Could the White Sox now be the favorites to land Manny Machado? Despite whispers of a mystery team being involved in Machado’s market, the Sox, Yankees, and Phillies were known to be the three clubs most heavily pursuing the free agent infielder. However, with the Yankees addressing their infield needs elsewhere and the Phillies perhaps now in the driver’s seat to sign Bryce Harper, it leaves the White Sox as potentially the last team standing for Machado. While things seem to be leaning in the Pale Hose’s direction right now, an industry source tells Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times that “everything is still on the table” in regards to where Machado or Harper could sign. “These guys are still so young (both 26), so if things aren’t what they want they could gamble and take a much shorter deal and try [free agency] again in the near future,” the source speculated.
More from both the AL and NL Central divisions…
- The Cardinals have yet to hold any extension talks with Paul Goldschmidt, Marcell Ozuna, or Michael Wacha, GM Michael Girsch told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other media. All three players are scheduled for free agency next winter, and while negotiations could yet take place later in the offseason, Girsch said “We’ll see how this year goes” in regards to the trio. Since Goldschmidt has yet to play a game in a Cards uniform, it would be very surprising to see him ink an extension before getting a chance to test the open market. As for Ozuna and Wacha, it makes sense for the Cardinals to see how either player bounces back from an injury-marred 2018 before making a long-term commitment. Ozuna was solid but unspectacular last season, hitting .280/.325/.433 with 23 homers over 628 plate appearances while dealing with nagging shoulder issues. Wacha, meanwhile, didn’t pitch after June 20 due to an oblique injury.
- If the Reds could only spend their money on either Dallas Keuchel or A.J. Pollock, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon feels the team would choose Keuchel, given the greater need for rotation help. Both players have been linked to the Reds in hot stove rumors this winter, and while Cincinnati has made some notable additions (i.e. Alex Wood and Tanner Roark) to its starting five, it still lacks a top-of-the-rotation arm. Without Pollock or another true center fielder, the Reds could at least make do at the position in the short term, using some combination of Scott Schebler, Yasiel Puig, and Nick Senzel between the corners. In another question in Sheldon’s mailbag piece, he doesn’t feel Jesse Winker will be an option in center field due to Winker’s lack of range.
- Indians outfielder Bradley Zimmer is hoping to beat his recovery timetable as he rehabs from shoulder surgery, telling MLB.com’s Mandy Bell and other reporters that “I feel like I’ll be ready for Spring Training.” Zimmer was slated for an eight-to-twelve month absence from baseball activities after undergoing labrum surgery last July, so he feels he is making good progress, while acknowledging that “the timetable is not really in my hands, as far as my progression.” Still, it seems to be a good sign that the former top prospect is looking to hit the field sooner rather than later, especially since the Tribe is sore need of outfield help. Zimmer has just a .237/.300/.370 slash line over 446 PA in the big leagues, though he has already displayed some quality baserunning and slick glovework in his brief time at the MLB level.
Manny taking less years sound like the odds going up in favor of the Yankees
You don’t need him.
I don’t really think it’s needed. If we are suddenly a team that cares about money then I’d rather spend it on pitching. And 1b next year.
Phillies are getting them both.
Yup. Single most likely outcome.
I’m wondering how you arrived at that conclusion. Do you have sources other than those reporting on talks, or is this the result of your analysis of those reports?
I imagine he’s posting his opinion on a message board.
If Harper and Manny wait any longer, they will be 36!
Or even ready for another agency
edit Free agency. Duh
The Reds need to add an ace…. if you don’t, all of what they have done will likely just boost them to the middle of the pack. Which some would say what’s the point? A true ace would at least get them a shot at a wildcard. They could possibly play meaningful baseball after the all star break. If not, the competition in the division is too stiff otherwise. They can hit with just about any team. We need Kluber or Keuchel or someone close to that skill level. Maybe Greinke
I’m not sure what they have done pulls them out of fifth place. Adding Keuchel or Pollock would be a waste of resources.
