Wasting No Time After the World Series
Dodgers sign Max Muncy to a two-year contract extension.
I miss baseball. As has been case in every year of my life that I can remember, I have missed baseball from the instant the final out of the World Series was recorded until pitchers and report to Spring Training around Valentine’s Day. I’ve reread Bart Giamatti’s “The Green Fields of the Mind,” the beginning of which you are probably familiar:
“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”
I’m heartened by the fact that baseball is a nearly-365-day game now, with some sort of news occurring and being reported on every day of the offseason, with the possible exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Free agency has begun. Clubs have an exclusive five-day window to re-sign their own free agents. Suitors can and are negotiating with free agents and their representatives as we speak. The three-day General Managers Meetings are a week away; the Winter Meetings scheduled for December 3-6. Yes, my friends, the hot stove has been lit.
But first I’d like to say that with all the complaining about the now two-year-old postseason format, and all the hand wringing about the record-low TV ratings, and about the business of two wild-card teams in the World Series, one of them an 84-game regular-season winner, I thought it was a great and exciting baseball season from beginning to end.
As I watched former Dodger Nathan Eovaldi escape jam after jam while his counterpart Zac Gallen took a scoreless no-hitter into the seventh inning Wednesday, it occurred to me that this was a legendary Game 5 unfolding before me. The 5-0 final score changes that to a degree, but only to a degree.
I enjoyed former Dodger Corey Seager’s performance especially. Only the second man to win two World Series MVP awards (Reggie Jackson is the other), Seager recorded a .286/.375/.762 Series slash line, with three home runs and six RBIs. He hit .318/.451/.682 with six homers and 12 RBIs in the postseason after hitting a ridiculous .327/.390/.623 with 33 and 96 in the regular season. Magnificent.
Los Angeles castaway Josh Sborz (5.50 ERA in the regular season: 5.08 lifetime) did not allow a run in his 3 1/3 WS innings and was nails in getting the final five outs of the clincher. He tossed 12 innings of one-run ball in October for an ERA of 0.75. It’s both interesting and a bit satisfying to note that Texas was able to win it all with ex-Dodger Max Scherzer contributing a paltry 9 2/3 frames and a 6.52 during October. For comparison, Eovaldi won five games without a loss, with a 2.95 over 36 2/3.
Meanwhile, my column writing was interrupted by the earthquake that on Day One of the offseason, Andrew Friedman and company are already one mistake in. Max Muncy has been signed to a two-year, $24 million contract extension. He’s hit .204 with a .331 on base percentage over his last two seasons — yes with the power numbers still excellent (57 HR, 174 RBIs) — after producing a .246 and a .371 in the previous four, which is a substantial falloff. L.A. held a $14 million option for Muncy to return next year, which was more than enough of a commitment. He isn’t getting any younger (or slimmer) at 33 years of age and his defense has become off-the-charts bad. Perhaps Friedman has an early inkling that Shohei Ohtani will sign elsewhere, or been told not to purse him, and Muncy may be a cheaper option than bringing back J.D. Martinez to fill the designated hitter spot. But does he really want a .200-hitting DH?
Friedman has a penchant for extending players he likes when he has little apparent reason to do so. He extended Miguel Rojas ($5.75 million for his age-35-year season of 2024, with a $5 million option for 2025) immediately after acquiring him from Miami last winter and he’s extended Blake Treinen and Jimmy Nelson twice each when they were coming off serious injuries. Neither made an appearance with the big club in 2023.
I’m stunned by the Muncy deal. Moving on, my frustration with this front office has boiled over, I’m done predicting what they will do and shall instead concentrate on what they should do.
I’ll have more on the free agent market as it unfolds, but as of this afternoon, the Dodgers should be targeting a trade for Brewers starting pitcher Corbin Burnes, who will be a free agent a year from now, as well as signing at least one of the following free-agent SPs: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Aaron Nola, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell, Sonny Gray, Seth Lugo, Kenta Maeda, Tyler Mahle (who may not pitch in 2024 following Tommy John surgery, which makes him a perfect match for Friedman), Hyun-Jin Ryu, Lucas Giolito and I suppose Clayton Kershaw. I don’t actually covet all of these guys, but the team needs capable, experienced starters and you can’t always get what you want. So you’d better be ready to pounce when spurned by your preferred choices. Because otherwise you might get stuck with Lance Lynn.
