What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

***Official 2017-18 Hot Stove League Thread: Peter Bourjos & Ryan Flaherty are signs the end is near (1 Viewer)

Eephus

Footballguy
Nov. 13-16, 2017

GM Meetings in Orlando, Fla.

Dec. 10-14, 2017

Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla.

Feb 13, 2018

Pitchers and Catchers report

March 29, 2018

Opening Day

 
Last edited by a moderator:
2018 Free Agents

Catchers

Alex Avila (31)
Welington Castillo (31) — $7MM player option
A.J. Ellis (37)
Nick Hundley (34)
Chris Iannetta (35)
Jose Lobaton (33)
Jonathan Lucroy (32)
Miguel Montero (34)
Rene Rivera (34)
Carlos Ruiz (39)
Geovany Soto (35)
Chris Stewart (36) — $1.5MM club option with a $250K buyout
Matt Wieters (32) — $11MM player option

First Basemen

Yonder Alonso (31)
Pedro Alvarez (31)
Lucas Duda (32)
Eric Hosmer (28)
John Jaso (34)
Adam Lind (34) — $5MM mutual option with a $500K buyout
Tyler Moore (31)
Mitch Moreland (32)
Logan Morrison (30)
Mike Napoli (36)
Mark Reynolds (34)
Carlos Santana (32)
Danny Valencia (33)
Scott Van Slyke (31)

Second Basemen

Jose Altuve (28) — $6MM club option
Darwin Barney (32)
Andres Blanco (34)
Asdrubal Cabrera (32) — $8.5MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Chase d’Arnaud (31)
Daniel Descalso (31) — $2MM club option with a $150K buyout
Danny Espinosa (31)
Ryan Flaherty (31)
Phil Gosselin (29)
Logan Forsythe (31) — $8.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Howie Kendrick (34)
Cliff Pennington (34)
Brandon Phillips (37)
Jose Reyes (35)
Chase Utley (39)
Neil Walker (32)

Shortstops

Alexi Amarista (29) — $2.5MM club option with a $150K buyout
Erick Aybar (34)
Asdrubal Cabrera (32) — $8.5MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Zack Cozart (32)
Dusty Coleman (31)
Chase d’Arnaud (31)
Stephen Drew (35)
Alcides Escobar (31)
J.J. Hardy (35) — $14MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Eduardo Nunez (31)
Jose Reyes (35)
Adam Rosales (35)
Ruben Tejada (28)

Third Basemen

Darwin Barney (32)
Asdrubal Cabrera (32) — $8.5MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Yunel Escobar (35)
Logan Forsythe (31) — $8.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Todd Frazier (32)
Conor Gillaspie (30)
Mike Moustakas (29)
Eduardo Nunez (31)
Cliff Pennington (34)
Jhonny Peralta (36)
Brandon Phillips (37)
Trevor Plouffe (32)
Jose Reyes (35)

Left Fielders

Cody Asche (28)
Peter Bourjos (31)
Michael Brantley (31) — $11MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Melky Cabrera (33)
Rajai Davis (37)
Daniel Descalso (31) — $2MM club option with a $150K buyout
Jarrod Dyson (33)
Andre Ethier (36) — $17.5MM club option with a $2.5MM buyout
Craig Gentry (34)
Curtis Granderson (37)
Franklin Gutierrez (35)
Chris Heisey (33)
Austin Jackson (31)
Jon Jay (33)
Howie Kendrick (34)
Hyun Soo Kim (30)
Adam Lind (34) — $5MM mutual option with a $500K buyout
Cameron Maybin (31)
Tyler Moore (31)
Daniel Nava (35)
Eduardo Nunez (31)
Colby Rasmus (31)
Ben Revere (30)
Michael Saunders (31)
Ah-seop Son (30)
Justin Upton (30) — Can opt out of the remaining four years, $88MM on his contract
Scott Van Slyke (31)
Jayson Werth (39)
Chris B. Young (34)
Eric Young Jr. (33)

