Episode 1826: Last Call for Free Agency

Summary[]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a Reddit description of the podcast, the pleasures of watching spring training games, and the possibly excessive coffee consumption of White Sox DH Gavin Sheets, before discussing the last burst of big free-agent signings, including Carlos Correa’s shocking contract with the Twins, Trevor Story to the Red Sox, Nick Castellanos to the Phillies, Jorge Soler to the Marlins, and Kenley Jansen to the Braves, plus musings on Michael Conforto as the last highly rated free agent remaining, the results of Effectively Wild’s seventh annual free-agent-contract over/under draft, and more.

Topics[]

Carlos Correa: Twins, 3 years, $105 million, with player opt-outs after each year.
Trevor Story: Red Sox, 6 years, $150 million.
Nick Castellanos: Phillies , 5 years, $100 million.
Jorge Soler: Marlins, 3 years, $36 million.
Kenley Jansen: Atlanta, 1 year, $16 million.
Michael Conforto still unsigned.
Free agent Contract Over/Under Draft results.

Banter[]

In a reddit thread on podcast recommendations, one user wrote, "Effectively wild if you (like myself) love unapologetic nerdiness and ridiculously specific analysis of both exciting and dull baseball minutiae." Ben and Meg concede that this pretty much captures the podcast.
Watching spring training games.
Gavin Sheets's copious coffee consumption.

End-of-episode banter:

Packy Naughton claimed off waivers, and Ryan McMahon (Rockies, 6 years, $70 million).
Gender-inclusive rules of baseball.

Notes[]

Ben got to watch Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani back to back. Meg enjoyed simply having a game on in the background as she did housework.
In an article on MLB.com, Gavin Sheets said found that drinking lots of coffee helped him settle into his role as DH. In one part of the article, he says he has four cups a night. In another part, it went up to "two, three, four [cups], every other inning." Ben and Meg are surprised and somewhat concerned by his rate of consumption. Ben jokes that this may lead to articles that fall into Meg's Writing Beat.
Ben recalls that Tommy Kahnle reportedly drank six Red Bulls and two cups of coffee a day.

Carlos Correa

Ben observes that it's surprising both that the Twins would sign the top free agent and that Correa would sign a relatively short contract.
For this amount of money, Meg is surprised Correa didn't sign with the Yankees. On the other hand, she also notes the irony that the Yankees obtaining Josh Donaldson from the Twins is what freed up money for the Twins to sign Correa at all.
Ben wonders why Correa signed a short-term deal. Correa switched to being represented by Scott Boras, and some reporters speculated that Boras recommended a short contract because a percentage is still going to Correa's former agent. Ben finds this far-fetched, because Scott Boras didn't become Scott Boras by swindling his clients. Meg agrees.
Ben notes that a short-term deal is a bit risky for Correa because he may lose significant value if he suffers another injury. He's had only two seasons of 500 PAs.

Trevor Story

Ben isn't sure how big a deal it is that Story's home/away splits are so dramatic. Coors is very hitter-friendly, and playing at other parks may impose a penalty as players adjust to the lower altitude.

Nick Castellanos

In Episode 1824, the podcast discussed the signing of Kyle Schwarber, DH in outfielder's clothing. The Phillies have doubled down on this strategy by signing Nick Castellanos. Ben reminds the Phillies that you can have only one DH per game.
Meg quips that the Phillies may have interpreted "universal DH" a bit too literally, thinking that it means the entire team should be just DHs. She notes that the Phillies defense is "not good", and reminds Phillies fans that she is a Seahawks fan and therefore well-familiar with the reality that their favorite team is "objectively normally pretty good but still maddening."

Jorge Soler

Ben says, "I have no idea how good Jorge Soler will be in any given season."
Under the CBA, the players association can file a grievance if a team spends less than 150% of its revenue sharing money. This is up from the previous threshold of 125%. The Dodgers took the lead from the Mets for the highest projected payroll at $283 million. The lowest is the Pirates at $44 million. That is not a typo. $44 million.

Kenley Jansen

Ben says that Jansen had a good year and improved his pitch repertoire.
Meg says that Atlanta is projected 6th in relief WAR, just 0.1 WAR behind the Dodgers, which is basically a tie.
Meg notes that Jansen will have to change his entrance music, since "California Love" doesn't work as great in Atlanta.

Michael Conforto

Conforto is the only unsigned player from FanGraph's list of top 50 free agents.
Meg predicts that it won't be long for Conforto to be signed.

Wrap-up

Meg thanks the baseball establishment that the signings for the most part occurred at convenient times of day. She does not, however, thank the people who suggest that this signing flurry was fun and we should do it again.
Meg says that at this year was "meaningfully better than the ennui perhaps that we felt in the last couple of years." She adds, "I'd be okay being less French in the winter." She suggests being more Italian. "I'm Italian. Let's be spicy."
Ben reports on the results of the 2021 free agent contract over/under draft: Ben Lindbergh won with +67, then Ben Clemens with +41.5 (Editor's note: really +42.5), and Meg with −19. Meg was hurt badly because she took the under on Corey Seager and Marcus Semien (both Rangers). Meg is happy to be wrong on "under" calls, because it means that the player got more money.
Packy Naughton (whom we met in Episode 1737) signed with the Cardinals. Meg is disappointed that he didn't sign with the Red Sox, given his aggressively Irish name.

After-recording notes

Episode 1825 follow-up: Listener Tavi Kodiak updated the official rules of baseball to be gender-inclusive (linked below). MLB acknowledged the need for inclusivity in 2006 when it noted that all uses of the male pronoun in the rules also apply to female players.

Episode 1826: Last Call for Free Agency

Summary[]

Topics[]

Banter[]

Notes[]

Links[]

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