Following his final start of the season, Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto wouldn’t tip his hand regarding his opt-out decision when asked by reporters (link via Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area). It seems unfathomable that Cueto will opt out of the remaining $84MM on his deal on the heels of the worst season of his big league career, and Cueto suggested that he’s enjoyed his time as a Giant and believes there’s a winning core in place. Backstop Nick Hundley also told the media that he “loves” San Francisco and his teammates, Pavlovic continues. His declined to elaborate on the opportunity to pursue a larger deal in free agency this winter or a potential starting role but certainly sounded open to a return.
More from the majors’ West divisions:
- Padres general manager A.J. Preller told Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune and other reporters on Monday that upgrading at shortstop and in the rotation will be offseason priorities. The Padres will also “look to tinker with the bullpen,” Preller said. Trading left-handed closer Brad Hand would qualify as much more than tinkering, but Preller didn’t rule out dealing him. “He was similar to a few years ago when we had (Craig) Kimbrel,” Preller said. “We talked to teams about Kimbrel at the trade deadline in ‘15. There were teams that reached out early in that offseason and said, ‘OK, we’re still interested.’ I would expect that to probably be the case, but we’ll see how that plays out.” Despite vast interest, the Padres decided against trading Hand at the deadline in July. The 27-year-old obviously comes with less team control now than he did over the summer, when an acquiring club could have viewed him as an integral piece for a playoff run, but he’s still signed through 2019. Hand made a relative pittance – $1.38MM – in his first year of arbitration eligibility in 2017.
- The Rangers just wrapped up a disappointing campaign, one that ended without a playoff berth for only the third time in the past eight years, but it’s not going to spur an offseason rebuild, according to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. Instead, the Rangers will do their best over the winter to return to contention in 2018. Sullivan writes that they’ll focus on bolstering their rotation via free agency and/or trades, perhaps add an outfielder, and decide where to put 41-home run corner infielder/outfielder Joey Gallo.
- One thing the Rangers must do this offseason is trade infielder/outfielder Jurickson Profar, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News argues. Profar, 24, was once among the game’s premier prospects, but injuries and poor performance have defined his time in Texas. The switch-hitting Profar, who has batted an ugly .229/.309/.329 in 718 major league plate appearances, spent most of 2017 at the Triple-A level and was not one of the Rangers’ call-ups when rosters expanded in September. Further, Profar will be out of options next year, making it seem all the more likely that the Rangers will cut ties with him in the coming months.
Trade Profar
Trade Jurickson Now PLZ
The Cardinals should take a chance on him. You then could move DeJong back to 3rd put Gyorko at 1b and trade or use Carpenter like Zobrist is used.
So you want to replace Carpenter with Profar…going for the number one pick in 2019 I guess..
Yeah that doesn’t make much sense, if they were to trade for Profar he would be used as a utility player. I think Profar might make sense for the Padres since peeler said they want to upgrade at shortstop. He really isn’t much of an upgrade over Ayebar though but worth a shot
Don’t the cards have enough options in the infield and outfield. Cardinals need an impact hitter not more of the same.
Wait for it…
Go get ’em Coppy?
Was actually waiting for the “Profar to the Padres” trade proposals. I wanted to preempt them with “Padres aren’t trading top prospects for Profar” but I didn’t want to sound like Bigpapi4ever so I decided to hold off until others brought it up first.
The Giants are hoping he opts out of the contract. Unfortunately they will be stuck with a over paid mediocre pitcher for the next 4 years.
Only reason they would hope he opts out is so they could try to re-sign him for a little less coming off a down year.
Even counting his down year (1.8 reference WAR) he has still been a top-20 starter over the past five years, probably over the past three years, too.
He is probably about as “washed up” now as Verlander was a couple of years ago. His contract is fine and potentially a bargain for a team that is able to spend.
So… He’s not opting out
Nobody “opts out” to receive less money. Nobody with an agent that’s worth a damn. Those Panda hats must really just be fancy dunce caps.
