6:39pm: Not only are the Rockies getting strong interest in Gonzalez, reports Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter link), they’re signaling to other clubs that they’re willing to move Corey Dickerson and/or Charlie Blackmon in trades as well.
Blackmon and Dickerson would add a pair of younger, more controllable outfield options to the trade market. The 29-year-old Blackmon is arbitration eligible for the first time this winter and coming off a strong pair of seasons in which he’s batted a combined .287/.341/.445 with 36 home runs and 71 stolen bases. He’s not considered a great defender in center field and does have significant home/road splits in addition to platoon splits, but Blackmon is still a very useful commodity for clubs seeking a left-handed bat that could see some time in center field or in the outfield corners.
Dickerson, 26, comes with four years of club control but missed a good deal of the 2015 season due to plantar fasciitis and a broken rib. However, when healthy, the former top prospect has established himself as a highly potent bat, slashing a combined .309/.354/.556 with 34 homers across his past 712 plate appearances in the Majors. Like Blackmon, the left-handed-hitting Dickerson does carry notable platoon splits and home/road splits over the life of his career. But, four years of a player with his offensive upside would certainly draw widespread interest, especially considering the high prices we’ve seen across the free-agent market thus far.
11:08am: With the outfield market beginning to heat up, the Rockies are receiving a “flurry” of hits on outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. Gonzalez is owed $37MM over the next two seasons before he’ll qualify for free agency.
Gonzalez, who turned thirty in October, is particularly interesting because of the short (albeit not inexpensive) control rights he comes with. Some teams looking at the free agent market for a power outfield bat may prefer to avoid the longer-term risk that would be required to sign a free agent.
Then, there’s the fact that Gonzalez hits from the left side. That’s also true of Jason Heyward and Alex Gordon, but CarGo is a closer match in terms of power and age to Justin Upton and Yoenis Cespedes, both of whom are righties. Gonzalez has had injury issues of late and has struggled at times, but restored his value with a big second half.
Big fan of CarGo. Hope the Mariners trade for him, since they’re making a trade everyday it seems.
I would love CarGo with M’s. Just don’t know what we have to land him. Would Paxton/Zunino/Taylor be enough?
I’m not familiar with Taylor, but I could see something like that working. I’d also love CarGo to go to the M’s if he has to be traded because I don’t dislike them at all.
Chris Taylor is a good defensive SS, could develop into a decent bottom of the order hitter. Hasn’t spent too much time with the big league club. But he should stick at short at the MLB level.
The Rockies don’t really have a need at short. Do the M’s have a comparable 1B prospect?
DJ Petersen was a highly ranked 1B/3B, he had a down year in AAA last year. Huge power guy could play OF if needed as well.
Gonzalez has awful home/away splits.
Home: .324 / .382/ .604
Away: .255 / .310 / .440
The latter is the player they’ll get if he is traded. Huge red flag here.
^ This. I feel like people are blinded by the massive amount of HRs he hit last year.
It would probably be reversed playing at Safeco. lol
every hitter has home road splits and generally hit better at home, its why teams usually have better home records than away, sleeping in own bed/ normal routine etc. either way a 750 ops is still slightly above league average.
most players don’t have a 200 point OPS difference on the road, though.
he also hits about 200 OPS points lower against left handers than he does right handers even at home.
Away from Coors Cargo’s probably a useful roleplayer but not nearly the star the Rockies will expect compensation for.
Hitter friendly ballpark is what he needs, any team in the al east is a perfect landing spot
Cant see it happening after the martin trade.
You’re not wrong, but I think it was more sealed after the Aoki signing. When they traded for Martin, there was still an open spot in the OF.
Mariners already have a set OF though with Aoki, Martin, and Gut/Smith. I wouldn’t mind seeing one of the Rockies’ outfielders on the Mariners, but I think it’s unlikely now.
Interesting to see if the Angels are trying to trade for him?
Maybe a combo of Gott and one of the Wilson Shoemaker or Santiago?
That could work.
He would be a good fit for the Cardinals.. Since St.Louis has not been so active wonder if they are one of the teams that are inquiring about him.
I’d say Tyler Lyons and some other prospect would get it done most likely. Or some pitcher and a prospect.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s the backup plan if Heyward wants too much/too many years/etc.
That is what I am thinking too. I just think Heyward is asking way to much. I just don’t think Cardinals want to offer 10 years 200mill. I don’t think Heyward is coming back to St.Louis he is taking to much time to get a deal done with any team. There has not been much stir about him except the rumor about the Cubs.
