On the heels of an early morning trade, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Mets press conference later today:
The Mets are holding a press conference at 1pm local time to introduce star infielder Bo Bichette after his three-year deal with the club became official yesterday. Bichette himself and president of baseball operations David Stearns are both slated to be in attendance for today’s presser. Stearns surely will also wind up fielding questions regarding yesterday’s late-night acquisition of Luis Robert Jr. from the White Sox in exchange for a package headlined by former top infield prospect Luisangel Acuña. With Bichette and Robert both in the fold, it will be interesting to hear from Stearns regarding whether he sees the team adding more to the lineup or if he now plans to turn his attention towards a starting rotation the club has been looking to upgrade with a front-end arm.
2. Red Sox presser later today:
In addition to the Mets, the Red Sox will also be hosting a press conference later today. The reason for the presser has not yet been stated, but after this morning’s Tristan Gray trade cleared a 40-man roster spot for Boston it seems likely that the club is poised to make the signing of southpaw Ranger Suarez official. The press conference is scheduled for 11am local time and could also provide an opportunity for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to offer some insight into the team’s plans for the rest of the offseason. Presumably, the club’s top priority at this point is replacing Alex Bregman on the infield, though Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell could at least theoretically be called upon to take up third base and second base, respectively, if the club relies exclusively on internal options.
3. Dodgers 40-man move incoming:
While Bichette’s deal was made official last night and the Suarez deal figures to be made official later this morning, the Dodgers’ deal with star outfielder Kyle Tucker has not yet been finalized. That will surely happen in the coming days, but before then Los Angeles will need to make a 40-man roster move. That can be achieved by simply designating a player for assignment, but a minor trade similar to the Gray swap Boston made this morning is another possibility.
The Mets are really putting together a great team for the 2023 season
It is impressive how quickly they moved on from players who weren’t winning. I’m a bit jealous of that.
Joe – Red Sox have done the same. They are practically blowing up the team. Last season began with Giolito, Buehler, Bernardino, Fitts, Bregman, Devers, Winck, Refsnyder … who are now all gone. And Casas, Campbell, Bello, Yoshida, Wong and Duran or Abreu might not be on the OD team either.
I guess last year’s Sox team wasn’t as great as some people thought.
Fever,
Did people think the red Sox team was great last year? Serious question.
Another – Yes, they did. Because they “improved” so much in 2024, and because all three top rookies were expected to have great seasons, they thought the Sox would definitely win the division. Didn’t help that many high profile entities such as ESPN, MLB.com etc all overwhelmingly had the Sox winning the division.
It’s great to be so positive, but I think there should be at least SOME reality mixed in.
Hey the Yankees did eventually move on from Oswald Peraza and DJ LeMahieu. It could have been worse. They could have been starters right until the end of their contracts.
@Hakes – it’s not too often I see someone I share a last name with.
Why? Aside from a couple of mid 30s RPers and Marcus Semien at 35, their roster is loaded with 20-somethings.
After the Roberts trade, I’m wondering what Scott Boras is thinking of today. He’ll likely frame it as a loss of options for the Yankees, which should enhance Bellinger’s position, but it’s not clear to me that the Yankees would ever have traded for Roberts and now there’s likely one fewer bidder.
Mike – Call me crazy, I’m still thinking Belli to the Royals.
I think that’s crazy but I love crazy and theres a glaring fit! Thank you
yogi – According to Heyman there’s two mystery teams in on Belli, one of them likely the Jays.
Jays wouldn’t be a real mystery. I’d agree that KC could be as well as the Giants.
Heyman’s last pitch for Bellinger-has-multiple-suitors was 15 hours ago on X. I think the Roberts trade changes the math,
Sal – I think mystery just means the team name hasn’t been publicly revealed. Probably because the team wants to keep it confidential.
Mike – Agreed, it’s probably down to 3 teams now.
Oh I get it, but the Jays were in the hunt for Tucker so them being in on Bellinger wouldn’t be an actual mystery to anyone while others like those mentioned would be.
I think that’s interesting. Royals have occasionally spent, it’s not a bad landing place for Belli. Not crazy at all.
Yankees aren’t desperate imo. We have the internal options of Jasson and Jones, lesser free agents are still available, others like Kwan probably available in trades. I also don’t think Roberts was really much on the radar, so that trade shouldn’t affect the Yankees outlook here.
At the samd time it takes the mets out of the equation and they’re a big time spender. Way worse for beli than the yankees
It doesn’t strengthen his position as there is presumably one less suitor for Belli’s services.
@MLBTR Staff – There seems to be an issue with the MLBTR website today where you can’t post comments. Instead of seeing the Post Comment section at the bottom of the comments, it just says “waiting…”.
