[NovaNation19]

Wild offseason in the MLB so far.

2016-17 MLB Offseason Summary Part II

November 2016 - Braves Summary
Not a whole lot to talk about here. Didn't bother negotiating arbitration contracts, let that process handle itself and I was fine with how it turned out. I fired my hitting coach Kevin Seitzer after a pretty abysmal year batting wise. I let the following guys head to free agency:
SP Jhoulys Chacin
CF Drew Stubbs
3B Gordon Beckham
RP Eric O'Flaherty
RF Jeff Francouer
SS Erick Aybar

Other than that the only transaction was losing 3 guys in the expansion draft, SPs John Gant, Jesse Biddle, and Rob Whalen, but none factored into my long-term plan so I'm not concerned.

November 2016 - Notable League Transactions
11/5:
-Twins trade LF Eddie Rosario to Phillies in exchange for RP Hector Neris and minor league SP Alberto Tirado
11/8 (long-term arbitration-avoiding deals):
-Astros sign SP Collin McHugh to 5-year, $67.5 million extension and SP Dallas Keuchel to 6-year, $119.5 million extension
-Athletics sign C Stephen Vogt to 5-year, $44.6 million extension and SP Sonny Gray to 7-year, $170.7 million extension
-Blue Jays sign SP Marcus Stroman to 6-year, $80.2 million extension
-Cardinals sign SP Michael Wacha to 6-year, $95.1 million extension
-Cubs sign SP Jake Arrieta to 4-year, $103.2 million extension
-Diamondbacks sign SP Shelby Miller to 5-year, $90.9 million extension
-Dodgers sign C Yasmani Grandal to 4-year, $68.9 million extension
-Giants sign LF Evan Gattis to 4-year, $19.24 million extension
-Indians sign SP Danny Salazar to 5-year, $27.28 million extension
-Orioles sign 3B Manny Machado to 7-year, $198.9 million extension
-Red Sox sign CF Jackie Bradley Jr. to 6-year, $72.7 million extension
-Twins sign LF Oswaldo Arcia to 5-year, $47.68 million extension
11/13:
-Padres trade C Derek Norris to Rangers in exchange for minor leaguers SP Collin Wiles and CL David Perez
11/27:
-Rockies trade RF Carlos Gonzalez and $2.1 million to Orioles in exchange for minor leaguers 1B Ryan Orr and SP Brian Gonzalez
11/28:
-Orioles trade LF Christian Walker to Cardinals in exchange for 2B Jedd Gyorko
11/30:
-Red Sox C Christian Vazquez and Mets SP Rafael Montero become the first members of the Carolina Racers and Montreal Saints franchises, respectively, through the MLB Expansion Draft
-White Sox trade LF Adam Eaton and $800k to Astros in exchange for RP Hunter Strickland and minor league CF Trevyne Carter
-Blue Jays trade 2B Ryan Goins to Orioles in exchange for RF Hyun-Soo Kim and $370k

December 2016 - Braves Transactions
-Hired Bill Mueller as hitting coach
-Free Agent Market: My owner lowered the team budget to just $108 million, so I can only look for small deals but that would've been the plan regardless. I signed 3 guys, 2 of them from the international market. The big "get" was SP Ricky Lara out of Venezuela on a 7-year, $67 million contract. It's built with several options in it to help make it affordable/help me get out if it goes bad, but he's a 4.5 star prospect so it's definitely worth it, plus he's already MLB ready. I also got a 4-star lefty reliever out of Curacao named Nelle van Leest on a minor league contract. The only domestic guy I signed was SP Matt Moore, and I got him on a cheap 3-year, $2.4 million deal. He had a mediocre '16 and I'm hoping I can get a bargain on that deal.
-Trades: I made one deal, and it was a pretty big one. I sent SP Julio Teheran and RP Shae Simmons to the Blue Jays and got 2 stud prospects back, 4-star C Max Pentecost and 4.5 star SS Richard Urena. Very good trade on my part, and Teheran became expendable with the free agent pickups.
-Rule 5 Draft: Only made one pick but got C Juan Centeno who'll be my backup in 2017. Unfortunately, I had to DFA some of my AAAA guys in order to protect more important guys who I could envision making the 25-man roster elsewhere, and one of the expansion teams claimed a bunch of those guys on waivers. Looking back I probably didn't need to put them on waivers, but they all can be replaced by minor league contract guys so it'll probably save me a bit of money.

December 2016 - Notable League Transactions
Just wait till you see some of these contract. Unreal stuff. Especially the Jose Bautista deal. Anyone else ever see a guy actually sign for that kind of average annual money?

