As the offseason continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Fried presser today:
The Yankees made their latest major signing official yesterday when they announced the addition of southpaw Max Fried on an eight-year deal. The club will hold an introductory press conference for Fried at noon ET today. Fried and GM Brian Cashman both figure to be in attendance to take questions from the media. Fried, 30, has been among the best pitchers in the sport by ERA since his breakout season in 2020 with a 2.81 figure that trails only Brandon Woodruff and Clayton Kershaw among starters in that time. Fried figures to join longtime ace Gerrit Cole at the front of the Yankees’ rotation as the club attempts to retool its AL pennant-winning roster in the aftermath of Juan Soto heading to Queens.
2. What’s next for the Yankees?
Speaking of the Yankees’ retooling process, they took another step in that direction yesterday when they traded for Cody Bellinger in a salary dump deal with the Cubs that cost them nothing other than Triple-A swingman Cody Poteet. Bellinger’s coming off a relative down season (109 wRC+) in 2024 but was top-ten in NL MVP voting the year prior after a resurgent campaign. Currently, Bellinger appears to be ticketed for regular playing time in center field with the Yankees, but it’s possible that could change depending on the readiness of top prospect Jasson Dominguez (who played left field in a 2024 cup of coffee but has spent the bulk of his career in center) and the club’s free agent pursuits. Signing a corner outfield bat like Anthony Santander or Teoscar Hernandez could push Bellinger to first base, while adding a first baseman like Josh Naylor, Christian Walker, or Paul Goldschmidt would leave Bellinger as a regular on the outfield grass.
3. Arbitration deals:
Yesterday, the Royals avoided arbitration with right-hander Kyle Wright by agreeing to a $1.8MM salary for the 2025 season. Players and teams came to a number of similar deals in advance of the non-tender deadline last month, but teams will need to reach agreements with (or face arbitration hearings against) the rest of their eligible players before the arbitration filing deadline on January 9. While players and teams can agree to deals after that date to avoid arbitration, MLB clubs have increasingly adopted a “file and trial” approach to arbitration where they stop negotiations on one-year arbitration contracts once the deadline to file has passed. With just three weeks until said deadline, there ought to be several other players agreeing to salaries for the upcoming season in the days and weeks ahead (with a particular rush on that Jan. 9 filing day itself). MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected arbitration salaries for all 272 arbitration-eligible players back in October, although many of those names have been non-tendered or otherwise removed from the 40-man roster since that time.
The Yankees are in a strange position- on paper they can’t really go wrong with any of those FA’s mentioned and Bellinger and the Yankees have been a rumored item for years now. The baseball equivalent of ‘would you two stop beating around the bush and just admit you have a thing for each other and hook up already?” and now we finally have that pairing of Yankees and Bellinger- something that’s seemed inevitable.
As for the other options- again, none of them are bad one year options.
Why can’t the Yankees ever find a long term solution at 1B ,though?
I’ve been following the game religiously for a couple decades now and it seems like they haven’t had a consistent, reliable, beloved long term solution there since Prime Mattingly- although looking back on it, despite being very up and down, Giambi’s tenure wasn’t the disaster we sometimes paint it to be.
Anyway- yeah… 1B is a black hole for the Yankees so they can’t truly go wrong with any of the options there- even a Jasson Dominguez or a Ben Rice, haha.
I miss Mark Texiera
As much as I miss Teixeira, if you look back at his overall numbers, he was cooked by about year four of that eight year deal. Hindsight being 2020 I would have rather have paid him, even in dollars and WAR value from 10-15 years ago, like 4 years/$180M and then walked away.
I feel the same about DJLM now. That extension has basically been a disaster- I kinda wish we’d have given him like 2 years/$90M and then walked away, haha.
I’d rather overpay for real production on shorter term deals then to deal with these over extended contracts just to keep the AAV down- I am sure the Yankees front office/ownership would disagree with me, haha.
