As spring training rolls along, here are four things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Vlad’s extension window closing:
Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., a free agent following the season, has set a report-date deadline in extension talks with the Blue Jays. Guerrero and the rest of the Jays’ position players will arrive in camp tomorrow. That leaves Monday as the final full day for the two parties to work out a long-term deal. While it’s always possible a long-term arrangement will come together in the wee hours of the morning or in the eleventh hour tomorrow as Guerrero arrives at camp, the Jays will surely spend the day trying to bridge any gaps with their lineup cornerstone. Guerrero, 25, agreed to a $28.5MM deal to avoid arbitration in his final season of eligibility. He’s coming off a massive .323/.396/.544 batting line (165 wRC+), the third 30-homer of output of the past four seasons, and a career-low 13.8% strikeout rate. Toronto put forth an offer in the $340MM range earlier this winter, which would be in the same vein as Fernando Tatis’ 14-year deal in San Diego, but that didn’t get a deal across the finish line.
2. Trout addresses the media:
As noted by Sam Blum of The Athletic, Angels manager Ron Washington spoke to reporters yesterday and revealed that he met with Mike Trout and the club’s front office to discuss their plans for the club’s outfield alignment this year and how best to keep Trout healthy this season. Washington didn’t reveal the contents of those discussions, but Trout is expected to do so when he addresses the media today. The possibility of moving Trout, now 33, out of center field and getting him playing time either at an outfield corner or as a DH has long been bandied about as a way to keep the future Hall of Famer healthy.
After standing out as the best player in the sport throughout most of the 2010s, Trout has appeared in just 266 games total over the past four seasons due to a variety of injury woes. He’s remained elite when healthy during that time, slashing .276/.376/.575 with 40-homer pop, but after playing more than 82 games just once in the past five seasons it seems prudent to consider changes that could keep Trout healthy. Of course, the presence of Jorge Soler as the club’s likely regular DH for the 2025 and ’26 seasons could complicate efforts to get Trout off his feet more regularly.
3. Means, Guardians nearing deal?
Longtime Orioles southpaw John Means is among the more interesting free agent starters left on the market given his career 3.68 ERA and status as a former All-Star and Rookie of the Year finalist. As attractive as he looks as a potential rotation addition on paper, he comes with substantial risk. The lefty underwent the second Tommy John surgery of his career back in June, and it’s uncertain whether he’ll be able to contribute to an acquiring club in 2025. Those question marks don’t seem to have deterred a Guardians club that often struggled to fill out its rotation mix last year, however. The sides have reportedly had “advanced” talks about a deal, and further details — or perhaps even a contract announcement — could be coming down the pipe in the near future.
4. Full-squad workouts begin for most teams:
After the Cubs and Dodgers hosted their first full-squad workouts over the weekend, the majority of clubs are doing the same today. In Florida’s Grapefruit League, the Red Sox, Tigers, Marlins, Twins, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals, and Rays are all poised to begin full-squad workouts today. Meanwhile, Arizona’s Cactus League plays host to nine teams that will start their full-squad workouts today: the Diamondbacks, Athletics, White Sox, Reds, Royals, Angels, Padres, Giants, and Rangers. For many teams the start of full-squad workouts doubles as the scheduled report date for position players, though some clubs such as the Yankees set their report date earlier than that. A number of the offseason’s notable free agent signings are set to participate in their first workouts (and, perhaps, first media availability) of the spring, including Juan Soto and Willy Adames.
Did anyone really think Vladdy would sign an extension? The only thing his agent is doing is getting a baseline from the Blue Jays on the floor of his contract when he hits free agency next off season.
Cool take. Smart.
Likely true. The other part is who believes the deadline is “hard”. His agent will of course continue to listen.
The St. Louis Cardinals are the only team in the major leagues not to sign anyone to a major league contract for 2025.
The Cardinals Front Office is the only front office in pro baseball to declare they do not intend to be competitive in 2025.
The worst thing about it is the Cardinals have an Ownership who doesn’t care if they win or lose anymore.
Plus —- The Cardinals Ownership is backing up their Front Office on the same losing philosophy for 2025.
Why not release John Mozeliak right now if his only mission is to further tear down the Cardinals franchise for the rest of 2025. Let Bloom take completely over before the season starts.
At least by getting rid of Mozeliak …. That would bring the fan base back for 2025.
Otherwise, if Mozeliak is allowed to remain, the Cardinals Owners can expect record lows in attendance this season!!!
I agree. Unless they come with 500+ he’s going to test free agency. Especially considering Toronto disappoints every season. I thought they were gonna really compete last few seasons
Question: In the story it said the Jays offered $340M. but it didn’t say for how many years. Any ideas?
Mets – If Vladdy really has no intention of agreeing to any extension, he could be making a huge mistake.
As the Jays face of the franchise for the past 4 years, and someone who has proven to be a great fit there (unlike many free agents who stayed away), he has more value to the Jays than he would to another team.
What if he gets injured this season or has another bad season like 2023? He’s coming off the 2nd-best season of his career, his value may never be higher than it is right now.
If he turns down $400M+ from the Jays, it could be just as big a mistake as Alonso turning down the $158M extension offer from the Mets.
Boy – You want to ignore his 2.0 WAR season in 2023, that’s fine.
You want to ignore his conditioning issues, that’s fine.
This isn’t gonna be a repeat of the Soto tug of war between the Mets and Yanks.
Yanks won’t have serious interest in him. Not just because of his stated feelings about the team, but because they are not willing to take on another mega-contract when they’ve already got $232M committed for next year thanks to Fried, Rodon, Cole, Judge and Stanton.
