2018 MLB Spring Training Running Thread

I'm not making an argument. I said the Pirates traded for an All-Star. They said the same thing.

 

But in this deal, Pittsburgh was the big market team taking advantage of a sell-off by the Rays.

 

And it's not like the Rays never do this. It's the Oakland A's model — collect B-minus level or undervalued players, get a couple of good years out of them, then sell them off as soon as they get expensive.

Wonder what those two franchises have in common?

 

That would make sense if the Rays were saving a significant amount of money. Hudson will make$5,5 million in 2018, about $400,000 less than Dickerson. Nice try, though.

 

In making the trade, the Rays spent another $3.5 million of the money it appeared they were cutting off the payroll. That's the $5.5 million Hudson makes, minus the $1-million from the Pirates and the $1-million they would have they have to give Dickerson as termination pay to get out of his $5.95 million non-guaranteed contract had they just released him.

How the Rays’ DFA of Dickerson paid off, with a reliever and a prospect

 

Good weather?

 

I don't buy the stadium excuse. It isn't like there aren't teams with gleaming new stadiums that continue to stink.

 

Is the argument that Corey Dickerson is some kind of reject?

 

Speaking of the Rays, their top pitching prospect (and a Top 15 overall prospect) is done for the year:

 

Ballparks may affect the fortunes of a baseball franchise as much as any major sport, but it still isn't nearly the factor that teams make it out to be when using them as an excuse for failure. Hell, the Pirates had PNC Park for more than half of their 20-year stretch of losing seasons. That's a ballpark pretty much universally ranked among the best in the game when it was built and it's still right up there.

 

I don't see anybody saying that, though the Rays did designate him for assignment. (The part those who keep hyping him as an All-Star don't seem to want to bring up.)

Dickerson is a solid player. He'll help the Pirates this year. He's not on McCutchen's level. I don't mean in terms of full resume, which isn't even close. He's the lesser player now. As always, the Pirates cut payroll and got weaker this offseason.

 

The Rays are now kinda on their own planet down there when it comes to baseball news. They could sign the ghost of Walter Johnson to head up the rotation and it would take me a month or two before I'd realize he was on their team.