Very true, injuries took him out big time. Put together a pretty good 2015 before hanging it up. So 10 years since NYY has had a real quality 1b on both sides of the ball. Rizzo had a rough go with the concussion to be fair.
Man poor DJ, he lost it fast. After a batting title or two that extention seemed (seemed!) like a slam dunk.
infield shifts killed tex
After the Belli trade I saw Joel Sherman on YouTube and he thinks the Yankees are done with their heavy lifting and will now work around the margins and be opportunistic buyers if the situation arises. The YouTube clip is on the New York Post Sports channel and well worth watching.
That kinda makes sense. I think Bellinger effectively replaces Soto and *if* we can get a relatively healthy DJLM or *if* we can get a fully realized Jasson Dominguez, etc. we’ll be fine.
*If* the stars align, the Yankees really do have all the necessary pieces to be cohesively productive, consistent and go the distance in 2025.
The next step will be someone fixing Post-Season Aaron Judge, because Regular Season Aaron Judge disappears in the post season and its becoming a massive problem.
Agreed on Judge. Though this past season I wonder if he was gassed from playing center all season. Remember his slump started at least a couple of weeks before the playoffs began. I think moving back to right will help him.
They wanna replace Soto with Belli, Gleyber with DJ and Verdugo with Jasson??? The only upgrade would be Jasson. I hope Heyman is wrong!
Jazz played in 130+ games for the first time in his career. He’s pretty injury prone….
Jazz was another one who was fantastic in the regular season and offensively disappeared in the post.
I love Jazz, but he disappeared in the post season and I’d love to see regular season Jazz show up.
trillionaire: I don’t see anyone replacing Soto, especially not Bellinger. I also doubt that they’re done adding top players. If Sasaki decides he wants to play for them, I think they’d add him to the roster.
I like Soto a lot, but I think youth was his most attractive and valued stat. He’s a very, very good player who, if he is as young as his official age claims he is – I’ve recently seen rumblings he’s closer to 30 years old and could be the next Pujols in terms of a precipitous decline in the midst of the mega deal-
Soto will be of tremendous value to whomever he’d play for over the next 10+ years… but in the grand scheme of things no one player defines a team’s chances.
Plenty of the Greatest Players of All Time were stuck on otherwise non-competitive rosters year after year and plenty of ultimately mediocre careers saw players win a few WS titles because the team make up was just so well balanced and locked in.
Soto didn’t guarantee the Yankees the WS in 2024, clearly- and losing him doesn’t guarantee the Yankees regress in 2025 or beyond- just like Soto doesn’t guarantee the Mets a title in 2025 or beyond.
avenger Sasaki isn’t going to cost much at all. Bit of a AAV difference in him and someone like Bregman.
We did have Tino for 6 years post-Mattingly.
If the Red Sox and Orioles make some good moves and if the Yankees really count on DJ, Jazz, Rice and Jasson, the season could be a disaster…
a LOT of things need to go right for the offense to be average
Tino Martinez I’d argue was better than Giambi and Tex over the years. Never a superstar but never needed to be. Like O’Neil a very good solid player year in year out
But he played like a superstar in the postseason. Same with O’Neill and Brosius.
The position is down across the sport. Has been for a while. First, the sport has leaned into more athletic players rather than pure strength so we’re not seeing many guys of the Mo Vaughn, Frank Thomas, etc build guys anymore. Second, no more roids so those guys might not even exist anymore without pharmaceutical enhancement. So these guys in the past that would have bulked up to be mashers at first or dh both don’t have the ability to do so anymore and are also choosing to stay more lean so that they can play a more valuable position. These changes have killed the position – to the overall betterment of the game. So the Yankees can’t find that guy bc so few legit good players exist at the position.
The worst *might be* an overreaction…
What are the top 5 worst?
1. White Sox
2. Angels
3. Marlins
4. Rockies
5. A’s
Rockies should be higher on that list.
Wade: Is this a list of the worst FO in the game? Doesn’t matter. White Sox would be no. 1 on worst FO, farm system, player development, worst owner, worst GM, etc.
