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Post by taftreign on Aug 4, 2015 19:41:32 GMT -5
Yes. They interviewed him a few innings ago. Spitting image. Jinx!
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Post by taftreign on Aug 4, 2015 19:41:13 GMT -5
Yes. They interviewed him on NESN a few innings ago.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 29, 2015 0:04:51 GMT -5
Question? It's been mentioned that both Tazawa and Uehara are trade possibilities. I understand from a value standpoint they may be the best tradeable commodities but if you traded them how would you build your bullpen for next season? Specifically who's closing games for you? It's a weak free agent class at closer and it doesn't make sense to move prospects for one. If the team had signed Miller that would have been a different story. To compete next season it's awful hard to move either of those arms with other questions already about the remainder of the pen.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 28, 2015 23:54:14 GMT -5
Can anyone tell me who else has EARNED a spot in the rotation besides Eduardo? Who knows if Buchholz will be back, the Porcello contract is an absolute killer Well in some regard the most deserving after Rodriguez are Johnson and Owens who continue to throw well in Pawtucket and deserve a shot. I'd feel better next season if it was Cueto, Rodriguez, Buchholz, Owens, Porcello, Johnson as a top six then what we had going into this season. Thing is Miley still has a spot here so he's in there somewhere unless he gets moved. I just don't see a spot for Kelly and would go ahead and see how he performs in the bullpen this season. Next season stretch him out and let him compete for a rotation spot and if he can't win one convert him full time.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 28, 2015 22:56:47 GMT -5
Well, hate to say it but it looks like you will be right.... When I heard Chicago was holding off on deciding whether to sell or not until after this series you knew they thought they could win three or four. The White Sox are now only a half game behind Toronto, a game behind Tampa and a game and a half behind the Orioles rand 6.5 out of the wildcard as a whole. They also send Sale and Quintana out the next two and I agree can close that gap further. This season is painful to watch. At least the team is closing on Philly and only 6 back from the #1 pick.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 28, 2015 20:45:34 GMT -5
Details on the Papelbon trade:
@barrysvrluga of the Washington Post Specifics on $$ for Pap: Phils give Nats $4.5M for '15. Papelbon waives option, new deal is for '16 but pays $8M next year and $3M in '17.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 28, 2015 7:58:45 GMT -5
Whatever you want to say about Anthroupolous, that dude has stones. I've generally liked most of the moves he's made and think he has another one or two in him. I completely agree with this sentiment. Between he and Beane their trades are always fun to discuss.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 28, 2015 7:52:14 GMT -5
chud:
I understand your thinking on JBJ but I think it's the wrong direction for this club. We currently have an OF of Ramirez, Betts, Castillo and reserves of De Aza and Nava with a bit of Holt thrown in. When you consider De Aza is a free agent and Nava's future is uncertain in combination with the possibility of moving Ramirez out of the OF altogether, it makes no sense to trade JBJ.
He is the ideal 4th OF with the possibility of starting dependent on the direction the team goes with Ramirez. He can play all three OF positions with above average to great defense and he offers adequate speed off the bench. Consider also he's making very little which is incredibly important to a team with luxury tax implications and a need to fix the rotation and bull pen.
