I hate the qualifying offer, because it dampens the market for perfectly good players, and forces teams to choose between the near and long term, instead of trying to improve both at the same time…. Read more »
Posts Tagged: MLB Free Agency
Jacoby Ellsbury and Robinson Cano are going to get the headlines. Treachery, real or imagined, wears well on a tabloid cover. The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees brought back some key players last… Read more »
The Seattle Mariners agreed to a 10-year, $240-million contract with free-agent second baseman Robinson Cano Friday, opting for an exclamation point, not a period, at the end of baseball’s most frantic week of off-season activity in… Read more »
Two of the lesser moves of baseball’s Super Tuesday involved left-handed hitters nearing the end of their careers finding new homes, and although neither deal has been terribly well-received by Baseball Twitter, I rather like… Read more »
Jarrod Saltalamacchia probably cost himself $30 million during the month of October. On a national stage, with the opportunity to make a statement about his potential to be an effective, even star-level catcher just as… Read more »
Seven years never means seven years. Any cursory reading of the Bible will tell you that. Seven is an allusion, a symbol, not a number on the same plane as, for instance, six or eight…. Read more »
The free-agency compensation system in MLB is hilariously broken. Designed by the owners as a means of capping the top end of the free-agent market, but plugged as a way to keep small-market teams from… Read more »
They used to call a coffin a Chicago overcoat. It might be time to call an off-season spending spree a New York Yankees rebuild. The Yankees kicked off what they hope will be a big offseason… Read more »
As a thought experiment, consider a world in which ballclubs get a choice. Every November, they receive a three-option menu. They can take $10 million from a central fund, to spend as they please. They… Read more »
Free-agent outfielder David Murphy is dead. Cleveland Indians outfielder David Murphy has taken his place. Murphy signed a two-year, $12-million contract with the Indians Tuesday, adding another solid, left-hitting outfielder to a team that never,… Read more »
On the eve of the 2013 season, Joe Sheehan drew a lot of snark for his prediction that the San Diego Padres would win the National League West. That division was home to the defending champion… Read more »
Sandy Alderson became general manager of the New York Mets in October 2010. The team had just completed a 79-83 season, and the shine was very much off their 2006 team’s apple. Whispers of financial trouble… Read more »
Curtis Granderson received a qualifying offer (a one-year deal worth $14.1 million) from the New York Yankees Monday, ensuring that New York will receive a draft pick after the first round of the 2014 MLB… Read more »
Every team in baseball is the subject of at least one book that, if one is to call oneself a fan of that team, rates as a must-read. The Oakland Athletics have Moneyball. The St…. Read more »
Vin Scully does a straight-shot commercial during Los Angeles Dodgers games, promoting the team’s official partnership with 76, the gas-station chain, It’s a long-standing relationship, but if the people who run that company really want… Read more »
Updated: See the bottom of the piece. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series on Wednesday, and on Thursday afternoon, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported that they were planning to make qualifying offers… Read more »
I love watching Stephen Drew play defense. God help me, but I love it. He charges even fairly well-struck grounders aggressively, making his own hops and bounces by timing his attack of the ball, and… Read more »
Mike Napoli is creatying a very positive post-season reputation for himself. His home run in Game 3 of the 2013 ALCS, off Justin Verlander, helped erase what has been a tough series for him otherwise…. Read more »
The Chicago Cubs elected not to tender contracts to Ian Stewart, Jaye Chapman or Zach Putnam Friday, making all three free agents and clearing three slots on the team’s 40-man roster headed into next week’s… Read more »
Pitchers are more malleable than positional talent. Every MLB scouting director, GM and minor-league manager has a dozen names in his head at any given time, guys he wants to get his hands on. Some… Read more »
Of the six or seven major potential prizes in MLB free agency this winter, B.J. Upton probably presents the most uncertainty. That statement is more loaded than it seems, too. Upton plays the outfield. He’s a… Read more »