The White Sox are rebuilding. They have a terrific farm system with numerous top prospects who should all be ready around the same time. In 3 years the White Sox are going to be a good team while teams like the Athletics and Angels are trying to pretend they are contenders instead.
You could mix and match those top 5 and still have a pretty accurate list of worst organizations in the game. Good arguments for calling any of those the worst.
But again, MysteryWhiteBoy13 is specifically talking about the front office (General Manager/President of Baseball Ops)
All 5 of those teams have awful owners. It’s nearly impossible to assess the effectiveness of those front offices.
White Sox: Foolish owner who interferes with decisions
Angels: Ditto
Rockies: Ditto
Marlins: Cheapskate owner
A’s: Cheapskate owner
The Jays have a corporate ownership that doesn’t care about the day to day business and doesn’t interfere. They have been given a top 10 budget whenever they need/want it. They can’t play in the Dodgers/Mets/Yankees playground, but they’re in the very next tier, so money isn’t really the issue.
Ownership isn’t the problem, which is often the case with ‘bad franchises’.
If the front office can use their talent to rebuild their farm system then they are doing it right. The White Sox are doing it right
Good point I was asking which 5 FO’s are the worst but my list really just picked the worst 5 teams. I do think if an owner actively participates in the front office decisions you need to include them. For example Arte Moreno dictating the FO sign Rondon or Hamilton or the Rockies never trading players in their last year of a contract/arbitration.
Top 5 front offices:
1. Dodgers
2. Rays
3. Padres
4. Brewers
5. Cleveland
A’s have had a lot more success than the Reds during this century.
Brewers and Cleveland over SDP for me right now. Preller’s a great scout but he’s been given XL budgets and has some clunkers on the resume.
Yeah TB, Milwaukee and Cleveland have no business being perennial contenders with their budgets
It is a huge overreaction and not remotely debatable. That said, they’re not doing a good job. But the White Sox, Rockies and Angels FOs are far far worse. The Blue jays aren’t even in the conversation. That’s not bc they’re good by any stretch of the imagination, rather a function of them not being as bad as the grossly negligent other FOs mentioned.
Yea, I’d vote for the Rockies FO as the worst. Several of the FOs mentioned are hamstrung by owners, but I think the entire Rockies organization does a really poor job at assessing itself realistically. They definitely wear rose-tinted glasses when they are projecting themselves as contenders most years, and you can’t fix a problem if you aren’t capable of seeing it.
If the Jays compete this year and don’t deal Vlad and Bo at the deadline—they have little to no valuable controllable assets to flip for prospects.
The system is weak and Bowden Francis would likely be their most valuable trade asset given his control window. Varsho would be a rental next season as well.
Springer doesn’t have any value with his contract. Gausman has little (if any) surplus value with his contract. His step back in K rate was very concerning year over year. I fear he could be in for a bigger drop this year. They don’t have a great LT outlook and the team currently has tons of holes.
MLB off season is terribly boring and drawn out.There should be no top free agents left on the board at this point.
Yeah I often wonder what the hold up is. It seems like most deals actually get done very quickly once they happen, but what is this long drawn out process to get there.
Feels like they’re slow walking from home to third and then sprinting full boar from third to home.
MLB loves it because it keeps fans engaged throughout the off season
Toronto has been such a disappointment the last few seasons. They spent the money but it always seems like when Bo plays out of his mind Vlad will do nothing then as soon as Vlad gets hot Bo goes cold. Guys like Austin Martin were a bust. Just seems to be one thing after another and now they are going to have to focus the resources on keeping Vladdy, Bo, or both.
Austin Martin has played about 2/3 of a MLB season. Calling him a bust is insane. I’m a Minnesota season ticket holder and I was impressed by what I saw last year. Maybe he’s not Ohtani, but he was a great fill in during injury plagued season.
I hate to be the one that breaks it to you but Austin Martin sucks. Toronto hoodwinked the Twins. They could see he was going to suck so they used him to get Berrios.
