According to “industry consensus,” Alex Cobb’s free agent market will come down to a battle between the Cubs and Yankees, Peter Gammons writes in his newest entry at GammonsDaily.com. Chicago’s interest in Cobb (which is apparently mutual) is already known, and such other teams as the Phillies, Orioles, and Blue Jays have also been linked to Cobb on the rumor mill, though New York would seem like something of a surprise candidate. Since Cobb is expected to land a pricey multi-year deal, it would be difficult for the Yankees to sign the right-hander and stay under the luxury tax threshold, unless the team was able to unload another big contract or two off its books. Starting pitching also doesn’t appear to be a critical need for the Yankees, as while a variety of young arms are battling for the fifth starter’s role, signing a more inexpensive veteran (or bringing back C.C. Sabathia) would seem like a likelier move than making a big splash to sign Cobb.
Here’s more from Gammons…
- Orioles officials are debating whether or not to move Manny Machado to shortstop next season. While Machado is a free agent next winter, incumbent shortstop Tim Beckham may also not be the long-term answer at the position, as his scorching-hot first month with the O’s doesn’t erase other concerns about his overall offensive and defensive capability. Given that Machado himself would reportedly prefer to move from third base to his original minor league position, it doesn’t seem like the O’s would meet with any resistance from the star infielder if they decided on the move. Machado has been one of baseball’s best defensive third basemen but he has also displayed an above-average glove (5.4 UZR/150, +2 Defensive Runs Saved) over 433 career innings at short. A position shift would greatly alter Baltimore’s offseason plans and put them in line to seek out third base help, perhaps even a top free agent like Mike Moustakas or Todd Frazier. The O’s could also aim lower and simply look for a platoon partner to join Beckham at the hot corner.
- The Braves “expect to lose” prized prospect Kevin Maitan as part of MLB’s investigation into the team’s alleged violations of international and domestic amateur signing rules, Gammons hear from a source within the Atlanta organization. Interestingly, the feeling within the new Braves front office (now led by new GM Alex Anthopoulos) is that “Maitan was [not] worth the money or the hype,” so losing him wouldn’t be a major setback for the farm system. Maitan signed for a $4.25MM bonus at the opening of the 2016-17 July 2 international signing period, and he hit .241/.290/.340 in his first pro season, receiving 176 PA in rookie ball. Despite those unimpressive numbers, Maitan came into the season as a consensus top-100 prospect in baseball and is still just 17 years old — even if the new Braves decision-makers weren’t keen on Maitan, they’d still be losing a significant trade chip if the league did indeed void his contract with the team.
- Some Red Sox officials want to try Blake Swihart out at second base, as the team will be looking for help at the keystone with Dustin Pedroia sidelined for at least the first two months of the season. Boston has already been exploring the idea of using Swihart in a superutility role, as he is regarded as a good enough athlete to handle first base, third base, left field, and his former position of catcher. Perhaps most importantly for Swihart’s future, the former top prospect tells Gammons that he has “felt the best I’ve felt in two years” and seems fully recovered from the ankle injuries that stalled his development.
They talk down Maitan like he’s the one who’s choosing to leave lmao. Good luck when he slaughters them consistently in a few years
Now I want the Mets to get Maitan so he can own the Braves relentlessly for the next decade more than anyone, thanks to the unbalanced schedule.
If the Mets sign him he will automatically get hurt
lol @ unbalanced schedule. Boo hoo.
I wouldn’t kid yourself, the Dodgers will sign him like they do every other prospect
He will not be a FA, he will still be an IFA. That means that teams are still subject to their IFA pool.
I wish him the best. Kid has an uphill battle without all those expectations. Hope he can do it for or against ATL. He’ll need a lot of good luck, something there’s not a lot of on NYM.
When he goes to the Mets, he’ll magically acquire every injury possible. Have fun with that.
Guess we will find out tomorrow I believe MLB will be setting an example and we will lose Maiten as well as Waters & draft picks with Int spending restrictions. Probably go down as the biggest punishment to an organization ever.
