Ughh, reds get Castellanos

And Then There Was One
By Jeff Todd (MLBTR) | January 28, 2020 at 8:08am CDT

By definition, there’ll always be one final major free agent to come off the board. It’s a lonely spot, perhaps, but also one where the market is yours and yours alone.
Things rarely shake out quite as might originally have been hoped, but neither does last-man-standing status mean the money has necessarily dried up.
We saw two fairly large contracts handed out in the middle of the 2019 season, including a multi-year pact for Craig Kimbrel.

MLBTR’s top 50 list has been picked over rather thoroughly. There are three unsigned players, including a solid relief arm (Pedro Strop) and useful utilityman (Brock Holt).
But if we’re being honest, there were others just off the list who could make roughly similar free agent cases.
We predicted both players to receive fairly modest guarantees.

So with Nick Castellanos leaving the board yesterday, we can now official declare: this year, the Big Name Yet To Sign is Yasiel Puig.
His days as a true star with the Dodgers are distant memories now, but Puig has mostly been productive outside of a poor stretch with the Reds to open the 2019 season.
He hit about twenty percent above the league-average rate in the prior two campaigns and finished with a solid run late last year after being dealt to the Indians.
Depending upon one’s preferred means of measuring and valuing defense, Puig was a 3-4 WAR player in 2017 and 2018.
He’s only just turned 29; perhaps his downtick in 2019 was just a blip.

On the one hand, this isn’t much of a surprise. Much like the three other young corner outfielders on this year’s market, Puig was an awfully tough player to gauge.
All the more so in his case … not only does Puig come with some performance questions, but he’s a notably eccentric player whose occasional hijinks may not be fully welcomed by all organizations.
But this was hardly inevitable. Puig also has long looked like an intriguing buy-low candidate — one that a value-hunting team might well have targeted from the outset.

Whatever the background, we now have a much clearer picture of the Puig situation than when we predicted he’d take down a one-year, $8MM deal when the market opened.
We’ve now seen Castellanos (four years, $64MM), Ozuna (one year, $18MM), and Avisail Garcia (two years, $20MM) set a market that had been ill-defined.
And multiple teams have filled openings, of course, even beyond the clubs that inked those players (the Reds, Braves, and Brewers).
The Diamondbacks and Marlins have installed multiple outfielders; the White Sox seem to have filled out their lineup.

But that’s not to say that it’s now all that obvious where Puig ought to land. The Tigers — our guess at the outset of the winter — still make sense for all the same reasons.
But it’s also possible the club will prefer to preserve its roster flexibility to jump on some intriguing players that shake loose early in 2020.
A return to the Indians still makes some amount of sense if the club elects to add back some salary.
That the Cleveland org went out and got Puig last year adds to the plausibility.

There are other teams worth considering as possibilities.
The Rangers have pursued a righty bat to join a lefty-heavy outfield mix, though whether they’ve got interest in Puig specifically isn’t clear.
It’s wild to imagine it, but the Giants are certainly an on-paper fit for the same essential reasons that the Tigers are.
You could argue that the Orioles should be as well, even if they already have a few guys on hand that they’d like to give a look to.
And why not the Rockies? The club isn’t spending much, but could perhaps find a way to make one bet and could really use the upside.
Puig’s right-handed bat would provide much-needed lineup balance.

And what about teams back-filling after trades?
The Pirates could be involved in theory, though they’re mostly in need of center field capability and are surely wary of off-field (or on-field) shenanigans after a trying 2019 season.
The Mariners previously dropped Domingo Santana and aren’t exactly laden with established talent.
And hey, what about the Red Sox? If they end up dealing Mookie Betts, an upside play might be just the ticket.