Why would a Jays fan care if Martin is a bust? He helped get you Jose Berrios. Berrios’ performance matters.
That definitely seems to be the case with the jays. It’s merely a function of needing more talent to offset those slumps. It’s why last year in a year of historic injury horror for the orioles they still won 90+ games. Because when Adley or Gunnar slumped they didn’t have to look only to each other to pick things up. Instead they had Santander, Westburg, and a lineup of above average players to carry. The Blue jays don’t have that. And the fact that Vlad and bichette do appear to operate in the most extreme version of this imaginable certainly does not help their cause.
Hayes? Would love to see him in pinstripes!
No you wouldn’t. His OPS+ was 61 last year.
He’s the best defensive 3B. He had a down season offensively, but was more than solid in 23. With better players around him and a better ballpark, he should put up better numbers.
Maybe he isn’t the player the Jays need, but he would be a good fit for the Yankees imo.
Agreed. His OPS and most offensive numbers are dismal as is his arm strength but that defense and contract price is ideal. Plus there is a soft spot for Charlie Hayes catching that final out. Wouldn’t hate it if he was the Yankees 3b but would then need to keep O Cabrera on the roster and not trade him although I think O Cabrera would be a great addition in a package to land a better 3b option or a 1b.
Humorous. Done in intentionally?
This one article shows the disparity in how teams manage player payroll to be able to compete. Behemoth NYY introducing Fried, speculation on possible next spending spree by NYY and then KC locking in a player for under 2 mil.
And I’m okay with it all. Money can definitely by you a championship for sure but not always.
Didn’t get to comment about Bellinger till late, but just to reiterate my thoughts:
I like it, I like it a lot. Bellinger fits the Yankees a whole bunch. He’s better than Rizzo and Verdugo combined so already it makes us better, and as I said in the 1st Basemen thread mere minutes before this news broke, Bellinger keeps all options open despite this unofficial news of using him in center.
I don’t think they’d officially say that yet because it helps with negotiations if agents aren’t privy to their exact plans. If an agent knows we definitely need a 1b, they have more leverage, if it’s more murky, the Yankees do.
Either way it’s awesome. The money doesn’t mean much to me as they were going to get someone (multiple) expensive pieces after going to the WS. This is the Yankees MO. Get close? Go all out. And with taking on most of the cash, we only had to give away a depth pitcher who will only be that on the Cubs as well.
Yes I don’t want it to be done in a two week span. I just feel the big FA should be off the board by now and we should be mostly entering the mid tier phase of FA along with an uptick in trades. The majority of team moves should be done by mid to late January with only scrapheap moves after that.
This. It’s not that I don’t want it to be somewhat exciting or that I don’t get that teams and players are weighing different scenarios and financial structures and the early market and late market and middle-off-season markets are completely different animals and a player signing early, in the middle or late could get wildly different deals just based on the timing of the agreements in that particular off season- but….
When every team is focused on the Big Ticket Players, it prevents most movement on the lower profile but still impactful and interesting free agents who may not be destined to break AAV or contract length records, but are very much relevant and in the mix.
For instance, per the Yankees:
1) what the heck is going on with Alex Verdugo’s free agency?
2) is Rizzo going to retire in general, or will he retire due to lack of substantial offers, or will he settle for like 1 year/$4M just to keep playing, or will a team take a good faith flier on him and give him 1 year/$12.5M just to be that veteran presence with past success? etc.
We won’t know the end result of all that stuff until all the major pieces are off the board and teams are left piecing rosters together from the scraps.
It’s been weird not hearing anything about Verdugo. I get hes mediocre but his ability to at least be average coupled with age should at least get him some buzz. He’s been pretty lucky to play for LA, Boston, and NY but probably gonna end up somewhere obscure now like TB
I have this feeling that a team like the A’s or the Pirates are going to pick him up on a short term high AAV (for him and for them) deal to look like they’re making “Big Moves” while side stepping the reality of him being a relatively cheap, pedestrian signing that doesn’t move the needle.