Holliday didn’t sign with the Cardinals until January. It’s pretty common to see top free agents not signed at Christmas.
if you think tyler lyons and a prospect gets Cargo, you need to lay off the cardinal red kool-aid. Wong, Adams, Lyons, and a prospect MIGHT start a conversation.
Agree . Cargo will cost cards a lot . If heyward is asking only(can’t believe I wrote that ) 200/10 he would be a cub already .
The Rockers already said they are looking for hard throwing pitchers. Alex Reyes and Lyons would get the deal done considering Cargo is owed $38 Million in the next two years.
I wouldn’t let Reyes be part of a package for Cargo. Reyes is untouchable IMO.
Marco Gonzales would be a great target for the Rockies, depending on the medicals. He grew up in Colorado and learned to pitch in high altitude. Gonzales, and Edmundo Sosa fir Cargo.
Very very light. Lyons is a 28 year old with a 4.00 ERA in the minors. That’s a throw-in, not the headliner on a guy who just slugged 540 last year.
Eh, you have to take Cardinals fans offers with a grain of salt. Two years ago they were thinking they could get Tulo with a headliner of Pete Kozma.
Lyons wouldn’t be near enough. Adams, Cooney, Wong and a lower prospect would probably be what it would take.
Lyons can’t hold down a starting spot in the majors, no way Rockies go for that. You have to trade something to get something in this league. If it were me, I would sign heyward to play centerfield and then trade Grichuk, adams, and Marco for Cargo to play right field. This would give Cards a soild offensive lineup and Rockies young controllable pieces.
I’d take that deal.
I think cespedes comes in at plan b, then car go at plan c
I’m not familiar with the Cards farm system. What would it take for them to get him? I feel like they would be better off just going hard after Heyward, since they’re familiar with him and he would only cost money.
I feel like the Mets have to be in on him. There’s no way they can go back to the pre-Cespedes offense of last year after reaching the World Series, and they have the prospect depth to acquire pretty much anyone. What other teams could have legitimate interest? Boston? They seem to be going all-in with Price to try to win next year, and he’d replace some of the production they lose when Ortiz retires.
It would look good in a Red Sox uniform
how big of a haul is needed for him?
Where would he play? They’ve got mookie, Holt, Castillo and Bradley Jr. If they got cargo, one of those guys would surely be traded
So what you’re saying is that Mookie has a starting job, and two spots are open for discussion. Holt is a backup, and both Castillo and JBJ are hardly locked in.
Are the Rockies looking to move him as a salary dump?
The Orioles would be a nice fit as well, but they don’t have a lot of pieces to send back in the deal
Salary dump? Have you seen the market price for free agents this year? 2/37 million for CarGo is practically a bargain now. I also think it is a bit unfair to call him injury-prone. He had a rough 2014 because he had a tumor removed from his finger which affected his swing all season. That is not going to be an ongoing problem.
No doubt he would be a huge upgrade in the Orioles outfield I just don’t know if he will be worth what the Rockies want back on top of paying his salary. If they accepted a 5-10 range prospect he would be worth his salary.
If the Angels
Cargo will cost way more than Tyler lyons. Gonna have to part with Gonzales, Coonsy or Reyes and throw in a Sierra or Tilson or maybe add a Matt Adams in there. Could probably hit 30 bombs in Colorado.
His home/road splits are pretty uninspiring (.758 OPS away from Coors). I wouldn’t pursue him unless my team played in a park conducive to lefty power.
Let the buyer beware on CarGo. Here are his 8 year career stats: Home: 460 G .324/.382/.604/.986; 106 HR and 356 RBI. Away: 454 G .255/.310/.441/.752; 70 HR and 198 RBI. All but 85 of those games were for Colorado. His numbers for a new club will be much closer to the Away numbers for you.
He is always hurt too, and only has 2 years of control left, I don’t think the Rockies will be realistic on what his price should be so a trade will be surprising.
There is always one “Coors effect” guy in the comments. These people never seem to remember that the majority of the Rockies road schedule takes place in SF, SD, and LA and therefore their road stats are skewed just as badly as their home stats. The H/R stats for Coors are really not a very reliable stat at all for Rockies players because Coors is such a different environment than any other park. For cookie cutter stadiums they work because home and road parks are fairly similar.
I don’t really buy that a few Giants, Dodgers players have better Road splits but it not nearly that skewed. Buster Posey for instance but his Home stats are still at a high level, Cargo is just an average player away from home. What you are saying would mean every one in the division would have Skewed splits based on the division.
