It's fine -- he got less than I thought he'd command, honestly, so the price on him is nice. I think Span was a better fit for them, though, and the same goes for Venable. Playing De Aza in CF with any sort of regularity seems like a poor choice at this point, but he's a solid bat against RHP at least. And if he bombs, he's cheap enough that there shouldn't be any real reluctance to just DFA him.

I think they'll go the trade route and maybe add a couple others on minor league deals. The Abad pickup wasn't a bad signing (I didn't even realize the awful pun there while typing it, but I have to leave it now, ha). Some candidates I like for them: Tony Cingrani, Will Smith, Mike Dunn.

This is my full-time job, yes.

Not really -- that's just what a mid-rotation arm gets in today's game. If he were 30 or 31, like most free agents, he'd probably have gotten one of those 4/52-ish deals. But, the Cardinals are buying more of his prime than most free agents due to the fact that he's 28, so the price had to be a bit higher. We predicted 5/80 on our Top 50 and in our Free Agent Profile for Leake. Not saying that to pat myself on the back or anything -- we've certainly missed on some, too -- just to say that this wasn't really an unexpected price tag.

Makes plenty of sense. Avi Garcia just isn't very good, and Melky's a defensive liability with a decent bat. He'd be a significant upgrade for a team that I think will be quite a bit better in 2016 than it was in 2015 with or without Gordon.

No way Jon Daniels bites on that.

There's no great way to predict what'll happen. Locke or another pitcher could be on the disabled list, for instance. If everyone's healthy, Locke or Vogelsong to the bullpen makes the most sense knowing what we know now -- it'd be wise to keep either around in the event of an injury down the line. Of course, I think Pittsburgh should and very likely will still add another arm, shifting Vogelsong to a swingman role.

I don't see why they'd be closed off to it, but his value isn't exactly sky-high now coming off a three-homer season and having just turned 32. The upped BB% makes him a bit more palatable, but the batting average probably regresses a bit in 2016 as well, taking the OBP down with it.

Hoping to do so this weekend.

Is that some attempt to downplay Heyward's value? You could do a lot of weird, arbitrary things like that with pitchers' home run stats. Madison Bumgarner probably homers more per AB than some 20-25 homer bats. Doesn't mean much.

Yeah I don't love the fit for them, necessarily, but the price was fine.

I don't think he has much trade value -- he'd probably get close to what he's going to make in arb as a free agent since he's coming off a pretty weak effort in his return from Tommy John. I'd consider a not-terrible relief prospect a decent return, but it seems like the Yankees are trying to market him as if he's fully healthy in trades. He may be, but a club isn't going to pay full price for 180 quality innings there, since who knows if he can actually do it?

Not picking any division winners right now. There's half the offseason left and a boatload of quality free agents still on the board.

Kemp's contract is much, much worse. Twins don't take him on just to dump Nolasco. It's not like they need corner outfielders -- they have too many corner players as it is.

Yeah I think he makes some sense there or in D.C., to name a couple of fits.

I can see them having some interest, but scouts I've talked to think Oh is more of a seventh-inning guy than an elite high-leverage arm. Mostly fastball with a decent slider that's something less than a wipeout offering.

Not really. Gardenhire's a great motivator and communicator, and his players love him. But, I also think he's a pretty poor in-game tactician who is behind the times when it comes to bullpen usage and defensive shifting.

I'd imagine yes, but the Dodgers wouldn't part with Seager in any trade at this point.

Yeah -- I'm not a huge Starlin guy. He's been legitimately terrible for two of the past three seasons, barring his largely BABIP-fueled surge in September.

There's no real need for them to do so like there was when Price was getting really expensive via arbitration. With so many clubs looking for starting pitching, though, I think there's a real chance that one of their guys gets moved. People always want some kind of percentage on these things, but that's always going to be a pure guess. I lean toward someone getting moved just due to the demand, so I suppose I have to say the percentage would be slightly higher than 50%.

