Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Tucker aftermath:
The Dodgers made waves last night when they landed star outfielder Kyle Tucker on a four-year, $240MM deal that shattered AAV records and affords him opt-out opportunities after the second and third seasons. Though the Dodgers were commonly listed as one of Tucker’s three potential landing spots in his final days on the open market, the deal is still an upset of sorts, given that both the Mets and Blue Jays were more heavily linked to him over the past couple weeks. It remains to be seen how Toronto and New York will pivot after missing out. Perhaps the Blue Jays could look to ramp talks with star infielder Bo Bichette back up. Either team could feasibly try to pivot towards the No. 2 outfielder on this year’s market, Cody Bellinger.
As for the Dodgers, it’s worth wondering whether there will be any subsequent moves. They could deal from what’s now an even more crowded and star-studded big league roster — Teoscar Hernandez‘s name has already popped up in rumors a bit this winter, even before the Tucker deal — and they also have several top-tier outfield prospects (e.g. Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope) whose path to the majors is further obfuscated by the latest blockbuster acquisition.
2. Incoming roster moves:
The Rockies, Red Sox, and Dodgers are all going to need to make 40-man roster moves in the coming days as their respective recent signings of Willi Castro, Ranger Suarez, and Tucker become official. The most likely way for those clubs to clear up that 40-man roster space is by simply designating a player for assignment, though it’s also possible that any of those teams could look to work out a trade that creates space on their 40-man roster by acquiring non-roster players. The Dodgers already went down that road not too long ago when they traded outfielder Esteury Ruiz to the Marlins.
3. Cubs, Reds hosting fan events:
With spring training less than a month away, teams around the league are hosting fan events to get their fan bases excited for the upcoming season. This weekend, two clubs are hosting events: the annual Cubs Convention in Chicago is scheduled to take place today, tomorrow, and Sunday, while today and tomorrow will also play host to Redsfest in Cincinnati. Cubs Con will be highlighted by a ten-year reunion for the World Series-winning 2016 team, while both events will both have a number of current and former players involved. Events like this can often (but not always) produce quotes of note from team owners, front offices and/or managers that provide some insight into the remainder of the offseason and the outlook for the upcoming campaign. Full schedules and ticketing details for the Cubs’ and Reds’ respective fan events can be found at these links, courtesy of MLB.com.
Tucker tsunami!!!
It will be fun when the Dodgers lose this year.
Yeah, surely they will lose at least 8-10 games this year
Yeah.. Can’t wait to see what his annual second half leg injury will be.
If he opts out, does he have to proportionally give back the signing bonus?
Hopefully in a row!
I doubt he would have to give back the signing bonus. I would guess his salary for 2026 is very low, like how Ohtani gets $2 million salary per year.
I’d love to know if the Dodgers contracts with the players demand that they pay the players even in the event of a strike/lockout.
These are the same players who would take the cash and run to the bank early and leave all the 22-23-24-25-26th men on the team to eat beans out of a can by the railroad tracks.
And what if a salary cap IS negotiated, and the Dodgers can only keep 6 men under contract undr the cap?
The cable tv deals fell apart in recent years , and many teams are just taking what an MLB tv contract gives them.
And the rich teams will get richer. And the rest pray for miracle seasons. Welcome back to the 1950’s.
As much as fans complain, it isn’t ticket sales funding their teams.
There will never be a salary cap in baseball. Just forget about it. Baseball is making too much money for a lockout to extend into the regular season. Forget about it. Does baseball really need the Marlins, Rays, A’s, or Rockies? Probably not. How about the White Sox, Guardians, Twins or Pirates? Probably not either. The problem is all teams that barely spend what they cash in on the CBT that the Dodgers fund. All of the teams that rely on the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Rangers to stay afloat. Why can’t more of the small market teams be like the Padres? The Padres don’t have an RSN, they’re in a small market, so why can they compete? Because they spend on payroll, and they realize that winning brings fans to the ballpark. They have ownership that cares about winning and being competitive. The lower 1/3 of baseball teams don’t care about winning, they don’t care about even trying to compete, but yet they all have billionaires for owners. The problem isn’t the Dodgers. It’s the teams that dont even try.
Even if there ever was a salary cap, the Dodgers wouldn’t have to give up any players. That’s not how it works.
This is the same guy who is delusional enough to think that the NY Jets aren’t a poorly run organization. Best to ignore him.
joe – Owners are a lot greedier than players.
For example I know of many instances where players voted to include in the postseason pool former players who contributed virtually nothing.
No chance anyone would get paid during a lockout …. the whole point of a lockout is to provide motivation for players to settle, what motivation would there be if the players still got paid? And the union would never allow some players getting paid while others don’t, that would divide the players.
