In an interesting piece for Sports Illustrated, Richard Deitsch posed a range questions to a group of five outstanding baseball writers — Jay Jaffe of SI.com, La Velle Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, Joel Sherman of the New York Post, and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle — who represent different aspects of the baseball media sphere. Here are some more links from the day:
- Cubs outfielder Nate Schierholtz could be had via trade, reports Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter). The "progress" of Ryan Kalish makes that a possibility, says Morosi. Schierholtz is owed $5MM this year before qualifying for free agency. As Moroso mentions, the Tigers are a club that could hypothetically be interested in Schierholtz given the injury to Andy Dirks.
- The Cardinals introduced new infielder Aledmys Diaz today, as the Associated Press reports (via the Boston Herald). Though the Cuban was brought in for a relatively meager $8MM guarantee over four years, Cards GM John Mozeliak says that the team is "very confident that [Diaz] can be an offensive middle infielder, especially a shortstop." Mozeliak said the club would exercise patience with its new addition, who has not played competitively for some time.
- Though the Mariners' additions of Corey Hart and Logan Morrison over the offseason raised some questions about incumbent first baseman Justin Smoak, manager Lloyd McClendon says that Smoak will remain the starter, MLB.com's John Schlegel reports. It seemed more recently that things were headed in that direction, but McClendon's statements today would make a trade of Smoak a surprise at this point. "Will other guys play first? Yeah," McClendon said, "But Smoak is my first baseman."
- The independent Suger Land Skeeters have invited former NBA star Tracy McGrady to their spring camp, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. At 34, McGrady is working to build up arm strength and develop an off-speed offering.
With those coaches in STL Diaz could be an eventual All-Star. The only thing I’m concerned about is if he starts to do too well to keep in in the minors, who is the odd man out?
Matt Carpenter is keeping a spot. Period. Peralta is signed for the next coming years and Wong could live up to his potential and secure his spot. Peralta or Wong is going to have to be traded at some point in the next 3 years if Diaz produces well.
I’d think if he forced his way into a roster spot, that mark Ellis would be DFA’d or traded to make room for the rest of the year.
But the cards tend to show restraint when promoting players, even if they are doing well. I don’t see him coming up any sooner than the organization already has planned.
Which will likely be shortly after they acquire the extra year of control, perhaps prevent him from being Super 2.
Those things usually sort themselves out. If all four of those players are producing, that’s a great problem to have. For now, it’s just nice to have some depth at every position up the middle for the first time in a very long time.
Right now, I’m more concerned about the futures of Adams, Taveras, and Bourjos. I’m just PRAYING that Taveras can pan out defensively in CF to where we can drop Bourjos and keep both Taveras and Adams.
But if they both end being producers at the plate (which I think will be the case) and Taveras has to be moved to RF (which is a huge unknown right now), who is the odd man out? Do you trade Adams and move Craig back to 1B or do you trade Taveras?
Neither. I think you trade Craig. He’s injury prone, yet very productive. And his contract is very team friendly.
I cannot imagine they’d trade Craig with such a team-friendly contract, especially while he is the most efficient offensive player we have. If his only problem is being injury-prone, I think we move him to first, especially if Adams does not develop into the type of hitter that Craig already is.
Right. And even with Craig’s salary being so team friendly, he and his salary will still be a lot harder to move than either Adams or Taveras.
A trade with the Mets including Smoak, Franklin could be done for a pitcher and a out fielder would benefit both clubs.
They would have to trade Ike Davis first, and that doesn’t look like it will happen. Especially since Smoak would be an alternate option for the team looking to trade for Ike.
Ike Davis has got to be the player who gets more pub and is just not a very good player. Typically guys who put up the numbers Davis does get little to no press. There is at least two articles a week about Ike. Its amazing. Bonafide Allstars dont get that kind of attention.
Failing players who have starting roles in New York do
You’re looking at only his surficial stats, which I admit are not good.
However, the reason his stats are not good is not because he has consistently been at the level. No, he’s either been at well below that level or well above it. The latter is why Davis gets so much ‘pub’, but the former is why teams are apprehensive about trading for him.
