Links for Sunday….
- Dan Hayes of The North County Times says that Chase Headley's impending raise as a Super Two player is giving the Padres some payroll-related headaches. He adds that GM Jed Hoyer mentioned that this offseason will be similar to last, in that most of the team's signings will occur in January and February.
- MLB.com's John Schlegel looks ahead to some of the big trades we might see this winter.
- Yahoo's Tim Brown tweets that the Diamondbacks are expected to hire Billy Ryan from the commissioner's office to be Kevin Towers' second in command.
- The Angels' catching depth will likely be a hot topic at the upcoming GM meetings, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
- While the Cardinals have a few positions that could be addressed, John Mozeliak will likely prioritize a shortstop upgrade this winter, writes Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- In his latest ESPN.com blog entry (Insider required), Buster Olney explains why Scott Downs' Type A status shouldn't limit his opportunities.
- Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe provides an extensive list of possible trade candidates in his preview of the offseason market.
- There are a few red flags to consider when weighing the Mets' managerial candidates, says Bill Madden of the New York Daily News.
- DEA agents intercepted a package containing "nearly 50" pre-loaded syringes of HGH that was sent to Jose Guillen's San Francisco address in September, according to a New York Daily News report. The writers' sources say that MLB is "actively pursuing information about the shipment," since a violation of the league's drug policy could result in discipline for Guillen.
cubs223425
Strauss must be crazy, because 2B is a MUCH bigger area of need. Skip Schumaker is a joke of a baseball player, especially at second, where he possesses the league’s worst UZR.
chaifetz10
But Schumaker is one of Tony’s ‘golden boys” and is seen as more of a known quantity…even though we know that’s bs.
Stl_Great
Yep. Sadly I think Skip will be our starting 2B. Now if he can get back to his 09′ form, I’ll be happy.
Stl_Great
Yep. Sadly I think Skip will be our starting 2B. Now if he can get back to his 09′ form, I’ll be happy.
mrsjohnmiltonrocks
I can’t say if Strauss is crazy, but he is directly quoting the GM in the article. Yes. John Mozeliak really does see Ryan’s play as a bigger issue than Schumaker’s play. Unreal.
CJ Montiel
In some ways it is a bigger issue. Even though Schumaker didn’t really hit last year he’s still hit better than Ryan and they’re projecting to hit much better than Ryan next year, even though his defenese was obviously very poor. There’s no wrong or right answer, you just have to go with your gut and figure out which of the two is more likely to have a better season next year.
Lanidrac
Schumaker hit about .300 for 3 straight years, still hit over .260 last year, and has a little power. Ryan had one year where he hit over .290 before hitting below .230 last year, and he’s never had any power. The Cardinals fell out of the race this year mainly because of inconsistent hitting. You do the math.
Dave_Gershman
Not that I know anything about HGH…But what does somebody do with 50 syringes? 50 SYRINGES!!!
bigmark14
trying to look good in the playoffs for one last minor league contract to finish out the career
YouDontKnowDude
Stab 50 other free agents to lower their value because of suspension.
Dave_Gershman
Haha
Dave_Gershman
Wow no way Ryan Braun gets traded…That wouldn’t be that smart at all.
AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs
I agree. Who the **** started the Braun rumors? That’s incredibly stupid, extremely unlikely and would completely piss off the Brewers fanbase.
Though, I would love to have him, I hate when star players get traded.
Dave_Gershman
It was in the Cafardo article. I don’t make things up.
redsox4120
I think it was Gammons who started the Braun rumors.
Dave_Gershman
Read the article!
ilikebaseball
Gammons said on NESN last week that if Braun were to be had, the Red Sox would be first in line. Pretty sure he said it was his own speculation, guessing Cafardo is just following up with some info with “sources”. No way Braun goes anywhere, but it sure doesn’t hurt to ask. Theo asks about pretty much every player anyway, I wouldn’t think too much about it.
mrsjohnmiltonrocks
Um, Jose Guillen has the drugs sent directly to his address? Preloaded and ready to go? Does he have a brain pan?
Zach
look, both skip and ryan suck and are cancerous to the cardinals. i say just sign juan uribe and orlando hudson, sign albert’s extension and call it a good offseason
Lucas Gomez
How bout the cardinals Just trade for Aaron Hill and just give Brendan Ryan a chance to bounce back to the 2009 Ryan. Just give up on Skip, that experiment was a fail from the get go he’s TERRIBLE with the glove and average with the bat.