Colin Kaepernick says Hi
That makes no sense he opts out to get paid less. The giants need to free up some money and bring in some outfielders for next year. They also need a 3B and some relievers. The giants are paying Cueto for pass performances he will not get better because of his age.
When it comes down to it the Giants actually need 2 position players, one outfield and one infield and need to let internal guys compete for the open positions ( eg you trade belt or panik and it opens an if position, you move span to left, sign either right or center and compete for the open position) that let’s some young guys or some invitees get some time and would let you as a needed piece in the pen. If everyone is healthy you have Smith, Dyson, melancon but the rest of the guys have been super shaky.
The Giants are absolutely not hoping he opts out. Where do you get this stuff?
Considering the injury concerns, his performance this year and how much he’s owed, I don’t think the Giants would mind him opting out.
Considering what Cueto did in 2016, and that his injuries were primarily blisters, that Rich Hill recovered quite well from his, that Cueto would need to be replaced, probably with a FA, and that he is a reasonable bounce-back candidate, I think the Giants are hoping he opts in.
Even if they’d prefer him opting in I don’t think they would be too upset if he were to opt out, or offer him much more money to come back.
Also, he experienced “forearm tightness” two months ago. That is a precursor to Tommy John surgery more often than not.
The forearm tightness was diagnosed as a mild flexor strain; no ligament damage, so your “precursor to Tommy John surgery” is a bit alarmist.
Plus, not being too upset if Cueto opts out is a long way from them hoping he does.
Call me alarmist all you want. I’m not giving a pitcher with “forearm tightness” the kind of money Cueto is owed if I have any choice in the matter.
If I had to guess, the Giants are probably pretty indifferent to him opting out. There was some talk on Mccoveychronicles of him asking for a no-trade clause in exchange for not opting out but I don’t see the Giants making any kind of concessions to try and influence him.
Well still, you’re responding to me taking exception to another person’s comment that the Giants are “hoping” he opts out. I seriously doubt that any FO would be indifferent to a big decision like his opting out is. But, it’s still a long way from hoping he opts out, to being indifferent.
They would be indifferent if the money he’d be opting out of is more or less what the Giants feel he’s worth. Like, if the Giants are willing to pay him the $84m he has left but not any more then they would be indifferent to him opting out.
And if the Giants think the 2016 Cueto is the one they’ll get in 2018 I think they would think he was worth it. As I stated before, any money they would save with him opting out, would have to go to replacing him. With Crick more suited to the pen, and Beede not ready, replacing him will not be cheap, and given the injury rates of all pitcher’s, is still a gamble. What’s the delta between a Cueto gamble and some other FA pitcher?
It wouldn’t be cheap, but with $84m extra money to spend it wouldn’t be too hard. Cueto returning to 2016 form is also far from a guarantee.
As for that last question, your guess is as good as mine.
Rich Hill missed 8-9 starts while on the DL for blisters in 2017 after missing 13 starts in 2016. I guess it’s conceivable to call that recovering well.
Rich Hill missed starts because he’s fragile, yes, but also because the Dodgers had like ten starters and they put all of them on the DL at some point or another last season in order to manage innings. Hill is also 37 and has had the marginal major league career he’s had because of an extensive injury history.
left field has a vandetta with Rich Hill. Every time his name is brought up you get triggered. Hill was fantastic this season and in case you haven’t noticed the Dodgers dont care about the regular season. He is starting game 2 of the NLDS and thats all that matters. After june he didnt miss any starts from the blister and it was a non issue. Hill had a great year and that contract is worth every penny
Calling Hill fragile is kind of missing a point. He’s had the two most common pitching injuries and surgeries. Pitching for as long as he has, this is hardly unusual. He’s also been two very different pitchers in his career. His current success was a result of a major retooling of his delivery. The attack of blisters was probably a function of the same. Whatever he needed to do to control the blister problem has been done, obviously, since it hasn’t recurred. You need to put injury history into proper perspective. They aren’t statistics, they are specific medical conditions.
No. Just posting what happened. He missed 8-9 starts with blisters after missing 13 the season before. Sorry that that triggers you.
