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Art Deco · 08-16-2025, 01:05 PM

Retirements:

Notables: Justin Verlander (Detroit retired #35), Yuli Gurriel, Adam Ottavino.

Former Rays: Drew Smyly, Charlie Morton, Ryan Jensen, Joey Wendle.

November 2: Interesting deal between Toronto and Milwaukee in which the Jays sent 2024 #1 pick and pitching prospect Trey Yesavage along with a couple of other minor leaguers to the Brewers for veteran lefty Nestor Cortes.

And then we made an interesting deal as well:

This was the deal I hinted at in the previous post. Despite being surplus to our requirements with Carson Williams ready to take over SS, Kim still had good trade value and we cashed him for a top-notch young C in Atlanta's Drake Baldwin (and got a useful reliever in Lee throw in as well). Atlanta already had Sean Murphy at C and their glut will be our benefit as we finally get a catcher to build around, a position that's been a black hole throughout the history of the franchise.

November 5: A decent-sized deal with St. Louis sending Nolan Gorman to Seattle for Victor Robles.

November 7: The Guardians must have liked what they saw of Cedric Mullins after getting him at the trade deadline since they gave the potential free agent a 6/133 extension.

November 8: AJ Preller continues to work in mysterious ways as the Padres traded Dylan Cease to Cleveland three months after giving him a 5/133 extension. The return was prospect Jaison Chourio (brother of Jackson) so it appears to be a salary dump.

Awards season:

Gold Glove: We have a Rays winner! Kind of surprise since you don't really think about them in that way much but Shane Baz won the pitcher award.

Reliever of the Year: Cleveland's Cade Smith took the AL nod, nosing out our Pete Fairbanks, 19-9 and 116-101. Smith made a league-high 77 appearances, pitching to a 1.74 ERA and 0.88 WHIP with 84 Ks in 67 IP and 5 saves. The NL winner was Philly's (and former Ray) Jose Alvarado thanks to a 7-win, 27-save, 1.54 ERA and 2.6 WAR season.

Silver Slugger: And we have a winner here as well as Jonathan Aranda took the 1B trophy thanks to his breakout 303/401/510 season.

Rookie of the Year: It was a photo finish in the AL as Baltimore's Coby Mayo nosed out Texas' Kumar Rocker. Both had 13 first-place votes but Mayo outpointed Rocker 101-89. Mayo hit .227-18-55 while Rocker was 12-11, 3.34. Given Rocker out WAR-ed Mayo 3.0 to 1.3 he probably should have won. In the NL Miami's C/DH Agustin Ramirez was a unanimous winner thanks to a .252-19-56 year that was good for 2.7 WAR.

Cy Young: Boston's Garrett Crochet was the unanimous pick after a brilliant 20-6, 1.88 season with 268 whiffs in 220 IP and 7.8 WAR (even if we did get the better of him in the playoffs). The Giants' Logan Webb was also unanimous in the NL, coming off a 13-8, 2.82 with 200 whiffs in a MLB-best 233 IP and an NL-leading 5.9 WAR.

MVP: Aaron Judge somewhat controversially repeated as AL MVP, beating out KC's Bobby Witt Jr. The final tally was 17-11, 353-321, but Witt was seen as the favorite going in thanks to a 9.9 WAR season that saw him hit .323-24-96-21 and play Gold Glove D. Judge earned 6.8 WAR and hit .289-47-113 so the big HR/RBI numbers carried the day. Our Jonathan Aranda finished fourth. And of course who else is the NL MVP other than Shohei Ohtani? He was unanimous after a .296-39-93-46 year at the plate (good for 6.7 WAR) and was back on the mound this year going 8-7, 4.15 with 160 whiffs in 141 IP and adding another 1.9 WAR.

November 11: We were offered SP Cristopher Sanchez for our 2024 #1 pick and quality prospect Theo Gillen, and said no, even though we lost the trade when we sent Sanchez to Philly for Curtis Mead.

November 21: We lost both our arbitration cases as McClanahan and Baz will each receive about an extra $500-600K than we offered.

November 22: Well we did it - made a 6/198 (33M/yr) offer to Kyle Tucker. He seemed to like it, but we'll see how it goes.

November 23: Some wheeling and dealing: Yankees traded C Austin Wells to the Rangers for IF Ezequiel Duran, Baltimore sent OF Dylan Beavers to the Giants for SP Robbie Ray, and Cincinnati sent IF/OF Gavin Lux to Detroit for a prospect.

November 24: Former Ray Jeffrey Springs is back in the AL East as the A's dealt him to the Yankees for a prospect.

