2019 Misc MLB News

[JimH5]

Boston says Adios to Dave Dombrowski...

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/09/red-sox-part-ways-with-dave-dombrowski.html

 

Wow, they are seemingly quick on the trigger. But with a high payroll come high expectations. That's where I think the Brewers Front Office has a built-in excuse. Payroll limitations can be used to explain away losing. Not so in Boston.

 

At least now we know what will be dominating the baseball media over the days and weeks ahead.

[Brew crew 92]

Boston says Adios to Dave Dombrowski...

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/09/red-sox-part-ways-with-dave-dombrowski.html

 

Wow, they are seemingly quick on the trigger. But with a high payroll come high expectations. That's where I think the Brewers Front Office has a built-in excuse. Payroll limitations can be used to explain away losing. Not so in Boston.

 

At least now we know what will be dominating the baseball media over the days and weeks ahead.

 

 

Not surprising in the least that he was fired, just the timing is a little weird. There have been rumblings that he wouldn’t be back next year. Dinosaur GM’s are going by the way side. Look for Boston to hire one of the Brainiac GM’s, Bloom Falvey Antonetti Porter Even possibly Billy Bean. There won’t be an shortage of seekers, that’s for sure.

[MadThinker88]

Look for Boston to hire one of the Brainiac GM’s, Bloom Falvey Antonetti Porter Even possibly Billy Bean. There won’t be an shortage of seekers, that’s for sure.

 

All those names could well be targets for Boston.

So could Stearns as he already engineered a quick rebuild/ retooling...

 

Time will tell to see where Boston ends up..

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Look for Boston to hire one of the Brainiac GM’s, Bloom Falvey Antonetti Porter Even possibly Billy Bean. There won’t be an shortage of seekers, that’s for sure.

 

All those names could well be targets for Boston.

So could Stearns as he already engineered a quick rebuild/ retooling...

 

Time will tell to see where Boston ends up..

 

Wouldn't surprise me to see them take a look at Matt Arnold. Part of a few successful rebuilds already, and experience in the AL East with Tampa.

[KeithStone53151]

If you look at Boston's roster...Betts is about to leave, Sale has been extended and is seemingly not as effective, their farm is absolute trash. The state of that franchise is not very good...and only going to get worse in the near future. This is what happens when you make TheoDombrowski your GM/president of baseball ops.

[tmwiese55]

Yes I'm sure their farm is trash but really the Sox are a good team. Just sign Mookie and run it back, the same team just won the WS last year and Devers took a huge step up this year. The Sale injury could be huge though. Still, what choice do they have? There's only what 7 good teams in the AL and 5 get to make the playoffs, keep doing what you're doing but let the farm build up a bit. They were smart to hold homegrown guys like Mookie, Deavers, JBJ, Xander, etc now just let it play out. Smart not to sign Kimbrell for dumb money. They were smart not to 'go for it' at the deadline this year. Try to find some Wade Miley type cheap signings to fill out and go for it. Sorry spoiled Boston fans, you're not going to win every year. They're down to only 3 years left on Price's deal too and it's not like Price is a bad pitcher, just overpaid.

 

JD Martinez situation will be interesting though with having an opt out in his deal every year from here out. That's obviously important to figure out, lost that bat and who knows how they fill it. First thing I'd do if I was them is Nelson Cruz on a 1 year deal though if JD opts out.

[Brew crew 92]

Yes I'm sure their farm is trash but really the Sox are a good team. Just sign Mookie and run it back, the same team just won the WS last year and Devers took a huge step up this year. The Sale injury could be huge though. Still, what choice do they have? There's only what 7 good teams in the AL and 5 get to make the playoffs, keep doing what you're doing but let the farm build up a bit. They were smart to hold homegrown guys like Mookie, Deavers, JBJ, Xander, etc now just let it play out. Smart not to sign Kimbrell for dumb money. They were smart not to 'go for it' at the deadline this year. Try to find some Wade Miley type cheap signings to fill out and go for it. Sorry spoiled Boston fans, you're not going to win every year. They're down to only 3 years left on Price's deal too and it's not like Price is a bad pitcher, just overpaid.

 

JD Martinez situation will be interesting though with having an opt out in his deal every year from here out. That's obviously important to figure out, lost that bat and who knows how they fill it. First thing I'd do if I was them is Nelson Cruz on a 1 year deal though if JD opts out.

 

What could Stearns do with 250 million? Falvey? Bloom? Antonetti? As bad as the Sox farm is, and it’s bad, is there any doubt any of these guys wouldn’t build a juggernaut within a couple years. These guys would absolutely blow Cashman and Epstein out of the water. Stearns & 250 mil. You gotta be kidding me.

