With a big offseason deadline now upon us, here are three things we'll be keeping an eye on throughout the baseball world today:
1. The non-tender period ends today:
The deadline for clubs to offer contracts to their organization's players is tonight at 7:00 p.m. CT. The annual deadline always stimulates activity among actors at the arbitration level, who are usually at greatest risk of not being put out to tender. Anthony Franco of MLBTR discussed the process and an extensive list of possible non-tender candidates yesterday, and it wouldn't be a big surprise to see a transaction involving a player on that list sometime before tonight's deadline. This transaction could be a non-tender, allowing the player to leave early in free agency rather than retaining him at an arbitration-level price, but it could also take the form of a trade to another club , who are more willing to pay that price or even a pre-tender deal where the sides avoid arbitration at a lower price to save the club some money and give the player some security.
2. Could the trading market heat up this weekend?
Earlier this week, the Cubs completed two trades on the same day. She acquired Right-handed Eli Morganwho is expected to be arbitration eligible for the first time in his career this winter, is being traded by the Guardians in exchange for an outfield prospect Alfonsin Rosario. They also recently acquired catcher from DFA Matt Thaiss in one Cash deal with the Angels. It is likely that we will see a surge in transactions similar to these two deals in the coming days.
With the non-tender deadline expiring today, several AR-eligible players who are in the non-tender bubble will be moved today, either from teams looking to cut costs, to teams with available budget space, or from a team that otherwise won't would – Offer a player to someone interested in offering him an arb level contract. That being said, we've seen a number of players get DFA'd before the Rule 5 draft protection deadline earlier this week. Any number of them could be transferred to another club via trade or waiver. That could lead to a handful of smaller trades, similar to the Thaiss deal in which a club adds a player for what is typically a relatively small return, and there will certainly be plenty of waiver activity (and subsequent DFAs) in the coming days as well.
3. Who else will meet with Snell?
Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell allegedly met with both the Red Sox and Dodgers recently gave an insight into the market for the soon-to-be 32-year-old. The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal suggested yesterday that both the Blue Jays and Orioles could set up meetings with Snell soon, adding that the left-hander is seeking a shorter stay on the free-agent market this time after being held out by the Waited March 19th to sign last winter.
It's safe to assume that the Yankees (who showed interest last offseason) and Mets (who had 60% of their rotation leave in free agency) could also partner with the left-handed hitters. Snell could potentially have more appeal than other free agent aces Corbin Burnes And Max Fried This is due to both the lack of a qualifying offer and the fact that his age could shorten the length of his contract (but likely at a higher annual value). Could this produce a few surprising suitors who don't typically shop at the lower end of the free agent pool?
