On the latest Phillies Talk podcast, the guys are back discussing Archie Bradley signing; a pick up Jim Salisbury calls “excellent for the worst bullpen in the Majors”.
The biggest news Friday from a Phillies perspective was the offer they made to J.T. Realmuto of more than $100 million, but it was an action-packed day all around baseball.
Beyond the 184 arbitration-eligible players who struck deals with their teams and beyond the scores of international signings made as that period opened Friday, some big-name free agents came off the board.
The Yankees agreed with DJ LeMahieu on a six-year deal worth $90 million. They also brought in two-time Cy Young-winner Corey Kluber to a one-year deal worth a reported $11 million.
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On Thursday, the Phillies added Archie Bradley, a few days after the White Sox signed reliever Liam Hendriks to a contract worth more than $50 million. Alex Wood went to the Giants and Pedro Baez went to the Astros.
Brad Hand, the best remaining reliever on the market, could be close to signing with the Mets, which would create a formidable combination of Hand, Edwin Diaz, Dellin Betances and Jeurys Familia at the back of that bullpen and might make the Mets the team to beat in the NL East.
The Yankees’ move to retain LeMahieu, one of their most important players, means a reunion in the Bronx for Didi Gregorius almost certainly will not occur. The Yankees have LeMahieu at second base, Gleyber Torres at shortstop and Gio Urshela at third. If they were unable to keep LeMahieu, bringing Gregorius back to play shortstop and shifting Torres to second base was viewed as a realistic option.
Dave Dombrowski told NBC Sports Philadelphia earlier this week that the Phillies are interested in re-signing Gregorius. Why wouldn’t they be? He and Alec Bohm were their most clutch hitters in 2020. Gregorius’ left-handed stick fit perfectly into the 5-hole. He was also consistent. His OPS was above .800 for 85% of the season and his batting average was .270 or higher for 90% of the season.
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Last offseason, Gregorius signed a one-year, $14 million deal with the Phillies. He had missed half of the 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. In Philadelphia, Gregorius did reestablish his value, but during an abbreviated season when a global pandemic drastically impacted teams’ finances and reined in spending across the league.
Another one-year deal probably doesn’t make a ton of sense from Gregorius’ perspective. This has been repeated often, but next offseason’s free-agent class is flush with great shortstops: potentially all of Trevor Story, Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager, Carlos Correa and Javier Baez. Gregorius would rank behind those five. In this year's class, he and Marcus Semien are shortstops 1A and 1B, with Andrelton Simmons also out there.
Could the Phillies and Gregorius strike a deal for two years in the $20-30 million range? A two-year deal would enable him to reach free agency again at age 32, at which point he might still be able to land one more two-year contract if his offense and defense don’t slip.
There haven’t been many contracts this offseason that stick out as comps for Gregorius, though he should certainly seek more than the $17.5 million over two years the Royals paid first baseman Carlos Santana, or the $10 million the Nationals gave Kyle Schwarber for one year. He's a better all-around player, and in 2020 he was the best hitter of the three.
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