Retired slugger Alex Rodriguez passed on a chance to join the Tagg Romney/Tom Glavine/Dave Stewart group that’s attempting to purchase the Marlins, reports FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. Rodriguez was intrigued enough to meet Wednesday in Los Angeles with members of the Romney faction, but the Miami resident didn’t feel it was the right time to pursue an ownership stake, sources told Rosenthal. Had Rodriguez decided differently, he’d have had to compete against longtime Yankees teammate Derek Jeter, who’s part of a potential Marlins ownership team that includes former Florida governor Jeb Bush. Rodriguez, who made upward of $441MM in salaries during his playing career (per Baseball Reference), now works as a FOX baseball analyst and serves as a special advisor to Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner. He also runs his own corporation, A-Rod Corp., notes Rosenthal, who writes that Rodriguez dreams of one day becoming a big league owner.
More rumblings from Rosenthal (video link):
- Rival executives expect Rangers general manager Jon Daniels to act aggressively if the club isn’t contending as the trade deadline approaches, says Rosenthal. That could mean moving ace Yu Darvish, a free agent-to-be, but doing so might not be as easy as it seems, Rosenthal contends. Darvish has a limited no-trade clause that could include 10 teams, for one, and Texas has “a unique relationship” with the 30-year-old, according to Rosenthal. As such, the team could try to extend Darvish in lieu of dealing him. However, thanks to the new collective bargaining agreement, there’s less incentive to retain an impending free agent than there was under the previous system. Last offseason, for instance, the Rangers could have extended Darvish a qualifying offer and gotten back a first-round pick had he rejected it and signed elsewhere. In the same scenario next winter, though, the Rangers would only net a pick after the second round as compensation for Darvish’s exit in free agency.
- The Giants, off to a miserable start, look like sellers in the making. That’s even more true when considering the luxury tax, Rosenthal points out. The Giants exceeded the threshold in the each of the previous two years, and doing so for a third straight season would force them to pay a 50 percent tax (up from their current 30 percent). But if San Francisco rids itself of enough money to get under the limit, it would reset the tax to 20 percent. Trading right-hander Johnny Cueto would help the Giants’ cause from a financial standpoint, though his looming opt-out clause could complicate his market, observes Rosenthal.
dodgerfan711
Cueto to astros makes too much sense
Rhino
It would cost the Stros tucker
GeauxRangers
Hopefully the Rangers fire sale comes to fruition. It would be so awesome.
frg214
Some fan you are… Rangers really aren’t even totally out of it.
madmanTX
Agreed. Premature talk
GeauxRangers
Is it really to premature to hope for it because I’ve been hoping for it since before the season started
GeauxRangers
Yeah I want them to get a prospect haul that will set them up for the next several years I’m a terrible fan you’re right
Modified_6
Not really sure how logic makes you “some fan,” heck there are a ton of us that wanted the sale to start this past offseason. It’s not like the thinking is coming solely from their current record.
Fact is, a lot of our top guys are old or getting close to being old. We need to get some more young guys, especially pitchers, to go along with the power hitting young 20’s guys we’ve got.
CursedRangers
Agreed. The window is shut. Restocking the farm is an excellent option for the Rangers. I also wanted this to happen prior to the season starting.
frg214
Really, y’all make no sense… A year removed from #1 seed in A.L. and y’all were really talking about a rebuild and sell off of the team… Again some fans you call yourselves. If there was any thought of a potential rebuild within the last few years the Hamels and lucroy trades would have never happened…
Philliesfan4life
The rangers should consider trading Darvish , they gutted the farm system last year imo after trading for Lucroy Jeffers and Beltran. Plus getting hamels in 2015.
tobyharrah1977
What gives you the idea the Rangers will turn this around? They look totally lost at the plate. The bullpen is wretched. The minors are bereft of quality starting pitching and really any up and coming prospects at all. If you think getting Beltre back is going to change everything then you must believe in unicorns and fairies. At some point the Rangers need to take a step back and reload. Having a great run from ’10 to ’16 has been awesome. Especially considering their history. But there comes a time where you need to do what’s right, suck it up, and prepare for the future.
