Some news and rumblings from around the AL East…
- The Cardinals “are expected to strongly pursue” a trade for Josh Donaldson during the offseason, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (via Twitter). The Cards’ internal interest in Donaldson was initially reported last July though at that time, no offers had been made. Jedd Gyorko saw the bulk of action at third base for St. Louis last season (with Greg Garcia getting a fair amount of action as a left-handed hitting complement) and Gyorko could be a possible candidate to be headed back to the Blue Jays as part of a deal. The Cardinals have a surplus of both outfielders and multi-positional infielders, so they’re a fit for Toronto’s needs as potential trade partners. Of course, there hasn’t been any indication that the Jays are actually shopping their star third baseman. Donaldson is a free agent after the 2018 season, though with the Jays planning to contend next year, it would take a massive offer to get them to part ways with the former AL MVP.
- J.J. Hardy will “re-evaluate” his 2018 plans once this season is concluded, though the veteran shortstop tells Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com that, in terms of considering retirement, “I don’t think I can go there yet.” Hardy’s seventh (and perhaps final) season with the Orioles has been a frustrating one, as he struggled in the first few months and then suffered a fractured wrist in mid-June. The O’s will certainly buy out Hardy for $2MM rather than exercise their $14MM club option on his services for 2018, though Hardy is hopeful of working out a new deal to remain in Baltimore. Given Tim Beckham’s emergence and Hardy’s injury problems and lack of production in recent years, it certainly seems as if Hardy would have to take a reserve role if he did return to the club. I recommend reading the full piece, which is a wide-ranging and at times emotional discussion of Hardy’s career, his Orioles stint and his family.
- In a podcast interview with WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford (transcript link), Xander Bogaerts provides details on the hand injury that curtailed his production over the summer. Bogaerts was hit on the right hand by a pitch on July 6 and simply wasn’t the same afterwards, hitting just .193/.270/.293 over his next 200 plate appearances. “Looking back I probably should have taken a few days off. I thought with the All-Star break coming up I would have been find, home resting it,” Bogaerts said. “But when I came back it never got better….It was a little more serious than I thought.” The Red Sox shortstop received two cortisone shots to treat his injured hand and said he has started to feel like his old self over the last month, as evidenced by his .800 OPS in the month of September. Needless to say, an in-form Bogaerts would provide a big boost to the Sox in the postseason, especially given other injury concerns within Boston’s lineup.
Please Cardinals make this happen!! PLEASE PLEASE!!
Donaldson isn’t going anywhere. Fan interest has already crashed from this season. Trading away their star player doesn’t make any sense at all. There’s nothing cards could trade to the jays to make this happen.
That’s fine. Hope you like losing him for absolutely nothing in a year 🙂
If they’re going to compete then there is nothing wrong with that. If they stand pat and then lose him, then that’s a problem.
The Jays will NOT compete in 2018 because they do not have the talent in the starting rotation or on the field. They are old. Trading Donaldson makes sense but they need to get a haul including elite starting pitching prospects and at least one elite near ready outfielder or catcher prospect. Donaldson is one of 4 or 5 guys that can carry a club much of a year. The Jays will get a huge haul and teams will be lining up if they know Donaldson is available. Let the bidding war begin!
Whether you think they’ll compete or not, that’s what the team plans on doing, so the odds of them trading Donaldson are slim.
Dude, as of right now I say no in 2018 as well. However there’s still an offseason to go, let’s circle back on this topic around Christmas time. Let JD go he will want a lot of money through arbitration and likely a big substantial contract both in length and dollars, open him up now tell the other 29 teams that he is on the block and see what offers are out there. But as of right now it’s too early to make judgement on next season
You’re back, Jimmertee?
If they wanted that return they should have traded him last off season. 1 year of control does not get you that kind of a return. 1 elite prospect and several low a guys with potential.
Teams will pay for one year of KD
JD*
There’s no point for the Jays to trade him during the offseason if their goal is to compete. If they’re struggled towards the end of June/early July then they can still get a comparable package to what they would during the offseason. TOR would also most likely demand either DeJong or Pham in any deal for Donaldson.
You’ve got dejong in my book
You can have Pham. A 29 year old who has only stayed healthy once and has a degenerative eye disorder.
While not a boat laod, he will likely get a QO and theyll get compensation. So not what theyd get in a trade, but not absolutely nothing either.
As though the FO wouldn’t accept Reyes and Kelly for donaldson.
