and Josh lied, he went to the highest bidder and I hope he has a miserable time there
We’d need to hear specifics to know if the offers were comparable. As the article says, 75-90 is a big gap. Was the 4th year an option year? Was it incentive laiden?
I still think the Braves blew it by not re-signing him. I would’ve rather kept Donaldson, flipped Riley for a SP, and not signed Hamels. Freeman, Donaldson, and Ozuna at 3-5 would’ve been scary.
A policeman or factory worker can work into their 60s or 70s. Ballplayers get 1-2 chances tops to negotiate how much money they will live on from their 30s until death. That money has to last them like 60 years. That includes paying off their parents mortgages, saving money for their kids education, and all of the other things that any smart American would do if they could.
Even if Josh made 75 over 4, I think that would be enough to pay off his parents mortgage. Also, baseball players are also able to work into their 60s or 70s, just not as a baseball player. However, unless the money was very close, I would be taking the highest offer if I were in a similar situation.
That’s quite a range. I’m sure nobody, particularly Braves fans, would be surprised if the Braves offered him somewhere on the lower range of $75 to $80 million. Throw in the 5th year option/buy out the Twins gave him and it’s POTENTIALLY a significant difference between what the Twins and Braves offered.
Won’t be the typical fan and say things like “we didn’t need him at that price anuway. Be honest with yourselves. Bringing back Donaldson after upgrading the bullpen would have been pretty sweet. Not saying the Braves can’t or won’t win but with Donaldson, the Braves line up would have been one of the top 5 in baseball.
@ sid
Yeah, I keep forgetting that if you play baseball professionally, it is illegal for you to get another job when your playing days are done.
Make as much as you can when you can.
Come back to Pittsburgh, Neil. Finish it out with your hometown team.
Think hes going to be a useful bench piece for Philly, with most of his PT coming at 2B
I am really curious about how much money the Rangers were willing to give Donaldson. I know they probably didn’t go far with the idea, but I’d still like to know. Bold prediction: I think Donaldson signs another contract after his days in Minnesota are over because he is still going to be a good player, just by then he will be a dh. I do however think that his deal with the Twins will work out great for both sides and I think that the Twins might have even gotten a bargain on him when they look back in retrospect in 4 years.
At least we got Todd Frazier…
“At least we got Todd Frazier”. The ultimate consolation prize.
And Greg Bird…
Neil Walker should try to go to the NPB if he can’t get an MLB roster spot.
Not right now of course lol.
Walker was solid for the Marlins last year. Can still give it a go at multiple positions 1B/2B/3B and maybe even LF and is a switch hitter. Don’t see why the Phils wouldn’t give him a shot.
Walker should almost exclusively be used against right handed pitching. Can handle 3 Infield positions and the OF corners if need be. Still very useful
The way Riley is hitting the Braves will have a controllable, credible middle-of-the-order bat making a very small faction of what Donaldson costs, and for a longer period of time.
It’s time for baseball pundits to stop praising big contracts, and credit GM’s who practice fiscal discipline and keep ticket prices under control for middle market teams.
It’s Spring Training, so I wouldn’t read a ton into anyone’s performance yet, good or bad.
I’m also not a huge believer that payroll alone impacts ticket prices. Yes, a lot of lower payroll teams have cheap tickets, but they’re also really bad teams. If the Marlins, for instance, thought they could get 100 dollars a ticket, I’m sure they would ask it.
Lastly, why the hate on guys for getting paid for what they literally work their whole lives for? I don’t get it.
Players get hated on due to pay because usually in those cases it impacts what the team can pay other players and whether they can fill other needs.
Team payroll has no relationship to ticket prices.
Ticket prices do have an effect on attendance.
I hope Riley has it figured out for 2020, but I wouldn’t read anything into a few dozen March ABs. Look at Acuna’s line this spring; if those numbers forecast his play this year, he’ll be spending most of the season in Gwinnett.
I’m a Reds fan and the Moustakas deal has made me sick from day one. It’s not that I don’t want him, but who the heck were they bidding against? To make matters worse, the contract escalates in value (I believe its $18m the last year). By the last year of the deal, I feel like the Reds are going to have three 1B/DH types in Votto, Moustakas, and Suarez. Suarez is the only one I think will stick at 3B.
The Reds trying to win should make you feel better about it. Too many teams are satisfied to be mediocre just to field a team.Seems to me they are one of the smaller market teams willing to try to be competitive.
No doubt. Imagine if the Jays 3/30 was his 2nd best offer? Rangers were probably in on him for more but who knows. I worry about his defense moving forward at 2nd. Nice player to have around if Votto struggles to stay on the field in his old age seasons I guess.
Both the Braves and Nationals had Moose as a backup plan if they lost out on Donaldson. The Reds jumped them before Donaldson made his decision.
Didn’t donaldson say the braves had not made an offer until the day before he signed the twins offer?. He had the signed twins offer sheet before a braves offer was even made so any attempt to sign donaldson by the braves seems disingenuous at best.
I heard that, too. I wonder if they knew the numbers, and they still came up short? I’m disappointed they didn’t retain Josh.
Also, as an aside, I’m pretty mad they let Kelsey Wingert go. She was the only good part of the broadcast team. I’ve heard conflicting reports as to if the team calls the shot there, or the network; and I’m not in the know enough to know what to believe. Just all around a little less enthusiastic about this year’s club.
