Some hot stove items from Nick Cafardo in his latest Boston Globe notes column…
- Jose Bautista isn’t likely to accept a qualifying offer from the Blue Jays, a major league source tells Cafardo. Bautista had two DL stints, a rough postseason and (for him) a subpar regular season that saw him hit .234/.366/.452 with 22 homers over 517 PA. There was some thought that Bautista could accept the one-year, $17.2MM QO in order to try for a better free agent platform season in 2017, but Bautista feels he’ll be able to find solid multi-year offers this winter.
- If the Royals were to trade Wade Davis, a team source says they would want controllable young pitching in return. The Royals floated Davis’ name in trade talks at the deadline but put a very high price tag on his services, including a big ask for young pitching in the form of star prospect Lucas Giolito from the Nationals. Kansas City also reportedly tried to attach Davis with Ian Kennedy in trades, which would’ve gotten K.C. lesser prospects in return but quite a bit of payroll relief from Kennedy’s large contract.
- Don’t count on Yoenis Cespedes signing with the Red Sox this winter, as the outfielder didn’t particularly enjoy his previous stint in Boston in the last two months of the 2014 season. Cespedes also wasn’t popular with the Red Sox coaching staff. Cespedes didn’t really seem like a fit for the Sox anyway, given how they have star prospect Andrew Benintendi slated for left field in 2017.
- Wladimir Balentien is considering a return to the big leagues after six seasons in Japan. Balentien last played in the majors in 2009 and has since produced some huge power numbers for the Yakult Swallows, including a Nippon Professional Baseball league record 60 homers in 2013. This past season, the 32-year-old Balentien posted a .269/.369/.516 slash line and 31 home runs over 537 PA.
Was anyone actually expecting Cespedes to sign with the Red Sox? I think most people except them to go after EE + Bullpen help
I think its possible that they try signing cespedes and trade jbj for a starter but it is a long shot
So who would play Centerfield? Betts? He does so well in right field though.
add cespedes in between trout and pujols, the angels will be back in the post season with a dangerous 3 headed monster
I think I saw this same exact post couple years ago… except it said “Hamilton” instead of “Cespedes”.
Hamilton was cancer to the team, he was not needed at the time they signed him, at that point all they needed was pitching, and a bullpen. they already had the offense, Now they need another bat in the line up with trout, and i think cespedes is perfect for them.
You need more than 3 players to have a good team so even if the Angels added Cespedes they still wouldn’t compete.
Angels have the money, how bad do they want to win. I would worry about the back end of a Cespedes contract along with Pujols.
Yeah, we’ve never seen a trio like that before!
Except for maybe Kinsler, Miggy, and JD. Or Cano, Cruz, and Seager. Or Arenado, Blackmon, and Story. And Springer, Correa, and Altuve.
And countless others.
You need more than three players to be good. And, all of those teams above had even better pitching and a better supporting cast than the Angels have. Not to mention the fact that Pujols and Cespedes combined for 4.4 WAR last season…
Benintendi is naturally a center fielder so if they moved JBJ they’d still have him to man center and Chris Young or Swi for left.
Haha can’t score 10 a night.. Still the worst staff in the league
did you get a time machine to bring back good pujols?
In spite of no pitching and average players at all other positions, you mean.
Still need a lot more pitching though…
Nope. Your pitching staff is in shambles. You need more good pitching to even dream of the postseason.
The Angels rotation is a giant sad-faced emoji.
It is know to get Sale they would have to give up jbj so that could be the angle they go after….Sign Cespedes and call the White Sox with jbj + for Sale
They would have to give up a lot more than JBJ for Sale
it says jbj + did you miss the +???
3 hitters and the Halos are headed to the World Series. Typical Angel fan, completely lost. Then gets thin skinned when the rest of baseball calls them out.
But they’re getting their rotation back next year and they still have guys like Simmons and Calhoun. Adding cespedes does make them contenders imp
Not Cespedes please!! Beltran or a trade for Kendrys Morales!!and yes Bradley-Owen for Quintana or Sale
Henry Owens isn’t good.
