As we are now just a week away from winter meetings with the holiday season looming, the MLB offseason will continue to resolve itself. There has been a steady stream of news since the meetings and Carlos Correa signing a 13-year, $350 million contract with the Giants. on tuesday night was the biggest news in a bit🇧🇷
Still, some big names remain in the free agency market (top 50 tracker here) though it’s possible there are more deals in the works as well. Let’s check out the rumors of the day.
Rodón, distant Yankees
After re-signing Aaron Judge last week, the Yankees’ “top priority” is left-wing ace Carlos Rodón, reports Jon Heyman of new york post🇧🇷 According to the report, Rodón expects seven years and $210 million minimum, while the Yankees don’t want to go that high in years and/or average annual dollar value.
What’s more, the Cardinals are unlikely to fork out the years and money that Rodón is coveting at this point, according to The Athletic. The St. Louis has been linked with the left-hander in recent days, even after the signing of Willson Contreras.
Rodón, 30, had to sign a minor league contract just two seasons ago, but he’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball ever since. As of 2021, he is 13-5 with a 2.37 ERA (185 ERA+), 0.96 WHIP and 185 strikeouts in 132 2/3 innings. He was hampered down the stretch by a shoulder injury, so in the last offseason he signed a two-year deal with an opt-out after the first year. He left and made 31 starts for the Giants, going 14-8 with a 2.88 ERA (140 ERA+), 1.03 WHIP and 237 strikeouts in 178 innings.
He looks like a midfield playmaker but brings with him all the shoulder injuries he has had in the past. It will be interesting to see how things play out, but the Yankees seem to be holding onto it.
Priests still have money to spend
Free agent starting pitcher Chris Bassitt reportedly agreed to a three-year, $63 million contract with the Blue Jays. What does this have to do with the Fathers? We will, Heyman’s Reports that San Diego was one of the last teams involved in the bidding.
Now, sometimes sending this out via anonymous sources is a call for mockery (“we tried!”), but in the case of the Padres, it feels real because they’ve already landed Xander Bogaerts in an extremely aggressive contract and we know they have a spot open in their rotation behind Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Blake Snell, with Nick Martinez manning the back end.
All of which is to say, we can speculatively keep them in mind on all the remaining free agent starters like Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha, Johnny Cueto, and yes, Mr. Rodón.
Crawford goes to 3B for Correa
By signing Correa, the Giants would always move veteran shortstop Brandon Crawford to second or third base. Susan Slusser’s Reports will be the hot corner. He will likely be an asset there. Crawford has scored as an above-average defensive shortstop for years with good range and arm strength readings have risen each of the past three seasons as well.
Right-hand reliever JP Feyereisen had shoulder surgery last week and is expected out by August 2023. The Rays ended up assigning him to the assignment to make room for recent signing Zach Eflin and before Feyereisen was waived, a trade took place. The Rays sent him to the Dodgers in exchange for minor league reliever Jeff Belge, According to Marc Topkin🇧🇷
Feyereisen, 29, had a 0.00 ERA (really) in 24 1/3 innings last season. He posted a 0.49 WHIP and struck out 25 against five walks. He allowed only one of the 10 runners he inherited to score and amassed 1.4 WAR in short order. It was an insanely good season. Assuming he bounces back as expected, the Dodgers could get a late weapon to their bullpen next season.