By no means let anybody let you know that there are not any rebounds in baseball. That’s utter nonsense, and it’s our accountability to say so. Should you want proof to assist your rebuttal, simply have a look at what occurred this previous week in free company.
Since our final mailbag ran, Alex Bregman signed a five-year, $175 million contract to play for the Cubs after opting out of the deal he signed final February with the Purple Sox. The Cubs knew they weren’t within the operating to re-sign Bregman’s former Astros teammate, Kyle Tucker, so that they as an alternative beefed up their lineup with the third baseman. In response to lacking out on Bregman, Boston bounced again with somebody utterly completely different, agreeing to a five-year, $130 million deal with left-handed beginning pitcher Ranger Suárez, phormerly of the Phillies, who had spent a lot of the primary half of January courting Bo Bichette, whose long-time group, the Blue Jays, had their sights set on Tucker, the top-ranked free agent of the offseason. It appeared that Tucker was selecting between Toronto and the Mets, and was nearing a choice, when on the final minute the Dodgers swooped in with a four-year, $240 million provide that Tucker merely couldn’t flip down. Spurned by Tucker, the Mets splurged on Friday, snatching up Bichette for a minimum of one season (the deal can max out at three years and $126 million) earlier than Philadelphia may do it. Not lengthy after, the Phillies phinally phigured they need to cease enjoying the phield and as an alternative rekindle an previous phlame; they re-signed catcher J.T. Realmuto to a three-year, $45 million contract.
For these of you conserving rating at residence, the Cubs rebounded from Tucker with Bregman; the Purple Sox rebounded from Bregman with Suárez; the Phillies rebounded from Suárez and Bichette with Realmuto; and the Mets rebounded from their failed pursuit of Tucker with Bichette. That leaves the Blue Jays because the one group nonetheless in search of a rebound. Tune in subsequent week to seek out out in the event that they turned to Cody Bellinger to assist them recover from Tucker. We gained’t be masking baseball’s latest hit Realmutality TV collection for the rest of as we speak’s mailbag. If you wish to go behind the scenes of all of the drama, all of the tea is linked within the fast recap above, or you possibly can go deeper by studying Jon Becker’s newest Matrix Reloaded column. As a substitute, we’ll be answering your questions on probably the most thrilling potential World Baseball Traditional matchups, the WAR worth of Edwin Encarnación’s parrot, and an alternate universe by which the PCL groups joined Main League Baseball again within the late Nineteen Fifties. However first, I’d wish to remind you that this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. Should you aren’t but a Member and wish to maintain studying, you possibly can join a Membership right here. It’s one of the best ways to each expertise the positioning and assist our employees, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, if you happen to’d wish to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an e mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.