November 25: The White Sox finally dealt CF Luis Robert Jr., sending him to St. Louis (who just acquired a CF in Victor Robles) for prospects Cooper Hjerpe and Chase Davis and another minor leaguer.

November 30: First big free agent signing of the winter as Boston inks DH Marcell Ozuna to a 3/89 pact. Meanwhile, Kyle Tucker tells us he still likes our offer and "is looking forward to signing with (us) if things stay the same".

December 1: The Orioles sent closer Felix Bautista to the Giants for a couple of prospects.

December 4: Another free agent decided to stick with the team which traded for him at the deadline as Kevin Gausman extended his second tour of duty in San Francisco for 4/78.

December 5: More interesting dealing as former Rays star OF Randy Arozarena is on his way from Seattle to San Diego for a couple of minor leaguers and the Blue Jays sent 3B prospect Orelvis Martinez to Milwaukee for SP Freddy Peralta.

December 6: The Blue Jays sent their closer Jeff Hoffman to the Mets for prospect Collin Houck. Edwin Diaz is a free agent so New York needed a replacement. Toronto had offered us Hoffman and it was an acceptable deal but Hoffman makes $12.3M and with our outstanding offer to Tucker I couldn't take on that much salary.

December 7: Big day for free agent signings: Brandon Woodruff (DET, 5/76), Michael King (CWS, 6/124), Tyler Mahle (SF, 4/39).

December 8: Two more FA deals: Devin Williams (DET, 3/54), Luis Rengifo (MIL, 4/52).

December 9: Welp, the Kyle Tucker negotiations have taken an ominous turn as he wants $38.4M/year (for now) with news that Cincinnati is making a run at him. In deals that were done, Toronto signed veteran closer Aroldis Chapman to a 2/23 deal and Edwin Diaz went crosstown to the Yankees for 3/76.

December 10: I bit the bullet and offered Tucker $38M/year but that's as high as I'm going as I need to look for OF elsewhere if he's going to want more.

December 11: Alright, Tucker is now demanding $44M a year claiming Baltimore has stepped up. To quote Kramer from Seinfeld: "I'm out!". Meanwhile former Ray Zach Eflin has joined Texas for 5/92.

December 12: We have turned our attention to Japanese free agent import Norimoto Aoki, and offered him 5/100. He's a 60 CF with 60 contact/50 power/70 gap ratings and would probably fill even more of a need than Tucker since Tucker isn't really a CF.

December 13: We made a minor trade:

Jimenez was the kind of guy who would be plucked from us in tomorrow's Rule 5 Draft so I shopped him to see what I could get, and the Rockies were willing to give us former Gator Thompson, who is very similar to Curtis Mead in that he'll hit for average/doubles with moderate power but is questionable defensively with 1B probably his best position although he can play elsewhere.

We also placed 1B Xavier Isaac, OF Chandler Simpson and RP Nate Lavender on the 40-man roster. There are some other guys whom I would have liked to protect but we're just going to have the roll the dice on them. Most are younger guys normally not taken anyway.

December 14: We did not lose anyone in the Rule 5 Draft.

December 15: Aoki has now jacked us up to $22.8M/year and I went along since I have this money burning a hole in my pocket. I'm sure I'm being strung along.

December 21: The Mets sent Luisangel Acuna to the Rockies for 3B Ryan McMahon.

December 22: Longtime Mariners SS JP Crawford is off to Cleveland for a prospect.

December 23: As predicted Aoki has come looking for more $, this time $25.6M/season. Since the new owner wants to make a big splash, I'll bite one last time.

December 24: A couple of Xmas Eve signings. Bo Bichette is no longer in our division as the former Jays SS heads west to San Diego for 6/70 and SP Chris Paddack goes to Kansas City for 3/30. That's such a Royals signing.

December 25: The Dodgers are open for business on Christmas as they signed former Ray Jose Alvarado to a 2/26 deal.

December 26: Well there goes Kyle Tucker, and worse yet to a division rival as Baltimore signs him for 6/252 or $42M/year. Also 1B Josh Naylor signed with Miami of all places for 6/100.

December 27: With the Tucker signing, Heston Kjerstad became expendable for the Orioles so they dealt him to Arizona for veteran SP Eduardo Rodriguez. Also a couple of good-glove, mediocre-hit CFs signed: Harrison Bader to the Phillies for 2/14 and Trent Grisham (who played for us in September) back to the Yankees (who released him then, go figure) for 4/35.

December 31: More free-agent signings at year's end: Eugenio Suarez (BOS, 3/44), Walker Buehler (MIL, 2/31), Jonathan Loaisiga (LAD, 3/11). Our Aoki pursuit will now go into the new year and the next post.

