25 Comments

Well, right now in Phoenix, some one just got himself a ring and sending raspberries to us yinzers on this board!

Expand full comment

Get ready to fire up the hot stove. If Rangers win tonite, Ben should be sending several texts at 12:01 a.m. I'm in for Garver 1B or Mancini 1B and there's a big choice of SP's. For no reason, I would love to bring Jack Flaherty in on a hunch. Still young at 28 to rebuild his value.....he was so good.

Expand full comment

I like j-flare as a nice pillow contract option in the starting rotation. A few of those gambles might be a decent way to get more talent on the team than we would normally 'afford'

Expand full comment
author

Zac Gallen not ready for this offseason talk

Expand full comment

Musgrove, Cantina, Rogers and Santana for the win!

Expand full comment
author

I'll post this in the actual article in the morning so that more people can see it, but was debating doing some sort of mailbag-type weekly feature going forward, how would everyone feel about it?

I had been debating it for some time, Nola pointed out how much more popular they seem to be becoming, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to just keep doing what everyone else was doing.

What I love about this though is that everyone looks at the game differently, so you could still get different answers to the same question going from site to site. Plus I feel like I have a different perspective based on what I focus on.

So, let me know, I could create a separate email so you can submit that way, or you can send them to me on Twitter.

Expand full comment

So it like the mailbag articles on The Athletic. Have people send questions in a thread on like a Monday, answer them on Friday. As people as questions, others can weigh in and or straight up answer the question.

Expand full comment
author

I had thought about doing it along that way. Have a dedicated article that people comment, then pick a designated day to go through and answer them. Thanks for the input!

Expand full comment

*Do it...

Expand full comment

Jon Daniels took a lot of shit last winter for "winning the offseason" because we're a society of immediate gratification, yet sure enough one year later his half-billion dollars worth of free agents are finding themselves to be the difference makers in the g*dd*mn world series. Just like you draw it up.

Expand full comment

That is why they are not exactly the cinderella story that some of the media are making them out to be.

Expand full comment

I found out about it several weeks ago, and pointed out on Twitter that Baseball America had it at that point when I was trying to find information on him. He signed for $30k.

https://x.com/EthanHullihen/status/1713366721065607470?s=20

Expand full comment
author

You did, and now that you said that I remember that as well. Completely forgot. My bad! I edited the article to add you in it

Expand full comment

Ha, thanks. I wasn't really looking for credit, more so pointing out that Baseball America had reported it publicly first.

Expand full comment

I’m trying to work out the “signed for next year” part. In this case it’s obvious, but with somebody like Omar Cuz, who signed in July, how do you know?

I’m pretty sure the dividing line used to be, if you signed before the end of the DSL season, that year counted. Now it’s generally not an issue with most signings in January, but it may be some times. Did the (super ultra secret) rules change?

Expand full comment

I can't say for sure whether something changed or not, since for as long as I've been tracking this with my homemade formulas, they've been spitting out the right answer. So we'll start there.

But, before I knew how it worked exactly, I think my *assumption* was that if a player signed in July and was never assigned until the following year, their contract was actually for the following season. It is strange, given that R5 count begins at signing, but MiFA is different in that it goes by assignment, not signing.

It's my understanding that contracts have "start years" for lack of a better word baked into them. It's weird, but these old J2 signings typically were for the following year, and again, I always made the assumption based on who played and who didn't. However, someone like Anthony Solometo, who didn't play his first year, still had a signing year of 2021. So, not sure what the distinction is between international and domestic, but it does seem to be a thing.

An even stranger one--and I had help on it, so I know it's right--is 2019 J2 signings. They of course didn't play in 2020, but their contracts were for 2020, so you'd think MiFA after 2026. However, they are all actually 2027, since 2020 didn't count for them. However, Solomon Maguire, who signed in Feb. 2020 for 2020 is a MiFA after 2026, as 2020 does count for him. Intuitively it makes little sense, but I can assure you it's the case. I'd have to look back for the explanation, but it is what it is.

J15 becoming the new J2 made this a little easier, as basically everyone is signing for the upcoming season as opposed to next season, but I can understand the confusion, because like many things, baseball doesn't make it easy.

Expand full comment

Maybe I should’ve felt sorrier for Larry Doughty than I did.

Anyway, now I need to check a bunch of player pages. And I’d totally forgotten the different treatment of R5 vs 7yr FA.

Expand full comment

Like I said, I have the info for every player in the system, if needed.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tvnHF59bKFei0_eEWaH7b59S5ftxajOyq-nyWJaga1k/edit?usp=sharing

Expand full comment

what is that credit for Vasquez all about?

Expand full comment

The team was forced to pick up his option in order to avoid paying the buyout, so he's still under contract. However, they didn't have to pay it, since he's on the Restricted List, so the amount just gets backed off.

Expand full comment

I think I’ll stop trying to calculate it myself.

Expand full comment

I mean, that is always more fun and fulfilling though

Expand full comment

$30k? So not much of a splash, then....

Expand full comment