Cespedes is awesome.

Think of all the awsome throws he's going to make after misplaying the ball.

Reports show that Tommy Hanson dies with booze and blow in his system..... not a huge surprise when an athlete dies....

Or all "TEH RIBBIES" he's gonna leave on base because he has awful plate discipline.

If Albert Pujols hit the wall as hard as he did, arguably the greatest hitter of his time, what makes anyone think a one trick pony like Cespedes is going to age and decline gracefully?

His can-do attitude and will to win?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CV_MRQVVAAAVb70.jpg

<font color=goldenrod>I just checked myself and this is actually on the Mets transaction page as of right now. If fucking only.</font> :(

Cespedes is awesome.

<font color=goldenrod>HOLY FUCK IT'S TRUE!!!</font> :eek:

<font color=goldenrod>I have to give it up for Cuddy. It remains to be seen if the Mets will be paying any portion of his contract as a buyout (I'd be somewhat surprised if he didn't get SOMETHING), but odds are he's still going to be leaving the bulk of his 2016 salary on the table. He could have simply slogged it through 2016 as a backup making $12.5 million, but he chose not to. Shades of Gil Meche retiring with a year left on his deal.

Much as I didn't like watching him play this year, I've heard nothing but good things of him as a teammate. Never complained when he was relegated to backup duty after the rise of Conforto. Mets have a bench coach vacancy and Collins has said he felt Cuddy is a manager in waiting somewhere...who knows, maybe he'll be with the team in a different capacity next year.

More importantly, this gives the Mets some more 2016 budget room to work with if they want to be more aggressive with Cespedes or maybe even Upton.</font>

Remember when you guys (other than Damian Ray were like "lol no way is Jason Heyward worth 200 mil"?

My uncle recently argued with me Heyward wasn't a star and that he wasn't worth the money. The easy counter was why are three of the best front offices in baseball trying to pay him like one?

<font color=goldenrod>I would have loved to have seen the Mets make a run at Heyward. I knew they wouldn't because the total price tag would have been heavy, but I was always under the assumption that there'd be an opt-out clause involved meaning the actual commitment was much less.

Unless Heyward falls off a cliff in 2018, you can pretty safely assume he'll be hitting the market again at 29. Opt out clauses are the new thing for marquee free agents. We'll probably only see it more frequently as the years go by.</font>

<font color=goldenrod>Steve Cishek to the Mariners. 2 years, $10 million.

All of a sudden the reliever market is looking really barren. Basically any reliever of any sort of name value has gotten multiple years and at least $10 million. Speaks to how important the late innings are now.</font>

Can you guys believe we're finally at the point where the FA market is so insane that 5 years and 55 mil for Gil Fucking Meche seems reasonable?

<font color=goldenrod>If you think it's crazy now, wait until the 2018 offseason. Factoring in potential free agents and guys with opt-out clauses, all of the following could be up for grabs:

Josh Donaldson
Jose Fernandez
Bryce Harper
Matt Harvey
Jason Heyward
Clayton Kershaw
Dallas Keuchel
Manny Machado
Andrew McCutchen
David Price</font>

Jesus. Bryce Harper is going to get the next Arod level contract. I'm calling 10 years $300 mil.

The Angels looks like geniuses for locking up Trout to a now ridiculously cheap contract for the best player in the game.

Manny isn't going anywhere..he'll get an extension soon

Highly unlikely.

Astros and Phillies trade involved 7 players swapping teams:

Moving Appel could blow up on Houston. As great as Giles is, a reliever throwing one inning is only going to provide so much value. Appel could be a 3 starter and provide more value.

Screech should be happy with this package. Also love that the new Phillies front office realizes you don't need a dominant closer as part of a massive rebuild.

Yeah. One of the cubs first moves was dealing 7th inning guy Sean Marshall for 3 prospects. You should have heard call in radio shows. "Whadr we gonna do witout Sean marshall??" Stupid. Bullpen guys are a luxury a contending team would want. Not the rebuilding Phillies.

I haven't checked in on Appell in a while. Is he still a bust or does he still have a chance to make a ML rotation?

He's inconsistent and as a result, so are his numbers, but he's still projecting to be a major league starter. Whether that's going to be top of the rotation or middle to back end is the question.

I remember Padres fans fuming when they let Trevor Hoffman and Heath Bell walk, traded Mike Adams, Huston Street and Craig Kimbrel. People will never learn and it's easier for talking heads to claim relievers are these huge assets instead of reading up that they're really not and, as the Royals proved, can be developed on the cheap.

