Daily Archives: December 6, 2016
Boston Throws Down A Hell Of A Haymaker To The Rest Of The American League With Acquiring Chris Sale
Chris Sale has been as about as dominant as a pitcher as there has been in the American League since he entered into the rotation. He is 74 – 50 with a clean 3.00 ERA over his career thus far – wtth 5 straight top 6 Cy Young Finishes and ALL – Star Appearances. Sale set career highs in Wins (17) CG (6) and IP (226.2) during the last campaign. He is only set to earn $38 MIL over the next 3 seasons total, so the cap hit is even better news for the Red Sox, who are already nearing the Luxury Tax Threshold Limit, and are subject to a 50% penalty as 3rd time abusers in 2017.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner)
Follow @stokes_Hunter21 @mlbreports
The Red Sox have landed an ace in the winter for the 2nd straight winter. Boston has acquired Chris Sale from the White Sox in exchange for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech – with two other prospects Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz also heading to the Pale Hose.
This is the type of trade that brings a championship. For a MLB club that was right up against the Luxury Tax Threshold already of $195 MIL for 2017, having Sale only making $38 MIL over the next three years is the biggest plus to this pact going down.
Boston loses a young player like Moncada for sure. and he may be World Class in the future, but you have to give something up to get something. The Beantowners will still also be alright for their future with the likes of Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley JR. just kickstarting their young careers, while they also held onto other great prospects like Andrew Benintendi and Blake Swihart.
They still have plenty of colorful veterans (with plenty of postseason experience) in talking of Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez – and yes even Pablo Sandoval. Read the rest of this entry
The Dodgers Will Regret The Rich Hill Deal: Yet Another Injury Prone Chucker In The Rotation
The Dodgers have spent over $300 MIL in back to back years, and are the clubhouse leaders in Luxury Tax penalties paid. At a 50% penalty, the Los Angeles forked out $40 MIL in Luxury Taxes in 2016. With an estimated $204 MIL payroll – considering there are several roster holes now created by departing players, the team will need to spend around $235 MIL in 2017 total payroll. With a 50% penalty – and an additional 45% hit for going $40 MIL over the new $195 MIL limit in 2017, I highly expect the organization will be less willing to spend 95 cents extra for every dollar spent beyond that. Because of the Rich Hill signing, it will make it tough to get back Justin Turner and land a Closer – without paying the maximum surcharges for payroll.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner)
Follow @stokes_Hunter21 @mlbreports
I don’t hide the fact that I have been a Dodgers fan for some time. I have continuously ripped the past and present management for signing players that are injury prone. For the last 4 years the Injury/Dead money the club has doled out has rivaled what some of the lowest payroll clubs on an annual basis.
So what do the brass do? They ink a guy, who is 37, and could barely toe the mound for a handful of starts due to a blister, to a 3 Year Deal worth $16 MIL per year. Didn’t they learn their lesson with the Scott Kazmir contract? How about Chad Billingsley, Josh Beckett, Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-jin Ryu, Brett Anderson or Bronson Arroyo?
This is not even taking into a factor all of the positional players and Relief Guys they have taken a powder on (hit the ground and dust flies up because of being knocked out). The Franchise ate $41 MIL in 2013, $37 MIL in salary for 2014, $86 MIL in 2015, and $71 MIL in 2016.
For those scoring at home, that is a whopping $233 MIL in lost cash since the beginning of 2013, which was the Guggenheim Consortium’s first full year at the helm.
When you factor in some more penalties for exceeding the Luxury Tax Threshold, the organization is well over the $250 MIL mark in 4 seasons. Now 2017 doesn’t look to be much different – with $47 MIL in dead money already on the board.
Carl Crawford ($21.9 MIL), Alex Guerrero ($7.5 MIL), Hector Olivera ($4.7 MIL), Matt Kemp ($3.7 MIL) and Jose Tabata (250K) are not even on the active roster anymore, yet they will see some serious coin paid out by the Dodger Blue.
The Dodgers are also paying guys $10 MIL to play in the Minor Leagues. Read the rest of this entry
Signing Ian Desmond Is Just as Risky This Year as it Was Last Year
Chances are Ian Desmond regrets a decision or two on the business side of his MLB career. He could be in the midst of a seven-year, $107 million extension with the Washington Nationals, but instead bet on himself and paid for it dearly.
Desmond hit the open market last winter for the first time following a lackluster 2015 campaign, and finding a new home wasn’t easy. Having draft-pick compensation attached to him didn’t help, either.
It got to a point where Desmond, an All-Star shortstop in 2012, settled on a one-year, $8 million at the end of February with the Texas Rangers to play the outfield. You don’t see many shortstops having to do that in advance of their age-30 season to facilitate finding a job.
Unlike the first time, Desmond’s second bet on himself to rebuild value and re-enter free agency the next winter appears to have worked. He turned into the Rangers’ everyday center fielder, hitting .285/.335/.446 with 22 home runs, 21 stolen bases, 86 RBI and 107 runs scored in another All-Star campaign.
A Different Story This Time Around?
Behind the Scenes at the Winter Meetings…. AKA Baseball Heaven
First things first, the MLB Winter Meetings are nirvana for baseball nerds like myself…..
Oh, hey legendary sportswriter Peter Gammons, how are you? What’s that Boston Red Sox GM Dave Dombrowski? Sorry I couldn’t hear you because I was too busy saying hi to your manager John Farrell. Hey LA Times Dodgers’ beat writer Andy McCullough, have you seen NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra? I need to follow up on our conversation earlier and I got sidetracked by the New York Posts’ Joel Sherman. Oh, by the way, cool new glasses Pirates’ manager Clint Hurdle.
You couldn’t turn around without being starstruck by people who would only be stars to readers of this blog. It was fantastic.
It wasn’t just shaking hands and pleasantries, though. I was able to have some really good conversations. For instance, while waiting for the guys on the MLB TV set to announce baseball’s two newest hall of famers, John Schuerholz and Bud Selig (whom I have some thoughts on), I had a really interesting semi-debate with MLB.com’s Mark Bowman about the independence and objectivity of an MLB-owned news organization and the conflicts faced by writers of even nominally independent outlets like ESPN.
To continue reading about Max Frankel’s trip to the Winter Meetings, please click on over to our mostly baseball blog, Off The Bench.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 6, 2016
Elsa/Getty Images North America
The Indians could be making a run for Edwin Encarnacion. Do you know why? Because every other team in their division is rebuilding.
That and the Giants are signing a closer long term which is never smart on this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
MLB Reports 
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