JotCast | Top 50 Free Agents Chat

Top 50 Free Agents Chat

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Guest

12:12

are we flirting

Ben Clemens

12:12

Kevin

12:12

Very glad to have you chatting again! That’s all . . .

Ben Clemens

12:12

With the playoffs and their strange time commitments over, I'm going to be back to a regular Monday schedule quite soon

bosoxforlife

12:13

Would you touch Lucas Giolito with a 60'6" pole?

Ben Clemens

12:13

so.... I would

But if I were making decisions for a team, I'd be asking my analysts to talk me out of it

12:14

I'm pretty sure I like Giolito more than consensus, and so I'd be trying to get someone to show me the light. I do think that Giolito is the kind of guy teams that need a lot of pitching help should be targeting

12:15

he's in the bargain tier, relatively speaking, and i'd be in for bulk innings with the option at him turning back into his 2020-21 form with a change of scenery

I mean, not like he's short on changes of scenery in the last year, but post-trade performance is always weird

Tyler

12:15

With like $50 million committed to 2024, if the Reds don't sign at least one #2ish starter and 2-3 impact relievers, fans should storm GABP, right? I'm thinking Rodriguez, Lopez, Suter

Ben Clemens

12:15

100%

This is another deal like hte Orioles

You saved a ton of money, tore down, got all these great exciting young hitters

Great!

12:16

Now turn those savings into current-day purchasing power and build a good team around your good players

Scotty H

12:16

Tim Anderson becoming a Marlin seems like the most obvious thing to happen this offseason... unless the new Rays' guy in charge is going to drastically change their FA signing.

Ben Clemens

12:16

I could not agree more

bosoxforlife

12:16

The Cardinals have succeeded in destroying the value of all their young outfielders. Dombrowski has it right. Trade the prospects before they are exposed as Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech.

Ben Clemens

12:16

Dave Dombrowski is a criminally underrated GM/executive

12:17

he does a really good job understanding when to prey on mystery box thinking

there could be anything in the box!

robert nutting

12:17

Lots of discussion out there that the pirates are looking to upgrade 1B. What does this actually look like? To me, a hoskins type doesn't seem to be the best use of money, especially given needs in the rotation

Ben Clemens

12:18

Yeah, I don't think the Pirates will be in on Hoskins, or anyone in that tier with Gurriel/Hernandez/Garver/so on

I think it might look like the guys who didn't make the list, Joey Gallo or a Carlos Santana reunion

Gallo isn't exactly a 1b but if you squint maybe?

Adam

12:19

Ohtani destination, NL West or the field, which side you got?

Ben Clemens

12:19

I'll take NL West, b/c I think SF is definitely in the mix and the Dodgers are rightful favorites

Guest

12:19

Speaking of cheap teams looking for starting pitching, the Pirates are pretty openly looking for starters. Which pitchers in the Top 50 would you think are most likely to see less interest than expected and take a cheap 1-year deal?

Ben Clemens

12:19

Well, if I knew, it wouldn't be less than expected, but I do think that there's merit in taking a Brewers-esque see where the offseason takes you path

12:20

I like it when the Brewers do that, it's given them some solid bargains, which is really necessary when you're trying to work on a budget. Pittsburgh should just take a page from that playbook and do a lot of early-stage due diligence on guys so that when people stick around, they already know if they're interested

Eric

12:20

Do you think the Cubs focus their attention more on starting pitching (Nola/Snell/Stroman reunion) or solidifying the corner infield spots with guys like Chapman and/or Hoskins? Or just say screw it, give us Ohtani?

Ben Clemens

12:20

I mean, I think they should say screw it give us Ohtani if they can

12:21

After that, I'd pivot to pitching if I were them, but to be honest I haven't given this a ton of thought so I'm just working off the cuff here

RobertoBeers

12:21

Adalberto Mondesi. I pinged you and Szym about what shenanigans could bring him on board for a longer term contract than one would expect with his recent history. He's just 28 after all. There is a world where he wins a GG with league average offense en-route to ~4war.

Ben Clemens

12:22

I mean there is, but that world is not particularly likely. Realistically, the way teams handle this is a one-year prove it deal. It'd be cool to sign some really gadgety contract with incentives and team options with no buyouts or something like that, but it's just not gonna happen

Tyler

12:22

Any chance San Diego trades go beyond Soto? I don't' know enough about baseball finances to judge how dire the situation is, but is a contract like Musgrove's available?

Ben Clemens

12:23

I truly don't know. They're telegraphing just Soto, I think, but Preller is not known for being predictable

Dave

12:23

What is the crowdsource estimate that surprised you the most? Any players have your opinion shifted by their crowdsource estimates?

Ben Clemens

12:23

I was really surprised by how close the crowd and I were on these projections

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