CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman touched on many topics in his latest “Inside Baseball” column, and since we’ve already focused on Heyman’s notes about the Brewers, let’s look at some of his other hot stove info from around the league…
- The Astros will be looking to add one or even two starting pitchers, though Cole Hamels is “too pricey” for them, according to one team source. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently explored the case for Houston going after the Phillies southpaw, and 42.44% of MLBTR readers polled thought that the Astros should indeed pursue Hamels.
- Rival executives aren’t bothered by Hamels’ sub-par performance this season since all of this trade speculation is assumed to be impacting his work. Executives “seem to be split on” whether the Phillies are making the right move in holding out for a blue chip prospect or two in exchange for Hamels, or if they should just be looking to get his big salary off the books for a lower return of young talent.
- A.J. Hinch’s deal with the Astros is a three-year contract with a club option for 2018. The exact dollar figure isn’t known but Heyman reports that the average annual value is less than $1MM, which could end up being a bargain given how Houston has thus far played under Hinch’s management.
- While Zack Greinke is expected to opt out of his contract at the end of the season, Heyman doubts he’ll leave the Dodgers since they certainly have the money to sign him to a new deal.
- One scout suggests that Javier Baez might need “a change of scenery” to get back on track. Baez struck out a whopping 95 times in 229 plate appearances with the Cubs last season, and only has a .755 OPS at the Triple-A level this year. Baez is only a year removed from being considered an elite-level prospect, so while it seems early to consider trading him, Chicago is already deep in young middle infield talent.
- The Rangers are willing to deal Shin-Soo Choo, rival executives believe. This is no surprise given Choo’s huge contract and underwhelming performance in Texas, though obviously those same issues will make dealing him a tall order. Heyman notes that the Yankees were interested in Choo when he was a free agent two winters ago, though even if Choo turns it around, I’m not sure I see New York taking on a big contract when they already have a pretty full outfield.
- The Cardinals “will rue the day they made that trade” of Shelby Miller and prospect Tyrell Jenkins for Jason Heyward and Jorden Walden, in the words of one scout. Heyman feels this is a bit of a stretch, even though Miller has been outstanding for the Braves and Heyward has struggled for the Cards (and Walden is on the DL).
- Veteran Andruw Jones isn’t yet planning to retire, though he won’t play in 2015. Jones has played in Japan for the last two seasons and expressed interest in a return to Major League Baseball this winter, drawing interest from at least two teams, including the Indians. According to Heyman, Jones turned down minor league contract offers from multiple teams.
Just like the Braves rue the day they traded Wainwright for J.D. Drew. The Heyward trade was just Atlanta getting back at St. Louis, I suppose.
Drew did have a great year for Atlanta, though.
Yes he did… But of course Wainwright is Hall of Fame material and that’s one goof the Braves won’t soon forget. I think the upside to Shelby Miller is far far higher than Jason Heyward. The Braves are masters at developing pitchers and it doesn’t surprise me that they may have helped him discover his potential. Heyward has been in the league for 6 years and so far has not even come close to the level of play that everyone thinks he should be playing at and frankly it’s been a 4 year slide. For him to start out the season like this is a warning sign that it may not get that much better. It’s unfortunate.
If Miller can keep his head in the game, he can be a number 1 or 2, but he had his chance. Wacha and joe Kelly passed him in the depth chart.
I don’t understand how Joe Kelly “passed him” on the depth charts. All he does is throw hard, he’s 3 years older than Miller and has been pretty much unserviceable since 2013.
I wish Javier Baez didn’t have a whole 7 game sample size in the minors before people started talking about trading him. Imagine Willie Mays was traded after his 1-26 start which also just so happened to be a 7 game sample size…
Well, there was also last season in the majors, in which his K:BB ratio was 95:15 in 229 ABs. He still has talent, but it seems like he’s getting passed on the depth chart rather quickly.
Or Ryne Sandberg, whom I believe started 1-34 and struck out about 30% of the time early his rookie year. Like Mays, who recovered and hit 20HRs on his way to the NL ROY, Sandberg eventually recovered to a ,272 BA and a 4th place finish in ROY voting. Baez has tremendous upside, but he needs to learn the strike zone and quit collapsing his back leg.
So executives seem split on whether the Phils should just be looking to dump Hamels’ salary basically? I see them split this way:
Executives whose teams want Hamels and think the Phillies should be happy to unload the contract (so their team won’t have to give much up other than paying $)
and…
Executives whose teams aren’t in a position to get Hamels and feel he’s worth a high return because they’re unbiased in terms of his value and know he’s worth a solid amount.
