As usual, Jon Heyman is tweeting up a storm. His latest from Day 2 of the GM Meetings…
- The Brewers have added Jimmy Rollins to their list of potential shortstops. They're also eyeing Jose Reyes, Rafael Furcal, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Clint Barmes.
- The Yankees believe the prices on C.J. Wilson and Edwin Jackson are way too high thus far, and plan to wait them out. Wilson's agent Bob Garber requested a meeting with the Yankees in New York, during a discussion with GM Brian Cashman yesterday.
- The Marlins are telling teams Ricky Nolasco is not available now. Heyman wonders if they would change if they sign a free agent pitcher.
- One GM interested in Braves righty Jair Jurrjens does not believe he will be traded. The Braves seek an impact bat in return.
- Interest is picking up in Francisco Rodriguez, the third-best available reliever currently in Heyman's opinion.
Is Jurrjens the Braves GM now? Because that really seems to decrease the likelihood he will be traded.
Edit: Well, if you are going to edit it to “righty” this post won’t be funny at all any more…
Good for the Yankees. C.J. Wilson and his rep need to come back down to earth. That guy isn’t worth more than 4 years/$50-55MM AT BEST and anything above that in either dollars or years is a massive overpay. If the Yanks signed him to only 3-4 years at under $14MM a season I could live with that, but anything beyond and he’d just be another albatross.
I’ll agree that it’s an overpay, but it’s an overpay that some team is going to make. If Lackey and Burnett got five year deals in the $80+MM range, so will Wilson.
I don’t get it. Just because certain GM’s can afford to overpay and sign bad contracts why does that mean that should be the standard instead of the rare occasion? If anything, GM’s should learn what not to do from the Lackey and Burnett signings.
Because that’s where the market is set. Burnett and Lackey were what you’d call 1a/2 pitchers. They were the number one for the Jays and Angels respectively, but only for lack of a better pitcher on either staff. Wilson fits the same mold, he’s a solid pitcher without ace quality stuff who would be a number two pitcher on more than half of the teams in the MLB.
In regards to your last statement, I direct you to one Ruben Amaro, who just signed Jonathan Papelbon to a long term, big money contract despite all evidence indicating that long term, big money contracts almost ALWAYS backfire on relievers. Strictly speaking, there’s always one GM who simply will not learn. Conversely, just because Lackey and Burnett didn’t work out doesn’t mean that Wilson would be an immediate disaster. He won’t be worth a five year deal, but he’s likely to contribute more than either of them has for a few years.
More accurately…the history of big money contracts for elite closers is not nearly as bad as the history of contracts for middle relievers and LOOGY’s. The odds are actually pretty good that Papelbon will still be *at least* a very good closer throughout his new contract.
“More accurately…the history of big money contracts for elite closers is not nearly as bad as the history of contracts for middle relievers and LOOGY’s”
I keep seeing people citing this, but nobody seems to be able to cite solid examples. The only reliever I can think of in recent memory who signed a long term deal and worked out is Rivera and as has been stated repeatedly, he is the exception, not the rule. The last contract of that magnitude for a reliever was B.J. Ryan and that was a complete disaster. Then there’s Joe Nathan off the top of my head, who really only performed well for half of his deal.
By and large, elite relievers are almost always homegrown, never bought through free agency.
The Jays had Roy Halladay when they had Burnett. He was never, ever the number one. Also, the Blue Jays had one of the top rotations in all of Baseball when Burnett was around, and was actually the best in the league at least one of those years.
It’s outright embarassing that I forgot Halladay.
I know the Braves said they were looking for a Greinke type trade for Jurrjens but would Jesus Montero for Jurrjens get it done?
And the Braves need a catcher why?
The Braves not needing a catcher effects trading for Monterno how?
Why trade for something we don’t need . It doesn’t improve us at all unless you turn right around after acquiring him and trade him again . Overkill ?
But his bat would almost certainly improve the Braves. If he could play even a Garrett Anderson-esque LF I would do that trade in NYY minute.
Has he evr played LF or any OF position ?
-No, but it’s not that hard. Tell him, Wash.
-It’s incredibly hard.
What I am saying is Montero is not going to be a MLB catcher. He is destined for LF or 1B, not behind the plate.
Then why hasn’t he already been moved to another position ?
They don’t, but the right-handed power bat would be awesome. Lots of people think Montero is destined to convert to the OF in the long run, so if that could happen I would make that deal in a heartbeat.
yankees wouldnt trade montero for jurjens. jurjens is onjured too much and hasnt proved himself to be a dominant pitcher which is what the yankees would be looking for in a trade for montero. montero is top5 prospects in the mlb and is worth 100x more than jurjens.
I don’t disagree, but that wasn’t the question.
Montero is a prospect . Jurrjens injury was a knee , not a shoulder or a arm . So the injury is not something that will affect other GM’s judgement of how good a pitcher he is . And I don’t think Montero has ever been a MLB AS yet either . Jurrjens is worth more than you are giving him credit for .
no, he isn’t. at best, jurrjens merits a shaun marcum return. montero is a much better prospect than brett lawrie was when he was traded. jurrjens isn’t even as good as marcum and just isn’t worth very much in general
And THIS is based on your opinion , which is worth ?
it really isn’t. by the numbers, jurrjens compares well with shaun marcum, but his peripherals are slightly worse and he has injury concerns marcum did not. consequently, jurrjens is worth slightly less than marcum was
shaun marcum returned brett lawrie, who was a fringe top 50 prospect. jesus montero is a top 10 prospect. connect the dots
Jurrjens is not worth Montero. Not even close.
Especially seeing how the Braves don’t need another catching prospect .
