Ronny Mauricio hurt his knee, and how Ohtani's deal impacts Yamamoto's free agency
Mauricio is expected to return to New York for additional testing
What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets signed RHP Rylan Bannon to a minor league contract and invited him to major league spring training
INF Ronny Mauricio left his winter league game on Sunday with an apparent knee injury - he is expected to return to New York to see the club’s doctors
Rumor Mill 💨
The Giants met with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Sunday (ESPN) while the Yankees met with Yamamoto on Monday in LA (NEW YORK POST)
It might be tough to land Yoshinobu Yamamoto after all… ✍️
To get things started today, suddenly some attention has been turned to Ronny Mauricio, who hurt his knee in his winter league game over the weekend. Hopefully he’s ok but he’s going to get that looked at by the doctors at HSS.
The Mets certainly don’t need a major injury problem at this point in the off-season, especially to a prospect who unquestionably has turned heads over the last couple of years and is also the likely standout among options at third base at the moment.
But, baseball will break you - it’s just a matter of when and how bad.
Aside from that, I suppose it’s back to Yoshinobu Yamamoto and this new twist with the Dodgers that has unfolded with the Shohei Ohtani deal.
The two-way star will reportedly defer $68 million of his $70 million annual salary every year during the life of the contract until it expires. That leaves the Dodgers owing $2 million per year to the player and whatever the CBT penalties will be on the reported $46 million hit to MLB.
Let’s just say I am assuming there are many owners out there who are a bit peeved at this revelation. It’s not illegal, it’s not in violation of the current CBA. Both sides agreed to an unlimited sum of money being deferrable in any player contract in the last negotiation. So, it is kind of on the owners the Dodgers were allowed to do this.
But of course, there’s usually one or two things one side or another does (usually, the management side) that makes someone say, “well, I didn’t think they would actually do that!” and this will most assuredly be a topic of conversation when the next bargaining session begins.
Maybe there will be a clause in the next CBA called, “The Shohei Ohtani deferral provision,” right next to the part called, “The Steve Cohen Tax.”
Anyway, I wrote the other day the Ohtani contract should have a positive impact on the Mets and Yankees ability to sign Yamamoto.
Now, I am not so sure.
Yes, the Dodgers will eventually have their day with this contract, but it’s a total win for them financially both today and later as their CBT hit isn’t as bad as it might’ve otherwise been with fewer or no deferrals, and their present day out-of-pocket for Ohtani would be nothing (relatively speaking) for any club. Also, $68 million today won’t have the same value in ten years, as incredible as that might seem.
So yeah, there’s obvious funding available for them to sign Yamamoto, obviously space in the CBT payroll to sign Yamamoto, and now that the world’s best player is on that team, among other awesome players, it’s clear the Dodgers will be stiff competition for the Mets, Yankees, Giants and everyone else who wants him.
I always say the Mets can outbid anyone for any player at anytime. And I am firmly confident they will for any player they truly want. It would come as no surprise to me if this happens for Yamamoto whether they sign him or not. But what I also say is that it takes two to tango and when we are talking about these sums of money, there’s a point where a player sometimes (not always) goes to the team he or she prefers, rather than for the last dollar on the stack.
I can’t say whether or not this will happen with Yamamoto. All I know is, the Mets really want this kid, the Mets really need this kid, he’s as good a fit for them as any pitcher has really ever been in free agency and for all of that said, I expect the Mets to throw every last ounce of recruiting and money at him to try and convince him to join their club.
They can only make their best pitch and make it clear they want him more than any other team. I do know that money aside, players (and people in general) want to feel wanted by a potential employer. It offers them comfort in the process, among other things. And I think the Mets have already shown they want Yamamoto, evidenced by their trip to Japan a couple of weeks ago. I assume there will be additional recruitment this week, whether that’s in New York or Los Angeles.
At that point, it’ll be up to Yamamoto. And like it is for any pitcher, everything is out of their control once they make that pitch.
Hot Stove 🔥
Shohei Ohtani will defer $68 of the $70 million per year he is owed until 2034. For luxury tax purposes, the Dodgers are being accounted for a $46 million per year hit to their CBT payroll (ESPN)
The Cardinals are planning to engage Paul Goldschmidt on a contract extension (Post Dispatch)
In their pursuit of starting pitching, the Royals have had conversations with both Michael Wacha and Jack Flaherty (MLB.com)
I believe Yamamoto will sign with the Dodger with the lure of Ohtani , $$ , Freeman , Betts , weather , LA , proximity to Japan , etc. The Whiz Kid Stearns of signing only fringe players to 1 year deals will turn out to be a Folly. You cann't just flip a switch in 2025 and sign 7 really good players. Very underwhelmed with Stearn's performance so far and if he waits another two weeks for Yamamoto to decide there will be very few really good free agents available.
Can you imagine the vitriol that would be spewed towards Cohen and the Mets had they given a contract like the one Ohtani signed.