With a pair of relief signings being wrapped up, the Phillies seem to feel good about that aspect of their roster. Per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki, via Twitter, the team will turn its gaze to improving the rotation. Both they and the Yankees checked in with the Diamondbacks regarding right-hander Zack Greinke, Robert Murray of FanRag writes. Greinke ending up with either club is unlikely, however, sources informed Murray. With the Rangers also having shown interest in Greinke, we now know at least three teams have inquired about the expensive 34-year-old this offseason.
Greinke is the latest hurler to land on the radar of the Yankees, who have also eyed Pirates righty Gerrit Cole. Consequently, the Bucs “are gathering names of young, controllable” Yankees they could acquire in a Cole deal, though there’s “nothing close,” Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (on Twitter). Notably, Brink adds that the Yankees are also “looking at” Rays righty Chris Archer. The 29-year-old has drawn significant interest this winter, but it’s unclear whether the Rays will move him.
Plenty more pitching rumors…
- The Royals are giving serious consideration to dealing southpaw Danny Duffy, who’s “extremely popular” on the trade market, Jon Heyman of FanRag tweets. Duffy suggested on Twitter that he doesn’t want to go anywhere, for what it’s worth. “Bury me a Royal,” he declared.
- As the Blue Jays look for pitching reinforcements, they are giving real consideration to veteran CC Sabathia, as Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca writes. Though manager John Gibbons suggested his own priority is to add bats, he also said he’d welcome the addition of the veteran Sabathia — who has a lengthy history with the Jays’ current front office leadership stemming from their time in Cleveland together.
- Teams have given up on trying to acquire Reds closer Raisel Iglesias, Heyman reports on Twitter. The Reds understandably want an enormous haul back for the 27-year-old star, who’s under affordable control for the foreseeable future.
- The Twins and Rays have chatted about veteran righty Jake Odorizzi, per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (via Twitter), who adds that Tampa Bay was not interested in Minnesota’s initial offer.
- Although they’re at the beginning of a full, cost-cutting rebuild, the Marlins aren’t feeling any urgency to deal righty Dan Straily, per Joe Frisaro of MLB.com (Twitter link). Miami’s de facto ace will play his first of three arbitration-eligible seasons in 2018. He’s projected to earn a $4.6MM salary, which even the Marlins can afford.
- The Mets are not likely to sign another free agent reliever, at least in the near term, according to GM Sandy Alderson and as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo tweets. Instead, after landing Anthony Swarzak, the organization expects to begin looking to fill its other needs.
- Brewers GM David Stearns discussed his organization’s situation with reporters including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (Twitter links). He said the team was willing to go to two years to get Swarzak, but wasn’t willing to match the dollar amount he ultimately took. The club still has open payroll capacity, which Stearns says he’ll put to good use. “We have spending power this offseason,” he said. “I’m confident we are going to find places to use that effectively.”
- Before the Astros agreed to a deal with Joe Smith on Wednesday, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com hinted on Twitter that the team could have interest in free agent righty Hector Rondon. Whether that still stands remains to be seen, but the Astros are already chock-full of righty relievers as it is.
Pax vobiscum
Phillies rotation stinks but Greinke???? Meh.
Tiger_diesel92
Why would the Yankees want greinke? He can’t handle the big media because he get high anexity?
chino31
He played well with the dodgers
Perksy
LA is soft compared to NY.
Brixton
Give me Jason Vargas, Aaron Nola, Jerad Eickhoff, Nick Pivetta and Lively/Thompson/Eschelman as our rotation
jorleeduf
Why Vargas?
jwarden15
He did well for the first part of this past season.
swartnp7
Cole and JHay for Frazier, Andujar, Adams, and…some A-Baller flamethrower with no control.
thetruth 2
Too much, Cole is coming off 2 sub-par years with 2 years of control. Frazier, Sheffield and an A-ball prospect.
Dannydeman
No.
ctguy
Way too much for Cole. Yankees wouldn’t do that
thetruth 2
If Cole was an actual ace with more than 2 years of control he’d be worth more.
