Who Does Trea Turner Sign With?

[Senatorswin]

So in 10 years they'll have two 40 year-olds taking up about 60 million in salary. Not to mention they'll have to throw in a couple of walkers to help them to get around the bases.

[Five Banners]

I’d guess that in addition to the vault of cash, having Kevin Long on staff didn’t hurt

[imref]

So in 10 years they'll have two 40 year-olds taking up about 60 million in salary. Not to mention they'll have to throw in a couple of walkers to help them to get around the bases.

Win now

[Natsinpwc]

I’d guess that in addition to the vault of cash, having Kevin Long on staff didn’t hurt

Don’t forget that the Turner and Harper wives are BFFs. 

[Senatorswin]

Win now

Maybe, but are they better than the Dodgers, Mets and Braves. They won 87 games last year and then got hot in the playoffs. They're without Harper until probably July.

[Natsinpwc]

Maybe, but are they better than the Dodgers, Mets and Braves. They won 87 games last year and then got hot in the playoffs. They're without Harper until probably July.

Maybe not but as last year showed you have a chance when you get in.  Turner will cost less against the luxury tax than Gregorius and Segura did last year.  They still have probably at least $25 million under the luxury tax after signing Turner and they will probably exceed that as they did last year.  So they will add some pitching.  At this point with the Harper contract which led to obtaining and extending Realmuto and Schwarber/Castellano and Wheeler they have no choice but to go all in.

https://www.philliesnation.com/2022/11/how-much-money-are-the-phillies-under-the-luxury-tax-threshold-by/

" According to Fangraphs, the Phillies luxury tax payroll currently sums to roughly $179 million, which is $54 million under the $233 million tax threshold, and $74 million under the next tier of $253 million."  This was before Turner who I believe is $27.5 million AAV.

[imref]

Trea is a big improvement over Didi, both offensively and defensively. They are definitely better but still need starting pitching

[rileyn]

This just makes me sick.  I don't even feel like following baseball amymore.

[Natsinpwc]

Trea is a big improvement over Didi, both offensively and defensively. They are definitely better but still need starting pitching

They need to replace Sundegaard who had an ERA in the mid 4.00 range and Gibson who had an ERA of 5.00.  Look for them to sign someone like Bassit for a few years who could help bridge the time when Wheeler contract is up. And then maybe another low end starter. They have the top three in the rotation back.  Wheeler health is a bit of a concern. Think they will extend Nola soon.

Of course after posting o read this. Looks like the Phillies don’t want to forfeit more draft picks so looking for mid range starter.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/phillies-to-focus-on-mid-rotation-starters-back-end-relievers.html

[blue911]

Dave Dombrowski and Steve Cohen are making this a fun off-season.

[imref]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/padres-made-higher-offer-than-phillies-to-trea-turner.html

[blue911]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/padres-made-higher-offer-than-phillies-to-trea-turner.html

Preller tax

[Kevrock]

This just makes me sick.  I don't even feel like following baseball amymore.

This, but MLB and not baseball. Nats aside, MLB is the worst baseball product around. I'm spending more and more time watching college and local baseball.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Dave Dombrowski and Steve Cohen are making this a fun off-season.

funny you say this.  My brother used to be a bigger baseball fan than I am but has pretty much abandoned MLB.  He likes to compare how the start of free agency is such a big deal for both the NFL and NBA that it generates hype, while MLB has this doddling, no action offseason. He says that MLB generates little interest in its offseason in comparison.  The NBA has a shorter offseason, which helps, but the NFL, it's now the combine, free agency, draft, and camps that keep them in the news.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

They need to replace Sundegaard who had an ERA in the mid 4.00 range and Gibson who had an ERA of 5.00.  Look for them to sign someone like Bassit for a few years who could help bridge the time when Wheeler contract is up. And then maybe another low end starter. They have the top three in the rotation back.  Wheeler health is a bit of a concern. Think they will extend Nola soon.

Of course after posting o read this. Looks like the Phillies don’t want to forfeit more draft picks so looking for mid range starter.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/phillies-to-focus-on-mid-rotation-starters-back-end-relievers.html

Syndegaard was better than that.  4.12 ERA, with a better defense-independent numbers.  While his Ks were down, his walks were way down as well.   I think that's a good sign for him.  Could be a sneaky-good signing for someone.

[Kevrock]

He's right. Unless your team is in contention the offseason is boring. At least we can get screwed in the draft lottery tonight. Oh boy.

[Natsinpwc]

Syndegaard was better than that.  4.12 ERA, with a better defense-independent numbers.  While his Ks were down, his walks were way down as well.   I think that's a good sign for him.  Could be a sneaky-good signing for someone.

fair enough. But they rearranged the rotation so he could pitch against the weak teams. Like the Nats.  Hard to say with him. In the playoffs even with rest his fastball velocity was not up. Of course he has not pitched in a couple years.

[HalfSmokes]

He's right. Unless your team is in contention the offseason is boring. At least we can get screwed in the draft lottery tonight. Oh boy.

