As expected, the Padres are hoping to trade pricey and underperforming outfielder/first baseman Wil Myers, Jayson Stark of The Athletic reports. The Padres appear highly motivated to part with Myers, according to Stark, who adds that there’s even a willingness on the team’s part to attach prospects from its loaded farm system if it would encourage someone to take the veteran off its hands. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported back in September that the Padres would “likely” be willing to eat half of the $60MM left on Myers’ contract to get rid of him. At this point, it’s unknown whether the amount’s still in that ballpark. Myers, who turns 30 on Tuesday, has another three years left on his deal.
- The Angels’ pursuit of Gerrit Cole is garnering most of the Halos-related headlines at the moment, but he’s not the only upgrade they’re targeting. After struggling to find much production behind the plate in 2019, the club’s “heavily involved in the catcher market,” Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times writes. The Angels are focused on six to eight backstop options, per Torres, and general manager Billy Eppler revealed they’ve had “active” discussions with two teams about trading for a catcher.
- Speaking of catchers, the Rockies had interest in Stephen Vogt before he signed a one-year, $3MM contract with the NL West rival Diamondbacks last month, Nick Groke of The Athletic relays. “It didn’t go our way,” admitted general manager Jeff Bridich, who added the Rockies remain focused on finding aid at the position.
- Longtime utilityman Ben Zobrist is “50-50” on whether to continue his career in 2020, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. The 38-year-old free agent, who sat out a large portion of 2019 as a member of the Cubs while dealing with a divorce, is currently prioritizing his family.
- The Marlins are looking to upgrade a bullpen that was “not good” in 2019, according to president of baseball operations Michael Hill (via Wells Dusenbury of the Sun Sentinel). Veteran right-hander Sergio Romo was one of the Marlins’ most effective options, but they dealt the then-pending free agent to the Twins in advance of the July 31 trade deadline. Hill acknowledged Monday that there’s now interest on the team’s part in reuniting with Romo, 36. “We’re exploring the entire market of eligible guys and I know he’s been connected to us as well he should be,” said Hill. “I think if you asked him — he was very public in saying that [he] enjoyed his time with us so we’ll see where things go, but [he] was a player who did well for us and did a good job in his time with us.”
Of the Yankees and Angels which team would it be more devastating to lose out on Cole?
Yanks? Seems like a pitcher like Cole can make or break a WS. LAA, they’d need a little more to get out of their division, let alone a WS. Could argue the exact opposite though. Good debate question.
The thing I think no one is talking about is what happens after he leaves Houston’s analytical and staff?
Baseball is very much a team, organization, condition dependent sport. Cole has always been an exceptional talent and it’s a credit to him and Houston’s staff that he was able to unlock his full potential. And I’m not saying he’ll bust or implying it was all Houston, I’m just proposing the question: Before this past season, did anyone consider Cole a generational pitcher?
The Yankees make more sense because they’re probably a Cole-type away from a title while I think a team like the Angels could do well to add a combo of say Bumgarner and Keuchel. They need talent and depth while the Yankees just need a workhorse ace.
I’m sorry to write this, but the truth is that Arte Moreno has absolutely devastated his franchise over the past dozen or so years with his signing of players to bad long-term contracts. Puhols and Hamilton immediately come to mind. A fraction of that money could have been used to upgrade scouting and development to build a team of quality young players and complement them with some reasonable, strategic signings of complementary veterans.
What we’ve seen with the better small market franchises that can compete year-after-year is their avoidance of long-term contracts even to their star players – instead moving said players for prospects. They’re very good at evaluating and developing before getting stuck with a large contract that can paralyze a franchise.
As I keep writing – baseball is not football, basketball, or hockey. A team can’t give the ball / puck to one guy that’s a scorer, or funnel opposing offenses scorers into their top defensive players. Position players bat once every 9 times. Starting pitchers pitch once every 5 games, and are now only allowed to throw 90-115 pitches a game. Star relief pitchers throw 60-80 innings a year. A teams best defenders may not have the ball hit to them more then once or twice during a game.
