The Winter Meetings featured the three-team trade that sent Mark Trumbo to the Diamondbacks, as well as a number of other moves, but Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe argues that this year's meetings featured plenty of press, but comparatively little meaningful activity. Cafardo wonders whether baseball should issue a moratorium on moves before the Winter Meetings, so that the meetings themselves feature more signal and less noise. Here's more from Cafardo:
- For the Diamondbacks, the Trumbo acquisition was about adding power, which is in short supply these days. "Just looking at the West, and looking at the National League and looking at the free agent market going forward, I just don’t know where you’re going to find power," says GM Kevin Towers.
- If the Red Sox re-sign Stephen Drew, that would bump Xander Bogaerts to third base and make Will Middlebrooks a trade candidate. The Marlins, who are looking for a third baseman, would likely be interested.
- Even after a report that the Orioles had interest in A.J. Burnett and had been in touch with his agent, the Pirates feel Burnett doesn't want to play for any other team. "There’s no reason for [Burnett] not to be back," says a Pirates official.
- Four teams have offered two-year deals to free agent Bronson Arroyo, but Arroyo is holding out for a three-year deal, or maybe a two-year deal with a vesting option.
- There doesn't appear to be a particularly robust market for Kendrys Morales, with the Mariners adding Corey Hart and Logan Morrison and the Angels likely to sign Raul Ibanez. The Orioles might be one possibility, but not at Morales' price.
Ignoring that wanting power just for power’s sake is a dubious goal, there is this corner outfielder named Justin Upton who totally qualified as a power bat (and he could field his position!).
Maybe Kevin Towers should have traded for him.
I heard he got traded last year too, not for much if I recall. Now if only I could remember who traded him…Can’t, darn.
Would a package of Prado, Delgado, Ahmed, Spruill, and a throw in get it done?
Drury is hardly a throw in and dont forget the 5-6 million a small market team saved the first year. The uneven part was Johnson having a career year.
Diamondbacks could have the number 1 and number 2 leaders in homeruns in the national league this year. Power is definitely a shortage in the NL
thats cause all the power hitters play 1b/ dh and are getting 10 year contracts from AL teams
agreed, all the big money teams are in the AL. Except for LA
Am I the only one that thinks the Red Sox are giving up on Middlebrooks too early?
That’s how Boston rolls. “What, our top prospects don’t pan out? Blame the player and trade ’em.”
Can you name another example? Between Pedroia, Youkilis, Lester, Buchholz, Ellsbury, it seems they usually hold on to talent.
Iglesias was traded because he had value, not because he didn’t pan out.
I’m guessing he’s referring to Reddick. Just ignore this last season and his point works.
Edit: Who am I kidding? His point doesn’t work at all.
Reddick and Murphy are two former Sox prospects that everyone points to because of horrible trades but are also players that are not missed by a single Sox fan I know, myself included.
I missed David Murphy a lot, probably largely because what we got for him was ERIC GAGNE
There was a game during the 2007 playoffs where the camera showed the bullpen band playing except for Gagne who was sitting a foot away from everyone else by himself. Considering the Sox won the World Series anyway, that image and the laughter I got out of it made the trade worth it. To be fair, I’ve never liked Murphy.
Do you miss Hanley Ramirez too? Haven’t had a really good shortstop since. But the WS was worth it probably
The World Series where one of the players we traded for was the ALCS MVP and the other was the World Series MVP? Yea, I’d say so.
Miami got the best of the trade, but we got the WS ring. But I still think we’d have won a WS had we kept Hanley and Sanchez. Still, a bird in the hand…
Even ignoring this season it barely works; Reddick had a good first half in 2012 and then completely fell on his face in the second half.
It’s like Josh Reddick has always been a streaky player or something…………..
It’s more like he’s not a particularly good hitter who got hot for a couple of months.
Even in his “breakout” 2012 season, Reddick had a .305 OBP.
Yeah because his gold glove, 32 home runs, 16th in MVP voting along with nearly a 5 war is a terrible “breakout” season.
Need a lot more information to prove that’s a good season.
