It's hard to even comment on the value here because so much of the outcome hinges on a Berrios extension. If he signs a reasonable 5-year deal or something in the offseason, a lot of the downside risk here evaporates.
I don't remember the details, but I think things only seemed to get irreparable when he was mad about their lack of interest in an extension? It just seems very fantasy baseball-esque to trade a good starter who wanted to stay, then two years later trade the trade return + a top-25 prospect for a starter who's not meaningfully better than the guy they traded in the first place.
I don't care much for this. And as annoying as Stroman is, him and Berrios project about the same this year. Would have probably just been smarter to keep him.
Votto up to a 142 wRC+ and 2 fWAR. Shame he missed a month or whatever. He’d be in the process of another 30 HR 100 RBI season, and HoF voters would like that.
Toronto had about as much luck as you could expect in their bullpen last season. Dolis, Bass, Hatch, Cole, and Borucki all had sparkling ERAs in high leverage roles despite not actually being good pitchers. This year it's Seattle's turn.
Trading for Hosmer to effectively pay cash for assets would be acceptable. But actually keeping him on the roster would be unforgiveable. He's awful, and doesn't seem like the kind of person to accept a bench/platoon role graciously.
Yeah, sounds about right. Fewer than 10 for sure. Off the top of my head, I don't think we've ever seen a sunk cost as big as Hosmer packaged with prospect capital to a team willing to eat the contract.