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Raykraft's rumours posts with other poster's replies to Raykraft's rumours posts
06 Aug 2016 12:47:53
So I think that this would be a plausible waiver wire trade for the Braves and Padres. Anyone the Padres put on waivers the Braves would get first dibs at and anyone the Braves put on waivers would only have to pass through the the Reds and the D-Backs to get to the Pads.
Braves send Manny Banuelos (or John Gant) and Chase D'arnaud to the Pads for
Derek Norris.
Banuelos still has options for the minors, and would be another back end piece to add to a weak rotation and D'arnaud just helps them out with a little more cheap depth until they bring up some of their young stars. Norris becomes Braves starter over Pierzinski and then platoons with Flowers.
If these two aren't enough then maybe Chris Ellis?
1.) 06 Aug 2016 14:49:20
The Padres want prospects for Norris, not a journeyman utility guy and a prospect bust. Ellis wouldn't get the deal done on his own but if packaged with someone else the trade could work.
2.) 07 Aug 2016 14:11:07
What about one of the young SPs, such as Blair or Wisler, for Norris?
I agree that Atlanta, with its young pitching staff, would be a good fit for Norris.
3.) 07 Aug 2016 15:59:01
I think that it would be tough for the Braves to move a major league ready arm, but think that it wouldn't be out of the question to move Blair as he has struggled some and is injured right now.
4.) 09 Aug 2016 19:50:44
The Padres were the ones who traded Wisler to Atlanta. Why bring him back?
31 Jul 2016 13:47:10
I could see the Braves going after Derek Norris. Then when Flowers returns they DFA Pierzinski. This gives them a +WAR defensive catcher, with hopes of an offensive rebound. After his 3 years one of their minor leaguers should be about ready to take over.
I would guess a couple low level prospects for Norris would do it, something like Andrew Thurman and Wigberto Nevarez.
1.) 31 Jul 2016 15:33:30
It may take more going to SD, but, yeah, this could happen. A veteran catcher would be good with that young pitching staff.
26 Jul 2016 02:30:34
With Shelby Mikler on the block I think the Braves should deal Blair, Andrew Thurman and SS Johan Carmago and get him back. Seriously the d backs are crazy to try and trade him now. This is definitely about as low as you can get in value.
1.) 26 Jul 2016 04:30:55
Why would the REBUILDING Braves alter the process by trading some of their prospects.
2.) 26 Jul 2016 13:18:04
With the Braves rebuilding like Hking said they won't trade prospects to get someone back. its counterproductive.
16 Jul 2016 03:27:42
Astros, Brewers and Braves trade
Astros get Lucroy, Beckham, and Teheran
Braves get Jason Castro, Demi Orimoloye, and Alex Bregman
Brewers get Preston Tucker, Joe Musgrove, and Colin Moran.
1.) 16 Jul 2016 12:50:50
This is hilariously awful. The Braves and Brewers could get so much more for Teheran and Lucroy respectively. Also you have the Braves getting Bregman. Why would they need a 3rd top SS prospect for? (Albies, Swanson) .
2.) 16 Jul 2016 14:35:09
I could see the Braves' taking Bregman for Teheran, although it would probably take more. But the Brewers' haul for Lucroy is way too little.
10 Jul 2016 12:38:07
Yankees decide they want to win this year and work out a trade with the Braves and Dodgers to bolster their rotation for the next several years.
Braves get Luis Severino, and Gary Sanchez from the Yankees
And Alex Verdugo from the Dodgers
Dodgers acquire Arodys Vizcaino from the Braves and Donny Sands and another low level prospect from the Yankees
Yankees get Gordon Beckham, Julio Teheran, and Andrew Thurman from the Braves.
1.) 10 Jul 2016 14:55:01
Teheran won't be the Yankees answer to win this year. Their hitting would still be atrocious. Also trading Severino and Sanchez is counterproductive in the getting younger department.
2.) 10 Jul 2016 15:17:49
Braves would need more for Viz and Teheran.
3.) 10 Jul 2016 15:21:10
1. The Braves are getting ripped off in this deal.
2. Why in the hell would the Yankees want Gordan Beckham?
4.) 13 Jul 2016 16:01:59
Absolutely awful.
