Mark Effin Simpson, for real this time

[Lane]

Mark Simpson

Okay here's the deal. Dude is a Hall of Famer, but you may have heard that I signed some contracts last year that will limit my ability to extend guys a bit.

Average season? .283/.395/.519 with 113 BB and 36 HR, 6 WAR

If you trade for him before opening day, you'll get the comp pick if you don't re-sign him. And you have all season to negotiate an extension if you want.

The price? Just shy of $10MM in salary and a damn good player or two.

Send me something strong. Top starter preferably. Or a can't-miss SP prospect. No teenage wannabes. If it's a BBA player I can take up to $20MM in salary but prefer less.

[RonCo]

This will be an interesting one.

[usnspecialist]

As someone who is potentially in the same situation with my own megastar 1B, I'm very curious to see how this plays out....

[RonCo]

As someone who is potentially in the same situation with my own megastar 1B, I'm very curious to see how this plays out....

Maybe I'm wrong here, but I figure there's a limited set of teams who make up the market for a guy like Simpson--as good as he is, and as relatively cheap as he is. While he would be an upgrade for several folks, I can think of maybe three teams he might actually go to.

[aaronweiner]

I could deal you Arthur Dempster.

No, wait, I couldn't.

[Lane]

I could deal you Arthur Dempster.

No, wait, I couldn't.

[usnspecialist]

As someone who is potentially in the same situation with my own megastar 1B, I'm very curious to see how this plays out....

Maybe I'm wrong here, but I figure there's a limited set of teams who make up the market for a guy like Simpson--as good as he is, and as relatively cheap as he is. While he would be an upgrade for several folks, I can think of maybe three teams he might actually go to.

I'm not disagreeing, the market for guys like that is so hard to read.

[RonCo]

I'm not disagreeing, the market for guys like that is so hard to read.

Yes. Not the least is that online league GMs are not conventional. I took ten minutes to go through the rosters of teams in the BBA and list their 1B/DH, then ask "if these were real teams, who would be true candidates to need Mark Simpson?"

Most teams have "good" 1B/DH that already seem to fit their needs and situation, so barring some kind of major change elsewhere, they aren't really candidates to give big chunks of the future for Simpson. Of the rest: Four teams have decent 1B, but might be on the edge of thinking they could maybe compete--though they tend to have financial difficulties that would muddy the waters. Seven teams have actual value in upgrading 1B, but of those teams, five really don't seem to be in the right place to take on a situation like Simpson and return anything like the future value Stephen is asking for. That leaves two real candidates (and I added a third just because I could see a transition plan happening for them).

But "what would areal GM do?" is not the right question.

Which is part of what makes this place fun.

[bschr682]

podcast material...