The signing bonus is paid no matter what. That’s a mechanism that can be used by teams signing players that are worried about a work stoppage.
Yes, Fever. No pay during lockouts. Now, if the owners lock the players out, then they are overriding their guaranteed contracts, so I’d imagine any settlement will require full back pay, but that won’t happen until there’s an agreement.
@derail
Learn the economics of the sport and how they work before making these assumptions. Yes, the Pirates could afford to sign Tucker to $60 mil. What they can’t afford is to sign multiple players like Ohtani, Betts, Freeman, Snell, Yamamoto and 18 other guys. That’s the real problem.
So you mean players are before than the owners?
Baseball does need the Marlins, Rays, A’s etc. Those are all AAAA teams supplying the Dodgers with players. Basically minor league affiliates for the Dodgers and other big market teams.
Players Association has been socking away a ‘lockout fund’ in anticipation for this lockout for the players. Not sure how long it would last but even missing half a season would be devastating for MLB.
Funny that the Rays now have three former Dodgers, but the Dodgers have one former Rays player. Try again.
I forgot about Feduccia. Make that 4.
I know plenty about the economics of baseball. Who are these 18 other guys?
How do you vote down a Sportsball Mashup post?
Lord – Wouldn’t that depend on games played? Let’s say they reduce the 2027 season to 80 games, I don’t think the players would get paid for games they didn’t play. If the lockout ended in mid-April and they made up the games, then sure the players would get full pay.
Pre-arbitration players on the Dodgers now qualify for food stamps and Section 8 housing allotments.
They have redesigned the coaching staff in order to reflect new market realities. They now have the first and third base valets, the bullpen concierge, and the hitting and pitching design crew.
Come on now… let’s not pile on the Dodgers. This was a totally necessary move for the Dodgers to pivot and sign Tucker after the DBacks traded for Arenado.
rum – I had the Dodgers getting Tucker all along, even after their “we are done with the heavy lifting” nonsense.
Teo had a big decline last year and Conforto sucked, it was obvious they would upgrade the outfield.
As a dodger fan doesn’t matter. 3 peat would be nice. However we just beat the Yankees in a gentlemen’s sweep and won an epic series against Toronto for the back to back. I’m content with those victories and anything else is just icing. I wanted the young guys to play, but that’ll wait a year. What’s crazy is they have a great shot to 3peat and then we will have the stoppage. After that we will rely on our number 1 farm system. Golden era of dodger baseball. Wish gramps was here to see it with me.
I suspect the Dodgers are going all in expecting changes in the next CBA that will likely restrict them. Their view is go all in now while they can and build on baseball’s first legitimate dynasty since the mid-90s to early aughts Yankees. If they have to cut back, they’ve also built an excellent farm system, preparing for the next reality.
I don’t believe MLB can implement a hard cap when it’s possible certain teams can’t get under it, especially with players have NTC’s and 10-5 rights. They’ll need to be a phase-in period, perhaps with more punitive penalties, that could last up to a decade. There is precedent for this. When the Luxury Tax was created (aka the Yankee tax), they Yankees slammed the brakes on increasing payroll, but they maintained it within the same range while the rest of the league caught up. We could see something similar to that here, if indeed there is a salary cap. I remain unconvinced since all teams continue to make money. When everyone is making money, from players to owners, it’s not the most conducive environment for a long lockout.
The Tucker signing could have an interesting domino effect on the Yankees. If either the Mets or Jays end up grabbing Bellinger, it means they don’t have Tucker as a fall back plan anymore.
Going into next season, the Yankees outfield could be a lot weaker than last season. Judge will be Judge, but can Grisham repeat his career year? Can the Martian actually perform as advertised? Will Spencer Jones make any noise?
Will Judge be Judge? He’s been putting up some historic numbers. You have to expect him to decline somewhat.
However the Belli Saga (NYM or NYY) ends up, whoever loses him is gonna get raked by their fanbase.
That’s why you play the games….nobody wins the WS on paper….two side to the coin with your side, or, The Martian stops switch hitting and more than holds his own in a platoon….Grisham has a good follow up year because he’s looking at a new contract from somebody again in 27, and Spencer Jones hits moonshots and nobody except haters worry so much about his K’s in a league where league average is .240’ish and everybody K’s in a 1 for 4 game as a norm….HR hitters get the babes, singles hitters get what;s left…..
Definitely feel like Blue Jays are still in on Belli and Bichette. Both New York teams are interested in Belli and maybe Yankees and Red Sox will consider Bichette. Lots of hot stove left including Framber, Gallen, Tealmoto, Bader, Quintana, Martinez.