The good news is that you can still post comments in the App (as you can see), but I primarily use the website because of its ability to edit your comment within 5 minutes of posting. Just wanted to bring this to your attention.
Dorothy I’m not having that problem and I use the website as well. Might be on your end.
Dotty – I’ve been using my PC for comments all morning, no issues here.
Sorry, it says “loading…” and not “waiting..”.
Exactly why I like to use the website so I can proofread and correct any mistakes in my original posts ;-).
I’ve had this problem a few times in the last couple of months. Delete your browsing data, clears it up.
Thanks, Salzilla. I’ll try that!
“David, does the Robert Jr. trade mean that you are out on Bellinger?”
“We cannot speak on any specific free agent, but we never stop looking to improve our team.”
———————
Stock question, stock answer.
They certainly have the economic resources to do what they want, but the Roberts trade seems a replacement for a Bellinger signing. If you are just talking money, a $20M investment (or 2 for $42M) plus, if he performs, a QO is a lot better than $150M+ for 5 (or more). If you like what you see after Year 1, Mets use the leverage of the option to extend–and if Roberts won’t go for it….then the worst you have is a Year 2 without committments
It’s so cute when people complain about the Dodgers spending and wish that the Blue Jays won the World Series – all while they were one of the other top spending teams in baseball. Seriously, what’s wrong with trying to win – and doing it fairly? Don’t blame the Dodgers, blame Manfred. The guy that allowed the cheating Astros to keep their World Series championship and their “just a piece of Metal” World Series trophy. Manfred is the problem, not the Dodgers.
I rarely comment on this board, but you are giving a false equivalence. Two things can be bad at the same time, just as both Manfred and the Dodgers are a problem. The Dodgers tv contract is in no way “fair” as it was renewed from an old contract after McCourt was forced to sell by Bud Selig. No way is that contract or the Dodgers revenue from Japanese tv not a problem for mlb’s broadcasting rights as they try to bring all the teams under the same umbrella. As for Manfred, I agree he is a problem, he should never have allowed the Ohtani contract, which is his right as commissioner to void. Of course he works for the owners and LA is one of MLB’s biggest draws, but he is a problem for allowing that just as the Dodgers are a problem for the competitive balance of mlb. And you crying about the Astros? I mean really, talk about calling a kettle black.
Void a contact which falls well within the rules?
Would you want him to void this exact contract if he was with a smaller market team?
Sailor – what are you talking about? How is playing within the rules “Calling the kettle black”? The Astros cheated. We know that. The Dodgers have never cheated. Again, all they do is operate perfectly fair within the rules of MLB. Whatever your team is, would you not be stoked if they fairly tried as much as they could to be successful? Just because the Dodgers do it so well, there is no reason to be a sourpuss. Ask your billionaire to spend better. Good day!
talk about false equivalence.
If you are lumping the Astros cheating scandal, and the Dodgers spending, in the same bucket, you’ve already lost this argument.
NYM dealing for a bigtime SP will cost a haul of prospects. But has potential to put them right there on paper for East. No one knows if Wheeler will be the same player after TOS. Still put PHI and healthy ATL slightly ahead but should be a battle royal all year
Valdez is still available.
I can definitely see Luis Robert returning to form now that he’s on a winning team, so enjoy him Mets fans.
can’t replace Alonso, but maybe they tried to re-create him in the aggregate.
Alonso’s on base 347, Nimmo’s 324, McNeil’s 335, add em up what do you get? 1006, divided by 3, 335
…Looking for 3 ball players whose average OBP is 335.
Bichette 357, Polanco 326, Robert 297, average of 326.
Hmm, that didn’t work out.
This is terrible math lol
And terrible understanding of roster construction, length of commitment, runs saved vs runs created….
Take a lap
Guess you have never seen the movie Moneyball. It’s a paraphrase from the Giambi scouting room scene
The comment definitely went straight over his head. It was good, keep it up.
Math is good and this is literally how GM’s construct rosters these days whether you like it or not. Welcome to baseball…..and mathematics! They have been around a bit you should stay a while!
Well just taking 3 players OBP and averaging them together doesn’t account for how many PA each took.
There should be some weighting of volume contributed to that aggregate.
That’s why it’s bad math
You think a line of dialogue from a book or movie is proof you know something?
If you thought it was good math, congrats you’re dumb too
Red Sox probably already want a refund from Campbell, I wish paying players was like buying something from Costco, you can return them for a refund at almost anytime. LOL
Nah. He’s a kid with time to develop and they didn’t overpay. He’ll be fine once they finally decide where they want him to play.
Breslow Go to trade for Skubal & extend him.