Center Fielders

Peter Bourjos (31)
Lorenzo Cain (32)
Rajai Davis (37)
Jaff Decker (28)
Jarrod Dyson (33)
Carlos Gomez (32)
Austin Jackson (31)
Jon Jay (33)
Cameron Maybin (31)
Andrew McCutchen (31) — $14.75MM club option with a $1MM buyout

Right Fielders

Jose Bautista (37) — $17MM mutual option with a $500K buyout
Jay Bruce (31)
Melky Cabrera (33)
Craig Gentry (34)
Carlos Gonzalez (32)
Curtis Granderson (37)
Austin Jackson (31)
John Jaso (34)
Jon Jay (33)
J.D. Martinez (30)
Carlos Moncrief (29)
Tyler Moore (31)
Michael Saunders (31)
Seth Smith (35)
Ah-seop Son (30)
Scott Van Slyke (31)
Jayson Werth (39)

Designated Hitters

Pedro Alvarez (31)
Jose Bautista (37) — $17MM mutual option with a $500K buyout
Carlos Beltran (40)
Matt Holliday (38)
Logan Morrison (30)
Mike Napoli (36)
Carlos Santana (32)

Starting Pitchers

Brett Anderson (30)
Jake Arrieta (32)
Christian Bergman (30)
Mike Bolsinger (30)
Clay Buchholz (33)
Madison Bumgarner (28) — $12MM club option with a $1.5M buyout
Trevor Cahill (30)
Andrew Cashner (31)
Jhoulys Chacin (30)
Tyler Chatwood (28)
Jesse Chavez (34)
Wei-Yin Chen (32) — Can opt out of the remaining three years, $52MM on his contract
Alex Cobb (30)
Josh Collmenter (32)
Bartolo Colon (45)
Johnny Cueto (32) — Can opt out of the remaining four years, $84MM on his contract
Yu Darvish (31)
R.A. Dickey (43)
Nathan Eovaldi (28) — $2MM club option
Scott Feldman (35)
Doug Fister (34)
Yovani Gallardo (32) — $13MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Jaime Garcia (31)
Matt Garza (34)
Dillon Gee (32)
Miguel Gonzalez (34)
Jeremy Hellickson (31)
Derek Holland (31)
David Holmberg (26)
Drew Hutchison (27)
Ubaldo Jimenez (34)
John Lackey (39)
Francisco Liriano (34)
Jeff Locke (30)
Jordan Lyles (27)
Lance Lynn (31)
Miles Mikolas (29)
Wade Miley (31) — $12MM club option with a $500K buyout
Mike Minor (30) — $10MM mutual option with a $1.25MM buyout
Ricky Nolasco (35) — $13MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Wily Peralta (29)
Martin Perez (27) — $6MM club option with a $2.45MM buyout
Michael Pineda (29)
Tyson Ross (31)
CC Sabathia (37)
Anibal Sanchez (34)
Hector Santiago (30)
Chris Sale (29) — $12.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Masahiro Tanaka (29) — Can opt out of the remaining three years, $67MM on his contract
Chris Tillman (30)
Josh Tomlin (33) — $3MM club option with a $750K buyout
Jacob Turner (27)
Jason Vargas (35)
Hideaki Wakui (32)
Asher Wojciechowski (29)
Chris Young (39)