It’s time for Dodgers baseball!
Remember when the Mets tried to sign Kyle Tucker?
Feels as if it was only yesterday…how fast time flies. Pepperidge Farm remembers though
Mets escaped a bad contract with Tucker
Yet they can’t escape the aura of LOLmets.
What have your Yankees done this offseason, Chuckster? Keep being obsessed.
The duality of Mets baseball. Both wise not to sign Tucker, but also LOLMets!
The pretender Yankees ?
Yes. Fangraphs estimates he should have singed for about $150mil. Bred has him most similar to Danny Tartanull and Larry Walker. Would you pay Tartabull $60 mil per year for four years?
Perhaps the Mets pivot to not only sign Belli but also pony up the haul the Tigers will require for Skubal. Granted this would actually be stupid because Belli will probably regress outside of the Bronx and they would only get one year of Skubal to try and stop what may be inevitable in the playoffs when they travel to play the Deathstar Dodgers. Still could be fun to watch!
Their lineup is too incomplete to warrant a Skubal trade. They might as well wait until next offseason to get outbid instead of giving up the farm for a one year rental
Sucks we missed out on another good player but like you said they dodged a bad contract. Him joining the Dodgers is the ultimate low blow
I didn’t think the Mets had a chance … Near the end, I thought it would be ten years $360 million in Toronto. Now, Tucker has four years $240 million. If he follows up with a mere six years $120 million it would add up to the ten years $360 million so barring a savage injury, it sure looks like he will come out ahead. Curious how much Toronto actually offered.
I’m curious where Toronto stands with the Bo Bichette talks. A lot of sources say Philly offered him the most money, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the best offer.
2nd highest aav ever, only top 50 in WAR last year. Make it make sense
Highest AAV ever when you factor in deferrals. Insane that he’s effectively getting paid more than Ohtani, even if it’s for fewer years.
You commented this on the other thread. You should really come to terms with WAR not being as important as you think it is. Teams that have entire departments dedicated to talent evaluation and dish out hundreds of millions of dollars to players clearly dont care about WAR. Why should we?
Nick Punto, who has 19 career HRs over 3700+ PAs and a career OPS+ in the 70s, has more career WAR than Ryan Howard and its simply because bWAR overweights DRS (which is a terrible, gameable stat in its own right). If WAR mattered as much as you think it does, teams would just look at a players baseball reference page and try to pluck the guy with the highest WAR and call it a day.
Absolutely insane statistics point out. Never even heard of Punto while Howard was awesome to watch.
I remember Nick Punto, he was always around it felt like. I think its a prime example of how the formula for bWAR overweighs DRS to an insane extent that no longer aligns with reality. Its exactly why Brendan Ryan posted multiple 4+ WAR seasons but you never saw him get a Kyle Tucker contract and why Ozzie Smith, despite being barely able to hit, has more WAR than Jeter.
Imo, theres two large misconceptions. 1 being that defense is just as valuable, if not more, than offense and that WAR is a great representation of a players value. Yet every offseason we see teams’ decisions subvert those ideas. For example, if defense was that valuable, Juan Soto wouldnt have gotten 700MM and/or a lot of the defensive wizards with no bat would receive similar levels of contracts. Yet they dont even get remotely close. And if WAR was that fool proof/accurate of a representation of a players value, then Kyle Tucker wouldnt have gotten the 2nd highest AAV ever and/or a guy like Harrison Bader would be a the top of the list for teams and fetch something similar to Alex Bregmans contract (Bader had 3.9 bWAR compared to Bregmans 3.5 and are both 31)
@Begamin
I have scrupples with WAR for many reasons, but the reason teams will pay out the nose for 1-dimensional offensive players and not defense is it’s much easier to hide a bad glove in the lineup than a bad bat. What would Schwarber get if he had to play the field? Also consider that maximum defensive value tends to peak mid-late 20s (correlated with athleticism). Glove first guys may be hitting FA well after their peaks.
I think what you said that its easier to hide a bad glove in the lineup than a bad bat very much coincides with my contention that offensive production is immensely more valuable than defensive.
Also I think if Shwarber had to play the field he’d get a similar contract to what he has now. If you took Adam Dunns contract for example and added inflation that was a 20MM AAV contract, and that was long before they truly understood the value Adam Dunn brought to the plate (high SOs, low AVG was still largely looked down upon then). So if we make these adjustments instead of a 35MM AAV maybe itd be 30?