08-16-2025, 01:05 PM	#75
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,611	2025-26 Offseason: Part 1 Retirements: Notables: Justin Verlander (Detroit retired #35), Yuli Gurriel, Adam Ottavino. Former Rays: Drew Smyly, Charlie Morton, Ryan Jensen, Joey Wendle. November 2: Interesting deal between Toronto and Milwaukee in which the Jays sent 2024 #1 pick and pitching prospect Trey Yesavage along with a couple of other minor leaguers to the Brewers for veteran lefty Nestor Cortes. And then we made an interesting deal as well: This was the deal I hinted at in the previous post. Despite being surplus to our requirements with Carson Williams ready to take over SS, Kim still had good trade value and we cashed him for a top-notch young C in Atlanta's Drake Baldwin (and got a useful reliever in Lee throw in as well). Atlanta already had Sean Murphy at C and their glut will be our benefit as we finally get a catcher to build around, a position that's been a black hole throughout the history of the franchise. November 5: A decent-sized deal with St. Louis sending Nolan Gorman to Seattle for Victor Robles. November 7: The Guardians must have liked what they saw of Cedric Mullins after getting him at the trade deadline since they gave the potential free agent a 6/133 extension. November 8: AJ Preller continues to work in mysterious ways as the Padres traded Dylan Cease to Cleveland three months after giving him a 5/133 extension. The return was prospect Jaison Chourio (brother of Jackson) so it appears to be a salary dump. Awards season: Gold Glove: We have a Rays winner! Kind of surprise since you don't really think about them in that way much but Shane Baz won the pitcher award. Reliever of the Year: Cleveland's Cade Smith took the AL nod, nosing out our Pete Fairbanks, 19-9 and 116-101. Smith made a league-high 77 appearances, pitching to a 1.74 ERA and 0.88 WHIP with 84 Ks in 67 IP and 5 saves. The NL winner was Philly's (and former Ray) Jose Alvarado thanks to a 7-win, 27-save, 1.54 ERA and 2.6 WAR season. Silver Slugger: And we have a winner here as well as Jonathan Aranda took the 1B trophy thanks to his breakout 303/401/510 season. Rookie of the Year: It was a photo finish in the AL as Baltimore's Coby Mayo nosed out Texas' Kumar Rocker. Both had 13 first-place votes but Mayo outpointed Rocker 101-89. Mayo hit .227-18-55 while Rocker was 12-11, 3.34. Given Rocker out WAR-ed Mayo 3.0 to 1.3 he probably should have won. In the NL Miami's C/DH Agustin Ramirez was a unanimous winner thanks to a .252-19-56 year that was good for 2.7 WAR. Cy Young: Boston's Garrett Crochet was the unanimous pick after a brilliant 20-6, 1.88 season with 268 whiffs in 220 IP and 7.8 WAR (even if we did get the better of him in the playoffs). The Giants' Logan Webb was also unanimous in the NL, coming off a 13-8, 2.82 with 200 whiffs in a MLB-best 233 IP and an NL-leading 5.9 WAR. MVP: Aaron Judge somewhat controversially repeated as AL MVP, beating out KC's Bobby Witt Jr. The final tally was 17-11, 353-321, but Witt was seen as the favorite going in thanks to a 9.9 WAR season that saw him hit .323-24-96-21 and play Gold Glove D. Judge earned 6.8 WAR and hit .289-47-113 so the big HR/RBI numbers carried the day. Our Jonathan Aranda finished fourth. And of course who else is the NL MVP other than Shohei Ohtani? He was unanimous after a .296-39-93-46 year at the plate (good for 6.7 WAR) and was back on the mound this year going 8-7, 4.15 with 160 whiffs in 141 IP and adding another 1.9 WAR. November 11: We were offered SP Cristopher Sanchez for our 2024 #1 pick and quality prospect Theo Gillen, and said no, even though we lost the trade when we sent Sanchez to Philly for Curtis Mead. November 21: We lost both our arbitration cases as McClanahan and Baz will each receive about an extra $500-600K than we offered. November 22: Well we did it - made a 6/198 (33M/yr) offer to Kyle Tucker. He seemed to like it, but we'll see how it goes. November 23: Some wheeling and dealing: Yankees traded C Austin Wells to the Rangers for IF Ezequiel Duran, Baltimore sent OF Dylan Beavers to the Giants for SP Robbie Ray, and Cincinnati sent IF/OF Gavin Lux to Detroit for a prospect. November 24: Former Ray Jeffrey Springs is back in the AL East as the A's dealt him to the Yankees for a prospect. November 25: The White Sox finally dealt CF Luis Robert Jr., sending him to St. Louis (who just acquired a CF in Victor Robles) for prospects Cooper Hjerpe and Chase Davis and another minor