So when a franchise takes a disproportionate percentage of their payroll and gives it to a few players, then they’re entering high-risk territory. Cole was pitching lousy for the Pirates when the Astros got him, and immediately sat down with him to go over a plan to change the way he was going to pitch. The Angels show no such support structure for handling their pitchers. Fact is that if Cole signs with the Angels, they’ll have such a disproportionate amount of their payroll tied up in him, Otaini, and Trout for years to come, that if a one of them suffers a major injury or goes south in ability as Puhols did, that franchise – due to their lack of a quality scouting and development operation – is going to continue to thrash around. It says a lot that they laid all that money out for Upton, yet he was outplayed by Goodwin that the Angels got on waivers after the lowly, rebuilding Royals cut him in 2019.
Arte means well. But like most MLB fans, I’d like to see Mike Trout play for a quality MLB franchise. This is almost as bad as having Babe Ruth spending his career playing for the old Washington Senators.
You lost me when you spelled Pujols “Puhols”.
Angels have more pieces they need, so theoretically they could just spread the money around to other options to fill other holes. Yankees only really need SPs, they could certainly improve at CF but I think it’s not really as significant a need as SP. Having a high level ace in October is more important to them IMO.
The Angels need starting pitching, a catcher, and maybe a couple of bull pen arms. I’d like them to ditch Upton but he’s there for better or for worse. So what other holes do the Angels have to fill in your opinion?
From an organizational standpoint – i think it’d be far more devastating for the Angels. They need pitching in the worst possible way during the ‘Trout era,” and this is by far their best opportunity to get it done. If the Angels get Cole and everything clicks, Maddon finds himself in another very enviable position in October. From the majority of fans’ and critics’ standpoint – more devastating for the Yankees i’d think.
Angels need more than one pitcher…. that will truly tie them up for years financially…
I suggest something on the line of… Sign Ryu, Keuchel, Rendon then
Trade Griffen Canning, Brandon Marsh, Tommy La Stella.. to the Cubs for Wilson Contreras…
it will still be costly… but in the next 2 years a lot of money comes off the books… it’s not Cole but it Ieaves the angels a good Starting staff.. then stock the farm with pitchers.. and in the nest 3 to four years have a young starting staff
If they somehow did all of that, they would still finish with no more than 86 wins and third place in the division.
Still ahead of the mariners lol
good luck trading that garbage for Willson Contreras… Nice pipe dream tho… Maybe cubs could send Almora, Alazay, Amaya,for Trout too in your La la land
Gibby – I believe the Angels are a true #1 starter and a couple of minor pieces away from true contention, not just for the wild card, but for the division. No one considers the Astros are a very different team going into 2020 and will not be the force they were in 2019. LaStella was an affordable all-star last year so we don’t need to spend ~25m AAV on Rendon. Ohtani is back and we will see Adell early in 2020.
I tend to agree that I would rather see them spend 35m or 40m AAV on two good pitchers like Ryu and Bumgarner instead of all on Cole.
The A’s pitching is about to level up as well, so it’s not just the Lastros you need to worry about…
The A’s are usually a quiet threat.
Wouldn’t be surprised if one the of teams the Angels contacted about Catching was the Padres. Hedges makes sense there.
The other is the Cubs. We all know Joe and Willson want to reunite.
The only way it happens is he Contreas goes to Anaheim in 3 years. The rumors of him and David Ross were blown way out of proportion.. Ross helped develop Contreas into one of the best catchers in baseball especially defensively
Hoping it’s the Cardinals for Knizner.
Angels: We’d like Hedges for…
Preller: Yes.
Angels: You didn’t let us fini…
Preller: Yes.
Dude deals like crazy, that’s a good bet.
If the halos happen to have a player who used to play for the Rangers, it’s a lock.
Are the angels still paying josh Hamilton? Great ops with the rangers and he can be added to the corner outfield mix. Can’t have enough depth at that position
take him please
How about Myers and one of their top 20 prospects for Familia and Lowrie. Who says no? Would they still need to send some $ to the Wilpons?
Mets say no, because after an even-money salary match in 2020 the financial benefit goes very much in the Padres’ favor (only $11MM more to Familia in 2021, zero to then-free agent Lowrie, and about $40MM more still owed Myers for 2021 and 2022).
If it were the NBA, Cespedes would be eligible for a waive and stretch. I’d say if the Padres and Mets split the salary difference, it would happen.
Another commenter reminded me in similar recent thread that insurance is covering a significant percentage of the Mets’ outlay to Cespedes so long as he’s too injured to play.
