Just because spring training camps are open does not mean the free agent market is closed. In fact, dozens of players – some of them former All-Stars – are still hoping to find jobs, even as late arrivals after injuries create vacancies.
Some Surprising Names Remain On The List Of Unsigned Free Agents
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschl...h=60986a088832
HokieRed (02-20-2023)
https://www.mankatofreepress.com/spo...e93bd7b37.htmlSecond-generation ownership has been something of a Twins trademark. Griffith, of course, inherited the Washington Senators from adoptive father Clark Griffith, and Jim Pohlad controlled the franchise about as long as his father did.
But historically, few teams are passed from one generation to another, and when they are, the outcomes are frequently poor.
I can name four teams passed on by Hall of Fame owners to their progeny to ill effect: The Twins (Clark Griffith) and Athletics (Connie Mack) moved to new cities within a few years, the White Sox (Charles Comiskey) floundered before being sold and the Pirates (Barney Dreyfuss) turned a budding dynasty into mediocrity with a counterproductive power struggle.
For a long time, few teams kept the same ownership for more than five to seven years, presumably for tax reasons. And I suspect that inheritance taxes played a role in prompting even long-term owners contemplating their mortality to sell the franchise rather than pass it on.
But tax laws change, and the number of MLB teams now controlled by a second generation is on the rise.
The Yankees are the most prominent such franchise, of course.
The official owners of the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles are still alive, but effective control of the teams now lie with specific sons and in both cases the sons went out of their way this offseason to establish themselves in the public eye as entitled jerks.
Originally Posted by Ron Madden
Buster Olney
@Buster_ESPN
Acute team tanking has been a problem for baseball for a decade -- without public complaint from other teams, without even out-loud acknowledgement of the practice. Now the Mets and Padres spend big and they're forming a special committee? Really?
Thunderchigs
@thunderchigs
Replying to
@Buster_ESPN
This is such a terrible take. How would you recommend teams like the Pirates, Orioles, and others win with such huge discrepancies in Local TV money, if they don’t try to gain the advantage in the draft?
Buster Olney
@Buster_ESPN
Replying to
@thunderchigs
You're missing the point.
Tanking isn't only about getting access to the high picks and attached slot money.
It's about cutting payroll to the bone and banking significantly enhanced profits while hiding under guise of competitive credibility.
What we heard from Tom Ricketts, including whether the Chicago Cubs would go over the luxury tax
Must Be Nice
Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts let his front office mold the direction the organization took in the offseason.
While he engaged in near daily conversation with president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, roster decisions were left to Hoyer’s discretion.
After speaking to the team Monday before the Cubs’ first full-squad workout, Ricketts commended Hoyer for a great offseason with the talent he brought in, proclaiming, “I mean, just look at everything (manager David Ross) has to work with this year compared to last year.
The Cubs’ competitive balance tax (CBT) payroll sits around $225 million with camp underway, ninth-highest in the majors hovering just below the $233 million threshold for 2023.
Since 2012, the Cubs have ranked in the top five in CBT spending four times (2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020) and outside the top 10 five times (2012, 2013, 2014, 2021 and 2022).
The team’s first-half performance will dictate whether the Cubs utilize their current CBT wiggle room.
“We always have the ability to add resources at the deadline,” Ricketts said. “We’ll make that decision as it gets closer. ... You want to be thoughtful about it and you want to be alert and manage around it if you can. If we’re midseason and we need a player, we’ll do what we have to do.
“We’ll manage (the CBT) year to year. I’m not going to promise top five or anything like that, but we will definitely put the resources we have on the field.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/oth...ng/ar-AA17JyrY
Last edited by Ron Madden; 02-20-2023 at 10:12 PM.
Brewers sign former Red Tyler Naquin to a minor league deal.
Also Luke Voit. I hope Bell updates his matrix to have Stephenson DH those games
"The fact that Casali had concussions is irrelevant" ~757690
The important thing there, IMO, is Ricketts is low key acknowledging his club treats the luxury tax like a de facto cap. They have set themselves up to spend under it and give themselves some "wiggle room" under it if they need to maneuver.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Ron Madden (02-21-2023)
Tyler Naquin and Luke Voit on minor league deals seems a lot smarter than paying Wil Myers 7.5 Million guaranteed.
Naquin is the missing lefty bat on this roster who could play RF against RHP and he's a better defender with a legit RF arm. Voit could be the RH caddy to Votto at 1B or might be depth in AAA. They could have used Myers money on a starting pitcher.
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
LeatherPants (02-21-2023),Revering4Blue (02-21-2023)
Probably but they should have had no problem signing all 3. Personally, I probably would pass on Naquin but, on a MiLB deal? Sure.
The starting pitchers in that price range are kind of "meh" to the point where I'm kind of okay that they went the way they did with Luke Weaver but would have liked a higher upside second option than Chase Anderson. I actually wouldn't mind them bringing back Mike Minor
"The fact that Casali had concussions is irrelevant" ~757690
*BaseClogger* (02-25-2023),Sea Ray (02-21-2023)
Zach Davies is a guy who gives 25 to 30 starts with an ERA around 4. That's exactly what this team needs. He signed for 5 Million. Then Cessa could be the multi-inning reliever instead of the rotating cast of 30 something career minor leaguers who probably end up imploding double digit times this year.
I'd take Naquin in RF as the long side of a platoon. He's a real RF and even last year when hurt and in a down year had a .746 OPS against RHP. Myers does well against LHP but has been poor against RHP (.659 OPS last year) and is a 1B playing RF. Myers was better than in house alternatives, but I don't expect anything special from him. His park hurt him, maybe GABP will help him surprise me, but I'm not holding my breath.
Last edited by mth123; 02-21-2023 at 12:43 PM.
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
Davies would have been a good one (it's scary that $5M stopped them, even with Myers)
I'd be careful using straight OPS when evaluating Naquin vs. Myers due to the extreme ballpark factors. Career wRC+ against RHP is 109 for Naquin and 106 for Myers. Don't really agree on the defensive difference between the two. Availability strongly leans to the side of Myers, as well.
"The fact that Casali had concussions is irrelevant" ~757690
*BaseClogger* (02-25-2023)
It could be neither of those guys was willing to come to the Reds however.
“The guys we've had for the most part have been serviceable at this level.”
texasdave (02-21-2023)
So they could have had the 109 wRC+ for a minor league deal but guaranteed 7.5 Million for a 106. Then had no money for the pitching staff.
- - - Updated - - -
Very true. I'm from Cincinnati and if I had the option to play somewhere else, I absolutely would. All the more reason to doubt Myers IMO.
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
Let's get the second part out of the way first. Wil Myers did not stop them from spending on the pitching staff. You don't have to platoon Myers and he has played 145+ games 4 times and as recently as 2021, something Naquin has never done. Like I said at the beginning, it probably would have been better to sign those 2 than Myers. But Naquin>Myers? I don't think so.
"The fact that Casali had concussions is irrelevant" ~757690
Ron Madden (02-21-2023)
If the Reds would have spent Myers salary on a pitcher, than some would complain they didn't get a hitter instead. It's a vicious cycle. Of course the reality is they could have more than afforded to get both, but that's a different argument.
...the 2-2 to Woodsen and here it comes...and it is swung on and missed! And Tom Browning has pitched a perfect game! Twenty-seven outs in a row, and he is being mobbed by his teammates, just to the thirdbase side of the mound.
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