It's been a busy weekend in baseball's Western divisions; the Angels have landed Zack Greinke, the Padres have extended Huston Street, the Giants have landed Marco Scutaro and the Diamondbacks have acquired Chris Johnson. There's still plenty of news and potential action out west, however… here are tonight's links:
- The Diamondbacks may not be finished dealing yet, writes Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic. Arizona GM Kevin Towers told reporters on Sunday that he could pursue additional pitching prior to Tuesday's deadline. Towers also hinted that one of the club's infielders could be on the move: "As it stands now it will be tough to get them all at-bats, but we'll see what happens the next two to three days."
- There's no guarantee that the Diamondbacks trade Stephen Drew, sources tell Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The D-backs are currently deciding whether they want to give the bulk of the playing time at shortstop to Drew or Willie Bloomquist.
- If they go with Bloomquist, the Athletics are not the favorites to land Drew; an unspecified mystery team would be most likely, according to Rosenthal's source.
- Within the same piece, Rosenthal notes that the Athletics are reluctant to match the Blue Jays' asking price for Yunel Escobar.
- The Padres are weighing several offers for Chase Headley, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, but San Diego isn't sure if they want to move him.
- Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow felt that the high asking price on Headley had a beneficial effect on the market for Johnson, according to Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter).
So the A’s are not going to do anything? I guess it’s time to see what Grant Green can do.
Wow, we need a shortstop Billy!
JRoll!
The Padres are moronic. They should have traded Quentin, Street and now they should trade Headley. They need to commit to rebuilding if they are ever going to get anywhere. They can get prospects in return for these players and with the money they save in the future they can sign players who are potentially just as good.
I’d say trading Headley would be about as moronic as it gets, Padres need to build around cost controlled talent (which headley is) and they have a good amount of young talent coming up or recently came up. Not sure why the goal should be to have a team of 21-23 year olds, I have issues with the Quentin deal but it is from a value standpoint. There is no reason to trade Headley unless you get a elite prospect in return.
Headley is being overvalued by the current lack of 3B on the market. His offensive production is pretty much average. The Padres should take advantage of that and trade him for multiple top 100 prospects like they are surely being offered.
He has a wRC+ of 125, that is well above average.
He also hit 4 HR as a third baseman in 2011.
yeah, in PETCO, during an injury-shortened season. Chone Figgins hit 5 HR as a 3rd baseman in 2009 and he was a 7 WAR player that year.
Yeah and if hr’s was the tell it all stat, it would matter a lot.
Yeah, like Fergie Jenkins led the league in allowing the most HR *7* times and is in the HOF..
HR is a poor way to track a player from both a Pitcher and positional player prospective.
The padres are looking to win next year, and chase headley could be very valuable to them. Unless they can get a very good and close to ready piece, in a position of need, then there is no reason to trade him, especially as he is controlled through 2014. They can’t keep rebuilding and trading off valuable pieces forever, they have enough talent coming up where next year they will begin their push towards actually winning.
I believe that’s what the Padres think. The Giants don’t hit enough to ever be a true powerhouse in the NL West and I can see the division being won by a different team each year for the next few years.
They have Gyorko ready to play third, that’s why they’re trying to get a good haul for Headly. And their farm system is stacked right now, I like the moves they made, and the signings they’re making. They should have traded Heath Bell instead of watching him walk, but they were smart enough not to resign him and look at him now.
Their team will compete in the NL West next year, and if a new owner comes in and signs one top tier player, then I think they’ll be looking good. The Latos deal has worked out VERY well so far with Alonso and Grandal.
I think the Padres are valuing Headley too high. Even if Petco brings down his overall numbers, his road splits aren’t amazing. I don’t think many teams see him as an impact or game-changing player. If teams did he’d be in another uniform already.
At this point Jamey Carroll would do
Where? Oakland?
Who could this mystery team be who is in on Drew? They must be in contention since he will be just a 2 month rental. Possibly the Cardinals with the Furcal back injury?
Hope it’s Pittsburgh. They desperately need an upgrade from Mario Mendoza… I mean Clint Barmes
What are the Padres asking for Headley? He’s a nice player, but he’s not an all-star or anything. Yeah his numbers are hurt playing half his games at Petco, but even his career road splits aren’t anything special. His .300 career road average is nice, but his production numbers don’t match it. He’s played 315 road games, basically the equivalent of 4 full seasons of road games. In those 315 he’s hit 30 HR and driven in 143 runs. Thats an average of 7.5 HR and 36 RBI on the road per season. Like I said, nice player. But it appears the Padres are asking for way more than he’s worth. Seems kinda strange with 3B Jedd Gyorko raking in AAA and ready to be promoted.
What? 315 games is less than 2 seasons worth of games. He plays elite defense and has a road OPS of .800. You also have to consider that he had to adjust his approach to better fit Petco. You’d be crazy to think that doesn’t have some effect on the road. Not to mention the large confines of the NL West ballparks and the effect they have on his numbers.
not sure if srs. home runs aren’t really part of his game but he gets on base at an elite rate, hits a ton of doubles, and is one of the best defensive third basemen in the game. from 2011-present he’s 3rd in WAR among full-time third basemen. Even if you’re just looking at his bat, wRC+ (weighted for park and league) ranks him as 4th most productive, right in between Adrian Beltre and Alex Rodriguez. On top of that he’s going to earn <$10m the next two years. the padres are right to ask a ton for him.
