8:50pm: The Padres have also shown interest in Cooper, tweets Mish, who adds that “no shortage of teams” have called the Marlins about him in the wake of the Duvall agreement. Trading for Cooper would be the latest notable offseason move by the Padres, who have aggressively tried to chase down the division-rival Dodgers throughout the winter.
7:34pm: The Marlins are adding Adam Duvall to their outfield, and that pickup could push Garrett Cooper out of Miami. Cooper’s status with the team is in question now that Duvall is coming aboard, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Dodgers have already inquired about Cooper, Craig Mish of SportsGrid reports.
Whether Miami would seriously consider trading Cooper is unknown, but it could deem him redundant because of the Duvall signing. Both players are right-handed hitters capable of lining up in the corner outfield, and though Cooper has mostly been a first baseman, the Marlins have another righty starter there in Jesus Aguilar. If there is no universal DH in 2021, Cooper could wind up elsewhere.
Cooper, who turned 30 on Christmas Day, has been a productive and affordable part of the Marlins’ offense over the past couple years. He was certainly among their best hitters last season, in which he slashed .283/.353/.500 (134 wRC+) with six home runs in 133 plate appearances. His history of mixing respectable offense (114 career wRC+) with defensive versatility, not to mention his three remaining years of team control and $1.9MM salary in 2021, would figure to make him a quality trade chip for Miami.
The Dodgers are known for placing high value on players who can line up at multiple positions, so Cooper would seem to fit in with the reigning World Series champions. He could perhaps see time at first base along with the likes of Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger and Edwin Rios, and would join Bellinger, Mookie Betts, Chris Taylor and AJ Pollock as outfield-capable veterans on the Dodgers’ roster.
Would be a nice addition but still want to see Turner back and it needs to happen soon
Seriously. Just get it f’ing done already
Read online this is the contingent backup plan. Having cooper at 1st frees up muncy and Rios to take over at 3rd. He is right handed and rakes left handed pitching (snell)
I agree furthermore that turner should be the primary plan but only at 2 years modest salary 12-16 million per season.
NGH Brah. You’ve got to stop living in the past and embrace the new players.
Cooper has always been an intriguing player…could definitely see a fit in LAD.
Sign Duvall and trade Cooper. Cooper is younger, better, and cheaper. Makes no sense.
cant trade a free agent
He is 3 years from free agency. I guarantee you the return you get for Cooper right now will not justify the talent drop off or the money offset for Duvall.
@steve you also get assets back for cooper, a 30 year old with not much upside. Marlins are building towards being good for the foreseeable future and what better way to do so by shipping an old journeymen for young assets that help their window?
30 is too old? Playing for 2 teams is a journeyman? Trading an apparent dead end gets you back good assets? Nothing you say makes any sense. Do you work for the Marlins?
Then just trade him. Why bother signing Duvall? You can pay a AAA guy the minimum to suck. No need to spend $4.5m on Duvall.
He is a good player. As a Dodger fan, I would be happy to have him. And yes, the Marlins might get a decent return. How does that not make any sense? The Marlins are building for the future and have a smart GM who understands the value of organizational depth.
The idea that signing Duvall makes Cooper trade-able doesn’t make any sense. Trading Cooper makes sense, if they can get a good return.
How does signing Duvall to make Cooper “tradeable” not make sense? basically it allows them to cash in on an asset who’s probably slightly too old to line up with their real timeline of when they feel they’ll be competitive. But by signing Duvall they allow themselves to stay as competitive as they would have been with Cooper… its a way to stay net neutral with their current roster while also trading Cooper for assets.
Your point taken, however why ask why to the move already done with your comments to not sign him… too late. Besides Duvall is better than Cooper..
At best Adam Duvall will be a good trade piece for the Marlins at the deadline considering the marlins are not in win now mode
30 is getting old in baseball. Players begin to decline after their age 30 season. Cooper has never done much and since he will start declining soon trading him is a good idea.
@Tats – You should exit the conversation before you make yourself sound any more clueless!
