Free agency is likely to reach unprecedented levels of sick this offseason, but one who will not be participating is Edwin Diaz. Mets gave him a record deal for a closer: five years, $102 million.
See: Chapman, Aroldis; Britton, Zach
Nolan Arenado decided to not opt-out of his contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. He's now with the Redbirds through 2027. The only FA player with the Cards that I want them to resign is Quintana. He did a terrific job once he came over from the Pirates. You can never have too much pitching. I'm hoping the Cardinals sign a catcher to replace Yadi and a shortstop who can field and hit. They need a bat that can take pressure off Nolan and Goldy. There are rumors that the team is interested in former Cubbie, Wilson Contreras and he's interested in them. I would love to see shortstop Trea Turner in a Cardinal uniform.
I would say that Chapman was great at least 7 out of 8 years in one stretch, Jansen was 8 straight years in one stretch, and Kimbrel was 8 out of 9.
The smaller sample size of innings per year does lend itself to more variability, all pitchers are at injury risk, and overpaying any players way past their prime is not a great business model. Edwin Diaz has had some inconsistency from year to year, but I would sign him to that deal based on his age and how dominant he was this year.
The Trevor Hoffman guy worked out well for the Padres. I happened to be at the game where he got save 500. Petco was electric when the top of the 9th kicked off to Hells Bells.
I suspect the Padres will bring Suarez back, hopefully along the lines mentioned by burnspbesq. Suarez finished the season strong and pitched very well in the playoffs. Who knows where he goes from here, but it has got to be tempting to lock him up for two years if you can get that for $20mm.
Carolina delenda est
Justin Verlander at age 39 opts out of his $25 million contract for next year...
Padres must have decided they really needed Suarez back, because they gave him a back-of-the-rotation type deal: five years, $46 million.
Kershaw re-signs with the Dodgers for one year, terms not disclosed yet. He made only (!) $17 midllion in 2022. Your guess is as good as mine, but market value for a guy with his accomplishments and injury history seems like it would be in the $25-30 million range.
Teammate reunion day:
Justin Verlander re-unites with fellow former Tiger Max Scherzer with the Mets for 2 years / $86M (same annualized value as Scherzer)
Trea Turner re-units with two former Nats in Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber in Philly for 11 years / $300M
Going to be a wild NL East next year!
Not sure we are overpaying that much for the reigning Cy Young Award winner. A two-year deal with a vesting option for the third. (86/35)
Jake (whom I loved, btw, and wished would retire as a Met), was offered three years at 40M per. He got 5 years for 185M. So net-net we're paying about the same with less of a commitment than the 5 years he got from the Rangers.
Had to do something for the top of the rotation.
And Cohen has more money than God, so who cares anyhow. Performance > cost to me. No more Bonillas.
I am reading the Cardinals and Cubs are current front runners to land the services of current shortstop of the Braves, Dansby Swanson.
It will make this Cardinal fan very happy if we land a good SS like Swanson. He's a terrific fielder and a good hitter. When Mozeliak told the press that the team was going to give DeJong a chance to win the SS job in ST, I thought to myself, here we go again. Another year of a batting average between .100 and .200. I hope they go ahead and make that deal and then trade for a catcher to replace Yadi. Maybe the Oakland catcher, Murphy.