On behalf of the MLB Trade Rumors staff, we wish all of our readers a very safe and happy holiday season! Here are a few more news items to act as stocking stuffers as we head into Christmas Day…
- The Nationals project to be over the luxury tax limit for the second straight year, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post writes, which could have some impact on how — or if — the team continues to spend this offseason or at the trade deadline. The Nats are currently slated for a 30 percent tax on all overages beyond the $197MM threshold, though that tax bill will rise if the Nationals spend beyond the $217MM mark. There doesn’t seem much chance that Washington will pass the threshold again next year, however, as the club has several big contracts coming off the books, so the Nats will be well-positioned to spend big in the vaunted 2018-19 free agent class, which includes such notable D.C. players as Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy.
- Ichiro Suzuki is still hoping for another contract with an MLB team, telling the Kyodo News Agency (as picked up by the Associated Press) that “I feel like a big dog at a pet shop that hasn’t been sold. Of course, I want to play baseball next year.” Ichiro also didn’t close the door on a return to Japan, in somewhat oblique fashion; when asked if there was a possibility he could play for Nippon Professional Baseball next season, Suzuki said “When you use the word possibility, there are many things … it means anything is possible as long as it’s not zero.” Suzuki turned 44 in October and has spoken of hoping to play until he is 50 years old, though it remains to be seen if a Major League team will give the future Hall-of-Famer a shot at his 18th season in the bigs.
- An American League scout shared his opinion on the Rangers’ three pitching acquisitions (Mike Minor, Matt Moore, and Doug Fister) with Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News, noting that the trio’s ability to miss bats will help take pressure off a shaky Texas defense. Most interestingly, the scout suggested that Minor would be most effectively deployed not just as a reliever, but as the Rangers’ closer. Minor has said that he chose to sign with Texas because the club was open to giving him the opportunity to again be a starting pitcher, so while the left-hander has also said he’s fine with continuing as a reliever, rotation work would seem to be his first option. Minor began his career as a starter but shoulder problems cost him all of the 2015 and 2016 seasons before he returned to post excellent numbers out of the Royals bullpen last year.
- After undergoing Tommy John surgery last May, Brady Rodgers hopes to be finished with his rehab by June, the Astros right-hander tells Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle. A third-rounder in the 2012 draft, Rodgers made his MLB debut in 2016, tossing 8 1/3 innings for the Astros. He owns a 3.98 ERA, 4.56 K/BB rate and 7.4 K/9 over 575 career frames in the minors, with particularly strong results coming in the last two years at the Triple-A level. Once recovered, Rodgers will provide more upper minors depth for the Houston rotation.
You can do it Ichiro!!! Epitome of being a true professional.
Continue to defy mother Nature and Father Time long as you can.
Mariners should get him
What young kid should lose his MLB paycheck to hire Ichiro, Gamel or Heredia?
Both, Ichiro should play both outfield spots at once
I think that too many Ichiro fans hold on to the memory of what he once was, but the reality is that Ichiro probably doesn’t need to take up a major league roster spot now. I could see having Ichiro as a coach to take advantage of his intangibles in the clubhouse but he isn’t the player he once was. Every player comes to a day when they should retire. Ichiro acts as if he hasn’t realized that day has past already for him.
4th outfielder. Haniger in right, Gamel/heredia in left, Gordon in center and Ichiro in the same role as Heredia was I last season.
I concur with @24TheKid. Heredia has not shown even the remotest ability to hit RHP yet. If he had, he’d have been slotted as the CF. Until he does, he soft-platoons and requires another option. Further, Gamel’s ability to further his breakout is highly questionable because it was so BABIP-driven.
Respected Elder Ichiro just might actually be a fit in the current Mariners OF. His age, wisdom, and eccentric-ness contrast beautifully with the current youthful vigor and he knows his role — defensive replacement/ PR, sneaky vLHP option (given his career-long reverse split). With the Mariners, there is that extra but if sentimentality that just might allow for him to be good enough to play. And he can be that extra emergency arm for the pen when desperately needed.
