MLB Trade Rumors

11 Feb 2019 05:08:24
Hi Guys - Haven't been on here in soooo long. As Spring Training approaches, a lot of teams have needs that are still not filled. And the team who won the Commissioner's trophy in 2018 is who I will be talking about.

I think we can all agree that the Red Sox are the most complete team in the bigs, but they have a massive void to fill - the closer. Craig Kimbrel is one of the top 5 closers of the past decade, and 2018 showed you why.

Here is what I think will happen to Kimbrel: He will sign with the Braves for 5 years 80 million. This means the Red Sox will NOT HAVE Kimbrel in 2019. Personally, I think a perfect option is Raisel Igelsias of the Reds. He had a stellar 2018, and his recent seasons show no signs of regress. He was 30 for 34 in save opportunities while pitching in one of the most hitter-friendly parks in baseball.

While Cincinatti appears to be looking to contend, I think it's unrealistic at this point in the stacked NL Central. Raisel Iglesias was a big part of the limited success they had, but the Reds can replace him with Jared Hughes, who also had a great 2018.

Here is the proposed deal:

Boston gets: Raisel Iglesias

Cincinatti gets: Michael Chavis, Bryan Mata, $200k

11 Feb 2019 19:49:04
Maybe at trade deadline, I could see the Reds trading Iglesias. But there's no point in them making the moves they made to trade their very good closer right now.

12 Feb 2019 18:00:23
Reds are now trying to “compete” so there’s no way they are trading their star closer.

19 Feb 2019 14:29:42
1st, the Sox are not the most complete team in the bigs. Their bullpen is behind some of the others in MLB. I'd say the Yankees, if their rotation is healthy, and the Astros are both more well rounded. That could easily change with a Kimbrel signing. Having him in the 9th slides everyone up in the pecking order and makes them that much more efficient.

I also don't see the Reds moving Iglesias right now, but there are some good young RP out there the Sox might be able to pry away from teams who aren't going to be competing. I do think Iglesias would be a good deadline target if Cincy isn't in the thick of it.

25 Jan 2019 04:26:09
Could the Dodgers do this?

Sign Bryce Harper 10/320


Trade Joc Pederson, Yadier Alvarez, Alex Verdugo, Dustin May to the Indians for Trevor Bauer?

25 Jan 2019 13:33:52
Of course they could, but their payroll would be in 240-250s.

25 Jan 2019 18:25:28
I doubt teams pay that much for Trevor Bauer for a couple reasons:

1. He's a clubhouse and PR nightmare. His politics aside (I don't care who anyone votes for), he's known to battle fans, journalists, and other players on social media. It's been pretty well documented that his teammates can't stand him. And teams like the Dodgers have had difficulty managing troubled personalities in the past (Puig, Bellinger, Machado) . Think what you will about him, he's simply not worth the trouble for a lot of teams, at least not when you're paying top dollar for him.

2. He's been on the record that he won't sign anything more than a 1-year deal. This will also hurt his value. Because teams know that in order to keep him, they'll have to give top dollar every year, instead of spreading it throughout his contract. This means they get 2 years of Trevor Bauer at a decent rate, and that's about it. I'm not giving that return for 2 years of Bauer.

If I'm the Dodgers, I'd go Verdugo + May for Bauer. And I think that might be too much for what I'm getting.

01 Feb 2019 14:46:07
Wrong. Bauer is intense, competitive, motivated to win---yes there's some swagger and attitude but he doesn't just talk the talk. Like a lot of players in baseball history---loved when on your team---hated when you have to face him.

02 Feb 2019 00:34:32
I have no issue with Bauer, but you’re lying to yourself if you don’t think he’s problematic for the Indians. His clubhouse reputation is very well documented.

And don’t ignore his unwillingness to sign long-term deals. He’s going to sign a bunch of 1-year deals and teams don’t want to get in a bidding war every year for him.