If we consider timeshare possibilities, the Angels make some sense. The club needs to be willing to accept some risk to turn the corner.
Puig could pair with Brian Goodwin while the club waits for Jo Adell to force his way up.
The Marlins can still consider Puig as part of a revamped lineup mix, even if they aren’t really set up to install him as an everyday presence.
If there’s still an avenue for the Rays to jump in on Puig, it’s a narrow one now that Jose Martinez and Randy Arozarena are on hand.
But the Tampa Bay organization can surely figure a way to shift things around if it sees a chance to shoehorn in a value opportunity.

It takes some squinting and some balancing of tradeoffs even to imagine a fit for Puig.
Just how specific teams feel about the polarizing player, and just what situation he prefers, will no doubt dictate the outcome.
But there are plenty of theoretical possibilities.


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Team Spending List 1/6/20
Team Spending List 1/21/20

TOP 50 FREE AGENT WATCH (changed to MLBTR list, it was better)
Gerrit Cole SP-- New York Yankees
Anthony Rendon 3B-- Los Angeles Angels
Stephen Strasburg SP-- Washington Nationals
Josh Donaldson 3B-- Minnesota Twins
Zack Wheeler SP-- Philadelphia Phillies
Madison Bumgarner SP-- Arizona Diamondbacks
Yasmani Grandal C-- Chicago White Sox
Marcell Ozuna LF-- Atlanta Braves
Hyun-Jin Ryu SP-- Toronto Blue Jays
Jake Odorizzi SP-- Minnesota Twins
Nicholas Castellanos RF-- Cincinnati Reds
Didi Gregorius SS-- Philadelphia Phillies
Will Smith RP-- Atlanta Braves
Dallas Keuchel SP-- Chicago White Sox
Cole Hamels SP-- Atlanta Braves
Jose Abreu 1B-- Chicago White Sox
Michael Pineda SP-- Minnesota Twins
Mike Moustakas 2B-- Cincinnati Reds
Kyle Gibson SP-- Texas Rangers
Tanner Roark SP-- Toronto Blue Jays
Julio Teheran (the GOAT) SP-- Los Angeles Angels
Will Harris RP-- Washington Nationals
Drew Pomeranz SP-- San Diego Padres
Wade Miley SP-- Cincinnati Reds
Corey Dickerson CF-- Miami Marlins
Travis d'Arnaud C-- Atlanta Braves
Chris Martin RP-- Atlanta Braves
Daniel Hudson SP-- Washington Nationals
Avisail Garcia RF-- Milwaukee Brewers
Howie Kendrick DH-- Washington Nationals
Rick Porcello SP-- New York Mets
Brett Gardner LF-- New York Yankees
Robinson Chirinos C-- Texas Rangers
Jason Castro C-- Los Angeles Angels
Craig Stammen RP-- San Diego Padres
Steve Cishek RP-- Chicago White Sox
Yasiel Puig RF --
Edwin Encarnacion DH-- Chicago White Sox
Alex Wood SP-- Los Angeles Dodgers
Adam Wainwright SP-- St. Louis Cardinals
Brock Holt 2B--
Josh Lindblom RP-- Milwaukee Brewers
Dellin Betances SP-- New York Mets
Kole Calhoun RF-- Arizona Diamondbacks
Shogo Akiyama CF-- Cincinnati Reds
Rich Hill SP-- Minnesota Twins
Michael Wacha SP-- New York Mets
Ivan Nova SP-- Detroit Tigers
Pedro Strop RP--
Drew Smyly SP-- San Francisco Giants

top 50 FA SIGNINGS BY TEAM:
Angels - 3 _________ Rendon, Teheran, Castro
Blue Jays - 2 _______ Ryu, Roark
Braves - 5 _________ Ozuna, Hamels, Smith, d'Arnaud, Martin
Brewers - 2 ________ Garcia, Lindblom
Cardinals - 1 _______ Wainwright
Diamondbacks - 2___ Bumgarner, Calhoun
Dodgers - 1 ________ Wood
Giants - 1__________ Smyly
Marlins - 1_________ Dickerson
Mets - 3___________ Porcello, Betances, Wacha
Nationals - 4 _______ Strasburg, Kendrick, Harris, Hudson
Padres - 2 _________ Pomeranz, Stammen
Phillies - 2 _________ Wheeler, Gregorius
Rangers - 2 ________ Gibson, Chirinos
Reds - 4___________ Moustakas, Castellanos, Miley, Akiyama
Tigers - 1 __________ Nova
Twins - 4 __________ Donaldson, Odorizzi, Pineda, Hill
White Sox - 5_______ Grandal, Encarnacion, Keuchel, Abreu, Cishek
Yankees - 2 ________ Cole, Gardner

