glory

It looks that way. I could see them hovering around .500 but it’s going to take a hell of an off season to put them at a higher level than that. Just have to hope the club is internally bracing itself for a Donaldson trade rather than placating a fanbase that will run away the first sign of struggling anyway.

Wow, that would be a great deal for the Marlins, on top of all the money they would be saving. Jeter still coming through in the clutch.

I like Pearce, but I hope they are not planning to trot him out in left field again. He needs to be the primary DH, or 1B with Smoak at DH. If they plan on starting him everyday in left then they might as well trade him as he is going to have to hit like a damn beast to make up for his defence.

The Cardinals have signed Miles Mikolas for two years, $15.5m. Nice pick up for them.

The Angels are smarter than they used to be, despite Scioscia managing. They won't be able to work around Pujols' contract, but adding Ohtani could put them in the WC favorite category. I'm rooting for the Padres partly because it keeps him away from the AL, and partly because it's a better story than him joining up with a team that's already good.

In the case of Harper and Machado, the majority of teams will know they have no shot at them and move on to other options accordingly. This was a very unique situation in that you could get a potential star for six years of control (3 cheap and 3 arb) for $20m. Of course teams were going to do whatever they could to impress him since it was not specified what exactly he was looking for. It certainly wasn't money, so every team, to varying degrees, should have felt that they had a chance if they presented a strong case (though I'm sure most knew it was a long shot, including the Jays). Again, not sure why so many people are white knighting for Ohtani here. No one is saying he did anything wrong. It was just pointless and a waste of time/resources for many teams knowing now that Ohtani only valued location and not much else (I can't imagine anyone would value Seattle for any other reason, certainly not baseball reasons).

The Rangers have signed Mike Minor, terms not known yet, according to Rosenthal.

Not really. All that is being said by some is that this seemed like a huge waste of time and resources for someone who had only a specific set of teams in mind based on location (west coast and ST facilities in Arizona). I mean, teams lost nothing to talk to him, so obviously they would have done it anyway, but the off season basically died because of this. Teams could have tried to do other things had they known about his intentions beforehand, or other FA's may have already signed by now, etc. Instead teams were asked to present english and Japanese essays on the benefits of their player development, medical staff, plans on how they will use him, etc, only to find out Ohtani didn't care about any of those things compared to location. I'd be annoyed if I was a GM of a team like the Yankees, but that's just me. No one is being triggered here. It's not a big deal at all. It's more annoying that this stunted the off season and made November boring as hell.

I didn't read Blair's article, but Stro definitely deserves criticism for his Tweet after Goins was non tendered. That was ridiculous. If Goins is your friend and you want to show your love for him after he was released, then just say nice things about him and wish him luck.

Well, practically everyone thought the Yankees were going to get him, probably the Yankees themselves as well until they met with him. The fans set themselves up for disappointment. What we are seeing now is just the resulting butthurt.

Goins is one of his "brothers" though. Talent, skill, production, etc, is irrelevant. HDMH

Maybe. I tend to think he leaned towards the west coast to begin with, as that would make sense given the location and all that, but I guess he didn't want to completely rule out the others even if he had no intention of going to New York, Boston, Toronto, etc. Whatever, it is what it is.

Look at the teams he narrowed it down to. Aside from the Dodger and Cubs, none of them are known for good player development. Is it even possible to quantify medical training enough to differentiate one org from another? Even then, the Mariners had about every pitcher on their team get hurt last season, and they are one of the favorites to get him. No doubt culturally the west coast may have an advantage, and location as well, but then that should have been obvious from the beginning, so why even have a dog and pony show with teams making compelling arguments that he was going to ignore anyway? I guess I don't really get the point. If his finalists were all over the map, then I would have understood, but he clearly had a preference. If he wanted a team who could develop him as a pitcher and hitter, and he chose Texas instead of Houston, then I really don't know what to say. Player development couldn't have been a factor at all if you look at the results. Don't get me wrong, I really don't care what he decides, I just found the whole thing to be a waste of time in hindsight based on what he did.

"Balelo's memo asks for a team to evaluate Ohtani's talent as a pitcher and as a hitter; to explain its player development, medical training and player performance philosophies and facilities; to describe its minor league and spring training facilities; to detail resources for Ohtani's cultural assimilation into the team's city; to demonstrate a vision for how Ohtani could integrate into the team's organization; and to tell Ohtani why the team is a desirable place to play." 8 days later, he narrows his teams down to 7. Only 2 of those 7 have any recent track record of good player development (LAD, Cubs), and only 2 of those 7 are not in the west coast. In other words, what the hell was the point of sending the memo? I mean, Ohtani could have told each team to get on their knees and bark like a dog, and they would have done it, so maybe he got off on so many teams courting him, but that seemed like a giant waste of time and resources if he knew he preferred the west coast and didn't particularly care about whether the team was good, had a history of good player development, etc.

Ohtani picking the Padres of all teams would be pretty darn surprising.

Alex would have signed him. /Sportsnet.ca comments section.

More people said the Yankees were going to sign him, and it turns out he wanted a team that was the exact opposite. In other words, no one had a f'n clue what he was going to do. He never specified which location he preferred, or what type of team he wanted to sign with, etc. You could have been a Twins fan and said there was a chance and you wouldn't have been wrong.

Pick the NL, Ohtani. If the Jays want to aim for the 2nd WC in 2018, then the Mariners getting him would hurt the Jays chances.

Nice that the Yankees are out. If not the Jays, then go to the NL, and I'll be happy, and we can finally move on to an actual off-season.

Casuals, at least the idiots on Twitter and Sportsnet, hate Shatkins, so they will mourn the loss of anything that was here before those two took over. Stupidity is a dangerous thing, and unfortunately casual Toronto sports fans fit that description. Oh well, as long as those mouth breathers take their asses to the games, I guess that's all that matters.

Woodman had a 38% K% in low A and had a 98 wRC+ despite a BABIP a shade under .400. At age 22, about to turn 23. Damn, what an awful draft pick that turned out to be, but good way to leverage it into something potentially useful.

Stroman watching this video on repeat with tears in his eyes.

All he has to be is replacement level and he’s an upgrade on Goins. We got him for a guy who can’t make contact in A ball at age 22. It’s a pretty damn good risk to take even if Diaz is a bust.

Damn all we gave up was Woodman? Atkins ain’t messing around. Goins out, Diaz in, huge upgrade.

I was seriously expecting Goins to be one of those s***** players who inexplicably stays in an organization for a long ass time. Even smart front offices can fall in love with a scrub. Thankfully that was not the case here. I wouldn't mind bringing Koehler back on a cheaper deal, but Goins can GTFO and stay there.