What are people’s thoughts on the minor league promotion system we’ve been using? IIRC not allowing back and forth movement to/from the farm was a rule intended to ease administrative burden because it was tracked on a spreadsheet. Is there a reason to keep that rule? I asked BORED owners and didn’t get much feedback.
Some pretty big contracts given out so far:
Martin 2/14
Smith 3/40
Grandal 4/73
Things still moving a bit slow, but its kind of nice that weirdly low FA contracts isn't the story of the offseason so far.
If throwing money at the problem was feasible I would have done it. He's going to be moved back and forth for as long as both of you guys want to own your respective Ohtanis.
I guess when I squint hard I can see why someone might think McKinney is worth keeping around. I don't share the optimism, but get it. With Pannone, I don't see it at all. He's a soft tosser with shoddy command, and is probably going to be like the 5th best starter in AAA.
I'm not as bothered by McKinney. He has options, and makes the minimum. The team could ostensibly keep him at AAA and use him as depth. They won't, but they could.
Honestly, there's still a ton of dead weight on the 40-man. Guys that likely have no value here or elsewhere:
Urena - out of options
Valera - out of options
Drury - has been bad for two years and is now arb eligible with a projected salary of 2.5M
Maile - redundant on a team rostering Jansen and McGuire, and coming off a very bad year
Pannone - has options remaining, but is so bad that he doesn't really serve a purpose
Law - projected to earn 1.3M in arb and hasn't been good in the majors since 2016
Really, it would be ideal if none of these guys were on the 40-man come March.
I'm guessing Shanahan probably had a few uncomfortable conversations with his bosses. The Leafs have tons of money, but giving out the most expensive coaching contract in league history and then eating half of it when he's fired is a pretty bad look.