It’s really not that difficult to see why teams would show a little interest in a guy who is one season removed from hitting 32 HR (despite half his games in Citi) and who has hit .264/.379/.531 in the 2nd halves of 2012/13.
Outstanding is a little bit of a stretch for some of those writers.
Why was Diaz so cheap?
A few reasons:
1. He hasn’t played in 18 months.
2. He’s young (23) and his potential is uncertain given the state of Cuban baseball these days.
3.There’s some question of whether he’ll stick at shortstop, a premium position.
4. The Yankees and the Dodgers weren’t driving the bidding.
Most scouting reports say the bat is for real, and that Diaz can play second
and third if he doesn’t work work out at short. But given that he’s not a
polished player ready for the majors right now, it’s not too surprising
that teams didn’t want to throw the same money at him that other Cuban defectors have gotten. The Cuban market is still a relatively new one, and Diaz was facing some special circumstance those other players haven’t faced.
Billy. Thats a great summary of the Diaz situation.
Those pirates are still looking for a left handed first baseman to platoon with gaby sanchez but it looks like their only options are to to talk to the mets about ike davis and the texas rangers about mitch moreland
Mike Carp from Boston may still be an option.
Especially if Sizemore somehow stays healthy and makes the roster.
I read something earlier this morning that Carp and Sizemore are the only lefty-hitting OFers on the 40 man roster, which makes getting Carp a little more difficult.
JB Jr. hits lefty and is a defensive stud.
Nava is a switch hitter that crushes righties as a lefty OF/1B.
Victroino is a switch hitter that may be ditching hitting left handed but still has in his past.
Sizemore healthy then Carp becomes the 6th best OF and 3rd best 1B on the team. Not worthy keeping him around I would love a trade for a mid-level Pirates prospect or a guy that could play 3B/SS
boston will not trade carp to pittsburgh they are too high on him
The Pirates don’t want Ike Davis. If they did they’d have him already. Can you imagine a cold Ike and Pedro in the same lineup? Yikes!
i dont like the idea either but why cant the rangers trade moreland to pittsburgh because im not trying to get rid of him im just trying to help my team out with some ideas
The Rangers plan to use Moreland at DH. Why would they wanna weaken their lineup?
because moreland strikes out a lot when he is at the plate with risps and i think he needs to be traded to the buccos and the rangers sign kendrys morales and give up that 30th pick in the draft to the mariners
No thanks. We in Pittsburgh don’t want your scrubs. Unless you take McGuiness back.
thats fine but we want moreland to go to you and we want chris back and we will put him back in triple a so we can get morales for my team the texas rangers
I have a trade idea for scherholtz. We send you Nate and the tigers send us a package of Scherzer,Verlander,Cabrera, and Nick C. What do you guys think?
is there anybody the cubs won’t trade until their kids arrive a few years down the road? chicago tries to salvage value through trades, but they act like a small market team.
Maybe Edwin Jackson, but he’s just a maybe. Of course Castro and Rizzo are off the table for now. Though Castro I may trade if given the right offer.
Welington Castillo isn’t going anywhere either. He played great the second half of last year and his glove is legit.
I forgot about him, also Junior Lake
Gotta love Welly. 2nd best defensive backstop in the league behind Molina. His stick is coming along nicely as well. No doubt he is our catcher for years to come. I’m not sold on trading Castro. The man has one down year due to the staff and everyone wants to ship him off. I’d much rather keep him at short and move Baez to 2B. Only way I’m giving up Castro is if he brings 3 top pitching prospects
yes they do. look at that outfield? Sweeney,Schierholtz,Kalish,Coghlan.
I suppose the Cubs don’t like home run/RBI type guys. Last year Soriano,this year Schierholtz. *sigh*
Suger Land Skeeters are so smart. If you asked me to name one Indy league team, I would immediately respond with the Suger Land Skeeters.
According to the locals, TMac’s mechanics aren’t very good, so it’s not likely he’ll earn a spot. But this is indieball. They could totally give him a spot to sell tickets and t-shirseys. Very smart from a marketing standpoint. They have a very family-friendly stadium, too.
The TMAC thing is nothing but an effort to put this low level team on the map. Hence them having Roger Clemens last year pitching at 102 years old.