Yes, trying to make a bad team better is a terrible idea. Seriously? They have no ideations of going worst to first but they owe fans marked improvement. The 2019 Reds are much better than the 2018 Reds
Yes, those 2 players can make the team better in 2019…….if they stay healthy.
The problem is that they’re not going to sign for one year. A multi-year contract at big bucks is a risk – especially for Pollock.
Although Joey Votto has been a lifetime Redleg, was he really worth $22m in 2017 and $25m in 2018 to a small market teams budget? How about the $25m he’s being paid in 2019?
All teams have to develop some of their own players. The smaller the market, the higher the percentage.
If Keuchel or Pollock would get the 2019 Reds over the hump to being legitimate WS contenders, then the Reds might want to take the risk. But it’s not realistic. Don’t put yourself in a corner as the Padres did with Myers and Hosmer.
They haven’t committed one dollar post-2019 on any of their acquisitions. They appear to be trying to improve this year while keeping finances flexible for 2020 when more prospects are ready. They already have a top-5 offense today. Kluber gives them a top half (10 maybe?) rotation. They’re being pretty smart with their money. Oh, and Votto has earned every penny of his contract and he still has several years left
joe,
1. It doesn’t matter if Votto “earned every penny”. It matters how his contract impacted the budget, and consequently the roster.
2. Corey Kluber is a Cy Young guy, 200 inning workhorse, and one of the top 8-10 pitchers in MLB. If they trade him – and he appears to be off the market – the Indians want 3-4 players back, starting with a young established run producer and a top prospect.
The Reds making a trade for Kluber is like a family with a $70k a year income purchasing a $900k 7,500 sq ft.house with a 10,000 sq. ft. lawn. They’ll get the loan and make the mortgage payment, but nothing’s left to furnish the house and do the landscaping.
Votto, Suarez, and Barnhart are signed long term so that money is already accounted for. Most of the rest are either arb eligible or pre arb so they can estimate 2020’s payroll. They’re smarter than your or I so I’m pretty sure they know what they’re doing.
Lol, How much money do you think Kluber makes? Keuchel would be a bigger risk, not only budget wise, but time commitment wise. You’re just trolling, right.
Kluber makes chicken feed, by and large. $13M, $13.5, $14 next three years. Reds have plenty of prospect capital to acquire him if they wanted, Winker plus Trammell is a great start. Keuchel is probably looking $20/per and wants 5 years and I’m ok with the Reds doing that, even if the last year or so is rough. What’s your point? How is any of this trolling?
@joe The Reds making a trade for Kluber is like a family with a $70k a year income purchasing a $900k 7,500 sq ft.house with a 10,000 sq. ft. lawn. They’ll get the loan and make the mortgage payment, but nothing’s left to furnish the house and do the landscaping”
That sounds like a line to get a negative reaction to me, and not an argument as to why signing Kluber would be a good or bad idea. As a Reds fan I am more inclined to sign G. Gonzalez or W. Miley. I am not inclined to trade away a prospect like Trammell, or Senzel. If the team gels by the trade deadline, and another arm or bat could put them over the top, then make a big move.
The Pirates didn’t do much. They might pull themselves to 4th place.
They have a good lineup but have not done enough to leapfrog any of the teams in their own division, so the wild card looks like a long shot.
I agree the Reds need a legitimate front of the rotation guy. To be honest Keuchel makes me nervous do to the length of a potential deal. Kluber may cost prospect wise but for a shakey front office Kluber is a safer move. Greinke unless the D-backs take most his contract won’t and shouldn’t happen for financial reasons
Keuchel probably huge mistake for the Reds. He doesn’t miss bats and probably will get rocked at home.
I completely agree. But they need to find a front of the line starter to fill out the rotation, not sure who else is available besides Kluber, Greinke, Bauer. Winker could definitely be included in any trade
Ground ball pitcher?
