MLB has announced that Tony La Russa will manage the NL team during the All-Star Game in 2012, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). La Russa retired from managing earlier this offseason, but he'll continue the tradition of the pennant winning managers from the prior year managing the two All-Star clubs. Here's the latest from around the league…
- Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post reports that Ryan Zimmerman is open to a creative contract extension that would allow the Nationals to build a strong team around him. "We want to do a deal so it helps me and the team at the same time, so they can go out and sign guys like Prince Fielder or other free agents," said Zimmerman. Fielder is off the table now, and the Nats know what it'll take to sign their star third baseman long-term.
- "Never say never," said Pirates GM Neal Huntington to Jeff Nelson and Jim Memolo of MLB Network Radio when asked about a potential Andrew McCutchen trade. "If someone wants to back up the truck and give us one of those organization-altering deals, it's something that we'd have to listen to…It would have to be a dramatic overpay on the part of the other club."
- The Nationals consider Yoenis Cespedes a corner outfielder or even a first baseman, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson (on Twitter). Earlier today we learned that Cespedes has gained residency in the Dominican Republic, and now awaits MLB's approval to become a free agent.
- The Indians are "making the necessary moves to get [Robert Hernandez Heredia] to the United States," reports the AP (via ESPN). Heredia, better known as Fausto Carmona, faces a judicial process in the Dominican Republic after lying about his identity.
- Twins top prospect Miguel Sano has changed representation according to SI.com's Melissa Segura (on Twitter). He is now with SFX agent Troy Caradonna.
I would make that overpay if I were the Braves. I’d offer Julio Teheran, Mike Minor, Tyler Pastornicky, J.J. Hoover and Christian Bethancourt for McCutchen. The Braves would have one of the best defensive OF ever!
you are about to be scorned by Braves fans
Would the Braves really get swindled the same way twice?
No, John Schuerholz isn’t pushing the buttons.
EVER?!?!? Whoa!! Let’s back that train up a bit.
Holy hell.
Jay…one of the best defensive OF ever? With or without Prado/Heyward? Heyward is Frankenstein out there and Prado has the arm of Jair Jurrjens when he’s not flailing about. I remember reading a few years ago in an interview with Wren talking about how team defense is overrated – and based on the IF we have now (Jones, Uggla, rookie SS) – I am glad to know that this will never happen, even if Neal held Frank’s kid ransom. We’ll have the money to sign Bourn or another good CF (Victorino/Upton) in 2013, so why would we trade the top RH prospect, our 5th starter (Minor), our starting SS, one of the top C prospects in baseball (McCann is due soon…), and a B-graded pitcher in Hoover for Cutch? Makes no sense whatsoever.
Heyward has a UZR/150 of 9.1 so far in his career, so I’m not sure why you think he’s bad defensively.
Thanks for the stat. I perceived wrong.
Fausto Carmona is a much cooler name than Robert Hernandez Heredia. They should have let him keep his fake name. Also, let this be a lesson to big league teams that any Latin player with a neat name like Fausto Carmona or Leo Nunez is obviously using a false identity.
I suggest shortening his name to: Bob Her Here.
nationals are going to be a fun team to watch for the next few years. they should stay away from cespedes though
Im praying the Marlins drop 60MM on him
i’m hoping the marlins drop 30-35mm on him.
Agreed, he’s a dangerous player to be committing big time money to. With all the concerns about his real age and his ability to hit big league pitching, the money that would be invested into his contract would certainly be much beneficial in rounding out the roster when they become perennial contenders. Plus, Upton will be out on the FA market next year, and at least with him you know what you’re getting.
And it’s not good.
If the pirates were to even think about trading Andrew, it would be my last straw. He is now the corner stone of the organization! It would be the stupidest thing on the pirates part! I don’t care who they would get our of it, it would still be stupid!! I have been a pirates fan since the day I was born!!!!!
Can’t say I blame you. Not a Pirates fan but ‘Cutch is really somethin’ to see! Really a solid all-around player, and I can only imagine how it would rip the fans’ hearts out to see him go. Having experienced that myself I really wouldn’t wish it on anybody.
At the same time, if the Braves were willing to part with the package the guy up top was mentioning, the Pirates would be stupid not to take it. McCutchen is going to be gone by the time the Pirates are ready to compete, that’s the reality of the situation – they’d be dumb not to explore the option.
“by the time the Pirates are ready to compete…”
That’s pretty funny just on its own.
At this point it is almost a fact that McCutchen is going to get traded or they would have signed him by now. It is going to go to arbitration and it’s going to get ugly. The pirates don’t care about McCutchen because they have a solid core of OF coming up such as starling marte, robbie grossman and gorkys hernandez. Not to mention alex presley and tabata.
It is sad but the Pirates are not going to pay him what he is looking for
It seems like Gorkys has been around forever but he’s “only” 24.
