Baseball America is in the early stages of announcing one by one the top 10 lists for each team, projected future lineups, best tools and a lengthy chat.
Rockies are today's featured team.
I note that Nolan Jones is projected as their LF in 2028 despite his major falloff this summer, which I guess they are attributing principally to one-time injuries.

I would assume Jones would be out of arbitration by 2028. He will be very lucky to still be on a big league team.

Since almost deal the Angels doesn't work out, here's another guy who's probably heading for career threatening surgery

Kikuchi agrees to join Angels on 3-year deal (source)
11:10 AM EST
Rhett Bollinger
Rhett Bollinger

@RhettBollinger
Share

0:07

2:57







ANAHEIM -- The Angels have been the most aggressive club in free agency this offseason and kept it up with their first big splash, agreeing to terms with lefty Yusei Kikuchi early Monday. The deal is the largest since Perry Minasian became general manager in 2020, as it’s a three-year, $63 million deal, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

The club has not confirmed the agreement, which was originally reported by MLB Network insider Jon Heyman. But it represents a solid upgrade to the rotation after the Angels also signed right-hander Kyle Hendricks to a one-year deal worth $2.5 million. Kikuchi immediately becomes an ace for the club and can help the Angels compete after their 99-loss campaign in ’24.

Breaking down the Yusei Kikuchi deal from all sides
Shop for Angels gear for the holidays
The 33-year-old left-hander is coming off an intriguing season in which he put together one of the finest stretches of his Major League career following a midseason trade to the Astros.

Kikuchi, who began his professional career with eight seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, spent his first three Major League seasons with the Mariners before signing a three-year, $36 million contract with the Blue Jays ahead of the 2022 season. Between Seattle and Toronto, he pitched to a 4.72 ERA with a 1.38 WHIP.

As with many previous Astros acquisitions, Kikuchi improved dramatically after his July 29 trade, making 10 starts down the stretch, posting a 2.70 ERA with a 0.93 WHIP and 76 strikeouts in 60 innings. Among the changes the Astros made to the veteran’s repertoire was a stronger reliance on his slider; by September, he was throwing 38.9% sliders compared to just 36.6% four-seam fastballs, increasing the effectiveness of both pitches.


Kikuchi joins a rotation that includes lefty Tyler Anderson, right-handers José Soriano and Jack Kochanowicz and Hendricks. The fifth spot is up for grabs and the Angels have several internal candidates, such as Reid Detmers, Chase Silseth, Caden Dana and Sam Aldegheri.

It’s been a busy offseason for the Angels, who also traded for slugger Jorge Soler and signed free agent catcher Travis d’Arnaud, utilityman Kevin Newman and Hendricks to bolster their depth. They also traded for infielder Scott Kingery and claimed infielder/outfielder Ryan Noda on waivers. Kukuchi’s signing is the largest for the club since they signed reliever Raisel Iglesias to a four-year, $58 million deal before the 2022 season.

Kukuchi also represents the club’s first Japanese player since the departure of Shohei Ohtani to the Dodgers last offseason. The Angels still retain a large Japanese fanbase because of Ohtani’s six years with the club.

Major Leaguer Yusei Kikuchi Builds Indoor Baseball Facility in Home Prefecture; Star Gives Back to Hometown

HANAMAKI, Iwate — An indoor baseball facility where locals can practice their skills opened in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, on Sunday, with its funding coming entirely from major league pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.

Kikuchi is a native of the prefecture’s capital, Morioka.

“Now, we have a place where we can practice baseball to our heart’s content,” 33-year-old Kikuchi, a free agent who formerly played for the Houston Astros, said at the opening ceremony.

Construction on the facility, which is called “King of the Hill,” began in February this year on land leased from Kikuchi’s alma mater, Hanamaki Higashi High School. It was completed at the end of October. The single-story facility has a total floor area of about 1,400 square meters.

The facility houses a bullpen, where up to three people can pitch at the same time, and a two-lane batting area, as well as a training gym, sauna and cafe decorated with items featuring various major league stars. The facility also is equipped with state-of-the-art machines for measuring the quality of pitches and hits.

Over 100 people attended the opening, where Kikuchi threw the ceremonial first pitch to Yusuke Chiba, 33, a catcher who played with Kikuchi when they were on the Hanamaki Higashi team.