Cooper’s OF defense is simply unacceptable.
This is what people who are questioning the Marlins decision don’t get. Cooper is the worst defensive OF we have. Signing Duvall didn’t push Cooper out. MLB and the MLBPA not brining the DH to the NL this year is what pushed Cooper out of Miami. Cooper simply is not an OF and when he’s out there, he is not only a defensive liability, but he’s an injury waiting to happen.
I’m very comfortable with moving Cooper and letting Duvall battle with our younger OFs for the starting spot.
Why would the Marlins push out a low-cost defensively versatile player with a 114 career wRC+ for an older, more expensive, more defensively limited player with a 96 career wRC+?
Kershaw! Even up!
Because they would be getting someone even younger in the trade, which would be good for a team that’s building for the future. You can be sure Kim Ng has a solid plan.
Again, why bother signing Duvall then?
To play some outfield. What if what they’d get for Cooper is someone they really like but not MLB-ready?
I’m sure there were cheaper options.
I don’t question the value in trading Cooper. I question the premise that Duvall has somehow made Cooper expendable.
Duvall provides a useful power bat
Andrew Friedman
Kim Ng
Any poster on this forum
When it comes to evaluating baseball talent and assembling a roster, which of these three should kindly defer to the other two?
What kind of roster is Ng trying to build in 2021?
Also, “Whether Miami would seriously consider trading Cooper is unknown, but it could deem him redundant because of the Duvall signing.”
This is the part of the ARTICLE – not any decision that either Friedman or Ng has actually made – that doesn’t make sense.
The two things are unrelated. Duvall can play OF and Cooper can’t – but that was already a given. Absence of DH is what makes Cooper or Aguilar expendable.
Give the Dodgers credit; they manage to shoehorn a 35 man contingent onto a 26 man roster.
I’m nowhere near a Dodgers fan, but I have complete respect for the organization and your comment is a perfect summation as to why!
Hard to see where the ability to play 1B and a little bit of RF offers much flexibility.
I guess in the event they do get Cooper, he becomes the fulltime 1B and Muncy becomes the fulltime 3B.
Rios can play both positions. Cooper would remain a 1B/Corner OF.
Muncy a butcher at 3B maybe better off not playing there at all if it can be helped.
Rios is worse.
If they are looking for a 3b does Brad Miller make sense or no?
No they’d need to add a RH. They have more than enough LH options
Actually Muncy had +8 DRS at 3B in 2019.. Turner was -3.
That’s what’s wrong with these “cute” defensive stats. Muncy is a career 0.918 fielder at 3B, including 0.929 in 2019. That’s quite frankly terrible. And yet Muncy saved all these runs with supposedly great range? Fielding percentage is not a perfect stat but some of these other defensive stats are very theoretical but not sure always accurate.
Muncy’s 3B defense would negate a lot of his plus bat. He’s more serviceable at 1B or 2B. You can plug him at 3B once in a while but it would be pretty detrimental to have him at 3B for a full season.
Worth pointing out that Muncy had a poor season offensively last year and it only got worse as the season wore on (until the post anyway). Even in a good season he is a downgrade at 3B both offensively and defensively.
I’m not very worried about Muncy’s stats on a small sample size. He got off to a slow start but overall he was hitting the ball hard as measured by exit velocity, barrels % and hard hit %. His K% was actually down a tiny bit and his walk rate consistently good. Probably one of the unluckiest hitters given how hard he was hitting the ball. In a longer season those things tend to sort itself out. I’d be more concerned about his defense at 3B as it would be a notch or two below Turner’s.
Muncy at 3B would be a very small downgrade to Turner. Last three years, Turner has had a .894 OPS, .380 wOBA and 142 wRC+. Muncy has a .888 OPS, .374 wOBA and 138 wRC+. Plus Muncy is 6 years younger.
Small or large, depending on whether you look at last year a potentially the beginning of the end of the Muncy story. We’ll see. But defensively a substantial downgrade for sure. Bottom line, playing him at 3B does not make the team better, even measured against an aging Turner.
