OFFICIAL: 2023-2024 Offseason & Free Agency Thread

[Seattle or Bust]

Hopefully this is the first domino to get things moving.

[D-train]

Hopefully this is the first domino to get things moving.

I thought the Bolton or Urias trade was? lol

[Donn Beach]

Pretty wild

Nightengale adds that the Phillies are expected to talk to star Bryce Harper about an extension that would keep him in town for the rest of his career. It's unclear how many more years the Phillies would have to tack on to make that desire a reality -- Harper's current deal isn't supposed to expire until winter 2031, when he'll be 39 years old.

[Pharmabro]

Pretty wild

Nightengale adds that the Phillies are expected to talk to star Bryce Harper about an extension that would keep him in town for the rest of his career. It's unclear how many more years the Phillies would have to tack on to make that desire a reality -- Harper's current deal isn't supposed to expire until winter 2031, when he'll be 39 years old.

Dude, that is dumb. 2031 is a long ways away. He could literally follow Griffey, Pujols, and countless others that post 30 fall off a cliff.

[Donn Beach]

It's not really what it's about. He is the 24th highest paid player at this point. Middleton the owner of the Phillies considers him underpaid and plans to do something about it.

Seems Harper refused to put opt-out clauses in his contact, he was going to let the Phillies take care of him if it came to that.

“And then when the time comes after I produce and prove what I do,” Boras said referring to Harper’s perspective, “if I have discussions or matters related to economics, I want the owner to say — and which, I give John Middleton a lot of credit, he did say — is that Bryce Harper is undervalued. And that’s the whole goal. He gave him a record contract. After three or four years of performance, he’s delivered more than expected, and then the player, if he has economic dynamics that he wants to discuss, he’ll do so with his ownership. And that’s how Bryce felt.”

Here is Middletown telling Harper after he put the Phillies in the WS that he isn't paying him enough

Wonder what the other owners think about it

[Donn Beach]

So now Trout doesn't seem available

It appears that Mike Trout will remain with the Angels for at least another season. General manager Perry Minasian rebuffed inquiries from "several large market teams" that checked in on Trout's availability, according to Nightengale.


The likelihood of Trout being traded this winter was always low. Our Mike Axisa recently detailed why: "Trout has missed a lot of time with injuries, he has nearly $250 million remaining on his contract, and he has a full no-trade clause."

[D-train]

Some really comical stuff in here from guru Joe Doyle. lol

So how will they spend?

Catcher: Backstop is a big question mark for the Mariners long term plans. Tom Murphy, 28, is a solid, not spectacular option right now. He could continue to develop into a reasonable option for 2022. He’s under team control through 2023.

Down on the farm, Cal Raleigh, 22, is clearly Seattle’s top option to develop into an MLB-regular. There remains questions about his arm talent, but the bat should continue to grow and play at the big league level.

Further off in the distance, guys like Carter Bins and Jake Anchia remain possible options with more time and seasoning.

The free agent pool has some names Seattle could turn to. The biggest name is certainly JT Realmuto who will be a free agent after this season. Realmuto will be 30 years old for the 2021 season, but may hit the market a little too early, considering the Mariners still may not know what they have in Raleigh when the Phillies star backstop becomes available.

Seattle may look to acquire a catcher in the 2021 offseason. Unfortunately, It’s pretty desolate as far as that offseason goes, with guys like Salvador Perez and ol' friend Mike Zunino headlining the class at 32 and 31 years old, respectively.

Infield: First base is, for all intents and purposes, taken care of here. Evan White should be the every day first baseman. If he’s not, that’s a pretty big hit to the rebuild schedule.

Questions remain at second base. If Shed Long captures the job in 2020, it would be a huge weight off the front office’s proverbial shoulders moving forward. Long profiles as a modern ball second baseman with his power-first approach at the plate. The defense remains a question mark, but Long did make strides on the diamond in 2019. He also wears goggles and lots of jewelry and I cannot root any harder for that to succeed. He's the Mojo our SoDo has been missing for some time.

Shortstop is probably going to be J.P. Crawford, so long as he continues to develop toward being a premier defender and his bat develops above the line of liability. The team still believes in Crawford as being an asset at the plate. At this point, it’s probably a toss-up whether he’ll be manning the “6” spot as the starter a few years from now.

Corey Seager, Francisco Lindor, Trevor Story, and Carlos Correa are all scheduled to become free agents two years from now. That may be too great an opportunity for Seattle to pass up, given the money they’ll have to spend.

Let the record show, jettisoning one Seager for his little brother in the same off-season would be soul crushing, but one Seager is always better than none.

The Mariners will almost certainly be spending, and spending big at the hot corner two years from now when the elder Seager comes off the books. It’s still possible Seattle extends Seager with a strong 2020 campaign, but odds are probably against that happening.

Kris Bryant will likely be a free agent two off-seasons from now. Nolan Arenado has a player option that he’ll likely decline to garner a longer contract going into his age-31 campaign.

It’s also entirely possible Seattle targets a trade for a prominent third baseman while their farm system is flush with talent.

Outfield: Seattle simply has to be banking on two of Jarred Kelenic, Julio Rodriguez and Kyle Lewis to stick in the outfield and produce at a high level. Haniger could also be a possibility. Haniger will be 31 years old in 2022 and will be in the final year of arbitration, commanding a pretty penny. The team likely won’t go after a big fish for the outfield before 2023.

Pitching: Seattle’s farm depth on the hill is stronger than it’s been in a very long time. Any glass-half-full pair of eyes can probably count a dozen guys who may have MLB-caliber talent.

Logan Gilbert, Ljay Newsome, Brandon Williamson, Isaiah Campbell, Ricardo Sanchez, Justin Dunn, George Kirby, Justus Sheffield, Juan Then, Brayan Perez, Damon Casetta-Stubbs, and Sam Carlson.

[D-train]

[Sexymarinersfan]

Would loved to have gotten that guy with the Ohtani money we saved.

[Big_Maple]

Cards sign Lance Lynn to a 1 year deal. They are rebuilding their rotation, so I wonder what this does to speculation that the M's could be trade partners with the Cards ... a Woo or Miller kind of trade.

https://x.com/JeffPassan/status/1726650 ... 37261?s=20