Offseason open thread, 1/28/2023

Jan 28, 2023 - 10:00 PM

Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3uUZI4xC_3vF6uLV90fbFPNS4Vs=/0x0:4149x2334/1920x1080/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71916456/1234048085.0.jpg" />

The Rays came out of Arbitration Figure Friday with seven players heading to arbitration, which is a massive number. Over the last few days, they’ve been whittling them down with extensions — Pete Fairbanks and Jeffrey Springs signed multi-year deals recently, and Yandy Diaz appears to be next in line.

I’ve mentioned this before, but Yandy Diaz’ 2022 is bewildering to me — not because his xwOBA was good, but because the number of that xwOBA (.365) was enough to land into the 94th percentile among regulars for the 2022 season. That tells you, perhaps better than anything else, just how badly offense tanked during the season relative to what we were seeing previously.

Diaz’ extension comes on the heels of the Mets extending Jeff McNeil on Friday, another instance where a team and player connected on a multiyear extension after failing to avoid arbitration. The McNeil extension annoys me only because it extends the potential time horizon where we have to rehash stupid arguments about “guiding the ball” or whatever.