Right-Handed Relievers

Matt Albers (35)
John Axford (35)
Tony Barnette (34) — $4MM club option with a $250K buyout
Matt Belisle (38)
Joaquin Benoit (40)
Christian Bergman (30)
Mike Bolsinger (30)
Blaine Boyer (36)
Trevor Cahill (30)
Jesse Chavez (34)
Josh Collmenter (32)
Tyler Clippard (33)
Steve Cishek (32)
Wade Davis (32)
Neftali Feliz (30)
Dillon Gee (32)
Jeanmar Gomez (30)
Luke Gregerson (34)
Jason Grilli (41)
David Hernandez (33)
Yoshihisa Hirano (34)
Greg Holland (32)
Tommy Hunter (31)
Craig Kimbrel (30) — $13MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Brandon Kintzler (33)
Seth Maness (29)
Chris Martin (32)
Dustin McGowan (36)
Brandon Morrow (33)
Jason Motte (36)
Peter Moylan (39)
Pat Neshek (37)
Juan Nicasio (31)
Bud Norris (33)
Seung-hwan Oh (35)
Kevin Quackenbush (29)
Chad Qualls (39)
Addison Reed (29)
Fernando Rodney (41)
Francisco Rodriguez (36)
Sergio Romo (35)
Fernando Salas (33)
Rob Scahill (31)
Bryan Shaw (30)
Chris Smith (37)
Joe Smith (34)
Craig Stammen (34)
Drew Storen (30)
Huston Street (34) — $10MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Anthony Swarzak (32)
Carlos Torres (35)
Koji Uehara (43)
Tom Wilhelmsen (34)
Asher Wojciechowski (29)
Chris Young (39)

Left-Handed Relievers

Fernando Abad (32)
Jerry Blevins (34) — $7MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Craig Breslow (37)
Jorge De La Rosa (37)
Brian Duensing (35)
Zach Duke (35)
Josh Edgin (31)
David Holmberg (26)
Ian Krol (27)
Francisco Liriano (34)
Boone Logan (33) — $7MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Jake McGee (31)
Mike Minor (30) — $10MM mutual option with a $1.5MM buyout
Eric O’Flaherty (33)
Oliver Perez (36)
Glen Perkins (35)
Kevin Siegrist (28)
Tony Watson (32)

 
The rise of the Astros was abetted by tanking.  Previous WS teams like the Rays and Royals WS were built via the draft but I don't recall either club bottoming out to the degree the Astros did.  They had the advantages of new ownership and front office personnel who didn't have to worry about short term results so I doubt this will become the new normal.

If you look at past drafts, the chances of hitting of a 1st rounder are considerably higher if a team is drafting near the top.  But even that's not foolproof.  The Astros picked Mark Appel over Kris Bryant and Jon Gray in 2013, and whiffed entirely on Brady Aiken the following year.   They got Bregman with a compensatory pick.

Part of baseball's appeal has always been it's competitiveness; most teams will win between 43%-57% of their games so there's not the 16-0 or 73-9 type records that happen in other sports.  I hope we don't increase the gap between the haves and the (temporary, strategic) have-nots but the Astros have published the blueprint.

 
The rise of the Astros was abetted by tanking.  Previous WS teams like the Rays and Royals WS were built via the draft but I don't recall either club bottoming out to the degree the Astros did.  They had the advantages of new ownership and front office personnel who didn't have to worry about short term results so I doubt this will become the new normal.

If you look at past drafts, the chances of hitting of a 1st rounder are considerably higher if a team is drafting near the top.  But even that's not foolproof.  The Astros picked Mark Appel over Kris Bryant and Jon Gray in 2013, and whiffed entirely on Brady Aiken the following year.   They got Bregman with a compensatory pick.

Part of baseball's appeal has always been it's competitiveness; most teams will win between 43%-57% of their games so there's not the 16-0 or 73-9 type records that happen in other sports.  I hope we don't increase the gap between the haves and the (temporary, strategic) have-nots but the Astros have published the blueprint.
The current bonus pool system is encouraging tanking in ways I don't think existed before. The #1 pick has a slot value of like 8 mil. 

OK, I'll actually check... the Twins #1 in 2017 had a pick value of 7.7707 million. They signed Royce Lewis for 6.725mil, meaning they had over a million dollars left over to spend on their next few picks. Basically getting an extra first rounder by being the worst team. 

The 2nd pick slot was 7.193mil, 3rd pick slot was 6.668m, 4th slot was 6.153m. And yet the #3 pick signed for 6.7m and the #4 pick signed for 7mil, and the #5 pick signed for 7mil with a slot value of 5.707m. 