Not true at all. He hasn’t made more than the minimum yet so there’s really no rush to get a contract done with him. They just need to wake up and realize he’s a player worth paying and make him stay around for a few more years.
Some of the OF’ers in the minors should be used as trade bait. Cutch is already a good young bat, why get rid of him for more question marks? Gorkys Hernandez profiles as a 4th OF anyways.
It all depends. I absolutely understand your frustration and I, as a guy who has spent time in Pittsburgh for business purposes, would like to see the Pirates become a contender at some point. They absolutely need to transition from being a rebuilding team to a contending team and Cutch is the backbone.
However, they have been in talks about an extention with him and w/o knowing their level of commitment towards keeping him vs what his demands are in terms of years and dollars then it’s hard to gauge the realistic possibilities of him staying in Pittsburgh.
Let’s consider the possibility that Cutch doesn’t want to sign or is asking for an amount that most small market teams would consider prohibitive. Other than if their GM REALLY AND HONESTLY considers the team having a BETTER than reasonable chance of competing in the small window of time they have him under team control then trading him, AT SOME POINT (as opposed to this year), would be the right thing to do.
If the Yankees were interested AND I’M NOT SAYING THEY ARE OR THAT THE PIRATES WANT WHAT THE YANKEES HAVE, then my idea of what he calls “a drastic overpay” (by Yankee standards since that’s easy for me to fashion together) would be something like…
Banuelos, Sanchez, Mason Williams, Dante Bichette and a Cito Culver/Brett Marshall/Tyler Austin type of prospect.
That’s a huge hall with a possible Cutch replacement in Mason Williams (just an example of a high end CF prospect, please keep the “overrated” crap to yourself). If any team were willing to empty out their farm for Cutch and the Pirates thought he was definetly walking as a FA then I think they would have to do it. That package has 2 (possibly 3) top 100 prospects, and other high ceiling pieces.
My formative baseball fan years were as a young boy living in Pittsburgh in the late 80s and early 90s, I feel you.
However, I think they should seriously look into trading ‘Cutch (and Hanahan). The Reds just built themselves into a quite solid team (more solid than the bucs) for the next two years. The Brewers still have a nice rotation and pen to go with a lineup with question marks, but nice potential. The Cards are still pretty stacked.
If we look at it honestly and objectively IMO, the Pirates look (at the moment), at best, to be the third best team in the division – likely for the next two years.
After that the Reds core could lose some big pieces, The Cards could well be without Berkman, Beltran, Carpenter and Yadi. The Brewers core will be depleted or beginning to decline. It seems to me that while we Bucco fans have been saying 2012 for a few years now, the real time to look to is the middle of the decade, when we could establish a lasting ascension.
By 2014 Taillon, Allie and some of the other young guns should be very close to ready. Tabata, Alvarez (hoping he figures it out) and Walker will still be around, and with the haul they could get for ‘Cutch and Hanahan they could position themselves to be in a great position just as the division will be presumably weaker – possibly significantly so. The Cubs and Brewers systems are both pretty lacking right now, and the Reds parted with a few very nice pieces for Latos.
In short, I think realistically the soonest a real opening will be there for Pittsburgh is 2014 or 2015, and trading McCutchen could put them over the top with young talent to either play, or trade for stars.
Keep the faith!
Andrew will be a Yankee
There’s that NY arrogance we all know and love.
Yeah…’love’ with a barf bucket on top…
Why do you assume he’s a Yankee fan? Cmon…he can be a random crazy guy, right?
Ha! Not buying (and most of the “crazy guys” I’ve seen on the board are pretty focused, weirdly enough).
Try KyleB. Maybe he will be more accommodating. 🙂
Yankees don’t have the prospects that the Bucs would want in return.
I disagree. It’s more a matter of them not being willing to empty the farm to get him.
In your opinion, what kind of prospects would they want.
PS-This is just an exercise for discussion purposes. Not suggesting the Yanks would go after him or should go after him.
Well whoever the Bucs traded McCutchen would have to , to turn a phrase, sell the farm.
Bryce Harper for Andrew Mccutchen?
Wow. That’s tough. I think since Harper’s unproven yet there’d have to be a few sweeteners but for a team that’s starving for power it’s definitely an intriguing thought.
Yeah. I know they would have to add an extra piece or 2, but just the general idea.
Everyone says that nobody is “untouchable”. But i think its safe to say that Bryce Harper is untouchable. Those poor Pirates. They picked the wrong two years to be slightly better than worst in baseball
You’re kidding right?
No not really.
Ok, apparently asinine (extremely foolish) is a word thats worthy of being modded so I’ll just use foolish.
It’s foolish to trade Harper straight up for McCutchen because Harpers arm and power potential make him more valuable despite the fact that he hasn’t proven it at the major league level. He’s a cant miss guy.
Harper straight up for McCutchen is a bad deal for the Nats. Harper + other players for McCutchen is just ridiculous.