Next, re-sign free agent Kiké Hernández.
Next, consider including Wisconsin native Gavin Lux in the Burnes trade.
Next, consider trading Chris Taylor.
Next, consider re-signing Jason Heyward.
Next, make a determination about whether Michael Busch or Miguel Vargas have futures in Los Angeles. Because if they’re not going to play at the major-league level, it’s better to trade them to fill other needs than to watch their value plummet, which does happen. See Yadier Alvarez. See Diego Cartaya (maybe). Vargas’ value is already less than it was last spring. Busch’s is at its peak now.
Then think long and hard about what free-agent position players may be good fits. A few examples include third basemen Matt Chapman and Jeimer Candelario (in case Muncy indeed becomes the DH), outfielder Jorge Soler (who could DH in the event that Muncy is the everyday third baseman), Justin Turner (in case Ohtani lands elsewhere) and yes, perhaps Cody Bellinger.
Oh, and sign Ohtani. As I’ve said, I’ll gladly pay an extra 50 cents for a Dodger Dog; a buck if they actually cook the thing all the way through.
The above is not meant to be a complete list and you can read my 2024 roster preview here. If you can’t tell, I’m less confident in the front office’s ability to know what’s best after the 2023 season than I was when it began, and because of today’s Muncy decision I’m less confident in their ability this evening than I was when I arose to face the sports void this morning. And I’m less confident after completing this story than I was when I began. But we shall persevere.
This is one in a series of occasional free posts. Please support Howard’s work by clicking the button below and becoming a paid subscriber.
Media Savvy:
Buster Olney explains why “Why Bochy might be the greatest manager ever,” at ESPN.com.
Ken Rosenthal posits that “With Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, Rangers prove spending money works — when done well,” at the Athletic.
Also at the Athletic is “How Chris Young shaped the World Series champion Texas Rangers: ‘It was our time’,” by Andy McCullough. I’ll just add that Young and Kershaw went to the same Highland Park High School (years apart) and are close friends, making this winter, after the long-awaited Rangers triumph, the perfect time for the Dodgers future Hall of Famer to make the move home to Texas.
Also at the Athletic is a piece about what is perhaps the greatest challenge to Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption in decades, by Evan Drellich. Drellich also reports on Commissioner Rob Manfred’s discussion of the current postseason format, about the possibility of dropping the pitchers-on-a-roster limit from 13 to 12 (awful), about the A’s move to Las Vegas and a number of other topics. It’s worth your attention.
Mookie Betts is a 10-year veteran with an equal amount of time working and living in two of the largest media markets in the country. He’s as media savvy as they come. So why did he choose the World Series, and his debut as Fox Sports personality to stick a cleat in his mouth to defend Trevor Bauer, of all people? Who knows, but it was quite a thing for him to do so. Read Bill Shaikin’s story at the Los Angeles Times. And my exasperated tweets in real time here, here, here and here.
Shaikin also has a story about Executive Vice President, Planning & Development, Janet Marie Smith, and her new venture, Canopy.
Baseball Photos of the Week:
Red Sox Babe Ruth, Hick Cady, Ernie Shaw and Ray Collins, 1915.
Walt Bond.
Nap Lajoie, 1915.
Children at play.
Casey Stengel, 1962ish.
Dave Henderson. 1986.
Jerry Reuss, 1972 or ‘73.
Self-explanatory.
And remember, glove conquers all.
Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the Internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter. Follow OBHC on Twitter here. Read OBHC online here.
I thought Snell would cost us too much money? Also, where would Friedman find out Ohtani wants to sign elsewhere? Is there a “good ole boys club”’for GM’s?
I think I like this (sub stacks) better than X! Lol.
Rosenthal is saying he thinks the Dodgers are the favorites for Ohtani...is his info different than Friedman?