According to K.O.H, the company that operates the facility, Kikuchi and other pro baseball players will use it for off-season training. Additionally, it will be used as a baseball school for children from preschool to junior high school. The school is scheduled to open in December and has already received more than 100 applications from children in and outside the prefecture.

“I’ve always wanted to contribute to Iwate through baseball,” said Kikuchi at a press conference. “The COVID-19 pandemic made me even more determined to create a place where we can practice baseball around the clock.”

He went on to say that his initial idea ballooned, eventually leading the facilitate to become a place that would develop young players and act as a local community center.

“I didn’t want to compromise [on the ideas],” Kikuchi said.

A junior high freshman from Kawasaki, who attended the opening ceremony with his family, said: “It’s amazing that Kikuchi has created such an awesome facility on top of doing so well in the major league. I want to be like him someday.”

<

Dodgers continue to dominate baseball: Blake Snell agrees to a 5-year, $182 million contract

The reigning World Series champions add the two-time Cy Young Award-winning left-handed pitcher.

By The Associated Press

November 27, 2024 • 7:51am

Blake Snell has agreed to a five-year, $182 million contract with the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers , according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday night because the deal is contingent on a successful physical.

The two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher personally announced the news by posting a photo of himself in a Dodgers uniform — No. 7 — on social media.

ESPN was the first outlet to report the details of his contract.






Ohtani did not pitch this year while recovering from elbow surgery. He won his third MVP award, his first in the National League, after a breakout season exclusively as a designated hitter.

With just three healthy starters in the postseason, Los Angeles eventually overcame a series of injuries to its projected rotation to win its second World Series title in five years.

Right-handers Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler became free agents this fall, creating more holes on the Dodgers' staff. But the addition of Snell would fill a big hole at the top with a legitimate ace.

Snell’s average salary of $36.4 million would rank as the fifth-highest among active contracts next year, behind Ohtani ($70 million), Philadelphia pitcher Zack Wheeler ($42 million), New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge ($40 million) and Texas pitcher Jacob deGrom ($37 million). Among expiring contracts, he was also surpassed by pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander (both $43.33 million) under deals reached with the New York Mets.

Earlier this month, Snell opted out of his contract with San Francisco to become a free agent for the second straight year after injuries derailed his lone season with the Giants.






The left-hander agreed in March to a two-year, $62 million contract that included a $17 million signing bonus payable Jan. 15, 2026, a $15 million salary for 2024 and a $30 million payday for 2025, with $15 million deferred and set to become due July 1, 2027.

Snell, who turns 32 next week, was 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 20 starts this year. He threw a no-hitter at Cincinnati on Aug. 2, one of just 16 solo shutouts in the majors this season. He struck out 145 and walked 44 in 104 innings.

He was sidelined from April 19 to May 22 with a left adductor strain and from June 2 to July 9 with a left groin strain.

Snell won Cy Young Awards in 2018 with Tampa Bay and 2023 with San Diego. He has a 76-58 record with a 3.19 ERA in nine seasons with the Rays (2016-20), Padres (2021-23) and Giants.

Because he rejected a qualifying offer from San Diego last November, the Giants were not eligible to extend another to Snell and will not receive draft pick compensation.

<

Roki Sasaki's Agent Blasts MLB Executives for Floating Rumors of Dodgers Agreement

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday said Sasaki's posting could extend into the 2025 international signing period.

Tim Capurso | Nov 21, 2024

Moments after news that Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki was set to be posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines, the Nippon Professional Baseball team he has played for in Japan, the World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers quickly emerged as the favorites to land the ace righthander.

So much so that ESPN's Buster Olney, after speaking with all 30 MLB general managers, said on an episode of Baseball Tonight earlier in November that "thirty out of thirty teams believe he's going to the Dodgers." Sasaki's agent Joel Wolfe, did not take kindly to such a stance from the league's executives, which has some believing the Dodgers already have a handshake agreement with Sasaki.

Wolfe, insulted by the consensus belief of baseball's executives, strongly denied that any such agreement exists.

"While a bunch of executives who should know me better and do a lot of business with me insult my integrity by insinuating that I would be a part of some type of nefarious agreement," Wolfe told Evan Drellich of The Athletic. "In reality, this is just poor sportsmanship."

Because Sasaki, 23, is not yet 25 years old, he will be considered an international amateur free agent, which means that MLB teams can only use international bonus pool money to sign him. After the Marines' announced on Nov. 9 their intention to post the Japanese ace, it was initially expected that he would be considered a member of the 2024 international class.