[MadThinker88]

JD Martinez situation will be interesting though with having an opt out in his deal every year from here out. That's obviously important to figure out, lost that bat and who knows how they fill it. First thing I'd do if I was them is Nelson Cruz on a 1 year deal though if JD opts out.

 

The Twins hold a $12M team option ($300k buyout) on Cruz for 2020.

I would be shocked if the Twins did not pick up the option....

[tmwiese55]

JD Martinez situation will be interesting though with having an opt out in his deal every year from here out. That's obviously important to figure out, lost that bat and who knows how they fill it. First thing I'd do if I was them is Nelson Cruz on a 1 year deal though if JD opts out.

 

The Twins hold a $12M team option ($300k buyout) on Cruz for 2020.

I would be shocked if the Twins did not pick up the option....

 

Ah, didn't know that, just thought it was one year.

 

What would low budget GMs do with the cap space? Same things all other guys who've moved to big markets, spend it on big time FA contracts and then later get ripped on when the backends of those deals look bad. That said, I don't know why they won't just pay Betts. Only 26 years old, this contract shouldn't kill them. This is the biggest advantage mega markets have, when they have a homegrown star they can keep them.

[brooks_quichenick]

If you look at Boston's roster...Betts is about to leave, Sale has been extended and is seemingly not as effective, their farm is absolute trash. The state of that franchise is not very good...and only going to get worse in the near future. This is what happens when you make TheoDombrowski your GM/president of baseball ops.

 

Yea winning a World Series and multiple division titles is such a disappointment, can’t believe they ever hired Dombrowski.

 

John W. Henry, he of a ~3 billion dollar net worth, just cannot wait to start slashing payroll and increasing profits. That’s all this move is. MLB owners think we’re all stupid and they don’t care anymore about trying so long as the dollars keep rolling in and they never go over the luxury tax threshold. Bud Selig finally got his salary cap.

[Brew crew 92]

If you look at Boston's roster...Betts is about to leave, Sale has been extended and is seemingly not as effective, their farm is absolute trash. The state of that franchise is not very good...and only going to get worse in the near future. This is what happens when you make TheoDombrowski your GM/president of baseball ops.

 

Yea winning a World Series and multiple division titles is such a disappointment, can’t believe they ever hired Dombrowski.

 

John W. Henry, he of a ~3 billion dollar net worth, just cannot wait to start slashing payroll and increasing profits. That’s all this move is. MLB owners think we’re all stupid and they don’t care anymore about trying so long as the dollars keep rolling in and they never go over the luxury tax threshold. Bud Selig finally got his salary cap.

 

Respectfully disagree.

Dombrowski blew past the cap, HURTING the franchise as well as the owner. The loss of 10 spots in draft order is unforgivable. The total disregard for the farm is unforgivable. He’s a dinosaur. Henry has no problem with a maxed payroll, nor should he, since the large markets are making so much $ its ridiculous. But I do agree with your last sentence. Thank The baseball Gods for that.

[Brew crew 92]

JD Martinez situation will be interesting though with having an opt out in his deal every year from here out. That's obviously important to figure out, lost that bat and who knows how they fill it. First thing I'd do if I was them is Nelson Cruz on a 1 year deal though if JD opts out.

 

The Twins hold a $12M team option ($300k buyout) on Cruz for 2020.

I would be shocked if the Twins did not pick up the option....

 

Ah, didn't know that, just thought it was one year.

 

What would low budget GMs do with the cap space? Same things all other guys who've moved to big markets, spend it on big time FA contracts and then later get ripped on when the backends of those deals look bad. That said, I don't know why they won't just pay Betts. Only 26 years old, this contract shouldn't kill them. This is the biggest advantage mega markets have, when they have a homegrown star they can keep them.

 

Disagree with your take on low budget GM’s. The overwhelming analytical driven GM’s will not abundantly sign the stupid long term contracts of yesteryear. That age is over, these Brainiacs are too smart for that now. Instead I predict the further separating of the franchises by revenue. Unless changes to the CBA are made, the top 8-10 large markets will completely dominate the playoffs and World Series like never before. These guys will dominate with large shorter term contracts, staying more and more between the players prime years, and record breaking depth. Their 40th man will be more talented than our 26th.

[tmwiese55]

He blew past the budget and it won the WS, was he wrong to do it? I mean you just said he hurt the franchise in capital letters for winning the WS. If he didn't sign JD, get Sale and Price they don't win the WS. If he doesn't do it they lose 10 more games and he's fired for not making the playoffs. I agree with you they'll be smarter now to avoid the 7-8 year albatrosses though, I might've over spoke there. But they're still going to spend 20-30 mil per year on star players and have to give out 4-6 year type deals, and some will blow up. Unforgivable that he blew up the farm giving up Moncado for Sale, that's been a huge win for them so far and just won the WS with it? Cmon. Outside of that multiple homegrown players have come up and done great for them. He held firm on Devers when any past Boston GM would've moved him 3 years ago for the flavor of the deadline like crazy fans demand every year.