Then again, a team like Atlanta could be worried enough about their internal options’ ability to stay healthy and productive and he could wind up being an expensive back up/platoon player on a team that actually contends and has a healthy budget.
Like 1 year/$12M w/ a $3M buyout on a 3 year/$48M club option and a 1 year/$13M player option or something…
Verdugo should be a sub $10MM player. He may get more but he’s not worth anymore than that.
I mean- they make efforts… I always hear about the Blue Jays being in the mix on every major record breaking free agent and making competitive bids and offering substantial extensions to most of their superstars, etc. and being very aggressive on pretty much all fronts in terms of spending- it’s just that a lot of players don’t want to play there, or their individual pieces never seem to coalesce into a consistently winning club- so its less about the purse strings and more about non-monetary factors that hold them back or prevent them from landing the Big Ticket Free Agents.
Glad to get such an insightful scoop from a knowledge insider. Thanks MysteryWhiteBoy for sharing this incredible nugget!
White Sox front office says hold my beer
Just a thought: If there’s one difference between Soto and Ohtani, it’s that Soto plays the field. Suppose, if the Dodgers got a lot of injuries in a game and had no OF left, could Ohtani play there? He seems like a natural athlete. If, say, Roberts feels it would be better to put himself in the OF instead, Ohtani could still DH and P. Point is, can Ohtani actually play defense?
Yes, he is both a 1B and OF.
I would imagine Roberts would rather play an infielder in the OF over Ohtani to not risk injury. Ohtani has a pretty good OF arm.
Ohtani would be a plus defender. We know he has a cannon and he can run. Two traits that play well.
Not as the result of injuries, but I’d love to see Ohtani play the OF. As a P he definitely has a great arm.
Probably have Betts to go out there if out of options. Betts is such a stud
Next line of NYY business is selling teams on taking Stroman and LeMahue contracts off their hands with packaging some prospects to free up money for another signing. Heard about Hayes as a possible trade option at third but concerned about his back problems. Great glove though! N Lowe trade seems to be a fit. Curious about Naylor’s asking price from Cleveland. This team is now so close to being a World Series contender again but the need to add by first subtracting the contracts for Stro and Lemeh.
DJLM is probably with us. His $15M for the next two years isn’t so bad, plus he isn’t a pain in the a$$. Stroman would have value to another team, but the Yankees will still have to pay down some of his salary. DJLM might get the Aaron Hicks treatment so that we can clear a roster spot, but we are not getting out of that contract.
You’re right about DJ’s contract not so bad. I believe the Yanks are about 12 million away from the cohen tax line. By moving either or both of these players, this would greatly help the Yanks bring in higher impact players for hopefully lesser total contract amounts. O Cabrera should be dangled as too Peraza, Periera, Trevino. If need be some level 2 prospects if the player(s) coming back are impactful. Personally, I think this is the year to start over the Cohen tax line and shed contracts as needed up to the deadline. This methodology would be similar of the 90’s front office strategy which we all know what those results were.
I agree. Not much out there that is worth exceeding tax thresholds for. Not sure how much salary we can realistically shed (maybe half of Stroman’s??), but that would be my call as well. I wouldn’t be in the highest luxury tax bracket for the likes of Bregman or Walker.
Shedding half of Stro or more could be considered a win. Agreed on not wanting the remaining free agents if it means going over the Cohen tax line. Stro could be a fit on many teams as long as the trade brings additional valuable players back to offset Stros contract. DJ maybe a player the Yankees can trade for a middle relief pitcher or prospect. Would love to see him head west where he can get a change of scenery.
Would like to see what would be needed for SF to trade RP Hjelle to the Yankees? Would loved to see if the Cubs would have considered trading RP Little to the Yankees but his injury and the future value to the Cubs maybe be way too high. Could a Stroman to SF for Hjelle be crazy for SF? If they would trade Hjelle and eat Stromans contract and the Yankees had to add several prospects or a Periera or peraza that’s a hell yeah from me!!