Hope AA lives up to the hype and the other prospects are as good as advertised.
why Waters? he’s 2017, Maitan is 2016. Wouldn’t it be more draft picks from 2016?
Waters signing was part of the investigation, which spanned Coppy’s entire tenure as Braves GM. There was speculation that he was offered money under the table or “incentives” like a car since he took slightly under slot money.
Honestly I think MLB would let them keep Waters but take away their first draft pick in 2018, which is the penalty for going more than 5% over the bonus pool.
I would guess that the Braves will lose Waters and the 2018 picks. They’ll be lucky if they don’t get the book thrown at them.
There was talk of Coppy offering him a car to go for a lower asking price to be able to sign Wright overslot. It’s less likely that there is enough evidence of it, but nothing surprises me at this point.
If I was a Braves fan I’d be praying they don’t take away Wright and others. I know that seems like over kill but I don’t have a good feeling for the Braves on this.
I’m waiting for the MLBTR report that Red Sox officials plan to lengthen Swihart out this offseason so he can be a long reliever and spot starter…
Haha I know right
I mean seriously, they’ve got this kid playing everywhere. I think all these position changes have screwed up his hitting.
Swihart came up doing well at the plate and now he can’t hit his weight because he’s learning all these new field positions.
Screwed up his hitting for sure… being moved around (off of catcher) for no reason is what got him injured in the first place.
And why did they do that? Because they wanted his bat in the lineup. The guy was considered a top catching prospect because of his bat at THAT position. If he were a LF or 3B prospect… his bat would have been below average.
Exactly! I’m so sick of the Red Sox not seeing this. Same with the Astros moving Gattis all around rather than have him play catcher.
Evan Gattis stumbling around in the outfield is pretty funny you have to admit
He’s being to overwhelmed with learning new positions, he can’t focus on, and improve his hitting.
Boston should go get one of the padres glut of middle infielders
The Sox have enough depth in the minors and majors to take care of 2nd base they still have Holt so they will be fine there
They need to focus on power for the middle of the line up I’m personally not a fan of the names that have been linked to them as of late
I hear you. Who would you like to go after?
Jedd gyrko
I like Logan Morrison as a free agent move but for a trade maybe Joc p (dodgers) and Kyle S (cubs)
And if there really looking for a second baseman I like Dee Gordon
What about benintendi for schwarber? Schwarber has killed it when he doesn’t have to play the field. Probably be a .270 hitter, .380 obp 40 Homer bat being a DH.
No, the Sox are far better off with Benintendi than with Schwarber.
No thanks the only outfielder that should get traded is JBJ
Schwarber’s value is very low right now. No way would The Sox make that trade.
Are you kidding it would take a lot more then just Schwarber for Benintendi. The Cubs would do that trade in the blink of an eye though just that DD would laugh so hard at that trade proposal he fall of his chair.
As a Cubs fan, I’d take that trade in a second!
Of course you would that’s why it’s not even close to realistic.
Joking right? LoL
Speaking of Mets what bout a Matt Harvey/Josh Harrison deal ??? If anybody could get Harvey right I️t would be Searage maybe some money goin the Bucs way.
From what I hear about the Pirates pitching coach, the Pirates should have a rotation full of ace’s.
I know!! haha…Not all of them, but alot of Pirates’ fans act as if Searage is the best pitching coach MLB has ever seen. They act as if he’s some miracle working GOD that can turn around every single pitcher that he works with…
The facts are Searage has done a solid job as the Pirates pitching coach. He’s done a good job resurrecting the careers of a couple talented pitchers, and he has done a good job with a couple of their prospects. Even so, alot of their fans greatly overrate Searage..
These same delusional Pirates’ fans give Searage ALL the credit when one of their pitchers have a bounceback season, but when one of their reclamation projects or one of their talented prospects fail, it is ALWAYS that particular pitcher’s fault!! It is pretty comical, to say the least…
I mean, if you look at Roger McDowell’s career, he has turned around just as many careers, if not even more than Searage as of late, but you don’t see Orioles fans clamoring to sign every pitcher that is currently struggling, but used to be very successful…lol Nor did you ever hear Braves’ fans constantly bragging about McDowell’s exploits as a pitching guru..