To finish 16th in the MVP vote literally means a couple of writers included him in their top ten list. That’s all it means.
You cannot possible deny that that was not a good season. Looking at one stat can be misleading. Yes his obp was below average but clearly his glove and power numbers made up for it as he had a 5 war. That’s like saying Miguel Cabrera has bad last year because in one area in his game he was below average (fielding).
Still probably best off looking at is career numbers with Oakland, where he has a .736. Ignoring what happened to Bailey subsequent to the trade, I’d still trade the .736 Reddick for the pre-2012 Bailey. And IRT to Bailey, I blame Valentine.
The problem with the “blame player and trade ’em” theory is that rarely does a Red Sox prospects traded away ever pan out. Going back to ’02, the only prospects to pan out are Masterson and Murphy. Reddick and Lowrie probably wouldn’t be starting in Boston. Bard, Hansen, Bowden, Andersen, Hagadone and Pryce aren’t starters anywhere.
Keep in mind Masterson trade got a return of Victor Martinez, so that wasn’t in anyway a dump. So if the Red Sox are just blaming players why aren’t more of them producing once they get to a better place?
Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez were Red Sox prospects moved after 2005 for acquire Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. Two pretty decent starters.
But what I was replying to above was the theory that the Red Sox trade their prospects once they don’t “pan out.” They “blame the player and trade them.” That wasn’t true with Hanley or Sanchez, they were young prospects in the minors who were moved because they had value, not because they didn’t work out. No one is saying the Red Sox don’t ever trade prospects, just that they don’t dump young players who aren’t working out.
Neither one of those players were given up on and blamed, as the earlier post stated. Besides they clearly brought back value as did Masterson. So I’m not seeing your point. (Other than to point out 2 players I didn’t list, but as I said before I only went back to ’02 draft – Ramirez ’00, Sanchez ’01 are earlier, Dan Duquette draft picks).
Reddick was moved as he was evaluated as behind Kalish, correct? Also, Reddick brought back an all-star closer in Andrew Bailey.
David Murphy was moved to Texas in 2007 to acquire Eric Gagne. It didn’t work out in the least, but that was the cost to solidify their bullpen.
No, you probably aren’t. Personally though, I thought they should have traded him after 2012.
“Where are you going to find power?” One year after trading Justin Upton, who hit 30 HRs in 2013.
Justin Upton hit 27 home runs in 2013. But I understand your point.
If Drew signs with the BoSox and Middlebrooks does become available, would the BoSox and ChiSox matchup in a potential deal?
if drew signs with the yankees and middlebrooks can’t cut it and boegarts needs more seasoning, well, i guess boston had a good year last year. the yankees would be the favorites next year, especially if the drew signing means that all bets are off for getting additional starting pitchers and the luxury tax rumor is just that for the Bronx.
Drew doesn’t help them that much if it means that Jeter becomes the DH over Soriano even for part of the time. He doesn’t play second base. Their infield is not very good at all and Ellsbury is due for his biannual trip to the DL along with most of their decrepit aging roster.
You don’t even TRY to be objective, do you? Not to mention, nowhere in your self-satisfying ramble did you even attempt to answer the question.
If two of our position players don’t work out, and the NYY sign Drew, and then go on a crusade for more pitching because they are going to blow through the salary cap, then yes, they might be favored over us.
But I won’t be losing any sleep over it.
It’s so hard to guess what Middlebrooks’ value is among baseball teams right now because he’s got a lot of potential if he figures things out, and actually gave a glimpse of it in 2012, but then he struggled severely this year and was even sent down to AAA for a while. I would say the ChiSox would be a possible fit, but I have no idea what Boston would look for in return from them.
Good question. After seeing Trumbo bring back a decent starter I would say that is fair to expect. Middlebrooks has Trumbo numbers over his first 650 AB – but the big difference is that MWB has fewer MLB ABs, is younger, and has a natural position.
The real difference is that Trumbo is an established major leaguer, and despite his flaws teams knew what they would be getting; Middlebrooks is way more unknown and therefor more of a risk.
