I like this deal better than the Semien one.

And also pissed/disappointed the Cubs couldn't close this sort of deal with him last year - I haven't seen anything about the Cubs talking to him this offseason so if they didn't, also disappointed in that.

Seems like a lot more talent moving from the NL to the AL than the other way. Seager, Gray, Gausman and now Baez.

I think I prefer the Semien deal. Semien is 2 years older than Baez, and the contract is one more year, but Semien's been the much better player recently.

Both are far preferable to the Seager deal.

For me he is one of the scariest of the premium FA to sign. If it is going to be only a 6 year deal I guess teams view him that way as well.

Hey, chin-up...

The Cubs have reportedly signed Yan Gomes!

In what I'm sure is unrelated news, Willson Contreras is shopping for new luggage.

To what must be everyone's satisfaction, talent is generally moving from the better teams (2021) to the worse teams. My count as of now is as fiollows:

LA Dodgers: -2 (Hurrah!)
Toronto: -1
Rockies: -1
Oakland: -1
SF: -1
Rangers: +3
Mets: +1 (Max and Marte added and Baez subtracted)
Seattle: +1
Tigers: +1

Just taking 2 from one of the silly, uber teams (LA) and adding 3 to 1 of the worst teams (Rangers) helps the competitive balance.

The Cubs have reportedly signed Yan Gomes!

That's not a bad back-up catcher signing. If, on the other hand, it's a precursor to Willson departing, or it's the biggest free agent signing of the off-season, then it's a very bad signing.

contract is one more year

And $35million. You pay less, and get out younger with Javy. Plus Javy will be at SS, while Semien likely at 2b.

That's not a bad back-up catcher signing. If, on the other hand, it's a precursor to Willson departing, or it's the biggest free agent signing of the off-season, then it's a very bad signing.

$13mil for 2 years is a lot for a backup catcher.

$13mil for 2 years is a lot for a backup catcher.

Ricketts should be paying a lot for at least something.

I just saw that Gomes is the most money the Cubs have given a FA hitter since Heyward. Barf.

I'm not sure how the Mets cognoscenti saw him, but I do wish we had kept him.

I've never been more excited about a free agent signing in my life. I LOVE Javier Baez. I was silently praying the Tigers would sign him, and they did!

The tags, the slides, the off platform throws, the majestic home runs... I'll accept a few golden sombreros for all of that.

Ardo, enjoy the ride. Its a lot of fun.

#12: With Lindor around forever, Javy just didn't make much sense for the Mets. He's excellent at 2B and 3B too of course but strong defensive SS who can hit a bit maximize their value as SS. Semien is the guy I assumed the Mets were gonna sign.

And this seems a pretty reasonable deal. It will be interesting to see what Story gets.

Javy is the kind of player who seems like he could easily fall off the cliff, so I'm not heartbroken that the Cubs didn't bring him back.

But I definitely feel like a parent protecting his flawed child from others today. I'm in Michigan, so a lot of my Tiger fans friends are freaking out about all the strikeouts and the relatively low OBP. I feel like to look at Javy from a strictly offensive perspective misses a huge part of his value as a player.

I feel like to look at Javy from a strictly offensive perspective misses a huge part of his value as a player.

Someone should come up with a tagging stat. Call it Sleight of Hand Above Replacement Tagger.

But I definitely feel like a parent protecting his flawed child from others today. I'm in Michigan, so a lot of my Tiger fans friends are freaking out about all the strikeouts and the relatively low OBP. I feel like to look at Javy from a strictly offensive perspective misses a huge part of his value as a player.

Right, this is the typical error of focusing on what a player can't do and ignoring or diminishing their other obvious abilities.

Would I rather have had Trevor Story?

Right, this is the typical error of focusing on what a player can't do and ignoring or diminishing their other obvious abilities.

This.

If I'm a Tiger fan?

Enjoy the ride. Javy is one of the most fun players in the world to watch, and when he's going well - he's capable of carrying a (good) team (in the baseball sense/extent that's possible). His flaws mean that when he's not -- it's ugh city... he'll compile golden sombreros and you've got zero faith he'll hack within the same zipcode of a slider in a key PA.

But - man... he'll just do things all over the field; in the field, on the bases, at the plate, that just makes your jaw drop and he's an effervescent joy. I'm sure Mets fans might disagree, given a cold snap coincided with his arrival in Queens and that sort of spoiled the subsequent hot streak...

He's a really fun player to root for and one of the guys with a good chance of giving you something amazing to watch. He's a peak moments guy, not a season-long compiler - but so long as he's not expected to single-handed be the difference between 80 and 100 wins? Just enjoy the ride.

Couldn't agree more with Zonk. I lived on the northwest side of Chicago from 2014-2017 and saw a lot of Baez as he was breaking in.

As a Mets fan I agree with #20. Baez made crazy slides to win games almost immediately after joining the team. (He also made some baffling baserunning blunders although I can’t remember if those cost them games or not). But yeah, he’s a very fun and exciting player.

#6, I think you forgot that the Tigers also signed Eduardo Rodriguez, who had been on the Red Sox.