@Begamin
A bat is always going to play. The nature of defense is volatile; you’re guaranteed at least 3 PAs a game as a batter, but you might have 0 plays in the field if the ball is never hit your way, especially if you’re in the OF. I disagree with offense > defense. A run saved is a run created in my book. That said, I do agree that teams will hedge on a good bat/poor glove moreso than the reverse.
A run saved is a run created but like you said, they may not even have the opportunity to save one. I think that in itself makes offense more valuable to a team than defensive prowess
IMO it makes offense more consistent, not neccessarily more valuable (though it often works out to be that way). Just a philosophical difference, I think we mostly agree on the practical side of things.
Claims to know what GMs and “talent evaluation departments” consider important. Proceeds to give a single example of how WAR isn’t “perfect”. Go away chump. You’re basic af
I didnt claim to know exactly what they value and dont value. I only said that, evidently, they clearly do not use WAR to hand out contracts. I can give you countless examples of WAR being imperfect, did you want another one?
In 2017 Judge and Altuve both had 8.1 WAR. Andrelton Simmons had a WAR of 8. Do you truly, truly belive that Simmons had a virtually similar valuable of season as The MVP 1 and 2 that year just because his DRS was high?
Also, why are you weirdly taking it personal and dishing insults all over the fact that WAR is an often misleading stat that FOs clearly dont take into consideration?
I was just feeling saucy 😉
Again pointing out individual cases of it not being perfect. Just look at 2025 WAR leaders and tell me how many you disagree with. I’ll drop the sauce.
Im really not sure why you think pointing out cases that suggest something is somehow an invalid form of evidence. Its even stranger that you are then asking me to point out an individual case within the list of WAR leaders, as if its any different of a logical process. But since you asked, I’d think Bregman, despite playing a thinner (in terms of elite talent) position in 3B is more valuable than Bader (who plays a stacked position in CF) despite Bregman having a better year at the plate and its not like hes some slouch at 3B, yet Bader has more bWAR, likely from DRS.
I’ll let you think about that more before commenting.
“Dont use individual cases that prove me wrong”
“Try to find an individual case with the limited parameter that i set to prove me wrong”
Please drop the smugness until you can remain logically consistent across 1 singular conversation.
Beg
“WAR is an often misleading stat”
“The consensus seems to be that WAR is how much value (WINS!!) a player contributes to his team over the baseline of a player who could replace him. WAR does not reflect the true talent level of a player, but instead it describes how many wins an individual player contributes on the actual field, and in that aspect it works spectacularly well.”
tht.fangraphs.com/what-is-war-good-for/
“that FOs clearly dont take into consideration?”
You keep saying this. You haven’t shown it.
I know what WAR is supposed to represent. My argument is that it doesnt accurately do so. Stop trying to reduce my argument into i just simply dont understand it or something
“You keep saying this. You havent shown it”
I have, multiple times in fact. Kyle Tucker and his (relatively) low WAR and high contract was the prime example that set off this conversation in the first place. Go look at all the defensive wizards who logged high WARs yet low (relatively) career earnings if you want more evidence of this. Andrelton Simmons averaged about 5.0 WAR a season for 6 years at one of the harder positions to fill and didnt make more than 70MM in his career. Willy Adames was able to snag a 7 year 182MM contract despite having 10 less WAR in 2 less years than Simmons and averaging 3 war per season
And we just saw it again for Bichette whos seen as a defensive liability and has a 162 game average WAR of 4.5 and just snagged a 42MM AAV contract. Same WAR as Tucker, adds to the trend that an only top 50 WAR player got a high AAV. Say whaaaaat
Beg
“My argument is that it doesnt accurately do so”
But. It does
tht.fangraphs.com/what-is-war-good-for/
What’s your counter argument?
Re read my comments if you want to know my counter. You can keep posting fangraphs articles all you want
Beg
“Re read my comments if you want to know my counter. ”
You don’t have one.
You understand WAR so poorly, that you don’t know what a good argument against it would be.
Classic Dunning-Kruger.
Knowledgeable people know you don’t know what you’re talking about. Ignorant people might believe you.
Ironic that you say dunning-kruger while you’ve said nothing of substance and not even addressing whats being said to you. You literally hit a “nuh uh”, posted a fangraphs link and patted yourself on the back for it
And by the way Ryan Howard’s career WAR is less than Puntos because Howard gave 5+ back at the end of his already short career. Played little to no defense. Struck out a ton. Couldn’t take a walk.
But but but! Howard hit a lot homers!! Grow up
Shortened*
Nick Punto wasnt even an average hitter, Ryan Howards worst season at the plate was more productive than Nick Puntos entire career. Stop trying to reduce a career OPS+ of 76 and 19 career HRs over a 14 year career vs a career OPS+ of 125 as nothing more than Howard hit more HRs
“Grow up”
There you go again. Are you emotionally attached to WAR?
