When NY signed Ellsbury, he was similar to Harper in that he was a couple years removed from an MVP caliber season. The difference is Ellsbury was coming off a very good year. Harper just had a rather mediocre year.
A-Rod won 2 MVP awards with the Yankees and put up a string of very good years.
Stanton just had an MVP year in 2017. I know Yankees fans are disappointed, but one could argue that Stanton had a better 2018 than Harper.
Problem with Ellsbury is he was a player whose biggest asset was his speed. A long high priced contract for a speed player is less likely to work out then one for a slugger. He was starting the contract at age 30. It also wasn’t a position of need for the Yanks. It looked like an old fashion George “The Boss” move, steal the player from the Red Sox, “ha ha”, but unlike A-Rod everything seems to point to Ells as being Cashman’s folly.
I thought his might happen.
I am not unhappy with the deal. He seems to have recovered well from TJ surgery. I have not read that TJ surgery made you more susceptible to problems as long as you exercise reasonable caution. IMO, it gives the Nationals the best starting rotation in the NL. Certainly a contender in the NL East.
I also like the fact that it spends a bunch of money and signals less capacity to spend heavily on Harper which puts pressure on Boras.
It signals that the Nats will not be held hostage this winter to Boras’s tactics (He would wait until February if the Nats let him).
If the Nats sign another large deal, it may mean the end for harper in DC if someone else thinks he is worth more than 300 and I don’t know if the 300 deal is evens till on the table.
Eovaldi re-signs with Boston, terms not yet announced. I like the idea of him being the new closer, which would be easier on his double-TJ elbow than starting.
Eovaldi: 4 years for $67.5m isn’t too risky but a lot for a pitcher that has never had a good full season. Couple of surgeries already and tends to long pitch counts to get his outs. His stuff is electric, but I know I didn’t want him as a starter.
As a closer, could be interesting. He can focus on just getting those 3 outs and with his stuff it might work out great.
I could see Boston re-signing Joe Kelly to be the closer, keeping Eovaldi a starter. No question he’s getting paid based on a really good second half and an awesome postseason. Hope he can stay healthy.
Well, you did have the crystal ball back in February when you warned about the Red Sox making a grievous error by signing J.D. Martinez. 
I’d kinda rather they didn’t. He had a great Series, yes, but he’s a much better bet to revert to the kind of Joe Kelly he’s always been than to keep doing it.
Would you rather keep Kimbrel? I wouldn’t.
Well, the good thing about Kelly is he throws 100 mph.
The bad thing is, the shots they hit off him travel about 120 mph. 
The other bad thing is when it goes 100mph way out of the strikezone. That was also an issue in the regular season.
Well, I’ll own up to being wrong, I’m sure the Red Sox fans won’t even mind if the next 4 years of his contract he doesn’t come close to this year. They’ve got the Rings.
I would. His September shakiness was due to tipping his pitches, not general deterioration, and he fixed that for October. He’s as good as any closer in the game, so why wouldn’t you want to keep him, unless Boras pushes it too hard? Hint to Boras: Nobody is gonna offer six years, but you can always ask.
Speaking of Boras, Dombrowski might sign Kelly anyway as a Kimbrel negotiating tactic, just to show willingness to move on.
I think Kelly could fill the closer role. He’s the same age and Kimbrel, will probably cost less. Maybe if his role is more well defined he can settle into it. I wouldn’t be heartbroken if they bring back Kimbrel, but it his postseason performance was a real downer.
Please, please, give Kimbrel a huge contract. 
Ex-major league players Jose Castillo and Luis Valbuena have died in an automobile accident in Venezuela. Valbuena, who played for the Angels the last 2 seasons, was 33. Castillo was 37.
I just stumbled across that. Really bummed to hear that. Valbuena was playing for the Indians when I first became a fan, and I was fairly fond of the guy. Always rooted for him when I saw him playing. Man.
I’m probably just getting my years mixed up at this point, but it feels like we’re losing one or two current or nearly-current MLB players every offseason.
Winter meetings start Monday, so I guess we’ll be seeing all kinds of rumors and deals next week. A lot of noise about the Yankees making a trade with the Indians for Kluber or Bauer. Man, I hope they don’t get Kluber.
I’ve always wondered if there’s anyone who career earnings were screwed by Boras being, well, Boras.
There are any number of guys who’ve turned down good offers from their existing teams to go into FA, only to find their market value wasn’t nearly as much, despite what Boras (or other agents) told them.