Here are some quick notes from around the Central divisions.
- Bronson Arroyo's agent, Terry Bross, says he expects the Reds to make an offer to re-sign his client, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. That leads Rosenthal to wonder whether the Reds might deal a starter, even though GM Walt Jocketty has said they would not trade Homer Bailey, who will be a free agent after the season (Twitter links).
- The Twins do not have a pending offer to Arroyo or Johan Santana, tweets 1500ESPN's Darren Wolfson. They have made an offer to re-sign starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey, MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger tweets. Pelfrey posted a 5.19 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 for the Twins in 2013.
- The Cardinals, who have already acquired Jhonny Peralta and Peter Bourjos, aren't likely to be big players in the Winter Meetings, MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch tweets. "We’re fishing is in the shallow end," GM John Mozeliak says.
- Now that they've acquired Adam Eaton, the White Sox will listen to offers on fellow outfielder Alejandro De Aza, CBS Sports' Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). The Giants have already asked about De Aza, tweets John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- The Indians would like to re-sign pitcher Tyler Cloyd to a minor-league deal, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer tweets.
I would love to see Arroyo back in a Reds uniform, and from what I’ve read, he wants to be back here as well.
I would love to see Placido Polanco back as a Cardinal
In other news, Magglio Ordonez was elected mayor of a Venezuelan city with 250,000 people.
Sounds like Arroyo would take a pay cut to stay a Red. Maybe the Reds will surprise everyone and trade Cueto. Cincy has an abundance of young starting pitching. I am convinced that the Reds will keep Bailey and send someone else away hopefully not Cingrani because he is only going to get better. His fastball is deceptive to both left and right handers. It may not be lightning fast but if you have watched him live you will see that hitters struggle to locate where the pitch is coming from. Leake had a great year too, he is only getting stronger as well. Latos… has the potential to be the best pitcher in all of baseball. Cueto…. injury prone.
I highly doubt it will be Cueto. They extended him recently. It’ll be Bailey. Everyone else is locked up/or willing to stay long term. Plus Stephenson is knocking on the door. Arroyo said in the paper a few weeks back that he’d take a 2 year deal from Cincinnati.
I hope not. Bailey already has 2 no hitters to his belt and he is just 27. He has a great fastball and is becoming a “smart” pitcher. Any team would be lucky to have this guy. He is not quite an ace but when he hits 29 or 30 he will be the ace for whatever team has him under contract.
I don’t want to see Bailey go either. But the Reds are in that lucky position where they already have 6 starters for 5 slots if you count Stephenson, or 7 for 5 if we re-sign Arroyo.
Stephenson? He didn’t even play at AAA level yet has he? He still has some minor league cooking time in there.
He hasn’t had a full season but he split the end of the year at AA and AAA. Dominated at both levels I read.
I want the Tigers to get Cloyd for pitching depth.
Really? 26 years old, 2 years in the league and atrocious pitching numbers in the big leagues. I’d pass, but to each their own. 🙂
Wonder if Andrew Susac is available from the Giants for De Aza.
I’ve been thinking about this kind of deal myself. The Sox certainly seem like they need a new catching prospect, and we got plenty, but the question is, who’s more valuable? Susac or De Aza? Even if you think they’re even, I doubt the GM’s will, because both sides are probably gonna be asking for more.
Agree completely. Both surely value their guys a lot. Maybe both would have to add additional prospects to sweeten the deal. From my perspective, as someone that cannot stand watching Dayan Viciedo, if they can’t get a somewhat decent return for De Aza, I’d rather he stay and platoon.
The Giants also have to consider who their starting catcher will be when Posey completely leaves the position, and as a Giants fan, I do NOT want to see Hector Sanchez become our starting catcher (no matter how much I like him) and I know it would take a lot more than Sanchez to get De Aza whilst keeping Susac.
Seeing the Sox traded a legitimate young lefty starter for a .252 hitter I would say it will be easy to get the Sox to agree to any player for De Aza. Probably another outfielder they do not need.
The trade for Eaton is a good one, especially with them having three lefties in the rotation all ready. Eaton was still the #48 ranked prospect in baseball in July of 2013. He only played in 66 games last year due to missing the entire first half of the season due to an elbow injury. He was going to be a starter last season for the d-backs before the injury. He was their #1 ranked prospect in terms of batting average, strike zone discipline, out field arm, and fastest baserunner. He simultaneously won rookie of the year and MVP for the PCL league in 2012.
Then why did the Diamondbacks get rid of him? For Trumbo? You can also throw out the minors argument, I can count at least 5 Sox players that tore it up in the minors only to come up to the majors and clunk themselves out of the league.
Elbow injury, and .252 in limited play.. not impressive. Could he be a good hitter? I hope so. 5 SBs out of 7 attempts in 66 games? For a lead off hitter he better run a lot more than this. Like the triples though. I guess if he gets anywhere near Rowand in terms of production then I’ll recant, but until then I do not see it worth giving up Santiago for him as one injury to the rotation (which will likely occur with Danks) and they are going to wish he is there. Then again it could have been worse, Hahn could have given up Santana.
