Ray

BA List: 1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B 2. Bo Bichette, SS 3. Anthony Alford, OF 4. T.J. Zeuch, RHP 5. Lourdes Gurriel, SS 6. Sean Reid-Foley, RHP 7. Logan Warmoth, SS 8. Nate Pearson, RHP 9. Max Pentecost, 1B/C 10. Ryan Borucki, LHP Personal List: 1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B 2. Bo Bichette, SS 3. Anthony Alford, OF 4. Nate Pearson, RHP 5. T.J. Zeuch, RHP 6. Logan Warmoth, SS 7. Ryan Borucki, LHP 8. Rowdy Tellez, 1B 9. Sean Reid-Foley, RHP 10. Max Pentecost, C/1B

Apparently they will still be able to get under the tax this year, which makes the deal all that much better:

You should respect them even more after this. This is a very good deal for the Yankees. $26.5 million AAV for a guy like Stanton is laughable. It’s gonna look like peanuts in a couple years compared to what some guys are gonna get. Most front offices would’ve been a fool not to do this deal.

No reason any logical front office would want Eric Hosmer when Carlos Santana is better and will be less than 1/2 the cost.

Angels can't stop now. They need to do something about that god awful infield (minus Simmons) too. They have money to spend now that Hamilton is off the books. Ohtani is definitely a shot in the arm but they still need to do a bit more to get Mike Trout to the playoffs. Although I gotta say: Upton, Maitan and Ohtani. Hell of an offseason for them already.

Yeah, it's really inefficient.

Apparently Gordon is gonna play Center Field for them.

Would've been okay with giving him $30 million at most. $38 million seems a little steep for a guy with a career WHIP of 1.335 outside Coors.

The Angels front office is fine. Arte Moreno is not.

The ideal owner would be a rich die-hard fan. Someone like a Tom Ricketts who puts up however enough money needed to win and even is willing to risk losing a bit some times to do so. And hires the right people and leaves it to them to get the job done. Although those are few and far between. The Jays are an attractive commodity. I'm sure there's gonna be tons of interest in them. However, you have to wonder if the Marlins sold for $1.2 billion when they're losing money how much the Jays are gonna go for?

I'm generally never a fan of picking high school pitchers early in the draft, but I'd be thrilled if we could get either Hankins or Liberatore next year. Liberatore is a little more polished to be a starter with 3 plus pitches, but Hankins legitimately has ace potential if he can develop a plus third pitch. Hankins fastball is legit 80-grade. Both have pretty repeatable and simple mechanics too. I'd want to stay as far away from Kumar Rocker as possible imo.

Juan: Your thoughts on Anthony Alford? He had another solid year statistically but dealt with injuries again. Has his projection changed at all? Eric A Longenhagen: Nope, still an above average regular for me. Bill: Do either or both of Alford (Toronto) and Dustin Fowler (Oakland) become starting OFs in second half of 2018, assuming they are then fully healthy? What do you expect long-term from these two when healthy? Eric A Longenhagen: I think so. Fowler is an average everyday player for me, Alford above. Graver: Vlad Jr has a ton of helium. What position do you think he plays when he makes the Bigs, and where will he end up eventually. Do you see any red flags that could cause him to fail or should I be all in on him? Eric A Longenhagen: I think there's risk he ends up at 1B but he's going to hit enough that it won't matter. Dylan: Which blue Jays prospect jumps in to the top 100 by midseason (ignoring those already there)? Pearson? Olivares? No one? Eric A Longenhagen: If pro scouts see Pearson as a starter, him. I'll also throw TJ Zeuch some love, that guy can pitch and his stuff is solid. Logenhagen seems to really like Alford.

Gordon's bat is done. Two consecutive seasons where his bat is well below average. He hasn't been the same since his wrist injury. I'd stay far away from him. Still fine defensively, but even that's going to degrade over time. Duffy would be fantastic, but it'd take a little much than I'd be willing to give to get him. There's decent 5th SP options on the market anyways.

He's gonna be starting regardless according to Morosi

Good get for the Rangers depending on how much they paid for him. Minor had a sneaky good year last season out of the bullpen and has potential upside as a starter too.

If anything, they'll be looking to sell high on Merrifield after 1 good season. I hope we don't trade for him. Although KC is probably a good trade target. They're officially saying they're rebuilding while also running a $130 million payroll for next season. Most of their guaranteed contracts are sunk costs (Ian Kennedy, Brandon Moss, Jason Hammel, Alex Gordon). Duffy and Salvador Perez are really they're only valuable trade chips. Maybe they'd be desperate to shed some payroll and we could end up getting Danny Duffy for relatively cheap.

The Nippon Ham fighters apprently had a working agreement to share the Spring Training facility in Peoria, AZ with the Padres during the offseason. Ohtani apparently trained there before. May give them the edge.

They should've made this like the Bachelor and actually made Otahni hand out roses to the GM of the teams of made the final cut.

Otahni on the Angels would be really fun. Trout and Ohtani on the same team would be great.

So basically we end up getting a cheaper more controllable version of Ryan Goins in Gift Ngoepe, and we get Aledmys Diaz whose upside is an All-star calibre shortstop for next to nothing? I'm beginning to think this front office is pretty good.

Marlins apparently want to get their payroll below the reported $90 million to an even lower $75 million which means that absolutely everyone is fair game. They seem to be desperate. Derek Dietrich, Ozuna, or Dee Gordon would all be good targets. How expensive will someone like Ozuna really be if we take on Brad Ziegler or Tazawa's contracts for salary relief?

I look at it from the perspective of Stanton not really making that big of a difference for that team. You're still going to be rushing out Pence and/or Span everyday in the OF. They seem to be putting their eggs in one basket with Stanton.

Just what the Giants need. Another terrible contract. Replacing Matt Cains albatross of a contract with another.

I really hope he signs with anyone but the Yankees and Rangers really.

Hindsight is 20/20, but drafting Trea Turner instead of Pentecost would've solved a lot of our problems right now. I still like Pentecost' bat, but he's done as a catcher.