No you are always trying to bash Hill. You tried telling me multiple times it was a horrible trade for the Dodgers.
Not a knock against Hill, but I do think some dodger fans have blinders on when it comes to his career. Nothing wrong with a bias towards one’s favorite team, as long as one is aware of it. Looking forward to see how he does on the big stage in game 2 of the nlds.
I know Hill has been a journeyman and injury prone which is 100 percent true. However the major renovations he did throws out the past. 2007 Rich Hill was a completely different person. He will pitch at an elite level for his age group because of the new mechanics
Exactly. It isn’t hometown bias to know what is going on with a player.
The problem with Hill isn’t his injury history but in knowing whether he’s going to be on his game. We saw at the beginning of the season what it looks like when he isn’t, and in the second half, how it looks when he is.
Obviously management at this point is parking a lot of faith in expecting to see the second half Rich Hill in the postseason. Rumors have him penciled in to pitch game two.
“I don’t think they would be upset if he opted out” wow that’s riveting analysis
“wow that’s riveting analysis” Wow that’s a relevant, useful comment!
Herrera for Profar…another Royals reliever on an expiring contract for a down on his luck former prospect.
Why would the royals make that trade
Man, he’d be a PURF’ect (see what I did there) for the Angels once Phillips goes back to Atlanta or retires. Im certain the Rangers would avoid interdivision with such a potential downside if he figures it out though. :/
Why? How would this benefit The Angels?
That Kimbrel trade looks great not
Sure they could have held on longer but they wouldn’t have got much more than they did. Margot + is a good haul
Just ignore him. What most of the other commenters have learned to do
Ok Dan Shulman
Wow. Impressive gravedig. You’re still an idiot tho.
Espinoza was for Kimbrel
Nope. Espinoza was for Pomeranz.
Rangers really screwed up in holding onto Profar and Gallo for as long as they have. A few years ago they could have acquired some significant players for them.
I disagree on Gallo. It’s all a gamble whether prospects pan out or not, and I’d say he played pretty dang well in his 1st full season. He did what scouts said he’d do, hit for power, and did it well. Avg may climb to the .240- .250 range with experience. Profar was a former #1 prospect that they had high hopes on, and didn’t want to give up before they had a good grasp on what he could do at the highest level. Unfortunately injuries prolonged that, and in the end they found out he couldn’t hit Major league pitching. It happens. They still wouldn’t have gotten value from him a few years ago like you say, you’d have to go back to 2013 for that. By 2015 his value had already plummeted.
And I forgot to study.
Padres should take a flier on profar. Yea he only has one year left but with the progress our other prospects made this year you never know what the roster will look like a year from now. Profar has nothing to lose playing ss for the padres since his career is already looking bleak
No no no no and again no
It’d be a good low-risk, potential reward situation if they got Profar.
Maybe if they didn’t have to give up anything of value, but the Rangers might have an asking price the Padres don’t want to meet. If that’s the case, then they can just sign another over the hill veteran stopgap on a 1 year deal, like they’ve been doing for the past few years now.
Profar as a Fryar would be interesting and worth the gamble considering though San Diego is heading in the right direction, it’s pretty hard to see them competing for a playoff birth next season meaning there’s a little time left to experiment before loftier expectations set in after next year…
Profar as a Fryar would be interesting and worth the gamble considering though San Diego is heading in the right direction, it’s pretty hard to see them competing for a playoff birth next season meaning there’s a little time left to experiment before loftier expectations set in after next season…
Nah. If the Padres really want Profar the smart thing to do is wait until he is a free agent and sign him.
The gist of Preller’s comments in the article they mention here is that they want to sign someone to a short-term deal until Tatis is ready. Tatis will be in the majors before Profar is a free agent in 2020.
I’d rather just re-sign Aybar or give Rondon (who only has 1 option year left) a shot. They wouldn’t necessarily be better than Profar but when the Padres don’t contend in 2018 or 2019 it won’t be because they didn’t trade for Profar.