 

While you're generally right about them wising up on the contracts, they're still going to spend big money because knee jerk fans like yourself will scream and whine if they don't. So push comes to shove, they sign the guys because they're going to get fired if they don't win now. These markets don't have the patience.

 

Also, in specifically ripping him. He didn't give out the Sandoval/Ramirez contacts. He took on those burdens, got out of them and won the WS. He's actually been smart about this stuff and stuck with the young guys instead of trading for knee jerk win now trades posters like yourself would demand. He held firm on JD and got him way cheaper than anyone thought(in line exactly with what you're saying smart teams will do, he just did it and nailed it). Sale/Evaldi I'm a little skeptical on. Tough to blame for Sale as he's that good, but I think we could all see this arm trouble coming. But, as you said he was smart and only paid 5 years instead of the 7-8 years of contracts past. Evaldi though looks bad, not sure why he did that one. Seemed an overreaction to a late season hot streak, see how that can get you in trouble? Pedroia, Pablo and Porcelo clear like 60 mil off for them this year too. Look at their books and they're really only bad contract is Evaldi. Essentially he's been focused on doing things more efficiently and it won a WS. Yet he's fired and folks acting like he's a moron when really besides the questionable Evaldi he probably hasn't given out a truly bad contract. Price's isn't really that bad overall and it's now down to 3 years and Price was absolutely huge last year.

 

It's also not totally fair to bash for bad drafts and farm when these teams draft at pick 25+ every year. This is why it's so ridiculous what LAD is doing, go look at their drafts and they still keep nailing mid to late 1st rd picks. Ridiculous what they're doing. Also, a new low budget GM isn't gonna come in and be allowed years of tanking to build the farm. They'll arrive, see a barren farm and realize their only way to win is to pay, otherwise they're going to get fired for not winning. Unless the owner specifically says "lose so I can make more money", but how happy would you be about that?

[Brew crew 92]

He blew past the budget and it won the WS, was he wrong to do it? I mean you just said he hurt the franchise in capital letters for winning the WS. If he didn't sign JD, get Sale and Price they don't win the WS. If he doesn't do it they lose 10 more games and he's fired for not making the playoffs. I agree with you they'll be smarter now to avoid the 7-8 year albatrosses though, I might've over spoke there. But they're still going to spend 20-30 mil per year on star players and have to give out 4-6 year type deals, and some will blow up. Unforgivable that he blew up the farm giving up Moncado for Sale, that's been a huge win for them so far and just won the WS with it? Cmon. Outside of that multiple homegrown players have come up and done great for them. He held firm on Devers when any past Boston GM would've moved him 3 years ago for the flavor of the deadline like crazy fans demand every year.

 

While you're generally right about them wising up on the contracts, they're still going to spend big money because knee jerk fans like yourself will scream and whine if they don't. So push comes to shove, they sign the guys because they're going to get fired if they don't win now. These markets don't have the patience.

 

Also, in specifically ripping him. He didn't give out the Sandoval/Ramirez contacts. He took on those burdens, got out of them and won the WS. He's actually been smart about this stuff and stuck with the young guys instead of trading for knee jerk win now trades posters like yourself would demand. He held firm on JD and got him way cheaper than anyone thought(in line exactly with what you're saying smart teams will do, he just did it and nailed it). Sale/Evaldi I'm a little skeptical on. Tough to blame for Sale as he's that good, but I think we could all see this arm trouble coming. But, as you said he was smart and only paid 5 years instead of the 7-8 years of contracts past. Evaldi though looks bad, not sure why he did that one. Seemed an overreaction to a late season hot streak, see how that can get you in trouble? Pedroia, Pablo and Porcelo clear like 60 mil off for them this year too. Look at their books and they're really only bad contract is Evaldi. Essentially he's been focused on doing things more efficiently and it won a WS. Yet he's fired and folks acting like he's a moron when really besides the questionable Evaldi he probably hasn't given out a truly bad contract. Price's isn't really that bad overall and it's now down to 3 years and Price was absolutely huge last year.

 

It's also not totally fair to bash for bad drafts and farm when these teams draft at pick 25+ every year. This is why it's so ridiculous what LAD is doing, go look at their drafts and they still keep nailing mid to late 1st rd picks. Ridiculous what they're doing. Also, a new low budget GM isn't gonna come in and be allowed years of tanking to build the farm. They'll arrive, see a barren farm and realize their only way to win is to pay, otherwise they're going to get fired for not winning. Unless the owner specifically says "lose so I can make more money", but how happy would you be about that?

