Crown Jewels: A Banny Kinda Sorta Update, Previously Unnamed Trade Options and More

I've also got some Hall of Fame talk and a chance to say what I'm thankful for here on Inside the Crown.

As bad as the lockout was last year, we got a little spoiled, I think, by the frantic nature of all the signings that came in right before that. While that was a flood, typically the MLB offseason is more of a trickle in a faucet. One move comes in and then a couple days later, it’s another. And over the past few normal offseasons, that’s actually gotten even more drawn out with some big free agents signing later and later.

There is one exception to that and it’s during the Winter Meetings when everyone is together in one place. And that just so happens to coincide with coming right after the quiet period, which is usually Thanksgiving. Well, Thanksgiving is over and the meetings start a week from Sunday, so we’ve now reached the point where the faucet gets turned on like it’s going to be less than 10 degrees for the night.

But, of course, there’s always something plugging up that faucet. Guys like Chris Bassitt and Jameson Taillon may wait for Carlos Rodon to sign. Guys like Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Haniger may wait for Aaron Judge to sign. Guys like Elvis Andrus and Jose Iglesias may wait for any of the other big shortstops to sign. Sometimes it’s about waiting for the market price to be set, but sometimes it’s about uncovering additional suitors. For someone like Bassitt, for example, if the Mets miss on everyone, he suddenly has a big market suitor who knows him. The offseason is a delicate mechanism, but I have a feeling it’s about to start getting interesting.

The Banny Update

A few days ago on Twitter, we get the eyeballs emoji from Brian Bannister. It wasn’t in response to anything. It was just there. That, of course, made people speculate. It also came right when USC defeated UCLA in football, so the smart money is on that, but I hadn’t realized that in the moment because I saw the tweet a day later and it made me ask around a little bit and, yes, the Royals are still interested in Bannister from what I’ve heard. And yes, Bannister is still interested in the Royals from what I’ve heard. A holdup could be that MLB had a rule last year that without an exemption, unvaccinated coaches couldn’t be with their teams (remember last year’s rule, I could not care less about your thoughts on Covid or the vaccine, this newsletter is about baseball). Bannister isn’t vaccinated. So my theory, based on nothing anyone has told me, is that they’re waiting to find out if that rule will still exist in 2023.

So Bannister might yet be the guy, and I’ll maintain that if they hire him to run their pitching and don’t do anything else, it will have been a successful offseason. They aren’t planning to win anyway in 2023, so putting infrastructure in place is far more important than any player they sign to a one-year deal or whatever. But I also think it should be noted that Bannister isn’t the only hire who could make this offseason a win. I continue to champion Conner McGuiness from the Dodgers, personally. A pitching duo of Bannister and him could change the organization and likely change it quickly. Max Weiner from Seattle is another name that one person in the game told me is an even better hire than Bannister. So there are still options and plenty of them, but the longer this goes, the more I wonder if they’re waiting on clearance that Bannister can be in the dugout.

Now Playing Right Field…

The Royals seem at least somewhat committed to MJ Melendez in left field. I believe they see Drew Waters as their center fielder. And, as we’ve discussed, they seem to be looking for a right-handed bat to play right field. Is that Edward Olivares or does he get traded as I’ve written about in recent weeks? Let’s assume they move Michael A. Taylor and, for whatever reason, Olivares isn’t their choice. For what it’s worth, the reason is likely defense, but we can discuss that another day. Who could play right field for the Royals in 2023? I thought Hunter Renfroe was a nice option, but the Angels traded for him this week, so that’s off the table. I loved the idea of Teoscar Hernandez, but the price was always likely higher than the Royals wanted to pay.

There are obviously free agent options, but if they do look to the trade market, there are a few names I hadn’t really thought about before. Some are because they’re unlikely, like Ramon Laureano coming off a rough offensive year, Marcell Ozuna, who is a mess on and off the field, or Avisail Garcia, who signed a big deal and then was terrible in 2022. One name I’ve seen out there as possibly available is Anthony Santander. He’s a switch-hitter who doesn’t strike out a ton, has good power and can stand in the outfield. I don’t really see a fit there, but if they’re trying to force a square peg in a round hole maybe. The other name that I’ve heard mixed messages on being available is Tyler O’Neill from the Cardinals. He’s shown immense power, but a tendency to strike out. And he’s been a good defender in previous years. I don’t know if Scott Barlow makes sense as a starting point or if you’d even trade Barlow for two years of a bounceback candidate outfielder, but I could see that working. For my money, I’d just try to sign Mitch Haniger, but he’s going to have a lot of suitors so I’m just throwing some other names out there.

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Hall of Fame Voting Open

I don’t get a Hall of Fame vote, but I always think it’s fun to go through the ballot and pretend like I do. I could write a lot more on some of my thoughts, but for now I’ll leave it here. It’s an interesting ballot because the steroid era gave us quite a logjam for a long time that does seem to have cleared. Many players who were candidates for so many years have finally been elected while others, like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, exhausted their 10 years of eligibility without being elected so they fell off the ballot. That leaves three players who received 50 percent or more of the vote on the ballot this season and 13 new players added to the ballot. Players who played in each of 10 MLB championship seasons and have retired at least five years ago are eligible for the ballot, which is as follows:

For years, I thought ballots that didn’t include the maximum number of 10 candidates were wasted, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. I personally don’t see 10 candidates who deserve enshrinement as I have in the past. I still think the choice should be a binary one with a simple yes or no next to each candidate’s name, but it’s not the way it is. So with that in mind, I would vote for Carlos Beltran, Scott Rolen and Billy Wagner. I know the Astros scandal muddies the waters for Beltran, but he’s an all-time great. Rolen is someone who I think gets a lot of back and forth, but he actually had more fWAR than Beltran and an identical bWAR number. I think his defensive value coupled with his offense gets him in. And Wagner is someone I wouldn’t have voted for in the past, but he was just so dominant over the years that the more I think about him, the more I think he is a Hall of Famer. It’s tough to look at 903 innings and think Hall of Fame, but compared to his peers, he was one of the very best to ever do it.

Now, I would have voted for Bonds or Clemens in the past if I had a vote, so why wouldn’t I vote for Alex Rodriguez or Manny Ramirez? It’s simple. Bonds and Clemens didn’t get suspended for PED use and ARod and Manny did. Is it hypocritical to not not be in on Gary Sheffield then? Maybe, but I don’t know. It’s just something there I can’t quite get behind. There are three others who I would have to think really long and hard about and may come around on with some more time - Bobby Abreu, Andruw Jones and Todd Helton. I’d say it wouldn’t take a ton to flip me on Jones because of how amazing he was defensively and his numbers aren’t that far off Beltran’s. Abreu was an on-base machine, but I still feel like he falls just short for me. Again, I could flip on him. And Helton is someone who I may need to get over some Coors Field bias for, but I just can’t get there right now.

Thankful

I like that things slow down around Thanksgiving because it gives me a chance to be sappy in my weekly notes since there usually isn’t that much to be talking about. I just want to say that I’m thankful for all of the readers and subscribers who have built this into a really fun baseball community. My social media leanings have always been toward Twitter.

I have Facebook but rarely, if ever, use it. I have Instagram, but I forget about it. I have others as well, but Twitter is what fits me, so it’s nice to know that if the servers go down one final time, we still have Inside the Crown. So I’m thankful for all of you subscribing, reading and commenting. It’s crazy to think that 2023 is going to already be the third season I’m covering on Inside the Crown. I’m glad you’re all along for the ride.