Facts are, there are several top notch pitching coaches in MLB. Some teams like the Braves, Pirates, etc., they tend to take ALOT of chances resurrecting the careers of talented and once successful struggling pitchers. The more chances you take on signing reclamation projects, the more opportunities you have to be successful. That’s why guys like Searage and McDowell, among a few others have such quality reputations as resurrection gurus..It is NOT because they are miracle workers, nor does it mean they are among the games elite pitching coaches!!!
The cubs had bosio, he was pretty good. Turned a few guys around.. Feldman, traded him for 2 struggling pitchers in arrieta and strop and he turned strop into a solid reliever and arrieta into a cy young winner, and turned Jason Hammel around into a good starter and when he left both times he sucked. And Hendricks is a all star. There’s a few more but they fired bosio which was kind of surprising and now he’s in Detroit.
I remember when the pirates got Jon Niese, and he bombed
Always knew Maitan was overrated; he’ll be a bust. Swihart in a utility role? He’s pretty close to a bust as well. Always trade prospects at the height of their value, especially for cost-controlled, young, hard-working players.
If they would just let swihart catch I think he would be ok he kept getting hurt when they tried him at new positions. He was a promising rookie and they got greedy and wanted more out of him which he didn’t have at the time. They should have just let him grow. If you think about it no catcher comes to the bigs great at both offense and defense. Posey came up as a hitter and learned defense, Yadi was the opposite, sal Perez was a great defender and has started to hit recently, McCann was a hitter with of not great defense in Atlanta. Catchers develop differently from other positions. Their good at one side of the ball and learn the other, they needed to keep catching him and let him learn. It’s not like Vasquez is a great hitter or anything.
Well said!
Some catchers just perform best at their primary position, because it helps mentally keep them in the game. It’s just what they are used to, being involved with every pitch, being a team leader, etc. That helps them stay mentally focused in the game, and seemingly that focus translates over to their at-bats.
I completely agree with your thoughts and opinions about Swihart. Just take a look at Alex Jackson, and what happened to him in Seattle, when he was moved out from behind the plate.
Ever since Atlanta has moved him back to catching, despite moving up and facing tougher competition, his bat has started to come back around almost immediately. Now, he’s beginning to show signs of the prospect Seattle initially drafted in the top 5 overall…
In an EYE-OPENING interview, Alex Jackson contributed his early offensive struggles to switching positions in Seattle. In that same interview, Jackson mentioned one of the main reasons he struggled offensively was due to the fact it just mentally messed up his approach to things. When he was catching, he would have to constantly think like a pitcher, studying and preparing game after game, studying players tendencies, effective pitch sequencing, player’s strengths and weaknesses, etc., and that preparation helped him mentally prepare and maintain focus at the plate. When he would come up to bat, he was already locked into the game mentally, and he stated this process and routine would benefit him tremendously offensively. Ironically, when he would come up to bat, after playing in the outfield, he would greatly over think things, leading to his failures..
I guess that’s just how some catchers are wired, and when you change that approach it messes up their routines, their mental approach to the game, and they tend to lose focus when they are wandering around the outfield occassionally getting a ball hit their way…
To me, I never initially thought of it that way, I always thought well, that’ll just give that player more time to work on their hitting, but in reality, after reading Jackson’s article, it makes perfect sense!!!
I know it’s goofy but playing my whole life then coaching two boys all the way to now where they are both playing ball for different colleges, I always picked for catcher (in early years like coach pitch age up to early high school rec leagues) the smart ADD kids with some size. Always worked because for some reason they were at their best when they constantly had something to do that didn’t feel like work. Couldn’t just tell a kid to focus the same as if they were catching because then it felt like work to them. So I have seen this through experience, it’s unlike any other position in baseball.
This holds true in softball as I also take the girls that have some learning disorders. They are always there down the list in the later rounds when I draft. I usually get that girl that is awesome at hitting and catching but can’t focus at other positions.