TRADES:
Pittsburgh Pirates traded OF Starling Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks for prospects Liover Peguero and Brennan Malone
Tampa Bay Rays traded OF Tommy Pham to the San Diego Padres for OF Hunter Renfroe and SS Xavier Edwards
Miami Marlins claimed 1B Jesus Aguilar off waivers from Tampa Bay Rays
Baltimore Orioles have traded RHP Dylan Bundy to the Los Angeles Angels for RHP Isaac Mattson, RHP Zach Peek, RHP Kyle Bradish, and RHP Kyle Brnovich
Houston Astros traded OF Jake Marisnick to the New York Mets for LHP Blake Taylor and OF Kenedy Corona
Tampa Bay Rays have acquired OF Jose Martinez and OF Randy Arozarena from the St. Louis Cardinals for LHP Matt Liberatore
Seattle Mariners traded C Omar Narvaez to the Milwaukee Brewers for RHP Adam Hill
San Francisco Giants acquired Zack Cozart and Will Wilson from the Los Angeles Angels for cash
Baltimore Orioles traded 2B Jonathan Villar to Miami Marlins for LHP Easton Lucas
Milwaukee Brewers traded RHP Chase Anderson to Toronto Blue Jays for 1B Chad Spanberger
Chicago White Sox acquire Nomar Mazara from the Texas Rangers
Boston Red Sox traded C Sandy Leon to Cleveland Indians for RHP Adenys Bautista
San Diego Padres traded Player To Be Named Later, LHP Eric Lauer and 2B Luis Urias to Milwaukee Brewers for RF Trent Grisham and RHP Zach Davies

This post was edited by Jewlio on Jan 28 2020 11:23am

Cincinnati Reds have signed free agent RHP Pedro Strop
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I feel the Reds have had a good offseason.. they've added:
IF Mike Moustakas
OF Nick Castellanos
SP Wade Miley
OF Shogo Akiyama
RP Pedro Strop
While only losing: IF Jose Peraza (Red Sox) and SP Kevin Gausman (Giants)

Their current depth chart is:
1B Votto
2B Moustakas
SS Galvis
3B Suarez
C Barnhart
OF: Senzel, Castellanos, Winker, Akiyama, Aquino

SP: Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, Trevor Bauer, Anthony DeSclafani, Wade Miley
RP: Raisel Iglesias, Pedro Strop, Michael Lorenzen, Amir Garrett, Jesse Biddle, Lucas Sims, David Carpenter

This post was edited by Jewlio on Jan 30 2020 12:59pm

They just need the Votto of before 2018 back and they could be scary. Too bad they couldn't do this when their best player was in his prime...

This post was edited by Schwarber on Jan 30 2020 04:42pm

New York Mets have signed free agent 1B Matt Adams
OF Curtis Granderson has retired, as u/MrMiggy made a new thread about
Pittsburgh Pirates have signed free agent LHP Derek Holland

Could be like the Mariners...

Love them boys even though they suck

Right, it's hard being a Mariners fan.

Lol I still go to 3-5 games a year even though they're ass lol I was shocked opening weekend last season vs the red Sox, going to this seasons opening weekend vs Rangers

I try to go to a few games a year too. Went to a Rangers game last year, was like 15-3 in the 3rd. So we left and went out, I ended up getting some coke that night from a random black guy. He let me test it first, and it was pretty fucking good lol.