@mlb1225: Considering Turner’s age & anticipated decline in production versus Muncy & Cooper’s age, having Cooper & Muncy at the corners would likely be more productive next season (& beyond) than a Muncy/Turner combo.
But I suppose you’re not considering defense at all. Turner is a good defensive 3B, even now, & while Muncy is versatile defensively, his best position is 1B. Cooper is brutal in the OF, which is fine b/c the Dodgers are pretty much loaded in the OF, so Cooper would likely play exclusively at 1B, which is his best position. Cooper would push Muncy to 3B, which is probably Muncy’s worst position., so Muncy at 3B/Cooper at 1B is much, much worse defensively Turner at 3B/Muncy at 1B.
More time for Muncy at 3B. Cooper is more flexible than Joc, who can only play the OF corners. Muncy, Cooper, Rios at 1B/3B. It would also give the Dodgers an additional corner OF should Poll.ock get hurt (this has been know to happen).
Cooper would also add a needed righty bat. A solid big league player who only makes $1.8 million. And don’t think for a second that this would be the final roster move before opening day. Andrew Friedman is always trying to make the team better.
Net net you’re still worse off with Muncy at 3B and Cooper at 1B, versus signing Turner. Bat and especially glove. Unless you know for sure that Turner’s production is going to take an Adrian Gonzalez turn for the worse you’re better off with a declining Turner. I do wonder how Turner’s production will fall off though over the next few years.
If I was the Rangers Gm I would be checking in on Cooper.
Please sign Turner before someone else does
No thanks. Turner is a tireless self-promoter who has lost a step. Never trust anyone who sends out a ton of press releases about their charity work. Andrew Friedman is the best at what he does and this probably wouldn’t be his last transaction before opening day. Don’t worry about player personnel moves, just follow the team
JT is a better 3B than any option currently on the Dodgers, even with losing a step. Muncy needs to stay on right side of the diamond.
And people who have charitable foundations generally promote them. I am sure the charities that he partners with appreciate the press.
Turner’s charity “efforts” have been designed to make him appear to be a pillar to the community. This is the same guy who took the lead in saying the Dodgers would follow MLB’s COVID protocols to a tee, only to break them the moment the season was over. A free-agent-in-waiting whose sole mission was to have a season so he could score a huge contract. He is sickening.
I think you’re being a bit harsh on Turner. He’s been a class act during his Dodger tenure. A bit of a lapse in judgment in the WS but hard to blame him to want to celebrate with his teammates. Hard to be judgmental towards someone who has been generous with his time and money. Better to think the best of someone.
If the Dodgers decide not to bring him back they need to find someone who can put up similar numbers at 3B and that won’t be easy as he’s been very productive. No way I would prefer Pollock’s bat over Turner’s even with a decline. Pollock benefited from a small sample size. Best to trade him if he has a little more value.
How does one get COVID in a bubble? The he MLB was allowing media members to leave then come back. The MLB didnt do a good job protecting its players and a player shouldnt have to choose between celebrating a WS and quarantining. If the MLB did its job then Turner wouldnt have gotten COVID>
Or the onus is on Turner.
Or perhaps the test result was positive and it was wrong. It’s possible. He did not affect anyone else while celebrating the World Series win. Either way, blaming MLB isn’t the direction to go.
Plenty of guys spotlight their charity work to bring awareness and money to those charities. Regardless of whether or not you think the Dodgers should bring back Turner, his charity work should be above criticism.
I think the Dodgers are going to move Seager to third and trade for someone like Adames to play short.
Cey hey, what? I was nodding my head along with your posts. Then, out of the blue you state that Turner is a tireless self promoter. Where did that lunacy come from?
fox471, he is a tireless self-promoter. Have you followed his charity stuff?
Charity work is still chartiy work. If he’s giving back to a reasonable/important cause, he can self promote himself all he wants.
Bauer is also a shameless self promoter, except without the charity work.
Zing!
Bauer gives a lot to chartiy.
