And #14 was such a relief to unload. Really bad attitude in the clubhouse. 

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:
He's from our area, and he is still a favorite here (as much for his being a die-hard Eagles fan).  He was on pace to be in the GOAT conversation through 6 or 7 years, and it's truly sad that the Angels never did anything with he and Ohtani together.

I sometimes wish for the Phillies to trade for him....but then common sense gets the better of me.   If he had been on an East Coast team, or at least not on the Angels, he would have been so much more popular than he was.  A lot of people on the East coast only saw him a few times per year.

 rgio wrote:
Ya, as far as Best Deal goes, no one comes close to Ohtani. In the 'big bucks' category, that is. I'm surprised not to see Vlad Jr in that list, but then again contract numbers confuse me because Vlad's basic salary in 2026 is only $17M? And it's nice to see Harper doing well.

 rgio wrote:
Which is a tragedy. They had two of the best players to ever put on a uniform and more talent on the field besides them, and it meant nothing. They knew that Trout's .5Bn contract was essentially paying him 100M for the first 5 years and he produced for ... one. He played super hard on defense and like Griffey Jr., it caught up with him. Still has a WAR worth something, 1.9 with 36 games played... is that extrapolated over the season, or if he'd played a full season at that pace would it have been 12 WAR? 

 SeriousLee wrote:
Every year, the Mets sign people that, as a Phillies fan, cause a bit of concern/fear.  Then they disappear.  

You may be right about Bo, but I hope not.

Along those lines... I was thinking about where he fits in the hierarchy of big deals... and got to thinking...

What are the best and the worst deals in the 20 most expensive players for 2026?

(the salaries are salary tax numbers...Ohtani's deferrals aren't included).

Note:  The Mets are the only team with 3 in the top 10.

Trout is definitely under consideration for the worst.  Dollar for dollar, the Harper deal is aging well.  Based on results and club value, Ohtani has to be the "best deal" on the board... doesn't he?

Rank	Player	Team	2026 Salary
1	Kyle Tucker	Dodgers	$57–60M (tax salary)
2	Shohei Ohtani	Dodgers	$46M
3	Juan Soto	Mets	$46–51M
4	Bo Bichette	Mets	$42M
5	Zack Wheeler	Phillies	$42M
6	Aaron Judge	Yankees	$40M
7	Mike Trout	Angels	$37.1–37.7M
8	Gerrit Cole	Yankees	$36M
9	Corey Seager	Rangers	~$35.5M
10	Francisco Lindor	Mets	$34.1–34.3M
11	Bryce Harper	Phillies	~$27.5–28M
12	Mookie Betts	Dodgers	~$27–30M
13	Manny Machado	Padres	~$31M
14	Rafael Devers	Red Sox	~$31M
15	Trea Turner	Phillies	~$27.3–27.5M
16	Freddie Freeman	Dodgers	$27M
17	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Dodgers	~$32–34M
18	Jacob deGrom	Rangers	$30M+
19	Nolan Arenado	Cardinals	~$30M
20	Jose Altuve	Astros	~$28–30M

 rgio wrote:

I expect Bo to buck that trend. If only because I find him much more grounded than many egotistical star players.

 rgio wrote:

Off the field, I think Bichette will thrive there. On the field you're right, lots of big signings that don't move the needle. See also: Giants.

Yoiks! I just realized that pitchers and catchers report in a little over 3 weeks. I should finish watching the World Series!

 SeriousLee wrote:
As a Phillies fan regardless... I'd have rather had him here, but prefer to have Realmulto back (with Bohm at 3rd if that's what it takes to keep our catcher).

If history is any indication, Mets fans will be glad it's only a 3 year deal by August.  NY is where free agents go to lower their career averages.

And Bichette goes to the Mets on a three-year deal.

I might become a Mets fan now. Would have preferred rooting for the Phillies, though.

Red Sox signed left-handed starting pitcher Ranger Suarez from the Phillies to a five-year, $130 million free-agent contract. Should fit in the middle of the rotation.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:
I hope so. They are my fave NL team, but this is tiring.

If Bichette lands in Philadelphia, I'm switching my NL allegiance to the Phillies. If not? Gonna be hard to root for the Dodgers.

 Red_Dragon wrote:

I'm waiting to see but I assume my Dodger fan friends are going to be a little queasy because it's hard to root for a team like that but also because they can't watch games on TV already. 

I think a ticket price cap would keep salaries down a bit too.

 Coaxial wrote:

Holy shit. Baseball needs a salary cap.

 Coaxial wrote:

The beginning of the end for the Dodgers... paying that much just to keep him from going somewhere else, even though he's probably too fragile to play a whole season? 

Dodger's paying Kyle Tucker 60 million a year.

 Proclivities wrote:

I was in Ireland during the series (appallingly poor planning on my part) so I only caught scores here and there. I did log in to my MLB account at one point and watched some highlights once but I decided to stop doing that and just avoid baseball until I had forgotten what happened. Sat down to watch game 3 tonight and yes I forgot or didn't know it went 18 innings. That was intense! That Dodgers reliever Klein deserved the win! Awesome game, see-saw battle and then it just got locked up for a game's worth of 0-0 innings. Dodgers deserved to lose after wasting so many scoring chances but Dodgers did as Dodgers do. So many what-ifs now! I know how the series turns out (caught game 7 in a Mexican restaurant in DC on our way home), but games 4-5-6 are must-see TV since I have to know WHY it goes 7 games. 

In 2 years I'll remember this game as if I'd watched it in real time ;-p 

 rgio wrote:

 oldviolin wrote:
Traitor!!   Born in Philly, and then attacks one of his own?  

That video reminds me that I sure don't miss Veteran's Stadium.

That was a great game 7. Even though I was pulling for Toronto I’ll give it up to Red Sox West for the win.