Raykraft's banter posts with other poster's replies to Raykraft's banter posts
13 Aug 2016 03:29:04
I've been looking ahead to who may be the top candidates for MVP and CY YOUNG awards this year. These are the top candidates as I see it with some of their stats.
AL MVP
I see 4 leading candidates
Jose Altuve has a slash of .365 BA/ .431 OBP/ .572 SLG
19 HR's / 26 SB's/ 71 RBI's/ 85 Runs and BB/ K rate is 49/ 50.
Trout has a slash of .313/ .424/ .553 with 22/ 18/ 75/ 89 (HR/ SB/ RBI/ Runs) and 72/ 96 (BB/ K)
David Ortiz has hit .307/ .401/ .612, 25/ -/ 88/ 51 and 60/ 57
Mookie Betts has hit .312/ .353/ .548, 23/ 18/ 75/ 87 and 31/ 66
I think that of there are several other strong candidates including Edwin Encarnacion, Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Josh Donaldson, and Miguel Cabrera are all putting up notable years as well. Out of the top 4 I mentioned I would choose Altuve as the top candidate for the AL MVP. He has taken a huge step this year and is leading his team as well as leading the league in hits and by a very large margin in batting average. Trout and Betts defense are both outstanding and play as positives for both of them, and give them a slight advantage over Ortiz in my opinion as he only plays DH.
In terms of the NL MVP I think that the candidates are a little less overwhelming in their total stats as the AL candidates, but nonetheless hard in picking the MVP.
I've picked 5 standouts that I feel are above the rest.
(GUIDE is AVG/ OBP/ SLG, HR/ 2B/ RBI/ Runs and BB/ K)
I'll start with Carlos Gonzalez (I was pretty sursprised to see how well he has hit so far) .323/ .372/ .569, 23/ 29/ 79/ 72 and 33/ 95.
Anthony Rizzo has a slash of .288/ .396/ .566, 24/ 34/ 82/ 70 and 62/ 78
Kris Bryant has .287/ .385/ .549, 28/ 28/ 72/ 88, and 56/ 119.
Daniel Murphy has hit .346/ .385/ .607, 21/ 33/ 82/ 67 and 23/ 45.
Nolan Arenado has hit .287/ .361/ .569, 30/ 27/ 92/ 85 and 51/ 65.
Out of this list I would probably eliminate CarGo first because although the numbers are excellent he does play for a losing team and although Arenado does as well, his defense and BB/ K rate make me less likely to throw him out of this race as quickly. So for team importance Rizzo and Bryant are incredibly hard to separate in this respect, having almost identical slash lines, Bryant with slightly more power, but a much higher K rate and a slight edge in runs produced. If I had to pick one of the two of them I would probably give Bryant a very slight edge. I really think this comes down to Bryant, Murphy and Arenado. I personally like Arenado, but feel like if Murphy keeps up his pace, he is probably the most deserving of the MVP, but it may come down to who leads their team in the playoffs.
Ryan Braun, Paul Goldschmidt, and Corey Seager are probably the most notable that I left out of this list.
So who am I missing and who do you think will win the MVP awards this year?
1.) 13 Aug 2016 05:06:35
AL MVP i think Altuve has run away with it he's just too good.
NL MVP is wide open, along with those you said i have 2 dark horses Stanton who can go on a run at any time and hit so many homers and the guy who i think will win Posey i'm a homer but the guy plays the most important defensive position on the field, he's most likely going to finish the season hitting in the .290s and he has a chance to hit 40 doubles and 20 plus homers those numbers are almost exact to his 2012 MVP season.
2.) 14 Aug 2016 16:14:37
Altuve and still too wide open for Sy young.
3.) 14 Aug 2016 17:18:34
For whatever reason players who have great MVP type seasons don't usually get the MVP award if the team doesn't make the playoffs.
4.) 15 Aug 2016 11:10:03
I agree 100% BATMAN most people go oh this guy had great numbers but his team didn't make the playoffs so he couldn't have been THAT valuable, it seems like it goes to the best player on a really good team so they should just change it to best player on a really good team award because they rarely get it right.
