I would think you would want somebody on the bench who could play second base against a lefthanded pitcher, but what do I know?

Having said that, I'd prefer to see Acuna playing full-time somewhere to start the season, even if that means AAA.

Happy birthday!

As far as memories... he made a difference simply by showing up.

So Iglesias wasn't worth matching a minor-league deal and Quintana wasn't worth $5M (but Blackburn and Canning are). I've like most of our offseason, but I don't get these.

I am pretty sure the reason that they didn't bring back Iglesias is that they preferred a disposable guy (for lack of a better term) who wouldn't get in the way as they give opportunities of to their younger infielders. Sadly, they are forced to exercise his disposability early. I know that's what ...

.280/.410/.530 with over 100 runs and RBI and 35 HR.

He's nine months older than Alonso and has more than double the WAR (according to Fangraphs), so I get it. It will be interesting to see if the Sox move Devers off third (where he's not very good) and bench/trade Casas or Yoshida, or whether they say "the hell with defense" and move Bregma...

At $40M per, he's not opting out too soon.

Nick Pivetta got four years and $55M, with two opt-outs, from the Padres. His first year comes in at a $3M signing bonus and a $1M salary.

As long as he's at least adequate, it's a massive bargain for the Padres.

Blake Tidwell and Dom Hamel will combine for over 50 meaningful innings on the major league club.

Would Dedniel Nunez count?

I think they've all reached the point where they should take what they can get. But who knows?

I'll go with August 19, because it's my birthday.

I don't like this one. I'd much rather have Iglesias on the major league roster, and with Williams, Acuna, and Mauricio all at AAA the need for organizational depth is zero.

The Tigers did a good job of waiting out the sellers' market.

Do you have a white suit that's kind of loose on you?

There is definitely going to be a roster crunch. I would argue that the first victim was Mike Vasil, whom the Rays took in the Rule V Draft. But payroll will be eaten somewhere. Not necessarily in large amounts, especially given Cohen's wallet, but somebody with a major-league deal is not coming to ...

I could picture a Baty for Torkelson swap, although the Tigers already have a lefty third baseman. The Tigers also have a very deep pen I wouldn't mind picking from, but I'm really not sure what they want in return. Torkelson can hit lefthanded pitching well enough. The question is how much more tha...

But they've already relegated themselves. Hell, Carl Pohlad was the wealthiest owner in the league pre-Cohen, and he was willing to have the Twins contracted. It's past the point where the Dodgers could simply have made this much more money than any of these other teams. People off the coasts still ...

Having said that, I cannot fathom that the Dodgers really still have so much more available spending money than literally any other team that nobody in need of a relief pitcher -- last I checked, there were 30 teams who could use an upgrade in their pen -- will get in their way. At some point you ha...

Is it weird that we spent $750M on a guy this offseason but I feel like another team is making a mockery of free agency?

Is anybody besides the Mets, Yankees and Dodgers even trying?

I feel like every pitcher is getting overpaid this winter, but I'd rather have a solid pen than a crummy one.

Basically I don't see how any team (especially one that's not from New York or Los Angeles) would take on $11M of the contract of somebody who spent nearly all of last season in AAA (and did poorly) just to get pool money, unless that pool money is enough to lock up somebody they think is special. O...

It's very fair to wonder what the Plan B is for both sides at this point. Given what other first baseman (most of whom are coming off better seasons than Alonso) have gotten, I can't see the market for Alonso being better than what the Mets appear to have offered. But how would the Mets pivot? I'm n...

An interesting move: the Bjue Jays acquired Myles Straw from the Guardians -- along with taking on $11M of the money that Straw, essentially a minor leaguer at this point, is still owed -- to also get $2M of international pool money in exchange for a PTBNL or more cash. You have to think there's no ...