Let's look at some news from both the AL and NL West….
- The Rangers have scouted 19-year-old Cuban defector Jorge Soler, reports MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. Texas is one of a few teams who have interest in Soler, who Sullivan says "might have more offensive upside" than the heavily-scouted Yoenis Cespedes.
- Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Adrian Gonzalez has been lobbying the Red Sox to check in on several Padres, including Heath Bell and strength/conditioning coach Jim Malone. Boston is known to have an interest in Bell as a possible replacement for Jonathan Papelbon in the Red Sox bullpen. Center also discusses San Diego's own closing situation among other topics as part of his weekly online chat with Padres fans.
- Rockies third base prospect Nolan Arenado has hired Scott Boras as his agent, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. Arenado was represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council when Colorado picked him in the second round of the 2009 draft. Arenado, 20, has enjoyed a strong start to his pro career, compiling an .829 OPS in his first three seasons ranging from rookie league to high-A ball.
- The Mariners can afford Prince Fielder, writes Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times and "aversion to risk is how mediocre teams stay bad a long, long time." Baker figures that if the Mariners "eat most of the remaining cash on the Chone Figgins contract" and deal Jason Vargas or Brandon League, the club can afford the slugging first baseman. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes picked Seattle as Fielder's landing spot in his top 50 free agent predictions.
Anyone else find the comment about Seattle amusing. I liked how it mentioned the importance of not being risk averse and eating Figgins’ bad contract as part of one point.
I found this interesting, Baker writes it as if its fact
“aversion to risk is how mediocre teams stay bad a long, long time”
What about the Cubs, Mets ? They’ve taken plenty of risk, most miscalculated, and now they are paying for it.
He said fear of risk keeps mediocre teams mediocre. He didn’t say that the inverse is also true.
Think a lot of it might be which GM is calculating the risk/reward when it comes to the risk and whether or not the gamble has a reasonable chance of being worth it.
Hendry and Minaya stuck those 2 teams in a hole and buried them for years, plus both should have been canned well before they were and just kept piling poor gambles onto their respective clubs, much like Wade did in Houston.
As most know, better GM’s have a better success ratio, or at least a better chance of getting some right.
How is eating Figgins’ contract saving money in the least bit?
Damn you Boras.
Thank god Jack Z is the M’s GM and not Geoff Baker.
The only way the M’s can sign Prince Fielder and fill the remaining holes on the team is if they bump up the player payroll to 120M+. They have big question marks at DH, 3B, LF, and SP, while needing a co-catcher and bullpen help.
DH as of now is Carps. 3B will be Seager most likely, baring trade. SP wont be as bad as people think. I wouldn’t be surprised if Paxton or Hultzen start the year in Seattle, not extremely likely but I wouldn’t be surprised. King, Pineda, Paxton, Hultzen, maybe Moyer if we sign him, Vargas. LF is a legit concern. I’m not worried about catching right now, the market this year is bad as usual…typical “defense first” guys. The bullpen, in my opinion, should be made up of young guys that want to prove themselves. Spending money on relief help has really not been a very good idea in the past for other teams. Don’t have the link handy but I read that relief help isn’t worth the investment for what you get out.
If they have big question marks at DH, 3B, LF, SP, RP, and C then they should focus on addressing those issues before pursuing a luxury like Fielder.
Suzuki will be gone after 12, that will clear up plenty
No real slugger is their biggest question. Ms will take a hitter like Prince no matter which position he plays.
DH can be Carp or Smoak if Fielder signs. LF, I’d love to see Casper Wells play everyday. He has some pop and plays CF too. Carp can platoon out there too. He made some decent plays out there. There are plenty of LF out there that are 10 times worse defensively. Ibanez for example. Loved the bat, not hot on his glove/field work. Albatross trade to Mets for Soriano would work too. He can bop when he’s on.
SP, there are a few out there who could be had for cheap. I’d say start with bringing Moyer back. Then we could move one of the younger bucs into long reliever spot starter role. Then continue to groom Hultzen and Walker. We’d have a solid pitching lineup when they’re Pineda-ready. Felix, Pineda, Hultzen, Walker, (Vargas/Moyer/Beaven/Furbrush/someone else). Albatross trade to Giants for Zito could work out for us. I’d rather see every 5 days of a disaster than EVERY-stinkin-day!
Catcher is a definite hole and 3B. We have Figgins (hurl) and we could hope these next two years he does something other than pretend to be a ballplayer and grow up. (Not holding my breath). Seager/Liddi showed signs of life here and there and one of them may be a year or so out. Ty Wigginton would have been a nice pick up if they gave chase, but i would even like the prospect of going after Cuddyer to be our Utility guy (OF/IF) or play primarily 3B. He has somewhat decent numbers at Safeco.
Catcher, too bad on Doumit. I liked him. Shoppach would be a good pick up though too if we move on him. Not holding my breath on Moore but hes doing so-so in AFL. If we do snag a good catcher, Olivo as back-up would be good.He caught the staff this year and has a lot he can hand over. Showed a lot more leadership than most any other vet on the team not named Ryan or Kennedy.
Our bullpen was solid through the first half, but I think when we dealt Fister and Pauly we lost some goodness in our SP and a good reliever in Pauly. We have some good arms waiting int he wings, but they are maybe a year out — or if they are like Carp could make camp out of Spring Training. I think they need a veteran arm in there like Arthur Rhodes (not necessarily Rhodes himself, just someone like him). Heck, wait a half a year and see where Aardsma is and potentially re-sign him.
Originally planned for two cents worth but got me thinking more about the holes we need to fill and if we get Fielder, it really does help the line up more if just a few other guys step up. Fielder, Carp, Smoak, Wells all can bop. Olivo showed he could knock em too so if he were lower in the line up that would be pretty nice.
Ichiro, Ackley, Carp/Wells, Fielder, Smoak, Guti, Ryan, Olivo, 3B (Figgins (blah), Seager, Liddi) And thats not getting in on someone else for 3B. We would probably be able to lure more talent over if they knew Fielder would be around.
“aversion to risk is how mediocre teams stay bad a long, long time.”
So true, so true
Geoff Baker is the worst baseball beat writer in North America. Almost nothing he says is rooted in logic. It’s painful. He has the business sense of a hormonal teenager.
Yeah, he says the type of stuff Bill Bavasi, the M’s previous GM would say.
Simply put , the poor can’t afford to buy cheap ;)
That goes for the M’s , O’s , Stro’s and most of MLB.
Neither the O’s nor the M’s are anything close to “poor”, though.
They’ve just spent money poorly–although the only bad recent free agent signing by the Mariners was Chone Figgins, and no one thought he would be as bad as he’s been, I can safely say.
The O’s…well, they have spent money badly, although not as much as some teams(the Cubs, for one). Still, they have had many problems which compound each other(poor scouting and player development, bad drafts which happened due to poor scouting, etc.) So, there’s that.
I meant talent poor ;)
where’s Richie Sexson when you need him?
I believe Nolan Arenado has a huge contract in his future.
Luckily for the Rockies its not for about 4 years! It will be interesting to see what happens with Fowler/Boras and the Rockies. If Fowler puts up legit numbers for a full year he is likely trade bait, unfortunately.
I wonder if Arenado choosing Boras will delay his call up. Hopefully Stewart doesn’t give the Rockies a reason to do an early call up.