No such thing as “can’t miss.” Harper hasn’t done well at anything above Low A so far, so let’s not anoint him. (I do agree about the intelligence level of that trade, I just don’t agree on the verbiage. There’s an excellent chance Cutch has the better career, but Harper’s upside will make him more valuable at this point)
Harper is about as can’t miss as can’t miss can be. He didn’t “do well” at Low A, he absolutely dominated it.
Then he jumps straight to AA, probably the biggest jump talent wise you can go through in the minors, and gets off to a slow start. He only played 25 games at AA and posted a triple slash of .256/.329/.395. In his last 10 games, afte he had adjusted to the plus breaking pitches and offspeed stuff the guys in Low A and high school don’t tend to have, he posted a triple slash of .429/.487/.743.
They said the same things about Andy LaRoche and Andy Marte, and where are they now? Give me a proven commodity over potential any day of the week.
Is that even debatable? No. Harper is seen as a once in a generation talent. There’s no way the Nats would do that.
Also, a guy like Harper is the last person the Pirates should be after. He’s a cocky guy with Boras as his agent. Can you say 6 and done? The Pirates would be in the exact same situation with Harper as they are with Cutch.
Dag of monitors!!!!!
The answer is heck no (better you sensitive ears having ppl)?
Harper is a once in a generation type prospect and although Cutch is a great ballplayer, Harper’s ceiling is wayyyy higher. No way do i see the Nats making that move.
Also, Harper is a cocky, self centered guy (I don’t blame him at all) who has Boras as an agent. Can you say 6 years and done? The Pirates would find themselves in the same situation with Harper as they are with Cutch and it does nothing to further their long term hopes. They need a prospect that if/when he arrives and shows he belongs they can sign to a team friendly extension.
Good for Neil. I don’t understand some of these GM’s who stick the “untouchable” tag on a player. No player should really ever be untouchable, even if he says that Cutch wouldn’t be traded unless someone gave some incredibly massive deal. If the trade would put the team in a better spot, you should do it.
Well every GM is open to most possibilities, but they won’t tell you that.
Annnnd cue the panic in the Pittsburgh media.
Huntington would be an idiot not to listen, especially in an organization rich in minor league outfield talent.
If anyone were to offer a deal , the quickest way to get the brass interested would be offering a long term SS as well as a long term 1B, and some change of course.
mcuthen is one of the worst of in baseball i saw him paly once last year at pnc and i didnt get all the hype. trade him while you can!!!
Whoa! You saw him play a whole ONCE last year! You’re obviously the leading authority on McCutchen, and the Pirates would be wise to heed your warning about his shoddy play.
I might be slightly (and only slightly, mind you) more likely to believe you if you had actually spelled McCutchen’s name correctly.
Those 4 at bats and 10 or plays in the OF weren’t enough to convince you….wow.
Shouldn’t Carmona/Heredia’s contract be voided since he’s a felon?
i feel like if they could they would. that’s prob the first thing they asked. “we’re definitely stuck? forsure forsure? well get him fuDGing back here already then, damnit.”
If they wanted to, they could just put him on the restricted list and not pay him. That’s what the Marlins are doing to Oviedo/Nunez, and they apparently still want him around.
Snider, Rasmaus and a prospect for McCutch! lol
but id really like to see him here.
Upton too lol.
my dream outfield would be Upton, McCutch and Bautista
Why is a prospect as young as Sano changing agents he is at least 8 years away from negotiating anything significant did he just have a crap one to start seems unlikely with the bonus he got.
SI.com has agents? I just get the mag for the free koozie, but maybe they offer agent representation. Does MLBTradeRumors.com have agents too?
If he had started out with the agent he switched to, he’d be a Pirate right now……
I wonder what kind of ‘creative’ deal Zimmerman could be referring too.. Something incentive related?
I think when any player says creative – he just means a boatload of money. Or maybe he means a Bobby Bonilla-type deal where the Nats would pay him a million per year in perpetuity.
can we stop the “pirates are trading mccutchen because he hasn’t signed an extension yet” talk? he has 4 years left of team control. calm down.
No one is saying they will HOWEVER the GM says he would listen and if anyone were dumb enough to empty the farm he would consider it.
I think it’s almost certain now that the Nats will sign Yoenis Cespedes if he is allowed into the MLB market.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…if I’m Wren…McCutchen is one guy I would definitely overpay for.
How much of an overpay?
Cutch has 4 full years remaining until FA and he just put together an All-Star year. I would expect PIT to want more than Latos…and that’s a lot. I’d start with 2 of the untouchables, not named Teheran. Maybe a package around Minor & Vizcaino. Vizcaino on any other squad would be in the rotation. A Jurrjens trade could refill the prospects pool.
Alright Pirate fans, how about Homer Bailey and Billy Hamilton for Cutch?
How about they just move them somewhere else? Which city could use a baseball team these days?
Chicago