2064 NL Albatross List
Jul 28, 2022 8:51:21 GMT -5
Rich - Former GM, Commish_Ron, and 3 more like this
Post by MetDaMeats on Jul 28, 2022 8:51:21 GMT -5
LEGEND:
* A great contract. No need to worry.
** Has some downside, but could make you look pretty smart.
*** A few red flags that could go either way.
**** This contract may be having a negative impact on the team.
***** Severe Albatross potential on every level.
Arizona Diamondbacks
** (New) Francisco Rivera (SP)
** (No change) Tyler Lumby (LF)
Atlanta Braves
**** (New) Ramon Lopez (SP)
*** (New) Keith Edgar (RF)
Carolina Warhounds
* (No change) Miguel Angel Andrade (LF)
Chicago Cubs
*** (No change) Armando Ferreira (SP)
Cincinnati Reds
** (No change) Jorge Fuentes (RF)
* (New) Zack Davis (2B)
Los Angeles Dodgers
*** (New) Roy Lopez (CF)
Miami Marlins
*** (New) Millard Valdez (SP)
Milwaukee Brewers
*** (+2 stars) Jaime Mejia (RF)
*** (New) Yang Siu (1B)
Montreal Expos
*** (New) Larry Lillibridge (SP)
** (New) Miguel Chaves (1B)
New York Mets
** (New) Dave Gonzalez (3B)
** (New) Jesus Venegas (2B)
* (New) Mario Huerta (SP)
Philadelphia Phillies
Bo Moore’s $50 million contract isn’t leaving any room for Albatrosses. But that just means there’s going to be a lot of free budget space available next season!
Pittsburgh Pirates
*** (New) Hua-Ding Xie (SP)
*** (+2 stars) Jotaro Inagaki (2B)
** (New) Dennis Sims (SP)
San Diego Padres
*** (New) Conan Davis (CF)
** (New) Anadhrishya Venktesh (3B)
** (New) Armando Gonzalez (SP)
San Francisco Giants
**** (New) Roberto Trujillo (CF)
St. Louis Cardinals
I considered making Paul Hoffma an albatross. But if he’s too lazy to put an n at the end of his name, I’m too lazy to put him at the end of this list.
Washington Nationals
* (No change) Jose Varquez (3B)
* A great contract. No need to worry.
** Has some downside, but could make you look pretty smart.
*** A few red flags that could go either way.
**** This contract may be having a negative impact on the team.
***** Severe Albatross potential on every level.
Arizona Diamondbacks
** (New) Francisco Rivera (SP)
- $91 Mill through 2066.
- $43 Mill player option in 2067.
- He’s been one of the top two pitchers in WAR for the past 8 years. Admittedly, you have to pay him whatever it takes to keep him wearing your team colors. But man, do I ever hate the size of that player option.
** (No change) Tyler Lumby (LF)
- $25.32 Mill through 2064.
- $25.32 Mill player option in 2065.
- He’s the kind of player whose natural abilities (power, speed, defense) prop up his value even during a season with a .220 average. My question is: Was his 51 homerun year an aberration? I don’t think so… But time is running out to repeat the phenomenon.
Atlanta Braves
**** (New) Ramon Lopez (SP)
- $58 Mill through 2066.
- $19.6 Mill player option in 2067.
- $20 Mill player option in 2068.
- Promised role: Starting Pitcher.
- He’s been pitching as a reliever for the past 5 years but now the Braves have promised him the Starter job. This means a lot of the value in this contract rests on how long into his 30s he can sustain his mediocre changeup.
*** (New) Keith Edgar (RF)
- $53.6 Mill through 2067.
- Player opt out after 2067.
- $15 Mill through 2068.
- $15 Mill player option in 2069.
- He has a lot going for him . I love that he’s a team Captain, I really like his running, and his bat won’t embarrass you. However, I hate that his range in the outfield is so borderline. As he gets older that range is only going to decrease. Not sure I love him at DH for this price.
Carolina Warhounds
* (No change) Miguel Angel Andrade (LF)
- $56.2 Mill through 2065.
- Player opt out after 2065.
- $57.2 Mill through 2067.
- $29.6 Mill team option in 2068 with a $7.5 Mill buyout.
- Promised role: Starting lineup.
- Another sly opt out! He squeezed some extra cash from the Warhounds and now he controls his destiny for the next 4 years. I’d be surprised if he pulled the unprecedented double whammy opt out in 2065 but who can tell what levels of greed depravity this man will stoop to? Not I!
