648 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

The Ringer: Shohei Ohtani’s $700 Million Dodgers Deal Is Unlike Anything Baseball Has Ever Seen

[BSLChrisStoner]

$2M a year as a player... lots of opportunity to add around him. Could be some unreal teams.

[BSLChrisStoner]

• Recovering Kershaw: No call on Dodgers return

[BSLChrisStoner]

• Sources: Rays agree to trade Glasnow to Dodgers

[dude]

Yamamoto to the Dodgers.  12/325.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Gross.

[BaltBird 24]

That's a massive deal for him. More money, but less years than Cole.

12 years and essentially $375 million for a relative unknown is crazy. Especially for a pitcher.

Hope it backfires terribly for them.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Great. Didn't want him in the AL East.

[BSLChrisStoner]

That's a massive deal for him. More money, but less years than Cole.

12 years and essentially $375 million for a relative unknown is crazy. Especially for a pitcher.

Hope it backfires terribly for them.

Japan is AAAA.
Its not unknown.

You can look at his stuff and know it will translate.

Can be concerned about the different ball, sometimes difference there.

Japan is high quality, but yeah MLB is better.

He doesn't have great size...but while he doesn't lift, he is a guy committed to working out. That bodes well.

He will be comfortable in LA.
He doesn't have to be the Ace, so he doesn't even have that pressure.

I don't like 12 years for anyone, especially a pitcher...but I dont think it matters at all for LA. They are playing a completely different game.

[JeremyStrain]

The track record for the highest level Japanese guys coming over is pretty good. It's when you get into the lower tiers that results might get mixed.

[BSLChrisStoner]

The track record for the highest level Japanese guys coming over is pretty good. It's when you get into the lower tiers that results might get mixed.

I think that's mostly true. 

Think it's about understanding what skills directly translate. 

This guy gave up I think 2 homers this year.  That's going to change.

But he also had a 6/1 k/bb ratio.  That is going to play, with all of MLB's free swingers.
His pure stuff is evident. 

[SonicAttack]

12 years, $325 million, $50.6 million posting fee.

 

 "Baseball America went even higher, with a 70 grade for Yamamoto, saying he "projects to be a No. 2 starter and has a chance to contend for Cy Young Awards."

 

That's a heck of a deal (for Yamamoto) and for projected #2 starters. I think John Means (if healthy) as well as Grayson and Bradish could be in that category.  Wow, starting pitching is bullish!

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: The Dodgers built a superteam -- now can they win it all?

https://www.espn.com...eam-free-agency

[dude]

ESPN: The Dodgers built a superteam -- now can they win it all?

https://www.espn.com...eam-free-agency

 

That's a great article by Passan.  Draws you in and crushes the narrative.

 

Side note: A kid that can't start for the Orioles, could improve the Dodgers at SS.

[mdrunning]

So the remedy for baseball's revenue imbalance is more playoff teams. Yeah, that makes sense.

[BobPhelan]

Dodgers signed Teoscar Hernandez for 1/23.5 and deferred $8 million. Next highest offer was 2/28 from the Red Sox.

[Mike B]

Dodgers signed Teoscar Hernandez for 1/23.5 and deferred $8 million. Next highest offer was 2/28 from the Red Sox.

The Dodgers just don't care about the cost.  I think there will be a battle over the deferred money issue in the near future.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Here's what Posnanski wrote about the Braves and Dodgers after the Sale trade.

 

See, the top teams, I think, are all coming around to the same idea: The regular season doesn’t mean bupkis. I’ve got to believe that the vast majority of Atlanta folks—I’m talking fans, players, media and so on—look at the Braves’ 88-win season in 2021 as the ultimate triumph. Sure, they had the worst record of any National League playoff team. But they won the World Series.

 

And I’m sure those same folks look at their 100-win seasons in 2022 and 2023 as bombs. The Braves convincingly lost their lone playoff series each year to a Phillies team that they stomped over the regular season. The 2023 Braves, over six months, had one of the greatest offenses in the history of baseball. But they averaged one run per game in their three losses to the Phillies. And that defines the whole season.

 

The Dodgers are facing the same questions. It’s all about October now. We baseball fans will watch the regular season because we love baseball, but it means little more than the NBA regular season or the NHL regular season. And the MLB season is A LOT longer than the NBA and NHL regular seasons.

 

I can’t predict the future—but would it surprise me if teams started using their aces once a week, 22 starts a year, in order to protect them for October? Of course not. Would it surprise me if teams started resting their star players 25 or 35 or more games a year to keep them fresh for October? Of course not. Would it surprise me if teams played for 92 wins instead of 100 or 105 or 110, because 92 wins is enough to get you in the playoffs and that’s all that matters anymore?

 

Of course not.

 

This is where the game has been going for a while now, sure, but it’s there now. I, personally, am not a huge fan of it—I’ve long been more of a regular-season guy than a playoff guy—but as I’ve written before, I just love baseball, so I’ll go wherever the game takes me. And the game is taking you and me into a new era, I think, one where soon enough 16 teams will make the playoffs, and the regular season will be mostly for entertainment purposes, and there won’t be very many important games played between April and September.

 

In other words: I suspect that the Braves believe that if Chris Sale gives them two good starts in October and those help the team go on to the World Series, he will be worth every penny.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Interesting thought. 
Mixed feelings here.

Re: MLB teams coming to the idea that all that matters is the post-season. Maybe they have. 
And I get that to a degree...  you are defined by titles. That is what is remembered by the overwhelming majority.

 

Where I disagree is this is baseball...    you can play 162 game seasons, and you can argue that some numbers are still noisy. When you compress things into short-series, you are going to get variable results. 

I think the biggest accomplishment in baseball is generally building a team / organization that annually contends. That does enough to get to the post-season and roll the dice.  That's a huge accomplishment. 

 

Also think you have to look at every franchise and the variables they face (again different than the NFL, and NBA imo).
Yes.... the Dodgers have additional pressure to win it all...  given 11 straight years of the post-season, and 1 WS title, coupled with their payroll abilities.    

 

But even with them... I'd make the same argument.  They've contended annually, which is impressive, and the post-season is just largely random imo.

[Mackus]

Here's what Posnanski wrote about the Braves and Dodgers after the Sale trade.

 

I think the cheapening of the regular season is a direct result of the expansion of the postseason.  I don't like it, although I did love the ride when the O's got that 5th wild card spot in both 2012 and 2016.  But I really don't like that the long haul of the regular season can't be celebrated if it's not followed with postseason success.  Obviously you want that success, but not to the extent that all the fun along the way is forgotten and made moot if you don't come through.

 

Winning it all should be special.  But falling short shouldn't be unspecial by definition.