The Dodgers, with $2.5 million left, currently possess the most remaining international bonus pool money of any MLB team for the 2024 signing period, which ends on Dec.15. This is likely why many believed he was headed to Los Angeles.

But speaking to reporters on Wednesday following the owners meetings, commissioner Rob Manfred said that the timing of Sasaki's posting will likely now make him a member of the 2025 class.

"It kind of looks like the way it’s going to shake out, that the signing there, just because the timing, will happen in the new pool period," Manfred said.

According to Baseball America, the Dodgers, who last December signed two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani to a record $700 million contract after he turned down a qualifying offer, lost $1 million from their 2025 bonus pool money for exceeding the competitive balance tax.

Los Angeles, along with the San Francisco Giants, has just $5,146,200—the lowest pool amount in MLB—to spend during the 2025 signing period, which begins on January 15.

In theory, this will give more small-market teams a real shot at Sasaki. Considered one of the best pitchers in the world, Sasaki pitched to a 2.10 ERA in 394 2/3 career innings in NPB.

<

Why Guardians Are Perfect Landing Spot For Japanese Superstar Pitcher

The Cleveland Guardians' history of pitching development could make them an intriguing destination for international free agent Roki Sasaki.

Tommy Wild | Nov 13, 2024

The 2024 MLB free agency class was already top-heavy, with Juan Soto, Blake Snell, and Corbin Burns headlining the group.

But it got even stronger last Saturday when Roki Sasaki’s club in Nippon Professional Baseball announced they would post him, making him available to sign with any MLB team of his choosing.

Analysts currently view the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, and San Diego Padres as ideal potential fits for the Japanese superstar pitcher.

However, the Cleveland Guardians could be Sasaki's perfect landing spot for his short-term and long-term goals in Major League Baseball.

Let's break down why.

No, the Guardians can't offer Sasaki a $300 million contract aces have received in the past. However, that doesn't matter in this situation.

Sasaki is only 23 years old and will have to sign as an international amateur free agent. Teams can only use their international bonus pool money to sign him. He'll also have to go through the arbitration process no matter where he signs, just like Shohei Ohtani did when he signed with the Los Angeles Angels.

This alone could open the door for a surprise small market team such as the Guardians to enter the mix.

Sasaki reportedly values signing with an organization that has a strong history of developing players and unlocking their potential.

Will Sammon of The Athletic noted, "Sasaki will likely prioritize stability, lifestyle, comfort and, according to league sources, a team’s track record with player development."

The Guardians' reputation as one of the best pitching factories over the last decade certainly

If you're a young pitcher looking for a team that can help develop you into an ace of a staff and superstar pitcher, then the Guardians have to at least be in consideration.

In recent memory, they helped the likes of Corey Kluber, Shane Bieber, Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger, Trevor Bauer, and Tanner Bibee rise to the top of their game and become one of the best pitchers in baseball during their time in Cleveland.

Sasaki had a 2.35 ERA, 1.036 WHIP, and 10,5 strikeouts per nine innings in the JPPL last season. However, pitching in the big leagues is a completely different challenge, and Cleveland has proven they can do that.

The Guardians are still one of the youngest teams in baseball. They have developed some of the best pitchers in the game, need more starting pitching, and have a window of World Series contention opening.

This makes Cleveland a perfect landing spot for Sasaki if he chooses the small-market route.

<

SI:AM | Why Japanese Sensation Roki Sasaki Won‘t Sign Until 2025

We’ll have to wait a little while for him to find his next team.

By Dan Gartland | Nov 21, 2024[/b

The race to sign Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki will be one of the driving narratives of this MLB offseason. But don’t expect it to be resolved any time soon. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday that Sasaki is likely to sign after the league’s 2025 international signing period begins on Jan. 15.

The reason Sasaki won’t sign until after the new year is that he is considered an international amateur free agent. The vast majority of international amateur free agents are teenagers from Latin America, who are eligible to sign with MLB teams when they turn 16. But in order to be a true free agent, unencumbered by MLB’s rules on international signings, a player must be at least 25 years old and have played at least six seasons in a foreign professional league. Sasaki is 23 and has only played four years in Japan’s NPB. That means teams will be severely restricted in the kind of contract he can be offered.

