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Mr Grieves
9:08
Bees?
Mark P
9:08
Beads?!
Adam
9:09
Skenes or Merril for NL RoY?
Mark P
9:09
Merrill would be my pick, but I think Skenes is going to win
Orioles
9:09
Clay Holmes would make a lot of sense for us right?
Mark P
9:10
The way Holmes ended the season couldn't have filled O's fans with a lot of optimism, especially in the wake of the Kimbrel signing
9:11
Not that Holmes is a bad pitcher or anything, but I'm not sure if that's the kind of move that presents a clear upgrade
The Riddler
9:12
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck (Do you think Walker Buehler is a good target for the Brewers?) could chuck wood?
Mark P
9:14
About as much corn as a Polishuk shucks if a Polishuk could shuck corn.

Buehler is a good fit for Milwaukee since he's likely just taking a one-year pillow contract.  That would fall within the Crew's price range, plus he'd probably have interest in joining a contender with a history of reviving pitchers
Guest
9:14
Are you seeing Taylor Swift while she's in town or avoiding the traffic nightmare altogether?
Mark P
9:15
Not much of a Taylor Swift fan, and I'd be hard-pressed to justify spending four figures (or more) to see even one of my favourite musicians
Reds GM
9:15
Non-Tender deadline is not Tuesday but rather on Friday, Tuesday is the Rule 5 draft protection deadline
Mark P
9:16
Correct!  Got my dates mixed up
Drew
9:17
Does Bregman make sense for the Nats?
Mark P
9:18
Sure.  He's an instant big upgrade to the lineup, and if the Nationals want to signal that the rebuild is over, bringing in a big-name free agent is a clear way of achieving that goal
JeffyM
9:19
What type of contract does Danny Coulombe get?  Was surprised at his non-tender.
Mark P
9:21
It was a declined club option rather than a non-tender, but to your overall point, I was indeed surprised.  Obviously health is a factor there but Coulombe was looking pretty sharp after he returned from the IL.  $4MM for one year seemed like a fair option for Baltimore to exercise, but perhaps they know something we don't about his elbow?
Sad Pirates Fan
9:21
Why would Merrill be your pick over Skenes? Skenes just had a historical season for a rookie pitcher and Merrill had worse numbers than Bryan Reynolds rookie campaign
Mark P
9:22
Skenes would be the easy pick in most seasons, no doubt.  But, Merrill was the 15th-best player in baseball last season in the view of fWAR.  He achieved that from Opening Day onward, and while capably playing a center field position he'd never played before
NJ
9:23
Remember last year when everyone was shaking their heads at all these odd pickups by ATL? Some certainly did not play out, but I'd say the Sale trade was a steal!
Mark P
9:24
No doubt.  I thought the Red Sox had gotten something of a steal in that trade, but I'll eat my words on that one.
Philly fan
9:24
Seems like Dombroski really is going to shake up the team a little.  I’m thinking he wants to trade Bohm or Castellanos or Suarez.  Also, Tanner Scott would be a great fit here.  Would 4 years for $48 get it done?
Mark P
9:25
Attaching Suarez to Castellanos might be a creative way of getting Castellanos' otherwise underwater contract off the books.  It creates a hole in the rotation, no doubt, but the Phillies might be confident in Painter, or they might go get someone else.
9:26
We had Scott for four/$56MM, so your number is at least in the ballpark
Guest
9:28
What are the chances that Pittsburgh entices multiple free agent bats? Or is a trade of pitching depth a more likely outcome?
Mark P
9:29
I expect the Pirates to do actually do both, though not at the level you're probably hoping.  Ideally the Bucs stretch the budget to bring in at least one FA with real upside, and trade from their young pitching depth for a young hitter.
But, that may be asking a lot of a team that rarely spends, and of a front office that has taken a pretty conservative path to date
BravosBig3
9:30
Could you Crochet to the Braves as a way to improve and dance around the luxury tax tier?
Mark P
9:33
Not sure the Braves quite have the minor league depth to outbid the field for Crochet, though I'll never count out Anthpoulos when it comes to swinging trades.  

Atlanta's about $13MM under the tax line, as per RosterResource's current projection.  Getting Soler off the books helped in that regards, and Laureano/Canning could be non-tendered.  I think the focus for the Braves is clearly on winning more than resetting their tax status, yet if they can figure out a way to thread the needle and do both, that would be ideal.
Kurt the Hurt
9:34
Scott Harris said the Tigers are going back to a standard 5 man rotation next season . Why not ride the success of openeners that worked so well like 31-11 down the Sept. stretch run ?
Mark P
9:34
Because that puts a lot of strain on a pitching staff over the course of a full season. The Tigers took on the pitching "chaos" tactic because they had to, not because they necessarily wanted to
Chase Andrews
9:36
Do you see the Phillies following through on any bold moves this offseason?
Mark P
9:37
Yep. Dombrowski and the ownership group are aggressive, and they seem to realize some kind of shakeup needs to happen with the roster
Bronxie the Turtle
9:37
Why is everyone linking the Yankees to starting pitchers like Snell, Burnes, and others?  They have Cole, Rodon, Gil, Schmidt, Cortes, Stroman, Cody Poteet, Will Warren, Clayton Beeter, Chase Hampton, etc.
Mark P
9:39
Because except for Cole, Snell/Burnes/etc. are better than the rest of these guys.

Beyond the "no such thing as too much pitching" mantra, the Yankees could add a top-tier starter and than use one or more of the younger guys as trade bait
Hoyer - GET IT⚡️
9:39
Can you see me trading Nico in a package for catching help from the Dodgers = Dalton Rushing (blocked by Will Smith)?
Mark P
9:40
Again, Hoerner's forearm surgery will cool any trade speculation.  Besides, Rushing has already gotten some time in the outfield, since the Dodgers are looking to find places for him in the lineup with Smith/Ohtani blocking things for the future
squinky
9:40
Does Seattle have financial resources should they want to pivot and go after a free agent such as Snell?
Mark P
9:44
John Stanton's ownership group kept the Mariners with around a top-12 or so payroll in their first few seasons running the team, dropped into the bottom 7-8 range during the semi-rebuild year(s), and now Seattle was back to around a mid-range payroll last year

In short, they do have the resources to make a splash if they wanted to, yet free agents have only rarely been part of Jerry Dipoto's winter playbook. It makes for kind of a frustrating situation for fans that the Mariners spend "just" enough to not actually be a low-payroll team, yet they don't show much sign of expanding that budget.
9:45
Of course, i write this while also acknowledging that they gave Rodriguez a huge extension, Castillo a huge extension, Robbie Ray a big FA deal, etc.
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