Chris Taylor will probably never win any MVPs but his value is palpable. It’s no surprise that he has garnered a lot of attention in free agency. While he isn’t going to be making $30 million a year, his stock keeps rising and rising.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
About half of the league has reported interest in Chris Taylor. A few that make sense and a few that don’t. Of course, there will always be those teams that you think will never have a chance. But, at the end of the day, it’s up to Chris Taylor now.
The Dodgers are hoping to re-sign before the price gets even higher.
The Dodgers are in the conversation and are reported to be actively pursuing Chris Taylor. At this point, there doesn’t seem to be a front-runner. The Dodgers extended the qualifying offer to him when the season ended which he ultimately ended up rejecting.
It was worth $18 million for one year. The rejection was a clear indication that Chris Taylor wants a long term deal. He wants to bargain his consistency for a more secure contract.
Chris Taylor has small-market player attributes.
Chris Taylor joined the Dodgers via trade from the Seattle Mariners. The small-market team missed out on retaining a great utility player. So what happens now that he is free to go anywhere he wants?
He has stated that he loved being a part of the Dodgers organization in the past few years but is that enough to keep him here? Honestly, he looks like a Mariners’ player and I mean that as a compliment. He looks like he belongs on a small-market team like the A’s or the Mariners.
What isn’t there to like about Chris Taylor?
He keeps to himself and doesn’t seem to care about being in the limelight. Chris Taylor cares about winning and making his team better. He’s scrappy and gets the job done no matter what.
It’s that mentality that makes him appealing to so many teams, aside from his ability to play above-average defense in the infield and outfield. The most likely landing spots for Chris Taylor would be Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco or Texas. All four of these teams can offer consistent playing with the current roster they have.
What could be the deciding factor?
Other landing spots include St. Louis, Miami, Philadelphia and Houston. The most likely of these seems to be Philadelphia and St. Louis.
At the end of the day, it could just be who pays the most. Sometimes that’s all that differentiates one team from another. Chris Taylor doesn’t seem like the type to prefer one city over another so why not go with the team that offers the most money? He was projected to fetch $13 – $17 million a year for 3 – 5 years but he could now be looking at $16 – $22 million a year for 3 – 5 years.
Taylor isn’t Scrappy he’s solid. He likes to drink beer and watch surfing in the off time. You can build a team around him. He has heart. He should never make a decision based upon money. He’s an athlete and should be on an elite team with potential to go to the WS. Nobody likes to lose. #Moneyball
Didn’t mean scrappy as a bad thing. I don’t have an issue with him making a decision based on money. If someone else can give him more money and a good team, I don’t see why he wouldn’t take it.