With the big deadline of the offseason upon us, here are three things we’ll be looking at around the world of baseball throughout the day today:
1. The non-tender deadline is today:
The deadline for clubs to receive tender contracts for players in their organization is 7pm CT tonight. The annual deadline never fails to stimulate activity by mid-level players, who are at the highest risk of not being awarded tenders. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco discussed the process and the extensive list of potential non-tenders yesterday, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see a deal involving any player on that list at some point before tonight’s deadline. That deal could be non-tender, allowing the player to leave for free agency early rather than keeping him at an arbitration-level price, but it could also come in the form of a trade to another club more willing to pay that arb price. or even a pre-tender agreement where the parties avoid arbitration for a lower price to save the club some money and give the player some certainty.
2. Could the trade market heat up this weekend?
Earlier this week, the Cubs traded at the same rate on the same day. They got the right hand Eli Morganwho is expected to be eligible for compensation for the first time in his career this winter, from the Guardians for a chance to get out Alfonsin Rosario. They also recently DFA’d a catcher Matt Thaiss with a financial agreement with the Angel. It is likely that we will see more exchanges like these two deals in the coming days.
With the non-tender deadline approaching today, several arb-eligible players in the no-tender bubble are being removed today, either by teams looking to cut costs to teams with available budget space, or by a team that will not tender a player to someone interested in giving him an arb-level contract. Besides, we saw a number of players DFA’d before the defensive deadline for the Rule 5 Draft earlier this week. Any number of them can be flipped to another club through trade or waivers. That could lead to a small trade like the Thaiss deal, where the club adds a player for relatively little return, and there will be plenty of waivers (and subsequent DFAs) in the coming days.
3. Who else will meet Snell?
Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell he reportedly met with both the Red Sox and Dodgers recently, providing a glimpse into the market for the 32-year-old. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggested yesterday that both the Blue Jays and Orioles could soon begin meetings with Snell, adding that the lefty intends to stay on the free-agent market for a while this time after waiting until March 19 to make his final signing. winter.
It seems fair to assume that the Yankees (who had interest last week) and the Mets (who saw 60% of their rotation reach free agency) could also sit down with the rest. Snell would have the potential to hold a broader appeal than the free agent aces Corbin Burns again Fried Max due to his lack of a qualifying offer and the fact that his age may reduce the length of his contract (in exchange for a potential annual premium). Could that create a few surprising people who don’t normally buy into the deep end of the free agent pool?
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