Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Tucker market accelerating:
Kyle Tucker’s market finally appears to be picking up steam. The Mets have reportedly made a short-term offer with an average annual value as high as $50MM, while the Blue Jays have put forth a long-term offer — the details of which remain unclear. If Tucker is genuinely considering shorter-term offers, the Dodgers will surely be interested as well. Other teams like the Yankees seem to be hanging around the periphery of Tucker’s market, too, although fellow lefty-swinging outfielder Cody Bellinger appears to remain the priority over in the Bronx. With some reports suggesting that Tucker could agree to a deal before the end of the week, where will he land?
2. Cardinals move into post-Arenado era:
The Cardinals finally pulled off their long-awaited trade of likely future Hall of Famer Nolan Arenado yesterday, and in shipping him to the Diamondbacks (and paying down all but $11MM of his contract to do so) they’ll enter the 2026 season without any of the veteran All-Stars they carried in previous years on their roster. For a rebuilding club like St. Louis, that means an opportunity to give significant run to younger players like Nolan Gorman, Thomas Saggese, and top prospect JJ Wetherholt. The question for the Cardinals at this point is whether (or when) some of the club’s arbitration-eligible players, like infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan or lefty reliever JoJo Romero, will follow Arenado out the door.
3. What’s next in the Bronx and Miami?:
The Yankees pulled off a surprising trade last night when they nabbed hard-throwing lefty Ryan Weathers from the Marlins in exchange for four lower-minors prospects led by outfielder Dillon Lewis. The deal seemingly brings to a close the Yankees’ pursuit of starting pitching help this offseason. Weathers should fortify the rotation with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt all opening the season on the injured list.
With Weathers now in the fold, perhaps the Yankees can more fully focus on addressing their lineup, whether that’s with a Bellinger reunion, a pivot toward Tucker or Bo Bichette, or a pursuit of an unexpected target. As for the Marlins, they were already considering adding an innings-eating veteran starter after trading Edward Cabrera to the Cubs last week. That only figures to be become more important now that they’ve taken another valuable arm out of their rotation mix. Zack Littell, Tyler Anderson, Patrick Corbin, Jose Quintana, Tomoyuki Sugano and Chris Paddack are among the many yet-unsigned free agent starters.
This Jays fan is ready to get hurt again!
Why
We are going to end up with Bichette
I think the FO has moved on from him.
Im not too upset about losing Bo. Unlike Vladdy, who seems to be working on his fitness, Bo seems to be getting slower and thicker by the year. Bo also doesn’t embrace the face of the franchise role Vlad does, which sells tickets.
Not getting Tucker would suck but $50MM a year plus all the tax doesn’t make much sense. He is the best FA this season, not the best player in MLB.
The tax, AND the loss of draft picks and international pool money. Toronto has lost two picks already for signing Cease and figures to get one back letting Bo walk. Plus they lose international pick money. If they double down and sign Tucker they’ll be out another two draft picks and more international signing money. A heavy price for a bat that BA says has already declined to no better than league average in bat speed, and a guy who was benched in the second half for his performance.
If the Toronto club was wise, they’d walk away from talks on Tucker and Bo, unless they can get Bo on a hometown discount which I very much doubt. Then they would give up the money they need to give up, but protect their minor league talent as much as possible, in order to move the current worst contract in baseball Santander. Other teams are going to want to feast on their prospect pool to take that albatross, even with the Jays paying a hefty portion of the contract.. That’s what happens when you sign bad deals and the Blue Jays should be especially careful with Tucker in that regard to avoid doubling their problems.
For all the negative comments Breslow gets, I much prefer his approach to the crazy overpays for the likes of Cease, Tucker and Bichette that seem to be the headlines for this offseason.
Only way it makes sense is on a star high AAV deal
I love the Weathers trade. The prospects that the Yankees traded were unlikely to ever make it to the Bronx. I hope they still land Peralta, but Weathers is the kind of project that Matt Blake excels with.
How the heck do you know if the prospects traded won’t become big leaguers? The Marlins have very good scouting and Cashman has a history of overpaying!
@ Will P
He said they wouldn’t make it to the Bronx, not that they wouldn’t make it in the majors. There’s a difference.
Most Yankee prospects fail to reach their potential as Yankees. every decade or two there’s a Jeter or a Judge, but the rest of the time, it’s mostly let downs.
@Canuck
Are we ignoring the guys currently on the roster on the last 4 years?
He said unlikely not won’t. Words matter.
4 for 1 and getting a pitcher coming off an injury is becoming Cashmans legacy…regardless of whether the prospects become big leaguers…..
Is Blake going to keep him healthy?
No Lucas love by the Marlins?
Would like to see the Yankees grab another bullpen arm, too
I wish they’d spend $ not prospect capital but yeah at least 1 more arm for the pen. I wonder if Gil ends up there long term. His stuff seemed to step back last season. If this continues turning him loose for 1 inning at a time could be magical.
I think the Mets end up giving a 4th year to get it done. Maybe with an opt out after 3 to give Tucker an option after 2028
Its tough. Bc at age 32 he’s getting a 4 or 5 year max contract and if he regresses or gets injured it can look like a pretty dumb decision not taking the 9 year $325M deal. Plus that higher AAV the difference is taxed at at least 50% so its a net difference of $4.5M/yr to him for 3 years. So is $13.5M really worth the long term gamble of $190M?
Surprised Zack Littell still unsigned. He is an innings eater and a solid starter.
Its weird because we dont hear much either. Hes probably waiting for Framber and Suarez but a team like the Os would probably be better off just aggressively bringing him in.
Prognostication: Jays get Tucker at 8/320M. Bichette goes to Phillies for 8/240. Mets swoop in and overpay Bellinger for 7/210. Yanks get nothing, but let’s be fair, they led the ML in runs scored and return almost everyone except Bellinger. Every position is filled with Dominquez and Jones platooning in LF and whoever is hitting best gets the playing time.