Astros are interested in Willson Contreras of the Cubs. It'll cost a pretty penny to bring him to Houston but Maldanado isn't getting younger and in spite of his handling of the pitchers he can't really be our everyday catcher hitting .186 or .175 like he did in 2021
I've read that the Cardinals may go after Contreras to replace Yadi. Haven't see anything concrete yet. Looks like he deservedly will get well on his next contract.
From Facebook: "Breaking: Willson Contreras and the St. Louis Cardinals are in agreement on a five-year, $87.5 million contract, a source tells Jeff Passan."
Can't imagine why he'd chose the Cardinals over the Astros! Astros are also reportedly interested in a Trade with the A's for Sean Murphy. No coment on the massive contract that Aaron Judge just got from the Yankee's!
It appears that the Astro's owner Jim Crane wants to be a sort of defacto GM and has 2 former players advising him as well. Jeff Bagwell and surprisingly Reggie Jackson. Well have to see how this works, it's usually a disaster so I hope he comes to his senses and hires a real baseball guy as the GM
The Yankees had no choice. Judge is the face of the team. It is a balance sheet decision and I'm sure they have calculated future revenues they can tie directly to Judge. In five years $40 million will be considered fairly middling.
A take by Jay Hart of Yahoo Sports...can't link the article; BUYER BEWARE BY JAY HART Congratulations to Aaron Judge on getting paid. But maybe he shouldn't count on a ring to come with that $360 million. It should come as no surprise that Judge is staying with the Yankees and that they ponied up several boatloads of cash to keep him. That’s just the way of doing business in any sport these days. You want to lock up Patrick Mahomes for the foreseeable future? You’re going to have to pay him $400+ million. You want to keep Giannis Antetoukounmpo in Milwaukee? It’s gonna cost you $45 million per. But unlike a quarterback or a point-forward, power hitters like Judge only have a ball in their hands but a few times a game, and a bat just four to five, meaning their chances to impact an outcome — even when they hit 62 home runs — is relatively limited. Tack on baseball’s forever reality that a 33-percent success rate will get you to the Hall of Fame, and you’re left hoping that your multi-million-dollar investment comes to the plate at just the right moment and, in that moment, defies the odds that are stacked heavily against him that he’ll even get a hit. In his epic 2022 season, that by some metrics is the best any hitter has ever had, Judge hit a home run every 11 at bats. Compared to his peers it’s amazing, but those aren’t great odds in terms of trying to impact baseball games. So when looking at the contract the Yankees handed him — reportedly nine years, $360 million — you have to wonder not if he’s worth it — that’s a bottom-line valuation for owners to consider — but will it pay off in the form of a championship? We’ve all seen — well, maybe not all, considering he plays in Anaheim — Mike Trout morph into a five-tool machine, which earned him a monster 12-year, $426 million deal … and for what? Zero playoff appearances since he signed the deal is what. And it’s not just Trout. Prior to the 2021 season, at least 23 times a player has signed a nine-figure deal of eight years or longer. Those players have combined to produce four World Series titles this century, with Manny Ramirez accounting for two of them. The Yankees signed Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira to deals totaling 27 years and $600 million. They got one title, in 2009, to show for it. When the titles have come, they’ve mostly come early in the contracts. Buster Posey in Year 1; Teixeira and Rodriguez in Years 1 and 2, respectively; Ramirez in Years 4 and 7; and Jeter, thanks to Tex and ARod, in Year 9. By that point in this contract, Judge will be 39 and costing the Yankees $40,000,000. No one thinks these deals are good for the teams in the long run, including the teams themselves. They’re betting on the now, hoping that pushing all their chips in will result in a championship like it did for the Rams, and then they'll deal with the fallout later. It’s just that the gamble on one baseball player comes with longer odds than betting on a quarterback in football. But if the Yankees weren’t willing to pay him, someone else would have. Reportedly the Padres offered more, probably because they’re trying to enhance the 24 years and $640 million they’ve committed to Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Because in baseball, even having two $300 million players isn't always enough.
I thought it interesting that the Padres stole the Red Sox SS, when they had a young (but maybe misguided) Fernando Tatis. He of the 80 game suspension for drugs which of course weren't his fault, I mean how was he to know that Flintstone vitamins contained performance enhancing compounds! But from what I read they want Tatis to move to the outfield, so assuming he 1) stay's health and 2) stays clean will make the Padres formidable. I think I also read that they aren't expecting Machado to resign with them whenever his current deal is up in a year or 2.
Re: Padres. No matter what kind of elite position lineup they put on the field, they can't win it all without topnotch pitching, starting and relief. They're not there yet.
First of all, I believe the Yankees are worth $6 billion dollars. The two hardest things to find in the New York tri-state area are a 4 leaf clover and kid ( or adult ) not walking around in a #99 Yankee jersey. Judge is a 5 tool player, not just a thumper. And he is the leader in the clubhouse. If they can pick up another good starter they'll be tough to beat.
I don't disagree...but he has a point. Having the best player in baseball doesn't guarantee a championship. Tribe took Yanks to 5th game in division series with a payroll of only $68 million.
A Houston Sportswriter took some big shots at the Yankee's. FWIW I don't like this guy, I rarely like anything he writes and I'm not sure why he wrote this column it was unecessary. Nobody in Houston cares that the Yankee's resigned Judge or what he was paid. The Astros do not possess a $360 million contract. They are Major League Baseball's reigning world champions. The Astros have not promised to pay a pitcher $324 million. They have appeared in six consecutive American League Championship Series and back-to-back World Series. The Astros are not paying an often-injured outfielder/designated hitter at least $25 million a year through 2027. The Yankees are, and the annual losers in the Bronx have never appeared so desperate. Smith: Gulf between champion Astros, Yankees on full display in offseason
Whatever. He forgot to mention the shenanigans of 2017. What killed the Yankees down the stretch this year was their decimated bullpen. They lost three closers, their set up man and three dominant middle relievers to injury. They entered the playoffs with little or no bullpen and it killed them.
The Giants have lost their mind! He's not worth anywhere close to this. Shortstop Carlos Correa and the San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a 13-year, $350 million contract, a record-long deal that is the richest ever for the position and gives the team a franchise-type player around which it plans to build, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.
So Justin Verlander has a stated goal to pitch till he's 45 he certainly takes care of himself and I won't be shocked if he makes it. Heck Charlie Hough made it to 46! Question is will he add the knuckler to his arsenal!
Correa fails his physical and within hours signs with the Mets for 13 years at $9 million less per year, going from $35.1 to $26 mil per. That tells me two things; the Mets want to win NOW and Correa suddenly wanted a safety blanket.
Wow what a turn of events. I wonder if we'll ever know what the Giants found that gave them pause to rethink Correa. It's public record that he rarely plays a whole season without injury so they had to know he was injury prone. But the Mets are now in rare air with regards to payroll. They'd better win it all. With Correa's deal, the Mets have committed more than $800 million to free agents this offseason, and their competitive balance tax payroll now projects to be approximately $384 million. The fourth and final threshold of the luxury tax, commonly referred to as "the Steve Cohen tax," sits at $293 million for the 2023 season, which means the Mets could be in for a tax bill in the neighborhood of $100 million next year.
Right now the Mets luxury tax bill for 2023 is projected at $111 million. Ten teams in MLB are projected to have lower payrolls than the Mets will pay in luxury tax.