Some stray items from around the league…
- It isn’t yet known if assistant GM John Ricco or special assistant J.P. Ricciardi will remain with the Mets in the front office of new GM Brodie Van Wagenen, though MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (Twitter link) reports that both Ricco and Ricciardi are expected to join Van Wagenen and Omar Minaya at the GM Meetings this week. The Mets reportedly want to retain both Ricco and Riccardi, though club COO Jeff Wilpon did say prior to Van Wagenen’s appointment that the new general manager would have hiring authority.
- Are Nomar Mazara and Jurickson Profar extension candidates or trade candidates for the Rangers? Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News feels the team should hold off on a Mazara deal at least for now, as Texas would be selling low on a former top prospect who has yet to really display that ability at the big league level (.258/.320/.425 with 60 homers over 1720 career PA, with just 1.5 fWAR over three seasons), plus Mazara is only entering his age-24 season and could still break out as a Rangers cornerstone. Profar was once seen as the best prospect in baseball, yet injuries have stalled his career, making it unlikely that the Rangers would invest in an extension for a player they still don’t know if they can count on as a long-term piece. By that same token, Profar probably doesn’t have a ton of trade value if Texas shops him around to rival teams.
- From that same piece, Grant argues that the Rangers should try to acquire a quality starting pitcher this winter as “seed money” towards a future contender. Grant feels Texas probably won’t be ready to contend until 2021, though since the Rangers have a huge need for pitching right now, the club could acquire a notable starter as something of a “relevancy tax” to help keep fan interest up, and then conceivably trade this pitcher for future assets later.
- With free agency upon us, Eduardo Escobar chose to sidestep the open market entirely by re-signing with the Diamondbacks on a three-year, $21MM contract. Multiple rival executives felt the deal was a good one for the D’Backs, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes (subscription required), with one exec speculating that Escobar’s price tag could’ve reached as high as four years and $40MM. As Rosenthal noted, however, the market is crowded with several other infield options, and Escobar could have found himself forced to take the sort of below-market contract that many other free agents had to settle for last offseason. Since Escobar enjoyed his time in Arizona, Rosenthal wonders if other players could prioritize a good situation rather than take the risk of a protracted free agent stint.
- The Orioles will be open to moving any and all veterans as they rebuild, but it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll be able to deal Mark Trumbo this winter, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes. Owed a hefty $13.5MM in 2019, Trumbo was already going to be a tough sell in trade talks, but his season-ending knee surgery at the end of August almost surely ruined his stock for any potential suitors. Trumbo’s surgery isn’t expected to limit him for the start of Spring Training, and the O’s will have to hope that he performs well in the first half of the 2019 season to potentially become a trade candidate by the deadline. Trumbo rebounded from a sub-replacement level season in 2017 to hit a solid .261/.313/.452 with 17 homers over 358 PA in 2018, though he’ll need to significantly top those solid numbers to increase his trade value, given his salary and defensive limitations.
didn’t grant write a piece on acquiring someone like Richards who is a write off in 2019 but will be available when the rangers can compete in 2020. now it’s 2021? which is it Evan?
I love this
Why don’t you go ask him not us?
Damn dude, you got nothing to contribute to the discussion shut your mouth and mind your business, I been on these forums for over 4 years and the negativity I see from dimwits like you is infuriating.
2023
Grant is similar to Cafardo, they just throw out a bunch of stuff and see if it sticks. Neither one of them seem to have any real insight.
Volkswagen has hiring authority but does he have firing authority???
lmao
I think it would be in the Yankees best interest to trade for Profar and play him either at 2nd or SS. He just might break out and I think a deal of Thairo Estrada or Tyler Wade, with a couple of good pitching prospects might get it done, like Garret Whitlock and Deivi Garcia.
Much better idea then giving Machado 10/300
Much better idea than giving Machado 10/300
I personally think the Rangers can do a lot better than that if they are to make Profar available
Trumbo to the Angels makes sense. They will need someone who can play first vs left handed pitchers. Could also give the Angels an option for Right field, if Calhoun continues to struggle. He would also add balance to the Angels lineup, giving them a run producer in the back end of the lineup. And most importantly, won’t cost much in terms of a prospect, or causing a log jam blocking prospects.
Maybe Trumbo to Tampa? They said earlier that they were looking for a more “feared” right handed bat to replace Cron. Trumbo fits the bill and maybe could use a change of scenery. Makes a lot of sense if the Orioles pay off some of his contract
Cron and Trumbo are the exact same player. There’s no reason to nontender Cron for Trumbo. That’d be stupid. If the angels want Trumbo they could have him for nothing. The orioles almost never agree to eat any cash so I doubt they’d do that. I find it highly unlikely Trumbo moves
Cron is no where near as good as Trumbo is. Trumbo when is healthy, average is 30 homers and 95 RBI’s per season. Cron will never come close to those numbers. Cron even with almost 600 AB this season, had only 74 RBI’s. Cron is not a run producer. Never has been. Never will be.
Using rbis to quantify Trumbo over cron is just nonsense. Cron has an OPS over 800 last year where trumbo’s sat at 750. If anything at this point cron is a slightly better player. They are both defensively and OBP challenged power hitters. Swapping one for the other is the definition of a lateral move.