Absolutely no one thinks Punto is even in the same stratosphere as Ryan Howard. You’re just confused. And that’s ok. Take a breathe and try to figure out what is actually being said. No need to get so emotional.
Also I said grow up like 5 posts ago. Prior to me understanding how fragile you were. I’ve since changed my tone to better accommodate your feelings and current mental health state.
I replied directly to the comment you told me to grow up, far from “5 posts ago”
Youre a weird guy huh. Imagine throwing personal insults over a disagreement of a baseball statistic. Youre the only one emotional here
Beg
“Teams that have entire departments dedicated to talent evaluation and dish out hundreds of millions of dollars to players clearly dont care about WAR. Why should we?”
Because the WAR framework remains the best framework we have have for measuring player performance.
Because the contracts that teams sign players to and trades they make roughly follow the WAR framework.
“If WAR mattered as much as you think it does, teams would just look at a players baseball reference page and try to pluck the guy with the highest WAR and call it a day.”
Tell us you don’t understand WAR without telling us you don’t understand WAR.
WAR tells us, pretty accurately, how much a player produced in the past. That’s different from saying this is how a player will perform in the future.
Just like you wouldn’t look at a player’s OBP, SLG, FIP, DRS etc from one year and expect them to do the exact same thing the next year, you shouldn’t expect it with WAR.
Are you going to learn from this? Or are you going to make this same dumb comment a week, or a month or a year from now?
“Because WAR framework remains the best framework we have for measuring a players performance”
Clearly not as teams arent behaving as if it is.
“WAR tells us, pretty accurately, how much a player produced in the past”
And thats exactly what im rejecting. WAR is not accurate, and if it was, you wouldnt have these wacky comparisons that you can look at in retrospect.
As for Howard
A WRC+ of 105 for 7 seasons is much more valuable than 77 WRC+ and whatever defense he played at 2B. I would take a league average hitting 1B over a severely below average hitter at any position regardless of defensive ability and you should to.
I also said nothing about being able to extrapolate a players WAR into future seasons so that strawman can end there
Begamin — Interesting, thanks for the read. Good take.
How about fWAR as far as DRS goes, still to heavily weighted?
I believe fWAR has abandoned DRS all together in favor of UZR. I feel like I have heard somewhere that theyre looking to switch to OAA eventually
Begamin — Ah, very cool. Appreciate the input. I’ve never looked into the specific special sause of the algorithms used to get WAR, but of course, was aware from inception that defense stats were a sticking/troublesome area to adjust/account for accurately (hence there being different WAR’s) so I appreciated your prospective and will take it into account.
Your ultimate point of FO’s not using WAR is also very illuminating. Good looking out.
OSCYS
Beg doesn’t understand WAR
You can tell because they said this
” If WAR mattered as much as you think it does, teams would just look at a players baseball reference page and try to pluck the guy with the highest WAR and call it a day.”
Beg doesn’t understand that WAR measures what happens in the past. It says NOTHING about how a player will perform in the future. Beg’s argument against WAR seems to be based on that non-understanding.
Though they are right about a few things.
Teams almost certainly do not use FanGraphs or B-R WAR. They almost certainly do use the same frame work to come up with their own measure of player value that has a similar framework to WAR.
And they are also correct about the defensive components of WAR. Defense is harder to measure than offense.
Juan — Respectfully, I think everyone here is missing what Beg has written very clearly. He does understand WAR. Folks here aren’t understanding him/her main point.
I’ll form my own opinions about folks if you don’t mind. (And too that end, I’ve generally liked your comments too. Usually it adds to the discussion at hand, and your quick with the Stats references.)
I like the free exchange of ideas and new perspectives. Beg is saying that because bWAR weights defensive metrics (in particular, DRS (a very dubious measure in the first place)) equally as offensive metrics, you have imbalanced/incomplete picture. As such, Front Offices don’t use bWAR because of it’s less reliable.
Bad data in, bad data out. That’s not a difficult argument. But yet, reading the responses…
I dunno, it all tracks to me.
O’s
Thank you. I think he is purposefully trying to misunderstand my argument in order to defend their belief in WAR. Trying to paint it as that I don’t understand what it’s designed for instead of responding to me criticizing the design itself and then conveniently ignoring the mounting evidence of decisions made by front offices around the league that do not seem to align with WAR and cases where WAR clearly got it wrong between two players. But thats the nature of internet arguments, i suppose, where half of it is in bad faith.
Juan
I have never suggested that you can take previous WAR and just extrapolate the data into the future, this is the second time ive had to shoot down that strawman argument from you. If youre suggesting that they dont look at past performance to try and predict future performance though… youre on your own.
