Baseball Isn’t Boring
BIB on the Go: The Art Of Waiting Out The Offseason, With Zack Scott
18 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What challenges do front offices face during the baseball offseason?
Yeah, there should be some passion. This doesn't have to be boring.
I'm fascinated to get your perspective of this because
There is a discipline. There is rotting out the market. We are, I think every year it gets more and more uncharted territory when it comes to patients. I think this year, even more than last year, but you lived that life. I think JD, right? Right.
Perfect example. We finished until February or something.
And so you think, and maybe you can offer insight to this, but you think that you're like, okay, we're pretty sure we know what this market is. And we're willing to wait this out. It must be a really, really hard thing for a front office to gauge and do.
It's really hard.
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Chapter 2: How do teams gauge the market for player signings?
It's a game of chicken, right? The longer you wait, that creates some risk that something happens, especially when you start getting into spring training. Some player gets injured and a team that had some extra money might all of a sudden panic and get in on J.D. Martinez in that example. So it's hard. Because the longer you go, the fewer options you have. You can't really pivot.
So you're kind of all in. The agent knows that. So that's why they're waiting because they feel like they got you over a barrel. So you have to feel really confident that the market's not... what they expect, what the agent wants it to be or thinks it could be, and that you're going to be the high bid at the end of the day.
They're just hoping something comes along and using time and anxiety as their leverage. And that's hard.
Chapter 3: What is the significance of timing in player acquisitions?
You have to be like, I remember, you know, obviously Dave Dombrowski is a very aggressive general manager. Oftentimes our teams were pretty much done after the winter meetings. Like he, he's maintained that while the rest of the industry has kind of been late and doing a lot of things, but he was the, president when we signed JD. And I think that was very hard for him.
We used to joke that we got to tie Dave down before so he doesn't just give him more money because it's hard to be patient, especially when you're really excited about an impact player. It is hard. And you are playing a game of chicken because there is risk that it goes away. And then what do you do if everyone else has signed?
And so sometimes you've got to pivot earlier and use your resources to maybe take you plan B because you're not willing to take the risk of that waiting out plan A. So going back to the JD situation,
Did you, were you pretty confident that, I don't even remember what teams might have been involved, but were you pretty confident, hey, listen, and I don't know what Scott was, Scott Boris was talking about, but what do you remember about the competition for J.D. Martinez? And also, it's a great point by you because you landed, I remember the press conference at spring training, okay?
If you don't get him, that looks like a totally different team.
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Chapter 4: How did the signing of J.D. Martinez exemplify offseason strategies?
It just does.
Yeah.
So what do you remember about that?
Well, we made that decision in December, probably. I remember being at the winter meetings and outlining the different scenarios. And it was, okay, we could... There's Hosmer as a free agent, Carlos Santana, Mitch Moreland. It was like, okay, we could... We think JD is the best, most impactful player here, but we understand it's going to be a long process.
Do we sign Carlos Santana for 60 million over three years? Do we get in on Hosmer? because that may happen sooner. Or do we go with a budget solution at first base in Mitch Moreland and wait out JD? And that's like a very, you're kind of locking in on that decision when we obviously decided to do that. And now it's like, okay, it's JD or bust.
And there were some people that were opposed to doing that, but more people that felt like this was the right way to go because he was just so much more impactful than any of those other players.
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Chapter 5: What factors influence a team's decision-making process during the offseason?
And we felt like we needed to go for the most impact. And so it worked out, but it could have very easily not because we were making a decision in December that didn't get resolved until February. So it's hard.
What I do remember in terms of competition, you know, we didn't, you know, typically those kinds of players, it's probably a lot like what Alonzo has gone through the last couple of years where it's like, you know, looking for $200 million. And, you know, we felt like the way the market had been for, especially for pure DH is how we saw him. And we felt like the industry saw him.
We were confident that he wouldn't get that, and then it becomes, well, how much off of that is it going to be? We valued him really around where we paid him, probably paid him a little bit more just to get the deal done. My recollection is that the Diamondbacks had traded for him and that they were being aggressive on a short-term deal and that he was really considering it.
Actually, Tucker's situation, at least the way it's being reported, seems very similar where you go in shorter. I think it was shorter than what the Mets are doing with Tucker, but I think it was probably like a two-year deal with a high AAV. maybe some optionality for him to opt out. I don't know.
I think they were going for that with J.D., trying to leverage the fact that he could hit the market again at a reasonable age. He liked being there, even though it was a short time.
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Chapter 6: How do agents leverage time and anxiety in negotiations?
He raked while he was there. So that was, I think, in the end, our impression was it was between that kind of deal and our deal. And it sounds a lot like what Tucker's facing with maybe Toronto and the Mets. It worked out. I don't know if you know that it worked out. It worked out pretty well.
It's just amazing to think about what that wouldn't be like. And it's funny you said that about Dave. I always thought that because I would imagine that that, without looking into it, that was the longest Dave Dombrowski has ever awaited And we'll see how, we'll see if they end up signing Bichette.
Yeah, but we're still, I mean, listen, I mean, that could be January. That was like another month plus. Yeah. To beat that one. No, we also had the whole medical thing during his contract.
Chapter 7: What lessons can be learned from past offseason decisions?
It was, there was a lot of waiting and then a lot of patients needed and a lot of stress involved with that.