Wow, Corbin Burnes signed to the Diamondbacks, and the Giants didn’t even get Arson Burnes. Supposedly, Corbin Burnes wanted to stay close to home, so he passed up a $250 million deal with an AL East team and signed with the Diamondbacks for $210 million. Corbin Burnes, 100% certified Wife Guy. Imagine that convo if it was you:
“Hey, Wifey, they’re offering $250 million to go to the East Coast, and $210 million to stay home. Which do you think I should do?”
A forty-five-second pause where your wife cycles through in her mind the pool guy, cable guy, mechanic, mailman, Amazon deliveryman, and, finally, “I guess stay home.”
Now, imagine you were asked the same. Your wife, “Why did you pause for a millisecond? Do you not want to stay home for $40 million less?” You’re in the doghouse. Though, $210 million goes a long way to decorating a doghouse.
Corbin Burnes leaves the friendly confines of Camden Miles that is once-again Camden Yards after the renovations, and he had a line of 15-9/2.92/1.10/181 in 194 1/3 IP, and you have such crackers in your head if you’re drafting Corbin Burnes this year, where he’s being drafted or even if he falls! His Ks have gone down four years in a row. Last year, he had a 8.4 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 3.55 FIP, and 3.69 ERA in the 2nd half. His velos and pitches were fine, though. I can galaxy brain into why he’s lost strikeouts. His ground balls are up (not literally), so he chose to throw to contact more, because no one can hit his cutter. DBacks got themselves a new, younger Brandon Webb, call him Brandon Wembryo. That’s fine for real baseball, and maybe he has an elite Webb season and Brandon Wembryo goes 20-3/2.40/1.00/190 in 200 IP, but, for his price and fantasy, I am not messing with someone who is losing their Ks. 2025 Projections: 15-8/3.41/1.12/186 in 195 IP. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this offseason for 2025 fantasy baseball:
PSYCHE! My 2025 fantasy baseball rankings are all on Patreon. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out next month. Anyway II, the roundup:
Walker Buehler – Signed with the Red Sox. Sadly, Buehler’s day off lasted six months last year, until the postseason. So, do you believe a random 15 innings in the postseason or 75 1/3 IP in the regular season? I tend to believe the 75+ innings, but here’s the thing: Neither the postseason nor the regular season were great below the surface. He had a 7.8 K/9 in the postseason and 7.7 K/9 in the regular season. Plus, 3+ BB/9 in the regular season, 3.0 in the postseason. Only thing that looks remotely better is the BABIP. That’s not all smoke and mirrors. He elicited weaker contact in the postseason. But guess what Fenway is going to kill him in? I think his name makes you think there’s more here than there is. If you’re a believer, hope he holds his postseason fastball zip, and his pants don’t rip, said like Nipsey Russell. 2025 Projections: 9-11/4.09/1.33/136 in 153 IP
Joc Pederson – Signed with the Rangers. I spent more time than I care to admit (17 seconds) trying to see if he had position eligibility. He does not. I also don’t know if I’ll be doing DH rankings. I will have them in my top 500, naturally, but to do a whole post for Ozuna, Pederson and Manzardo, it’s giving me the mehs, tee be aitch. 2025 Projections: 61/24/66/.261/3 in 361 ABs
Gleyber Torres – Signed with the Tigers. About time Detroit made a pact with Union Gleyber. Stay woke! Hard to be Gung Ho about this. Wokka wokka wokka! Javy Baez, Gleyber Torres…they must be mad they never got some Starlin Castro. So, Tigers just tried the poor man’s Gleyber, and decided to boost up. Who’s the poor man’s Gleyber? You might know him as Gio Urshela. This seems like a terrible move all around for him, but maybe he builds up his value and gets the heck out of Detroit next year. It is a not a good park and only made worse by the lineup. 2025 Projections: 76/17/58/.262/5 in 591 ABs
Josh Bell – Signed with the Nats, but why? I mean, great! Good stuff. But also, why? They have Brady House, Jose Tena, Juan Yepez, Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Bell now. Otherwise known as The Prosps and the Prospblocks. A collective that could be good, but will likely be bad. One good thing is Josh Bell never finishes a year with a team, so he’ll be solid through July then awful on a contender, how about the Twins? 2025 Projections: 58/20/68/.244 in 529 ABs
Eloy Jimenez – Signed a minor league deal with the Rays. [researching how the minor league IL works] Solid deal, should work out great!
Vidal Brujan – Traded to the Cubs in exchange for Matt Mervis. A trade of “Now there’s names I haven’t thought about in a while.” This trade is: What if each team had a Quad-A player slot they had to fill? I’m not sure either guy can hit .200 in Triple-A, let alone the majors. As for Brujan, well, he’s got speed. As for Mervis, Jonah Bride watching for Marlins’ depth chart changes, coming up behind him, whispering, “Don’t be Mervis.”
