The Giants, unsurprisingly, plan to make third baseman Pablo Sandoval a qualifying offer after the season, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. Heyman notes that the two sides have not engaged in any extension discussions since the spring, which would seem to indicate that a late-breaking deal is rather unlikely — particularly since both team and player are rather occupied at the moment. All said, it seems that Sandoval will test the market, where he will be among the most hotly-pursued free agents.
As the rest of the division looks to emulate San Francisco’s success, here are some non-player moves of note from the NL West:
- In yet another round of important front office additions, the Diamondbacks have announced the hiring of former Nationals assistant GM Bryan Minniti to the AGM post. Also joining the mix in Arizona is Mike Russell, formerly a scout with the Tigers, who has been named Special Assistant to the Senior VP of Baseball Operations and Coordinator of Professional Scouting.
- The Padres announced today that they have hired Sam Geaney away from the Athletics to serve as San Diego’s new director of player development. According to the press release, Geaney, who had been serving as Oakland’s coordinator of international scouting, will be “responsible for managing all of the organization’s player development efforts, including working with roving coordinators as well as managers and coaches at each of the club’s affiliates.” Geaney graduated from the University of California Cal Berkeley in 2007 and had been with the A’s since joining the organization as an intern in 2006.
- The Rockies have fired pitching coach Jim Wright and bullpen coach Bo McLaughlin, the team announced today. Colorado will immediately begin a search to fill both positions, the team added. As the Denver Post’s Nick Groke writes, Wright has been pitching coach for three seasons and was initially a co-pitching coach with McLaughlin before the latter assumed the role of bullpen coach in 2013. The Rockies’ 4.83 team ERA over the past three seasons is the worst in baseball, as is their collective 4.33 FIP.
Man the A’s are getting their coaching/ personnel ravaged by other teams so far
Geaney is the biggest hit, already his under the radar signings (Yairo Munoz, Ronald Herrera, Jesus Zambrano) are showing some signs of success
Kind of funny that he’s now responsible for Herrera’s development.
Agreed. Geaney is a monstrous hit. Kind of makes you wonder if the A’s will trade veterans and “rebuild” circa 04-06
Kung Fu Panda a Gold Glove Finalist at 3rd base.
He may get double the contract of Chase Headley who really is the best fielding 3rd baseman in baseball, but cannot win the GG because of splitting time between the AL and NL.
Who is a better fit for the Yankees or perhaps the Red Sox?
Manny Machado is the best defensive 3B in baseball.
Need to have a “field off” between the two to really figure this out. Did you see Headley’s FanGraphs UZR/150 in 2014?
Headley 2014: 28.0
Machado 2013: 31.8
Very close. Factoring in the knee injury to Manny, who will be a better defensive 3rd baseman in 2015?
Manny was spectacular in 2013, and still quite good in 2014, but we will have to see after surgery on both knees where he is in 2015. Headley was the best defensive 3B’man in baseball last season, but his split time between leagues means he won’t win a GG.
You gotta remember Pablo overall this year hit better than Headley, especially before the trade. Silly that factors into a fielding award, but it does
If Pablo is 5 85 or less I would take him for the Red Sox who need proven bats and a solid lefty or switch hitter to balance lineup. Pablo has been much more consistent with bat. Career 122 WRC+ and only 28 won’t be 29 to August so 5 year deal is age 28-32.
However, if it starts going into 6 year territory with that body and AAV raises above 17 then Headley on a 3 or 4 year deal for 6 or 7 less million AAV is the better fit.
With the somewhat thin three-base free agent market, I see Pablo getting a better deal than 5 years, 85 million. In my opinion, I’d say an AAV of 17.5 million is about right, only more so for 7 years, so a total of 122.5 million, is what I’d predict him to aim for and quite possibly get. As for Headley, I’d say the predicted 4 year, 48 million dollar contract is about right, as he has great glove work at 3B, and has somewhat of a potential offensive turn-around (like his numbers with the Yankees). Personally, I’d still want the Red Sox to go after Sandoval before Headley, just because his offensive presence has been consistently better over the years. Thing is, the Red Sox really need a lefty bat, and I’m not quite sure if there are any better options at third. The only guy I could see would probably be Kyle Seager (off the top of my head), and I’m sure Seattle would want a haul for him.
There’s no way I’d be okay with giving Sandoval that much for that many years. 6 years at most. And I can’t see giving him over 100 million.
I think the Red Sox are going to have to end up making a trade for a third baseman because that’s a huge contract to give to Sandoval, and I’d hate to see him fall apart like Prince Fielder. They’re better off with Headley if they could sign him for four years, but I imagine he would want more years too. I guess it depends on what they Yankees are willing to offer him.
Free agency has gotten crazy. It’s time to move some prospects to get some players. As you said the third base market is pretty slim, particularly with left handers. The Red Sox have between 55-60 million a season to spend, and they need a number one, a number 2 (who they’ll probably trade for) and a left handed hitting third baseman. That’s going to be pretty tight.
Can’t say I’d disagree with you, I just prefer Pablo over Chase, that’s all. But no doubt, the Red Sox should go after starting pitching before there third base problem, IMO. Honestly, I’d like to see them target Lester or Scherzer (Not Shields because IMO, he isn’t a great fit for Fenway, he has A LOT of innings on his arm and, thinking he’ll be an ace beyond next year while paying him ace-type money with less years is absolute wishful thinking) and treat that as there No.1 priority. And like you said, one of these alone will probably take 40% of there resources available. So then, who’d you target as a number 2, somebody on the Reds perhaps? Hopefully it wouldn’t cost the farm, or I’d just sign another FA…. Also, what do people think Hanley’ll sign for? More than 20 AAV?
Hanley’s deal would frighten me. Here’s a guy who is a huge defensive liability who refuses to move to third base. He’s got a 20 million dollar bat and a negative 5 million dollar glove. If he would move to third base he’s be worth 20 million, but he’ll probably get it either way. Some team will be willing to let him play short and it’s probably going to cost them 140 million dollars for the privilege.
The Reds look like one possibility to secure a number two starter. I wouldn’t discount them bringing in someone from the international market either. It’s tough if you need three major players and have 60 million to spend per season. Some of that will have to happen via a trade. I wouldn’t rule out Hamels yet either though. All things being equal I would prefer Sandoval to Headley, but not so much that I would give him 100 million. Particularly if you could sign Headley for half of that.
Both teams could use him, although the Red Sox have more ‘options’ at third than the Yankees, who really should not be considering A-Rod for fulltime duty there. Best if they bring back Headley to strengthen their defense and keep A-Rod as a DH/backup at third. Headley said he’d like to return as long as he has a position. Unknown what the Yankees plan to do here.
It’s situations like this I wish that sign-and-trades were more common in baseball.
The Giants could figure out what Boston wants for a contract, sign Pablo to that, send him to the Red Sox for say, Middlebrooks and Cespedes or Craig and maybe a couple warm bodies…
Giants lose their guy but don’t completely lose out (and save several million $$$).
Pitching coach for the Rockies is fired. Isn’t that a headline you could pretty much have ready to go every year? You have to enjoy frustration and watching your pitchers get shelled to want that job.
Like hitting coach in San Diego. As far as Chase vs. Panda, the eye test says it isn’t close. How many times has Chase’s bat come through in the clutch? At all for that matter? You’ll get the glove but at the plate Panda crushes Chase. On top of which Chase doesn’t handle pressure well. There is no coincidence he disappeared in San Diego when the expectations were the highest. It pains me as a Padres fan to give any Giant love, but this can’t be spun in Headleys favor. It was addition by subtraction in SD with him.