Chicago Cubs
*** (No change) Armando Ferreira (SP)
- $17 Mill through 2064.
- $17 Mill player option in 2065.
- I think Armando is the best case scenario for an injury prone star. His time on the DL has been sporadic and generally short term. That’s not to say that having his seasons cut in half is a good thing. It’s just that he hasn’t been knocked out with multi-month injuries and when he pitches he’s still got some nasty stuff.
Cincinnati Reds
** (No change) Jorge Fuentes (RF)
- $54 Mill through 2065.
- $27 Mill team option in 2066 with a $7 Mill buyout.
- $27 Mill team option in 2067 with a $7 Mill buyout.
- NO TRADE CLAUSE.
- As he approaches the end of his massive deal, I believe it can be described as a slightly qualified success thus far. 40+ homeruns a year is nothing to sneeze at. But when you look at his abilities it’s a little disappointing that he’s never achieved a 7 or 8 WAR season. Is that petty? It feels a little petty.
* (New) Zack Davis (2B)
- $39 Mill through 2065.
- $21.2 Mill team option in 2066 with a $5.5 Mill buyout.
- $21.2 Mill team option in 2067 with a $5.5 Mill buyout.
- NO TRADE CLAUSE.
- He’s been a major trade chip throughout his minor league career. He was a prospect swapped for both Manny Rivera and Alfonso Vera on different occasions. Now that he’s developed into a power-hitting second basemen those trades both look pretty fair, in restrospect.
Los Angeles Dodgers
*** (New) Roy Lopez (CF)
- $121.7 Mill through 2068.
- $21 Mill team option in 2069 with a $8 Mill buyout.
- Promised role: Starting lineup.
- I look at him as a sort of Kenzaburo Sato light. His bat’s a little worse, his fielding is a little worse and his contract is a little lighter. This comparison ignores his base running, which is non-existent. But hey! He’s a unique and beautiful snowflake!
Miami Marlins
*** (New) Millard Valdez (SP)
- $82 Mill through 2070.
- Now THIS is how you frontload a contract. Do I love Millard? Not especially. In fact, I hate his movement ratings. But if he’s a passable starter he’ll be super cheap and tradable in 3 seasons or so when his contract is cut in half.
Milwaukee Brewers
*** (+2 stars) Jaime Mejia (RF)
- $48.2 Mill through 2065.
- $24.2 Mill player option in 2066.
- NO TRADE CLAUSE
- Injury kept him off the field for nearly half of the 2063 season. It murdered his value. He’d be safer DHing but there’s a logjam among the Brewer’s big bats which makes that an untenable situation right now.
*** (New) Yang Siu (1B)
- $70.4 Mill through 2066.
- $25.2 Mill player option in 2067.
- Full disclosure: I tried to trade for him in the offseason. And I would have gotten him too except I miscounted my money and went $10 million dollars over budget at the last minute. This kind of messed things up for John too. He says he’ll eventually forgive me but I don’t think his spreadsheet ever will.
Montreal Expos
*** (New) Larry Lillibridge (SP)
- $66.85 Mill through 2068.
- Promised role: Starting pitcher.
- Montreal has been sitting on this guy for a very long time waiting for him to develop. The first few years in the bigs have been kind of lackluster. He seemed poised to break out big time this season but now he’s down with a nasty injury for 4 months. It’s a rough way to go.
** (New) Miguel Chaves (1B)
- $71.3 Mill through 2069.
- Player opt out after 2069.
- $28.8 Mill through 2071.
- Promised role: Starting lineup.
- Small market teams like the Expos don’t get a lot of chances at decent power hitters. Chaves isn’t a world-beater, but Montreal grew him from scratch and doesn’t intend to let him go any time soon. Are there better guys in free agency? Sure. But not at a hometown discount price.
New York Mets
** (New) Dave Gonzalez (3B)
- $54.4 Mill through 2065.
- Player opt out after 2065.
- $24.4 Mill player option in 2066.
- I feel bad for the Blue Jays. Gonzalez spent three seasons in a row underwhelming the Toronto fans with subpar seasons while he was cheap. Then in his last year of arbitration he went hogwild, virtually guaranteeing there was no way they could sign him long term. Well. Canada’s loss is the Metropolitans' gain!
** (New) Jesus Venegas (2B)
- $63.6 Mill through 2067.
- $18 Mill player option in 2068.
- Promised role: Starting lineup.
