Left hander Max free the New York Yankees in agreement
on an eight year$218 million contract pending a physical
sources telling ESPN it is the largest guarantee in baseball
history for a left handed pitcher. Another tweet here
from Bob Nightingale of USA. Today, the max
for a year$218 million contract is the largest for
a left handed pitcher and fourth by any pitcher in
history. No deferrals, no opt outs. So
the Yankees get their and in Max fried clearly,
once Juan Soto moved off the New York Mets case
, the Yankees knew they've got some financial flexibility now
we can make some moves. You add free to
this rotation to me. It feels like a big
pickup. It's a great pick up. There's no
doubt. Isn't it weird to look at those numbers
? Eight for 218 and think. Oh, that's
not bad then you see it. No, it's
the biggest effort to left at a pitcher after seeing
those numbers. But you know, you knew the
, the Yankees had a plan B as soon as
soda went to the Mets, they were gonna get
ready to, to to go where they needed to
go at the end of the day, you win
in the big leagues on the bump in the starting
rotation. Max Fried is a great guy that they
went out and get probably one of the best on
the market. So it's a, it's a great
play right now for the Yankees. Yeah, there
are buyers and then there are motivated buyers. The
Yankees lose out on Juan Soto. Then they find
themselves in a bidding war for Max Fried against division
rivals, Toronto and Boston. And there's nothing like
that to drive up a market. When you have
a motivated buyer like that, Max Fried, he's
got tremendous value because he's been durable. I know
he had the forearm issue a couple of years ago
, missed half of the season. But when you
look at this contract here, the Yankees really do
like to spread out the years to get that average
annual value down. So average annual value, that's
Tyler Glass now money. It's close to Carlos Rodon
money. So yes, the toll package is big
, but that eighth year keeps the Yankees a av
number down as far as luxury tax purposes. Right
hander, Nathan Eovaldi and the Texas Rangers are in
agreement on a three year$75 million contract sources telling
ESPN Eovaldi who was considered at the top of the
mid tier free agents returned to Texas. And as
we see in the first one on the news there
is Mr Robert Murray. So Ivaldi is a guy
who people will always remember the Rangers Tommy in the
playoffs 2023 5 and over six starts at 2.95.
Er, a, this last year, 100 and
four, a plus a little surprised by three years
for a guy going into his 35 season, but
he's been durable. He threw 100 and 70 innings
last year. Most is 2021. He's been durable
for a while there. We know what he can
do in the postseason. No question about that.
In a big game situation. You rely on this
guy, but I think they're paying for durability,
which is odd when you think about the fact that
he turns 35 in February, he's had two tummy
John surgeries, but he's one of the hardest workers
in the game. And that's why he's had the
second stage in his career that just won't quit.
It's a sign the Rangers do have a little more
cash than we thought they had last year to keep
a guy at this kind of number. Listen,
the starting pitching market pitching in general, the market
has gone crazy already this off season. So I
was thinking originally maybe a two plus two plus an
option for Nathan, but three year deal, we
don't see many for pitchers at this age. We
saw it for Scherzer, we saw it for deGrom
. It's very rare to guarantee three seasons for a
guy at this age turning 35 in February. But
case the way he's going, I don't see any
drop off in his stuff at all. I,
I get this. It's a really good sign for
Texas to keep him there. The Toronto Blue Jays
speaking the least are finalizing a trade to acquire three
time gold glove winning second baseman Andres Jimenez from the
Cleveland Guardians sources telling ESPN we should have Eric's thoughts
on that. Now, regardless, we're gonna talk
the Jays out and they get Andres Jimenez, you
know, Toronto is a team that was in play
for Juan Soto. They missed out as Tom said
earlier, the Jays were interested in Max Fried as
well. They and the Red Sox so clearly,
once one team starts to make an impact, other
teams will as well case your thoughts and Jimenez going
to the Jays. Oh, I think it's a
great, that's a great pickup for Toronto. We're
kind of waiting for Toronto to see what they're gonna
do something. You're just, you're looking at the
free agents, you're looking, you know, is
Ross Atkinson for the trade market. Where's he gonna
go? But Andre Jimenez is, is a great
player. You know, this guy can flat out
, pick it at second base. He's got a
great bat. He's a great young athlete, so
very athletic guy. So I think this is a
great pick up for the Toronto Blue Jays. Tom
he's 10th in the major leagues and war the last
year because of his defense, Jays never adequately replaced
Marcus Simeon. Now they do and Jimenez, there's
the numbers on what you see the war and obviously
a lot of that is defensive related. He is
a premier defender. No question. Do not sell
him short on his offensive game, especially as a
run producer. He's a great hitter with runners on
base, putting the ball in play, using the
whole field. Listen, Toronto has been looking for
left-handed bats, right. And I think this is
gonna help in that lineup. There anything is gonna
help with their lineup? I thought they underachieved offensively
. Yes, terrific defender, but don't sell his
offensive game short either some news to pass along to
you on this edition of MLB tonight, Ari Alexander
, Alexander with this, uh, Jimmy Garcia agrees
to a two year$15 million deal with the Blue
Jays. Now remember the Blue Jays traded him to
Seattle at the deadline. He wasn't effective for the
Mariners, er, a over six before he was
traded 2.7 a 30 innings, only 16 hits allowed
his K for 9/12. So Garcia goes back to
the Toronto Blue Jays with the second overall pick in
the 2025 MLB draft. The Los Angeles Angels,
which makes the number one overall pick the Washington Nationals
. It's for the third time in franchise history like
D Rose said the Nats have the number one pick
. Yes, they landed Stephen Strasburg in 09,
Bryce Harper in 2010. The Angels with the number
two overall pick after winning 63 games last season,
it is the highest the Angels have selected since they
took Darren number one overall in 1995. Dan.
This is, this is huge for the Washington Nationals
. Yes, especially with the young core they currently
have in place. Now they're going to add another
potential impact player into the mix. I mean,
honestly, all the top six teams, Greg are
going to get really, really good players in this
year's lottery. But I mean, the Nats now
have an opportunity to do something pretty special. Look
at Mike Rizzo. Matt Adams just got a raise
, by the way, he just got promoted.
Oh, my goodness, Mike Rizzo. All smiles
. The Nationals have landed the number one pick for
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