5.) 15 Aug 2016 19:16:47
That's the sad part of Arenado's case. Despite being one of the best defender's in the MLB as well as putting up a season that is very similar to the other candidates offensively and really improving on last year's k/ bb rate.
6.) 16 Aug 2016 00:30:07
JD back to back no question.
7.) 16 Aug 2016 13:30:16
if the Blue Jays make the playoffs i can see him getting it.
02 Aug 2016 15:31:39
Who got the best deals and the worst deals at the trade deadline and in the past week or so.
I feel like theYankees and the Brewers both were winners with big additions to the farm systems.
Brewers got Brinson, Bickford and Luis Ortiz.
Yanks got Frazier, Torres, Tate, and McKinney
At the major league level the Dodgers get a win for two good pieces in Reddick and Hill, without an extreme cost in prospects.
The Rangers could be seen both ways but definitely have a shot at getting farther than they would have with additions to Beltran, Lucroy, and Jeffress.
I think the biggest loser was the Pirates who got less than high end talent for closer Melancon which also weakens their pen for this year and then traded two top prospects Ramirez and McGuire in a salary dump of Liriano for Drew Hutchison. Hard to make a case that this was a good trade.
And the Marlins, who I don't understand think they have a shot at the playoffs and think Cashner is the one piece they need, but they continue to sell the little farm they have. Not sure I agree with them in thinking they can win yet.
1.) 02 Aug 2016 15:56:24
For the last time, McGuire and Ramirez are NOT top prospects.
McGuire was likely to never hit in the majors and Ramirez is likely a singles bitter with no speed or power.
2.) 03 Aug 2016 00:23:24
They were both top 100 when the year started.
3.) 03 Aug 2016 01:28:26
Exactly, and why do you think they dropped out of the top 100?
Because they regressed this season, and are no longer what they used to be.
4.) 03 Aug 2016 14:57:29
Well defensive catchers will always have a place in the pros and the jays are one of the best organizations to help a player learn to hit in baseball. And a guy that is fast and only keeps the ball in the ball park and his for average sounds like a lead off hitter to me. I'm not saying they are stars but good prospects pirates over payed for a pitcher that maybe a number 3 at best.
5.) 03 Aug 2016 19:16:44
"the jays are one of the best organizations to help a player learn to hit in baseball"
Which is exactly why they are flourishing with young talent they developed at the MLB level. Oh wait, that's not them?
6.) 03 Aug 2016 21:16:40
Jerk, don't you just the over biased/ blind to reality fans on here? It so easy to prove them wrong and look foolish.
7.) 03 Aug 2016 22:57:15
it's because they are to busy teaching their pitchers balance and coordination so they they Don't stumble and balk winning runs in. So I've been told anyway!
8.) 04 Aug 2016 04:19:16
Meanwhile, the Giants teach how to win World Series, not how to crap away a playoff series.
See, two can play that game.
9.) 04 Aug 2016 14:00:09
Also the Giants are able to keep their core players around with extensions, unlike the Blue Jays who aren't going to be able to resign Bautista or Encarnacion.
10.) 04 Aug 2016 18:16:32
1 they traded there young talent. They draft a lot good. Jays would be dumb to sigh Joey but they should go all in for eddy.
11.) 04 Aug 2016 21:23:45
Right, but saying they are the best at helping someone learn to hit a baseball is false.
They trade for proven offensive bats. Perhaps the reason they trade for proven bats is because they can't develop them?
12.) 04 Aug 2016 21:55:22
Batman are you a SF fan as well?
13.) 05 Aug 2016 00:47:43
Im just saying. u guys are lucky they still are the San Francisco Giants instead of the Toronto Giants.
14.) 05 Aug 2016 01:19:18
Jerk jays have had great minor league development and scouting. You know that.
15.) 05 Aug 2016 04:24:33
How? Nearly your entire lineup and rotation has been acquired via trades/ free agency. The players you have developed include who? Stroman? Osuna?
16.) 05 Aug 2016 07:29:49
Toronto has 31% of their 40-man roster as homegrown talent. That's 10th out of 15 AL teams. 22nd out of 30 MLB teams.