19 Jan 2019 15:40:59
Rest of Yankees Offseason

Trades

Trade #1

Reds get Sonny Gray

Yankees get Tyler Stephenson and Shed Long


Trade #2

Indians get Estevan Florial, Everson Pereira, Chance Adams, Jonathan Holder, and Domingo Acevedo

Yankees get Corey Kluber


Trade #3

Rockies get Miguel Andujar, Clint Frazier, Clarke Schmidt, Matt Sauer, and Luis Medina

Yankees get Nolan Arenado


Free Agency

Designate Jacoby Ellsbury for Assignment

Sign Bryce Harper for 10 years and $350 million (with an opt out after 5 years)


Roster

Lineup

RF Judge
DH Stanton
LF Harper
3B Arenado
C Sanchez
SS Gregorius
CF Hicks
2B Torres
1B LaMahieu

Bench

C Romine
1B Voit
SS Tulowitzki
OF Gardner

Rotation

Kluber
Severino
Paxton
Tanaka
Happ

Bullpen

Sabathia (Swingman/Spot Starter)
Green
Kanhle
Ottavino
Betances
Britton
Chapman

19 Jan 2019 19:03:54
Here we go again.

All of this puts the Yankees at a payroll of 270M next season (per Cot's Baseball Contracts) .

Also, are you really suggesting the Yankees sell of every bit of their farm system for two trades?

20 Jan 2019 01:46:19
The Reds would be absolutely mad if they gave both of those prospects for Gray. Take Shed Long. We got other infield talent.

20 Jan 2019 03:22:16
Whether you think they will do them or not, do you think the trades are fair or would they at least get the other teams attention?

20 Jan 2019 05:42:38
A) When he does these posts we should just ignore him.
B) No the trades are horrible.
C) You always do quantity over quality. Stop, Not one player will ever bring back 5 players, unless they are desperate like the Red Sox were with Sale.

20 Jan 2019 19:31:34
DFAing Ellsbury still means you have to pay him which puts your payroll at $310 mil, slow down and think about it next time bud.

20 Jan 2019 22:33:26
Florial, Frazier, Andujar, Pereira, and Holder aren’t quality? Andujar could have won rookie of the year. Florial is a top 100 prospect. Frazier was a top 100 prospect but had too many at bats to be considered a prospect but is still very young and talented with a lot of control. Pereira will be a top 100 prospect in a year and a lot of people project him to be better than Florial but he’s only 17 years old. Holder could be the Indians 8th inning guy in front of Hand but gets lost in the Yankees stacked bullpen.

21 Jan 2019 17:05:43
Then its to much of quality and quantity.

21 Jan 2019 20:59:40
So you actually think they’re giving up too much in these trades?

15 Jan 2019 19:44:26
Giants remaining offseason:
FA's-
C-Caleb Joseph-1 yr
OF-Aristides Aquino-4yr(milb)
OF-Adam Jones-1 yr
2B-Josh Harrison-2 yr
P/3B-Matt Davidson(2nd 2-way player) 1yr
Trades:
Joe Panik to Pittsburgh(Adam Frazier moves back to OF) for milb Domingo Robles and Ji-Hwan Bae
Belt to Rays for Lucius Fox

Pablo Sandoval also transitions to being a 2-way player

C-Posey
1B- Shaw
2B- Harrison
3B- Longoria
SS-Crawford
LF-Jones
CF-Duggar
RF-Williamson

Rotation:
MadBum
Rodriguez
Holland
Samardizja
Suarez

'Pen:
Smith
Moronta
Watson
Melancon
Dyson
Venditte
Black
Blach
Stratton

Bench
Joseph-C/1B
Hanson-3B/SS/2B/RF/LF
Slater-1B/LF/CF
Sandoval-3B/1B/C/2B/P
Davidson-3B/1B/LF/P
Aquino/Ferguson/Gerber milb/mlb
transitioning-OF

Feel free to give feedback, I have no idea what direction Farhan Zaidi is going with this team, so I am just experimenting and filling holes, mostly outfield, and making this team younger and more functional

15 Jan 2019 20:03:17
Bryvic Valera and Abiatal Avelino are both up and down from big leagues as well.

19 Jan 2019 11:16:57
As a Rays fan, I love Belt, but am also aware of concussion/ injury issues and his contract would be a little bit of an impediment, but I think they could afford him. Would be kind of funny to see Fox go back to the Giants. I wonder if the Rays would try and expand the deal to include Will Smith. They are still looking for a veteran arm in the back of the pen to accrue saves.

