The Rangers, Reds and Yankees have some of the top infields in baseball, when offense and defense are considered, ESPN.com's Buster Olney writes. Olney suggests the Royals, Blue Jays and Indians have infields that are potentially on the rise. Here are his latest rumors…
- Some rival executives strongly believe that the Nationals will be the eventual landing place for Prince Fielder. Agents say now is the time for Fielder to take advantage of the market and sign a long-term deal, according to Olney. Click here for the latest on Fielder, who was linked to the Nationals again today.
- Olney suggests the Red Sox and Nationals could have interest in Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd, who will earn $6.5MM in 2012, the final year of his contract. The Red Sox could play Byrd in right and the Nationals could use him in center.
- Though trading catcher Kurt Suzuki isn’t a priority for the Athletics, Olney suggests he’ll likely be playing elsewhere by the time next summer’s trade deadline passes (Twitter link).
I figured there would already be a topic of the teams interested in Suzuki. Going by salary and the fact that NO ONE would take Fuentes, Suzuki would logically be the next to go.
If Zooks goes, its at the deadline. Give him a shot to rebound and someone’s catcher to get hurt.
Send Byrd away! Please Cubs!!!
Nats look like a great fit for him.
Buster Olney likes to state the painfully obvious. He really does.
Olney is also zero for forever in ever posting anything that is accurate. He has the credibility of an earthworm and I don’t believe anything he writes. Saying now is the time to sign Fielder to a long term contract is a joke. If GM’s offer Fielder 5 years and 100M tops, he either takes the offer or sits at home. Teams aren’t being held for ransom and the big market boys aren’t involved with Fielder, so Boras can get them bidding against each other. It is a simple case of selectivity and Boras can ask for the moon all he wants. Madson will probably settle for a one year deal, not four. Fielder 5 years max, plus his other clients have to take what is offered and like it or they don’t play. It is as simple as that.
Trading Suzuki when Norris is ready would be logical, but then again, they have zero chance of winning that division, maybe they should trade him to Houston to try and get a better pick.
Byrd would be a horrible defensive center fielder.
Shhhh. You are ruining it…
UZR says otherwise and since he’s played CF primarily for the Cubs the last two years and been above average, I’d say your wrong.
Byrd plays CF for the Cubs now and has mostly played CF his whole career. Although he’s a bigger guy, he takes excellent routes and reads the ball well off the bat. He has an above-average career UZR, and he posted a 9.8 as recently as 2010. He’s also deceptively quick and not afraid to use his body to make a big play.
Not a bad player by any stretch of the word. If he could hit 20 HR a year instead of 10, he’d be much more highly reputed.
He used to be a pretty solid CF in Texas. Granted, that was about 3 years ago.
Still solid, only for another team now.
I wonder if Jason Martinson and a reliever from the Nats would work for Byrd.
I think paying him the 6.5 million would work….
I don’t know why they wouldn’t make a Byrd-LaRoche swap. The Nats need a CF, the Cubs need a 1B.
Because LaRoche makes 3.5MM more and has a negative WAR. Brian LaHair could do the same thing at a fraction of the cost.
He was injured last year and posted a -0.2 WAR last year in 177 PA. His average yearly WAR is in the 1.5-2.5 range, with a career total of 9.4.
LaHair could potentially do the same thing, and perhaps he’s worth a shot, but I think we’d be better off with a veteran who we know won’t struggle against Major League pitching.
Also, if the Cubs absorb that extra 3.5 million, it makes for plenty of leverage to wheedle a prospect or two out of Washington.
Agree to disagree.
because laroche is historically a far better player than byrd. we’d need something else in the deal. probably a mid-level prospect
Or because the entire idea of trading Byrd would be to rid the roster of a middling veteran drawing a multi-million dollar salary, not to get a new one.
That’s a good point. My only reasoning for making a swap like this would be to fill holes for both the Nats and Cubs. It would also give Campana a shot at a starting gig (which I don’t necessarily think he can handle, but would be worth trying, at least) and open up CF for Brett Jackson when he comes up in May/June.
Also, as I said in another post, by absorbing the extra money owed LaRoche compared to Byrd, we could get a prospect or two out of Washington as well.
The writing was on the wall for Byrd when the Cubs resigned Johnson. The Cubs will be giving Jackson every chance possible to win the starting CF job in spring training. Johnson gives you a good veteran backup there. I think Campana will win a roster spot for his speed but not as a starter.
Dave Sappelt might have something to say about that.
2 years more service time and double the WAR. Explain to us all how the Nats would need another player for an over paid below average first baseman when they would be receiving an underpaid above average outfielder (something they’re in the market for).
yea i looked at his WAR right after i made the post just to make sure i didnt make a fool of myself, but i did 😛
i still think laroche is better. i’d rather have .270/25/100 with a low OBP than .290/15/70 with an average OBP. they both play premium defense though, although byrd at a more premium position. i mean i would support the trade, i just think a byrd for laroche straight up would side with the cubs better
You’re completely ignoring the fact that LaRoche’s arm fell out of his socket last year.
and ryan zimmermans back broke in half, but you don’t hear people calling him a scrub
Because he came back and proved he was healthy. LaRoche hasn’t played since April. Even if the Nats offered to hand him over to the Cubs and eat half his contract, the Cubs would still have to think about it
.290/15/70 with good defense in CF is much, much less common and more valuable than LaRoche’s .267/25/85 he usually does over a full season, or even the 25/100 he put up in Arizona, for a 1B.
