MLB Free Agency: Didi Gregorius Market Shifts to Phillies



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The biggest news on Friday from the Phillies’ perspective was the offer they made to JT Realmuto of over $ 100 million, but it was an action-packed day all around baseball.

Beyond the 184 players eligible for arbitration who have reached agreements with their teams and beyond the dozens of international signings made at the opening of this period on Friday, some renowned free agents have left the board.

The Yankees have agreed with DJ LeMahieu to a six-year contract worth $ 90 million. They also brought in two-time winner Cy Young Corey Kluber to a one-year contract worth $ 11 million.

On Thursday, the Phillies added Archie Bradley, 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 to the Astros.

Brad Hand, the best reliever left 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 this box and could make some Put on the team. beat in the NL East.

The Yankees’ decision to retain LeMahieu, one of their most important players, means a meeting in the Bronx for Didi Gregorius will almost certainly not take place. The Yankees have LeMahieu on second base, Gleyber Torres on shortstop and Gio Urshela on third. If they were unable to keep LeMahieu, bringing Gregorius back to play the shortstop and move Torres to second base was seen as a realistic option.

Dave Dombrowski told NBC Sports Philadelphia earlier this week that the Phillies are keen to re-sign Gregorius. Why wouldn’t they be? He and Alec Bohm were their biggest clutch hitters of 2020. Gregorius’ left stick fits perfectly into the 5 hole. He was also consistent. His OPS was over 0.800 for 85% of the season and his batting average was 0.270 or above for 90% of the season.

Last offseason, Gregorius signed a one-year, $ 14 million contract with the Phillies. He had missed half of the 2019 season after undergoing surgery with Tommy John. In Philadelphia, Gregorius restored his worth, but in an abridged season where a global pandemic drastically impacted team finances and dampened spending in the league.

Another one-year contract probably doesn’t make much sense from Gregorius’ point of view. It’s been repeated many times, but the next offseason’s free agent class is full of 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 there.

Could the Phillies and Gregorius strike a two-year deal in the $ 20 million to $ 30 million range? A two-year deal would see him regain free will at 32, in which case he could still land a contract of more than two years if his attack and defense don’t slip.

There haven’t been many contracts this offseason that stand out as comps for Gregorius, although he should certainly be looking for more than the $ 17.5million over two years the Royals paid in first baseman Carlos Santana. , or the $ 10 million the Nationals gave Kyle Schwarber for a year. He’s a better all-rounder and in 2020 he was the best hitter of the three.

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