So, more than likely, any top 5ish pick would have cost you roughly the same amount to sign, but you had different amounts left over based on how bad you were.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/237042574/2017-draft-signing-and-bonus-tracker/

 
The current CBA leveled out the draft slot dollar amounts vs. the previous agreement.  There's now less difference between high, mid and low first rounders so there's less advantage for underpaying a top pick like Luhnow did with Correa and using the savings to entice lower picks with over-slot contracts.

 
The Anaheims extend Justin Upton's contract for 1/$18M in 2022 (his age 34 season) in exchange for him not taking his 2018 player option.

For better or worse, they'll have Trout til 2020, Pujols til 2021 and Upton til 2022.

 
The Anaheims extend Justin Upton's contract for 1/$18M in 2022 (his age 34 season) in exchange for him not taking his 2018 player option.

For better or worse, they'll have Trout til 2020, Pujols til 2021 and Upton til 2022.
Not sure I get this one. I really doubt Upton was going to find better if he even opted out. But not my money. If they find a decent 2ND and 3Rd base option in free agency and get lucky with pitcher health they could be pretty good next year. 

 
Not sure I get this one. I really doubt Upton was going to find better if he even opted out. But not my money. If they find a decent 2ND and 3Rd base option in free agency and get lucky with pitcher health they could be pretty good next year. 
I don't hate the deal.  They have the money to spend and need to do something before Trout's window closes.  Anaheim doesn't have any impact prospects near the major league level  and a backloaded 5/$106M contract is probably going to be around market rate for free agents this winter.

Upton and former Tigers teammate JD Martinez were born four days apart in 1987.  I suspect Martinez will get more than 5/$106M as a free agent.  Martinez' 45 HRs notwithstanding, Upton is a much better defender and hasn't had the injury history of Martinez.  It'll be interesting to see who is the better ballplayer over the remainder of their careers.

 
I don't hate the deal.  They have the money to spend and need to do something before Trout's window closes.  Anaheim doesn't have any impact prospects near the major league level  and a backloaded 5/$106M contract is probably going to be around market rate for free agents this winter.

Upton and former Tigers teammate JD Martinez were born four days apart in 1987.  I suspect Martinez will get more than 5/$106M as a free agent.  Martinez' 45 HRs notwithstanding, Upton is a much better defender and hasn't had the injury history of Martinez.  It'll be interesting to see who is the better ballplayer over the remainder of their careers.
That's the thing though - Upton already had the probable market rate deal, he just had the ability to opt out. I doubt he would have done that. Angels picked up one more year for a no trade clause, basically. It's not an awful deal in a vacuum, and especially when looking at other deals the team has made the past few years, but I'm not quite sure Upton would have tried jumping out of the deal he was in. They had the money though. There will definitely be more questionable moves this off-season. They're rumored to be gunning for Moose. Could be an incredible offense next season. 

 
I realize it's a ploy for a compensation pick but Tampa extended a $17.4M qualifying offer to Alex Cobb.

Cobb is an oft-injured, 30 year old starter with only two 150+ IP seasons and a career 111 ERA+.

 
Cubs make qualifying offer to both Davis and Arrieta. 

Verlander going to Houston kind of screwed Arrieta's plans. The rumor has always been that was where he wanted to play. He seemingly does not want to play for the Rangers. 

 
Him being a Yankee makes too much sense. Big hole at DH, CC money off the books, only one more year of Gardner / Headley.

Judge, Bird, Sanchez, Severino all already producing at the big league level and under control for at least 4 more years each.

Farm system isn't done providing cost controlled talent (Frazier / Torres)

 
My daughter's favorite non-Giant player RP Kevin Quackenbush signed a minor league deal with the Reds.

 
Phil Rogers ✔ @philgrogers

@Giants have interest in @Cubs' Jason Heyward, w/Jeff Samardzija and Mark Melancon to offer. Very complicated deal but not impossible.
Heyward has a full no-trade clause in his current deal which has six :bag: years to run.

