The Orioles are generally patient in the free agent market under GM Dan Duquette, writes Rich Dubroff of CSN Baltimore. Duquette’s biggest free agent signings came late in the 2013-2014 offseason when he inked Nelson Cruz and Ubaldo Jimenez. Given that 20 players were extended qualifying offers, Baltimore could once again wait to see if any players fall through the cracks. In my opinion, there are some risks with this strategy. While buying low close to the season has its advantages, it can leave a player under-prepared. Additionally, several clubs appear well positioned to play the waiting game. Duquette could find an unusual amount of competition if he waits to do his shopping until late-January.
Here’s more from the AL East:
- Former Orioles Chris Davis, Wei-Yin Chen, and Matt Wieters may take a patient approach to finding a new contract, writes Dubroff. All three Scott Boras clients received a qualifying offer. In the case of Davis, the Orioles would like to re-sign him and plan to make a competitive offer. However, Dubroff wonders how long Baltimore will allow Davis to shop for offers before they move onto alternatives. Meanwhile, the market for Wieters may not be particularly robust with the White Sox, Astros, and Dodgers as possible fits. Reliever Darren O’Day was not given a qualifying offer, and he could be in line for a four-year contract.
- The Rays made an early splash on the trade market, and they’re obviously not done, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The club has narrowed its focus for the offseason but remains open to discussing any player. Topkin notes that free agent activity will wait until later in the offseason “when their currency of playing time can be worth more than money to players still on the market.” Trade talks figure to revolve around first baseman James Loney. He’s owed $8MM next season. Corner infield prospect Richie Shaffer appears ready for a high profile role if Loney is dealt elsewhere.
- The Red Sox currently have the 12th pick in the 2016 amateur draft, and it may influence some of their free agent decisions, writes Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. Under the qualifying offer system, the earliest pick ever surrendered to sign a free agent is the 13th (Padres, James Shields). The club would probably be willing to cough up a pick for a top free agent like Zack Greinke, Davis, or Jordan Zimmermann. However, pitchers like Chen, Marco Estrada, and others might not offer enough upside to forego the early pick. Per President Dave Dombrowski, “I think it’s a case-by-case basis and you analyze that based upon the player you have a chance to sign.“
- As a means of retaining their first pick, the Red Sox may attempt to trade for starting pitching, writes Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. Trade candidates are harder to predict because it’s unclear which players are really on the table. McAdam believes that A’s starter Sonny Gray, Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco, and San Diego’s Tyson Ross are logical targets. The club could also chase a top reliever like Craig Kimbrel or Aroldis Chapman.
- Greinke may not be a fit in Boston, opines Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com. Greinke actually hit similarly to Pablo Sandoval on a rate basis and reportedly enjoys batting regularly. There’s also the matter of home division. The NL West includes some of the most pitcher friendly parks in baseball. As such, the Dodgers and Giants are a good fit. Pitchers in the AL East have to survive Fenway and three homer-happy venues in Toronto, New York, and Baltimore. That could hold back the Red Sox in negotiations for other top pitchers like David Price too. Gammons does see a possible trade match with the White Sox for ace Chris Sale. Blake Swihart could potentially serve as a centerpiece.
Sean McAdam needs to do better research because Beane himself said outright he isn’t trading Gray, so its actually not “logical” at all to say he’s a target.
And he said he wasn’t trading Donaldson last year. Gray will be moved eventually. May as well maximize the return by trading him at his peak value.
No, as corrected MULTIPLE times on this site by Dierkes et al, Beane himself never said that about Donaldson – it was an “unnamed person” in the Oakland front office who was reported to have said that. Please pay attention to what Tim and crew here says, they have gone through this ad nauseam, its getting tired, you blind Red Sox fans keep on arguing with me about this when the runners of this site have REPEATEDLY said you are wrong.
Why do you hate Boston so much and love Billy Beane? Are you related to him? You really like Brad Pitt?
Well I guess even the blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally. Here is what I know to be absolutely true. Gray will become to expensive for the A’s at some point. They will have to trade him eventually. It may be this offseason, it may not. But he can say whatever he wants. The A’s simply can’t afford him with their present payroll philosophy. And Beane didn’t necessarily announce to the media he wasn’t moving Donaldson, he just told some of the other GM’s who inquired about him. Said he wasn’t available, still moved the player.