Philliesfan4life
It’s what Jon Daniels should consider, trade some pieces and reload the farm system, Kinda like what the royals should be doing
GeauxRangers
Yeah and that #1 AL seed got us swept in the first round by the Jays who are also struggling so it’s easy to see that things in baseball are fluid and teams have bad years. This would be a beneficial time for the Rangers to have a bad year because Darvish, Lucroy, Gomez, Cashner, Ross, Napoli (if anyone would take him) are all on one years deals and could be flipped for a huge return that could set the club up great for the future. Not to mention if they also traded Beltre/Hamels. Hamels peripheral numbers this season were a little terrifying so they should consider ditching that contract but hopefully that’s just because of the injury.
baberuthbomber8
Those were short term moves for the window they had open. Now window is nearly closed or closed after this year.
cxcx
“However, thanks to the new collective bargaining agreement, there’s less incentive to retain an impending free agent than there was under the previous system. Last offseason, for instance, the Rangers could have extended Darvish a qualifying offer and gotten back a first-round pick had he rejected it and signed elsewhere. In the same scenario next winter, though, the Rangers would only net a pick after the second round as compensation for Darvish’s exit in free agency.”
This makes no sense. Since you are getting back less by the guy leaving as a free agent, that creates more incentive to try to keep the guy. And since opposing teams will have to give up less compensation to sign him, his market will be (slightly) stronger and therefor extending him is again incentivized versus waiting to re-sign him in the offseason.
chesteraarthur
Retain him through the end of the season and let him walk for comp pick vs. trading him for what you can get at the deadline.
layventsky
He meant that there’s less incentive to try to retain Darvish via the qualifying offer. Any extension or new contract would likely be considerably more expensive than a qualifying offer, and the Rangers may not feel he’s worth that much with his injury history.
Connor Byrne
With the new CBA, you’re taking a bigger risk than before by retaining the player and hoping to extend him a few months before free agency. Sure, the Rangers can keep Darvish and try to lock him up. If that fails, they’re not going to get much back for their efforts.
nailz#4life
Like to see Gallo continue to have a full time chance even if it’s not with Texas.
vinscully16
Agreed. Gallo is an interesting case.
GeauxRangers
Where do you think he is going…?
adshadbolt
Giants should trade cueto, Moore, shark, span, Nunez and who ever else they can get value for besides posey, Crawford, panik, belt, arroyo, madbum, and the young relievers. The Giants need some youth to be able to stay competitive because arroyo and beede aren’t going to be enough. restock the farm system and make another run next year.
dstuart
lol trading all those pieces wouldn’t equate to a run next year. You just lost 3/5 of the rotation, your starting center fielder and starting 3B/LF. Not nearly enough talent coming up or in the next free agency market to revitalize a loss like that and come back to compete be next season. Giants are in a mess
outinleftfield
I think what he is saying is that by trading those guys they can get prospects and clear enough payroll that they can then trade for some younger talent and have money to spend on FA that can help them. 2017-2018 FA market has the most quality pitchers in my lifetime. It’s huge.
Pence & Cueto would bring back a couple of top 100 prospects each that the Giants could turn for some younger talented players. The rest of the guys he mentioned have limited trade value, but could clear some payroll room even if they are only bringing back lower level prospects.
liamsfg
They will keep Pence he’s the heart.
Cueto will go, Moore will stay for another year most likely and so will Samardzija.
Idk if anyone will want Span or Nunez but its worth a shot.
seamaholic 2
Pence would bring back two top 100 prospects?! Hahahahahahahaha
pustule bosey
no, I think he means cueto and pence would bring one each- but I don’t think that pence would be totally worth it since he would bring a low A prospect and if you are going to lose him you need something more like AA or AAA that would be moved up in a year or two – otherwise you end up having to go on the open market to find someone in the mean time. I would think though about moving some bullpen arms and shopping for or converting some starting arms in the system since okert has been pretty great overall and strickland has been pretty good nowadays but gearrin, osich, have been really incnsistent –
brixcollins
The starting CF has been injured CONSTANTLY! The starting 3B has been replaced by a better, younger home grown player. Starting pitching has SUCKED
dstuart
I like the idea of getting what they can for those players to stock the farm though.
jmgara
It’s still a little early to give up on the season. Besides, who’d take Shark or Span? Not going to get much for Cueto either with his opt-out.
outinleftfield
Even a rental of Cueto would net a couple of top 100 prospects. Look at what Chapman got the Yankees last year. Look at some of the other recent rentals got in return.
chesteraarthur
Cueto has been bad. If he can turn it around then maybe. But current Cueto isn’t getting you a couple top 100 prospects.
strosguy
He is nothing compared to Chapman apples to oranges. One of the best relievers vs a above average starting pitcher.