Cubs had interest in Hamels. If Baez aka Mark Reynolds (with more power and more K) is the center piece for Chicago in that deal, I hope the Cubs make the trade
No way they are trading Bryant or Russell and I believe Baez, for whatever reason, is their next top prospect (if he is even still considered one, and someone correct me if I’m wrong)
He isn’t. Had 220+ AB’s last season, well past the max amount needed to still be considered a prospect.
I like Schwarber, Torres, Underwood, and fluff to the Phillies for Hamels and Diekman.
Ideally, I’d like to use Baez like the Padres used Rizzo – grab a young, probably flawed but otherwise talented SP. Someone like Daniel Norris, Kyle Crick, Aaron Sanchez, Gausman, Syndergaard, Bundy, Appel, Stroman, Biddle, Corbin (note: only two names on that list has had his arm cut open)….maybe there’s a small handful of others. Of course, Baez needs to hit some more in AAA to make that possible. That said, a 22 year old middle infield prospect with his kind of game ready RH power has alot of leeway and will get all the opportunities in the world.
The Cubs would be insane to trade Schwarber straight up for Hamels, there is no chance of him going in a trade, ZERO.
Why? Not straight up btw – don’t forget Torres and Underwood.
forget it, Schwarber is a left-handed Bryant , with fewer Ks, Hes not going anywhere, especially if he can play catcher defensively. His bat is considered Major league quality already, Underwood is there best pitching prospect, and hes starting to get some ink.
He is neither a catcher nor a LH Bryant. If he was *either* of those things, he would have gone #1 overall or 2 overall in last year’s draft pretty easily considering how weak that draft was.
I think he’s more Matt LaPorta than Kris Bryant.
Nope. Kyle Schwarber is there next big bat, providing he can stay at catcher.
Good luck finding suitors for Choo. I just pray the Yankees aren’t one of them.
Another Carl Crawford. Think about it. Both signed about the same type of deal in years and amount and now the teams who signed them want them just gone because they are busts. I can’t see anyone taking Choo at 100m+ over 5y for nothing, much less giving up anything. The LAD already have too many over paid OF as it is, same with your Yankees. Who else would be willing? I just don’t see it, it’s Fielder all over again, Texas would have to pay a sizable sum to move him, or take back another bad contract to get it done.
Not really a good comparison, Crawford had speed, defense and ability to hit for a high average and was healthy(Only didn’t play 140+ games once as a full time player in Tampa) before he signed with Boston. His first year in Boston was his age 29 season.
Shin So Choo was a low 20 homer ceiling guy that has a good eye and gets plunked a lot to raise his OBP. His defense was always pretty overrated as he just had a good arm. It’s not like he had elite speed that just went away like Crawfords did. His first year in Texas was his age 31 season.
Very good analysis; Choio seems to have really aged badly these last two years; I’m sure the injuries didn’t help, but he’s already being used at DH and his only skill at the plate right now seems to be an ability to get on base. This might turn into another albatross contract.
It matters not at all how much any of the Dodgers’ OF are paid. For one thing, only Crawford and Ethier are on big contracts. The others (Pederson, Van Slyke, Puig, Heisey, and Guerrero) are not only modest salary commitments they also leave no room or reason for the team to pick up another OFer.
Miller tends to fail down the stretch and the Cards have Wacha, martinez and Marco to be the young guns. Jenkins was a throw in..and if JH hits .270 and if Cards make it to the postseason…the trade will be forgotten.
They’d also have to re-sign Hayward.
Braves wanted Martinez when first approached about Heyward. Cards hope Heyward will be like Holiday whenever he was traded for and then re-signed with Cards. They hope he falls in love with the baseball environment and signs for a fair contract like Holiday did.
Don’t they always sign.
Everybody being quoted on Hamels value is a potential trading partner/competitor !
The mind games begin , Desperation will sink in with contenders with one more Injured Pitcher.
Just like it did with Cliff Lee.
Houston would be dumb (which they aren’t) to trade for Hamels instead of utilizing their great analytical squad to find someone less pricey and costly of prospects in a trade.
Sure and there’s no pitching shortage including Kyle Lohse, Mike Leake or anyone currently in the Red Sox rotation. Keep squeezing the cards and maybe they’ll get better.
I like choo and he needs to stay with the rangers because I understand he is getting off to a slow start but the rangers have a four game winning streak and its all because of choo leading off in the leadoff spot getting on base hitting and hitting for power too. JD does not need to trade him its too early right now
i’m waiting for the offseason when Heyward signs with the Cub and then lives up to his potential..