That is patently false. LaRoche has better power numbers but that’s it. Marlon has consistently hit for a higher average/better OBP, plays a premium defensive position (CF) much better than LaRoche plays 1B, according to UZR. Also, LaRoche’s salary, as BlueCatuli mentioned, is 3.5MM more than Byrd’s. If anything, Washington would be throwing in the prospects.
Fangraphs WAR, 2007-2011:
Byrd: 13.4
LaRoche: 7.2
Baseball Reference WAR, 2007-2011:
Byrd: 14.8
LaRoche: 4.8
already made note of this if you were reading. also this is just 1 metric and a players value really depends on what you need. also laroche has been pretty consistent since 2005 wheras byrd has been productive since 2007 but not had alot of ab’s in a lot of those years under 500 for 3 of them. also take a look at the team byrd played for before texas, the nats might be wary
Yeah, I just saw that. Good on you for owning up. Anyway, there were nineteen 1B who matched or bettered the roughly 113 wRC LaRoche is usually good for this year, and thirteen CF who bested the roughly 108 wRC Byrd is usually good for.
So Byrd is typically an average CF offensively, whereas LaRoche is bottom third for a 1B.
And that’s assuming both are healthy. But as folks have pointed out, LaRoche is looking like he might be seriously damaged.
I think there are about 30 teams in baseball who would prefer a healthy $6.5 MM CF who was good for a 108 wRC and two runs above average in fielding to an injured $10MM 1B who was worth 113 wRC and two runs above average in fielding at the easiest position on the field.
If Nationals land Fielder, there is gonna be one ugly 4 headed beast in the NL East for years to come. Go Mets!!
If they land Fielder they are right there with Phillies.
Until Strasburg hits his innings limit.
They’d be legit with Fielder in the middle of that order.
Espinosa/Werth/Zimmerman/Fielder/Morse/Harper/Desmond/Ramos is probably better than the Phillies unless Utley comes back strong.
you guys are probably gonna miss howard for the first part of the season, so it might all even out in the end.
Im kind of surprise there hasn’t been more action on Marlon Byrd.. He put up decent numbers last year, plays above avg. defense and isn’t super expensive for a one year contract CF…I really thought we would have traded him by now
Kurt Suzuki might not be a star, but the league-wide depth chart for C’s is pretty talentless, generally speaking. Its actually hard to find a 2 WAR C these days, he had a better year than John Buck, who makes more money than him. He’s an upgrade to a good number of teams simply by being a good game caller. If he somehow learns to hit again he’d be worth a couple top 15 prospects or a young blocked prospect type. If he’s hitting .280 with 10 HR in July he’s a goner.
Nats for fielder….Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Didnt they learn anything from werth?????????
Nats for fielder….Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Didnt they learn anything from werth?????????
I would take Suzuki on the Rays. Yes, his contract is going up but the reason his hitting has gone down the last 2 years is because the A’s play him everyday. Going by his salary and last few years production, he should be cheap to acquire. And the Rays could use a catcher, we have Molina and then a couple of unproven, injury prone catchers.
The Cubs already tipped-off everybody of their plans.
They can pretty much hand Byrd over to any willing team. Shouldn’t cost much in return. Jackson WILL get a shot at centerfield in 2012.
Same with Randy Wells. He’s not part of the big picture and a majority of his success was over his head. Won’t cost much to obtain him. On most other teams, he’d be the longman/spot starter.
Aside from Garza, no one will bring much of a return. Even Soto, after a down season, should probably be held onto and hope a bounceback season drives up his value at the trade deadline.
This is all addition by subtraction, in hopes some of these kids will be a part of the change. I’m excited for 2014.
Interesting about Suzuki.I’m an A’s fan and I don’t mind the Bailey trade, because we needed someone that was mlb ready. I can definitely see trading Suzuki because we have a good amount of catchers in the minors who are basically ready for the big leagues such as; Anthony Recker (Closest) and Josh Donaldson. After all these prospect trades, we Do have an outfield. It might be all AAAA guys, but it’s either now or never for them to succeed. I also believe our infield is decent and might become above average in a few years. At third base we have Scott Sizemore, who walks a pretty good amount and can get 20 hrs in a full season. At shortstop we have Cliff Pennington who led our team in BA last year with .267 (excluding Jemile Weeks). I believe he will improve a lot on his defense and could become a hitter in the .290 area. AT second we Have Jemile Weeks who will hit for average, improve his defense and base running. Lastly, we have a surplus at first with a variety of depth. We have some OBP, some power, but also some strikeout guys. Daric Barton (OBP,no power), Brandon Allen (power, strikeouts), Kila Kaiahue (Decent OBP, decent power). Overall, I’m anxious to see this franchise next year, and even further into the future. I’m not expecting a World Series next year, and I may be a bit too optimistic, but I will definitely go to As games next year.
Suzuki makes too much sense for the rays…he could put up 15-20 homers for them (playing more often at fenway, rogers center, and yankee stadium vs playing 82 games at oakland colliseum), and he works with young staffs well (hellickson, price, davis if he’s still around, and moore)
Suzuki plays too much and hasn’t done anything offensively or defensively the last two seasons. He’s likely to be staying.