If Middlebrooks is available, I think ultimately it has less to do with any signing of Stephen Drew and more to do with the Garin Cecchini in AAA. Not nearly the power, but is an on base machine and good defender.
I hope the Marlins are smart enough to not trade for Middlebrooks.
I’m to the point where I hope Burnett signs with any team other than the Pirates. Burnett made a comment trying to show the team that he likes it there and would be willing to take a home town discount. How do the Pirates thank him, by taking him for granted and acting nonchalant. They better be careful he doesn’t start to feel disrespected and sign with a team like the Cubs just to stick it to the Pirates.
How are the Pirates disrespecting him? If anything, he’s hurting the Pirates by stalling on his decision to play or not next year.
Yeah, I can’t see how signing with another team really sends any message to anybody. This is a business. He can sign with whoever will have him. If he wants to stay in Pittsburgh, he can do that, too.
Cafardo wants the tail to wag the dog. He is obviously a man that has no idea what the relationship is between sports and sports reporters. He wants baseball to change the way teams and players do business because it would make for better winter meetings for reporters? Baseball really doesn’t care if reporters show up, the winter meetings are not for reporters.
For real. There’s hundreds of millions of dollars being thrown around, and this guy wants to confine it to a specific time just so he can write better reports or something, or take vacations before the winter meetings and not miss anything. The rumors and noise are half the fun. The insane flurry of moves this offseason has been a blast.
He would need a lot more help than that to actually be able write something good.
I give the Red Sox this week only to re-sign Drew. He is about the only best option the Yankees have left for middle infield and Beantown would not be happy this holiday season counting on kids at the left side of the infield. Blow through the luxury tax Yankees. Give the fans a Christmas gift.
Actually you would be hard pressed to find too many boston fans that want Drew back. I am happy giving WMB and Xander the spots.
Agree. Red Sox signed Drew for one year, won WS, and got a First Round Comp pick for him. (Maximum Benefit)
Not sure why so many NYers think it would upset Sox fans so much. Most Sox fans want him gone and comp pick.
I want Drew back pretty bad actually.
I do as well. WMB and X are both right handed hitters, Drew is a lefty. He provides high quality insurance if X needs more seasoning at AAA or if WMB can’t get his OBP higher. There really isn’t anyone on the market that can create anywhere near that kind of depth. He is a perfect fit for 2014
I think the Sox have a great system with members of the Drew family. They sign them and then win the World Series in the first year of their contracts. Fortunately the Sox don’t have to have him around for another year. His brother DL was fun for the summer of 08 and that’s about it.
you always make good comments, reverend. if the yankees surpass the sox with ellsbury and drew in the lineup, the northern east coast will be a hot stove all summer.
Thank you. I agree that there would be a lot of angry fans in Boston over that, but I also don’t really see it happening with the way things are right now.
we are talkin’ boston. damon is hush. if only that bucky guy had played for the other color of sox, he would be living in argentina right now.
I spent last summer working in Southie. I’m sure I could’ve heard some good Bobby V jokes if I could understand the construction workers in the deli.
I can see the Yankees & White Sox discuss a Beckham (and maybe John Danks) deal, with other prospects being involved in the deal. The Sox main focus would to add Sanchez for behind the plate.
I love when Cafardo goes on MLB Network. I don’t think Harold Reynolds likes him very much. I don’t like him either.
He’ll be carefull.
Haha. You sound like that dude who got up in Luke Skywalker’s grill in the cantina (of course, your pic got me to this comp in a hurry…)
Speaking of short supply of power, anyone want Middlebrooks? He’s got 30+ homerun power I swear!
Ever since Infante signed with the Royals I’ve been basically counting down to the Yankees signing Drew to a three-year deal, with him playing 2nd base for a year or two. They’ll rationalize an overpay in a bunch of ways (Jeter’s going to retire soon, he’s got that lefthanded power, 189M was “just a goal,” it hurts the Red Sox, etc., etc.). As a Sox fan, I’ll be a little bummed. A left side of the infield with Drew and Bogaerts is probably a little better than one of Bogaerts and Middlebrooks. I would especially like the Sox to re-sign Drew if it meant packaging Middlebrooks with an extra starter to make a major upgrade somewhere else (CF? SP?). Either way, it’s just a matter of time…
Drew’s never played 2B in his life. He’s one of the best defensive SS in the game. Doubt a move like that.