Pittsburgh or Kansas City, of the teams listed. Rays would be good, too, but he'd be in the AL East there. KC gives him a huge park and a strong defense, while Pittsburgh has the greater track record with revitalizing pitchers, is in the NL and has a pitcher-friendly park as well. Bucs need another rotation arm more than the Royals, in my view.

Twins are more focused on lefties and don't seem inclined to go three years on any relievers. If they could Clippard at something like 2/12, maybe they see it as being opportunistic and thus jump in, but I'd guess he goes elsewhere (and gets more money than that).

It's not like there's suddenly a shortage of arms on the free-agent or trade market. There are a lot of clubs that have needs to fill yet. Much of their offseason has probably been focused on getting a closer, Plus, Keuchel-McHugh-McCullers-Fiers-Feldman isn't a bad 1 through 5.

I'll take the over on both.

I think more like 5/90.

Too much for New York to give up there.

Would probably just delay the bulk of the offseason action. Their current slot is fine.

Think it just means Flores will be in a utility role, bouncing around between 2B, 3B and SS. He's a nice fill-in at any of the three positions, especially considering Walker and David Wright have some injury issues.

You can't tell but I haven't blinked since the chat started. I'm winning.

Jeff is better than me at most things.

Evans mentioned trades frequently on MLB Network Radio yesterday when talking about left field. I'm sure part of that is not wanting to put out there that they can still spend top dollar on the Cespedes, Upton, Gordon types, but they're probably exploring the trade market in earnest as well. If I'm picking a free agent, I go with Upton there -- but I think there's a very real chance they trade for a LF instead.

He's going to want a rotation spot somewhere.

There's no telling when Cuba's top players are going to leave the country, so there's no real way of knowing when the better players will be coming stateside. You're better off looking to NPB and KBO for more predictable free agent timelines.

Solely guessing here: Carter to Brewers and Alvarez to Orioles (assuming Davis signs elsewhere).

I like something around $140-150MM over six years for him. Not saying I'd pay it, just that I think he can get it.

Yeah I think if they were willing to eat half the money that's a reasonable expectation. Wilson's a solid pitcher when he's healthy, even if he's getting up there in years and is overpaid in 2016. A team with plenty of money could easily consider him an upgrade over its fifth starter -- Dodgers, Nats, etc.

They're doing what rebuilding clubs have done for years -- stripping down the roster, trading for prospects, etc. It's become some huge issue of late for some weird reason, but I don't think it's anything all that new.

Whoops -- you've all been deprived of (or spared from) my mug.

That'd be my bet, yeah.

Padres are shopping Shields but still want quality young players in return, which seems pretty far-fetched if it's earnest in nature. I don't mind the Shields/Crawford or a Shields/Ethier framework, but doesn't sound like Pads will go for it without a change in their approach.

Nope.

Orioles would make sense for him as well, sure. Especially if LAA were eating money, as was proposed in the previous CJ question.

Seems that way, yeah. I'm pretty surprised that they basically took Peraza and a couple guys who project as part-timers, but they probably like Schebler more than most, and they reportedly love Peraza and are still sold on him as a definite regular. If he pans out and Hamilton finally figures out how to get on base, that'd be a fun pair to put at the top of a lineup.

I can say it but I won't mean it. I don't see Dipoto spending that kind of coin on a free agent.

Have never understood that for the Padres. Shields was overpaid but useful in 2015. Sandoval was genuinely terrible. And he's owed more money over more years. It makes no sense for San Diego.

Yeah I think he'll do better than most are expecting. Tends to happen with Boras' top guys each year.

Holiday season maybe? Someone may want to check on him just to be sure though.

Don't see any reason why he couldn't get there. Kid's amazing.

They've already brought back Estrada, traded for Chavez and signed Happ. They'll probably add a bullpen arm in January or February -- one of the guys on whom the market collapses -- but I wouldn't be holding my breath for anything major.