With the retirement of Big Papi, I don’t see the Sox trading away a productive lefty bat when the best FA options are EE and Joey Bats.
The Sox could just use Panda as DH or Rimarez. they need to trade for some good starting pitching to put them over the top. I would look at Greinke in Arizona have them eat some money and give them prospects. That would put them over the top, or look to get Sale.
Nope, but Cafardo had to do his weekly “trash a former Red Sox” thing. The point wasn’t that he won’t sign, but that he’s not good enough–and wasn’t liked–so, let’s not soil ourselves.
No it’s just classic Nick Cafardo journalism:
Say something stupid and then explain WHY it;’s stupid.
In other words make up a story because you haven’t had a good line on one in years. Cafardo should just hang it up.
Boston is one of those places that players either love or hate. Some, like Mike Napoli and Adrian Beltre, loved it there and wanted to stay. Others, like Cespedes, John Lackey and Jacoby Ellsbury, couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
What was the issue with the coaching staff?
If I recall correctly, they were upset that Cespedes was not very coachable. That he was stuck in his way and didn’t care to listen.
Also, Cespedes has demand on where he wants to play. I think the Red Sox wanted him to play CF or RF but he refused, preferring to play LF. (He played zero innings in RF or CF with the Red Sox.)
His UZR metrics for about equal innings in LF and CF this year was
9.0 UZR/150 in LF
-20.9 UZR/150 in CF
So, he was right to request that! Dude is just not good at CF. He also had a 22.2 UZR/150 in Boston’s LF, so, yeah..
Bautista not taking the QO would be a gamble… I’d take it, reestablish his market… plus come 2 trips to DL and he still thinks he’s gonna multi year deal.. anyway MLB are getting outrageously crazier
Joey Batts could be the odd man out this winter, his market is way down except in his mind. Older players just aren’t getting big money anymore, no amphetatmines, no steroids.
And a QO hanging over his head . . .
With the QO in mind, we could compare him to Nelson Cruz’s case a few years ago. It’s obviously not the same, because the issue with Cruz was PEDs. But otherwise . . . they have similar profiles as right handed power with limited defensive value and “health issues” (PEDs vs injuries). Kendrys Morales isn’t a terrible comp, either.
I think that Joey Bats is a bigger star, and therefore a more alluring signing, than those guys, and this is also a weak market, but a big contract is definitely not a sure thing.
I think Bautista is older than Cruz, he could be declining at a faster rate, he is a gamble. Bautista is 36 while Cruz was 34 when he got that contract.
You’d take it, I’d take it… but Bautista has never been a guy that gives off the impression he’s especially aware of his limitations.
Why would Cespedes or the Red Sox contemplate matching up again! Next thing Cafardon’t will tell us is that Tampa has the inside running on a 200 million Cespedes contract…..he says such rubbish!
I do find myself wondering why he still is taken seriously as a reporter
Simply because he has good sources within the baseball world. Everything else about his skill set is subpar at best
Because he writes for a paper in Boston. If he wrote about baseball anywhere else, nobody would pay him any mind.
I think he’s kind of funny… like the only reason the Sox haven’t signed every free agent in the last five years is because the roster isn’t big enough.
I’ve said this before: Cespedes is a non-English speaker and always will be. He will go to a team with established Spanish speakers, either manager or players. Miami may have a better shot than most think. Also, he’s Alpha, and Boston had Ortiz, that was never going to work.
Sign Cespedes and trade Yelich to TB for starting pitching.
If they were to trade Yelich, they’d want Archer or Snell Odorizzi
I like it. Yelich is the outfield version of Joe Mauer
It’s not about language. It’s about money. Besides, Ces is like Bartolo. Can speak enough English but pretends he can’t to deal with the media less.
maybe the most delusional post ive seen here, wow
Cespedes is a little too streaky for my liking, too streaky and too much golf.
Cespedes is a 3 win player who might get $30M per. I don’t think that whoever signs him should rejoice.
So your saying he’s overrated, maybe that;s why he gets traded all the time.
Cespedes has a 3.7 career fWAR average, and was 6.7 one season ago in 2015. He also learned a new league last season.
