This week in baseball blogs…
- Good Fundies implores the Mets to upgrade the back end of their rotation.
- Know Hitter wants the Tigers to trade for Joc Pederson.
- Pinstripe Alley isn’t pleased with the Yankees’ Sonny Gray trade.
- The Dugout Online regards two-way players as the next evolution of baseball.
- MLB & Fantasy Baseball Analyzed tries to fix the CBA and make things better for the players.
- Fish Stripes reflects on last winter’s Marlins-Brewers trade centering on Christian Yelich.
- Chin Music Baseball names the best and worst players of the decade thus far.
- Jays From the Couch talks with Blue Jays prospect Cavan Biggio.
- The 3rd Man In profiles and interviews young catcher Shea Langeliers, who could be the top pick in this summer’s draft.
- Foul Territory lists five teams that should sign Manny Machado.
- District On Deck lists four players who could be X-factors for the 2019 Nationals.
- Chipalatta looks at the Astros’ potential lineup for 2019.
- Statsswipe asks whether Corbin Burnes or Brandon Woodruff will have the better 2019 season.
- Cubbies Crib examines Carl Edwards’ 2018.
- Hardball Via Hardcore shares a pre-spring state of the Mariners address.
- Call to the Pen (links: 1, 2, 3) praises the Rangers’ signing of Asdrubal Cabrera, wonders if any of the Phillies’ relievers will become trade bait, and ranks the top 10 fantasy baseball catchers for 2019.
- Wander Rays ranks Tampa Bay’s 10 best right-handed pitching prospects.
- Notes from the Sally previews the 2019 Greensboro Grasshoppers, the Pirates South Atlantic League team..
- A’s Farm offers updates on some of the team’s top pitching prospects including Jesus Luzardo, A.J. Puk, Grant Holmes and James Kaprielian.
- East Village Times delves into Padres pitching prospect Chris Paddack’s 2018 statistics.
- Mets Critic disputes the notion that Jeff McNeil is now an outfielder.
- Rising Apple sees McNeil as one of a few Mets who could break out this year.
- Rotisserie Duck reviews the 2018 leaders of several important stats.
- The Giants Cove attempts to shoot down some familiar baseball cliches.
- Everything Bluebirds expects a big year out of Randal Grichuk.
- The Point of Pittsburgh examines Barry Bonds’ chances at getting inducted into the Hall of Fame in the future.
- The Runner Sports (links: 1, 2, 3) reacts to the Hall of Fame elections of Mariano Rivera and Mike Mussina, and the two newest members of the Twins’ HOF, and profiles Astros prospect Ryan Hartman
- Mets Daddy writes that “Hall of Fame standards have been driven down.”
- Phillies Nation searches for the club’s next Hall of Famer.
- Pinstriped Prospects (links: 1, 2) ranks the Yankees’ top five prospects at both shortstop and third base.
- Jays Journal has a piece on the worst trades in the history of the Blue Jays.
- Reviewing the Brew (links: 1, 2) presents arguments for and against the Brewers’ new stadium naming rights deal with American Family Insurance.
- The K Zone explains how each NL Central team got its name.
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If 36th pick turns into something, PA owes Cashman an apology.
Sonny Gray was a sunk cost on an expiring contract. Cashman sold him to the highest bidder. My only regret, I wanted Stephenson, who was rated one spot higher than long among Reds’ prospects
I don’t want Stephenson in either organization.
I’m sure a blogger will get right on that..lofl
I’m just glad Gray is finally gone. He just wasn’t suited for Yankee Stadium. Best of luck to him elsewhere
Pinestripe Alley is never pleased with anything because they’re a bunch of idiots.
Know Hitter makes excellent observations. I am not really familiar with the Tiger prospects being proposed; but, the organizational needs and match up analysis is spot on. I would guess Friedman and the Detroit FO must be talking.
Joc is on the cusp of a classic “age 26 monster breakout” and it would be great see him get the opportunity in Detroit. Hopefully, something could be worked out.
I wouldn’t object to Pederson in a Tigers uniform, but trying to say that he would be one of the building blocks going forward is just stupid.. Two years to free agency does not put him in the Tigers window. I would not trade three young pitching prospects who are controlled for six years for a platoon outfielder with two years control. I would want more than Pederson for just Boyd. who might be more of a breakout candidate this year than Pederson. I actually doubt any team will offer as much as their proposal entails.
agree sty…giving up ANY pitching for a dime a dozen outfielder is not in the game plan nor does it make sense. I was actually astounded. he suggests giving up 2 arms for a corner outfielder mid way through a rebuild. crazy.
I’m happy with what we received for Gray. Without knowing what else was being offered, I can’t be mad about last years #54 pick and obtaining an additional 1st round pick for next year. Yanks should have two picks in the 30’s range. We need to have a good draft to stock the farm or use as trade bait.
I wouldn’t really say anyone would owe cashmen an apology if he selects the right lottery number. The #36 has the value of just that, a maybe who knows? If cashmen picks the right player and the Yankees get lucky it’s not really the reds fault for trading a draft slot, obviously if it were a top 10 pick it is a bit more than a lottery.
But yeah the Yankees got nothing for gray… if they get lucky and pick a winner than that is it they got lucky. So basically they have to get lucky to have gotten anything other than salary relief out of this trade. There is more than decent chance that the prospect they received and the #36 pick never even stick at a major league level.
If Chris Paddack ends up as merely a bullpen arm, that is a HUGE disappointment to the Padres “contend in 2020” plan. He had very impressive numbers, there’s no debating that. But he is almost exclusively a fastball/change up pitcher right now. He really REALLY needs a third pitch to mature….
Links for Call to the Pen are Phillies (1), Rangers (2), and catchers (3).
Good to see some attention given to Cavan Biggio. Lot to like in his 2018 season.
There’s no question that the back of the Mets rotation is leaky – I’d throw Matz in there given his injury history and the fact that he put up relatively unimpressive numbers last season despite outperforming his peripherals.
This might be overly ambitious even for BVW so far, but I wonder if they’re a quiet suitor for Keuchel – his market seems ice cold, and he wouldn’t be financially out of the question for them based on their current flexibility. I’ve also seen from some sketchy sources that they’ve kicked the tires on Gonzalez, who also would be a good fit.
Why were they even thinking of trading Thor if this is the case?
I think they were dangling Thor to see if anyone would give up a fortune for him. If they’d gotten a good bite, they probably would have been more active on the SP market (that’s my inference based on BVW’s approach to free agency so far). They didn’t seem to get much interest and they correctly backed down from using him to get Realmuto, so they’re moving forward with him in the rotation. I still wouldn’t be surprised if Thor ends up traded down the road, as my feeling is that they prefer DeGrom as an extension candidate.
I understand about not going after Harper using up all the remaining 30 that’s under the luxury tax, but we need a right fielder. What about Markakis ?? He’s still out there, the man can certainly hit. And he would command ALOT less money.. McNeil is a second basemen. Cano won’t be able to play everyday. Don’t experiment with players during the season. Remember Murphy in the outfield ?? Cano was a salary dump to get their closer, don’t use him as the marquee player on the team. Cespedes is right now and my feeling is that he will be back by mid season at least.
The Braves re-signed Markakis last week.
Oops…