I’m sure from the comments Preller made, that re-signing Aybar is one of the options they are considering. It does not sound like Rondon is one of the options they would consider. Trading for Profar is not going to make the Padres a contender in 2018. Trading for Stanton alone would not make the Padres a contender in 2018. Because Profar would only be a stop-gap measure and likely cheaper than Aybar in salary and with at least some upside is why the Padres would be interested in trading for him.
Steve Adams on the Live Chat said Profar doesn’t have much value and that if Profar to the Padres was going to happen it would have happened by now. I got the word of God on my side 🙂
Steve Adams lol
Short bus lol
“Live Chat” Steve Adams is that John’s brother?
Now you’re just being ridiculous
Well… more ridiculous than before
“Live chat with Steve Adams” HA!
What about it?
Have you noticed you seem to be the only one with this opinion? You got it across. Not a very popular opinion but you’ve let it be known.
Have you noticed that people have been pushing Profar to the Padres nonstop for the past 3 years now? The more they keep pushing it the more I’ll keep reiterating my own position.
Maybe Christian Bethancourt can play SS for the Padres.
Well that would sure show Jose Rondon what Preller thinks of him
Not much or Preller would have mentioned him as one of the options the team has for 2018.
Laughing at all the fans wanting Profar so badly at the same time they diss him and Gallo, who hit 41 HR. I’d hate to see how you all hit on women at the bars: “you’re pretty fugly, but why don’t you come home with me anyway.”
Laughing at you thinking any fans want profar “so badly”.
Have all you guys making Profar trade suggestions forgotten that he sucks?
Profar to the Padres makes too much sense for it not to happen. The Padres have an obvious need for a short-term answer at shortstop. Tatis is moving up their farm system fast, but probably not the starter in the majors until 2019 at the earliest.
The Rangers have no leverage in a trade, so the Padres would not have to give up anyone that you would even recognize their names or someone so bad that it doesn’t matter. Profar has hit .229 in the majors, will be out of options next season. and will be 25 when spring training opens. While he used to be a top prospect, today he is worth little or nothing in trade. If they are unable to make a trade, the Rangers may be forced to non-tender him or try to slip him through waivers rather than keeping him on the 25 roster all season.
That is why I think he gets moved and to the Padres. They have some deadweight on their major league team like Travis Wood that could be unloaded for Profar. Wood put up some atrocious numbers both in KC and in SD and he is due $8 million, $6.5 in 2018 and a $1.5 million option buyout for 2019. Guys like Friedrich, Cosart, and Bethancourt could be a good trade piece for Profar. Like Profar, they are also arbitration eligible and out of options,
Waiting on profar for 3 years is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. No that’s alright we don’t want him right now I’ll wait 3 years and sign him. Has that ever been a position a GM has taken? If they like him they’ll get him. He’s going to be relatively cheap. This isn’t oh he’ll be a FA next year let’s wait for him.
No smart GM will ever trade for a guy whose amount of club control left doesn’t fit their window of contention.
The Padres are likely to trade for Profar precisely because his amount of club control fits their window for when Tatis will be available. Both are before their window of contention opens in 2020-2021.
They have been taking on those bridge type players for a year now and that will continue through their rebuild.
The difference is those bridge type players haven’t cost the Padres anything in terms of actual prospects.
Neither will Profar.
1. He better not
2. I know how to downvote other people’s comments too
Cmon man they’re going to do a little better than jarred cosart or Christian betancourt. Those players are absolute trash. Profar still has some appeal and youth. Also plays a premium position. Not gonna give that away for complete garbage. He’ll be relatively cheap but not free. What does wood have to do with profar? I don’t see any correlation there. You talk about how bad wood has been and how he’s owed money? Pretty sure KC is paying most of that deal anyway. Profar isn’t getting dealt for wood either If that’s what you’re getting at. If the rangers have “no leverage” and would have to take players “so bad it doesn’t even matter” why wouldn’t they just non tender profar?? Think.
Christ almighty do you know what the bar is for a utility infielder? If you don’t think profar is at least a utility infielder you have to get your head checked.