@Cey Hey How does one get Covid in a bubble? The MLB failed to keep the players safe like they said. A player shouldnt have to choose between celebrating with his teammates and quarantining. Your real anger should be at the MLB for not even following its own COVID rules. They allowed media to go in and out of restricted zones. Turner is expected to follow rules the MLB clearly broke?
@CeyHey And plus remember how the selfish guy had a COVID positive test during the last WS game and then had the gall to go out and celebrate with his teammates? The guy is evil, he should be banned from the game
@PhDPad How does one get Covid in a bubble? The MLB failed to keep the players safe like they said. A player shouldnt have to choose between celebrating with his teammates and quarantining. Your real anger should be at the MLB for not even following its own COVID rules. They allowed media to go in and out of restricted zones. Turner is expected to follow rules the MLB clearly broke?
Andrew Friedman is smarter than me. But this makes no sense.
Why? The Dodgers get an inexpensive, multi-position player and needed righty bat. He is a solid player.
Signing A’s reject Max Muncy and Mets washout Justin Turner and trading a former first-rounder for Chris Taylor didn’t make any sense, either.
Cey hey, have you been drinking buddy. Where is all this vitriol toward members of the Dodgers coming from?
There is no vitriol toward any Dodger players. Is English your first language?
Friedman thanks you, but Turner pickup was Ned Colletti move.
Cooper should’ve been the starting firstbasemen in Milwaukee the last 4 years . Never should have traded him to New York. Now Barker a pitcher is getting the same treatment
I feel like the Marlins would not have tendered Aguilar a contract had they known for sure there wasn’t going to be a DH. At the time they kind of suggested more was better and they’d figure out a roster crunch later…and now here we are with a roster crunch.
If I were the Marlins, I’d try moving Aguilar first and roll with a Cooper/Lewin Diaz combo at first. I know Aguilar isn’t really going to return anything of value, but it’s not like the return for Cooper would be earthshattering either. Just to me holding Cooper has more future value than holding Aguilar and getting some low level prospect for Cooper.
If Milwaukee wasn’t going to have Hiura play 1B Cooper would be a fit there. I don’t really see fits in LA or SD with no DH. Colorado could use a replacement for Murphy at 1B. Oakland could use a DH
SD is just trolling LA.
Yeah, I don’t see the need for him when we have Cronenworth, Kim and Profar all able to play across the infield. I think he goes to the Dodgers.
SD hasn’t earned the right to Troll anyone.
This is a mistake by the Marlins.
AJ Preller’s just trying to raise the price for the Dodgers. There’s no way the Padres would actually trade for Cooper with 2 right-handed corner outfielders in Pham and Myers already on the roster. I don’t get why the Dodgers are interested in him though.
Unless the plan is for Cooper to play 1B and Muncy to slide across the diamond and play 3B Cooper makes no sense for the Dodgers. Mookie doesn’t miss a lot of time in RF and Pollock hits right handed so bringing him in as an Outfielder doesn’t make sense either
They could put Cooper in LF and trade Pollock to lower payroll. Three way trade or separately deal Pollock. They’d have to package some prospects for another team to take Pollock’s contract. Makes sense that the Dodgers want to clear some salary after Bauer and expectation of signing Turner.
Only makes sense on SD to platoon with Hosmer at 1B. Then maybe in 2022 he can slide into one of those OF spots once Pham walks.
Even then with Profar, Kim, Mateo, I’m not really sure how he fits in. Especially since Kim and Mateo and already RH.
Pollock will miss time and at this price he’s a good addition
“no shortage of teams” have called them eh? Is it possible that the Jays have “shown interest” in him? 🙂
Get Cooper. See if Marlins would take either Price or Kelly & then offer Mitch White, Jake Vogel, Dennis Santana, Josh Sborz & Matt Beaty or Edwin Rios in a 3 or 4 man package.
Try to make it a 3 team deal with Oakland with the Dodgers getting Matt Chapman as the main piece for them. Or forget the possible deal with Miami & just work a trade with the A’s for Chapman. Then continue to explore trade possibilities for Price & Kelly for prospects.