Yeah, some people don’t let stats and facts get in the way of their argument. GABP increases homers but everything else is suppressed. Plenty of good pitchers have pitched well there, not really sure why everyone thinks it’s Coors. He doesn’t walk many and is a ground ball machine
I don’t think the Reds are really competing this year, no matter what other moves they make. I believe their plan is to flip all their new pieces at the deadline to get as much young talent to put around Senzel for the next several years.
Wrong.
Ok? So their plan is to try and resign all four of the aging, slightly above-average players they just got next year and continue being mediocre for several years? Or maybe just let them all walk after this year, along with Gennett, getting nothing back?
Oh wait, I forgot. Puig is leading them to a World Series this year. Never mind.
Heck Puig might hit 60 homers if he stays healthy in that bandbox. If they could have a decent pitching staff they could scare the crap out of any team . They can mash with anyone.
Puig has a better shot at snapping 60 bats over his leg after striking out than hitting 60 bombs.
Compelling retort.
If the season were to be over by the trade deadline, then yes they’d look to move most of those players. To say that’s “the plan” however is a Ridiculous statement. I will grant you it’s a backup plan.
You’re probably right, it was the unisom talking, but you have to admit, that ballpark is conducive to long fly balls making the seats
Their ‘O’ will be great with improved Pitching. The OF ‘D’ will be suspect, but a late inning ‘D’ CFer will help on close games. I see the Reds fighting for 2-4.
Ozuna isn’t going to sign any extension. Boras guy and seem to remember back before Yelich signed the extension Miami tried to make up with him over the optioning him down to save service time and get him to an extension. They were not interested at all and not because it was Miami. he’s a legit 5 tool player that knows how to use them, unlike a guy such as heyward and think Ozuna might just top the deal Heyward got with Boras after this season.
Ozuna will not top the Hayward deal and I’ll bet anything on that. There’s zero chance this would ever happen and Ozuna is a 5 tool player now? I don’t know what you’re getting at here or really what you’re even saying
Heyward***
I really don’t see how someone with 14 SB and a .277/.329 line over 5 full seasons is a 5 tool player. Speed and average don’t seem to be there, he seems to have about average power and is a pretty good defender. There is absolutely no path to heyward money. He could hit .330 with 50 homeruns and he would not get that kind of money
No way Ozuna tops Heywards deal. If he has an MVP triple crown season he may still fall short because of his inconsistencies in other seasons. Also hes no 5 tool player. I think he will be better in ’19 than ’18 but let’s be realistic.
If Ozuna posts a year like he did in ‘17 I think he’ll get a 100MM deal but it will be nowhere near the 8/180 heyward got. A 5/100 I could see with a strong season.
But I have no idea why johnsilver up here is trying to sell Ozuna as a 5 tool player. No one if buying that.
yeah, but Ozuna seems pretty inconsistent.
Ozuna is not a five tool player , I don’t care what the metrics say. The guy isn’t worth what they gave up to get him, he has a bum shoulder, which he is scared to get fixed, let him walk after next year or trade him.I like to see him enjoy playing but he’s not worth what he’s going to ask for
Phillies are landing both Harper and Machado.
The White Sox have $70MM+ per year in salary space available.
Actually they do, but I dont see both.
Cardinals are scared to gamble on talented players … they prefer to give big contracts to the Fowler and Hewyward types.
They should be offering extensions to both goldy and ozuna, like yesterday …
Why wait to see if they play well this season – then the cards won’t pay for them … if they have a blah season, cards won’t sign them either …. where is the win in this situation if your a cards fan ?
I really wish the cardinals would stop focusing on the one month we played really well this last season (or the last 3 seasons) and focus on the 4 months it was average at best.
Get another top bullpen guy and possibly try to upgrade another position 🙁
I do agree with you that Mozeliak is “Milk Toast” in his Free agent choices!!! Always looking for Low Hanging Fruit and “has been players” to give multi year contracts at high salaries, hoping for a miracle. Mozeliak has waisted enough money on nonproductive players in his tenure with the Cardinals to have signed Machado or Harper.