Agent trying to jack up price on Cubs. Yankees look set with rotation . Maddon and Hickey are familiar faces for Cobb. Cubs need him with only Lester Hendricks and Quintana.
How, exactly, is that jacking up the price? If you are going to try and do that, you are going to claim more than one other team is in the hunt. You will name one that actually makes more sense, too.
You only need one team rumored to run up price . Yankee have money. Dodgers or Yankees would be teams to use.
You’re very naive. Half the rumors naming NYY, BOS, or LAD are just agents trying to scare a smaller market team to up an offer. How the world works.
No way the Yanks are going after Cobb, he will go to the Cubs. If they get a pitcher it will be Ohtani
Not sure I want to sign Cobb. His strikeout #’s are way down and he gave up many more HR’s last year. Granted I know it was his first year back from TJS and they should get better but I just don’t think it’s worth the contract.
I’d rather let our young guns battle out for the 5th spot and claim it like Monty did last year.
Save the money.
Try and sign Ohtani,
re-sign Didi
save for 2019 and sign Harper n’ Sanchez to an extension
Agreed. Harper couldn’t make it anymore obvious that he wants to be a Yankee.
His dogs name is wrigley, his wife posts on Instagram talking about wanting the next time in Chicago to stay. Wearing Chicago bulls hats around, yup he wants to go to the Yankees. It’s the cubs if they want him
Yep, posting pictures with Bryant with the hashtag #Back2Back1Day. They grew up together, it’ll happen.
It’s Gammons he was last right during the Reagan administration.
Plus, he had that brain thing so he’s been a little “off” since then.
Gammons has forgot more about baseball than both of you guys have ever known!
Agree Cobb will probably have a big time regression like Hellickson did. Wouldn’t touch him.
Harper is joining his bff Bryant in Chicago. It’s clear as day he wants to play there. All the Instagram posts and their wives are even good friends.. all cubs have to do is either hope heyward has a monster year so he opts out or try trading him and package someone with him so the team eats his salary. Maybe heyward and Happ or Baez for a reliever. Then they clear about 25 mill a year which could go toward Harper.
Then my dream is to trade schwarber for Benintendi.
Benintendi
Bryant
Harper
Rizzo
Contreras
Would be one monster lineup.
Schwarber would have to be so much better and more consistent for BOS to even consider that trade that you’d probably be better off just keeping that version of Schwarber.
Obviously it wouldn’t be a straight up trade. Maybe cubs throw in a ok prospect that’s ranked in the 5-10 range in their system, and throw them a reliever like strop. I hate strop but he has good #s, just scares me when he comes in..
Don’t 15 yo girls follow instagram like this?
Hello-Schwarber would barely get Swihart let alone Benintendi…
Hope all you want on Heyward because he is what he is and they’re stuck with that idiotic contract…
Heyward is a defender. Nothing more. Any offense you get out of him is a plus.
No way Boston is Trading Benitendi. He is going to only get better as both an outfielder and hitter. I expect 25+ HR this year from him and Devers. Should help the HR totals for the team. JBJ, maybe gets traded for the right deal, but it’s going to have to be a good one because of his defensive skill set.
That’s if Benintendi doesn’t have that sophomore slump…
There’s no way Devers does that well,he’ll probably come to camp out so shape…
JBJ’s defense doesn’t cover up his lack of offense,so the return won’t be that great…
Nice trolling Cheerios but I think here is a far better chance that Judge has a sophomore slump then Benny.
If you say trading for Benny is going to happen if you say it twice. Nice try there is no way the Red Sox trade Benny for Schwarber straight up not a chance.
No one is taking Heywards contract! It’s prob the worst one in MLB ! He’s not gonna opt out either. Would take A LOT more than Schwarber to get Benny from the Sox! Plus Harper is gonna contract will cost at least $35 million a year. What are they gonna then have to pay for Bryant
I would agree at top market prices but if Cobb can be had for less than five years and less than 15 a year it’s a reasonable deal for almost any team.