Give him a rolling 1-year contract with mutual/ team options. Don’t ever dare accept a guaranteed extra year unless he can actually emerge as the RP he’s always wanted to be.
If a young kid deserves to play over Ichiro he will. Baseball is a sentimental game, but not that sentimental. Beloved veterans get shown the door all the time
Nats should
Mariners should get ichiro
San Francisco needs low cost OFs.
Boston could use a spare OF
To play where? Pawtucket?
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to MLBTR
And to all a good night ^
Merry Christmas MLBTR. You give us something to maintain the interest and intrigue during the doldrums of winter. Cheers.
Mike Minor, Matt Moore and Doug Fister are pitchers who miss bats? Meaning strikeout pitchers? Since when?
Career K/9
Minor = 8.1
Moore = 8.2
Fister – 6.2
WTF? Did I miss something?
Did you miss something? Other then the training, experience and knowledge of the scout who does this for a living? Or the ability to interpret what’s actually seen instead of just looking at the results? Or the fact that those numbers are much better then every Texas SP last year not named Yu? Nah, I’m sure you are well trained and did weeks worth of homework before questioning the guy who does it for a living.
Some people who do things for a living can still be lousy at what they do for a living.
So, you are saying that Doug Fister is a strikeout pitcher? His entire career has been built around pitching to contact.. It is refreshing to see there are still people like you out there that believe everything they hear.. If this same scout told you that he wants to trade for Yasmany Tomas and Mark Trumbo because they have excellent on base skills would you believe him?
He’s the expert
I don’t have any particularly strong feelings about this topic. But could you come up with a more asinine argument than “So-and-so does this for a living and you don’t, therefore you cannot have an opinion on this issue”? Expert worship. Yeah. Go check under the tree. I hope you got that coloring book you asked for.
If you aren’t striking them out, then the balls are in play. Duh. Unless the batter is walked and every defense loves a walk.
Just because someone has a job doesn’t mean they know more than the average joe. I’m a Braves fan who has watched Mike Minor pitch up close and personal several times and he is by no definition a strikeout pitcher. All three pitchers when they are right are ground ball guys, especially Fister. Just because they may get more strikeouts than the guys the Rangers had last year doesn’t make them strikeout pitchers.
If MLB scouts were always right we wouldn’t end up with major bust prospects all the time and horrible lopsided trades and bad free agent signings.
There is more to baseball than stats, always has been. People like you think you win every baseball argument because you spit out random stats you google. There’s a reason you’re at home on your keyboard and the scout is the one they’re writing an article about. Genius idea for you, how about checking out their K/9 over the last year or so rather than their career because believe it or not pitchers have the ability to change how they pitch, or did your “stats” not tell you that.
Haha! Doug Foster, Missing Bats.
Who is Doug Foster?
The guy from those late 80s pepsi commercials
Some scouts are failures. I respectfully disagree with the scout’s assessment. I think our friend’s still living in 2013– That was the year Fister set his personal best strikeouts in a season– 159K in 208.2 Innings.
His second personal best strikeouts in a season was 2011 with 146K in 216.1 Innings. Third highest was 2012 with 137K in 161.2 Innings
The closest he came to having more strikeouts than Innings pitched in a full season, 2017 where he had 83K to 90.1 Innings for Boston in 15 games. I suspect this is the season the Scout is basing it most off of, a season I suspect is a fluke. Season before that– 2016– He had 115K in 180.1IP!! espn.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/30370/doug-fister
This guy is a nice value pitcher, but far from “Strike out” Pitcher, and maddeningly inconsistent. I suspect this scout is a mole, paid off by Doug’s agents….That or secret illuminati.