Cespedes’s 2016 3.2 fWAR included a -9.2 defensive rating, fueled by a -20.6 UZR/150 rating for his CF work in 495 innings, but for Cespedes 550 innings in LF, he had a 9.0 UZR/150, so the moral of the story is, play him in LF and he’s probably going be close to a 5 WAR guy. And 5 WAR guys can call for 30 million as much as they want, that’s warranted. Cespedes especially, is a guy who sells tickets, he’s probably worth over $100M a year to a big market club.
Would JBJ for Scwarber straight up be fair? Sox get their DH/LF and JBJ solves the CF opening in Chicago for the next several years. Win/win for both teams I would think. Neither are my team so I’m just wondering if that would work. Cubs may offer an extension to keep JBJ and maybe later Scwarber learns 1B to take over for Hanley. His bat would definitely play and be a big weapon at Fenway and Yankee stadium. Just a thought.
Schwarber is untouchable like Bryant and Rizzo if I’m the Cubs.
I don’t say untouchable. He’s an elite bat that belongs in the American League, unfortunately for Chicago. His defense is the only reason he’s not untouchable because his bat, in my opinion, is the best bat in that organization. I think it’s interesting, but not enough. Benintendi for Schwarber would make much more sense.(Andrew, Almora, and Heyward are all options to play center)
I also think he is no more movable than before due to the injury he had. He could play some LF at Fenway because it’s smaller and he could learn to play the wall. I think Beni would slide into CF for Bos in the event they move JBJ for Scwarber. The Cubs would probably ask for Beni but would probably take JBJ and a lesser minor league piece. It’s the kind of move that helps both and seems fair on the value side.
Agree with this, either JBJ or Beni for Schwarber straight up seems fair for both sides. I would add it would be smart to make Schwarber a strict DH now, as he’s already gotten his leg hurt, which isn’t promising for a guy with his body type as he ages. He was never going to stick as a C and playing the OF for 2 games blew out his knee, so it looks like its either DH or 1B for him and ride out that incredible bat he has – if Boston played him as a strict DH in 2017 he’d have a shot at coming pretty close replacing Papi’s 2016 production, which would be best case scenario for Boston’s offense.
The Red Sox will not sign any hitter with a QO. They value the draft pick more. If the current roster fails to score enough DD will trade during the season for an upgrade.
They have : 15 players under contract and even if they start Moncada at AAA they could have roster issues 1B/3B/DH Hanley, Panda, Shaw, Sam Travis, Swihart, Moncada; 2B/SS/U Pedroia, Boegarts, Holt, OF Betts, JBJ, Benitendi, Young C Leon, Vasquez
Definitely see Boston in on the trade market this offseason, not much the FA one, unless its pitching.
I never understood why everyone thought it was cut and dry that they’d sign EE to replace Papi. Boston has a full lineup of capable guys that can rotate in and out of the DH slot, why give up a draft pick and a big contract to clog it up for another 4 years? That DH slot can be a valuable tool for giving guys a rest in the field but keeping their bat in the lineup, which you don’t have the benefit of when you have a full-time DH.
Oakland should sign Thames for LF and Balentien for RF, or at least into their OF mix, which currently has no one and for no reason at all they decided to ignore the opportunity to acquire Rymer Liriano, who would instantly be their best OF prospect. Instead they are going to play Khris Davis in LF and then wonder why their pitchers ERAs are higher than their FIPs.
Really dislike a lot of things coming out of the front office and Melvin’s mouth, they can’t talk about how bad the defense is then commit Ryon Healy to 3B, where he isn’t particularly good at playing, and despite having played a superior 1B in the minors. He has 39 errors and a .915 FP in 180 games playing 3B in the minors, he is quite the butcher at the hot corner, but then they’re going to commit to him there and then force the fans to watch hot garbage defense all year?
Boston don’t need Schwarber!!Bradley/Devers and Owen for Sale!!Rf for Young -Swihart plus Holt! Dh Panda-Hanley
Sometimes the trades you don’t make can cost you, what if the Cubs traded Schwarber to the Yanks for Miller. Would the Cubs be ahead in the series?