Seems more like bust territory in terms of top pick status at least according to Yahoo Sports and Baseball America although to be fair he's only played 2 seasons of minor league ball so far.

Phillies probably believed or were desperate for him to be a Strasburg-like player needing very little minor league time and instead he actually needs more time which is probably why they got rid of him this quickly.

I don't know much about any of the pitchers (haven't had the time to look em all up). But as much as I like Giles, I'm happy with this. The rotation is the worst part about the Phillies right now, so getting help there - even if it's not immediate - is a plus.

No need to have a good closer on a team that will probably lose at least 90. Let him have a chance to wreck shit in the playoffs.

<font color=goldenrod>Braves and Phillies are killing it this offseason. Both are in total rebuild mode and rightly so, and both have brought in so many promising looking prospects.

While prospects are never a sure thing, there's every chance that those teams can be downright scary in a few years. All the more reason my Mets need to go all in on these next couple of seasons while they have their entire cost-controlled rotation in order.</font>

Pete Rose's reinstatement application has been denied.

<font color=goldenrod>Selig didn't want Rose back in baseball and was very outspoken about it. Manfred views Selig as his mentor and probably didn't want to immediately undo a suspension that Selig went out of his way to enforce.

Didn't really take an Einstein to see that Manfred wasn't going to reinstate him.</font>

JP Arencibia signs with Phillies.... still young, some MLB experience, tons of power and worth the gamble on a minor league deal.....

Seems like the biggest issue MLB still has with Rose is his ties to gambling. They tried to tell him to stop gambling on baseball games to have a chance at being reinstated but supposedly he doesn't care about stopping.

To be fair, he's probably making more in betting than he could ever get from MLB.... and he strikes me as the type not to give two shits about his reputation....

Giants land Johnny Cueto. 6-years, $130 mil.

<font color=goldenrod>Bumgarner
Cueto
Samardzija
Peavy
Cain

Even year prophecy

Congratulations Giants - 2016 World Series champions</font>

I dunno about all that. Peavy is done, who knows what you're getting outta Cain and Samardzija isn't exactly top notch after last year.

I think they'll be very good though and wouldn't be surprised if they signed an outfielder like Gordon or Upton.

Dodger fan must be fuming. You had two huge names in Price and Greinke out there, along with Zimmerman and Cueto, and their front office has landed none of them.

They signed the living corpse of Chase Utley, an iffy Iwakuma, and I think that's been it. While I'm aware that the current regime isn't known for being overly aggressive, I'm stunned at the minimal activity on the Dodgers' end. Of course there are still pieces to be had but no way do they even come close to replacing Greinke and the big dogs are all off the board.

<font color=goldenrod>Nope, Giants are winning it in 2016. Just as they will in 2018, 2020, 2022, and every other even year for the foreseeable future.</font>

http://reaction.club/r/61c493b51d862c39178f.gif

<font color=goldenrod>Wow, Cueto's deal has an opt-out clause after only 2 years.

Feel like opt-out clauses can end up causing some serious shit for MLB down the road. Imagine if it reaches the point where all the big free agents have opt-out clauses after one season, so every year just becomes a battle of what team wants to offer the most frontloaded contract possible. The same players changing teams every year. Shit would be ridiculous.</font>

Will Middlebrooks going to SD, always liked him (despite my hatred for the BoSox) and if anyone could use a fresh start, its any member of the San Diego roster from last year....

He got a fresh start when he came to San Diego. Middlebrooks' issue is he swings too much out of the zone and can't spell ball four. Changing scenery again isn't going to help.

As for opt out clauses, I think teams are more than happy to sign off one on them. The Sabathia deal has highlighted the risk in signing big names on the wrong side of 30.

For instance, James Shields has an opt out clause after this year. If he bounces back like I think he will, he could be the premier free agent pitcher in a dumpster fire of a free agent market.

That works for the Padres as they won't have to pay him $21 million a year into his mid 30s and Shields may get a longer an extra year or two out of the new contract.

I don't see it coming to a point of one and done. Though I had an idea of how a one and done could work for arbitration.

<font color=goldenrod>bah gawd 3-way deal

Dodgers get: 2B Micah Johnson, RHP Frankie Montas, OF Trayce Thompson

Reds get: 2B Brandon Dixon, SS Jose Peraza, OF Scott Schebler

White Sox get: 3B Todd Frazier</font>

Can't use a gif from a football show to decide baseball matters. DISQUALIFIED!

Bartolo Colon and Mets agree on a 1 year, $7.25 million deal.