IF……….. Mia is willing to lay some Wood with cash, then these 2 can definitely play ball-
If Mia would take 1 of Price Pollock or Kelley whi!e giving LAD Cooper they should/would expect a pretty nice little package back
Dodgers kinda kill 2 birds with 1 stone, they just gotta be willing to depart with the prospects. Jeter would be smart to at least listen, their books are spotless and a guy like Price might be able to be flipping again later at another profit. I
Miami had to “stretch” their $60 million budget to sign Adam Duvall. No chance they take Price, Kelly, or Pollock.
Hmm I see, wasnt aware, shame theres room for a profit there
Could be a precursor to them finding a buyer for Pollock? Pollocks money would be Turners new money to get under 250 with some wiggle room as well?
Obv some money or prospects would have to accompany Pollock but I think AF has a master plan so when I hear this, Im {*trying} to think a step further into his chess brain
Dodgers do have a glut of really good prospects in the 15-25 range that are semi-blocked in the future. Perhaps its an ave to make 21 work; I know its never going to be AF’s MO but with the small returns in trades this year prospect wise maybe he dips a toe into this pond just this year-
I would rather have Pollock than Turner.
I wouldnt, but I hear ya, more of just the money aspect at this point-
Price Kelley or Pollock would have to be the export in any outgoing cash clearance- Being a Cooper article I thought maybe Pollock here….I think these last couple moves will be connected to a degree, how, I have no clue, but it will make sense in the end I bet
Agreed. Price, Kelly and Pollock probably the three worst Dodger contracts that they could trade. Of course will have to include some prospects and see who they could get in return.
Turner wants 3 to 4 years and the Dodgers do not need that on their salary when they have to extend Buehler Bellinger Seager Urias May and Smith
Love love Coop, but if we can get a nice young prospect or two, I’d do it because dude can’t stay healthy… maybe Coop for Dennis Santana and Alex De Jesus? I could see both sides having interest in a deal of that sort. Marlins get a young bullpen arm in Santana and another young IF prospect.
If going to the Pads, Mason Thompson and Eguy Rosario?
Cooper fills the Hernandez roster spot and allows Taylor to go further into the infield mix.
1b – Muncy, Rios, Bellinger
2b – Lux, Taylor, Muncy, Barnes
3b – Rios, Taylor, Muncy, Seager
SS – Seager, Taylor, Lux
If not Turner, would like to see them acquire a veteran 3b – first choice would be Kyle Seager (might give brother incentive to resign)
Corey Seager is not going to base his decision to re-sign (not resign) based on his brother.
If he hit RH it might have been worth exploring ….the Braves on the other hand should have gotten this deal done yesterday (Sea would eat some cash to get a prospect or 2 )
There is not a single spot for him on the Padres but of course Preller is interested.
amk1920 there’s just as much a spot for the Padres as there is the Dodgers
1b against LH,PH and backup corner OF until next year.
He may even be the starting LF in 21’ for the Padres
Big mistake by Marlins getting rid of Cooper. Duval contract make no sense. Waste of money. Cooper for me fits better plus is very financially s good fit. Dumb move.
Not all that exciting but I’d be happy to trade Hosmer for him.
Your delusional to think anyone wants his contract
For the Padres he would be a cheap replacement for Pham after this season and a quality addition to the bench for 2020.
Oña could go to AAA and not waste away on the major league bench.
Also Cooper could handle 1b against LH.
Having your birthday on Christmas sucks. Bet those people get a lot of “combined gifts”.
Unless someone really overpays for Cooper, he isn’t being traded. More likely is Marlins designating Brinson or Harold Ramirez.
Likely Ramirez as he has more value.
Cooper would be a nice fit for the Tigers at 1B. Younger than anything in FA. Adds both some pop and average to the offense, and can move LF when Torkelson is ready.
Padres trying to copy the Dodgers. Their desperate now
Should Padres fans copy Dodger fans poor grammar?
Who cares about my grammar lmao everyone knows what it means
Wut