Smarj and Melancon's contracts each have three years remaining.

 
...or not
 

Henry Schulman‏  @hankschulman

#sfgiants have had zero discussions with #cubs on deal involving Heyward, Shark, Melancon. Anyway, Heyward contract probably unmovable.

 
Smarj and Melancon's contracts each have three years remaining.
I don't know how long Theo holds onto personal issues, but it was fairly well known that the Shark was not all that impressed with Theo's approach to the game, and wasn't shy about running his mouth. And then when it became evident that he would not be getting the long-term deal he felt he deserved, Shark turned up the doosh meter to eleven.

I still can't figure how Theo got Addison Russell for him. 

 
Justin Upton leveraged his opt-out into an extra year with the Anaheims but he's coming off a semi-career year.  Heyward and Cueto didn't perform in their opt-out year.  Both their clubs would have been overjoyed if the players opted out but they agreed to the contracts with the likelihood that they would run to term.

We'll see if the FA contracts this year contain these clauses.  While they don't cost much in dollars, they can have a significant impact on the trade value of players approaching their opt-out window.

 
Him being a Yankee makes too much sense. Big hole at DH, CC money off the books, only one more year of Gardner / Headley.

Judge, Bird, Sanchez, Severino all already producing at the big league level and under control for at least 4 more years each.

Farm system isn't done providing cost controlled talent (Frazier / Torres)
Judge/Hicks/Clint Frazier/Gardy is 4 dudes for 3 spots, plus Ellsbury's carcass and Headley's carcass. Not sure there's a big window at DH. 

 
Judge/Hicks/Clint Frazier/Gardy is 4 dudes for 3 spots, plus Ellsbury's carcass and Headley's carcass. Not sure there's a big window at DH. 
Are the Yankees going to be big players this offseason? I just assumed they'd take a pass, keep improving from within, then throw all their money at a bunch of the 2018 FA studs (Harper/Machado/Donaldson :( ).

 
Are the Yankees going to be big players this offseason? I just assumed they'd take a pass, keep improving from within, then throw all their money at a bunch of the 2018 FA studs (Harper/Machado/Donaldson :( ).
They're going to sit this one out.  Hal has made an edict to get below the luxury tax threshold this offseason.  I'm hoping they can scrape together the money to re-sign CC.  Beyond that, they may try to deal Ellsbury/Gardner/Headley/Castro, but I don't see them signing any FAs of note.

 
Carlos Beltran calls it a career after 20 years and goes out on top with a WS ring.

Very interesting HOF case.  Not sure he was good enough.  It's close.  With the way voters treated Kenny Lofton and Bernie Williams, doubt he gets in, but they've surprised me before.

 
Alex Anthopoulos is going to get the Cobb County GM job.  He had a decent run in Toronto but lost power to Mark Shapiro.  AA takes over an enviable collection of prospects.  The short wait for Ronald Acuna is easy but picking which young pitchers will prosper, fail and get hurt is the hard part. 

It'll be interesting to see what AA does when he thinks the young Braves are ready.  AA swung for the fences in the big multiplayer Reyes and Dickey trades.  The guys going to Toronto mostly scuffled but Syndergaard was the only big loss.  The Donaldson deal worked out much better for Toronto.

 
Justin Upton leveraged his opt-out into an extra year with the Anaheims but he's coming off a semi-career year.  Heyward and Cueto didn't perform in their opt-out year.  Both their clubs would have been overjoyed if the players opted out but they agreed to the contracts with the likelihood that they would run to term.

We'll see if the FA contracts this year contain these clauses.  While they don't cost much in dollars, they can have a significant impact on the trade value of players approaching their opt-out window.
I think they'll still pop up here and there, but I think teams will be less likely to treat them as freebies with no liability. 

I also think Cueto for 4 more years and $80mm isn't as bad, relatively speaking, as Heyward's contract. At some point I think CHC will just buy him out and be done with it. 