The negotiations for an extension don’t start with an immediate response of no.
Goldy and Mikolas need extensions. O’Neill replaces Ozuna. Q-offer if Ozuna earns it and hope he declines.
Agreed
Fake narratives all around! Mo is cheap! He’s committing all this money to nonproductive players. Blah blah blah. What did he pay Holliday with when he tested free agency in 2009 (Boras client too)? How many of his contracts have completely left us out of pursuing other means to improve the team? Brett Cecil? Well it would seem like he’s owed basically the equivalent of what we spent last year for Holland, and I bet you were all for them bringing in an established saves guy then too. No matter what he does with or spends on player acquisitions will ever make him worthy in some Cards fans’ eyes. There’s no winning with the Cards affluenza crowd.
Do the Reds use Winker as the everyday LF or a platoon guy? His contact skills seem too good to be a platoon guy.
Thoughts?
They trade him for a pitcher. Bumgarner or Kluber.
Winker would have to be a tertiary piece of a much larger package for Kluber. Winker and his -14 DRS in only about 60% of a season worth of reps is atrocious. saying he can’t play center is pretty obvious.
. He really shouldn’t even be in a corner. Great bat to ball skills and plate discipline but if a guy hurts you that bad defensively his value is always going to be limited to an NL club.
Right, but he wouldn’t be the first LF to be a defensive liability. Hopefully he continues to improve defensively.
He’s had less than one season and defensive stats are limited in a small sample. He’s not good out there but he’s young and should improve. He’ll never win a gold glove but you don’t need him to. His bat is legit; VERY similar to Votto at that age. Most teams would love to have him in their lineup, esp ones with a smaller outfield
Winker should be the everyday LFr. The fielding is more than offset by his hit tool and OBP.
He’s also had offseason shoulder surgery to correct a problem that’s hampered him for
Agreed, he has one of the best swings I’ve seen in a while. The power will come, especially in GABP. He has to work on that D though. That’s only issue he has. He’s gonna hit, no doubt about it.
Everyday, I hope.
Winker proved to be an important cog in the Reds lineup last year. Their offensive production really tailed off after he was injured. If he is platooned they are fools.
I want to see them make Winker the everyday LF. I would then like to see them trade Kemp for even just a solid bullpen arm or a middle of the road prospect just to free up room in the budget for making a run at Pollock and Keuchel. Winker, Pollock, Puig with Schebler and Phlerv as backups is a great OF in my opinion.
Heyward has a 10 year contract fools…..
I think the real fools is the cubs FO
That is the best explanation I have ever heard! Respect my friend, much Respect!
8 year
Machado to the White Sox, and Harper to Philly, and the Yankees doing what they have done, is the right decision for all three teams.
I’m not sure signing DJ lemahieu was the right move for the Yankees. It was the inexpensive option but I’m not so sure that’s the right one.
Whichever team lands Manny Machado will overpay for him. He’s not worth it.
Reds sign keuchel , trade for Eaton ( Washington will sign Harper) then Cincinnati has a chance to win the division.
nah, pitching still not good enough to overcome the rest of the division that has both pitching and offense
Thanks for the good laugh this early in the morning
Mikolas is also a free agent after 2019. A lot of changes coming in St. Louis
Miles mikolas is not a FA. They will control him via arbitration through 2021.
Stl_cards16 is correct. Mikolas WILL be a FA after this season. The Cards hold NO Arb control rights to him.
Ground ball pitcher?
i dont want harper. sign pollock for way less three years 49 million.
Would be nice to get Zimmer back ahead of schedule. May not be the greatest hitter, but his base running and defense are extremely productive and valuable.
I think his bat will come around as he matures. I just hope he can avoid the injury bug.
He can start by avoiding the walls. I like his all-out hustling defense, but I hope he’s learned that walls aren’t forgiving.