Machado needs to stay at third he’s not great at short
He sure looked great at short whenever he played there
He’s great at SS, wtf are you talking about?!?!?
I wouldn’t call a 5.4 UZR/150 and +2 DRS in 433 innings “great.”
I’m a Braves fan and I don’t buy this BS about not seeing much in KM. It’s called spin
At this point there is just too many sources saying it for it to be false.
To me it seems like the MLB is trying to send a message, but it’s insane to single out the Braves just because Coppy was unliked. It seems like every other team not named Orioles are getting a pass so long as they don’t do it again.
I believe the story. I don’t believe that the Braves really think Maitan isn’t that great. They’re just acting like they don’t because they’re gonna lose him.
Oh sorry. It’s not actually a story the Braves have cooked up. He had fallen in almost every prospect rankings end of season and some mid season. He still has the body to be one of the greats, but a lot of scouts have come down on him. By no means would the Braves be happy they are losing him, but it’s not like they are losing their top prospect here.
“My ex-girlfriend is also very ugly” I tell Alex Anthopolous as she’s walking out the door
How can you realistically analyze a 17 yo playing state-side for the first time in all of 180 AB? Sounds petty to me.
People labelled him a generational talent based on less…
It’s not just the Braves staff. Most prospect lists have come down on him. He still remains a top 100 talent but Baseball Prospectus has just released the Braves list and label him 9th.
Kind of messed up to throw Maitan under the bus because your Organization can’t sign players by the book and get caught.
Sure he may not be doing well so far but he’s still insanely young.
Not exactly a message you want to send to possible future IFA signings.
Braves better hope the world isn’t listening to this ugly tune.
It’s far from an official statement, so it’s not really throwing anyone under the bus. If the story is true it’s most likely “water cooler” talk in the FO fueled by the fact that they are going to lose him.
Anyhow, I don’t think the Braves will have to worry about future IFA signings, at least not for a few years
Agreed, don’t know if the guy knows what throwing someone under the bus means..
So Cobb and Ohtani in the Cubs rotation.
Ohtani getting that 300k $. book it
The feeling from the Braves front office sounds exactly like MLBTR commenters ripping on their “favorite” player/prospect after their team trades the guy away. Real classy.
Yes, because you should believe an anonymous source as indicative of the entire front office, some of which is still unpacking.
You’re right. I’m so sorry for commenting on the article. I shouldn’t have done that.
You should probably take up your concerns with the writer of the article if it bugs you that much.
Yea that’s ridiculous that he would comment on your comment.
I’m pretty sure the Yankees could sign Cobb for around his projected contract and still easily be under the luxury tax threshold. I don’t see them doing so though, as they already have the top 3 of the rotation set pretty well with Severino, Tanaka and Gray, and then they also have Montgomery. They are probably just trying to drive the price up for the O’s.
UNless they actually offer him a deal, it does nothing.
This about the Yankees and lux tax. Why these articles keep saying Yankees can’t sign x player for fear of tax? Why not say where they are now tax wise and where they’d be if they signed him? They wouldn’t hit the tax either way before it in a this case…
Well its best to stay south of the tax line just in case of injuries and unforseen problems that could then put you over. Keep in mind theyre gunning for Ohtani as well. Im not sure what the $20 million posting fee does to your total payroll and how it affects your luxury tax but i assume that it just adds on. So potentially two big signings could put you over.
the posting fee doesn’t affect the the luxury tax. if they sign Otani, it will add 550k to their payroll for tax purposes
Ah, well thats relieving to hear. Still better to stay south of the lux. tax in order to maneuver more freely
Otani Cobb and Sabathia. The Yankees could really set themselves well for 2018 and beyond
What do you do with Montgomery and Adams then?
Nah forget Cobb. Try for Ohtani and CC and run a 6 man rotation with Sev, Tanaka, Gray, Ohtani, CC, Montgomery.
what a load of crap from the Braves. They took a 17 year old kid and promoted him out of the GCL to the Appalachian League after 9 games because they didnt think he was that good. Right.