Recent history tends to be more relieable than statistics from 7 years ago. Pitchers are striking more batters out now than ever, mostly because of a change in swing planes but also because teams are using more of the statcast data in their training than ever, specifically things like spin rates and break rates. Some pitchers – a lot of them, actually – have been altering grips on pittches and even pitch selection to take advantage of this information. Look at Rich Hill, for example – he’s been very vocal about using new data to alter his delivery and grip. Most of the Dodgers, actually. Or look at Jerry Blevins – a career LOOGY, nothing special. The last two seasons his k/9 rate has skyrocketed – 11.1 in 2016 and then 12.7 in 2017. And k/9 isn’t even an ideal measure – swinging strike % is much more accurate, and then there’s even more granular data with that in regards to pitch type. For example, once Rich Hill and his coaches determined the swinging strike rate on his curveball was plummeting – hitters were laying off of it in 2017 – he switched back to the fastball, and was still remarkably effective. Look at recent numbers; we’ve only had this kind of pitch f/x and statcast data for a few years now, and pitchers and hitters are adjusting accordingly.
I gave you statistics for 2016, and 2017. Those are the last 2 years.
I gave you stats for his top 3 seasons in Strikeouts. 2011, 2013, 2012, His top 3 seasons he had the most strikeouts in a season. If you need more relevant data– in the four years leading to 2017– he failed to even top 100K 3 out of those 4 seasons and he pitched 164IP, 103IP, 180IP, and 90.1IP in the previous 4 MLB seasons.
If strikeouts are trending up, why are his so down? That one season he topped 100K in the last 4 years, it was done in 180IP.- –2 years ago– Not 7.
Some scouts are failures? Then what does that make a bunch of fans on websites like this who think their opinions trump everybody else’s? “But I’m a much more knowledgeable fan than you are because I’ve watched more baseball and play in a fantasy league!” Ugh
straw man arguments are the worst.
Wait a minute, you are just using raw strikeout numbers? Like, he only had over 100 strikeouts etc…rather than k/9 or swinging strike rate or, well, anything more relevant? That’s preposterous. I mean, man, Trevor Hoffman only struck out 100 batters like twice in his career. He clearly wasn’t a strikeout pitcher, according to your logic. Boggles my mind. Doug Fister’s strikeouts in 2011, when he was a starter, have literally no relevance to his strikeouts in 2017, when he was a swingman.
Doug Fister’s K rate/9 by year: 2014: 5.4/9. 2015 5.5/9. 2016: 5.7/9. 2017 8.3/9. That’s an upward trend.
One of the most intelligent, well-said comments I’ve EVER read on here. Well done David, I couldn’t have said it any better myself!!
That is some excellent insight into how pitchers and their coaches are studying and making their adjustments these days. That is the type of insight that baseball fans don’t get to hear about enough. Too often articles are only written about the drama of the clubhouse, transactions, etc. for clickbait…We need more of this type of info..
Personally, I love seeing how scouting techniques and pitching, hitting techniques are evolving with new technology and usable data at their hands…
Seeing how coaches and players utilize this new technology and data to me is truly fascinating…That’s just me being a baseball nerd though…lol
David is one of the most articulate posters here. I had two responses I worked hard to compose STILL awaiting for moderation… frustrating…
At this point David, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t respond to either. (when they eventually get approved…) but I appreciate you not making things personal, or hitting me with attacks. Your posts usually have good researched stats to make your case, Not some random blanket statement designed to discredit without offering any evidence. And for that, I appreciate it, David.
I pray this post successfully without 3rd “awaiting moderation.”
Minor got more strikeouts last year as a relief pitcher. He’s not going to get the same amount of strikeouts in a starting role. Why? Because I’ve seen the guy pitch a lot. He’s not a strikeout pitcher.
Well… When you state there’s a reason scouts are scouts and we (including you, of course) are mere keyboard warriors, you are correct. However, the reasons why seen to differ greatly from what you think.
1- They had an ‘in’ to the job. Anything baseball that’s not on-the-field is a massive, massive Old Boys Club. You don’t get in unless you have family or a really, really good friend who’s in. This is a known.