Harper to Philly probably will happen. I kinda think Machado goes to the Whitesox. Machado will sign first. That way Harper’s deal will be north of it… Whatever it is. I would rather have 2 above average players than Harper. Since the Reds have definitely improved, maybe they should have held onto Hamilton one more year. He would have been more useful this year. Pollack is the only CF left that is worth going for, unless they get Jones for the cheap.. Regardless all these guys are on one year deals. It seems like we’re trying to get better, but if we don’t then we’re going to sell post ASB…It could be worst. Marvin Lewis could switch over to Baseball..
No on Hamilton
Reds are a much better team with either Puig or Schebler in center than Hamilton in the lineup
Yes as long as they use a late inning ‘D’ CFer.
Word is Pollock is looking for a 5 yr 80 million dollar contract. He’s had 1 year in his career that he’s played a full season. He’s is one of the most overrated players on the free agent market. The Reds would be making a huge mistake signing him. Take a look at his numbers, no way he’s worth anything close to what he’s asking. I don’t think 5yr 60 million. He’s had one great year, that’s it..
fieldsj2,
The thing is that almost all the free agents were overrated again this year. Desperate teams always overpay. Was Corbin worth 6 years? McCutchen worth his contract?…..although hitting and playing OF in that bandbox gives him some training wheels to lean on.
A guy like Pollack will be fortunate to get 2 years and a team option; Keuchel, 3 years and a team option.
I look for the remaining FA’s with something to offer coming off the boards again next week; along with a flurry of trades……only one or 2 big ones. Most teams are set going into ST.
Like ive said it before im a White Sox fan Machado isn’t coming to Chicago HE’S GOING WITH THE YANKEES or the surprise team which i think its the CARDINALS if he comes to Chicago or either star player of Machado and Harper ill run butt naked in downtown Chicago !!!
Get ready to start running because it looks the Yankees are out on machado. If the Phillies don’t get Machado you’re really the only team who is still seriously playing.
I didn’t know Pinocchio Girsch could talk?
girsch only talks when him and mo are sitting on dewitt’s lap
Mozeliak won’t let Girsch State his own opinions. If you know him, you’ll see he has some things Mozeliak doesn’t. Common sense and a personality!! That being said, their opinions differ frequently. Girsch gets to talk went he agrees with Mo. Since he doesn’t get to talk much, you can see how much they agree on. I’ll be glad when Girsch is calling all of the shots. The Cardinals will have a World Series contending team instead of a second wild card contending team!!!!
He’d be smart to play baseball for the A’s. He could get destroyed as a quarterback and lose millions of dollars. (Bo Jackson). Could play 15 years instead of 0-5 with football.
He is the true problem between Baseball and Football the draft is pretty week as far as the QB goes this up coming draft.
If a team a winning team picking at pic 20 takes a shot on his talent level a team with a very much aging QB like Patriots , Chargers this will lead to a multi million per year deal for him for the first 5 years of his NFL career.
In baseball he will not make as much in his first 5 years as with Football 1st year 5 mil
Is it a risk yes it is but like I said the QB pool in this up and coming NFL draft is extremely weak and I believe his people in his camp has educated him to this fact.
As much as I would like the Cardinals to be the mystery team on Machado, I really don’t think it’s them. I bet money he winds up on the south side of Chicago and Harper goes to Philly while the Cardinals sit back and watch the parade March right on past them. Folks the Cardinals are done for the offseason.
I very much doubt that they are done for this offseason. One more reliever (or even a starter to free up someone like Reyes for the bullpen) seems likely.
I saw a clip of Zimmer at Tribefest Saturday on tv and I think he is wishing and hoping to be ready at the beginning of the season. I am sure that Indians officials will be careful with Zimmer. The Indians need outfielders even if they get Zimmer back.. And also bullpen.
The Cardinals are signing Machado!!!
I think Schebler can catch anything he gets to in CF. Very few are Hamilton. If we get a ‘D’ CF then late in games Schebler slides to LF. I think it works well.