Its nice to see you finally acknowledge what Ive been saying the whole time in the sense that teams do not use WAR us fans can see and use their own eval methods for players, you just had to put it in your own words so you felt like you came up with it i guess.
Beg
“I have never suggested that you can take previous WAR and just extrapolate the data into the future”
Yes. You did precisely that.
“If WAR mattered as much as you think it does, teams would just look at a players baseball reference page and try to pluck the guy with the highest WAR and call it a day.”
Beg
“cases where WAR clearly got it wrong between two players”
Question.
When you disagree with something, how do you decide if you are wrong or that thing is wrong?
Beg
As for Howard
He was credited with 18.4 fWAR in his first 5 full seasons. About 3.7 WAR per season. A very productive player.
He was only worth 0.6 fWAR his next 7 years.
Punto had one year, 2006, as good as Howard’s average pre-injury year in his entire career.
Howard was definitely, and by far, the better player before his injury.
He was very bad after it.
2005-2009: .376 OBP, .307 ISO, 139 wRC+
2010-2016: .314 OBP, .212 ISO, 105 wRC+
Are you sure that you’re considering Howard’s entire career when comparing him to Punto? Because a first baseman who is league average hitter isn’t that valuable.
Bingo. Remembering Howard’s prime years while simultaneously forgetting the poor ones would cause anyone to overvalue a players career. A GM or talent evaluator doing that would be criminal when handing out contracts.
Thank you
You can only buy what’s for sale. If Judge, Ohtani, Soto, etc, were on the market, Tucker would not make more than them. But they are not on the market, so it’s not really a comp. This isn’t arbitration.
I’m so looking forward to the upcoming lockout/strike. RSN model is crumbling the division between the small market and large market teams is widening. I can’t wait for the players to finally have to cave to a cap so we no longer see these obscene deals like Soto and tucker. Viva2028
Super League in 2029 —
West: Astros, Rangers, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants
East: BlueJays, Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies
I mean, why not if I were Tucker. Dodgers have an endless supply of money and are well positioned for quite awhile to be championship contenders. Hop on the wagon Tucker. SMH! Haha
To be fair to the guy, it’s hard to pass up $240m over four years. Assuming the Jays were offering a 10-year deal, they would have had to offer $400m+ to compete with that.
Oh…no doubt! I would jump on it too!
Happier than ever to be a fan of an AL team in these times. At least the AL Pennant is an achievable goal for a lot of teams still, since the Dodgers aren’t eligible.
56 million a year for effectively mike greenwell, eh? Perfectly normal system we got here.
120 mil a year after the luxury tax. They will be paying more for tucker alone than like 8 teams payrolls
Meanwhile regular folks have to take out a loan to buy buffalo wings.
Just get that Pick 6 Meal for 2. Two entrees, two sides, and two drinks, $19.99. #BDubbs
Learn to code
this guy BWWs.
People keep applying the luxury tax logic to the player or players that take the team over the threshold but in reality you could say instead that Mookie or Ohtani are costing double. You really have to look at the overage and divide by salaries and see the true cost per player. So maybe the $10 million for Muncy is really $15 million and so on. Clearly the Dodgers aren’t actually saying this one player is worth $100 million per year. They are seeing it as the overall extra cost per player is worth it and since they make a tidy profit each year they are correct.
VSS
💯
One of the few thoughtful posts here that’s not poisoned by brainrot and needing to make a hot taek
Remember when the Yankees participated in free agency?
The Yankees decided not to overpay for injury prone, average outfielder like Tucker should make Yankees fans happy IMO.
Agree, glad the Yanks never really even entertained the thought of Tucker.
Rubbit:
Does all that whining make you feel better?
Stating facts is Not whining.
I fell asleep early last night, pizza induced coma lol, so I saw the Tucker signing at 1:30am, but fell back asleep right away. This morning there’s over 1k comments, congratulations MLBTR, but I passed on commenting directly there.
Anyhoo, I predicted Dodgers but holy cow that’s a lot of cash per year for Tucker. At some point that’s going to hurt, but they’ll pocket enough Championships in their coffers not to care. You gotta break the eggs to make that omelet!
Tucker wins here big time, 4 years and another big contract to come if healthy and playing well. Best case scenario has played out for him.
Mets made a heck of an offer as well, don’t feel bad there, however I do now fear both the Mets and Toronto make signing Bellinger a priority. Yanks had a chance to get it done and didn’t pull the necessary trigger. Now Cody is center stage.
Good luck.
