Many baseball people expect the Padres to trade Carlos Quentin, but the team is in a fluid situation, so that assumption is not safe, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. The Padres should have some payroll flexibility this offseason, so they could keep the outfielder despite their modest budget. Here are Rosenthal’s latest rumors:
- Jeff Francoeur has played through ailments and injuries this year and the Royals like his leadership, so they aren’t necessarily looking to trade him.
- Last August the Royals offered Melky Cabrera the same two-year, $13.5MM contract Francoeur eventually signed, but Cabrera declined the offer and the Royals traded him a few months later.
- Rosenthal suggests the A’s aren’t eager to trade veterans for marginal returns. The team is hovering around .500 and plays 18 of its next 28 games at home. The A’s would probably love to trade Kurt Suzuki, Rosenthal writes.
- One exec predicts the Phillies don’t have enough confidence in their outfield depth to trade Hunter Pence this summer.
- An agent predicts Cole Hamels will sign a monster free agent contract this coming offseason and Rosenthal says the Phillies won’t go near $150MM for six years or $175MM for seven years.
- Rival teams frequently ask about Darwin Barney and it’s possible the Cubs will trade the second baseman.
- The Orioles seem to have the most interest in trading for Diamondbacks left-hander Joe Saunders, Rosenthal reports.
- The Orioles’ Triple-A team, which includes Miguel Tejada, Jamie Moyer and Dontrelle Willis, tops the Orioles’ MLB team in career earnings, Rosenthal notes.
- One executive suggested a growing number of teams could request 72-hour windows to negotiate extensions with trade targets this summer because of the provision in the new collective bargaining agreement that prevents teams from obtaining draft pick compensation for players acquired midseason. However, players wouldn’t necessarily be interested in signing and it’d cost teams time and leverage.
The Sox currently have two top OF’ders on the DL. I would love to see them trade one even up for Hunter Pence–Ellsbury. He would solve your CF problem if the Phils lose Victorino to FA.
Ells would be an amazing addition in that HR ballpark offensively. If you sign Victorino and Ells you’ll have quite a speed tandem.
The sox need a RHanded bat in their lineup that can play RF.
Well, they could have Jeff Francoeur for what would probably amount to a terribly one-sided deal- either Moore will demand way more than Frenchy is worth, or he’ll only think that he is, and end up acquiring negative value players.
Why trade Barney? Multiple times I’ve heard that he has the makings of a player who will have a long and solid career, he plays hard every day. It’s not like we have anybody coming up through the ranks that has a higher potential.
A .300 OBP is the reason you would trade him. Sure, he plays some solid defense, but mediocre hitting middle infielders with a solid glove aren’t hard to come by. If we can get an upside player, it’s definitely worth it to trade Barney.
The only thing is, I’m not sure we could get an upside player. If anything, it’d be beneficial to keep him just because he’s cheaply controlled til 2017.
Yeah, I agree with kc. He’s not a BAD player, he might even be a regular player when all is said and done, but he is largely unimpressive. His offensive value is pretty much entirely based around whether or not he can maintain a high average and even then it’s pretty “meh.” Defense is good by the stats (I’m less impressed personally but I guess that is why the stats exist, to provide an objective evaluation,) but that’s not super hard to replace. Plus having a spot for Junior Lake wouldn’t be a terrible idea in a year or two and he certainly has higher potential. Valbuena can fill in until he’s ready.
If you can get anything decent back it’s worth looking into. If not, keep him. I think the organization can win either way.
Sell high! You ask for the moon & hope to get it. If not, you pull back.
Yeah, I like Barney’s hustle & his defense is solid, but if you get top prospects for a player with an OPS well under .700, you take it.
Why do we Cub fans Keep… Falling… In… Love… With… Our… Players? EVERYONE on this roster is expendable.
Starlin Castro Says Hello
If we must, let’s trade him to Colorado just so he can wear purple.
cubs should keep barney. i see him fitting in real well with what the cubs are doing. dont really see the upside in trading him. he might not be a superstar but he IS a ball player through and through
The Orioles’ Triple-A team, which includes Miguel Tejada, Jamie Moyer and Dontrelle Willis, tops the Orioles’ MLB team in career earnings, Rosenthal notes.
Well the Orioloes could change that by trading for Cliff Lee, Zack Greinke, or Cole Hammels or at least get it closer!
Come on Kenny! If you’re going to bust Angelos’s and Duquette’s chops offer some solutions as well as this observation!
uh, I don’t think he was really making fun of the O’s. in contrast, this was in the article:
“Duquette, in addition to adding pitchers such as right-hander Jason Hammel and lefty Wei-Yin Chen, has done admirable work acquiring players on the cheap.”
anyway Lew Ford’s hitting like .400 with an OPS of over 1.000 at AAA. I’m sure if he keeps this up for any length of time, he’ll get a callup… sounds a lot better than what Chavez has been offering us.
