Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

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mikechamp
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Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

Post by mikechamp »

These comments came from a chat with MLB Trade Rumors' Mark Polishuk that occurred on February 14. Yes, this took place on Valentine's Day. I can only imagine the jokes one could hurl at those attending this chat live.

Not much content this week, so I included a bonus Q&A about the luxury tax, and another about possible teams in financial difficulty.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/mlbtr-live-chat-9937.html

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Do you think the Reds could snag Chris Taylor from the Dodgers? $7.8mil for a bench bat? Seems like something the Dodgers may move and Reds still need a SS.

Mark Polishuk
That would an interesting add for Cincinnati, but I kind of doubt L.A. is in any rush to make such a trade. With Enrique Hernandez gone, Taylor is now lined up to take over the super-util role, and Taylor has a lot more experience than other bench options like Rios, Beaty, Neuse, or Lux.
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Fair to say Cubs' Darvish trade wasn't salary dump anymore?

Mark Polishuk
Uh, no, it was most definitely a salary dump.

I said this last week, but I wonder if Jed Hoyer is a little annoyed that he deals his best pitcher for salary relief only to have his owner go "my bad, turns out we have a few extra million to spend after all."
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Was not surprised to see Molina return to STL. Was very surprised to see him get $9 mil. Much as I love his fire and past contributions, it is pretty clear he is in decline and STL could have added depth elsewhere and a cheaper catcher. Was this a legacy contract or was that truly his market value?

Mark Polishuk
Probably a bit of a legacy element in that $9MM but maybe not all that much.
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So the Brewers just end up jacking up the bill on Turner, but who mans the hot corner in MKE?

Mark Polishuk
Milwaukee's pursuit of Turner was interesting, since I wonder if the Brewers were only willing to stretch the budget for Turner specifically, or if that money is available to David Stearns and company anyway and now they can go after someone else.

A Urias/Robertson/Peterson revolving door could take place at 3B unless one of them solidifies the position or a platoon is created. But that position certainly looks like an area that can still be upgraded --- if not with Justin Turner, than with another more steady player.
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Is it possible for a player to sign a one million dollar contract with absurd incentives like “plays one game” that increases the contract by like 20 million? If so, wouldn’t the luxury tax hit only be one million since that is what is guaranteed?

Mark Polishuk
I don't know the particulars of the luxury tax rules, but I have to imagine there are some rules preventing those kinds of loopholes.

Plus, a star player capable of landing a $20MM deal wouldn't sign such a contract, since if he got hurt in Spring Training and didn't even play the one game, he'd be outta luck.
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In your opinion Mark, how many teams are in serious financial difficulty, if any?

Mark Polishuk
Unless a team has an owner who has taken a big financial hit for some other business endeavor (i.e., the Wilpons in the Bernie Madoff scandal), nobody is losing money by owning a Major League Baseball team. If any owner was in actual serious financial woe, they could make at least a cool billion by selling their team.
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CardsofSTL
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Re: Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

Post by CardsofSTL »

Milwaukee is weird.

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CardsofSTL
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Re: Mark Polishuk's NL Central comments

Post by CardsofSTL »

mikechamp wrote:
February 16 21, 3:37 pm

Was not surprised to see Molina return to STL. Was very surprised to see him get $9 mil. Much as I love his fire and past contributions, it is pretty clear he is in decline and STL could have added depth elsewhere and a cheaper catcher. Was this a legacy contract or was that truly his market value?

Mark Polishuk
Probably a bit of a legacy element in that $9MM but maybe not all that much.
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