2018 MLB Spring Training Running Thread

But that talent will be nothing but a burden in a couple of years if you sign any of them to a long-term deal. Teams are getting smarter.

 

Yeah, some of us (including me) made fun of the Eric Hosmer deal. But it's nowhere near as bad (or potentially cumbersome) as those contracts we saw a few years ago such as Albert Pujols, Pablo Sandoval, Carl Crawford and the Ryan Howard extension.

 

They looked the same before getting Gregorius. Swap those three buildings for Fenway, Camden and facing Tampa and they go up

 

Almost like teams are smart

 

A steal from the Pirates it seems, since they don't have to add much salary (Hudson was due to earn $5.5M this year). Gray was a 13th-round pick out of Rice last June.

 

I'm sure he'd make a fine on-air analyst for the White Sox, DW.

Farmio and Stoney aren't getting any younger ...

 

Pirates trade for an All-Star who hit one less homer than Andrew McCutchen the last two years. McCutchen hasn't been an All-Star since 2015.

 

You mean a steal for the Pirates? It does look like a good deal for them. Hudson is certainly no great loss for them.

That said, he's not McCutchen. McCutchen was better last year and the career track records are vastly different. TSP's post about All-Star games is silly for many reasons and his larger point is even worse. But hey, some people can't stand the idea that money dictates so much more of who wins and who loses in MLB than it does in the other major sports.

 

It's not me. The Pirates are glad to get an All-Star.

 

Yeah, for. Sorry.

It's about money, obviously. Dickerson makes about 40 percent of what McCutchen does and probably produces about 60-70 percent of the value (depending on where McCutchen plays in the outfield).

That seems like a worthwhile swap.

 

So your argument is based on the Pirates PR folks trying to hype their new acquisition? You're funny.

 

It's more chopping of salary that weakens the roster. I like the Dickerson trade, but overall the Pirates continued to put the bottom line first at the expense of the major league roster. Also, McCutchen's value to the Pirates went beyond what he does on the field. He was a hugely popular player in Pittsburgh. Locking him up long term was supposedly the proof that ownership was going to try to win. Selling him off showed that just isn't true.