Trading Victorino made complete sense. Trading De Aza makes complete sense unless you want to resign him in the off season. I'm not sure what to do with Nava at this point but he appears expendable. If you need to make a trade Manuel Margot has more trade value and likely returns more value. If you can get full value plus for JBJ and you want to look at signing a short term fourth OF or resign De Aza and wait for Margot it is an option but not my first if I can add a quality starter via trade.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 28, 2015 7:06:52 GMT -5
Jon Heyman is reporting two of the three pieces are pitchers Jeff Hoffman and Miguel Castro. The deal is making sense for Colorado because they have to draft and acquire young pitching through trades with free agents adverse to signing there. For Toronto its still a bit questionable even though they upgraded a bit at SS they also need pitching and gave away two decent prospects without getting any MLB ready arms back.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 28, 2015 0:11:34 GMT -5
Baseball Tonight speculating Toronto may spin Tulo for pitching or now trade an Encarnacion or Bautista for pitching. May have wait to see how this one ends. I guess it's possible, but they would have had to work this out with Tulo in advance though. Its being reported that because of the trade Tulo has a no trade clause, so unless it's somewhere he wants to go (or he just really doesn't want to play in Toronto) I'm not sure how it will work out. The other part being if they did trade Tulo they also traded there existing SS leaving a hole to be filled.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 27, 2015 23:53:08 GMT -5
Baseball Tonight speculating Toronto may spin Tulo for pitching or now trade an Encarnacion or Bautista for pitching. May have wait to see how this one ends.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 27, 2015 23:49:57 GMT -5
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat! Didn't see this coming. First the surprise Donaldson acquisition and now Tulo. That's a scary scary offense.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 27, 2015 20:57:54 GMT -5
If the Phillies can get C Jorge Alfaro, RHP Luis Ortiz and OF Nick Williams (all prospects being discussed as possibilities along with Chi Chi Gonzalez and Luis Brinson) for Hamels they will have done well and should pounce on it.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 26, 2015 21:01:38 GMT -5
I know Hanley has a -0.8 fWar mostly as a result of very poor LF play but can someone who has positional adjustments available tell me what his fWar would be if he produced the exact same offensive line as a DH the entire season? Including baserunning he'd be slightly under .5 fWAR on the season on my quick rough estimate. Thank you.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 26, 2015 20:51:47 GMT -5
I know Hanley has a -0.8 fWar mostly as a result of very poor LF play but can someone who has positional adjustments available tell me what his fWar would be if he produced the exact same offensive line as a DH the entire season?
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Post by taftreign on Jul 25, 2015 22:30:52 GMT -5
The Pedroia injury could put a crimp in plans to trade Holt (if there were any such plans). I'd still trade him, even if Pedroia is out for an extended period. Eh, this teams not going anywhere so it shouldn't effect the decision to trade Holt. Just bring up Marrero and he can learn second on the job.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 25, 2015 17:49:47 GMT -5
If he finishes this no hitter RAJ will start asking for the moon. I just hope he isn't still a Philly next week. Seriously though, you can't make this stuff up! Hamels struggles in multiple starts and right before the deadline he throws a no-hitter. I love baseball though because of this.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 25, 2015 17:39:09 GMT -5
Yeah from the reports on the very budget conscious ownership and an unwillingness to spend money it seemed Conforto and the Atlanta trade would the extent of moves. Then you read they discussed Tulo with Colorado, Bruce with Cincinnati, Zobrist and Clippard with Oakland and Upton with San Diego and you think maybe they are willing to take on more.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 24, 2015 21:31:40 GMT -5
If I can't have Salazar then Carrasco would be a perfectly fine consolation prize.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 24, 2015 18:33:41 GMT -5
John Gant and Rob Whalen are the arms per Jon Heyman.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 24, 2015 17:51:19 GMT -5
Looks like the Mets are closing in on a deal for Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson for "young arms" from Atlanta per Jim Bowden.
If so that would eliminate a need for Holt and with the Conforto call up mostly put an end to this thread.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 24, 2015 10:00:39 GMT -5