Baseball’s offseason is basically Yankee and Dodger news with a little bit of Red Sox and Giants mixed in. That’s about it. Sorry ass league that allows the biggest TV market teams to leverage that advantage every year.
I’m not sure why you are watching or spending the off season commenting on trade rumors. We all know that teams received $110 million dollars in revenue sharing to start the year, and only ten teams spent that amount or more on payroll. There has to be an admission that there are teams that take that money and deposit it, then tell their fans that they are broke. Could it also be that when a player reaches FA, they want to go to a team that is trying to win? The poor billionaires that can’t afford to spend the free money that they get from revenue sharing should sell their teams. They don’t want to do that because they get $110+ million for free from the biggest TV market teams. Spend your revenue sharing on payroll, then we can talk.
And I am not sure why you felt the need to yap back at me when most of the rest of your response is naive and inaccurate. Only 10 teams spent $110M or more on payroll? You might want to check your facts – 21 of 30 spent more than $110M. Also, players that reach FA go where they will get paid. Winning, being surrounded by a lineup that will make them look good, etc. are also factors, but secondary to the paycheck. As for your point about some teams having greedy owners who simply bank profit instead of investing in their teams – yes, of course that is a problem, that is so obvious I am not sure who would possibly disagree with that. But, MLB has not been effective at addressing this. The NFL has a much stricter salary cap than the luxury tax approach employed by MLB, but pretty much every NFL franchise still tries to compete.
I am simply commenting that I get sick and tired of watching the latest Yankee update every day. It is a legitimate gripe – it would be so much healthier for baseball if the other 26 or so teams (or 25, if you want to give credit to the A’s for their recent efforts) were actually participating meaningfully in the offseason to improve their teams.
Agreed. That isn’t the Yankees fault. Other teams should do something worth reporting on. The Yankees also have a Juan Soto sized hole to fill, so they have been active. I also mistyped. You are correct that nearly 1/3 of teams don’t spend their revenue sharing on payroll. FA don’t just chase money. Soto wouldn’t have taken that Mets offer from the Marlins. They also want to be in a situation where they have a chance to win…and make lots of money!
I don’t disagree with your statement. Until MLB stops the expansion of teams to markets that don’t warrant them or can’t afford them, this will happen. GM’s will need to draft and identify talent better to be competitive. If a team can’t afford to keep one franchise player on a massive contract then they shouldn’t have a team. Sorry if this sounds harsh but I’m tired of hearing the same story but no one wants to talk about how certain cities dont have a fan base or can’t create one. I moved from the east coast to Az and let me tell you…AZ is a football city even though it’s a large populated city. Going to a regular season game is like watching a Sunday softball game. The fans are just not into it and this is an arguably large city. Some of the smaller cities market teams have a rabid fan base. I love Pittsburgh and KC but look at Florida. Dismal market with arguably watchable teams (TB mainly and Florida every few years). Hats off to Tampa on how they run their org but the Marlins? Shut them down and move them elsewhere and I don’t mean to North or South Dakota (no offense to those states). I won’t get started on owners of teams that have money and don’t spend. All said there are many flaws and factors for MLB big market teams vs the smaller ones and the payroll system but I can’t complain about the Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, Yankees as they are working within the guidelines and rules although at times it’s sickening.
I love watching the post-Soto Yankees run around acquiring anybody they come across, as fast as they can. Like watching someone after a bad breakup banging anything that moves, desperate to ignore the pain. Always ends well.
I think this is business as usual. The plan wasn’t Soto or Fried. The plan was Soto and Fried. They didn’t put together the highest contract ever paid to a LH pitcher in 11 hours. That was ready to go. Bellinger is a replacement for Verdugo. Devin Williams is a Clay Holmes replacement. I guess I’m saying the plan was to marry Soto and bang all these other players on the side too. Just because we broke up with our fiancé doesn’t mean we didn’t plan for lots of side action before the break-up!