 

Ok, a smart dinosaur.

[tmwiese55]

Yea his Tigers tenure is just brutal and I was surprised he got hired for this job back when it happened. And let's not forget that was a super old owner saying F it, spend whatever I want a title before I die.

 

But he really hasn't done a bad job since he's been there if you look into it. I mean, what'd they win 117 games or something crazy last year and the WS. Yea, what an idiot dinosaur who doesn't get it. As I mentioned, those 3 big contracts drop this year and I think I saw something that says they should have 70ish mil under Tax to play with. I don't recall if that was counting JD as in or out though. Sooo, in a way he kind of did exactly what they wanted and still got fired. Managed to win while waiting for a few bad previous contracts to leave their books to get under the tax. Not only did they win or stay good but actually won the whole thing. And it seems they're actually set up to get under the tax if they're really determined next year assuming they're frugal this offseason. Unless that article was wrong somehow, I think it was CBS. Yet you're here ripping him like he's some moron.

 

Jeez, just saw a Rusney Castillo contract he's having to sit on too handed out by previous management, 13 mil left for next year. I'd say the major glaring thing attributable to him on their books is Evaldi. If he knew management had this get under the Tax mantra, he should've accepted losing him and saved that 17 mil to keep JD/Mookie etc. Replaced him with a Miley type on a 1 year deal. That 17 mil could end up the difference between Tax and no Tax for them.

[homer]

Just seems weird they would tell him "Win now!" so he makes the deals in order for them to win a world series and now they want to fire him for doing what they told him to do. Maybe tell him "rebuild the farm system" and let him try to do that?

[Brew crew 92]

He’s won multiple WS with multiple teams. 20 years ago he was ahead of his time. Not now, that’s all. If I’m Henry, I want it all. I want the youngest, smartest most well rounded guy I can get. I don’t know how Stearns feels about his future, but,if I’m Henry, he’s right there at the top of my list along with porter of Arizona, Antonetti of Cleveland, Falvey of Minnesota, who’s from the Boston area and Bloom of Tampa bay. Has anyone done more with less for as long as billy Beene? So many great candidates.

[homer]

He already tried to get Beane. He agreed and then changed his mind.

[tmwiese55]

Yea I think Beane loves his current role where he's allowed the occasional bad years and can write it off as due to the market. Boston, you have no excuses you have to do it now. Basically he doesn't have to deal with any of the big market media BS.

 

ETA: seems in all that I forgot he acquired kimbrel too. Got him in his prime on a good contract, then let him go instead of paying out the old age bad years. Again, good move. None of the prospects have done much for SD yet. Margot was in it and Logan Allen.

[LouisEly]

[sarcasm]He was fired for the Tyler Thornburg trade.[/sarcasm]

 

They'll lose Porcello ($21M), Cashner (prorated portion of $9.5M), Nunez ($5M), Pearce ($6.25M) and Owings ($3M). Moreland ($6.5M) and Holt ($3.8M) are also free agents, and Sandoval's buyout decreases by $13M. So at most about $68M comes off the books.

 

But Sale's contract doubles ($15M more), Bogarts adds $8M, Betts will add probably another $5M-$7M (they'll likely find a way to backload a deal), Bradley another $2M-$4M, Eduardo Rodriguez another $6-$8M, and Benitendi another $8M-$10M. So that might be another $50M or so that they'll have to spend to keep the core of the team together.

 

Wouldn't be surprised if they have to trade some of that young talent (Beninendi, Bradley) for pitching or prospects or to get out from some bad contracts.

[homer]

Javy Baez out for the rest of the month.

[Ennder]

Just seems weird they would tell him "Win now!" so he makes the deals in order for them to win a world series and now they want to fire him for doing what they told him to do. Maybe tell him "rebuild the farm system" and let him try to do that?

 

I don't think any win now trades really have anything to do with this, those have not be a huge player in their success recently.. To be honest I feel that something outside of the product on the field is at play here.

[MadThinker88]

Interesting list of possible names to take over in Boston....

https://www.mlb.com/news/candidates-to-replace-dave-dombrowski

[homer]

Just seems weird they would tell him "Win now!" so he makes the deals in order for them to win a world series and now they want to fire him for doing what they told him to do. Maybe tell him "rebuild the farm system" and let him try to do that?

 

I don't think any win now trades really have anything to do with this, those have not be a huge player in their success recently.. To be honest I feel that something outside of the product on the field is at play here.

 

Agreed.

[LouisEly]

Former Brewers draft pick and farmhand Johnny Davis has finally made the majors. His contract was selected by Tampa Bay from AA. Amazing, considering he was playing in the Mexican League until August 29th.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/09/rays-select-johnny-davis.html