Something has to change. In all honesty, seeing most of the big free agents go to one or two teams is just frankly boring. It’s also not a good way to grow interest in the game. At the same time, seeing so many teams have tiny payrolls and not try to win also sucks. It would be great if the two sides came into the next CBA negotiation with an open mind and a focus on hammering something out that is good for the game and fans, but I am not optimistic.
I hope AA has at least started talks with Acuna about an extension.
The Braves have 3 years of control. Meaning Tucker has the possibility of opting out in 2 or 3 years opening a spot for Acuna to replace him in the Dodger lineup.
If Atlanta does not sign Acuna to an extension soon, I think they need to trade him soon and get all the top prospects they can back for him,
If he hits free agency, he WILL be a Dodger in 3 years
At this point, barring sweeping changes, it’s a safe bet to assume that any highly coveted free agent will end up on the Dodgers.
They might as well sign Bichette too I mean why stop there? Framber Valdez, trade for Skubal and Skenes. Make Cody Bellinger the utility player off the bench for 200 million over 3 years. Just finish demolishing the sport already why even pretend like there’s any integrity to this industry. It’s WWE but with bats and gloves.
I agree its lunacy. Much more so with opt outs
They’re probably putting together a package for peralta today and they’ll extend him by Monday
With Cubs Convention on deck, news came out the other day that the Cubs’ radio station 670 The Score will migrate to 104.3 FM on 2/2. Don’t be surprised if station owner Audacy is at Cubs Con to promote the move.
Redsfest sounds like a party from the 70s.
They are not “migrating” or moving….they will begin simulcasting on that date.
Can’t see this being a game changer at all…guessing Audacy is losing money with current format ???
Also don’t imagine too many bomb shelters areas that get static reception of a Cubs game on AM radio in the top of the ninth….but I’m fine where I am at.
I go way back with the Score…to the time when Les Grobstien had some DAYS…on 820…and i would lose reception by 5:00 in Aurora.
It’s not 1976, 1986, or 1996 any more. The AM band is in its death throes and Audacy is bringing The Score where the mass market audience is.
“they also have several top-tier outfield prospects (e.g. Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope) whose path to the majors is further obfuscated by the latest blockbuster acquisition”
None of these guys were ever likely to be starters this year. Next year maybe. 2028 is more likely. And Teo will be gone then and maybe Tucker too
By gone in 2028, surely you don’t mean opt out (in Tucker’s case), so what other gone would play out?
Brew
“surely you don’t mean opt out ”
Why, yes, I do mean opt out.
Due to the structure of his contact, he’ll “only” be making around $50 million the last two years of his contract.
No reason to think that he might not opt out at that point and try to improve on that (he had at least two better offers this year) or he may want a longer term deal. Or he may not.
Miss me with any thoughtless “hot taek” type reply you might be thinking of.
It’s not a hot take to assume he’ll likely not opt out. Not likely but more likely they cut him.
Brew
“likely not opt out”
I didn’t say it was likely. Did I?
I said it was possible.
“more likely they cut him”
I disagree. Strongly.
I actually think JuanUribe is on to something. At the opt out point, Tucker will be 31 with a 2 year deal around $100 million vs shooting for a longer deal. If he opts in, he’d be a FA again at 33 trying to land a multi-year deal. If he puts up good numbers the next two seasons, there’s a shot he opts out.
Depending on the lockout/CBA stuff, of course.
sure, there’s a shot his opts out and walks away from extraordinary $ for a 30-something position player, I just think it’s not as likely as opting in 2028. Recall this discussion starts with the notion that LAD will plan for De Paula or Hope as starters that year, as opposed to having Tucker rostered. Not this or next year, but the path to big league roster for those prospects is certainly impacted in next 4 years by Tucker signing. Nice problem to have though!
I want my team to spend to bring in new toys like everyone else, but spending >$100mm (when factoring in the LT) is insane.
nice use of obfuscated
The LA Superfriends found their Marvin.
.266 avg, 22 hr 73 rbi
$60 million a year
Sweet baby jesus
It’s really is such a stupid contract.
The Dodgers are a money machine. Must be nice.
I mean, because of the Tax rate, they end up paying MLB more than the player.
As an organization, the Dodgers are offering to pay $480 million over 4 years ($240 if he opts out)!!!
That’s more for Kyle Tucker than than all 40 Miami Marlins!!
…teams better spend that Dodger money AND their own fans money!! If your team doesn’t have guys that are getting 30 million a year…it means the owners are taking it instead. (Yes, my own team included)
Well, we all kept joking that the Dodgers could swoop in at the last minute, and sure enough, they stole the Mets’ thunder lol
Bellinger and Boras got a little more leverage in negotiations with the Yankees I think, but we’ll see if Cashman acquiesces to Boras or if Stearns comes in and makes the offer Bellinger wants. Good luck to Tucker, I’m good with him not being back with the Cubs.