- I really like Venegas. If his contract was frontloaded instead of backloaded it’d be right in my sweet spot. All that being said, he’s never hitting .368 again. That was a one-time deal.
* (New) Mario Huerta (SP)
- $34 Mill through 2065.
- $17 Mill player option in 2066.
- NO TRADE CLAUSE
- He’s been in the Met’s system since they acquired him as a 16 year-old from the International League. Now he’s developed into a star. Since these young guys are a complete crap shoot I won’t call out the team that traded him, but it is funny to think that once upon a time this guy was traded for a single year’s service from journeyman catcher Douglas Pittman.
Philadelphia Phillies
Bo Moore’s $50 million contract isn’t leaving any room for Albatrosses. But that just means there’s going to be a lot of free budget space available next season!
Pittsburgh Pirates
*** (New) Hua-Ding Xie (SP)
- $20 Mill through 2064.
- $20 Mill vesting option in 2065 after 160 IPs.
- $20 Mill vesting option in 2066 after 160 IPs.
- $4 Mill Cy Young award bonus.
- Okay. This is a quick fix. Put him in the bullpen for enough of the season to keep him under 160 innings pitched. Whatever you do, just don’t let his contract vest.
*** (+2 stars) Jotaro Inagaki (2B)
- $40 Mill through 2064.
- Player opt out after 2064.
- $35 Mill through 2065.
- $30 Mill player option in 2066.
- $25 Mill vesting option in 2067 after 400 ABs.
- $5 MVP award bonus.
- These days he can’t play shortstop anymore. He can play second base poorly or first base well. However, the Pirates are in a bit of a jam here. He’s more valuable in the infield, but he’s almost certain to get hurt unless he DH’s. There aren’t a lot of good choices when this amount of money is at stake.
** (New) Dennis Sims (SP)
- $18 Mill through 2064.
- Player opt out after 2064.
- $17 Mill through 2065.
- $16 Mill player option in 2066.
- $15 Mill vesting option in 2067 after 15 GS.
- $3.5 Cy Young award bonus.
- I’ve always loved getting the last few years of a strong pitcher who is clearly receiving his last major contract. It’s a little riskier now that players are going to age quicker. However, I still like Sims. His floor is about 2 WAR when healthy and he can string together unexpected 4 WAR seasons with a little luck.
San Diego Padres
*** (New) Conan Davis (CF)
- $55.2 Mill through 2067.
- $13.8 Mill team option in 2068 with a $3.6 Mill buyout.
- $13.8 Mill team option in 2069 with a $3.6 Mill buyout.
- Conan is a frustrating player. His terrible at bats against lefties tend to utterly eradicate his gains against righties. Sometimes he has a season where he lucks out against southpaws but mostly he just needs a platoonmate.
** (New) Anadhrishya Venktesh (3B)
- $29.6 Mill through 2065.
- $14.8 Mill team option in 2066 with a $3.8 Mill buyout.
- $14.8 Mill team option in 2067 with a $3.8 Mill buyout.
- Venktesh used to be in my system but I traded him away so that I could acquire the nasty closer Ernesto Molina in the waning years of his career. Was it worth it? Maybe. Strong 3rd basemen are hard to come by these days.
** (New) Armando Gonzalez (SP)
- $28 Mill through 2065.
- $14 Mill team option in 2066 with a $3.6 Mill buyout.
- What’s the point of a 1 out of 10 changeup? Isn’t that really like not having a pitch at all? It’s basically just throwing a batting practice toss in the middle of a game if you actually use it. I wish I could see some numbers on pitch types used during a season so I could see how much they actually get thrown.
San Francisco Giants
**** (New) Roberto Trujillo (CF)
- $74.5 Mill through 2066.
- $22.5 Mill player option in 2067.
- As his bat erodes he becomes a purely defensive player. Unfortunately, that means you can grab an equivalent guy in the Rule V. That’s a little bit of the exaggeration but not much.
St. Louis Cardinals
I considered making Paul Hoffma an albatross. But if he’s too lazy to put an n at the end of his name, I’m too lazy to put him at the end of this list.
Washington Nationals
* (No change) Jose Varquez (3B)
- $56 Mill through 2065.
- $2 Mill MVP award bonus.
- Varquez is one of my favorite players out there right now. But what do the Nats do now that his contract is coming to an end? I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving him another huge deal at 36. I wouldn’t feel comfortable trading him while he’s raking. I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting him hit free agency. I JUST DON’T FEEL COMFORTABLE.