If the Mets did consider trading Cespedes, it probably would not be until he was deemed healthy enough for the Mets to be 100% responsible for that contract again.
True, but I don’t think insurance coverage affects their cap/luxury tax figure, so he still counts for $29M against it, I believe. I think you’re right, though, that the Mets wouldn’t do it. They have the small market team mentality and would want to shed payroll, not add it. If they could add anyone worthwhile from the Friars’ system, it would be worth it.
couldn’t the Padres sue or suspend him for impersonating a ballplayer…..
Would love to see Zobrist keep playing. One of the good guys it seems. Perhaps a reunion with the Ray’s?
Was thinking of a veteran stop gap at 2B for Boston. Reunite with Bloom.
38 year old stop gap! Really!
Just get the Myers, Naylor and Quantrill trade to the Jays over with. Send Teoscar back and cover 40M of Myers salary.
Something built around Myers and Grichuk with additional talent also headed to TOR is more likely, in my opinion.
Why Naylor and Quantrill?
Fills OF and SP which the Jays need and they happen to be Canadian. Last year they were rumoured to be going to the Jays for Stroman.
Grichuk, Giles, Fisher and Drury. Teoscar can stay. Add Weathers and $8-mil to the deal (2 per year).
Was there a reason Moreno and Angels staff weren’t heavily involved with Grandal when he was available if it was such a weak spot for them? He seems like one of the better catchers in the league and they have money.
Grandma signed super quick. That may have been the first offer he got and jumped on it who knows
Yeah but she really can rake when she ditches the walker. Her WAR is WW1.
“Myers, who turns 30 on Tuesday, has another three years left on his deal”
His Baseball Reference page has him at 28 years 364 days old, so he’ll be 29 tomorrow.
There you go letting facts get in the way……
Round it up
The Giants need to be in on anybody on a bad contract (within reason) that comes with prospects attached. That’s how teams with lots of money can speed up a rebuild. Take on a Myers and a Happ to go with the rest of the overpaid, underperforming roster but make sure they make it very worth your while.
Preach it!
Giants are one of the few teams who can do this. What’s great is they can then flip Myers or Happ, eat some money and get more prospects back.
Definitely a sound strategy for SF, though slinging a few of those veteran Giants contracts at the Green Monster and seeing what sticks in a potential deal for Price is also tempting.
I agree, especially with Happ. I’d eat the whole contract if we could get a top 5 organizational prospect back
The whole contract is like 17 million bucks. I’m going to assume the Yanks value a top 5 org guy higher than 17 million bucks.
If my memory serves me well Myers frickin rakes in SF. Probably random but worth noting
Here my hot take on the Angels and the two team and trade targets.
1)Wilson Contreras Cubs
2) Salvador Perez Royals.
Only way Halos are getting Contreras is for Jo Adell… Doubt they make that move, but cubs aren’t doing a rebuild, will probably only trade Bryant
James McCann
I’m sorry the Brewers need to jump on Myers to cover first base to get some prospects back in the deal is so worth it , even if you put Peralta in there
They probably already discussed that during the previous trade
Preller would probably have tossed him into the Pham trade if Myers hadn’t come from TB in the first place.
Technically wil Myers was from the Royals farm. he was traded to Tampa Bay in the James shield/Wade Davis trade seven years ago.
I’d be leery of acquiring three seasons of Wil Myers that could coincide with the possible decline of the almost equally well compensated Lorenzo Cain.
I think Myers would hit great at Miller park. It’s a much better hitters park than San Diego. He is 29. Would only have him until age 32. If you can get a nice prospect as well, why not?
He’s 30, but agreed. You can have him.
Padres would need to eat about half the contract and add players. He isnt worth 11m a year maybe 5-8 max. So a decent prospect is worth what??
55av guy? 40m?
50av guy? 25-39m?
45av guy? 5m-24m?
How much are teams willing to pay for prospects?? What say you??
I posted a similar sentiment. You are asking the essential question. How much do prospects cost. I can only think of one example. That was when the Braves took on Christian Arroyo’s contract from the DBacks for Touki Toussaint. At the time, Touki was a top 50 prospect and the cost was $10 million. At the time, the trade was derided by baseball analysts because it wasn’t enough for Toussaint.
Myers is just entering his first year of big salary on his extension and already they need to offload him.
More Rockstar GM’ing….