What talent are they developing? If it's so great, why can't they build a team from it?
Teams with great development don't sit in the bottom ten teams in homegrown talent.
17.) 05 Aug 2016 07:34:45
And if we just count the 25-man roster, there is only 5-6 homegrown guys. I give a range because they swing bullpen guys up and down who were drafted (Danny Barnes was homegrown but may not stick around) .
Again, what homegrown talent is shining so bright that it makes Toronto the envy of every ML club?
18.) 05 Aug 2016 11:41:07
Hking, your forgetting about Sanchez btw. I'm sure you've heard about him.
And yes your right about the bulk of current lineup being from trades. The Jays traded a lot of their young guys in the last few years that were in their system 2 or 3 years that they developed. Some trades worked out to get them to a playoff caliber team, some didn't.
I'm certainly not in this thread to argue that the Jays have the best organization in baseball, cause I know they aren't even close but my argument is that Jays are known to be good developers of young players.
19.) 05 Aug 2016 13:48:41
I'm not a Giants fan. I like what they do. As for who I root for I love watching baseball and notice trends and what goes on, that's how I'm up on everything.
20.) 05 Aug 2016 15:16:09
How are they good developers of young talent when almost none of that young talent is on a Major League roster?
Also curious: how many young guys that the Blue Jays traded are at or near the MLB level?
21.) 05 Aug 2016 17:04:17
Minnow, Bleacher Report currently ranks has your precious Blue Jays ranked at 19 in the current farm system rankings. The Giants are at 26, but I think the Giants get underrated all the time and has a better development system than the Jays.
22.) 05 Aug 2016 17:35:26
Minnow, if they Jays are the best at scouting/ developing minor league talent, then why isn't their farm system top 5 in baseball?
23.) 05 Aug 2016 18:56:11
hking please read my last post and tell me if I said "the Jays are the best at scouting/ developing" Give me a break pal.
The Jays were the #1 ranked farm system in 2012. bleacher report will list most of the Jays prospects they had at that time. As I've said, many have been traded.
Nobody on this site is an expert on scouting/ development of any organization in MLB, myself included.
I do read and listen to the so called experts and many have said the Jays are very good at scouting and developing especially in the lower tiers.
I'm only on this thread cause I threw a little jab at one of the Jerk SF pitchers. all in good fun.
And Batman, obviously I'm a pretty big fan of the Jays but I'm certainly not biased towards them. You will read many negative thoughts about them from me.
They just broke the strike out record for a 4 game series against the Astros. Fortunately, they still one 3 of 4. Pitching-Pitching-Pitching!
24.) 05 Aug 2016 22:24:13
A team that is among the best in developing players doesn't trade that talent away to build a team. If they are that good at scouting and developing, they'll use those guys on their team.
They probably do scout pretty well, considering they've had talent to trade away, but the part about developing it is most likely false, or at least unverifiable.
Teams with good development use their young players (Giants, Cardinals, Indians, Royals, etc. ), not trade it away. Simple as that.
25.) 06 Aug 2016 13:02:36
Jerk I agree with your last statement and will ask you to find me another team in baseball right now with 3 better young pitchers then the Jays 25 years old and younger contributing to their mlb teams right now.
Osuna (21)
Sanchez (24)
Stroman (25)
26.) 06 Aug 2016 14:46:14
Why an arbitrary age?
You've got many teams who have better pitching AND hitting that was developed within the organization. You listed 3 out of the 6 homegrown players on Toronto's roster. That is NOT something to be proud of.
If you want to go with your answer, the Cardinals have tons of young pitching (Martinez, Wacha, Rosenthal), likely better long-term outlooks than Toronto.
The point is, no matter how you spin it, the Blue Jays are NOT one of the better developers of talent in baseball. If they were, we'd see more than 6 guys on their MLB roster that were developed by the organization, not a reliance on other teams to provide you with MLB ready talent.
27.) 06 Aug 2016 15:37:08
Not trying to spin this at all and I didn't pick an arbitrary age. Just happen to be the youngest players on the Jays staff that came up through the system. So I looked at other teams rosters.