Joshua
What would the Cardinals have to offer for Hill? You aren’t about to trade Rasmus or Miller for him, and I can’t think of anything else they’d have that would interest Toronto.
moonraker45
you could trade rasmus for hill, it would just have to take a prospect to be included as well..
hill and d’arnuad or hill and stewart should get it done.
Lucas Gomez
Well I’m not really all that crazy with prospects and stuff like that but i’m pretty sure the cardinals could some how get something done to get Hill some way or another
Ferrariman
they could probably get Hill without giving up Rasmus(or Miller). his value isn’t exactly sky high right now after the season he just had.
CJ Montiel
I hope the Cards make a run at Jose Reyes this offseason. He would be the perfect fit for us (leadoff/switch hitter, plays shortstop) and a change of scenery might help him bounce back from last year.
Lanidrac
With what money and players?
moonraker45
He still hit 26 bombs as 2B, and his BABIP was insanely low, not too mention that he’s a pretty decent fielding 2b. So i dont think one bad year completely depreciated his value, he is also signed to a decent contract. . So no chance they can land hill with out giving up one of those 2 guys.
bas_in_denmark
Isn’t Guillen a repeat offender? Doesn’t that mean that he’ll have to sit out an entire year?
Dave_Gershman
I think it’s 100 games. So that would be almost the entire year…But something tells me he might not even get a job either way.
Man I was so excited earlier this year against the Tigers when Hosey hit 4 home runs in as many games…I was even able to trade Guillen for Ryan Zimmerman in fantasy. Well thanks a lot JG!
bjsguess
That’s some really bad logic employed by Olney and Downs.
He uses the example of the Phillies potentially being in on Downs since they will recover a pick when Werth departs. How does that make sense? The fact is, Downs still costs a 1st round pick. With Downs you end up netting 0 picks. Without Downs you end up with 1 pick.
The only way a guy like Downs makes sense is for a team like the Angels whom might sign multiple Type A’s. They could really screw up compensation for for several teams. Consider that they could sign Crawford, Beltre, and then Soriano/Downs and still retain their 1st round pick. The Jays (if it were downs) would end up with a 4th rounder for their type A.
baseballz
Hey if the Jays get a fourth rounder for Downs thats ok, I don’t think they’re really under the impression that they will get a 1st rounder. I think its the compensation round pick that will be the best value in the end when it comes to Downs.
jb226
“With Downs you end up netting 0 picks. Without Downs you end up with 1 pick.”
If you’re looking at it from nothing but the perspective of the picks, then your analysis is on. But obviously you can’t do that; the reason they would be foregoing one potential pick is because they picked up a player that they wanted.
The real comparison is Downs + no first-rounder vs. No Downs + first-rounder. Essentially, if the Phillies wanted him they could get him without a net loss of draft picks like many clubs would see. We could argue the relative merits of Downs versus a first-round pick in general or for the Phillies, but it’s not quite as simple as “1 > 0.”
bjsguess
Sure – we can certainly debate that. But my post wasn’t really about the value of Downs vs a pick. We could insert any Type A players name into the argument.
I took issue with the rationale that snagging (insert Type A player name here) was acceptable because they would retain a comp pick for Werth. If they stand pat they land a 1st or 2nd rounder for Werth plus retain their late 1st round pick. If they sign any Type A then they lose their 1st round pick and are left with picks related to compensation for Werth.
That might be the right strategy – I’m just shaking my head at the rationale for it. Having Werth leaving should have no bearing on whether you target a Type A or not in the off-season.
dodgerskingsfan
Enrique_Rojas1 Enrique Rojas/ESPN
Suena fuerte: Oakland con todo por Adrian Beltré, Dodgers interesados en Rentería para 2B, M.Tejada con buen mercado, ¿Vic-Mart con rayas?
BK
What about a Napoli to the White Sox for Gordon Beckham trade?
CJ Montiel
That’s actually a really good idea. Napoli seems to fill a couple holes the White Sox are looking for although, it would most likely than just Napoli to get the deal done. It’s probably a good backup plan if the Angels don’t land Beltre.
BK
Yea and Beckham could become the Angels fulltime 3b
RandomN8
If Crawford somehow ends up in Boston, and Martinez signs with Detroit or Rangers, etc. I could see that Ellsbury for Napoli working out for both sides.
BK
Uggh I hope not. Ellsbury is overrated. He is fragile and his major assets (speed and defense) are always the first to go with age.