The Rangers don’t consider Profar even a utility player or they would have at a minimum called him up in September to do just that or they would have given him more of a shot during the season. That he hit .171 during his time with Texas in 2017 may have something to do with that. So what you are saying is the GM of the Rangers needs to get his head checked?
While the Rangers and any team with a hope of contending in 2018 would not take Profar even as a utility player, rebuilding teams with no starting shortstop currently and that are not going to contend in 2018 like the Padres can take a flyer on him with little or no consequence other than his salary even if he continues to play as he has so far in the majors.
The Padres shortstops hit .215/.278 with a .602 OPS this season, by far the worst in the majors. It won’t take much improvement for Profar to play that well, but on most teams he is just not a fit even as a utility player.
They aren’t getting anyone for Profar who would have otherwise had even a marginal chance of playing for the next good Padres team and if they do Preller needs to be fired.
They need to move Profar, and there’s not much a team would give-up for him. Maybe something slightly better than Bethancourt, or Cosart, but look at it realistically. His value is very, very low, and will not get very much out of him. Maybe at most, a good single-A starter.
At this point, Profar is basically trash. The Rangers will either have to trade him, non-tender him, or keep him on the 25 man roster all year. He has played very poorly in the majors and has not dominated in the minors. He is only worth a “garbage” MLB player or a very, very low-level prospect. Either way, it’s not going to be much the Rangers are getting back. If they ask for more than that teams will just wait until the Rangers waive him when the season starts and pick him up for absolutely nothing.
I really don’t get people’s fascination with the guy. How are the Padres better off trading for Profar than they are just re-signing Erick Aybar or giving Jose Rondon a chance?
But good on you for not suggesting that they trade Hand or Baez for Profar like some nitwits on here have suggested in the past.
Everyone knows, The Padres would not move Hand or Baez for Profar, but they could get him for pennies, and it’d be a low risk, potential reward scenario.
anoff said we should trade Brad Hand for him straight up and then tried to argue that it was a fair trade when he was (deservedly) called out for it
I guess there’s still some hope that he can regain some of what made him the top prospect in baseball years ago. Plus, there’s the Texas connection from Preller’s days with the Rangers. I wouldn’t mind if they traded for him if it meant giving up very little, but if the Rangers have too high of an asking price, then the Padres are probably better off signing 1 year stopgaps.
People have been beating the Profar thing into the ground pretty much ever since Preller was hired. It’s almost as bad as the Sandoval rumors.
If you give up Hand for Profar, it better come with more guys than that.
Like Taveras
Daniel Hudson for Profar. He can have Jaso’s job.
I’d make that trade, but I think they would have to throw in a little more than just Hudson, a sub-par relief pitcher with one year left on his contract.
Profar isn’t going to cost much at all. Every team should at least look into it. When the former #1 overall prospect in the league becomes available for pennies on the dollar, it makes sense to bet on the ceiling.
Giants will have to do more than tinker with their roster if they expect different results in 2018. They’re saddled with certain contracts that they can only allow to expire (Span & Pence), but Evans will have to figure out a way to upgrade at 3B, 1B, LF, and the bullpen in such ways that will make a dramatic impact. We can try to tell ourselves this horrible season was a fluke, and the rest of the division would be just fine with that.
I think that the Giants are the only team other than my O’s that have been backed into a corner as deeply by the bad contracts they have taken on for older players.
I am more worried about trading Hand and getting Maton as our closer! Sandoval bombed him in last game…happens regularly with AJ’s pet.
Maton doesn’t impress me much either but we won’t need a shutdown closer for a few years and that is one area that the Padres have never struggled in
Yea Trevor was so clutch in big games lol
Can you count to potato?
Get new material
Get a fully developed brain
New off-season…same Profar to Padres rumors as always
It’s almost as bad as the Sandoval rumors. The only saving grace is that Profar at least has some surplus value, even if that surplus value is marginal.
“Everyone talks about it” only time I have seen or heard it is here
Brain dead