leaguer. November 30: First big free agent signing of the winter as Boston inks DH Marcell Ozuna to a 3/89 pact. Meanwhile, Kyle Tucker tells us he still likes our offer and "is looking forward to signing with (us) if things stay the same". December 1: The Orioles sent closer Felix Bautista to the Giants for a couple of prospects. December 4: Another free agent decided to stick with the team which traded for him at the deadline as Kevin Gausman extended his second tour of duty in San Francisco for 4/78. December 5: More interesting dealing as former Rays star OF Randy Arozarena is on his way from Seattle to San Diego for a couple of minor leaguers and the Blue Jays sent 3B prospect Orelvis Martinez to Milwaukee for SP Freddy Peralta. December 6: The Blue Jays sent their closer Jeff Hoffman to the Mets for prospect Collin Houck. Edwin Diaz is a free agent so New York needed a replacement. Toronto had offered us Hoffman and it was an acceptable deal but Hoffman makes $12.3M and with our outstanding offer to Tucker I couldn't take on that much salary. December 7: Big day for free agent signings: Brandon Woodruff (DET, 5/76), Michael King (CWS, 6/124), Tyler Mahle (SF, 4/39). December 8: Two more FA deals: Devin Williams (DET, 3/54), Luis Rengifo (MIL, 4/52). December 9: Welp, the Kyle Tucker negotiations have taken an ominous turn as he wants $38.4M/year (for now) with news that Cincinnati is making a run at him. In deals that were done, Toronto signed veteran closer Aroldis Chapman to a 2/23 deal and Edwin Diaz went crosstown to the Yankees for 3/76. December 10: I bit the bullet and offered Tucker $38M/year but that's as high as I'm going as I need to look for OF elsewhere if he's going to want more. December 11: Alright, Tucker is now demanding $44M a year claiming Baltimore has stepped up. To quote Kramer from Seinfeld: "I'm out!". Meanwhile former Ray Zach Eflin has joined Texas for 5/92. December 12: We have turned our attention to Japanese free agent import Norimoto Aoki, and offered him 5/100. He's a 60 CF with 60 contact/50 power/70 gap ratings and would probably fill even more of a need than Tucker since Tucker isn't really a CF. December 13: We made a minor trade: Jimenez was the kind of guy who would be plucked from us in tomorrow's Rule 5 Draft so I shopped him to see what I could get, and the Rockies were willing to give us former Gator Thompson, who is very similar to Curtis Mead in that he'll hit for average/doubles with moderate power but is questionable defensively with 1B probably his best position although he can play elsewhere. We also placed 1B Xavier Isaac, OF Chandler Simpson and RP Nate Lavender on the 40-man roster. There are some other guys whom I would have liked to protect but we're just going to have the roll the dice on them. Most are younger guys normally not taken anyway. December 14: We did not lose anyone in the Rule 5 Draft. December 15: Aoki has now jacked us up to $22.8M/year and I went along since I have this money burning a hole in my pocket. I'm sure I'm being strung along. December 21: The Mets sent Luisangel Acuna to the Rockies for 3B Ryan McMahon. December 22: Longtime Mariners SS JP Crawford is off to Cleveland for a prospect. December 23: As predicted Aoki has come looking for more $, this time $25.6M/season. Since the new owner wants to make a big splash, I'll bite one last time. December 24: A couple of Xmas Eve signings. Bo Bichette is no longer in our division as the former Jays SS heads west to San Diego for 6/70 and SP Chris Paddack goes to Kansas City for 3/30. That's such a Royals signing. December 25: The Dodgers are open for business on Christmas as they signed former Ray Jose Alvarado to a 2/26 deal. December 26: Well there goes Kyle Tucker, and worse yet to a division rival as Baltimore signs him for 6/252 or $42M/year. Also 1B Josh Naylor signed with Miami of all places for 6/100. December 27: With the Tucker signing, Heston Kjerstad became expendable for the Orioles so they dealt him to Arizona for veteran SP Eduardo Rodriguez. Also a couple of good-glove, mediocre-hit CFs signed: Harrison Bader to the Phillies for 2/14 and Trent Grisham (who played for us in September) back to the Yankees (who released him then, go figure) for 4/35. December 31: More free-agent signings at year's end: Eugenio Suarez (BOS, 3/44), Walker Buehler (MIL, 2/31), Jonathan Loaisiga (LAD, 3/11). Our Aoki pursuit will now go into the new year and the next post. Last edited by Art Deco; 08-16-2025 at 01:06 PM.