Every MLB team is allotted a pool of signing bonus money to award to players it signs during each international signing period, which runs from Jan. 15 to Dec. 15 of each year. For the 2025 signing period, the pools range from $5.1 million to $7.6 million. Teams that lost top free agents get more money and those that signed those free agents get less money. Teams can also trade for international signing money, although the amount is capped at 60% of the initial signing pool.

If this all sounds familiar it’s because it’s the same set of rules that governed the signing of Shohei Ohtani when he jumped from NPB to MLB before the 2018 season. His signing bonus with the Los Angeles Angels was $2.315 million.

Because the 2024 signing period is nearly complete, most teams have already spent the majority of their signing pools. The Associated Press reported on Nov. 9 that the Los Angeles Dodgers had the largest remaining pool at $2.5 million, followed by the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants. Those are the only four teams with at least $1 million available, while there are also 10 teams with less than $50,000 available. By waiting to sign Sasaki until the start of the 2025 period, more teams will be able to offer him more money.

An overlooked aspect of the Sasaki chase is the ripple effect it will have on the rest of the international free-agent market. While teams aren’t allowed to sign players until they turn 16, the worst-kept secret in baseball is that clubs often enter into unofficial handshake agreements with players years before they’re able to sign. Earlier this month, an MLB investigation found that a 19-year-old player in the Dominican Republic had entered into a verbal agreement with the San Diego Padres after telling the team he was 14 years old. While players can’t sign until Jan. 15, large portions of teams’ 2025 bonus pools have already been accounted for via handshake agreements. If a team uses all or most of its bonus pool to sign Sasaki, that means there will be potentially dozens of Latin American players suddenly thrust into uncertainty and potentially denied life-changing money.

Sasaki’s decision to come to MLB now is a fascinating one. He could have earned a lot more money by waiting until he was a true free agent. The restrictions on how much money he’s able to be offered mean more teams will be in the running to sign him and that factors other than money will play a bigger role in his decision. It’s unclear what Sasaki is looking for in his next team. A championship contender? An innovative approach to pitching? Japanese teammates? A particular kind of city? Nobody seems to know yet—and we’ll have to wait a little longer to find out where he’s going to go.

<

Below are the full bonus pool amounts for each team:


<


Below you can see the complete slot values for the top 10 rounds:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... each-team/



<



Remaining allotment in Major League Baseball’s 2024 international signing bonus pools, as of Oct. 21.
The international signing periods runs until Dec. 15.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Updated 8:38 AM CST, November 9, 2024
<

Bidding for Roki Sasaki reportedly narrowed to two teams

Dodgers and Padres look like the strongest teams in the potential Japanese right-hander market

Leader in Sports

November 28, 2024

Although it has not yet been formally released by the Chiba-Lotte Mariners, Major League Baseball teams are already discussing the future signing of 23-year-old Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki.

However, the bidding seems to have been narrowed down to just two teams. During a conversation with Bleacher Report, MLB Network analyst Jon Heyman indicated that the Dodgers continue to be linked to Sasaki. In addition to them, the Padres appear to be a "clear option" to sign him.

“I think they’re the team other than the Dodgers that has a clear shot at Sasaki,” Heyman said. “Even though everyone is going for Sasaki, I think it’s very likely he ends up with one of those two teams.”

MLB.com's Mark Feinsand heard something similar earlier this month from various league officials, who believe the Dodgers' NL West rivals are clear favorites to land the Japanese flamethrower.

<

The Dodgers have now secured $964M of deferred payments since July 2020.

Shohei Ohtani: $680M/$700M
Mookie Betts: $115M/$365M
Blake Snell: $62M/$182M
Freddie Freeman: $57M/$162M
Will Smith: $50M/$140M
11:07 AM · Nov 27, 2024
·
<

The Dodgers are running away from the field - and toward a dynasty

Travis Sawchik

Whenever a contending large-market team signs a major free agent, there are often concerns and complaints about MLB's financial playing field. For many, it feels tilted at a 45-degree angle.

Now, winning the hot-stove season often doesn't result in lifting the Commissioner's Trophy. Money spent doesn't guarantee success in modern baseball. That's mostly because, in a sport dependent upon large samples to determine performance level, expanded playoffs is like employing a random number generator to determine a champion.

But this time may be different.

The Los Angeles Dodgers added two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell to their rotation Tuesday, agreeing to a five-year, $182-million deal. The nine-figure deal is the fifth issued by the club since the start of last season, matching the rest of MLB.