There is just something more local about baseball. I'm still interested in NFL and NBA offseasons because I'm more interested in NFL and NBA story lines. With baseball, I barely know which AL teams are even decent let alone care about league wide stories 

[UMDNats]

There is just something more local about baseball. I'm still interested in NFL and NBA offseasons because I'm more interested in NFL and NBA story lines. With baseball, I barely know which AL teams are even decent let alone care about league wide stories 

Next year some guy on the Twins is going to post like a 6 WAR season and I won't hear about him until like August.

[imref]

Preller tax

Obviously Soto is a clubhouse cancer.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

nice Svrluga piece:

The Nats need to be a destination, not a way station, for their own players

There has to be blame, and it has to be spread around, because the tally is this: Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon, Turner, Soto and Max Scherzer combined to win an MVP award, two Cy Youngs and two Home Run Derby titles and make 16 all-star appearances wearing Nats uniforms — not to mention the 2019 World Series, which included all but Harper. Other teams have deemed them worth an aggregate of $1.005 billion over 34 seasons — and that’s before Soto becomes a free agent who could make half a billion on his own following the 2024 season.

The commonality: They were once Nats, but they are no longer. In a case-by-case basis, it’s defensible. In totality, it’s unconscionable.

[Senatorswin]

nice Svrluga piece:

The Nats need to be a destination, not a way station, for their own players

Harper, Rendon, Turner, Soto, Scherzer:

It would of been tough to sign Rendon and Strasburg. They chose Strasburg. Turns out should of been neither.

The Nats could of resigned Scherzer when he became of free agent but it wouldn't of made sense to beat the Mets offer. I'm sure Scherzer preferred going to a winning team anyway. So did they lose anything by trading him. A half season of meaningless baseball.

They were going to lose with or without Soto for the next couple of years. They needed to get something for him, which at this point looks like they did big time. When he becomes a free agent the Nats can go after him if it looks like they can win again. So it doesn't matter if he plays for somebody else for the next two years. The Nats will be in the same position whether they kept him or not, bidding against everybody else.

The Nats should of gotten more for Turner and Scherzer in that trade. Having said that, chances are Turner would of signed with somebody else this offseason if the Nats would of kept him and they wouldn't of won anything anyway.

Harper is a different story. When he didn't sign earlier in the offseason the Nats had to move on and sign other guys. By the time Harper appealed straight to the owner the Nats had already spent the money. But, I believe if the Nats had made an offer with less deferred money Harper would of signed with the Nats. So that one is on the Nats.

[nfotiu]

The Nats are obviously a giant mess right now.   But the system isn't really set up for teams to keep their players if they have agents like Boras who have convinced their clients not to value the risk aversion of taking the money now.   If we had locked up all these guys, we might have a couple good years, and then 5 years of a 300 million dollar payroll plus luxury tax and a roster of old guys who aren't able to win 70 games.

The Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox are all letting home town heroes go too.   A tweak to the CBA to give more leverage to teams re-signing their own players would go a long ways to making the league better.   Something like hockey where the re-signing team can give an 8 year term, but 7 year contracts are max on the open market would be great.   They league can give up some things in return like lower free agency age, or whatever.   

[Mattionals]

The Nats are obviously a giant mess right now.   But the system isn't really set up for teams to keep their players if they have agents like Boras who have convinced their clients not to value the risk aversion of taking the money now.   If we had locked up all these guys, we might have a couple good years, and then 5 years of a 300 million dollar payroll plus luxury tax and a roster of old guys who aren't able to win 70 games.

The Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox are all letting home town heroes go too.   A tweak to the CBA to give more leverage to teams re-signing their own players would go a long ways to making the league better.   Something like hockey where the re-signing team can give an 8 year term, but 7 year contracts are max on the open market would be great.   They league can give up some things in return like lower free agency age, or whatever.

I think it's going to take compromise (again) on both sides. Players union will never want to give a max length of contracts, but maybe they could take 6 year max contracts with 8 year contract lengths for home grown players ONLY if the league gets rid of the Luxury Tax Threshold.


As far as the Nats are concerned, it's a cacophony of errors. While signing Corbin was probably the real straw that stirred the drink to put the team over the edge is 2019, his falloff has been Jordan Zimmermann with the Tigers levels of bad. That deal only happened because they let Harper walk. Giving Strasburg that contract was always a head scratcher, but him getting MORE hurt than normal was something that also sealed the fate of the team. Finally, as so many others have said, it's the non-existent player development that was dirt that buried the coffin. Look back to 2021 and the pivot made before the deadline and add in what we know now. Rizzo wasn't going to get any more money. Ownership has now bailed out. They got the illustrious crown jewel in 2019 and tied the purse strings shut.


As Kevrock said, time to clean house. Thanks for 2019, now kindly GTFO.

[UMDNats]

Barry out here regurgitating the same crap we've all seen for two years to the mouth breathers that would rather have Trea Turner be a Nat for line than win a title.