2- They are willing to have a horrible , forced travel schedule for most of the year with few standard benefits and very low pay and next-to-no job security.
3- They don’t have the qualifications or skills to do any kind of coaching or FO job.
The scout is British so you gotta convert those stats to the metric system
Yes, you missed something. It’s called CONTEXT. The context in which their ability to miss bats is in direct comparison to the Rangers starters from last year. The Rangers 6 most frequent starters last year posted K/9 of, in order from lowest to highest ERA, 4.6, 9.7, 6.4, 5.6, 5.4, and 7.1, and it’s pretty obvious which one is Darvish. The guy with who posted a 7.1 K/9 also posted an ERA just shy of 6…
Every single one of Minor, Moore, and Fister is an improvement to the team. Every. Single. One. Also, last year Fister and Minor posted career bests in K/9, with Minor coming in at 10.2… Now the Rangers are somewhat familiar with strikeout kings and the guy who missed more bats than anyone else posted a career K/9 of 9.5, so being in the low 8s isn’t the worst thing in the world.
It will be good to see Ichiro in a trident Mariners uniform again
Chibba Lotte Marines
Go get Ichiro, Dipoto!!! And get some good SP!!!
Sorry Mariners fans.. Before Ichiro can return to Seattle he has to first sign with another team so that Dipoto can swing a trade for him.. I have no doubt he will play in Seattle this year but not until May or June when recently signed players can officially be traded..
That would be great to see Ichiro in either a Rangers or Astros uniform this season
So the Nationals are over the payroll tax limit for the second year in a row despite the fact they don’t have a functioning TV deal in place.
The Phillies have the third largest TV deal in MLB and they have never paid one dollar in payroll tax. The Mets………Fred Wilpon……scam. The Braves own a market that is essentially the same size as Boston. The Marlins own the the 16th largest media market in the USA.
Then you have a team like the Pirates whose owner acts like having a payroll that is 50% of what the Nationals are doing is unthinkable.
None of this would be possible without a thoroughly corrupt Fake News corporate media. Any “news” media that was not corrupt would keep the Nationals example front and center in the public mind and directly juxtapose all other teams against them as an example of what is possible for them to spend.
This is an outrage, I say. An outrage!
Is the point that the Nationals are putting their profits back into the team and other teams are pocketing theirs? Or u just ranting
Speaking of TV deals, the Braves have quite possibly the worst TV deal in the MLB. They generate a very low revenue from their TV deal. Sadly they’re stuck in it until 2022. Time Warner really screwed the Braves when they put the team up for sale and negotiated a horrible TV deal just so they could have one in place when they sole the team. They didn’t care about trying to get one that would be beneficial to the Braves revenue stream.
Where is this guy getting that the Nats paid luxury tax last year? I checked a number of sites and they only report LAD, NYY, Bos, Det, SF and CHC paid in 2016, Nats have never paid luxury tax as far as I have read.
I’m also wondering if they are set to pay this year. They lost Werth’s $20M salary and although many will get a raise I doubt they are going up that much. Most of their stars are still very cheap by today’s standards because they have never been FA.
they are referring to 2017 as last year. I do not know if the Nationals paid the tax or not.
Don’t worry, if they’re wrong the article will vanish
As a personal favorite during his prime, wouldn’t mind seeing WSox bring on Ichiro to play a few days a week while OFs that matter are in the minors (but Eloy soon). Observing a true pro like that daily can only help young guys like Moncada and Anderson regardless of position.
Yes observe, because this guy sticks to himself and refuses to converse in English despite his grasp of the language.
Lol he has no pressure to conform to the American society
It was in response to the assumptions that he would actually tutor youngsters.
Man if the Padres sign Ichiro…!
Then they would have wasted a roster spot on a player way past their usefulness. Ichiro is not the player he once was.
Prove it!
Rays should pick him up as a dh