So that’s nice."The deadline for teams to exchange ar

bitration figures with the players eligible for the process is tomorrow at 11 am http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-khris-davis-jersey , Arizona time. It doesn’t necessarily mean a great deal: doing so doesn’t commit either side to going through the process, with an agreement capable of being reached up to the very door of the arbitration hearing. However, it appears to be the case of late that teams have adopted what MLB Trade Rumors calls a ‘file and trial” approach: “halting negotiations on one-year contracts once figures have been exchanged and simply going to a hearing at that point. On that basis, we can probably expect a good many more agreements in the next 12 hours. But we can already cross at least one of the many Diamondbacks off the list, with the team announcing today they had signed catcher John Ryan Murphy to a one-year deal. According to Bob Nightengale, the deal is for $900,000, which is a good chunk (in percentage terms) below the MLBTR estimate of $1.1 million. Hey, it all adds up. Given the D-backs have ten other players still eligible for arbitration, if the same discount on expectations applied to each of them, that will be a total of $2.2 million more which the team will have, potentially to spend elsewhere. Might not seem much, but that’s the price of a Jeff Mathis or Daniel Descalso. With Alex Avila and Carson Kelly also on the books, it does appear as if the team will once again be going with three catchers. However, they could still end up trading one of the trio between now and Opening Day, and go into 2019 with just the two. When they originally tendered Murphy Walt Weiss Jersey , they did not have Kelly, who appears at the moment to be penciled in as the long-term catcher of the future. This would be Avila’s final year, so they could go with Kelly/Murphy in 2020. [Hat-tip to Rockkstarr12 for bringing my attention to this news] I know, but hear me out"There are “multiple mystery teams” interested in Bryce Harper, according to a reporter who has spent the last several months finding new ways to say that the Phillies are probably going to sign Bryce Harper. That reporter is Jon Heyman, of course. And the “mystery teams” are probably made up by Harper’s agent as leverage, of course. And even if those mystery teams exist, the Indians aren’t one of them. Of course. But, hear me out: What if. What if Chris Antonetti and the rest of the Indians front office were repeatedly lambasted this offseason for unwillingness to spend money, only to hop out at the last second and nab the biggest free agent? What if that cheeky son of a gun really knew all along that the Indians were negotiating with Bryce Harper while he told the media that the Tribe were done spending? Honestly, it would make a whole lot more sense than just dumping Yan Gomes to free up salary, or trading away the rest of Edwin Encarnacion’s contract, plus Yandy Diaz, for Jake Bauers — a modest upgrade over Yandy Diaz. The Indians took advantage of a similarly caving free agent market two offseasons ago when they brought in Edwin Encarnacion on an extremely reasonable three-year, $60 million deal. It seems like nothing now, but he was easilythe biggest free agent the 2016-2017 offeseason Marcus Semien Jersey , even before Yoenis Cespedes quickly took a deal to return to the New York Mets. The Indians didn’t balk at his looming 34th birthday and paired him with Carlos Santana to help the Tribe become one of the best teams in 2017. The stakes are much different with Bryce Harper, though. He’s not a 34-year-old first baseman about to hit the downturn of his career. Unlike Encarnacion, Harper is going to either want a lengthy deal, or an overwhelming AAV to convince him not to be the next 10-year contract guy. Regardless of how slow the offseason has been, there is going to be competition for him. Even if that’s just the filthy rich Phillies or Nationals or Giants or whoever else is bidding on his services, the Indians wouldn’t go into this alone. It’s going to cost a hell of a lot more than $60 million. First, let’s look at why the Indians could potentially do something like this, despite previous protests from the front office. As of last April, according to Forbes, the Indians are valued at $1.05 billion, with an estimated operating income of $31 million — and that’s before they got rid of the Encarnacion and Gomes contracts. Keep that number in minds, it’s important. The current owners, Paul and Larry Dolan, purchased the Indians for $323 million in 2000, meaning they aren’t one of those owners who recently dumped a truckload of money for their team and are trying to get their head above water. They’ve owned the team for going on two decades now and have rarely operated in the red. option in 2020. That’s 39 percent of the money you owe Harper in the first two years gone already. Who cares what prospect(s) it is — you’re on the verge of signing Bryce Harper, you can deal with losing Nolan Jones. The other difficult aspect of this is selling it to Bryce himself. He may have already accepted that he won’t get the length he wants. He may have already accepted that he won’t get to play where he wants http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-khris-davis-jersey , but he’s probably not going to settle on both. Three years clearly isn’t the desired length, and as much as I love Cleveland and the Indians I don’t think he ever envisioned himself with a Block C and chilling at Melt after the big game. To this point, the Indians haven’t been public suitors, either, meaning they probably haven’t had a big pitch to him to entice him. So allow me to do it for them. Even without Bryce, the Indians are projected by PECOTA to win 97 games as the second-best team in baseball. He’s virtually guaranteed a playoff spot all three years he’d be in Cleveland along with one of the best rotations in baseball, along with two of the best offensive teammates in Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez. He can spend all of the regular season hammering on horrid pitching staffs of the AL Central racking up those sweet ribbies, and be a hero in the postseason. Imagine the kind of legacy you build for yourself heading into the 2021-2022 offseason having been the guy that ended the league’s longest World Series drought? On top of that, the current CBA — you know, the one that put him in this position to begin with — expires in 2021. If he truly believes that things will be better on the other side of those negotiations, taking a three-year deal is perfect and makes him the first big-name free agent in the new open market. I’m not saying it’ll make sense, and I’m certainly not saying it’ll happen, but come on... Indians. Bryce. Just do it and be legends.