Regarding Hamels monster contract. I was wondering if given the chance for a do over, how many teams would not make the 100m commitment to free agents. What I call home grown players aside because their success rate is better and fans tolerate less than 100m production from home grown players for whatever reason, Examples, Prince Fielder, and Albert P are great hitters, but would the teams make that deal today?, Deals like Hampton, Zito, Wells, and Soriano are no brainers, but what about Werth, Mauer, and Crawford, Are there many teams who would resign a free agent to a 100 plus deal and not regret it? Given this history, why do teams still do it, Yes Hamels will get his contract, but the odds of the team regretting it seem better than 50-50? How many of the 100 mil free agents have gone to the WS? 3 or so, half dozen maybe, is it worth the risk?
I think we will eventually see contracts slow down for players, but I’m not sure these teams will ever learn that it doesn’t make sense to sign a guy for 7-10 seasons. Some teams will simply never do it, though.
This year, we see a lot of teams playing well without high payrolls and they will have flexibility to add pieces at the deadline. Meanwhile, other teams like Philly, Boston and the Yanks are pretty much tapped out so they have to hope their off-season moves work to perfection.
Even though it’s nice to have a great big payroll and have tons of stud players, those guys start to regress and get hurt with age. I think the best plan is to not overcommit to long term deals, but keep a payroll around 70-90M with room to adjust.
A-Rod’s first deal (it was a mistake for the rangers, but that’s because the team was really bad at the time), Pujols’ first deal, Jeter’s old megadeal, Sabathia, Teixeira, Manny Ramirez’s Boston deal, Bonds, Beltran with the Mets
plenty of megadeals work out just fine. you just don’t hear about them. its when they go to players on the wrong side of 30 or mediocre players that they fail.
edit: took out papi, ichiro, and hunter.
Not sure the Yankees would do the Texiera deal again if asked. I purposely excluded home grown such as Jeter. there are of course successes stories, but the failures far outweigh them and the question was about 100 m deals and do they get you to the WS. If we include all large FA deals we could add the like of John Lackey, Alex Rios so although debatable the odds are against success. I also believe Ortiz’s biggest contract was 4/52, hardly what one would call a mega-deal.
i honestly thought ortiz had signed a bigger deal at some point. i should check my facts better.
edited my post. sorry about that.
Sabathia & Big Tex still have a while to go. Beltran hit well but only averaged 72 games per season in 09/10.
Ichiro and Hunter both got 5/90. Papi got 4/52. Those aren’t true ‘mega-deals’.
Most mega deals do not work out. Rodriguez (twice) Pujols, Carl Crawford, Soriano, Zito, Vernon Wells, Prince Fielder, Mark Teixeira, et. al. I can think of only one, CC Sabathia, who is even remotely earning his check. Teixeira’s a good (not great) player, but $180 million? Please. Crawford and John Lackey cost the Red Sox $225 million and neither are currently even playing.
The under 30 you mention includes Braun, Votto, Cain and a few others and they have a chance to pan out. It’s an incredibly bad idea to go more than 5 years on any contract, especially with pitchers.
The best contracts are like the one’s Adrian Beltre and C. J. Wilson received—above average players payed at fair, but not above market value.
Of course, the A’s are no stranger to stupid contracts, Rex, look what they gave Coco Crisp and Eric Chavez.
The Rangers were really really bad when they signed ARod to his first megadeal, but he produced like a HOF player in his prime and played shortstop. It’s not ARod’s fault that the Rangers had no pitching.
my point was that *some* megadeals work out fine, and a lot of the disaster contracts are when megadeals go to nonelite, nonprime players (a 7 year deal to a guy who’s primary asset is speed and defense, which ages terribly, any 5 year deal to a pitcher, any huge deal to anyone on the wrong side of 30).
and yes, the A’s are absolutely no stranger to terrible deals, and Chavez was a massive fail (although moreso due to injuries than underperformance). although if we’re talking under 30MM ala Crisp, every reliever with a big deal not named Mariano would end up on that list. Including Fuentes twice.
Jeter, manny, Pujols and A-Rods first deals and Miguel Cabrera are the only 100mm deals that look good in hindsight. Sabathia will probably join the list in a few years
The Orioles’ Triple-A team, which includes Miguel Tejada, Jamie Moyer
and Dontrelle Willis, tops the Orioles’ MLB team in career earnings,
Rosenthal notes.
Just clicked on Jamie Moyer. Holy cow, according to baseball reference he has made +82 million dollars over his career.
I heard a whispered rumor: The Detroit Tigers are having a thorough medical examintion done on Victor Martinez. If it is looking satisfying to the front office that he will return sometime sooner then later (they really, really miss his clutch bat) fine. But if not, they are interested in obtaining a power right handed bat. Carlos Quentin was mentioned. I don’t know what they would give up in trade, but they do have several young, quality pitchers on the verge of coming up. Drew Smyley and Casey Crosby have already started games in the bigs with some success.
Seriously, how much does Jamie Moyer hate spending time with his family that he would rather ride a bus and stay in cheap motels in the minors.
Darwin Barney. One of the best names in baseball today and not a bad player either.