What bosox fans miss is Beane would need to be over paid to trade Gray. Right after Beane statement not trading Gray bosox GM said he was not trading Betts or Bogart. It would take 1 of those players to be included in a trade for Gray. There is absolutely no reason to trade Gray at this point for the A’s he is cheap and far from free agency.
Yeah, if the league minimum is too expensive for you!
The Orioles need to make concessions this off-season.
What they did with the last one was unacceptable.
Not one free agent or trade worked.
I mean we were down to Chaz Roe making a difference and eventually he fizzled as well.
The O’s need to strike early and often, if they don’t I expect the same result as last year and I will be Shaking My Head!!!
I would have QO’d O’Day.
Also, it is important to consider that Greinke has a social disorder that makes him uncomfortable in cities where the media gives him a lot of attention. Boston and LA both may not be good fits.
I’m pretty sure his performance in LA indicates he’d be fine there. I don’t think he’s handle a high scrutiny media situation like Philly, New York or Boston well. LA tends to be more laid back.
Greinke suffers from (1) clinical depression, (2) social anxiety disorder. We don’t know what his particular triggers are. So none of can say for sure if a city like Boston would be a problem. LA wasn’t, but it has a more laid back media than Boston.
Higher stress situations tend to exacerbate mental illness. Even if the media isn’t his particular stressor it doesn’t really matter. It’ll just make it all the much harder to deal with whatever his stressor is.
Do you honestly think Greinke reads the media or cares what anyone says? He has said himself he doesn’t.
You’re hilarious. Do you honestly think you can avoid it in Boston, Philly or New York? It’s everywhere. Just ask guys like Randy Johnson and Carl Crawford what they think of the Boston/New York media. And how Crawford was run out of town on a rail in Boston and welcomed with open arms in LA. It’s simply the reality of the situation. It’s not something we’re proud of.
No Boston Globe type news rag in LA which merely invents gossip as facts, rather than print the truth.
Many news organizations do this now. It’s easier for them to invent items and present them as facts, rather than present the truth. It’s not only the Globe where this occurs.
LA has one of the most knee-jerk reactionary stupid medias in America. Bill Plascke is single handedly responsible for Puig playing poorly because he put him under such a pathetic microscope in how much he lied about how him doing bat flips were so “unamerican” and anti-baseball.
LA is a way bigger city and a bigger media than Boston could ever wish it could be. It is FAR from “laid back”. Its pretty much ruined Puigs career so far.
Was stationed in San Diego many moons ago (late 70’s-early 80’s) and read the LA Times then some, why thought it was a fair paper. Still look it over some online. I see nothing really unfair about it really as compared to many others. No Shaugnessy types IMO, then that’s just me mind you.
CJCron….
PUIG is doing it to himself.
All by himself.
Plaschke does just fine establishing his line of work.
You think Bill Plaske is responsible for how Puig plays? Why do you hate Boston so much? You are just plain idiotic.
cjcron, since you obviously look at yourself as some sort of information authority, you might want to understand that others find it very hard to lend your opinion any credibility when you obviously have some hate issues with Boston. It’s ok, most 12 year olds don’t understand that.
What!?!? Did you not just see what he did this year IN LA?
Exactly
Big surprise – Red Sox fans online think they are a bigger deal than they really are.In this thread someone literally said Boston media is not as “laid back” than LA media – no, it never, ever, ever will be.
Completely wrong, it matters 0%.
Speaking of the media, I believe they blew his mental issues out of proportion to begin with
Wants to be a gm :
One must consider the amount of big names players surrounding GREINKE while being a Dodger.
One must also take into consideration his age, growth of dealing with a symptom, and showing signs of improvement having it.
GREINKE will have no more issues other than maybe media interviews live, of that nature.
I’m hoping SF scares him back to staying.
Greinke would be a logical replacement for Cueto in Kansas City but they could never afford him now.
Sale isn’t getting traded unless it is a huge overpay. The White Sox just don’t operate like that and Sale is one of the most valuable players in the league with his contract.
What it would take to get the White Sox to trade Sale would make any fan cringe.
Totally agree. The starting point in discussions would be Betts or Bogaerts, so that probably never gets off the ground.
Betts and Sale actually have pretty similar values. Both are 5-6 WAR players with 4-5 years of control.
On Dave Cameron’s trade value list he had Sale 6th and Betts 11th.
Not that it’s likley to happen (I wouldnt trade Betts for pitching and if the Whitesox ever did trade Sale it would likley be a a haul of top prospects rather than a 1-1 swap for a position player), but I’m just pointing out their values are roughly similar.