I’m at the point where I actually want the dodgers to get every top player available. Trade for Skubal or Skenes. I wish Tatis jr didn’t play for a rival so they could trade for him too. I want to see the most loaded team ever. I don’t even get annoyed anymore. If the Dodgers offer I assume the player will accept. When they do I just laugh and shake my head.
Great signing for baseball. Baseball interest was built with juggernaut teams like the Yankees so we need the Dodgers to continue the tradition.
Nobody cares anymore. It’s all about gambling. And fancy leagues. Nobody actually watches baseball. They just wait to see if they won any money. Fan Fool rules.
@whyhayzee
It’s always been about gambling and making money. Do you think they all did it out of the goodness of their hearts?
Sorry but its a bad signing and shows all that is wrong with baseball
@Midinfieldlifer
Why? Because your middle of nowhere team doesn’t want to compete? Time to sell the team and move to a better place. Glad the A’s escaped that suffocating city of Jokeland!
You would be one of few if you could honestly say this is a fair contract.
It’s bad all round for the the sport and the game became great not only because of those 2 teams but many others thru the decades
Seems like the dodgers told Tuckers representatives go get your best offer and we’ll beat it. Toronto and the Mets were used by Excel Sports Management. Hope they at least got dinner and a movie before it happened
What a crock.
Once again the Toronto fans have been used.
Always second.
Why keep jerking the fans around?
Ultimately….who pays for the tickets and the hot dogs?
Fed up Jays fan.
I hear ya to some degree but they are better off on this one.
Hopefully they pivot to Bellinger and/or Bichette and land either.
They could sign both for the annual Tucker money
Why would you be fed up?
If the jays were going to compete they were going to need to offer 10/450, do you think he’s worth that?
I’d rather get Bo for his price. 60 mil AAV is just dumb, Tucker is very good but he’s very far from a judge, a Soto or a true elite player
Jays have still had a nice offseason, don’t be dramatic
Guess we’ll have to hope for the tragic sports team plane crash.
This kind of money with opt out options shows all that is wrong with baseball.
Many owners, rich and poor, and the commissioner are cut from the same cloth. The Dodgers owners are bankster gangsters. Their fans have loyally attended games even when they lost 99 a season. They watched them disrespect their religion unapologetically; And most don’t know the Guggenheim partners hold a stake in a private prison corporation which operates ICE detention centers. In addition to that group Walter heads a partnership with Palantir. Roman circus.
Credit to the Dodgers FO, but it’s beginning to feel a bit like Bama pre-NIL. Not an invincible team, but really the competitive state of the league needs some calibrating.
‘Toronto needs to overpay players to get them to sign’
Dodgers ‘ here is 60 million AAV to a player who’s never had a 5+ WAR season’
Good point
Nick, Eduardo Quintero and Mike Sirota are now more highly regarded than Hope. I do think trading Teoscar is a real possibility.
The Dodgers this year will be spending over $200 million in player salaries (including comp balance taxes) more than the Mets, who are in second place in spending. How do they do it?
They drew 4 million fans last season, 600,000 more than any other team.
They have a best in sport cable contract which generates between $250 and $300 million/season.
They have deferred a huge amount of player salaries. This is not as big a cash benefit as some people may think, as the team is required to put away significant money up front to fund those future payments. But the money required to be put aside is based on an assumed 5% return, and you can be sure Guggenheim is investing at better than 5% and the team can keep all of the excess.
Even with all of that, the team is probably posting losses — including non-cash items — on a current basis (although perhaps not cash flow losses), which generate tax deductions for the owners.
To the extent they need to fund operations with debt, they can probably finance at better rates than most other teams.
And then you come to where this all really makes sense as an investment. They bought the Dodgers for about $2 billion in 2012 and, accoridng to the most recent Forbes estimate, the team in 2025 (before the second World Series win) was worth $6.8 billion. That seems like a lot, but actually is a 9.9% rate of return. One would have done better investing the same amount in a Guggenheim managaed account or even the S&P 500. But it’s not a bad rate of return, and flying Guggenheim clients to LA to sit in the owners box has a fair amount of value, too.
Uh oh! You stated facts and they don’t like that here.
Tucker will never get that high if aav again. I doubt he opts out.
Neither did Bregman but that wasn’t the point for him signing initially with the Red Sox. Bregman bet on himself and won. Tucker may too the next offseason.
The market is insane. Bellinger is probably licking his chops.