If fan interest had already crashed, then they would trade him. The whole point of trying to compete again next year is to keep the fan momentum going. Attendance was down this year, but they were still 5th overall, that’s hardly a crash.
Unfortunately, you are probably right.
Please NOT Donaldson. Sign Martinez or trade for Stanton. Donaldson is overhyped and will cost a fortune. Yeah he hits home-runs, but his RBI total this season was low.
MAYBE if they send Dejong in the deal to offset some of this large cost, sell high before regression. Dejong is home-run or nothing so I’d rather have Donaldson and someone more consistent in real hitting at short like Gyorko or if Diaz gets back on track. Diaz has looked decent in his return.
Donaldson isn’t overhyped lmao. He’s a top 5 player in the game, and rbi isn’t a real stat
RBI isn’t a real stat?? So what stat matters if run production doesn’t? He was absolutely not a top 5 this season.
RBI doesn’t show if you’re good or not. What does Pujols have for RBI’s this year? A lot. And he’s been one of the worst batters in baseball in this year.
But let’s say they are important. Donaldson has 77 in I believe 111 games. That right around 100ish give a take a few over a full season.
And finally, Donaldson has 4.9 WAR with a .953 OPS and 146 ops plus this year. There is nothing overhyped about those number
Pujols is at least providing runs for his team, regardless of his ability to continually get on base. Donaldson’s RBIs should be up, I’ll give you that, but I still think he’ll cost more than he’s worth.
I’ll be all for it if the package is Gyorko, Dejong, Tyler O’Neill, and maybe another middling prospect. I doubt that’d fly with the Jays. I should note btw, his strikeout rate is up to 27% from 21%. A considerable jump.
If you are concerned with run production, looking at a players’ WPA or wRC+ with RISP or Runners on base would be a much better evaluation. Just looking at RBIs fails to take into consideration the number of opportunities that each player has.
Pujols isn’t “one of” the worst batters in baseball this year. He’s the very worst. Easy to get to 100 RBIs when the guy in front of you has a 440 OBP. RBIs are meaningless. They aren’t any indication of anything except opportunity and lineup construction.
Top 5?!?! Maybe top 75. He’s not even a top 5 third baseman.
He’s 6th in WAR among 3B, and that’s in only 111 games, which is remarkable. On a Per Plate Appearance basis, he’s 8th, and only Rendon is better among 3B. I’d take him.
Have you ever watched baseball jorleeduf? If he’s not too 5, he’s a guarenteed top 10.
“Maybe top 75”. Solid argument…
You will find him at #18 among position players for 2017.
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&…
You can find him at #3 of all position players over the last 3 years.
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&…
He is #2 among 3b over the last 3
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=3b&stats=bat&#…
Using the same stats I used above, you would be correct in saying that he has not been a top 5 3b in 2017 (He only has 488 pas)
DeJong is homerun or nothing?
Lol
Wow…
You would rather have Diaz or Gyorko at short?
It’s time to take your nap now.
I would actually… most likely a 200K a season player, he hit some long balls but that’s about it. Low OBP. High BABIP. Regression is almost certain, Gyorko is a good defender, and to me Diaz is coming back around. Everyone loved him last year, turned on him quick. Got about a 3rd of a chance Grichuk has had in a worse showing. Don’t see your point here.
Grichuk provided something with the glove. Diaz provided nothing. DeJong is going to be the SS for the foreseeable future.
keep gyorko and trade carpenter, garcia and diaz. or, why not see what patrick wisdom can do?
Why have yet another home-run or nothing player. Trade dejong, garcia, and Carp, get Abreu. So you got gyorko, diaz, wong, abreu. Way more consistent hitting there. Homeruns mean nothing if thats the only place where run production is.
Abreu will not be traded. They have already said as much and he wants to stay for the rebuild.
wisdom would be cheaper. cardinals need to rid matheny of carpenter and greg garcia. or just get rid of matheny.
Can the cards return Brett Cecil back while theyre at it. I believe they still have their receipt
Forget Donaldson…he’s on the wrong side of 30. Wait a year and go after Manny Machado. He’s dead set on going to Miami or New York (Yankees), but if the Card$ $how him $ome “love”, it might change his mind. Then you don’t have to trade 5-6 players for somebody else.
Another expensive player that’d demand tons of money that isn’t really worth it. Go with Martinez, at least we have a few decent 3B options. Costs less, RF has been an area of hurt this season.
Martinez is going back to the dbacks. hitters park, good team atmosphere, young up and coming rotation pieces. best 1b in the game ahead in the lineup.