Back in 2012 when the Jays were ranked #1, they had enough assets and felt they could trade the likes of a Synderquard and the same last couple years trading a Norris and Hoffman etc.
As far as the hitters, I think you will see the younger guys in the system come up here shortly in the next couple years.
And which team has 6 young players contributing almost everyday on their mlb clubs. I can think of a couple but not too many.
Look at the rosters of the teams in contention. You'll find a good mix of Veterans and mid age guys just like the Jays. Not just the young guys that have been solely developed in their own system.
28.) 06 Aug 2016 22:19:02
Percentage of homegrown talent amongst "contending" teams (40-man rosters) :
San Francisco- 55.0%
St. Louis- 51.2%
Cleveland- 51.2%
Mets- 46.5%
Texas- 44.4%
Colorado- 43.9%
Boston- 40.0%
Washington- 39.0%
Houston- 38.5%
Miami- 36.6%
Baltimore- 36.6%
Toronto- 32.5%
Detroit- 31.7%
Cubs- 26.2%
Dodgers- 25.0%.
29.) 06 Aug 2016 22:42:17
Toronto is also the oldest team of that bunch, by a lot. Only 4 of their 25-man roster meets your arbitrary "25-year-old" standard. That's not much better than the rest of the contenders.
Also, if you remove those 4 players from the roster, the average age skyrockets to above 33 years old. If you take out the same players on contending team, the gap widens even more for Toronto.
If they were so good at developing talent, you'd see a lot younger squad.
30.) 07 Aug 2016 13:39:56
Yeah Dickey-Grilli-Benoit along with a couple others are the old boys of the league for sure so that brings the average up a bit too.
Again, some suspect trades by AA in the past few years is the main reason their isn't more young guys on the 25 man roster.
You seem to be pretty good at digging up numbers. It would be interesting to find out how many players are making it to the MLB level based on draft rank and how many years spent in the lowes levels.
31.) 08 Aug 2016 02:41:51
Stroman and Sanchez were both 1st round picks. It's not like the Blue Jays struck gold with late round picks. I would prefer to see teams who perform well despite late or no 1st round picks and with late round picks.
From what I can see, the Blue Jays aren't any faster at bringing guys to the majors. Stroman spent 4 years, Sanchez 5. Pillar 4 (but was also older when he debuted) . Osuna spent 3 years, which is impressive, but if history has any bearing (which is almost certainly will), Osuna will learn that age is rarely kind to relievers.
Again, there is zero reason to even think the Blue Jays are good at developing talent. They are among the bottom in homegrown talent. They don't develop low round picks into key players as much, and they don't accelerate their players through the majors any more than other teams.
I see zero reason why someone, outside of the blindness of being a fan, would suggest such was the case. It's literally the exact opposite. Their team is aging, the window is closing fast, and that's all because they have failed, miserably, at developing young talent in a way that sets them up for the future.
26 Jun 2016 16:56:20
My predictions for where some key players will land before the trade deadline.
Fernando Rodney to Texas
Bud Norris to Seattle
Drew Pomeranz to the Orioles
Aroldis Chapman to the Nationals
Andrew Miller to the Cubs
Arodys Vizcaino to the Dodgers
Carlos Gonzalez to the Blue Jays
Fernando Abad to the Cardinals
Jake Odorizzi to the Dodgers
Chris Carter to Seattle
Jonathan Lucroy to the Pirates
Jon Jay to the White Sox
Ervin Santana to Texas
Jay Bruce to the Red Sox
Julio Teheran to the Red Sox
Jeanmar Gomez to the Red Sox
Sean Dolittle to the Nationals
Will Smith to the Mets
Jeremy Hellickson to the Pirates
Yunel Escobar to the Giants
Jeremy Jeffress to the Giants
Danny Valencia to the Mets
I don't think Sonny Gray and Ryan Braun get traded.
1.) 26 Jun 2016 23:19:02
Jonathon Lucroy to the Pirates? Ever heard of the guy they just extended for a multi year deal? Fransisco Cervelli?
2.) 27 Jun 2016 01:12:09
Wow forgot about Cervelli as I was looking through depth charts.
