The agent for 23-year-old Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki, recently posted by his club, just did a presser at the winter meetings. Since Sasaki is subject to international bonus pools, his agent said he’s advised him not to worry about the “negligible” difference in what teams can pay him, and focus more on the long-term arc of his career. He emphasized (1) track record of pitching development, and (2) that Sasaki doesn’t want to go somewhere with a media circus after his experience in Japan.
Every FA who is above MLB average and a legitimate regular starting player is going to get to get much more over the next couple of years, than they woukd have previously.
It is going to be more important than ever to develop young controllable talent and either extend them early, or have a replacemnt ready after 5-6 years and be willing to trade them.
While the draft picks were key, I think this not accurate:
2017 roster had 8 home grown players:
2 international signees - Altuve and Yuli. Only one signed under Luhnow.
6 draft picks: Keuchel, and Springer drafted before Luhnow. Correa, McCullers, Fisher and Bregman under Luhnnow
Four players were taken off waivers or Rule 5 Draft: Marwin, McHugh, Harris, Maybin
The rest were trades:
Musgrove (JL traded for him along with 5 others for David Carpenter, JA Happ and Brandon Lyon)
Devenski (JL got him as the PTBN in the Brett Myers trade)
Peacock (JL got him Jed Lowrie, and Fernando Rodriguez Jr. for Chris Carter and Max Stassi -not a Luhnow draftee)
Gattis (JL got him for Folty (not a JL Draftee), and Andrew Thurman and Rio Ruiz (both JL draftees))
McCann (JL got him for two international signees)
Liriano (JL got him for Aoki and Teoscar Hernandez)
Verlander (obtained for Franlin Perez (int signee) and two JL Draft picks Daz Cameron and Jake Rogers)
In summary, there were four Luhnow draft picks on the 2017 post season roster and four more were traded to get two of the seven players on the roster obtained by trade.
JL and his team were very good at talent assessment and maximizing value of players. The waivers, rule 5, international signees and trades had much more of an impact than the players drafted by Luhnow did.
While I understand how we would all feel about seeing Kyle Tucker in a Yankees uniform, it is reported today that one of the pieces that the Astros are interested in in a deal to send him to New York would be rookie of the year pitcher Luis Gill. If I could get back a pitcher of that quality with those years of control, I would have to do this deal. Who knows if the report has any truth embedded in it, but if there’s any truth to it at all I would be very intrigued.
Tucker might hit 50 homers in that stadium.
There are also reports out there that they have talked to the Cubs about Isaac Parades and their other young outfielde Suzuki. Again, this is a deal that I would have to seriously consider.
I’m 95% sure that if either one of these deals were possible, I’d be pulling the trigger today.
Another report has Astros asking for Suzuki, Paredes, and prospect Cam Smith from the Cubs
Apparently the Cubs would rather trade Bellinger than Suzuki which is part of the current negotiations.
Either way, as much as I like Kyle, this team has no chance to keep him beyond 2025 and has a terrible lack of impact talent now and even worse next offseason.
I love the idea of getting impact players controlled beyond 2026 for him.