The addition's shaking up baseball.

The Dodgers are so overwhelmingly good in every facet of their organization, and so rich, that they may be building the first MLB dynasty of the 21st century.

No team's won consecutive titles since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees' three-peat.

Consider that the Dodgers are coming off a season in which they won the World Series without Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, and Shohei Ohtani being able to pitch in October. And without Snell, of course.

They were champions despite using the second-most pitchers in baseball in the regular season due to a rash of injuries.

The Dodgers won a title with one arm proverbially tied behind their back last season. They'll likely be healthier on the mound in 2025, and more talented, and they may not be done getting better.

In addition to Snell, the club's a considered a favorite to sign Roki Sasaki, perhaps the most talented arm to ever come out of Japan, who's expected to be posted in December.

The Dodgers are also among the teams bidding on free agent Juan Soto.

They're pulling every lever.

They've built an excellent player development system, scout well, and employ a smart front office. On top of all that, they have an ownership group willing to spend enormous local revenues enjoyed from residing in the No. 2 media market in the United States.

And despite all the spending to date, there's plenty more in reserve.

Subtract the Dodgers' actual 2024 payroll plus luxury-tax payments from their last full year of revenues estimated by Sportico and the math spits out: $308 million. And that $308-million surplus is equal to or greater than the total revenues of the 10 lowest-revenue clubs in the baseball, according to Sportico's estimates.

Making matters worse for the rest of baseball, the Dodgers are engineering a new lever to pull, helping enable some of their spending: extreme amounts of deferred money.

Snell's contract reportedly contains $60 million in deferrals, which means the Dodgers have now signed five players to contracts that include nearly a billion dollars - $962 million, to be exact - in deferred money, most notably with Ohtani ($680 million of his $700-million deal is deferred).






The strategy has a couple of significant advantages for the club.

For starters, the loophole allows them to lower their luxury-tax figures and corresponding tax hits.

Ohtani's 10-year, $700-million deal on paper, for instance, is calculated as a $46-million figure for 10 years for luxury-tax accounting purposes, as the deferral payments are discounted for inflation-adjusted value. (The Dodgers are perhaps inspiring a new generation of accountants.)

The strategy also means they're paying stars less than their headline contract number.

Not only will inflation likely eat away at the value of Ohtani's future earnings, but the Dodgers are only paying him $2 million per year through 2033, while setting aside $44 million in an escrow account each year beginning in 2026 to pay the deferrals. The expectation is the dollars in the escrow account will accrue enough interest to pay off the $68-million payments when they come due.

The Dodgers, in other words, may end up only paying $460 million or thereabouts of Ohtani's actual $700 million. The magic of compounding interest will do the rest. They've created financial flexibility in addition to skirting the full brunt of luxury-tax payments through this deferral approach.

Players agree to the deferrals ostensibly to join a superteam, and in Ohtani's case, to avoid California state tax when the majority of his payments come due.

Everyone's happy in L.A., but that's not the case throughout much of the rest of the sport.

The game seems increasingly unfair for many.

There could be some pushback. The Dodgers may be pushing the limits on deferrals to such a degree that - combined with their on-field success - the next collective bargaining agreement cracks down on such payments.

But the financial imbalance will remain, even if the accounting regarding deferrals changes in future labor agreements.

The Dodgers enjoy $334 million in local cable payments per year through 2038 at a time when a number of clubs have lost their previous guaranteed regional sports network deals. While a large chunk of that cable TV sum is placed into revenue sharing - teams place 48% of their local revenues into a pool and split that pie evenly - that $334 million is greater than 15 clubs' total revenues, according to Sportico revenue estimates.

The financial gap is already wide and it's growing.

Fans and rival clubs wanting to see a more level financial playing field are likely going to be waiting years, at best, if not for eternity.

The MLBPA doesn't want a salary cap, even if it would benefit most players by raising minimum and median salaries. Moreover, there's no mechanism forcing owners to spend more on payroll. (Owners did propose a salary floor in the last CBA but the MLBPA balked when owners demanded more restrictive measures limiting top payrolls.)

The Dodgers are a perfect storm.

They combine financial might and accounting creativity, along with having imported the best small-market practices post-"Moneyball" and a front office that's also embraced modern player development practices.

Add it all up and the Dodgers could be this century's first dynasty.

Travis Sawchik is theScore's senior baseball writer.

<