3.) 10 Jul 2016 15:29:43
Hey Ray. It will still say his name on the depth chart look at the injuries. (Cervelli)
30 Jan 2016 00:03:31
I predict #1 Buxton 2. Seager 3. Giolito 4. Urias 5. Crawford 6. Arcia 7. Moncada 8. Glasnow 9. Gallo 10. Brinson 11. Devers 12. Snell 13. Matz 14. Mazara 15. Swanson 16. Turner 17. Reyes 18. Rodgers 19. Bregman 20. Newcomb 21. Berrios
As top 21 prospects when mlb.com releases them tonight at 9 pm.
1.) 30 Jan 2016 12:28:10
Well 20 out of 21 in the top spots. Austin Meadows knocked Bregman out of the top 21.
I was surprised that Buxton was overtaken by Seager, but certainly no diss to Seager as he looks to be a great ball player.
19 Aug 2016 11:34:49
I wish the Braves could get him for Chris Ellis and Manny Banuelos.
12 Aug 2016 11:31:04
How about the Braves trade them Gordon Beckham.
07 Aug 2016 15:59:01
I think that it would be tough for the Braves to move a major league ready arm, but think that it wouldn't be out of the question to move Blair as he has struggled some and is injured right now.
02 Aug 2016 15:02:59
This is mostly unbelievable because all of these players clearing waivers for all the teams who would have the chance ahead of them is pretty unlikely.
01 Aug 2016 12:46:57
The only one I'd object too is the White trade, because it doesn't really give the Astros anything they need which would be pitching. IF and OF are both fine, C and P are where they need help.
03 Oct 2016 03:01:00
If I reversed this, just for fun
I would say Stanton for the Marlins (although this year has probably tempered some of the highest expectations, just has a lot of swing and miss that needs to be fixed),
Yanks: Chase Headley (defense is decent, but just not a good hitter - I cringe when he gets mentioned as a trade candidate for the Braves)
Nats have 2 not named Harper (although I consider this, see Stanton's comment, I believe this has brought him back to earth and believe we still see the huge potential regardless) Ryan Zimmerman who had a -1 WAR this year as the 1B for the Nats and has consistently declined in recent years and Gio Gonzalez who has seen his ERA steadily raise since 2012 and the past two years his WHIP has been very high as well, along with not reaching 200 innings - My take is that he is going to be super over paid and will not live up to the contract he gets
Cardinals: This one is really tough as there is no obvious candidate that I see, although Matt Carpenter does seem to have declined some (formerly would have been an underrated and still could be I guess), no one else even closely sticks outs as overrated on their team
Braves underrated: Ender Inciarte - (His injury and slow start to the season masked his second half dominance)
03 Oct 2016 02:49:14
Underrated:
Gregorious (or to be different Starlin Castro) - Yankees
Anthony Rendon - Nationals - I feel like after being injured so much last year and with all the hype around Murphy, Harpers, Stras and Scherzer, he deserves quite a bit of credit himself
Aledmys Diaz - Cardinals - As a rookie what he has done is pretty incredible, only 59 k's to go with 40 BB's in 110 games. hit .303 with 17 HR's (Jedd Gyorko may be even more underrated as he has been a quite valuable piece for the Cards this year)
Martin Prado - Marlins - His ability as a utility player, serviceable defense and good clubhouse presence along with his hit tool, lead him to be underrated in my book.
Overrated
My team: Well only two players are rated highly at all and they are Teheran and Freeman and I would probably say both are a little overrated.
Teheran does not have a strong K rate to back up his low WHIP and ERA, which doesn't always have to be the case, but could be in line for some regression. Freeman has never shown this much power and his increased K rate concerns me.
15 Aug 2016 19:19:20
The only one who is crazy enough to make a trade for Trout would probably be the Yankees.
15 Aug 2016 19:16:47
That's the sad part of Arenado's case. Despite being one of the best defender's in the MLB as well as putting up a season that is very similar to the other candidates offensively and really improving on last year's k/ bb rate.
02 Aug 2016 15:04:51
Why do they need a backup with Rizzo and Baez as the backup infielder.