Free agent starter Mike Leake could be on the verge of signing somewhere soon. The Cardinals are believed to be a leading suitor for him, though it’s not clear if that will be his landing spot this winter. So far, we’ve seen multiple logical destinations for Leake fall out of the picture for various reasons.
Leake reportedly would have given the D’Backs a sizable discount in order to pitch close to home in Arizona, but Tony La Russa called that match “probably unlikely” to happen after the Shelby Miller acquisition. The Giants could have moved to retain Leake, but that’s no longer a real possibility after signing two high-priced free agent starters. At this stage of free agency, the Cardinals certainly appear to be one of the best fits for the 28-year-old.
Here’s today’s look at the NL Central:
- Could the Pirates still move Mark Melancon this winter? Adam Berry of MLB.com asked Pirates GM Neal Huntington about what the Charlie Morton trade means for Melancon’s future in Pittsburgh. “We’ve never had to trade Mark,” Huntington replied. “It’s always been [a question of] if we’re better with him with us, or if we think it’s a better move for the organization to move him elsewhere, and that still applies.” In short, Berry feels that the Bucs are likely to keep Melancon, though they won’t say no if they’re blown away with the perfect offer.
- The free agent market has shifted to a tier including the likes of Mike Leake, Scott Kazmir, Yovani Gallardo, Ian Kennedy, and Wei-Yin Chen, but the Cardinals are only really interested in the first two because of their aversion to giving up a draft pick, as Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Between Leake and Kazmir, the Cards are probably more interested in Leake. Leake is younger, has proven himself to be a strong pitcher in the NL, and has been one of the best hitting pitchers in the league as well. Leake batted quite well early in his career, and while he had his worst season at the plate in 2015, he’s an overall .212/.235/.310 hitter in the Majors. That’s obviously not good, relative to the rest of the league, but it’s not bad for a pitcher.
- Do the Cardinals really need to sign a pitcher to anything more than a one-year deal given the arms they already have in-house? Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com says the Cardinals feel that you can never have too much pitching and therefore they are not ruling out a multi-year deal for a strong starter. The Cardinals could find themselves with a pitching logjam in 2017 thanks, in part, to Lance Lynn’s return, but the Cards are also aware that Lynn and Jaime Garcia will be free agents after that season. It might make sense for the Cardinals to deal with a bit of a logjam in ’17 in order to have options beyond that campaign.
The Pirates should definitely trade Cutch and Mark to get the highest value. The Pirates wasted the best years of both setting up a team for only a wild card shot and will experience the same this year, if that. The Cubs own the division and the Cardinals are runner ups, because they pay to win. It looks like 2016 will be a rebuilding year and a chance to find diamonds in the rough.
Oh look an overly biased Cubs fan. Why would the Pirates trade McCutchen when they still control him for 3 more season? That’s just ridiculous. Cutch will be 29 this season, and you’re saying his best days are behind him? We haven’t even seen them yet! “Paying to Win”? You sound like an amateur fan who probably judges pitchers by W/L record
You make a lot of assumptions in your comments ronnsnow. Can you go back, play devils advocate on what you wrote and determine the logistics behind your comments back.?
Hope you didn’t quit your baseball career to become a writer.
The Cubs don’t “own” the division just yet. On paper they look really good, but just because they seem to be good doesn’t mean they will. One or two of their big players could easily have a down season, they could suffer major injuries and some struggles are expected from their rookies (sophmore slump).
cannot trade cutch right now if you have hopes of being in the play offs again this year. There is just no one to ready to replace him. They got prospects but they’re still not going to get a lot of time until ’17/18
You could move rogers to the outfield and ‘hope’ he does okay. You could put bell out there too later on. J-Hay and S-Rod can field the corners short term but they’re not ideal.
With Upton Cespedes and Gordon still available with out the high cost of prospects (other than maybe a draft pick) teams will consider them first.
The ONLY reason to trade cutch and his two years of cheap control is if you have given up on 2016 and 2017 and that is just crazy talk in December of 2015 coming off a 98 win season with practically the same lineup.
When you look at the current Pirate roster the only for sure issue you see is their rotation. Kangs injury and question marks at first.
Niasco and Voglesong maybe the Volquez and AJ a couple years back, If so they have a solid 5 man + a couple capable swing man and 3 pitching prospects that could be great the second half and in ’17.
Kang looks to be doing well and shouldn’t miss much time.
First will be better than last year regardless who is there. (Morse, Rogers, S-Rod and Bell)
No instead of trying to trade Cutch, you try extending him. Wait to see what Upton, Cespedes and Gordon bring in then offer him a contract extension to his age 35 year.
Cutches haul would be gigantic though. a 25million a year player for 15million 2 years I can see the temptation.
** whoops 3 years.
Well thought out and I agree. I could see the haul of Cutch huge considering his price point and years of control. If they wanted to, they could move Roger to left and place Marte in center. Not the best solution for a winning team, but you could get an amazing haul. Plus the dollars saved could equate to dollars spent toward free agents heading into the ’17 season.