First off, name me those 5 minor leaguers who tore it up for the White Sox before clunking in the majors? I’m dying to see that list.
Eaton is completely healed from his elbow injury. Did you know he was picked by many publications as the preseason favorite to win ROY award last season prior to his injury? You act like they traded for a guy who is simply taking up a roster spot. They need a guy who can actually play CF and lead-off.
BTW, Rowand wasn’t that good. I know fans liked him because he crashed into walls trying to make catches, but he was actually an average outfielder and a below average hitter with limited base running ability.
Morel, Fields, Anderson, Caruso, Beckham. Not exactly tore it up but had great expectations and fell flat. Im sure Im forgetting a few as well, Im guessing every team has about 5 players like that.
I’m sure some publications picked Beckham or Anderson as preseason favs for a ROY as well.
Look, I REALLY hope that the Sox got a steal here and this kid is everything they say he is, and will be ecstatic if he is. But I am allowed my skepticism seeing how many ‘cant miss’ prospects miss, especially when the Sox had a lefty starter that was pitching well and getting better. Just because you can hold up a magazine saying that he is good does not mean anything.
Brian Anderson was a highly touted prospect, but he never tore anything up at the professional level. Beckham didn’t spend any time in the minors and was never on a top 100 prospect list (granted, that is likely due to his quick assension to the big league club). Brent Morel was a productive minor league player, but he wasn’t even on the Sox top 10 prospect list let alone a national one (his highest ranking was #11 in the Sox system and we know how bad that system has been for years). Mike Caruso was never highly touted and was out of basbeall two years after making his debut (and I thought he was horrible when I watched him play).
I’ll give you Josh Fields. He was not as highly rated a player as Anderson once was, but was good enough to crack the top 50 one year and did put up some good minor league numbers. He even showed promise his rookie season, but horrible defense, high K rate and injuries ended his once promising career. He is actually still playing minor league ball somewhere and still playing well. He’s one of those AAAA level players.
Also notice you are going back 15 years to find guys similiar to Eaton and even then the only one who actually kind of compares is Fields since they were both highly rated prospects who did produce in the minors. That being said Eaton’s minor league numbers blow Fields out of the water and they are completely different players. Eaton is the safer bet because of his high contact rate and OBP, which Fields never possesed.
With Rowand in 05, World Series. Without Rowand in 06? Tanked…
Not saying Rowand was the sole reason for this, but he did want was needed at the right time and apparently was a good clubhouse presence, and those wall hits? Well he saved A LOT of runs against the Sox with those. Plus I think the guy has a few WS rings.
The Sox were actually a really good team in 2006 (they won 90 games). They were poised to make another post season run until their pitching staff imploded. Buehrle had the worst year of his career and Contreras went from being one of the most dominant pitchers in the first half to aweful in the second half. They didn’t have a single starter with a sub 4 ERA. It had nothing to do with Rowand not being there. His wall hits were on account of his lack of range. What he needed to dive for Brian Anderson was all ready standing underneath so he didn’t have to dive into walls. I liked Rowand too, everyone likes the guy that goes all out on every play. But he wasn’t that good of a player when he was with the Sox and had his two best years after leaving them before fading away.
With Rowand in 05, World Series. Without Rowand in 06? Tanked…
Not saying Rowand was the sole reason for this, but he did want was needed at the right time and apparently was a good clubhouse presence, and those wall hits? Well he saved A LOT of runs against the Sox with those. Plus I think the guy has a few WS rings.
Link to Adam Eaton goes to a different Adam Eaton.
Link for John Shea goes to a dead pitcher named John Shea
Just checked his stats online. He has never played AAA level but his AA stats are lights out. I”m guessing whatever the reds do he starts 2014 at Louisville. Probably Cueto’s replacement when Cueto goes on the DL in April.
I apologize for thinking he went to AAA. He’ll probably be up in the bullpen by midseason and my guess is steps into the rotation in 15 when/if Bailey leaves.
Stephenson is insanely talented and would take a star to get.
I might have to take the drive down to louisville in may to see him pitch. He just might be a callup early as i predict cueto hits the dl early this year….
I see the Mariners signing Santana. Seems to fit their scheme of things, especially if they don’t trade for Price. Santana is affordable, so they can sign Corey Hart or Nelson Cruz and he could be the Liriano of 2014. Hernandez, Iwakuma, and Santana as your top three. Cannot go wrong with that.
What return could reds get on bailey
They’re not going to move Bailey, but they could get a really good prospect and one or two B prospects.
Chris Sale + De Aza to Braves
Justin Upton, Kris Medlen, Lucas Sims, Jose Peraza, Joey Terdo to Sox.
so bad
The Giants Hector Sanchez, + low prospect for De Anza.
I was just gonna suggest that…. seems like a perfect fit for both teams. Chicago gets a catcher that can play now. SF gets its Left fielder and clears a path for our many catching prospects.
De Aza? Sabean, please no.