Jays should be offering 285 mill. Which includes a first year upfront 50 million with a downgrade in pay after year 3. Player opt out year 4. Will it happen? Doubt it, but they should offer it and make it public that they did, need to show players the Jays are willing to pay
I think Zo should retire. He had a good career. He helped the Royals 30 years world series drought. The next year he had the game winning double. Get hired as an advisor to Theo and Co.
It’s amazing how Wil Myers was 28 this last season yet he’ll be 30 tomorrow. Playing baseball is hard.
I wonder who the highest rated prospect they would attatch would be. Would they go as high as CJ Abrams? That would probably make it so that the acquiring team takes on a lot more of Myers salary. Rebuilding teams ought to be plenty interested. They should have some payroll space and there only motivation is collecting talent.
Padres and their fans might find this a bitter pill to swallow but it may ease the pain that Abrams is still a few years away from the MLB. I think it would still take the Padres eating some of the salary though. No team is going to “buy” a prospect for $60 million dollars.
If the Padres wanted to upgrade their OF and get rid of Myers it would’ve made a hell of a lot more sense to attach Urias with Myers. Could’ve shipped him and 2/3 of Myers’ contract out of here.
They could’ve done that and signed Castellanos, Ozuna, etc. for the same price as getting an unknown Trent Grisham.
They can’t trade Abrams now after dumping Urias and Edwards
Nonsense. They have Profar now. LOL
Hot take: if the Padres are willing to give up prospects, the Orioles should trade for Myers.
They’ve already cut payroll down to the bone and they’ve got a lot of that existing money coming off. They’re below $60m as it is. They could take on Myers’ contract in the name of getting a couple of prospects. Myers could even rebound a bit in the more hitter friendly AL East, and it wouldnt be impossible that they end up flipping him for more value later.
Exactly, these GM’s have no creativity.
Nationals should try to bring in Zobrist as insurance at 3B and warm the seat at second for Kieboom. If all works out, he could be in a super-utility role by May.
Because what the Miami Marlins REALLY NEED is bullpen help. Can’t let those leads slip away from the .241/.298/.375 hitting juggernaut of an offense. You just look up and down that roster(you might have to look several times to remember it) and it is plainly obvious the bullpen is the problem.
I take it as “we have to do SOMETHING or the league/MLBPA will be angry….what is the cheapest established major leaguer we can sign?”
Seriously, unless you intent is to flip a reliever at the deadline, it makes no sense to invest in a reliever who has a 2% chance of being good by the time the Marlins are passable as a major league team.
It’s not like they didn’t just add 13m, and replaced Walker and Castro, with Aguilar and Villar. Seeing as how they have near MLB ready position/pitching top prospects, I would say relievers are their 2nd biggest need behind a OF(LH) bat. But you already knew all this from all that time you spent researching their roster.
3 way trade.
Machado & prospects to Cleveland.
Stanton, Tanaka and Happ to San Diego.
Lindor and Myers to NY.
LMAO… why IN HELL would the padres make such an awful trade. and this bozo responded to this post by saying how much would the padres pay moneywise to add to this trash of a trade? HOW ABOUT NONE DIMWIT..
How much money do the Padres have to give the Indians for the Indians to think about that? I doubt Indians will accept that.
I think the indians would give out a big contract but Lindor could be a 400 mil guy.
Getting Machado and prospects gives them a great player to replace him with but saves a ton of money
** who signed Myers? Was it Preller, and why? Here is my next issue. Preller will bundle Myers a terrible signing, with 2 to 3 really good prospects plus a crazy amount of cash to someone.
** I suggest any team reading this should jump on trading for Myers. Preller has no idea how to package a trade.
Preller will double down on his misfit extension of 82 mil to Myers and include prospects that will turn into good players making bad decision worse.
Myers isn’t worth 10 mil a year he’s a loser
the padres owe a player tbnl to A’s and Jays surely we toss them Myers …..RIGHT?
if Padres are eating 30 million, tell the rest of the league to suck it – they aren’t getting any prospects. myers is awful… and STILL crushes left hand pitching. and he’s versatile defensively. instead of trying to trade a guy at his least valuable point, how about having a brain and using him as part of a platoon? DUH. better to make the best of a bad signing rather than double down on the mistake and give money and prospects to kick him off the roster.