Mark bowman said it was one person who made the call on kelsey. He also hinted it was same reason joe got moved to radio. Only thing i can recall about joe was his issues with soto, his homerism, and him mispronouncing snitkers name on air a few times.
Lots of gaffes and angry cloud yelling in recent memory
I don’t buy that the range went up to 90 million in the Braves offer. I assure you it didn’t. Donaldson said himself that it wasn’t in the same ballpark so I’m guessing it’s more in the 75 mil arena and this news broke to save face for the Braves. They got their record breaking revenue and nice profit and didn’t reward the fans for spending all that money on them last year… shame. Btw, tv contracts and all that “non-fan” revenue only happens if fans are dedicated.
They have their highest opening day payroll ever. How exactly didn’t they reward fans? Spending a ton of money on Donaldson for that length of time was a mistake for a NL team.
Who do you think gets the profit?
I think a lot of people upset about losing Donaldson can’t see the big picture. They’re essentially replacing the starting combo of Markakis and Donaldson with Ozuna, Riley, and Inciarte in the end. They also are setting themselves up for Pache and Waters to join Acuna in the outfield on the cheap next yr. Freeman’s contract is up soon, have to pay him. Soroka and Fried are prime extension candidates soon. Swanson’s contract is coming up soon. Greene and Melancon are in their final years, will have to pay to re-sign or replace them. Their are other free agents signings or trades that will happen also. That 23 mil a yr is better served making the roster better than hoping an aging player can keep up this same pace at a position where you have depth.
This.
It’s still too early to say if the Braves are in “much less impressive” shape at third base.
Yea that statement came off as a little premature and over the top to me as well. It’s going to end up being more of a lateral movement in the end, Riley’s got this.
Walker is a good guy. Still don’t know what happened here in Pittsburgh to seal his fate—I don’t believe everything I’ve heard from FO—but here’s a local kid who still lives here and could’ve helped. Still remember him playing in one of the greatest football games I’ve ever seen in his senior year of high school. State playoffs in a blizzard. Like two heavyweights
What happened was the Pirates organization never lets anyone play out their contract…. they always trade away that last most expensive (yet reasonably priced) final season for prospects or years of control. It’s really a joke. Especially when the trade was for “3 years of control” for Jon Niese…. a guy the Mets were dying to get rid of for a while (then he bombed out in 4 months).
How many times has current ownership / Huntingdon paid a player over $10 Million for a season? 2 seasons for Cutch, 2 seasons for Cervelli, 1 season each for Marte, Wandy Rodriguez, Josh Harrison. I’m not sure he financials of the first AJ Burnett trade but I think the Yankees paid well enough that the Pirates were in for well under $10MM. But that’s it I believe! 7 seasons during what could have been an extended window of competitive baseball had they kept some guys or picked up a decent starter or 1st base bat..
I don’t think it had anything to do with Walker. Just $$$$$.
Agree 100%. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that Cutch and Walker were the two favorite Pirates in their time here. Both made and still make their homes here and were visible in the community and at charitable events throughout the year. Greatly appreciated. That FO jettisoned these guys speaks volumes about the concern for fans. I’m well aware of the financial dynamics here but when you continually read that the team is making a great deal of profit year in and year out, you can only wonder why you support them
Even though I’d prefer he not be in the central I’m glad moose got paid finally. He signed a one year prove it deal with the Brewers and proved it only to have to sign another one year prove it deal. I’d say the man earned his payday
Seems like the Brewers are lacking those one or two one year bargain deals we’ve seen the past two years with Moose and Grandal both gone.
So………..the Reds paid roughly double what was necessary to sign a 3rd baseman to play 2nd base. LOLOLOLOL
No, they signed him to play 2B. That’s where their hole was at. They already had 3B filled.
Exactly. They signed Castellanos to play the outfield, too. Can their pitching make up for what is sure to be a horrible defense? We shall see.
I’m convinced that even if Austin Riley hits .280 with 40 homers, 120 RBI, and a .900 OPS with stellar defensive work at 3rd base this season, the talking heads here will still rave about what a huge step back the Braves took by letting Donaldson walk. Will Riley do that? Probably not, but we don’t know, do we? It will only cost league minimum to find out, though. The Braves used Donaldson, and Donaldson used the Braves. Both of them benefitted from it. The Braves didn’t want to be paying $25 million per year to a has-been in a couple of years. That’s just good business.
For arguments sake, if Riley hits .210 with 7 hrs, and is back in AAA by June, there is an on-field cost, too. I’m not saying he’ll be that bad, because I don’t know. He COULD be very good. The high K rate is a red flag, though. My reasoning for wanting Donaldson is this team is win now, and he’s proven. Plus Riley would’ve been flippable, in a package, for a high quality SP. You save the Hamels money, maybe still sign Ozuna to the same deal; and I think it’s a better team. Just my take.
Donaldson’s K rate spiked by 25% over his career average last season. Not the greatest sign for a 34-year-old player with a violent swing.
With the Phillies bench being a major weakness last year, I just can’t imagine Neil Walker not making the team. Very solid bench piece that gives the Phillies a lot of depth. Part of the reason the Phils collapsed late season two years in a row was the lack of quality backup options on the bench.
Theo signed Kipnis. Walker would have mashed at Wrigley. Figures
Not overly concerned that Donaldson is gone. He was sprinkles on the cake. I also think Felix was a really good signing by the Braves. Interested to see what Hamels has left in the tank once he can get back healthy. We needed SP help badly. With an improved bullpen and Teh-homerun gone I think the Braves actually look better on paper than at this time last year.