Money talks. We’ll see.
Well the Yankees do have 6 starting OFers so I guess your right, anythings possible.
Makes sense. Why not have four shortstops, right?
That’s true, but he turned down more money from the Yankees last year because they wanted him to play somewhere other than SS, so it’s certainly not a sure thing.
Eventually even the Yankees will move Jeter off of SS, even if not for every game.
One can’t ignore J. Upton’s consistent power and range in the OF, but I don’t get why nearly every D-Back fan brings up his name when referencing the Trumbo trade. Upton is going to make a minimum of $10 million more than Trumbo this year, and Trumbo’s power has only improved in his young career. Why would anyone be pissed about 30+ hrs and 100+ RBI being in their team’s lineup? He isn’t J. Upton, that’s for sure, but he ain’t no slouch either.
They’d be upset b/c Trumbo doesn’t provide the same value defensively in the outfield and offensively he just doesn’t get on base.
Upton’s career OBP is over 50 points higher he is younger.
I fail to see how Upton’s power is consistent. I had him on my fantasy team last year and he would get hot for a week or so and hit 4 homers and then not hit one for another two weeks or longer. Very streaky hitter is more like it.
It is consistent season to season.
Morales should just accept a 1 year deal for like $5-10 million with incentives.
I doubt anyone wants to give up a draft pick to sign a guy for one year.
I could see a team like the Mets with a protected 1st round pick going after Kendrys Morales, but otherwise (unless he were to inexplicably stay with the Ms) I think he could be in for a bit of a wait.
Mets badly need Drew. Hope they spend on him eventually.
BenC is a loyalist–if he feels the Sox would be a better team with Xander at 3B and Drew @ SS–that will happen. He won’t overpay for Drew. If he signs Drew and Xman fails he has Cecchini available or Holt or Snyder.
I’d love to see WMB and a prospect to Miami for Cishek–that would give the Sox perhaps the best pen in baseball. Plus he’s MA lad from Falmouth. Good closer backup for Ue. Then trade Dempster or Peavy along with cash, with either, to a NL team for some young prospect that we lose by signing Drew.
Why Cishek? They already have a full pen, and a phenomenal one at that. If we are dumping a valued player/prospect in MIddlebrooks, we better be getting more than Cishek. For example, MB being the centerpiece of a Stanton trade. If the Marlins want/need a 3B bad enough, they’ll have to do something. But MIddlebrooks for Cishek…absolutely not! The guy is under team control for years!
There is no way on earth Middlebrooks is the Centerpiece of a Stanton trade. When will people realize he’s staying put?
I didn’t mean he would be, I simply meant I wouldn’t give up Middlebrooks JUST for Cishek when our pen is already solidified.
Edit: I also hope he does stay put. It was a small sample size in 2012 but I really do think he has the talent to be an all-star 3B.
You posted this “for example MB being the centerpiece of a trade for Stanton.” Those are your words.
Lol, “For example.” As in…an example of someone that IS NOT Cishek. I was being facetious guy, now we are nit-picking.
No that is not nit picking you just picked a bad example.
Facetious
adjective
definition: not meant to be taken seriously or literally.
I am not going to continue to argue you are just a typical Red Sox fan who thinks he can have Stanton for Middlebrooks and some filler.
Dude! I don’t really think we can get Stanton for Middlebrooks, quit focusing on that part! I can sense a bit of anguish and frustration that you are a Marlins fan, who could blame you. Have a good one bro.
You really do no believe Middlebrooks could be the centerpiece for a Stanton trade.
See reply to EarlyMorningBoxScore below. You guys are focusing on the wrong part of the story.
How are we missing the point when your post states MB being the centerpiece of a Stanton trade.