The Giants are monitoring the market for outfielders, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. San Francisco is prioritizing Jason Heyward, Alex Gordon and Dexter Fowler over Justin Upton and Yoenis Cespedes for defensive reasons, Morosi adds. That rationale is a bit odd, considering the fact that Cespedes is generally regarded as a stellar defender in left field. Heyward and Fowler, of course, are better fits to see occasional or even regular time in center field than Cespedes would be. But, with Angel Pagan under contract for 2016 and Hunter Pence entrenched in right field, left field would seem to be an area of need.
Here are a few more notes on the outfield market…
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Giants, Angels, Tigers and Royals have been the most interested clubs in Cespedes’ market thus far in the offseason. However, Sherman adds that the Royals quickly came to realize that Cespedes is going to be beyond four years. It should be noted, of course, that Detroit general manager Al Avila said yesterday that his team is not in the mix for either Cespedes or Gordon. (Though that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some earlier talk between the two sides, and, as Sherman notes, the Tigers could circle back if Cespedes’ market doesn’t pick up.)
- Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna has drawn trade interest from “at least seven to 10 teams,” Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports. Spencer adds that an eventual trade of Ozuna seems to be likely.
- Royals GM Dayton Moore told reporters today that the club feels Jarrod Dyson will likely get a chance to hold down a regular job in the corner outfield, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. Filling one corner outfield spot from within would obviously reduce the team’s needs and potentially increase the team’s flexibility to spend on another outfielder.
- Diamondbacks outfield prospect Socrates Brito is “getting some play” at the Winter Meetings, Jack Magruder of FanRag Sports tweets. The 23-year-old reached the majors last year, slashing .303/.324/.455 in just 34 plate appearances, and has shown an intriguing power/speed combo in the minors.
- Angels GM Billy Eppler has spoken to the agents for all of the major free-agent outfielders — including Heyward, Cespedes and Upton — according to Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times (Twitter link). However, DiGiovanna cautions that we shouldn’t expect the Halos to set the market by being the first to agree to a major deal for an outfielder.
- Via, MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli (Twitter link), Orioles GM Dan Duquette said that his club has been “aggressive” in its efforts to add a left-handed hitting corner outfielder.
- The Twins had interest in Rajai Davis two offseasons ago when he signed with the Tigers, and they have some interest again this winter, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (Twitter link). However, their interest is somewhat limited, he notes, as a fourth outfield type isn’t a high priority for the team right now. Davis is said to be in talks with the Indians.
Who says Cespedes is a stellar defender in LF?
Voters of the AL LF Gold Glove that thought so highly of his defense that they gave it to him even though he only played in the AL until July 31.
Boom. Served.
Never use the voters for baseball awards as proof of anything. The AL Gold Glove voters also gave a Gold Glove to Rafael Palmeiro for 1st base in a season where he played 128 of his 156 games at DH. Cespedes has all the tools to be a good defender but based on the bulk of his MLB time in Oakland he can completely zone out at times.
He has an unbelievable arm (one of the best in the mlb) but sometimes struggles to read the ball (World Series game he allowed inside the park home run). All in all though he has a great arm and always has a chance to make a big play defensively!
His defensive war is okay.
I don’t think WAR recognizes the number of times he holds a player to a single rather than a double. He impressed me when he was with Detroit, and was much better than I expected.
Obviously the agents are trying to put Detroit in the mix and the Tigers front office wants no part of it. Just a game at this point.
If the bottom falls out of one of these guys like what happened to Nelson Cruz two offseasons ago, then the Tigers will bite. Otherwise, they will let someone else overpay.
I think Cespedes is better on both sides of the ball then he gets credit for. If the Orioles are unable to sign Davis they turn to Heyward and Cespedes. Cespedes has even said he’d like to be an Oriole.
Cespedes has also said he’d like to be a Tiger, a Met, ….
he also said a royal
Ozuna for Shelby makes a whole lotta sense for both teams, too bad it won’t happen.
Honestly I’d like to see Heyward in center and pagan in left
actually I would rather see blanco in left and heyward in center – or vice versa –
that would make the giants one solid defense
Agreed. Pagan should have played himself into a 4th OF roll last year but Bochy is loyal to a fault.
Steve, the hole for the Giants, now and in the future is CF. Pagan is not a good defensive CF, is injured too much, and will be gone after next year. They have no one even on the horizon in CF in the farm system. (They’ve even talked about moving Tomlinson to CF to bridge that gap.) They can sign a CF-capable player (Heyward, Fowler), then move him to LF in a couple of years when they develop/acquire another strong fielding CF that can also hit.
Exactly. Pagan was literally the worst everyday player in baseball last year. Outfield should be Pence, Blanco, and whoever they sign, with Williamson or Parker in the 4th of spot and Pagan in the 5th. Almost worth cutting at this point, but Bochy is too loyal for his own good and Pagan will play center and lead off all year no matter how much it hurts the team.
Mac or jarret over Blanco. He’s not an everyday starter.
I’m just curious. But is everyone who is commenting about Heyward going to SF keeping in mind that it might cost upwards of 200 mil to sign him? I’m over the moon about his glove too, but for $200mil? At that price, this has all the makings of another Zito-esque contract.
Let’s just wait and see what the market really is for him. I’m not sold on a $200M contract or a ten-year one either. I could go for a 6-7 year contract with an opt-put after three. If he gets a better offer, good luck to him.