:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71614197/1243910270.0.jpg)
The baseball offseason is always a time when there’s little else to pay attention to aside from the wheeling, dealing, and trading that goes on with teams. You can usually get a pretty good idea of whether a team hopes to contend, or will be satisfied with a “rebuild” based on who they are willing to part with, and who they are willing to pay for.
So for fans and writers alike, we tend to stay pretty attuned to what’s going on with the trade and free agent markets, but often—especially with free agents—we need to wait until the few weeks before spring training to see many moves. Well, teams certainly aren’t wasting much time this offseason making trades and making changes, so let’s dive into the links and see what’s going on.
- Paul Casella has the 2022 Silver Slugger winners.
- Brittany Ghiroli gives us an idea of how GMs are feeling about things after their meeting in Vegas. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- And it wouldn’t be the offseason if there wasn’t a Scott Boras monologue/amateur standup routine that makes no sense whatsoever.
Scott Boras is one question in and totally off the rails. Said Xander Bogaerts’s uncle Humphrey left him a message in his memoirs “There’s gonna be a lot of teams looking at you kid.”
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) November 9, 2022
Honestly, I already can’t go on
On Brandon Nimmo: “There’s a lot of teams in the waters looking for a centerfield. Whoever . . . Pixar guy will be happy about Finding Nimmo.” He’s entering a different plane of performance right now.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) November 9, 2022
A new low / high in Boras wordplay: “Essentially, Taijuan is on an island,” he says about Taijuan Walker’s skill set, “and the question is who is willing Taipei.”
— Emma Baccellieri (@emmabaccellieri) November 9, 2022
- Obviously, the big name this free agent season is Aaron Judge, and Jim Bowden looks at five teams who seem most likely to make a play for the superstar slugger. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- A pitcher switcheroo gets the hot stove lit. (AP)
- Mark Feinsand looks at the big move that is likely to really ignite the hot stove.
- Anthony Castrovince makes some bold predictions about hot stove season.
- Tim Britton tries to do the math on what free-agent pitchers could command in terms of contracts. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- The Pirates and Rays, who simply love to trade with each other, are at it again, this time seeing the Rays send Ji-Man Choi to the Pirates (story by Justice delos Santos), and honestly, Choi’s Instagram post about it made me so sad and is a real reminder of the human side of this whole game.
- Speaking of the Rays, they declined the $13-million option on Kevin Kiermaier and thus said goodbye to their longest-tenured player. (AP)
- Need a reminder of who is a free agent this year? Ben Clemens helps with a roundup of the top 50 free agents.
- Jeff Passan has plenty of predictions about where he thinks all those free agents are going to land.
- Chris Gilligan applauds the rookie class of 2022.
- Michael Baumann wonders if the Phillies actually should get rid of Rhys Hoskins.
- Davy Andrews puts together the most amazing plays that were so skillful they looked easy and were therefore maybe... boring?
- No shock here, Dusty Baker will be back with the Astros in 2023, shares Dan Lyons.
- Clayton Kershaw seems likely to go at least one more year with the Dodgers, writes Alden Gonzales.
And tomorrow will be a better day, Buster. Make it so.