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By Steve Adams | at
Email a copy of 'MLBTR Mailbag: Gurriel, Gallardo, ChiSox, O's, A's, Alvarez' to a friend
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ronnsnow
Pedro Alvarez has been trouble from the start. When he was drafted, he didn’t sign until after the deadline, mainly because of Boras. Alvarez was complaining about moving “too slow” through the Pirates system as he was developing. Alvarez balked at the idea of moving to firstbase when he began having struggles at third. Alvarez refused to play winter ball to get some experience at firstbase, saying where he works out in Miami would be plenty practice enough. One season and 26 first base errors later, Alvarez is still unemployed. I can’t say I’m surprised, and I don’t feel bad for him one bit. Alvarez has never been, and never will be as good as he thinks he is.
A'sfaninUK
You say “mainly because of Boras” then you blame him. Sounds like a personal vendetta. Poor quality post.
ronnsnow
All of your posts are poor quality.
pex5
i don’t think so. i blame boras but in the end its all on pedro for letting boras hoodwink him.
geejohnny
I think that it was more of a case of Boros doing his typical artificial elevation of a clients ability and regrettably Alvarez falling for it hook line and sinker. Pretty sure Pedro is a bit humbled now.
davidcoonce74
Seriously? What is an agent supposed to do? Tell his client “you’re no good”? Boras gets paid to sell his clients to teams. That’s how it works. Boras has made his client 14 million dollars over 5 years. That’s called doing his job.
lemieuxkarl66
Pedro is a lazy bum.
And yes. Boras is a bad influence (likely seeing more $$$’s out of a 3B than a 1B. )
But that doesn’t mean Pedro doesn’t hold up his end in the perfect storm of worthlessness.
Philliesfan4life
I think the Angels could be a good fit for Alvarez
JcHc3in1
No,
skeebwilcox
@ronnsnow You stated that perfectly. Well done!
A'sfaninUK
Don’t understand how the A’s can claim to be contending but not going after Fowler and keeping the horrendous hitting Sam Fuld on the big league team instead, but as stated, they should be trading from the pitching surplus. Desmond Jennings for Kendall Graveman who says no? Or Marcel Ozuna for Chris Bassit and Billy Burns who says no?
bhambravesfan
The Rays and the Marlins
arc89
Both are very bad trades for the A’s. Starting pitching is much better than a 4th outfielder coming off terrible seasons. Marlins are not trading Ozuna and Burns had a very good rookie season so why would you weaken 2 spots to fill 1? A’s’ could sign Austin Jackson who would put up about the same production as Jennings for free.
JcHc3in1
+1
ASapsFables
The White Sox have been connected to free agent shortstop Ian Desmond as well, who seems to be a more obvious fit on a short term deal than many of the outfield candidates. Both Dexter Fowler and Desmond come with the stigma of qualifying offers, but how many perceived contenders have a protected first round draft pick in June like the White Sox? It appears that the price of those FA’s are dropping daily, It’s not out of the question that the White Sox may yet be able to sign both of them as a result.
tim815
The quality at 26 (or whatever) won’t be any better than they could get in trade in July if it goes sideways.
Jeff Todd
Yeah, both could easily turn into big deadline pieces.
Also worth noting that either player would be a good future QO candidate if they can be had on a one-year deal. Especially Desmond. So, you’d have a good chance of recouping value down the line.
We’ll see what happens, but teams like the Sox could get rewarded for waiting out the market. Though there will be a lot of competition if the ask drops, I think.
ASapsFables
True about the possibility of an increased market resulting from a price drop.
At that point it would behoove the player to take the the best situation for them personally, which still would seem to favor the White Sox. After all, both would be have an opportunity to remain at their natural positions, Desmond at SS and Fowler in CF, with Adam Eaton potentially sliding over to RF. Each would also remain in their accustomed roles in the batting order, with Desmond likely hitting in the #6/#7 spot and Fowler remaining as a lead-off hitter with Eaton dropping down to the #2 hole, something “Spanky” had professed a desire to do last season with his new found power. Both players would also have an opportunity to play with a contender and produce numbers in a hitter-friendly home park.
From the White Sox perspective, the signings would have the potential to add 4-6 additional WAR to a team that is already projected to win 81-83 games per fangraphs and Zips. The potential for increased offensive production, especially with the long ball, might allow the White Sox to return to a club that can once again hit 200 HR’s, something that they have always achieved when making the postseason since the opening of their new ball park back in 1991. The signings of both Desmond and Fowler would also move two current starting players to roles that should be more befitting of them. Tyler Saladino would become a versatile reserve infielder capable of playing all 4 infield positions. Avisail Garcia could become Adam LaRoche’s right-handed hitting platoon partner at DH while also remaining as a backup corner outfielder. Both would be cost effective additions as part time players, with Saladino only earning the MLB minimum as a pre-arb player, while Garcia recently signed for $2.1M as a first year arbitration eligible. Each player still has remaining option years (Garcia with one) and can be sent down to the minors if need be. They might also provide some value as assets in future trades, especially to a non-contender or a rebuilding team.