12/3:
-Nationals trade 3B Adam Duvall and minor league SP Tyler Watson to Rangers in exchange for SP Nate Karns
12/9:
-Rockies sign SP Tim Lincecum to 1-year, $790k deal.
-Reds trade C Devin Mesoraco, minor league LF Kevin Garcia, and $30k to Pirates in exchange for SP Jeff Locke
-Rockies trade SP Jon Gray to Yankees in exchange for minor leaguers C Luis Torrens and 1B Miguel Flames
12/10:
-Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez retires, plans to become TV broadcaster
12/11:
-Mets sign 3B Martin Prado to 4-year, $31.2 million contract
12/12:
-Dodgers sign RF Alfredo Despaigne to 6-year, $136.8 million contract
12/13:
-Saints sign 2B Neil Walker to 2-year, $58 million contract
12/15:
-Angels sign RF Jose Bautista to 2-year, $97.5 million contract (SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!? - he was coming a year where he hit .252 with 53 HRs - but still almost 49 mill a year?)
12/16:
-Twins sign SP C.J. Wilson to 1-year, $2.44 million contract
12/17:
-Cubs sign C Francisco Cervelli to 7-year, $172.8 million contract
12/18:
-Reds trade 3B Brett Lawrie to Yankees in exchange for minor leaguer RFs Jhalan Jackson and Lisandro Blanco
-Angels sign RF Josh Reddick to 6-year, $134.4 million contract
-Reds sign SP Kris Medlen to 2-year, $13.3 million contract
-Saints sign 1B Mark Reynolds to 2-year, $7.52 million contract
-Reds sign LF Matt Holliday to 1-year, $15.4 million contract
-Nationals sign SS Jimmy Rollins to 1-year, $1.04 million contract
12/19:
-Rangers trade 1B Freddie Freeman to Cardinals in exchange for SP Michael Wacha
-Diamondbacks trade RP Tyler Clippard and $4.15 million to Indians in exchange for minor leaguers SS Kevin Bradley and 1B Jose Medina
-Mariners trade SP James Paxton to Red Sox in exchange for minor league C Ben Moore
-Diamondbacks trade SP Robbie Ray to Giants in exchange for minor leaguers SP Phil Bickford and 3B Manuel Geraldo
-Angels sign SP Mat Latos to 4-year, $34.8 million contract
-Astros sign SP Stephen Strasburg to 7-year, $283 million contract ($40.4 mill a YEAR)
-Cardinals sign C Matt Wieters to 2-year, $8.88 million contract
12/20:
-Saints sign 1B Mark Trumbo to 2-year, $24.4 million contract
12/21:
-Mariners trade SP Hisashi Iwakuma to Pirates in exchange for minor leaguers SS Kevin Newman, 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes, SP Jacob Taylor, CL Seth McGarry, and RF Michael Suchy
-Rockies trade SS Jose Reyes and $6.2 million to Brewers in exchange for minor leaguers SP Cody Ponce and SS Angel Ortega
-Yankees sign CF Carlos Gomez to 5-year, $73.5 million contract
-Racers sign 1B Adam Lind to 2-year, $14.2 million contract
12/23:
-Yankees sign 2B Jose Lopez to 2-year, $27.4 million contract
12/26:
-Blue Jays sign CL Brett Cecil to 2-year, $30.8 million contract
12/27:
-Cubs sign CL Sergio Romo to 3-year, $51 million contract
12/29:
-Racers sign CF Dexter Fowler to 1-year, $4.16 million contract
12/30:
-Racers sign 1B Mitch Moreland to 3-year, $20 million contract
-Angels sign 2B Justin Turner to 4-year, $19.56 million contract
-Yankees sign 3B Yunel Escobar to 3-year, $22.5 million contract

January 2017 - Braves Transactions
Did not make a single roster move this month. I feel pretty set going into 2017. Don't think I have a winning club yet but by 2018 my tune my change.

January 2017 - Notable League Transactions/News
1/3:
-The 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame Class has been revealed, with 3 entrants into immortality. With 97.6% of the vote in his first year, LF Manny Ramirez has made it. Also in his first year, with 84.7% of the vote, is RF Vladimir Guerrero. Finally, in his 7th year, 1B Jeff Bagwell makes it with 81.4% of the vote.
-White Sox sign RP Junichi Tazawa to 2-year, $11.14 million contract
-Saints sign SP Chris Tillman to 1-year, $1.04 million contract
-Rockies sign SP Jon Niese to 1-year, $3 million contract
1/4:
-Diamondbacks sign SP Jake Peavy to 1-year, $3.4 million contract
1/8:
-Giants sign RF Carlos Beltran to 1-year, $2.68 million contract
1/9:
-Dodgers sign 1B Edwin Encarnacion to 2-year, $71 million contract
1/10:
-Giants sign CF Rajai Davis to 2-year, $20.8 million contract
1/13:
-Blue Jays sign SP Scott Kazmir to 2-year, $67 million contract
1/14:
-Astros sign SP Andrew Cashner to 4-year, $108.2 million contract
1/15:
-Athletics sign RP Brett Anderson to 3-year, $21.9 million contract
1/18:
-Rangers sign C A.J. Ellis to 1-year, $3.28 million contract
1/19:
-Royals sign 3B Luis Valbuena to 2-year, $17.6 million contract
1/21:
-Yankees sign 3B Adrian Beltre to 2-year, $48.4 million contract
1/22:
-Rangers sign SP R.A. Dickey to 1-year, $8.2 million contract
1/24:
-Yankees sign 2B Chris Coghlan to 1-year, $3.8 million contract
-White Sox sign CF Austin Jackson to 3-year, $23.7 million contract
1/26:
-Brewers sign 1B Mike Napoli to 1-year, $1.74 million contract
1/28:
-Cubs sign LF Ian Desmond to 1-year, $1.22 million contract