If he makes the team, he gets $1 million. If he gets into enough games and finishes enough games, he gets another 350 K.

Signed a one-year deal with the Twins for $8 million. $9 million less than the option the Yankees declined.

Inked a minor-league deal with KC yesterday.

Two years, $32 million to stay with the 'Stros.

The problem for us 99.9 percenters is we can't get our heads around the fact that the Mets could spend like drunken sailors if they wanted to. Even if they had to pay Cano this year.

The first of Joel Sherman's three reasons why the Mets folded their hand when they could have called or raised:

1. If Springer were signed would that preclude them from also retaining Michael Conforto? This falls into the realm of how much even Cohen is willing to spend. Conforto will be a free agent after the 2021 season, just like Lindor. In an ideal outcome, the Mets would retain both.

But if they do, they also have Robinson Cano’s $20 million annually returning to the bottom line for 2022-23. Additionally, they either have to retain or replace, likely, two starters because Steven Matz, Marcus Stroman and Noah Syndergaard all are entering their walk years. Cohen has said the Mets will spend like a big-market team, but “not like drunken sailors.” The Mets were wondering, if they have all of that on the payroll, would it be wise to have two outfielders making as much long term as it would have necessitated for Conforto and Springer?

https://nypost.com/2021/01/20/why-mets-didnt-sign-george-springer/ 

Can see nominating and taking at 1, but keeping my mouth shut if someone else nominates him, given that he's never played for a team in a hitter's park.

Don Sutton (1945-2021)

WAR: 66.7 Better than 55.7% of HOFers Black Ink: 8 Better than 23.4% of HOFers Gray Ink: 243 Better than 81.7% of HOFers HOF Monitor: 149.0 Better than 51.9% of HOFers JAWS: 50.31 Better than 26.2% of HOFers at P

It was announced yesterday that Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Dodgers legend Don Sutton had passed away at the age of 75. Sutton spent his first 15 MLB seasons with the Dodgers, as well as his final season in 1988. He was a successful pitcher for a long time, finishing with 324 wins in his career, 14th all-time, as well as 3574 strikeouts, 7th all-time. 1972 to 1977 was a notable stretch where he finished in the top 5 of Cy Young voting 5 times, and earned his 4 All-Star Game selections. Sutton was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1998. In his post-playing career, he was a broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves.

See player page on Baseball-Reference.com

Today's dWAR is much more sophisticated (I think) than Total Zone FRAA. And even in dWAR, Andruw Jones is said to to have been a better center fielder -- both at his best and in his career -- than Willie Mays.

I don't believe it.

HOF Candidate Spotlight

WAR: 62.7 Better than 47.7% of HOFers Black Ink: 10 Better than 28.1% of HOFers Gray Ink: 47 Better than 5.5% of HOFers HOF Monitor: 109.0 Better than 29.4% of HOFers JAWS: 54.58 Better than 63.2% of HOFers at CF

Andruw Jones enters his 4th year on the ballot, hoping to make another jump after reaching a new high of 19.4% last year. Jones was in the spotlight from early on in his career, beginning 1996 as the top prospect in the minor leagues and then rising from High-A ball all the way to the '96 Braves' World Series lineup, where he became the youngest player to hit a home run in the Fall Classic.

He went on to become a dominant defensive presence for the late '90s/early 2000s Braves, rattling off a streak of 10 Gold Glove-winning seasons. By Total Zone Total Fielding Runs Above Avg, one of the main fielding sabermetrics and available back to 1953, Andruw Jones was more valuable over the course of his career than any other centerfielder in MLB history (2nd place in that statistic at center field is Willie Mays). Jones' defensive contributions in addition to his offensive moments, including leading the NL in home runs and RBI in 2005, led to him being 3rd in Wins Above Replacement from 1998 to 2006, only trailing Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds in that time span. Jones would go on to a steady decline by the time he entered his 30s, including posting a -1.6 WAR in his 2008 season with the Dodgers, good for 4th-worst in the NL that year. The shortened career led to failing to reach notable Hall of Fame milestones such as the 2,000-hit threshold.

See player page on Baseball-Reference.com

See Glossary of terms.

Will try to make the Diamondbacks this spring. No red ink in the five-year scan of any middle reliever is impressive.

Two years ending at 37, not 39, and more long balls add up to $6M I guess. Makes sense to me.

Will be coming to camp with the Diamondbacks as an NRI.

Signed a one-year deal with the Blue Jays for $5.5 million.

After surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow, "The range of possibilities are wide, from total comeback to total recurrence," Peter writes in the Rotoman Special.

"but even if he emerges healthy and effective he isn't guaranteed a closer role, which has to temper his price. That might make him a good target, at least until the uncertainty about his status is removed. If proved healthy and named as closer his price jumps to..."

Uh-uh. I'm not going to say.

If you're a subscriber you already know.

Signed a one-year deal with the Blue Jays for $8 million.

