News and rumors from around the AL West…
- The Angels checked in with the Phillies about second baseman Cesar Hernandez at the start of the offseason but talks didn’t develop due to the Phils’ high asking price, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. While Hernandez doesn’t look like an option, Fletcher lists several other relatively inexpensive second base possibilities who could be available for the Halos in free agency or in trades.
- One name cited by Fletcher is Chase Utley, and FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman indeed tweets that the Angels “have emerged” as a potential landing spot for the veteran second baseman. Utley has a clear path to playing time in Anaheim and he would get to stay in his hometown area.
- The Athletics and Royals have a pretty healthy trade history, MLB.com’s Jane Lee notes, and the clubs could work out another deal to land the A’s a center fielder in the form of Jarrod Dyson. Lorenzo Cain is also available, if more expensive and Oakland would have to give quite a bit more to land him. Lee’s piece suggests several names that could be on Oakland’s radar for the center field vacancy, though costs will keep the A’s away from many of the bigger names.
- Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto said his club is engaged in talks to acquire a starter, with a trade more likely than a signing, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune writes. Dutton speculates that Scott Kazmir or Brandon McCarthy, both of whom are reportedly being shopped by the Dodgers, could be fits in Seattle. On the free agent front, the M’s are still interested in Doug Fister but don’t seem to have much interest in such options as Colby Lewis, Derek Holland or C.J. Wilson.
- New Astros signee Carlos Beltran was introduced to media (including MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart) during his introductory press conference today, and he said the Astros quickly drew his attention in free agency. “They really made an offer early, faster than any other team….The fact they were aggressive and went out there and really showed big-time interest, it wasn’t that difficult to make to make a decision,” Beltran said.
- In other AL West News, the Rangers were covered in a team-centric notes post as well as news about their bigger-ticket outfield targets.
So how much salary do the dodgers have to eat on kazmir and mcarthy. Personally as a padres fan i wouldnt mind if the dodgers include kazmir in a solarte deal purely as a salary dump for the padres to get a signficant return.
Padres get Kazmir and his entire salary and mccarthy and half his entire salary plus De Leon, Gavin Lux, Josh Sborz and 1 or 2 prospects.
Dodgers get Solarte, Hand, and Michael Gettys.
Can’t see the Dodgers giving up De Leon like that personally. I would think they would sooner go for a bigger name.
And then suddenly your PS4 freezes and you have to restart MLB The Show.
It is annoying when that happens, the other day I traded Nelson Cruz, Hisashi Iwakuma and a center field prospect that turned into nothing for Corey Seager and a 19 year old “relief pitcher” named Julio Urias.
LOL yeah dumping roughly $50 mill off the books immediately they should just give up prospects outside the top 20 LOL. Getting rid of kazmir and half of mccarthy saves them about $50mill. Thanks for contributing all that knowledge you have man. Really displaying how insightful you are.
The point they’re trying to make is that your trade might make sense for most teams, but the Dodgers’ financial situation is so different that they almost operate on a different set of business imperatives. There’s no way the Dodgers would trade such coveted prospect simply to dump salary. In fact, they’ve done almost the exact opposite the last few years.
Arent the dodgers in deep financial trouble? And clearing that $50 allows them to keep turner and jansen without adding salary. I dont see the dodgers keepimg them and keeping mccarthy and kazmir on the books. If they are clearing kazmir or mccarthy itll be pennies in savings because nobody is taking the contract as is or anywhere close unless LA tosses in significant salary like 70-90%. At that point you might as well keep them but thatll just prevent spending for 2 years while dealing with the debt issues.
If you wanna clear the contracts to make room to sign people itll cost prospects or dealing producticve players like gonzalez puig and others.
The Dodgers are in no way financially troubled. The stuff in the news has to do with debt to revenue ratio. Or revenue to debt ratio. However MLB puts it
Dodgers wouldn’t give up de Leon just to get rid of Kazmir and/or McCarthy.
If you wanna get rid of the contract entirely itll cost prospect. At best the dodgers save 3 mill a year on kazmir and mccarthy if theyre dealt. Nobody is going to pay the contracts. Esp not kazmirs which is 18 mill- means the dodgers eat 30 mill on kazmir and 20 mill on mccarthy.
I 100% agree that to get rid of those contracts, the Dodgers would have to trade a prospect. I just don’t see a prospect like de Leon being the one to be packaged in a deal. Dodgers probably rather give up two slightly lesser regarded prospects than de Leon in a cap dump.
Why on Earth would anyone want McCarthy? He’s owed 23 M$ over the next two seasons and has a pitched a whopping 63 innings over the past two seasons. The Dodgers have to hope he’s healthy in Spring Training, if not they might have to cut ties with him.
Kazmir, if he can clear a medical exam, should at least have some teams interested if the Dodgers eat a good chunk of his salary (he’s owed 35 M$ over the next two seasons).
Both are tough to move but if the Dodgers were prepared to discount McCarthy down to well under $10M a year someone might take a flyer on him. If they don’t and he isn’t healthy in spring training he either lands on the DL again or is DFA’d before he is released outright. They might be able to find takers for Kazmir in the $12M range.
Yeah I feel like it would take someone really desperate for a McCarthy trade to happen
No to Kaz and McCarthy. Plenty of good options for Seattle that don’t need disabled parking.
I would go hard for Gerrit Cole. Salary discussions means he won’t sign long term. If you are going to rebuild, better now than later.
Gio Gonzo could be an option.
Matt Duffy.
Anthony DiSclafani.
Michael Wacha.
Patrick Corbin.
You mean matt duffy the shortstop from the Rays? O.o whaaaa he can pitch lol. Only good pitcher that won’t be getting roped every start is probably DeSclafani from the Reds, but seeing the asking prices in trades for good pitchers the Reds probably want the moon for him.
think he mean’t Danny Duffy, the lefty in KC
Seattle should go after Danny Duffy
As a Mariners fan, I know that the Mariners don’t have enough for Gerrit Cole. It would require depleting an already poor farm plus probably one or two guys from the ML roster.
Utley would not be my ideal choice for 2B, but if he’s one of the only options then might as well just settle, he fills 2 big criteria, he’s a LH bat and will provide some pop at 2B.
Angels…. somebody help them please. A 73 year old right side of the infield with Utley and AP starting. Zero range and both are declining players. If one bunts down that first base side it’s a given base hit.
Utley was actually a plus fielder last year, sorry to ruin that narrative
You can’t ruin my narrative. He is a good fielder, I said nothing about his fielding. I suggest you reread my post rather than assuming my post. I was posting about his range. If your not sure what range is, I suggest you look it up.
Last year he had a positive UZR, and while it wasn’t huge, it was still positive
Pujols won’t be playing first base any more, dh only. C.J Cron is the first baseman.
Utley wouldn’t be the worst option. I say go for it while he is available, they will regret it if tey dont sign him. 2 year deal, get it Done Billy. Or Luis Valbuena would be a good option too. Maybe sign both.