Smoke and mirrors. Everyone, especially ATL knows he’s good. But you don’t talk your girl up when she’s about to dump you. That being said, you’d never see a Braves rep on-record as saying this. This is a classier organization than that and I really don’t like reading this type of mud-slinging from them. Hopefully that was an intern that just got a bad performance review.
Cobb is looking more and more like a Cub.
I’ve thought all along, the starter would be the first domino to fall for Chicago and that it would come via FA.
The talk of them trading core guys for starters, like Archer, was never going to make sense until all the viable FA starters were gone.
Once Cobb is in the fold, I assume they will target a closer next..
They have viable options at the 5th starter slot. Monty or a few guys in the minors, so it makes sense to get your back end guy, then fill out the middle innings.
THere are a lot of above average to very good middle/late inning arms out there.
Schwarber for Britton
If the Yankees could somehow move Ellsbury that’d help a lot. No idea what they’d have to package with him to get a team to take that contract.
If the Yankees trade Ellsbury theyll eat part of the contract. Package him with either another MLB player (like Headly) or a mid-tier prospect and sell him to a team who needs him and youll find a deal. No team is gonna take the contract in full if he gets traded, unless the Yankees cough up someone big and cheap which isnt gonna happen.
If the Marlins trade Stanton and don’t get a quality MLB-ready OF back, a separate even-money deal built around Ellsbury and either Wei-Yin Chen or Volquez could make sense.
I still think an even-money deal built around Ellsbury and Ian Kennedy makes more sense for NYY and helps KC avoid the potential lose-lose scenario of overpaying for a free-agent OF *and* continuing to pay Kennedy through his decline.
Chen would get destroyed coming back to Al East. He’s much better off with a NL team
Highly doubt the Yankees are in on Cobb
Cobb will be a Cub. All the stars are aligned for it. The Yankees are only “in the running” to try and keep the O’s out of the running.
Cobb has his former manager and pitching coach on the Cubs. Two guys that he looks upon as extended fathers.
Hey Mets fans… 2 words… Shea Jones
Orioles should move Chris Davis to 3B and then have Mark Trumbo and free agent Carlos Santana play 1B/DH. The defense would be subpar, but the offense would be excellent.
Davis at 3B would be worse than just about anyone else I can think of right now. Except Trumbo, of course.
And maybe 60-year-old Floyd Rayford. Maybe.
They tried CD at third, it went poorly. They put him at first and he is a gold glover. He has lately offered little at the plate so it won’t make much sense to take away his only value. Trumbo should not be in the field at all. Ideally he is traded for a utility infielder and salary relief.
Cobb to the Cubs is the most obvious of the free agent signings.
Orioles really in a panic of watching Machado walk out the door and signing with the Yankees.
Swihart at 2nd base is that serious? The guy is clumsy and has no mobility how is that going to work? Not to mention he’s a lousy hitter. This can’t be real.
Spoken like a true troll.
Try machado at short schoop at 3rd beckham at 2nd and davis at 1st
The Braves will be fine. Much like every other team (and the list is long)
that’s been caught cheating, the benefits always outweigh the punishment. Welcome to the MLB.
I’m not going to rip a kid growing through a huge culture change with $4m in the bank. That said, he had a down season. It’s still a huge loss for the Braves.
what reason would you have to rip either way? Not 100% familiar with the details but did he do anything wrong?
The Orioles are wondering whether to move Machado to SS? They should make the decision now on whether or not they can keep him when he is a FA… because if they can’t, why not let another team make that decision… and get what they can for him now?
Without a decent rotation, they don’t look like they could possibly win 90 games next year. Trade Machado for some pitching prospects, sign someone to slot into the rotation… and allow their current prospects to develop another year. JMO
trade with Fish Maitan,Sims,Wisler, and Cumberland For Ozuna and Chen. Trade Kemp and I.Anderson for McCann and Gustave. Trade with Royals Markakis and M.adams For Herrera.
if another team signs Maitan, can we trade for him?