The Reds are “keeping an eye on” top Cuban outfield prospect Luis Robert, reports Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Manager Dick Williams called Robert “a physical specimen” when speaking to Buchanan, adding that the Reds have scouted Robert several times in the past. The price tag on Robert, of course, will be a major consideration for the Reds, but Buchanan points out that Cincinnati has greater incentive than most clubs to break the bank on the 19-year-old. Cincinnati has already soared past its international bonus pool, meaning they’ll be prohibited from signing any player for more than $300K in either of the next two international signing periods. If Robert is declared a free agent before the current period ends on June 15, it’s logical for the Reds to make one last splash while they’re still allowed to do so. Williams, though, notes that they won’t pursue him at all costs. “I have no idea where the dollars are going to go on him,” says the GM. “It could be that it quickly gets outside of our comfort level.” The Padres, Cardinals, Astros, Braves, Athletics and Nationals are all over their allotted bonus pools as well.
More from the NL Central…
- The Brewers and Dodgers are still in touch on a potential trade involving Ryan Braun, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com, though there’s no indication that there are any serious negotiations at the moment. However, as Morosi notes, Braun effectively faces not one, but two trade deadlines this year, as he’ll receive 10-and-5 rights on May 24. Those rights — afforded to players with 10 years of Major League service time, the five most recent with one team — allow a player full veto power over any potential trades. Braun suggests to Morosi, though, that his no-trade provisions may not be a significant factor simply because the communication between him and the Milwaukee front office is strong. “I have such a great relationship with [Brewers owner] Mark Attanasio, [general manager] David Stearns and [assistant general manager] Matt Arnold,” says Braun. “We’re all really on the same page when it comes to my situation.” The full column is rife with quotes from Braun — covering far more than just his trade candidacy — and is well worth a full read.
- After finishing the 2016 season with a $99.9MM payroll, the Pirates opened 2017 with a payroll of about $91.5MM, per the Associated Press, and Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette spoke to GM Neal Huntington about the change. “It’s a product of how we chose to allocate the dollars,” says Huntington. “With Jung Ho Kang’s money, our thought is at some point in time we’ll be responsible for the dollars once he’s able to get here and return to the major league level.” Huntington also notes that the team made a late decision to move on from Jared Hughes, who would’ve otherwise accounted for another $2.8MM on the payroll. Instead, as Brink notes, the Buccos are on the hook for about $740K of that would-be salary. And, Brink points out, the payroll will organically increase over the course of the season, as additional players are brought up to the MLB level.
The Pirates have to stop letting that supercomputer and/or office full of sabremetricians run the team. In the past two years, they have come up with the idea of….
1) Playing the outfield more shallow. This resulted in worse defense and helped to make their main trade chip untradeable.
2) Hitting Cutch in the 2 hole. It decreased the offense and marginalized their former MVP, who rarely hit with men on base.
3) Realigned the OF defense. Instead of having one below average OF, one average OF and one gold glove OF, they now have 3 below average OF.
None of these moves have worked or even come close to working. The Pirates certainly have more problems than these, but these are self inflicted.
Agree with all of these. For as much good as the front office and Huntington have done, they have a major issue with trying to get too cute and attempting to reinvent the wheel.
It just seems like way too many things have to go right for them to be successful, and NH seems to only sign free agents who are somewhat flawed. I honestly think Nutting doesn’t have a problem spending, it’s just that NH places such a strict value on players that nothing ever works out, same with trades.
If I were them, I would ship out Glasnow on the first plane out of Pittsburgh after his first good start. His extreme control issues make him unreliable as a starter, and would probably end up as a dominant reliever.
Huntington can shove it. This team has no standard when they take the field. Hurdle’s whole thing of “It’s never our fault” is getting old. Players take nothing to heart. After the embarrassing loss to the reds wednesday, and the humiliating loss to the Sox today. Our supposed leader could only respond by saying its only not even 10 games in and playing it off like he is hot stuff cuase he hit a dinger. Whoop-di-do Cutch congrats you hit a home run, but there is nothing along the lines of we need to preform better? Really? Really? This is all cuase of Hurdle his whole mantra killed this team. He needs to go and he needs to go ASAP. The only thing that will save this team from embarrassment is a hard nosed, old-school type manager. Someone who doesnt put up with BS. Someone who after a loss and see’s his team captain laughing and dancing with an overrated excuse of a second baseman gets pissed. Someone who walks into the locker room and commands respect and isnt afraid to assign blame to individuals as well as himself. Thats what the pirates need right now. It would at least make us look respectable. Instead of one of the laughing stocks in baseball.