MLBTR projected him to get 4/68 at the start of the offseason. Median FG crowdsource was 3/45 (lol). He only got 24M two years and less than 900 PA ago. I know he's been outstanding the last 1.3 seasons, but this is a guy who sucked at hitting for almost 4000 PA before 2019. I don't think it's obvious that the Yankees are happy about this deal 2 years from now.
Walker is an unsexy inning eater back end starter who doesn't eat innings. If we're targeting that caliber of arm I'd rather have Quintana, Happ, or Waino on 1-year deals. Hell, Brett Anderson probably gets like 4M on a 1-year deal and he's basically Walker when it comes to results and reliability.
Yeah, you’re right that it’s not nothing.
I actually wonder what the team would do if they could spread Roark’s salary over like 5 years if they cut him.
The 15M team option with a 15M buyout is something we’ve never seen before. I guess he’d have to be utterly broken for the team to prefer to punt him and pay the money instalments.
Bauer doesn’t strike me as someone who’s going to respond to window dressing. He’s going to go to the team that A) offers him the most favourable contract terms, and actually convinces him that they have the infrastructure and personnel in place to make the arrangement mutually beneficial. He’s going to want his voice to be heard when it comes to his training regime and pitching on 3 days rest, and he’s going to want a team that provides him with actionable information that he might not otherwise have had.
I feel like Toronto is 100% able to meet his contract needs, but it’s anyone’s guess whether he’s impressed by the more subjective bits. It’s probably not something that can be faked though.
Especially if it ends up being a rental or an extension closer to $300M than $200M. I liked the idea of acquiring Lindor, but obviously a bunch of things had to fall into place for that to make sense.
I don't think they're looking for "rock bottom" prices. They outbid everyone for Ryu last year, because they were still comfortable with the terms. There are probably a few very good players that they're willing to pay more for than anyone else is.