Trying to envision a Hamels trade that works for both teams at this point. Personally, I don't think he's being traded until the offseason and I don't think he's being traded to BOS. I'm thinking the parameters would be Johnson, Castillo, Marrero and an A-ball lottery ticket (thinking Callahan, not a top-100 prospect). I think we have enough depth at OF, LHSP and SS to give up all three. Castillo could be given a real chance to shine in the majors and his contract effectively offsets some of the financial risk for Hamels. Johnson slots into Hamels' spot in the rotation and Marrero can take over 2B in the majors or be PHI's utility man. Also, I would want PHI to pick up enough of Hamels' contract to make it dollar neutral (Hamels vs. Castillo) this year. Hamels will be owed approx $9mm for the rest of the year, plus $23.5mm in 2016-2018, plus his $20mm option/$6mm buyout in 2019 (assuming 400IP option is not triggered). I would consider upgrading the deal to Margot, but I would want PHI to kick in more luxury tax relief this year. I would still rather trade Johnson than Owens, due to upside. I'm not advocating for a Hamels trade, but just thinking about the parameters. I still think the Red Sox should sell off tradeable pieces to get under the luxury tax this year. Now that Stark is floating a CHC Castro/Baez ++ for Hamels trade, I think we can revisit my proposal to see if it is in the ballpark. I think it is. Castro is essentially Rusney (big contract, prospect promise unfulfilled) - he is owed $37mm over the next four years versus $43mm for Castillo. Baez has a huge ceiling but has some plate discipline issues; he's supposed to start rehabbing from his broken finger this week. Personally, I like the CHC offer slightly better than my proposal but that also means trading Hamels in the NL. I don't know about that. I see a fair difference between Rusney and Castro. First of all Castro is a proven producer at the MLB level which is something we still have yet to see from Castillo. Secondly Castro is still 3 years younger than Castillo at 25 to 28. Third Castro arguably has greater defensive value. I'd rather have Castro vs Castillo as a GM because there's just more value there and I'm more certain of what I'm getting. Edit: Just looked up on fangraphs and this years -0.7 WAR isn't comforting but there has been enough success for me to still see this as small sample size performance and not the norm. Thinking about this more so and if I'm the Phillies I'm not interested in either of those deals. I'd need another prospect in addition or a better replacement for Castro or Castillo.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 23, 2015 23:23:34 GMT -5
“@redsoxstats: Jayson Stark on Baseball Tonight says the Red Sox are in and actively trying to get Cole Hamels. Trying to agree on prospect package.” I get he is under control for the next three seasons but I don't have a great feeling about Hamels in the AL East and specifically in Boston. If it's going to take one or two A prospects then this is the wrong type of pitcher to target IMO, an aging ace who is more a 2 or 3 in the next few seasons. I know it's hard to find organizations willing to trade young pitching but with patience, which may mean waiting until the off season, I think some possibilities will show themselves. If your talking Margot and Johnson as the main pieces I guess it's more palatable but not if its Swihart, Owens, Devers or Guerra. Wouldn't be surprised if any deal would have Philadelphia getting a return of Victorino to balance some salary and allow him to potentially end his career in Philly if he hung it up. Ben is feeling the pressure from Boston fans. Not as if this is going to save the season but he can try to sell this as hope for next year. Still the wrong decision I believe.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 22, 2015 22:16:23 GMT -5
Expanding on the idea of trading for Gausman using Hanley Ramirez as the central piece. Baltimore has currently received production from all LFers at a combined slash of .219/.289/.344 with 8 HRs in comparison to Hanleys .261/.305/.471 with 19 HRs. Baltimore has had decent production from the DH spot but have no long term commitments blocking the position so Hanley isn't restricted to LF every game.
Baltimore is also shedding ( before considering any resigns ) salaries of Chris Davis (12 mil), Bud Norris (8.8 mil), Wieters (8.3 mil), Chen (4.75 mil), Tommy Hunter (4.65 mil), O'Day (4.25 mil) and Pearce (3.7 mil). Hanley is owed 8 mil remaining in 2015 and 22.75 mil in each of 2016, 2017 and 2018. The question is how much salary would require to be eaten for Baltimore to have interest in this transaction?
My initial valuation would be around 13 mil. Half of this years remaining salary (4 mil) plus 3 mil in each of the following years reducing his salary to 19.75 mil per in 2016, 2017 and 2018. There is something psychological in fans reaction to a guy being a 20 mil or more player vs an under 20 mil per year player even though it's absurd in regards to the marginal difference in salary commitment.
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Post by taftreign on Jul 22, 2015 21:41:11 GMT -5
Who says no scenario 1: Gausman for Holt Who says no scenario 2: Gausman for Victorino, one or two B prospect(s) (Marrero, Buttrey, Stankewicz, Rijo) They definitely say no to the second one. If they like Holt they may say yes to it, but it would probably take a second piece. My take is Baltimore has higher sights than Holt offensively. Boston would need to get a third team involved here unless Baltimore wants Hanley. Question is what team would be willing to trade a quality bat but not be interested in just working out a deal directly with Baltimore for Gausman? Add: I also think Duquette would have a hard time risking a future of facing both Rodriguez and Gausman year after year as the #2 and #3 in the Red Sox rotation especially after watching Rodriguez take off after the trade.
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