2016 ERA: 3.88 FIP: 3.33 K/9: 7.6. WAR: 1.6
2017 ERA: 4.26 FIP: 4.08 K/9 8.7 WAR: 2.8
This isn’t an ace and 2 years of control makes him a lot less valuable. He’s worth less than Sonny Gray who was a lot better than Cole before an injury-plagued 2016 so that package has to be a guideline.
rocky7
Yankees won’t include Sheffield.
Think again!
jtkuch
If the Pirates deal Cole and JHay then Torres needs to be a headliner
austincort47
Not going to happen. Torres is the #2 prospect in baseball only after Otani. Last year the Sox traded the #1 prospect in baseball and Kopech who was within the top 50 for an absolute ace in Sale with 3 years of control. Cole is good and I would love to see him in the Yankees rotation but he is nowhere near good enough to warrant the #2prospect in baseball.
thetruth 2
Exactly, Cole is worth less what Gray cost.
atlbraves2010
Number 2? Ronald Acuna has something to say about that…
jtkuch
Obviously not for Cole alone, but JHay is also a solid piece with 3 years control and without him, the Pirates’ infield is in shambles. They’d want a replacement and Andujar probably won’t cut it. They wouldn’t get much more than Torres, but if I’m the Pirates that’s what I’m asking, as I’m in no rush to deal either.
thetruth 2
We can do a lot better than Harrison.
driftcat28 2
Lolololol
dwhitt3
Lol no he doesn’t
driftcat28 2
Lol
helliottaz3
Ah….no. Maybe one of those guys, but likely none of them. Cole is not that good coming off bad season.
prich
Neshek and Grienke on the same team is not gonna go well for that clubhouse. Also Grienke probably couldn’t live with a manager will be hard on his players
22222pete
Ellsbury for Greinke straight up may work
nissan3981
I agree
chino31
That may work but snakes gotta throw in money and yanks throw in a prospect.
thetruth 2
I wish but the D-Backs would never do that. Greinke still has value despite his contract, Ellsbury has none.
mdunkel
Dream on Ellsbury has zero value. Always makes me laugh when Yankee fan overrates their player.
southbeachbully
Geez,,,,that flew over your head. He wasn’t serious.
scottaz
Why would any team trade an Ace for a bad contract straight up?
sam 17
If you make Refsnyder the headliner then it would work.
jimmertee
Bahahahahaha, Refsnyder; a product of a hype machine. He has no position that he can play well and can’t seem to be able to catch up to MLB pitching. Triple A all-star type.
tac3
Pass… Grienke is soft… The philly phan base would eat him for breakfast
jackt
Met him in Milwaukee and he could hardly look at me. Phillies fans would eat him for a mid-afternoon snack.
driftcat28 2
Cash should do Frazier and a lower level prospect for Cole. Whoever thinks Torres needs to go in a deal is on something good
cxcx
I believe the only mention of Torres was for Cole and Harrison (might be wrong.) I bet the Mets wish they could go back to when Rosario was the number two prospect and trade him for something approaching Cole and Harrison.
jtox21
This is coming a Pirate and Yankees fan… IF it’s for Cole and Harrison then Torres definitely should be in play, but I don’t think he needs to be included if the Yankees brass are that enamoured with him. Personally I think the best scenario for both would be Frazier, Sheffield and lower prospect for Cole. Harrison is not a throw in player, can’t get him with Cole without expecting to pay more
rocky7
I say again, in my opinion Sheffield will not be included in any trade, even for Cole.
thetruth 2
I said the exact same thing about what it would take to get Cole, so I agree with you. Harrison however isn’t that valuable, a year ago Pittsburgh were trying to give him away. Torres is worth more than both.
swartnp7
So pretty much every Yanks fan is saying “that’s too much, that’s too much.” Tell me the all the times the Yanks got the better of the Bucs in a trade?
Archer isn’t coming. Arrietta is too $. Grienke will cost too $. (I only say too much $ because they actually seem to want to trim payroll a little).