By that I meant Jurrjens would NOT net you Montero. The Braves would be ecstatic if they could get that kind of return for him.
He doesn’t fit into the Braves needs . They would probably have to flip him after acquiring him .
So, 100 Jair Jurjens’ for Montero? That’s gonna be a helluva rookie-ball rotation for the Yanks.
You have that much faith in Bethancourt?? Or is McCann taking a huge discount for the Braves???
Hell yes.
I’d take that and run with it as a Braves fan, but I don’t know if the teams’ respective GMs would go for it or not. Can’t tell if Wren wants multiple good-ish pieces or one great one, and I don’t know if Cashman is really all that open to trading Montero.
I think that would no doubt get it done if Montero could convert to LF.
That was what I was thinking. He wont stay at catcher. Be a big bat and a bad glove outfielder.
If he went to LF then sure. But otherwise, they’re locked up at 1b and catcher for times to come.
I Montero would get it done, but why trade for a catching prospect when you already have one of the best prospects in Christian Betancourt.
As people have mentioned, he’d probably go to the OF.
Come On Bleed Orange, if Andy MacPhail were the GM of the Braves, they would do such a trade. Frank Wren is a very smart GM and he would not do that trade. Unless Wren wanted to flip Montero like the Blue Jays flipped Napoli. I don’t think something like that would happen because too many eyes would be watching!
I just selfishly want Montero out of the AL East. Watching that kid last year made me realize that he is going to be something special
I doubt it because I think Montero is a catcher , right ? Well we already have an AS catcher and a good catching prospect in the minors that the braves are fairly high on .
There is no way Jurrjens gets a Grienke type return, even though KC didn’t get enough for Grienke.
They didn’t get enough for Greinke? They got their 2012 starting SS and CF (Escobar and Cain), a valuable bullpen guy who can throw 100 mph (Jeffress), and one of the best pitching prospects in baseball (Odorizzi). If that’s not enough, factor in that they also got Milwaukee to take Yuniesky Betancourt, and that alone made the deal worthwhile.
No, they did not get enough for Greinke in a vacuum because there were no guys in the deal with star quality upside (maybe Odorizzi, but I think his stock has improved significantly since the trade). In reality, they weren’t going to get multiple potential stars because Greinke had the no-trade clause and was demanding a trade. So it’s unfair to evaluate the trade in a vacuum.
And no, I don’t consider 2 guys who project as starters on a non-contender, one head case relief pitching prospect, and one excellent but very far away pitching prospect to be a good return for Greinke in a vacuum. Given the circumstances, it was acceptable, but I expected them to get one elite prospect and a couple of solid guys.
If you think KC is a non-contender, then you haven’t been paying attention to what’s going on with their drafts and their minor league system for the last couple of years.
If you think Cain and Escobar only project as starters on a non-contender, ask Milwaukee if they would have liked to have had Escobar starting for them at SS during the playoffs while Betancourt was making errors. Escobar was their starter the year before as well, and before that was one of the top prospects in baseball. Ask Atlanta why they were pushing for Cain in a Jurrjens deal, and ask Washington if they’d like to get their hands on Cain.
KC didn’t get enough for Greinke? I’ll have some of whatever you are smoking, sir.
Ricky Showgun isn’t going anywhere. Why would they try to build a contender if they were planning on getting rid of their No 2 starter? Won’t happen. Plus, they may want to see how JJ’s shoulder is before trading a high-caliber arm.
Nah.
SINCE WHEN IS JAIR THE BRAVES GM!!!!!!!!!!!
……..
Who wants to take bids on how long it’ll take for Mr. Balls to be banned? I’m guessing before 1 pm, east coast time.
It will be a shame to lose his witty, insightful baseball comments is all I have to say.
Well color me shocked, less than a minute after my question and the axe was lowered.
Yeah . His “Hey shut up’s” are very creative . At least for someone with the IQ of of an Elephant Terd .
“One GM interested in Braves GM Jair Jurrjens…” ~ That’s prased a little odd Tim, just FYI.
It’s not JJs shoulder but his right knee that’s giving him trouble. Hanson is the one with the right shoulder issue. JJ needs to build up more strength in his lower half to be to handle the rigors of a full season which he hasn’t done yet. When he does he’s going to be very good for quite some time.
I think he was refering to ‘JJ’ as Josh Johnson . And ‘Ricky Showgun ‘ would obviously be Ricky Nolasco . I started to make the same mistake myself when I first read it .
That rival GM could very well beone that offered last weeks trash and is now throwing a temper tantrum because wren said to go pound salt.
So the Brewers really want Clint Barmes, but would settle for Rollins or Reyes?
All of these GMs are just posturing right now. Wren says he won’t trade Jurrjens for anything less than a “Greinke like deal”. Other GMs say he won’t be traded if that is the price. It’s all part of the game.
I really think the Braves need to trade Jurrjens in order to gain some salary flexibility. But they aren’t going to just give him away. If a team offers a couple of solid B to B+ prospects I think Wren takes the deal and uses the money to sign a free agent outfielder.
I agree with everything , except what it would take . I’m thinking more along the lines of an A + B+ to an A- + B . But I believe that you are correct about the GM’s trying to feel each other out right now .
I think Jurrjens is probably beeing sought after by quite a few teams right now . There is no question that he has value caue of what he can do when he is healthy . And it was a knee last year . I believe it was his left knee which is not his planting leg , but the one he pushes off of . So it’s not like he won’t be able to come back from it .
His left knee is his planting knee. Would be a pretty strange delivery if it weren’t.
You got me there . I had to think about it for a sec . At least I was man enough to admit I was wrong . I still think Jair will bounce back . It’s not something near as serious as his shoulder or elbow .