Mets are heavy favorites to land Vladdy in free agency.
The fact you can’t comprehend I was comparing Alonso’s turning down a far better extension offer than what he received in free agency and was therefore NOT comparing the players themselves makes “a laughable”.
Fever: I just wonder if the chase for Vladdy next year will be another Soto scenario, meaning no one beats Cohen for players he wants.
Boy – You know what happens when you combine a high IQ with information? Knowledge.
You apparently don’t understand what conditioning is. It’s being in shape, something he had struggles with not that long ago when he was severely overweight. Players that have weight issues tend to continue having them years later, especially after they’ve signed a fat long contract. Why do you think he’s been compared so often to Panda, Fielder Jr and Fielder Sr? (they are all former MLB players, look them up).
But to answer your question, he had knee injuries during the 2023 regular season and also last spring training.
No need to “know the inner workings”, if you spent more time reading/listening and less time posting/talking, you’d know the owner of the Yankees has repeatedly stated the currently high payroll is not sustainable.
If you followed baseball you’d also know signing Vlad would likely throw the Yankees into a level where they’d have to pay 110% luxury tax on much if not all of Vlad’s salary. That means if he gets $40-$50M annually, the Yanks would be paying DOUBLE that amount at least in the first year or two. It’s beyond childish to believe the Yankees have an unlimited payroll. They broke even in 2023, they are not gonna lose money by foolishly jacking up their payroll with massive contracts at every position.
avenger – I think it’s highly possible, especially if Vladdy has another good year.
Has Cohen ever been outbid? Not that I can think of.
Why do you think everyone has to have the same body type? You are probably one of the 1% who thinks the Mavs were brilliant for trading Luka because they don’t like how he looks.
Boy – Ahh I see, you’re an aspiring rapper from Chilliwack that is ignorant AF so you resort to namecalling as your fantasy way of “winning” a discussion.
Since I feel sorry for you I’ll educate you on the meaning of conditioning, at least you’ll know one more thing today than you did yesterday. Or maybe not, because arrogance is a key component of denial.
Notice there’s not one mention of injuries in the definition:
“A conditioned athlete is an athlete who has undergone a specific training program to improve their physical fitness and performance in their sport, meaning they have developed the necessary strength, endurance, flexibility, and agility to effectively meet the demands of their chosen activity throughout a competition, often displaying high levels of stamina and the ability to perform consistently over a sustained period; essentially, they are well-prepared physically to compete at their best level”.
Boy – Oh I see now, you’re one of those people that believes in participation trophies and not keep scoring score.
So a grossly overweight player like Panda whose performance drastically declined by 2014 because he was so out of shape, you think he was “well conditioned” just because he managed to play 157 games that season.
Sounds like something an obese person would say, eh?
Vladdy isn’t remotely like that. He is never going to have a swimmers physique.Show me Tony Gwynn’s big decline. Hitters hit and Vladdy is one of the best in the world at it.
Mets – I understand Vladdy lost weight 4 years ago, what I’m saying is it’s likely he will gain a lot of weight back after he signs a longterm deal.
You know it’s easier to gain weight in your 30’s than in your 20’s, right? The metabolism slows down..
The comp was Alonso himself and not necessarily his contract or turning it down. Alonso is a disaster on the field. He’s on the wrong side of 30 and his swing is not what it used to be. He’s becoming more of a liability than the player he once was. With that said, Vlad would be a huge upgrade for the Mets. Better hitter, gets on base, better D (let’s not forget he actually won a GG), and lastly, younger – so there’s a nice potential combo of Vlad and Soto in the lineup.
I am not sure why certain commentators take issue with your entirely rational comments. Alonso learned that teams simply do not value first basemen as much other positions. Obviously, the negotiation numbers have not leaked so only time will tell if Vlad is wisely betting on himself or not.
Your priority has to be to keep Trout as healthy as possible, and if that means taking ABs from Soler…well, Soler’s best (best!) year was in 2019 with a 3.5 BWAR. His next best year–1.8. The trade was somewhat inexplicable in the first place, but don’t compound the error by not giving Trout, say, an extra 20-25 games at DH because you “need” to give them to Soler..No rational manager would do that. Give Trout 110 games, he could put up 4/5 WAR.
500 million is the new 300 million.
windmill: It’s happened before. The Dodgers raised the bar with the Ohtani signing, which raised it again with the Soto signing. That might translate to an overpay for Vladdy.
Move Trout to 1B.
That would probably increase his chances of getting injured due to having to constantly stretch and dive to reach the ball.
@King Floch
Is Harper constantly injured now that he’s playing 1B?
Harper’s issue was his throwing arm, Trout’s issue is basically his whole body.
The problem with moving Trout to first base is that you take Schanuel out of the lineup. Schanuel is the only true left handed hitter in the lineup. Moncada and Rengifo are both switch hitters. Rengifo smashes against Lefties hitting from the right side. The Angels need Moniak to improve this season this season, because I think they will have to put him in the lineup often this season to balance the lineup. I think we will see many games this season with both Adell and Moniak in the lineup together, playing RF and CF. Trout will need time off or they can put him at DH. I hope they decide to have either Moniak and/or Adell play some at First Base. Rengifo will end up playing every position except Catcher and First Base this season.
Trouble is, the Ohtani & Soto contracts went so far above the rest that it left a pretty wide chasm open in between for great players like Vlad to fill. You might say he’s not quite at Soto’s levels, although a case can be made. That would make any 340M offer look pretty chincy by comparison.
Deeds’ writing is so brutal. “… and, perhaps, first media availability” doesn’t need any commas in it. Someone teach this kid how to write.