Brownie19

You forgot to mention his W/L record too!

Starting pitching depth is incredibly important and I simply don't think we have enough quality depth in the upper minors to be discarding Lauer for $5M. It's not even close IMO. I think ideally, you go into 2026 with Lauer as the 6th starter.

That's a wild take. You're keeping Lauer around next year for sure. Anything we ever get from Tieddeman or Bloss is gravy at this point. You can't rely on either (and I think Bloss is out until mid-season as is), although obviously fingers crossed on Ricky - as the talent level is elite.

Lots of notes: - The Padres are hiring Craig Stammen as their new manager. - Kenta Maeda announced that he will return to Japan for the 2026 season. - Cubs agreed to terms with RHP Colin Rea on a one-year contract with a club option for 2027. Rea is guaranteed $6.5 million and will make $13 million if the option is exercised. - The Braves are turning down Tyler Kinley’s $5.5 million option, according to Jon Heyman. - The Rays are exercising Brandon Lowe’s $11.5 million option, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. - Justin Turner has become a free agent after his $10 million mutual option was declined. - Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Orioles are signing Leody Taveras to a one-year contract. It’s a $2 million deal, per Heyman. - Phillies exercised their $9 million club option on LHP José Alvarado for 2026. - Reds declined their $3 million club option on LHP Brent Suter for 2026. - Reds declined their $4.5 million club option on RHP Scott Barlow for 2026. - Reds declined their $12 million mutual option on OF Austin Hays for 2026. - Rangers claimed RHP Michel Otañez off waivers from the Athletics. - Jorge Polanco has declined a player option to return to the Mariners in 2026. - Yankees exercised their $3 million club option on LHP Tim Hill for 2026. - Yankees declined their $5 million club option on RHP Jonathan Loáisiga for the 2026 season. - Jon Heyman reports that the Braves are picking up their $18 million club option for LHP Chris Sale. - Phillies OF Harrison Bader declined his $10 million mutual option for 2026.

You've never watched Major League 2? This is psychotic behavior Olerud - even for you.

He's averaged 4.1 fWAR over the past 5 years (where he's 4th in total fWAR over that 5 year span). That's the primary basis of my confusion. I don't think it's fair to suggest he hasn't been that good the past couple of years. Where he'd slot into the playoff rotation would be up for debate. I'd love to create some redundancy in our depth to plan for the unexpected. He's entering his age 30 season. Obviously the term and cost to sign him matters a lot - but he's certainly on the short list of great fits for this team IMO.

100% - and Tony slides into the DH spot nicely if Springer isn't resigned (although I hope Springer does the Big Papi thing and resigns on 1 year deals and mashes until he's 40).

Not at all. I'm already tired of people suggesting it to be frank. I guess miracles do happen, but there's little to no chance IMO. Detroit has a good core with Kevin McGonigle on his way. I think they end up extending him. He's too important and good not to.

We were 4th in MLB in runs scored and 4th in wRC+ last year (finally! after years of our wRC+ being much higher than runs scored). I think you can reasonably expect similar results in 2026. There will be declines from some (Springer is the obvious one), but you can also project some improvements from several players (Santander, Gimenez, Barger, even Vlad), which should help offset that. IMO, you need to resolve the Bo situation (either sign him, or target a similar impact back as a replacement) and then you pour the rest of your resources into the pitching.

Seems doubtful Bassitt would want to be a full-time reliver. He may also not be as effective at it when it's early June and his adrenaline isn't at max tiddies like it was in the playoffs. I also did notice that in his first couple of relief appearances, he was throwing 96, but in his final few, he was more in the 92-94 range. He got the job done, but I'm not sure how sustainable that is. Love the hound though - would love to see the team find a way to have him back at the #5.

Lukes is a great bench guy to have. Ideally he gets 250 PA's a season, but if the injury bug strikes, he's also someone you don't hate getting 500+ PA's. That's pretty rare these days. I believe on average, the 4th OFer is expected to receive 450-500 PA's a year.

Love ya Stangstag, but I'm gonna nominate this for understatement of the year...

I also think Ranger Saurez would be a good fit. His drop in velo is a bit concerning, but his statcast page was as good as ever last year.

Sal is the Tony Batista of catchers. Counting stats for days. I do enjoy seeing a leader like that spend his whole career with one team though. So rare these days.

I agree. It just feels like he's so good that he'll be able to pitch well into his 40's. I hope surgery goes well and he's able to - I love seeing stuff like that.

This is truly incredible news. I have to think we're really doing something right in the clubhouse, facilities, leadership, coaching department for something like this to happen. What an amazing start to the offseason.

Unless there is a huge wave of teams wanting to copycat the Jays and move the ball forward with a high contact approach, it's doubtful you're going to get anything significant for Clement or Lukes anyway. I suspect you just let them do their thing for this team for the next few years and see what happens. We don't really have a ton of ML level trade candidates IMO.

Jesus Christ - there's absolutely not way this team trades Ernie Clement. He's a heart and soul guy in that clubhouse.

Yeah - this is a huge question for them. I believe Barger's defense is better at 3rd and we know that quality 3rd basemen don't grow on trees. It's also much easier to fill a corner OF spot - so in a vacuum, you'd want to develop Barger at 3rd base. But of course, the Bo decision complicates matters. You could still sign Bo to play 2nd and then let Lukes/Schneider platoon in the OF, with Santander in the other corner, but that pushes Clement to a true utility role. Honestly - that's probably a PERFECT fit for Ernie on a WS contending team, but it's REALLY hard to do that to him based on the way he's played the last 2 seasons - and especially coming off his incredible performance in the 2025 playoffs. If they do sign Bo, I fully expect we'll see Barger split time between 3rd and RF again next year. Kudos to that kid - he seemed to switch position remarkably well. He's an easy guy to root for. This whole f*cking team is quite frankly.

It was probably 1/8th of an inch on Ernie's hit - just needed 1 degree lower LA, or 0.1 seconds earlier contact on the swing. It was right there. That's baseball.

depth is good baby!

Blue Jays LHP prospect Ricky Tiedemann (elbow) is expected to be fully healthy for spring training. One of baseball’s premier pitching prospects before undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2024, Tiedemann progressed to throwing off a mound late last season but never returned to minor league action. The 23-year-old southpaw’s swing-and-miss raw stuff makes him an intriguing name to watch in Grapefruit League action, though he’s unlikely to reach Toronto before the latter part of next season barring any setbacks.

Cubs trade Andrew Kittredge to the O's for cash considerations. He has a $9M option. He was really good with the Cubs late last year. Cubs seems to be slashing payroll - presumably to be active in free agency?

Yu Darvish said Tuesday that he underwent internal brace and flexor tendon surgery last week and will miss the 2026 season.