Three days remain until the ever-important keeper deadline in the JLB. Every team has to finalize the 30 players they're taking into the draft — as well as up to 10 minor leaguers — by midnight on Saturday night.
We've already seen some deals this past week — most involving your favorite author and the defending World Series Champion.
It will take a lot of work for that to happen, though, as the top of the JLB looks primed and ready to make it a slugfest throughout the regular season.
Breakfast, winners of three of the last four JLB championships, added JT Realmuto and Randy Arozarena in the last week, and in essence, all it cost him — if we look back to the Jan. 20 deal where he acquired Logan Gilbert — was a 1st rounder, a 5th rounder, Justin Steele, Chris Sale and Camilo Doval.
I can't speak for the Crox Sox, but the Slammers organization is satisfied with that.
Arozarena is a great bat to have, and he's looking primed to steal 40 bases under the new rules, but at the same time, he's a very streaky player. He did most of his damage in May and late July through August. The rest of the time, he had some struggles at the plate, so for Breakfast, he's really hoping for that all to come together in a full season.
If that happens, then Justin Steele better be the real deal (we'll get to that in a moment).
Crox Sox gave up JT Realmuto for Chris Sale, who if healthy and less angry, can be the top-of-the-rotation starter needed to compete with the rest of the division. Realmuto provides the Breakfast with yet another productive bat that can steal some bases. The only downside here would be that he's on the wrong side of 30; but on the bright side, he's on a team that, of course, has the DH option and a first baseman with an expiring contract — a.k.a., JT is your Phillies first baseman of the future.
On the Slammers' end of this, including the Jan. 20 deal, Gilbert returns and Steele, Doval and Jack Flaherty are all additions in what essentially was the Randy Arozarena deal. Three deals in one.
Like Sale, if finally healthy, Flaherty is that big ace that dominated the League in 2019 with 231 strikeouts.
Steele was quietly one of the best pitchers in MLB during the second half of 2022 before getting shut down. The left-hander boasted a 0.98 ERA in 36.2 innings with 47 strikeouts. And that's just in what MLB deems the "second half."
If you actually look at June 1 on, Steele pitched 79 innings (14 starts) and boasted a 2.05 ERA with 80 strikeouts to 27 walks.
His slider is one of the best in baseball right now. He was second in strikeouts recorded by the slider — just behind Robbie Ray and ahead of Carlos Rodon — in August before getting shut down, but he still finished in the top five despite not pitching in September.
So, all-in-all, if Flaherty is back, and Steele is the real deal, Randy's breakfast trip may be worth the bacon.
Also worth noting that both of these deals were a product of strong depth for both the Crox Sox and Slammers. For Crox, he's handing over the catching duties to Gabriel Moreno who will get a full season with the Diamondbacks as their main starter.
The Slammers had LF flexibility all of a sudden after the Green Draft with the drop of Masataka Yoshida, so the loss of Arozarena will only be felt in a few less steals.
And I can hear Choo right now.
Why is this Jargon all about the Slammers' deal and not the other offseason deals?
Well, I'm sorry, and I'll hit on that now.
Since Jan. 20, six of the nine deals have involved the Slammers, so it only made sense.
Let's go back and hit on what was a busy Jan. 19 for Mr. Choo.
All Winter Meetings, no one could do a thing, and then in one day in a span of 11 hours, Choo sent out Matt Chapman, Raisel Igelsias, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Ha-seong Kim, Max Munch (the elder), Ketel Marte and Kenley Jansen to three different teams.
Breakfast got Chapman and Igelsias for Scott Barlow and Jeremy Pena.
Crox got Marte and Jansen for Walker Buehler.
And the Dude got the other four players for Alex Bregman, Pablo Lopez and Braxton Garrett.
It was a lot to go out, but it's not a bad deal for Choo if he's eyeing a big run in 2024. That's not to rule out 2023, but Buehler won't be back in full until then, and Braxton Garrett is a sleeper to break out this year, but we should realistically expect him to be a key name in 2024 when it comes to fantasy.
Then again, there's no guarantee any of these players will be with Choo in a few months.
Maybe that's why I don't write about Choo's deals. Seems like a waste of ink.
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