19 Jan 2019 19:10:10
Belt didn't have any concussion issues in 2018. I think the "issue" has been vastly overstated.

Belt's issue, playing wise, will be his streakiness. When he's hitting, he's one of the best players in the game. But when he's not hitting, he's one of the worst. His splits every year are comically across the map.

But I'm not sure there's a player in baseball more hurt by his own ballpark than Belt. Most scouts believe he has 30-40 home run capabilities, and it'd be interesting to see what would happen in a more hitting friendly environment.

That said, I believe they'll get more than Lucius Fox for him. Quite a bit more, in fact.

20 Jan 2019 08:36:01
Well, Belt has had 4 concussions in 8 years, so some might consider that to be a potential "issue" as the longterm effects of concussions are still somewhat unknown.

While Belt did not have a concussion in 2018, he did have season ending knee surgery. That won't "kill" his value but it should have an effect.

Totally agree about the park, however, Belt has surprisingly posted a higher wOBA at home in his career, so it's not entirely a park issue. However, players do typically perform better at home sometimes for less quantifiable reasons.

Again, we agree, it would probably take more than Fox. I don't think it'll be "too" much more, maybe another 45 FV prospect?

20 Jan 2019 13:33:18
Depends on how much the Giants cover. My guess is Zaidi will leverage their ability to spend to draw better talent from the acquiring team.

20 Jan 2019 13:41:46
The knee surgery Belt had was not much different than the surgeries we see guys like Bregman have every offseason. Only difference is the timing. The Giants had him get the operation because his season was over. If they were still in the hunt, Belt would have waited like any of these players.

This is what I mean by his “issues” are overstated. Without any context, they look bad.

20 Jan 2019 22:35:06
Belt is streaky and gets more freak in baseball related injuries then more people I’ve ever seen, and is hurt a lot by the shift, but brings elite defense and puts a 5 year block in the Rays first base him so they won’t have to worry about him. Rays need a 1st baseman pretty bad and him playing at the Trop could 100% turn his career around, a new stadium could boost his homer in total to maybe 28-35.

21 Jan 2019 02:33:20
Yeah, Belt's defense is a pretty big factor for his value. Since 2016, he leads all 1B in almost every defensive metric, by a pretty good margin.

As far as the shift goes, he's not hurt that much. Since 2017, he hits .309 against the shift. He's fine.

14 Jan 2019 05:28:12
Reds are on the up, they have a genuine chance to contend for a wild card spot if they can can shore up their pitching staff.

Trade:
ARI gets Matt Kemp, Connor Joe, Wyatt Strahan, Joe Mantiply
CIN gets Zack Greinke

Sign:
Marwin Gonzalez for 3yrs $21mil

C Barnhart
1B Votto
2B Gennett
SS Peraza
3B Suarez
RF Puig
CF Gonzalez
LF Winker

Bench
C Casali
2B Senzel
OF Schebler
3B Blandino
OF Ervin

Starters
Greinke
Wood
Roark
Castillo
DeSclafani

Bullpen
Garrett
Lorenzen
Hernandez
Hughes
Iglesias
Peralta
Romano

14 Jan 2019 14:30:30
That Greinke trade is no bueno.

14 Jan 2019 22:56:35
I think the Reds landing Kemp was a huge mistake, I would have given up another top 25 prospect to avoid that contract so we could use that money elsewhere, maybe for a Keuchel or a Pollock.
That’s why we give up Kemp and 3 mid-level prospects for an underperforming, overpaid started to see if he can regain his form in a new scenery.
Throwing in Someone like TJ Friedl or Juan Graterol might make this trade more appealing, but the goal is to get better team control for a bona fide starter rather than paying 20+mil for a guy who’s heart has always been in LA.

15 Jan 2019 02:50:22
If you think Greinke is an underperforming starter, this probably isn’t a conversation worth having.

15 Jan 2019 19:15:46
Greinke will be a borderline All-Star for the rest of his career, not underperforming.