Non-NYM off-season moves

[MFS62]

Jeff Passan is reporting that Toronto is finalizing a deal to acquire ex-Met infielder Andres Giminez from Cleveland.

Later

[metirish]

I guess when you lose out on Soto you pivot to Giminez

[Frayed Knot]

Fried's been pretty darn good in his career [ERA+ since his first full season in 2019 = 114, 208, 143, 166, 171, 128]
and only in 2023 did he miss significant time. In every other season he made virtually every start: 30, 11 (Covid yr), 28, 30, 14, and 29 in '24
while notching a 2nd & 5th in CY voting, three Gold Gloves, two AS teams, and even a (Sigh!) Silver Slugger*.
So there are definitely worse guys to give big money to. As always, and especially so with pitchers north of 30, you worry about the length.

* The very last one awarded for a pitcher


And, once again given their usual shunning of long contracts to players over 30, I wonder if the Braves even tried to keep him or just
preemptively decided to let him walk.

[G-Fafif]

Toronto gets:
2B Andres Gimenez
RHP Nick Sandlin

Cleveland gets:
1B Spencer Horwitz
OF Nick Mitchell

[TransMonk]

Not sad he’s out of the NL East.

Truth.

[MFS62]

Nathan Evoidi re-signs with Texas. no details.
Later

[Fman99]

Not sad he’s out of the NL East.

Truth.

That was my thought too. Feel like he bedeviled the Mets most of the time.

[smg58]

I like Fried, but I would have been reluctant to give him five years. Eight? Nope. I'd much rather do what we did with Soto.

I own Spencer Horwitz in the ottoneu league. He's kind of a Daniel Murphy type -- he doesn't have the power bat you'd expect from a first baseman, but it's not clear at this stage in his career that he can play second base well enough to stick there. He had an .864 OPS against right-handed pitching as a rookie though, so there's plenty of value even if he's older than Gimenez.

[smg58]

When the Angels signed Yusei Kikuchi for 3 and 66, I thought it was too early in the offseason to grab a pitcher at the edge of what I'd consider paying for him. Now it looks like the Angels made a shrewd deal.

[G-Fafif]

Guardians flip Spencer Horwitz to Buccos.

[G-Fafif]

Jake Burger heading from the Marlins to the Rangers.

[metirish]

I like Fried, but I would have been reluctant to give him five years. Eight? Nope. I'd much rather do what we did with Soto.

I own Spencer Horwitz in the ottoneu league. He's kind of a Daniel Murphy type -- he doesn't have the power bat you'd expect from a first baseman, but it's not clear at this stage in his career that he can play second base well enough to stick there. He had an .864 OPS against right-handed pitching as a rookie though, so there's plenty of value even if he's older than Gimenez.

Yankees are paying a lot of money to older starters, Cole, Rondon and Fried ,all mid to later 30s

[Fman99]

I like Fried, but I would have been reluctant to give him five years. Eight? Nope. I'd much rather do what we did with Soto.

I own Spencer Horwitz in the ottoneu league. He's kind of a Daniel Murphy type -- he doesn't have the power bat you'd expect from a first baseman, but it's not clear at this stage in his career that he can play second base well enough to stick there. He had an .864 OPS against right-handed pitching as a rookie though, so there's plenty of value even if he's older than Gimenez.

Yankees are paying a lot of money to older starters, Cole, Rondon and Fried ,all mid to later 30s

Both Scherzer + Verlander are free agents. It wouldn't shock me one bit if the MFYs take a flier on one of them as well. Might as well pile up a big group of old arms

[metsmarathon]

hell, it wouldn't exactly surprise me if we brought one of 'em back ourselves.

i too would've liked fried at 5 years max. 8 seems like quite a stretch. crazy as it is to say, i'm somewhat more comfortable(?) with the back end of soto than fried, though i may wish to reconsider that phrasing...

[Centerfield]

Devin Williams to the Yankees. Per Jeff Passan on twitter.

Not sure the return going the other way, but a great pickup by the Yankees.

[metirish]

Following up

[metirish]

[Centerfield]

Two pitchers who gave up memorable postseason HRs traded for each other.

Cortes is a good rotation piece, but he has only 1 year of control left. An odd choice by Milwaukee. I've never heard of the Yankee prospect.

[smg58]

Cortes has 9.3 WAR over the last 4 seasons, and Williams has 6.2. You take a starter for a reliever every time.

Durbin is the kind of prospect who puts up solid numbers without getting any scout's attention. But if you're still putting up solid numbers in AAA -- like .287/.396/.471 with a 9.9% K rate in 375 plate appearances -- somebody should have noticed you. I guess the Brewers did.

[MFS62]

Kyle Tucker has been trade from the Astros to the Cubs. (Passan)
No other details available at this time.

Later

[G-Fafif]

3B/1B Isaac Paredes, top 3B prospect Cam Smith and RHP Hayden Wesneski headed back to Houston for Tucker, per reports.

[Frayed Knot]

So this smells of the Astros seeing their core of the last decade getting old and so preemptively act by dealing a star player one year short of FA-gency in
hopes of getting several who'll be six years short. iow, reloading on the fly so as to not need to go to rock bottom and wait for the long rebound.

Sound strategy ... if it works.

[MFS62]

Athletics get: LHPs Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez
Rays get: RHP Joe Boyle, 1B Will Simpson, RHP Jacob Watters, 2025 Competitive Balance Round A pick

Later

[MFS62]

According to YES Network's Jack Curry, the Cubs are sending Cody Bellinger and $5 million in cash to the MFYs in exchange for right-handed pitcher Cody Poteet.

Later

[smg58]

I'd have been willing to beat that.