WAR is still a work in progress as far as I’m concerned. Pitching with that high of a ceiling is rarer and much more valuable than any position player, unless you’re talking about a middle of the order bat, which betts is not.
Betts is a good player, but no self-respecting GM who wants to keep his job would ever trade a young, controllable dominant ace for a positon player, who, while promising, still has question marks and a lot of work to do before he becomes a truly elite player. Also, pitching just has so much more of an impact than position players do, unless the position player is an MVP caliber player (which betts isn’t)
Position players have just as much impact as pitchers do. After all, they are the ones playing everyday, are they not? And also, what question marks surround Betts? He has everything a team looks for in a young player. Good defence, good power, a great eye at the plate, speed, and a great ability to make contact. This is also while having no red flags like a ridiculously high BABIP (and in fact, his BABIP is quite low for a player with his skillset, suggesting that he can easily raise his average quite a few points).
You do realize Dustin Pedroia won the MVP in 2007 with similar overall numbers don’t you??
Edit:
2008
Yeah if you check pedrioa’s 2008 numbers, you’ll see that pedrioa was significantly better than betts was this year. Not saying betts wasn’t good this year, he was.
I think the starting point would be both.
“I think the starting point would be both”
Thats funny, considering Betts is already just as valuable as Sale with an extra year of control. On Dave Cameron’s trade value list he had Sale 6th and Betts 11th. Their values in terms of $/WAR (how much a player is makings vs how much he’s producing) are actually spot on. All this stuff about ace vs positon player is all semanics. Players are measured by value and production.
If the Whitesox wanted Betts and Bogaerts they would be parting with Sale and Quintana. Not that either team would likley do that, but that should be roughly approximate value
I have significant issues with that list, as I’m sure a lot of people do as well. It’s his subjective opinion, not the gospel. Mookie only has 1 full big league season under his belt. Pitchers can and will adjust, so it remains to be seen how he adjusts to pitchers attacking him a different way. And pitching is more valueable than hitting, which is why you see teams with good pitching and mediocre offenses make the playoffs all the time, but rarely vice versa
Agreed. They overpaid for 1 year of Samardzija – they aren’t trading Sale, they’re more than likely to overpay in a trade for another player than they are to trade one of their own.
They technically overpaid for Shark, but only because Shark was terrible. As didn’t get a legitimate major league starter out of the deal, except for perhaps Bassitt, who maxes at 4 and likely a 5. Semien and Phegley are utility/platoon players.
Semien could turn into a decent starter but he has lots of improvements to make. It seemed like Beane went after quantity over quality. He has a very good eye for talent though. The Shark trade probably shouldn’t be judged for another year or two.
DC could possibly be a fit for Greinke. All Mike Rizzo has to do is tell all the media to stay off of Greinke as much as Bryce Harper gets the media. Keep in mind that we can get NFL player Greg Hardy to come in and reject the media for Zack. Lol
Is it just me, or is Wei Yin Chin overvalued by a lot of teams and media sources?
Why would the Dodgers have any interest in Wieters when they just got Yasmani Grandal last year. Grandal had a spectacular first half, both offensively and defensively and then messed up his shoulder. That has now been taken care of with post-season surgery. I would think Friedman would have plenty of other holes in the lineup to spend money on without getting another (expensive) catcher.
Players under-prepared due to a late signing? This has got to be the dumbest thing I’ve read in a while (and that includes the extreme left wing drivel on deadspin). Ever heard of the universally held too-long spring training month? Most teams have it in Florida or Arizona – you should check it out if mommy lets you. This, along with the “gaping wound” mentioned in an adjacent post is evidence that MLBTR is reaching down to the bottom of the barrel with this hack. Go to sbnation where you belong, kid.
Xander would be more available than Mookie. Time will tell they are both nice young players. The RSox have some talent two years away because of the Pablo and Hanley signings. Devers, Guerra and Moncada could be your infield April 2017. We just need a TOTR guy to move Porcello, ERod, Owens, Miley into more appropriate 2-5 slots.
I think perhaps Xander to the A’s for Sonny as the headliners in a blockbuster. Beane and DD will have something ready to roll out for the Winter Meetings if not before.
I would even trade JBJ, Henry Owens, and Margot to A’s for Gray
Not enough
All these people complaining bout the A’s and BoSoxs, and i am just sitting here routing for the rays