PLAYTOWIN
Cubs were desperate for a championship and gave up too much. They will be sorry they made the trade. We will never know if they could have won the World Series without Aroldis.
CubsFanForLife
Yes they would have. Never wanted him anywhere near Chicago and I’m glad he’s gone.
differentbears
No one wants Samardzija and his 18m/year awfulness.
agentx
Samardzija will be tough to trade being signed for $18MM/year through 2020. Any chance SF could convince the Mets and/or Orioles if they’re still contending in July that their competitive window may close without Shark and trade him for a bad contract (e.g., Granderson, Jimenez), salary relief, and a fair to middling prospect?
MrMet19
Mets don’t have any bad contracts after this season except Wright, so probably not there for Samardzija
Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA
No one wants the Shark contract. It was curious to begin with. You also alluded to trading for expiring contracts vs taking on a 3 year contract. The Giants will get value if they were to move Cueto. Beyond that it’s hard to see much value extracted for the possible available cast. Unless they are willing to deal from guys that’d be hard to deal, like Belt. So you have to weigh the potential return vs actual value to your own team.
A fire sale would also oppose what we know about the Giants. Part of the issue for the Giants is two fold. The first is they’ve been so competitive and winning usually drains your system. The second issue is they’re inability to develop legitimate OF prospects. The group they currently have has gotten old together. Sadly this may not be a quick fix.
agentx
All good points, MrMet and BluePaintedDreams. And I agree at how puzzlingly exorbitant Shark’s contract was from Day One in terms of both AAV and total years.
Guess it would take an extraordinarily unlikely win-now-or-be-fired panic move from another team’s GM for the Giants to unload Shark at any point prior to his walk year.
PLAYTOWIN
True but there is always one dumb GM who will take the bait.
st1300b 2
Nobody wants your trash. To rebuild the system you have to move the pieces of value. Yes you keep legends like bum, but pretty much everyone else including posey should be made available.
pustule bosey
the giants would be dumb to make posey, panik and arroyo available – and possibly even belt. If you watch these losing games it is that group that does something and that is why a 1 goes on the board followed by a lotta outs.
everlastingdave
It’s not something we’ve seen from the ownership group before and they wouldn’t want to do it now, but a full-on Giants fire sale could get ALL the prospects.
outinleftfield
I used to pay attention to Rosenthal and Heyman, but anymore I think teams are just using them to pass on disinformation. It’s really annoying that the guys we used to be able to count on to give us the inside scoop are wrong or mislead by the teams so much of the time that it’s useless to read them if you want to know what the teams really doing.
Deke
Any other team I would see selling. But SF just seem to operate differently. They could have blown up the team in previous years and didn’t. I can see Nunez and Span going but nobody else of significance. Pence and the entire IF stay other than Nunez. SF operate more from the heart than most other teams. That’s my prediction. Let’s see if I’m right!
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Thinking they will trade everyone who isn’t under control beyond this season (trading Cueto is complicated because of the opt out tho) for prospects then trade those prospects in the offseason to fill whatever needs they have.
Matt Galvin
Posey to Red Sox for Swihart or Vasquez,Marreo,Johnson,Owens and so on.
Belt/Cueto to Astros for Reed,Martes,Moran and so,on?
jdgoat
That’s an awful trade for posey. That’s all of bostons young junk. They’d need to have devers, groome, or else maybe even benintendi to have San Francisco even pick up the phone
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Why would they trade Posey and Belt? Even if the Giants are out of it this year those guys can’t see free agency with a telescope and they will try to contend in 2018 and beyond.
Breezy
Texas should pull a Chapman/ Yankees type of deal. Trade him at the deadline for some solid prospects, then resign him in the off-season.
Sibert18
If they trade him or don’t extend him in season there’s about a 1% chance he stays IMO. Dodgers and Yankees among others would gladly drop more money than we have available unless you trade-off Choo and Elvis
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
That may very well be the case but if it is, not trading him isn’t going to change it. One way or another, Yu Darvish WILL be a free agent this winter.
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Right. Imma throw Yu Darvish onto the “No way in Hell he’s taking an extension” list along with Aroldis Chapman, Jake Arrieta, Carlos Gonzalez and Jonathan Lucroy.
vinscully16
… keep ARod out of baseball, MLB.