Lol a run producer needs to drive in runs. Damn if there was a stat, to judge how good a run producer is. Wait there is. It is the RBI stat. Wow what a concept. A run producer, driving in runs don’t matter.
Why are you crediting Trumbo when his teammates reached base to drive him in?
Lets play a game. If I’m batting cleanup for the worst offense in baseball and you’re batting cleanup for the best offense in baseball who would you expect to have more RBIs? You can’t control If anyone is on base when you come to the plate. All you can do is hit the baseball when you have the opportunity. Also if you want to quantify cron over Trumbo using RBIS you’re still fighting a losing battle over the last 2 seasons. Trumbo had 44 in 358 PA’s in 18. And he had a measly 65 in 608 Pa’s in 2017. Cron had 74 in 560 in 2018. 56 in 373 in 2017. Your theory would still be a load of hot garbage because cron has driven in more runs overall and more frequently.
Cron in with the Angels, was hitting behind a guy who was on base over 40% of the time. So to say the Cron didn’t have the opportunities to drive in runs, is just laughable. Cron for a while in 2017 was hitting directly behind Trout.
Trumbo to the Angels is about as bad an idea as one could expect to see. BEFORE he had knee surgery, he couldn’t play a competent RF, so there is little hope of his doing so now. Likewise, the team doesn’t need a RH bat to platoon with RH 1B.
He is a classic, dictionary definition of a DH. And if you’ve been away for awhile, you might be surprised to learn that the Angels have a guy named Ohtani who will be occupying that role, when Pujols isn’t. The Angels have some needs, but RH bats aren’t one of them, and it is doubtful Trumbo is on the list of any of the 29 other teams.
Well if you were paying attention, Pujols had surgery and probably won’t be back until May or June. Ohtani also had surgery and isn’t expected to be ready to be full time DH until mid to late April. They took Marte of the 40 man roster. So that means that the Angels right now, will start the season with only Thyss or McKinnon for first base. Which I am a fan of both. But the Angels have also stated, that they will be looking for a veteran who can be a first base option. Especially sense, Pujols won’t be able to play first base everyday either. So once again, with the Angels situation. Trumbo to the Angels makes sense. Considering he won’t cost much in regards of a prospect. And he has only one year left on his deal, he won’t hurt the Angels long term in regards of blocking the prospects from being able to be called up, in 2020.
The angels could sign Mike Moustakas to play 3rd and DH for less than Trumbo per year and he actually fills a hole on your Ballclub. 2B has been a gigantic hole in LA since howie Kendrick left. Maybe cozart could finally fill it for multiple years. Or they could sign someone in FA a la matt Adams or Steve Pearce for less than Trumbo as well.
How do you extend Mazara or Profar based on what they have done at the mlb level? You wouldn’t be able to come to an agreement without overpaying them. The rangers should let them play or trade them to a team thats willing to overpay for these guys. I’m sure there are teams that will.
You’re clearly hoping that they improve. If Nomar Mazara is doing what he’s doing now you don’t even really want him as an everyday starter on your team. It wouldn’t be a crippling guarantee and it gives the team potential for a very team friendly deal. The cardinals do this all the time. If it doesn’t work out it’s not a huge loss financially. You can often move these guys like the cards did with Stephen piscotty. Or if not you could end up slightly overpaying a guy like they did with Kolten Wong. Or it could turn out like Carlos Martinez and you lock up a stud for pennies.
I think trading Marzara at this point would come back to hurt Texas. Profar is by far the best to trade.
I think Profar is immensely talented. I’d be scared of trading him.
Doesn’t matter what the rangers do, Daniels will screw it all up. No pitching at MLB level, no pitching in the minors. Competing in 2021? Interesting concept considering they don’t have any intriguing pitching prospects.
They wouldn’t be the first team who had to buy a staff. It’s probably not the easiest road to contention but the cubs don’t have one homegrown pitcher on their staff aside from Hendricks who was never an elite pitching prospect. Of course they had a few more premium offensive prospects in the pipeline than Texas does
They got Hendricks in a trade from Texas
Right but he pitched 2 years in the cubs minor league system. Made 44 starts in their minor league system.
Rangers have a ton of pitching in the minors.
A ton? But hyperbolic
They’re not loaded with high end pitching prospects. They have a couple nice looking arms but they have zero long term starters in the big leagues right now. They won’t be able to fill a playoff caliber rotation from within as it stands
Anybody that can throw a baseball to the plate will be a big improvement. After the many years of watching the Ranger play with good and bad teams, this year was the worst in at least the last 15-20 years. Player showed little interest in playing, and why should they [out side the millions they are paid] . Launch angle home runs being encouraged, ruining probably good contact hitters. So Jon Daniels just ups and trades off the only decent pitching left claiming a new youth movement. He needs to sell that somewhere else. the facts don’t support the actions. Rangers are in really bad shape for a MLB team. Daniels has surrounded the team with coaches that obviously don’t know how to Catch the ball, throw the ball and hit the ball. As for selecting pitchers Daniels needs to be removed completely from the selection process. Gotta be the worst in baseball at judging talent.. If you are a pitcher in a geriatrics ward You have hope.
Keep both Mazara and Profar.
Disagree on trading for a starting pitcher. Ride with Smyly and Minor. Throw young guys Mendez, Jurado and Sampson out there behind them until Palumbo and Hearn are ready to come up.