Here's the latest from the NL East…
- The Braves are not planning to bid on Yoenis Cespedes, despite having some front office officials at one of the Cuban outfielder's recent workouts in the Dominican Republic, reports Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com. David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says the Atlanta officials were making the trip to visit the team's Latin American operations (both Twitter links).
- Nationals GM Mike Rizzo was scouting Cespedes in the Dominican, but Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports Rizzo was also there to check out Cuban outfielders Jorge Soler and Henry Urrutia, plus right-hander Armando Rivero. Rizzo predicts Soler will receive a richer deal than Leonys Martin's $15.5MM contract with the Rangers.
- Mets GM Sandy Alderson talked to reporters today (including Andrew Keh of the New York Times) and said he had had no contact with Jorge Posada's representatives. It was reported earlier today that Posada approached the Mets about a job and been rejected, though Posada's agent Seth Levinson denied the rumor.
- "The reliever market right now is a little bit hard to predict,” Alderson said. “The signings that have taken place so far I think have emboldened agents to this point.” Alderson was still confident the Mets will obtain some bullpen help at a reasonable price, pointing out that the number of quality arms still on the market.
- An unnamed NL executive tells Joel Sherman of the New York Post that the Marlins have been "very active. It'd be no surprise to me if they opened [their] new stadium with Jose Reyes, C.J. Wilson and a new good closer." The Marlins got the first piece of that puzzle tonight by agreeing to terms with Heath Bell.
- Wilson Valdez is a non-tender candidate, but Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer thinks the Phillies should hang onto the utilityman.
As soon as someone reports that the Braves aren’t going after someone that immediately makes me think that they are
Wren’s deals are generally quiet ones unless the other teams involved leak out the info . I still don’t see us making a play for Cepedes though .
he seems too flashy of a player/personality to be a brave..
bobby cox would come out of retirement to yell at him
I’d rather re-sign Bourn.
and why not? Don’t we need a corner OF who hits RH in any trade we make for JJ? Perhaps we’ll trade JJ for a GOOD young SS and sign Cespedes. It makes sense.
You remember the last time we gave an international free agent $20M+/multiyear deal without them ever having played ball on American soil before? C’mon down, Kenshin Kawakami.
You should do a poll on who Cespedes will sign with.
Just once I’d like to see the Cardinals linked to an International Free Agent… just once…
I haven’t been paying attention to baseball outside of my sox managerial search, who is this cespedes guy and why does everyone want him?
He is a Cuban with great stuff, the outfielder version of Aroldis Chapman.
Ive never heard “great stuff” used to describe a pos. Player before…
but chapman isnt even good…
ugh, i’ve had enough of those “can’t miss” foreigners since dice-k. once they’re here and actually producing, i’ll be excited, but i’m not buying the hype with any of these players before that.
He’s said to be a 20-30 HR guy with solid defense in CF and some comparisons to Sammy Sosa.
Reyes and Wilson would definitely be nice additions. However, I’d prefer the Fish go after Buehrle first and then try to get Reyes.
“It’d be no surprise to me if they opened [their] new stadium with Jose Reyes, C.J. Wilson and a new good closer.”
That NL exec must be on crack. Or Sherman once again is imagining things in his head. Reyes, Wilson & Bell would increase the Marlins payroll by roughly $45 million. That’s on top of all the arb increases they have coming. Let’s say the arb increases cost them $8 million extra (a conservative number), then that’s a total payroll increase of roughly $53 million. Won’t happen.
There payroll would still be under 100 million no?
Hey, I don’t have the exact numbers but arbitration is a crapshoot and it wouldn’t be surprising if their payroll rose by 10-15 million due to arb increases alone. They have a lot of players who are arb-eligible including Annibel Sanchez who should get a nice raise.
If they were to sign those 3, I doubt they would be able to keep their payroll under $100 million unless they traded some salary away (Hanley??)
lol
If im not mistaken its the signing bonus that has a cap right?
I think your right
Bob Brookover is TERRIBLE!! He wrote an article a few weeks back that the Phillies should resign Ibanez for “something in the $4M range”, despite the age, non-existent defense, and sub .300 OBP. He rationalizes it by using the phrase “it says here…” The article is riot, but go to google for it, philly.com has already removed it from their main site, probably after realizing the absurdity of it.
i was thinking the same thing. Lets see if someone can clarify it
I read that the new rules on IFA signing caps will exclude Cuban players over a certain age. I believe it was 24. Cespedes is over that age. Also excluded are the Japanese players who go through the posting system.
I think its the bonus that is capped not overall value i could be wrong though
Yes, but Jorge Soler, who Rizzo is talking about, is only 19
Oh, my bad. Thought they were talking about Cespedes.
I guess then that the new rules won’t be operative until a certain date in the future.