Cole is your best bet. He won’t need to be your ace, is way cheaper, and 2 yrs left. $ ur not spending on Grienke/Jake will net you Manny next yr.
swartnp7
I get that price is steep, and I agree that all the other pitchers are better. But Yanks won’t have room for Frazier or Andujar. Unless they send Ellsbury and eat the contract like they did for AJ Burnett.
thetruth 2
An overpay is still an overpay. Cole is not worth Torres. Arrieta is in decline, Greinke is on a bad contract, Archer is not exactly elite. Cole is not a proven workhorse (didn’t pitch for 200 innings in 2016), his ERA and FIP are over 4, he has 2 years of control left… how is he worth a top 5 prospect in all of baseball or anyone in that conversation?!
swartnp7
I’m not the guy mentioning Torres. Not once. Frazier, Andujar, +.
dust44
I don’t think Machado will b a yankee. He seems to want to play short. And DiDi is the Yanks guy at short. They are highly unlikely to trade Torres for anyone considering he’s probably going to start the year at 2nd. And I doubt Andujar is going anywhere. My guess is they move Clint for a younger starter. I can c Fulmer and Cole being the 2 in play of Clint is the moveable piece. But if they r set on keeping all 3 of those young position guys and Sheffield an Adams. Then I’d say Corbin is probably the better target considering he won’t cost any of those 5 guys or Florial.
jtox21
Burnett was a player they thought could be useful and he was, I doubt anyone sees that with Ells and what’s remaining on that contract. All fans of teams put too much stock into their prospects, so many top 100/top 10 washout. To get a pretty cheap controllable #2 pitcher is going to cost you more than you’d like. Barely any of us have actually seen these prospects play other than a batting video or highlight. We’re mostly going off the “potential” of scouting reports, can’t get attached to any prospect
jimmertee
This guy for this guy trade chatter is useless and never comes true. Home town guy always overates the hometown piece. Waist of keystrokes.
SevenCostanza
It’s the Winter Meetings, where even team execs are engaging in “this guy for that guy trade chatter.” And bringing anyone’s waistline into the conversation is the true waste of keystrokes.
canadianyankee
Baaaazzzziiiiinnnnngggg!!!!
jimmertee
The execs do it because it is real and their business to do it, not useless keystokes suggestions that are better served to be in a fiction novel.
jimmertee
I hope the Jays sign Sabathia, he would be a great add.
jdouble777
Welcome to MLBTR fluff season… I’ll be back in a month when click candy season finally ends. What a pathetically useless post.
GoGreen_GoSoylentGreen
I’m assuming a package built around Gordon didn’t impress the Rays…I’m assuming that is where the Twins started.
GoGreen_GoSoylentGreen
It’s hard to sell a SS that might not be a SS…
Slyder299
Would the Yankees trade frazier, Adams and another low prospect for Duffy and merrifield
GoGreen_GoSoylentGreen
The Yankees will trade anything. Yankees fans tend to think that their players are worth more than they are. Nature of the beast…
thetruth 2
Yankees won’t trade anything, any team that does it needs a new GM and top prospects are top prospects unless they turn into busts.
thetruth 2
I think that’s too much and we don’t need Merrifield as 2B was opened for Torres.
Slyder299
Then what would be a good package.
GoGreen_GoSoylentGreen
“Bury me a Royal” is an interesting claim from someone not named George H. Brett…
jwarden15
I wish duffy would stay a Royal but it would help to get something good for him. I haven’t heard any specific teams who are interested, but I’m hoping Royals can get some good prospects who are close to reaching the big leagues. As far as “Bury Me A Royal”, Duffy doesn’t have a no trade clause in his contract so he really has no say in the matter.
DaKingoftheNorth
Mets are signing anymore FA? They’re a joke. They haven’t done anything at all.
dust44
I really can’t c the Yanks giving up anything of value for Grenke unless Ells is added in the trade. Then that makes alittle to no sense for the DBacks. But we have seen the Yanks work the DBacks and Tigers over before in trades.