We now know that the Dodgers weren't the only team willing to defer a previously unimaginable sum of money for Shohei Ohtani. The Giants said they were willing to match the structure of the 10-year, $700 million contract for Ohtani, which ends up being something like 10 years and $461 million when accounting for inflation over time, but Los Angeles won the tiebreaker of being his preferred location.
When phrased like "10 years and $700 million," it seems like the kind of contract that's going to cleave Major League Baseball into haves and have-nots. When viewed as " 10 years and $461 million," it's a more natural escalation of the previous largest contract in MLB history (Mike Trout at 12 years and $426.5 million), and for a player baseball won't ever see again.
Either way, the free agent market now appears to be in full swing. The Giants pivoted with an eye-popping contract of their own, signing KBO center fielder Jung Hoo Lee to a six-year, $113 million deal with an opt-out after four years. That seems steep for a player whose contact style is similar to that of Andrew Benintendi, but if he can play center and be a true top-of-the-order menace, he'll give the Giants the kind of energy they've lacked.
Now we'll see if the trade market follows suit. The attention could turn back to the Dodgers, should it mean something that Ohtani's interpreter is now following Tyler Glasnow and Randy Arozarena on Instagram.
Spare Parts
While Dylan Cease underperformed his FIP last year (4.58 ERA, 3.72 FIP), he didn't outperform Deserved Run Average (4.77). Part of that is due to the weak competition in the AL Central, but this is a good look at another thing that plagues him: He doesn't move the ball side-to-side all that well, which makes it tougher to manage contact quality.
Here's where I'll drop in a Bruce Levine tweet that's oddly prescriptive for him.
Now that we know the White Sox are only responsible for the league minimum with Max Stassi, it's clear what they get out of the deal. The Braves' side is a bit messier, but Ben Clemens does a good job of explaining whey they've spent so much energy shifting around bad contracts.
I kept meaning to share this interview from last week, but with a little bit of distance from the announcement of his move to Detroit, Jason Benetti provided what I thought was understandable framing for his decision. This is basic anchoring:
“In the end, when I talked to the Tigers, it was a different relationship than when the starting point (with the White Sox) is, ‘They gave you a chance.’"
And the White Sox made that rather apparent in their self-congratulatory press release announcing Benetti's departure. Benetti also made an appeal to White Sox fans to back off Brooks Boyer, perhaps because he didn't think fans would take his cues so strongly.
The Royals have been linked to numerous starting pitchers, and they finally struck a deal with Seth Lugo for three years and $45 million. The Royals' previous attempts at major pitching contracts didn't go so well -- Ian Kennedy for five years and $70 million, and Gil Meche for five years and $55 million.
The Royals are a lot further ahead of the White Sox in exploring new stadium sites and in-market relocation plans, and contentious negotiations for public funding make it easy to wonder about whether there will be an ultimatum down the line.
Having returned with surprising quickness from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Liam Hendriks is now looking to shave months off the typical Tommy John surgery recovery, targeting late-July for his debut with whatever team he signs with.
SABR recently opened a group project aiming to put together a book for the 2005 White Sox. If you are a SABR member and are interested in participating, contact Mark at the email address listed under the "Current Group Projects" section.
