Noted Cool Dudes Evan Gattis and Carlos Beltran get World Series rings. Good for them.
Storylines to follow:
- It's another year of a weak free-agent class (even moreso now that Justin Upton re-upped with the Angels). Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta headline the pitchers, but Darvish has become maddeningly inconsistent, and Arrieta has shown signs of severe fatigue over the past two years, is racking up increasingly more nagging injuries, is 32, and is seeking a 7-year contract. On the position player side, you have guys like JD Martinez and Eric Hosmer, but after that ... oof.
- Will MLB ever stop being hypocritical and actually take a look at the Dodgers' debt to cash flow ratio? (Spoiler: no.)
- Expect an active trade market at the fall and winter meetings. Billy Beane has made it clear that the Athletics are going to rebuild (read: openly tank) for the next few seasons in anticipation of making a splash in their new stadium, when they finally move out of the giant toilet that is the Coliseum. You can expect cost-controlled guys like Graveman, Lowrie and Davis to be actively shopped. It's almost a lock that the Orioles will be unable to re-sign Manny Machado, and the team is in sore need of a ground-up rebuild, meaning he's likely to be dangled (most likely for pitching). The Cubs have said they're willing to trade position depth for more pitching, though that makes sense because the farm system is utterly bare ... but who would they trade? Schwarber's value is essentially nonexistent and Heyward's contract is untradeable, so really their only option would be to trade one of Baez or Russell and pray that Ben Zobrist can play 2B every day.
- Of course, the big trade story will be the Marlins, as Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, Christian Yelich, Martin Prado and Dee Gordon are all reportedly available.
- What will happen with Shohei Otani? He badly wants to play in the United States, but he's insistent that he wants to be a dual-role player, which has teams understandably wary. Further wrinkling matters is the new CBA that went into effect this year: Because the MLBPA is utterly lacking in spine, there is a hard spending cap on international free agents, meaning the most any team can pay Otani (after forking out a posting fee to the Ham Fighters) is in the neighborhood of $5 million. So his decision will ultimately boil down to where he actually wants to play (and who will be insane enough to let him play the field on his non-pitching days).
- Who will be the new Yankees' skipper? Brian Cashman seems hellbent on hiring someone who won't make waves. Reportedly Jay Bell, Jerry Hairston, Jr., and Raul Ibanez are high on Cashman's list. Um, okay.
- Noted bloviating gas bag Tony La Russa, most recently seen pouring gasoline on the tire fire that was the Diamondbacks under his leadership, is now a special assistant with the Red Sox, supposedly acting as a mentor to first-year manager Alex Cora. God help us all.
Awards dates:
- Finalists (non-Gold Glove) will be announced on the 6th
- Nov. 7 Gold Glove winners
- Nov. 9 Silver Slugger winners
- Nov. 10 "Defensive Players of the Year"
- Nov. 13 Rookies of the Year
- Nov. 14 Managers of the Year
- Nov. 15 Cy Young
- Nov. 16 MVPs
- Nov. 17 Awards Ceremony
And, just to kickstart discussion, your entirely too soon ESPN 2018 power rankings:
1. Astros
2. Dodgers
3. Indians
4. Nationals
5. Yankees
6. Red Sox
7. Diamondbacks
8. Cubs
9. Cardinals
10. Angels
11. Rays
12. Brewers
13. Pirates
14. A's
15. Rockies
16. Blue Jays
17. Mets
18. Rangers
19. Twins
20. Marlins
21. Mariners
22. Giants
23. Braves
24. White Sox
25. Reds
26. Orioles
27. Phillies
28. Padres
29. Royals
30. Tigers
Baseball returns in five months. Let offseason chaos reign.
