In today’s column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe wonders where James Loney might fit in with the Rays this year. The veteran is currently behind the platoon of Steve Pearce and Logan Morrison at first and he’s also blocked at DH and left field by Corey Dickerson and Desmond Jennings, respectively. With a salary of $8MM, the Rays have been unable to find a taker for Loney via trade, though they are willing to eat some of that money to facilitate a deal.
Here’s more from today’s column:
- The Orioles are still considering a deal for Reds outfielder Jay Bruce as they try to bolster their lineup in March. The O’s are also considering Austin Jackson, but Bruce could be considered the better fit thanks to his power. Bruce will make $12.5MM in 2016, plus a $1MM buyout or a $13MM option in 2017, which isn’t exactly chump change. Also, even though Bruce has some excellent campaigns on his resume, his play over the past two seasons hasn’t been all that strong.
- One NL exec says a few teams have ID’d Red Sox catcher Ryan Hanigan as a possible trade target this summer. Red Sox officials have said that it’s unlikely they would part with Hanigan due to the inexperience of Blake Swihart and fellow youngster Christian Vazquez. However, rival officials aren’t sold on that and believe that Hanigan could be more available than Boston is letting on. Hanigan has a $3.7MM salary for 2016 with an option for 2017.
- Can new Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda be effective in his first MLB season? One scout who watched him throw in Japan isn’t so sure. “His stuff isn’t as good as [Masahiro] Tanaka and he’s more a middle to end of the rotation type of guy,” said the scout. “I don’t know how his fastball plays in the big leagues. I think he’s got the secondary pitches, but the quality of hitters he’ll face may be a challenge at first.” The Dodgers will be without Brett Anderson for the next three to five months, so they are certainly hoping that Maeda can hit the ground running.
- Agent Randy Rowley tells Cafardo that Justin Masterson will throw a bullpen session for several teams towards the end of March.
- The trade sending John Ryan Murphy to the Twins in exchange for outfielder Aaron Hicks was “the best pure baseball deal of the offseason,” in the opinion of one official who spoke with Cafardo. That official, Cafardo notes, was not involved in the swap in any way. Hicks, a defensive specialist, posted a .256/.323/.398 batting line in 2015 and added 13 steals, numbers that made him a little more attractive to the Bombers. The Twins, meanwhile, got themselves an upgrade behind the plate in the wake of Kurt Suzuki’s struggles.
- Free agent outfielder Grady Sizemore hasn’t received much interest to date. The veteran spent the second half of last season with the Rays.
Orioles cant afford to trade for anybody without giving up what’s left of their “farm” system. Let’s all thank Dan Duquette for trading away our top prospects for half a year rentals & washed up bums. Eduardo Rodriguez for a rental of Andrew Miller for 2-3 months. Rodriguez is a lefty, who was a top 3 Orioles prospect and is now on the Red Sox. The Orioles currently don’t have a projected left handed starting pitcher.
Given our ability to translate prospects to major league success, I think you’re overblowing the situation. Sure, we THINK it’d be nice to have him, but we also thought that it’d be nice to have Matusz, Arrietta, and Britton. Only one of them has been productive for us, and it’s been in a far less valuable role than projected.
If you are truly an Orioles fan, then (A) you know that the Orioles farm system hasn’t had any depth in 30 yeas and (B) the Miller trade was a deal that virtually every team in the Orioles’ situation would have made.
The O’s have had some top prospects over the years due to drafting high, although they have missed on a bunch of guys (Rowell, Beato, Hobgood, Snyder, even Matusz) in the first round. The team didn’t trade top prospects because they simply weren’t top prospects. Just because a guy is the O’s 4th rated prospect doesn’t make him a great one if he’s the best of a bunch of guys who aren’t going to make it. Who, other than Rodriguez, have the O’s traded away for a “half a year rental” or “washed up bum” that has had great success elsewhere?
Rodriguez, if you truly knew what you were talking about, you might recall was having a terrible year at AA and was developing a poor reputation as being stubborn and uncoachable. He was (and is) talented, but getting Miller helped win the division, When we acquired Miller we led the division by 1..5 games and ended up winning by 12, in no small part because of how dominant he was. We lost to KC in the playoffs, but the playoffs are a lot more luck than anyone wishes to admit. We won the division in 2014, First division title since 1997. If you are truly an O’s fan then you remember the feeling and you can’t possibly think that the Miller deal was a bad one.
You sound like a typical Baltimore sports radio call in fan… you aren’t happy unless you’re complaining about something. Nothing will ever be good enough, Sad.
You are dead on with everything you said. 100% great comment. I wish all Orioles fans had the same perspective and understanding. The last two teams in on Miller were the Orioles and the Tigers. He was great in the Alds. If he was on the Tigers, they don’t win that series. The only relief pitcher bigger for the Orioles that series was Joba Chamberlain. The reds gave away chapman and Frazier for 25 cents on the dollar. Those guys carried much more value than Bruce. It really would t take much to get this done and I think it is a no brainer at this point. Again great comment.
Please don’t remind me. As a Tigers fan, even as a baseball fan, I had never before seen a home crowd give a standing ovation for the opposing relief pitcher being brought into a game. Joba was horrible and only Ausmus did not see it. Every Oriole fan did, though.
Haha yeah I was at Game 2 and have never heard a home crowd louder down 3 with 5 outs to go!
