The Blue Jays’ signing of lefty J.A. Happ strongly suggests that David Price won’t be returning to Toronto next year, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports writes. Price’s acquisition was emblematic of the go-for-broke approach former GM Alex Anthopoulos took, and it isn’t like new team president Mark Shapiro to make similarly dramatic, risky moves. Instead, Shapiro and interim GM Tony LaCava have addressed the Jays’ rotation needs more quietly, with the signing of Happ, the re-signing of Marco Estrada and their trade for Jesse Chavez. “We obviously had multiple holes to fill in our pitching staff, and our front-office team felt diversifying the risk among multiple pitchers who could start was important, both due to our need at the (big-league) level and our lack of Triple-A depth starting pitchers,” Shapiro says. Here’s more from the AL East.
- Happ wasn’t the same pitcher he was in Pittsburgh as he had been previously, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca writes. He allowed fewer walks, his velocity increased, and he leaned harder on his fastball, leading to a brilliant 1.85 ERA in 11 starts. The Blue Jays, then, will have to see if the adjustments Happ made in Pittsburgh can continue to help him.
- No one involved with sports negotiations likes the phrase “hometown discount,” but if Chris Davis is to return to the Orioles, he’ll have to give them that discount, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun writes. The Orioles believe they can make Davis a competitive offer, just not one quite as large as he might be able to get elsewhere. They can hope that such a competitive offer might be enough to lure Davis, a beloved player in Baltimore and a good fit at Camden Yards, to return. Davis’ agent Scott Boras might have something to say about that, of course, but as Connolly notes, the choice will ultimately be Davis’.
- Japanese righty Kenta Maeda could be one possibility for the Red Sox this offseason, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes. Maeda recently asked his NPB team, the Hiroshima Carp, to post him. With the Tigers, new Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski wasn’t usually a top bidder for the best talents from abroad. The Sox, however, have signed top foreign players like Yoan Moncada, Rusney Castillo and Daisuke Matsuzaka, so perhaps they’ll be contenders for Maeda as well. Maeda could represent a lower-priced alternative to top free agents like Price and Zack Greinke.
Aren’t a lot of baseball people saying Maeda projects as more of a #3 starter over here? I don’t see the logic where he’d be an alternative to Price or Greinke. The Red Sox need a legit ace.
When you spread the $20 million posting fee over five years along with his projected salary you’re looking at about $18 million a year. I can get a pretty solid starter at that price instead of rolling the dice on Maeda. That’s a lot of money to take a chance.
If I were the Red Sox, I would stay away from Japanese pitchers altogether, dice K was a train wreck from the get-go, and when you figure in the posting fee (I think it was 60 million) he was more expensive than a free-agent ace at the time
Posting fee for daisuke was around 50MM. In total, they paid 103MM for him. He also wasn’t entirely bad….he had one very good season and then the rest was trash.
Yeah I think he won 18 games his first year
In his second season, yes. 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA and over an 80% strand rate.
I’m more concerned about the injury history of Japanese SPs. Tanaka has yet to pitch a full season healthy.
From the get go? He won 33 games and a World Series in his first 2 years
Actually DiceK had 33 wins his first two season in MLB. That was more than anyone, including Sabathia, for those seasons. I wouldnt call that a wreck. The Sox started trying to adjust his between game regiment and limits his innings and that didn’t bode well for his mechanics. The MLB baseball is also a little bigger than the Japanese ball so his secondary pitches weren’t as effective. Remember the fabled gyroball? Haha.
I agree though. If the Sox spend it should be on proven MLB talent. Peace.
Go Sox!
Most likely if Sox sign Maeda they’d trade Buchholz, Kelly’s or Miley
they should make kelly a set up guy or something
I agree. Red Sox need a true ace. But RS needs of a solid #3 too. Health, Bucholz is #2. Rodriguez is still unproved. Myley is a #4. Porcello, Kelly and Wright are all #5. Maeda repertory is amazing. Perhaps the best curveball that I ever see. He is able to keep the changeup and the slider down in the zone and he is better that all RS hard trower pitchers. Boston should consider sign with Maeda and use a six men rotation. Bucholz is a fragile pitcher and perhaps will stay health with an extra rest day. In spite of his amazing repertory Maeda seems physically fragile too. Young arms like Rodriguez and Kelly can take advantage of an extra rest day too. I know that RS fans ever want win but RS should consider a loss season again and take time to develop young players that can contribute to the future. My RS rotatation for next season:
Bucholz, Maeda, Rodriguez, Myley plus two of Porcello, Kelly, Wright, Owens, Jhonson.
To me Jhonsn is the best RS young pitcher. But RS should consider keep he and Owens in the minors until the non waiver trade deadline and then trade Buchholz, Porcello and Myley to some team desperate for a pitcher.
PS: english is not my mother language, so give me a discount.
Lol
And Tanaka won’t pitch a full season healthy…. He won’t throw 200 innings in a season again unless he has surgery. And the Yankees won’t commit to that until they have to
Dombrowski has shown he is not a player in the foreign market. A better question might be whether the Tigers become players in the foreign market now that he has been replaced by Avila. Maeda might be an affordable alternative now that the Happ’s of the world are worth 12mm/year. DD probably would not have acquired K-Rod because he doesn’t throw hard enough. Avila doesn’t seem to treat that as an absolute requirement.
the angels should make a run at one of the big three aces and Maeda