That’s because the Dodgers, Giants, Padres, and Diamondbacks get to count their Coors Field stats as road stats.
Can’t edit so I will add. Each of those 3 teams count about 11% of their road stats from Coors Field and 22% of their road stats from SD, LA , and SF, so they each get a bit of a boost. Arizona gets a full 33% of their stats from the pitchers parks, but they also get an 11% boost from Coors. The Rockies have a full 33% of their road stats are from LA, SD, and SF and don’t get the Coors boost. That’s why everyone in the division doesn’t have drastically skewed stats.
Yah that doesn’t account for the 59 point difference between his home/road OBP or 153 point difference in his home/road SLG%. You argument would be a lot more believable if the splits weren’t so severe but throughout his career he has been a league average outfielder away from Coors field
Tulowtizki for instance had favorable splits of course he was better at Coors but he was still a great hitter on the Road too.
Matt Holliday’s career line at Coors field in 377 games is .361/.427/.656 which is slightly better than CarGo’s line at Coors but still considerably high. His career line in Saint Louis is .308/.403/.531 which is lower definitely but is still extremely productive. Coors field does inflate batting average and slugging percentage but playing there also has a negative effect on the hitters when they go on the road. Changing the way pitches move in general from game to game, i.e. curveballs breaking and spinning less at altitude makes the adjustment to playing away from coors difficult when you play half your games in a place that nerfs breaking balls. CarGo will be fine and very productive when he leaves Coors, will he be a .300 hitter probably not consistently but he will be a 25-35 HR guy who plays serviceable defense at any OF position and is one of the better lefty power threats in the game.
CJ Wilson, Santiago, Balodquin
Or
Santiago, Tropeano, Baloquin
Cargo is a good player but with only two years of service on contract and his injuries and home and away splits the Rockies aren’t going to get a smart to to give up more than a guy like Matt Adams and one pitching prospect. Lyons, Cooney or maybe Gonzalez. Reyes is untouchable.
Cj wilson has no value and no one wants him.
The Rockies will take CJ Wilson if the Angels take back Jose Reyes.
Gonzalez has awful home/away splits.
Home: .324 / .382/ .604
Away: .255 / .310 / .440
The latter is the player they’ll get if he is traded. Huge red flag here.
Once again, Rockies H/R stats are now and have always been unreliable. Coors Field is such a different environment from other stadiums that both numbers are skewed in opposite directions. EVERY major league hitter would have splits that are that far apart if they played for the Rockies. Usually if you average the two stats together, you get pretty close a legitimate number. But in general, I try to avoid H/R stats for Rockies altogether for reasons I mentioned above.
So he’s more like a .289/.347/.522 hitter.
I can believe that; no wonder so many teams are asking about him
Jose Fernandez’ career ERA away from Marlins Park is almost 4. So you’re saying that whomever acquires him is essentially getting Kyle Hendricks. Want to associate yourself with that thought?
Of course not, because apparently the rules are, 1) that this kind of critique only works on hitters, not pitchers, and 2) it really only works for Rockies, never mind that most hitters who have ever left the Rockies and played for another team have done just fine, with smaller H/R splits.
Royals Trade Kelvin Herrera and Jorge Bonifacio for Carlos Gonzalez
I’ve kicked the idea around in my head of the Angels absorbing Jose Reyes in a deal for CarGo but the more I think about it, the more I don’t like it. We don’t know how Reyes will be punished for his DV case, has $22 mil per year left, and is injury prone. Loved the idea of him playing second and leading off but don’t think it would work.
As for CarGo himself, would love to do it, but his splits scare me a lot.
The upside is that if Reyes gets a big suspension, there is that much less to pay for his salary. I’d love to see a CarGo/Reyes for CJ Wilson, CJ Cron, and Nick Tropeano deal. I’m not sure how untouchable Cron is, but I always wanted him as the heir apparent to Todd Helton.
What about Wilson, Tropeano, Baloquin, Bedrosian
For
Cargo and Reyes
Solves the second base and leftfield issue, with Giavotella there as fall back in case Reyes gets hurt.
I hope u two can work out a deal! I’m excited and overflowing with anticipation
i was hoping to see Alex Gordon in SF..but i wouldn’t mind Dickerson either.
I always liked the idea of blackmon as a giant, he has a little pop but a generally steady good defensive outfielder – it would be a nice plan b if all the others (gordon, heywayrd etc.) fallthrough
Indians go get Blackmon now! Go!
Hope Boston grabs Cargo