It's never a good thing when the EV is higher than the FBv but it was a small sample size.

In the American Dreams we have a high innings minimum. I'll be bidding for him.

Despite being one the team's "top offensive performers" at the alternate training site, Gorman slipped a few rungs (from No. 50) in this year's Top 100 Prospects from Baseball America.

His season at the alternate training site in Pawtucket and further work in the instructional league has moved him up from No. 65 in last year's Top 100. His preternatural hitting ability has some in the organization believing "he is sufficiently advanced to fast track to the majors by the end of the season," according to the scouting report.

BA, rolling out its Tope 100 Prospects in MLB...

Up from the depths by virtue of making Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects. In fact he's in their top 50.

A rough year for Heliot but he still claims the No. 3 spot on the Giants in the latest prospect ranking from BP today.

• 3.
• Heliot Ramos
• CF
• Born: 1999-09-07
• B: Right
• T: Right
• H: 6′ 0″
• W: 188 lbs.
• Drafted 19th overall in the 2017 draft, Leadership Christian Academy (Guaynabo, P.R.); signed for $3.1 million.

The Report: Ramos is a potential plus hit/plus power corner outfielder. The plus hit tool doesn’t necessarily derive from above-average feel for contact—Ramos’s power comes from some length, and swing-and-miss comes with it—but from the damage he can do when he does make contact. Ramos hits the ball hard, and he can hit it over the fence. He’s a pretty good runner despite his somewhat-square frame, and somewhere other than San Francisco’s cavernous park, could play a bit of center field. He should be a good right fielder though, and the arm strength isn’t an issue there.

Development Track: Ramos’s season—such as it was—ended up bookended by oblique issues: one in spring that would have delayed his start to the season, and one in the fall which cut short his time in instructs. This just continues his up and down prospect trajectory. 2020 was perhaps down a little due to the injuries and global pandemic limiting his ability to build off his strong 2019. A strong start to 2021 could find him in the Giants outfield mix quickly though. Some odd-year bullshit in the Bay Area would be refreshing at least.

OFP: 60 / First-division right fielder

Variance: Medium. Because of the oscillating arc of his development, Ramos has never really put together the kind of sustained, year-over-year performance that makes you completely confident that it’s a plus corner outfield profile. That’s a high offensive bar, but the tools are certainly there to vault it. —Jeffrey Paternostro

Major league ETA: Late 2021/Early 2022

J.P. Breen’s Fantasy Take: Ramos’s long-term potential is something like Eloy Jimenez with less power. Ramos has better speed, of course, but he’s already slowing down and only stole eight bases in 444 plate appearances in 2019. If everything comes good, Ramos is a 30-homer guy who hits .280 with 10 stolen bases. That’s really damn good—Austin Meadows, circa 2019, good—but he carries significant volatility. His proximity to the big leagues puts him in the top-30 dynasty prospects.

BP rolled out its top 10 prospects on the Giants today.

• 
• 1.
• Marco Luciano
• SS
• Born: 2001-09-10
• B: Right
• T: Right
• H: 6′ 2″
• W: 178 lbs.
• Signed July 2, 2018 out of the Dominican Republic by the Giants for $2.6 million.
• Previous Rank: #1 (Org), #14 (Top 101)

The Report: Luciano has a hell of a swing. He takes lightning-fast cuts with a great bat path, producing loft and excellent bat speed. His bat-to-ball skills are solid given his age and how hard his move is to the ball. He’s a strong young man, with plus power already and the potential for more. He has one of the highest offensive ceilings in baseball. There are some warts here, albeit the ones you would expect from a teenage hitting sensation. His plate approach is a bit aggressive; it’s manifested more in weak contact than swing-and-miss so far, which bodes well for future adjustments, but he will have to make them. Defensively, he currently has the range and arm to play shortstop, though we wouldn’t be surprised if he slides over to third if he loses a step as he gets older.

Development Track: Luciano hit an instructional league homer with a 119-mph exit velocity, per the @SFGProspects Twitter.

<video of his 119 mph HR>

Yeah, that’s the good stuff. Anyway, he was at the alternate site and then fall instructs, and he held his own and then some against players who were way older. Luciano should make his full-season debut whenever full-season baseball returns, and we expect him to move pretty fast once he gets going.

OFP: 70 / All-Star infielder

Variance: High. Despite our optimism, he did just lose a bunch of game reps and has barely played outside the complex. —Jarrett Seidler 

Major league ETA: Late 2022/2023

J.P. Breen’s Fantasy Take: We’re talking about a potential five-category contributor, and he could be a monster in four of those categories. Luciano is a top-15 dynasty prospect and a top-100 overall guy. Perhaps he slows down a bit and struggles to reach double-digit stolen bases; however, that’s a minor quibble. All the normal caveats apply to the 19-year-old who has not yet played full-season ball, but he’s one of the special ones.

Here's the Luis Garcia of the Nats. Complete CV:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=garcia019lui