Dbacks got no money, like they couldn’t even pay half of what he’s worth. Money will dictate where he goes.
Not a chance he goes back to AZ. They just can’t afford him.
Cards don’t play good denfense, they don’t pitch well and they don’t hit well.. No five player would make them contender in 2018. They won game they should have lost in 2015 and 2016 so people thought they were better then they are. Now the real cardinal team is showing and thet will be bad for a long time..
Huh?
Better team than larry’s ability to form a cognitive sentence, but that’s not saying a whole lot.
Oh boy here come the “Cardinals to pursue Donaldson, Stanton, etc” rumors again
donaldson and biagini to stl for Jedd, Lyons, weaver, pham
I love JJ but Beckham is our SS and JJ really isn’t a utility infielder. He’s a good guy in the clubhouse but I think it’s time to say goodbye.
Pham, gyrko or Wong, & Gant Gomber or Hudson. That gives them starting OF a 2nd basemen & pitching prospect.
as long as st louis has matheny, no major free agent would want to go there.
I could see Piscotty, Gyorko, Hudson, And O’Neil or something like that at least for josh Donaldson. But as much as Donaldson would be as a upgrade for the team I don’t think it’s worth for a guy in his early 30’s 32-33 for only one year. I’d say maybe if he had 2 but why trade young talent for him when you pretty much will only have 1 year of contention the rebuild you go. If they are gonna trade those pieces look at the Marlins outfield. Or the could sign J.D. But at the end of the day the Cardinals front office needs to make this team a threat in 2018 and beyond
None of the cards top prospects for Donaldson? Dakota Hudson is probably a back end of the rotation starter. Piscotty is owed money and coming off a bad year. Gyorko isn’t a long term piece and you got Tyler strikeout O’Neill for Marco Gonzales. Josh Donaldson is a top 10 major leaguer that package is closer to what the jays would get for Stroman.
Well you got to put in consideration that he’s 32 coming off an unhealthy year with 1 year left. I understand he can turn a team around but the Jays will not get the package they want for Donaldson considering the downside of him
The Cardinals’ moment to rebuild was last offseason. They don’t have the high-value players to really launch a prospect revolution. Only Carlos Martinez and Tommy Pham have big trade value (for prospects).
You’re an idiot.
I’m curious what everyone thinks an actual Toronto-St. Louis trade would look like. I think the Jays would be fools to trade Donaldson without getting at least two top prospects in return. That means Carson Kelly. That could maybe mean Alex Reyes, though his TJ surgery makes him a bit of a question mark. Jays may want to go for a different arm. Cards have loads of good young arms, like Gallen, Hudson, Flaherty and Alcantara. A possible Donaldson replacement would be needed, so either Gyorko or Patrick Wisdom, depending on how good Toronto wants to be next year. The Cards would probably want to use an outfielder here too, so Grichuk, Bader or O’Neill.
So, my opinion, the Jays get their probable catcher of the future in Kelly, a starter ready to step into the rotation in 2018-2019 in Hudson, a veteran ready to take over 3B for the next few years in Gyorko (who had a dynamite first half), and a young, cheap outfielder with a little bit of upside in Grichuk.
Donaldson completely changes the Cardinal lineup and gives them something they need – a veteran leader. Then, if the Cards slump again, they can deal Donaldson mid season ala Billy Beane or give him a QO. And a failure to reach the postseason with Donaldson would certainly cost Mike Matheny his job, so that would make those Cards fan vultures happy.
Reyes would have to be included to even start a deal for Donaldson. Donaldson for Reyes, Hudson, O Neil, and Bader. I would do that no doubt. A blue chip prospect in Reyes and then some solid Teoscar Hernandez type prospects in Hudson, O Neil, and Bader. I would try to add Gyorko into the deal too if possible. You get a couple of mlb ready prospects who can have an impact right away. THOUGHTS?
I think Reyes is a possibility. I would have some concerns with his TJ surgery and drug suspension, even if it was marijuana. I don’t think you get two outfielders. Maybe Reyes, Kelly, Hudson and Gyorko? Maybe throw in a reliever or something.
That suspension would not have happened if he was in the majors.
I understand that. It’s a stupid rule. But it’s also a poor choice by a young player, who should have known better.
If the Cardinals offer prospects and a ” star ” ( Grichuk ha ha ) Donaldson will be in a Cardinals uniform.
Remember the quote
Money talks bullshxt walks
Sorry for the double post