SF is really hamstrung here by their lack of farm system and their unwillingness to go over the luxury tax barrier. There isn't much that they're going to be able to get done with those two constraints. They can keep sucking, spend a lot of money to suck marginally less, or blow it all up and really suck for a couple years and maybe turn it around later in a few years. It worked for Houston! 

 
I don't know if the Giants organization has it in them to tank but I guess we'll find out.  The chatter about trading for Stanton suggests they're still trying to win with the current roster.  I guess that's noble but I don't see enough upside in what's suddenly become a strong division. 

I posted in the Giants thread that I think their best option is to hope Bumgarner is Bumgarner in the first half and deal him for prospects.  It's the most tradeable asset they have.  All their other post-arbitration guys are at or above market rates.  I guess Matt Moore is a value guy but $9M usually buys you positive WAR.

 
I don't know if the Giants organization has it in them to tank but I guess we'll find out.  The chatter about trading for Stanton suggests they're still trying to win with the current roster.  I guess that's noble but I don't see enough upside in what's suddenly become a strong division. 

I posted in the Giants thread that I think their best option is to hope Bumgarner is Bumgarner in the first half and deal him for prospects.  It's the most tradeable asset they have.  All their other post-arbitration guys are at or above market rates.  I guess Matt Moore is a value guy but $9M usually buys you positive WAR.
Do they trade Posey too if they move MadBum?  I just don't know how much they'd get for him at market rate in his thirties.  I think he can remain valuable (especially in the AL with some DH days), but it's a bit of gamble.  If you're a team like the Red Sox, though, he'd be a very attractive fit for that club.

ETA:  Panik is a good piece to trade too, if they decide to blow it up.  Team would get his 3 arb years.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Posey has 4/$87M left on his deal, which is pretty reasonable except that he'll be a 31 year old catcher come opening day.  I'm not convinced they'll move either Bum or Posey but trading both seems beyond the realm of possibilities.  Panik is a nice player but a 2 win player with a history of back problems isn't going to bring a huge return.  Maybe Christian Arroyo makes Panik expendable.

I'm totally down for a rebuild but I doubt ownership is yet.

 
I think Peavy might be able to reinvent himself as an effective reliever.  When he was with the Giants before his first retirement, he had a lot of problems making it through the order the second time.

 
Oakland makes the first off-season trade as the Mariners trade for yet another Oakland first baseman. 

Ryon Healy for a promising but hr prone bullpen arm and a 17 year old infielder. 

 
The Hot Stove is officially lit.

The Oaklands trade 1B/3B/DH Ryon Healy to Seattle for RP Emilio Pagan and 17 year old Venezuelan SS Alexander Campos. 

Beane is selling high on 25 year old Healy who hit 25 HRs with a .302 OBP.  The A's always seem to have some guy named Matt that they can plug into CI slots and the trade allows Khris Davis' arm to move to DH. 

Pagan pitched 50 big league innings with a 7.00 :excited: K/BB ratio.  He's 26 and doesn't seem to have missed any years in the minors due to injury.  I don't know anything about Campos but some Latin American scout in the A's organization presumably does.  I'm at the point now where I figure any trade involving the Mariners, no matter the GM, is going to end up a win for the other side.

 
I totally forgot Oakland traded Yonder Alonso to Seattle in early August. I guess he wore out his welcome.

 
Alex Cobb to the Cubs seems almost an inevitability. The only hitch might be length of contract. Cobb is seeking at least four years, pushing for five. I think both sides are waiting to see how the Arrieta scenario plays out. If he signs elsewhere, then Cobb's price steepens, if Arrieta resigns, then Cobb's contract is suited to what Theo/Jed want. 

 
No penalties announced yet for Braves.  Presumably they'll involve some prospects reverting to FA status and loss of future bonus pool money. 

The big question is whether Kevin Maitan will be thrown back into the pool, although his disappointing Rookie League showing has tempered some of the hype,  He's still just 17 though.

 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top