Joe W. I go back on the comment that it is basically the same lineup. I think it will be a dramatic change going into ’16 with the loss of Walker and Alvarez. I’m curious to see if Hansen makes the opening day roster. Most likely, he’ll arrive in June. I do think the Pirates should make a move for Jasmil Pinto and play him at 1b and platoon him with Rogers. Even though, Pinto isn’t a lefty, I think he would add value. He can hit. Also, if I was Daniel Ortiz, I would have picked up a first baseman’s mitt and practiced every day all winter long to solidify his place on the team. Could either play first any worse than Alvarez did?
As for Kang, I think he is awesome, but I am going to be a pessimist on this and say that he doesn’t come back till July, just to be on the safe side. What’s the fix there? Rod isn’t showing he’s a starter and I don’t think I want to see one of the AAAA guys come opening day. I wish that they made a play in the Rule V draft.
Alvarez’s bat in the line up was great but not on the field. The bat couldn’t justify the runs cost on the field. anyone who will not cost runs in the field is an upgrade which is why you saw S-Rod come in so often at first. Yeah his bat could change the game in one swing but so could his glove.
A resurgent Morse, Rogers can both put up just as good batting numbers though maybe with less power. Bell mid season and S-Rod as a plug if they fail. If they all fail in the line up it should still be a net positive because of their glove.
Walkers numbers where good for a second basemen. A healthy Kang playing as a starter most of the season will probably make up those power numbers pretty easily and J-Hay hits for better average.
Unless there is an injury i’m doubting we’ll see Hanson much this year.
I’m not a Pirates fan at all, but it seems to me that instead of trying to fill their rotation with graduates from the farm system and reclamation projects, they could buy a nice FA to lengthen the rotation a little, or buy a SS. As they keep winning, the fans keep coming, so I don’t want to hear anything about payroll constraints in Pittsburgh. This team has proven they ARE one piece away now. Go buy the piece and enjoy the playoff run while the window is still open.
The Cubs and Cards have both been shown to be vulnerable, though not to the Bucs. Fix that one problem and the division is all yours. It seems like the Bucs destroy everyone outside of their division and it’s unfortunate that so many of their games are within division, because that’s where they lose all their ground. So fix it and you can help keep the curse alive for another year.
How do the Cubs “own the division”? You guys haven’t won anything yet.
The Cubs are much improved, but the Cards have lost Lackey, Heyward, and Lance Lynn, plus Molina has another thumb surgery to add to his total, and adding Leake nowhere nearly makes up for that. Given what the Cards have subtracted, how are they contenders and the Pirates not?
The Cardinals have also added a healthy Wainwright who will out produce Lackey and will hopefully enjoy a full year of Piscotty who could more than replace Heyward’s offensive stats.
Ugh, I’m afraid you are right. Last year was their opportunity. The Cubs own 2016. Would hate to see Cutch go, but he will anyway as a FA in a couple of years.
I wouldn’t say they “own” 2016. They are a good team but lets see how their guys handle their sophomore years. Lackey is aging and coming off one of his best seasons (can he repeat?) Lesters isnt the same Lester, Arrieta had a freakish season and I would love to see if he can top that or get anywhere close, and their back end is so so. Yeah Heyward will give them better defense but not much offense. Cardinals were able to win 100 game without half their players and their ace and the Pirates had one of their best years with 97 wins. Id say its still going to be a good fight to the finish line next year.
Just like how the Padres owned the NL West in 2015? Like Marlins in 2013? Like the Red Sox in 2011? Nothing is won in December,. Leave it to Cubs fans to assume that
It’s baseball, anything can happen. I repeat, anything can happen. No team owns any season before a game has even been played. You must have just started watching baseball if you think otherwise. Look no further than the 2015 Nationals. Don’t ever fool yourself into thinking a team is a lock prior to 162 game season, doing so will only result in you eating your shoe down the road.
The Giants own 2016, since it’s an even number, just need a LF
“We’ve got WAY too much starting pitching! This is a SERIOUS problem!”
…said no General Manager ever.
The Bucs just three years ago broke a streak of two decades of losing seasons, ownership (regardless if it was McClatchy or Nutting) have annually been accessed of being cheap by the fans and media the whole time and in some circles still are thought of as being cheap and now finally Pittsburgh has a successful team and business model to contend each year and are enjoying record attendance each of the past two seasons. Trading Cutch now would be the equivalent of having a terrible marriage for decades then once you start rekindling the spark that made you fall in love in the first place, your spouse cheats on you. Unless Nutting and company want the city to give up on the team and absolutely destroy their primary base of revenue (attendance and merchandise) Cutch will be a Pirate until there is one year left on his deal then you can consider trading him to recoup assets if there is no plausible means of an extension.
Brilliant analogy. Couldn’t have said it any better myself.
Didn’t you know the Pirates aren’t spending any money this offseason because it hasn’t snowed in the Pittsburgh Area? Bob Nutting can’t afford to sign free agents and run the snow machines at 7 Springs! #YinzerLogic
Does melancon to Toronto seem plausible? Or Arizona? Haven’t thought about the return they would get those are just some teams I thought of that could use him