You are wrong about rodriguez. His fastball ticked up 5 mph! 3 weeks before the trade and it has stayed that way ever since. He was just experiencing his breakout. Secondly you say who else have they traded for a rental, well arrietta and strop for feldman. Both have accumulated more war since that trade than feldman. That was 4 1/2 years of arrietta and 4 yra of strop for 1/2 year of scott feldman. So if you truly are an O’s fan this is stuff you should know
Arrietta was equally as lucky for the Cubs as Bundy has been unlucky for the Orioles. Obviously the Feldman trade looks bad for the Orioles now, but I don’t remember anyone at the time complaining about how the Orioles had just traded a possible future cy young winner. If they would have included Bundy over Arrietta they would have gotten destroyed at the time and yet it would have worked out just fine (Clevenger was just traded for Trumbo) it’s easy to look smart and be critical with the benefit of hindsight.
Trumbo isnt good though. And he is getting paid 9 million to not be very good. Strop alone was more valuable than feldman, feldman throws high 80s and it should have been obvious he was such a marginal upgrade.
How is Trumbo not good? He is the ideal DH, can hit 30-35 home runs or more and can get on base
He doesnt get on base, he makes little contact and only walks at roughly a league average rate. Last year he was 8% better than league average as a hitter, the year before 9% worse than league average. At this point he is their rf and not their dh and he us bad defensively. Pedro alvarez would have been a better dh and cheaper f.y.i.
Trumbo’s never been strictly a DH. This year he will be and will only have to focus on hitting. How do you know Alvarez would’ve been better and cheaper? Did he tell you that? I’d take Trumbo over Alvarez any day because Trumbo can play a position if necessary, Alvarez can’t.
What about the 3 previous years when he averaged 33 home runs? Two years ago he missed half the season with an injury and last year he was traded mid season to a team with a horrible field for him and a pretty thin lineup. He is moving to a perfect ball park for him with a deep lineup. Not to mention he is going to play mostly dh (the will get Bruce or Jackson hopefully Bruce) and may play sparingly in the field to help rest guys. Also if I recall Alvarez at the start of the offseason was asking for 8-10 million. They traded their third string catcher for him. Seems like a great buy low/high reward kind of guy to most. I really don’t see much logic in anything you said quite frankly.
Exactly, I agree 100%. The only time he hit less than 20 home runs was 2014 when he only played 88 games. Even last year between two teams he combined for 22 home runs. So I don’t know how he figured Trumbo can’t make contact.
You nailed it. That Eduardo deal had to be made and every other team would have done the same. Also, the Red Sox think they robbed the Orioles because of Erod having a couple good starts for them when he got called up but they don’t realize is he’s not as good as they think he is. His ceiling was and still is a #3 starter and will most likely end up a back of the rotation starter. The Os don’t need anymore #5’s. If the person you were replying to really wanted to make an accurate point he should have used the Zach Davies for Parra deal. Parra was over achieving well above his career norms and was a two month rental where Davies is a major league ready pitcher with a #2 ceiling. Davies probably could have fetched a much better player even if he needed to be packaged with another prospect. In addition the Os were out of it and every fan knew it. They should have been looking to trade away players like Davis, Oday, and Chen not bringing in mediocre rentals they weren’t going to strongly pursue as a free agent.
This is not even a question right now. The Orioles HAVE to acquire some OF depth. Even though they are playing for a 2 year playoff window though 2017, corner OF positions have been glaring problems since Markakis and Mclouth left. As foir this comment :
“The O’s are also considering Austin Jackson, but Bruce could be considered the better fit thanks to his power. .” .
No. They are considering Bruce because he’s one of the only things still available – and a left handed hitter. If Jackson was a left handed hitter they would have signed him already. Even so, in a contest between Jackson and Bruce Jackson still has more of what they need (including a possibly a leadoff hitter).
How about a trade for Andre Ethier? Dodgers could probably use some more bullpen help.
As an O’s fan I’m fine with trading away prospects to improve your major league team. Would you prefer the O’s have a team like the Phillies that have a good farm system and a major league team that will be lucky to win 70 games this year? I don’t think so, then you’d probably complain because they have too many prospects they can trade away to get good major league players. You have to understand the moves they make have helped the major league team and Miller was a huge part in the O’s having their best team in 20 years.
Any O’s fans hear rumors about what O’s FO was thinking in trade with Braves for Markakis? Was curious but seemed Braves squashed it pretty quick.
I heard that the Braves were looking to get Jomar Reyes or Chance Sisco and only eat a couple million bucks. Not even close. I think the Os would have taken on the whole contract but they didn’t want to give up anybody of substance where Reyes and Sisco are both top 5 Os prospects
Kenta Maeda is more of a control type pitcher, he won’t strike hitters out that much there in the big leagues but he can definitely spot his locations. He’ll adjust, which is why ST is there to help him do just that for the upcoming season.
The hell’s wrong with you? The season haven’t even started yet… and you’re already spewing crap for him to fail.
Please don’t feed the trolls.
Except the ones that…you know…did/are doing good..?
Baltimore could use Loney but it would a in division Trade. Loney doesn’t okay LF and Morrison and Pearce can.
The Orioles don’t need another 1st baseman, that’s the only position they are deep at.
Nomo: two no-hitters. Okajima: setup man of the year. Darvish: fastest to 500 Ks ever. Tanaka: most quality starts in a row to start a career. Uehara: lowest single season WHIP and K/BB rate in history(Tazawa isn’t bad himself). I’m pretty sure I’m missing something/someone, but absolutely positive you are missing something as well.
Geez, Braves fans will do anything to stay relevant while their team is in the cellar, won’t they?
Not all Braves fans, don’t judge us all by Restinpeacebraves.
This is coming from the guy who said no Cubans should be allowed in the mlb so just disregard this comment everybody