.268 career hitter, less WAR than Yunel Escobar last season… I just don’t see it. They shouldn’t give him away but to expect a top prospect or a king’s ransom for the guy is ridiculous.
Basically, he’s a nice, above average player.
Question for iheart: How many of those 3B qualify as “full-time 3B”? 3rd and 4th place are nice if you’re talking about 15-20 players, but my guess is that there are maybe only 10 players that have accumulated enough time strictly at 3B since 2011 to qualify. Like I said, above average player, but that’s it.
You know, about 20 teams don’t even have an AVERAGE player at 3rd base.
A nice, above average player will be a huge upgrade over black hole, which is what 3rd base looks like for a lot of teams.
You must be watching a different Chase Headley. Career high in doubles is 31 and he’s got 21 this year which is tied for 28th in the NL. His OB% is .363 this year, tied for 16th in the NL and his career .346 isn’t exactly elite. If he had enough games to qualify on mlb.com, he’d rank 68th among active players in OB%. Headley is good defensively, but that isn’t a reason a team would part with a top prospect. Teams this time of year are looking to acquire 3 things: SP, RP and bats. His bat just isn’t that great. He can’t hit free agency til 2015 and that certainly ups his value a bit, but not to the point where any team should part with a top 10 prospect.
I believe they’ll trade Drew. Bloomquist is much cheaper and the owner hasn’t publically called him out like Drew. Drew’s range at SS has looked iffy since coming back. It’s a shame, Drew is a much better player than Willie when healthy, but it’s a big IF about him staying at short.
Bloomquist is far lass expensive than Drew and is also performing remarkably well. With Bloomquist hitting at or near .300 out of the lead-off spot and playing above average defense, the Dbacks would be shooting themselves in the foot to let that go. They have not had this sort of production out of SS since Drew’s second season (which is starting to look like a fluke) or out of the lead-off hole since, well, ever.
Drew is gone at the end of the season. Bloomquisst is signed cheap;y for one more year. This seems like a no-brainer.
Two possible mystery destinations for Drew could be Dodgers or Cardinals.
I don’t think Drew gets traded within the division.
Not likely, but if the Dodgers actually offer a player of any calibur, and not just a bag of BP baseballs, the Dbacks might need to consider it. He is a cancer on that team, and acquiring Chris Johnson really only makes sense if helps them to move Drew.
I’m unsure why we keep getting reminded about a Yunel Escobar trade to Oakland, when the chances of that happening are slim and none. First of all, Esco is a valuable part of the Jays. Secondly, if the Jays consider themselfs a contender for the wildcard, why would they trade a valuable piece to a team that is also competing for the same wildcard spot? Does that make logical sense?
No, no it does not. Unless they were to get a very good starting pitcher in return. Which Oakland has, but will not give up.
I think the Yankees are in on Headley. I’m not sure what they can offer but getting him will free A-Rod to DH mostly full time next year, let them get rid of the DH platoon and get another body who can actually play in the outfield. (Ichiro instead of Jones and Ibanez) Plus it would give them leverage with Swisher contract coming up. Swish doesn’t want to leave, but he may ask too much given his 25 HR, 90 RBI average in Yank years, with Headley they can convince Swish that there wouldn’t be a lot of sting in his leaving. Nick wants to stay in NY and the money is not the only driving factor. Adding Headley and Ichiro would be nice additions to the NY style of play.
.. Enough about Yunel and Oakland, firstly, nobody ever predicts Jays trades, they are totally stealth. Secondly, trading YE just ain’t gonna happen, Kelly Johnson is (mercifully) gone at the end of the year at 2b, and Adeiny Hechavarria will be installed there next year. They can’t afford to go with Hech at SS and ??? at 2b to start 2013.
Looks like no one wants Upton or Young from the Dbacks. No improvement till they are gone with they $14 Million contracts.
Or the beginning of greatness if he gets a good haul that fills multiple needs.
I guess you missed the post about Dbacks no longer looking to trade him until the off season…
I liked those returns from the get go…If they can’t get Yunel I’d rather them bring up Green, simply bc Yunel has control and is cheap, and until we get a new stadium that’s what they want to do and I don’t blame them.
Green has played 3rd and SS the past few days in AAA and I’m guessing they’re going to bring him up to play those positions instead of trading for someone. I don’t have a problem doing that, I like his bat, and i figure his defense can’t be THAT bad.
While I enjoyed nearly every aspect of this post, I don’t think Hech’s defense will ever come into question, especially at 2b, regardless of how he hits. The improvement of his fielding ability over that of Johnson’s may make him just as valuable at 2b, once again (almost) regardless of how he hits.
I just don’t see Beane parting with one his very good team controlled SP’s for Yunel. If he would consider it, the trade would already be made.