The Blue Jays remain among the favorites to sign either Ervin Santana or Ubaldo Jimenez, despite their quiet offseason thus far, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. In fact, the Jays could be quite aggressive in the New Year. Rosenthal writes that they could acquire as many as two starters before the offseason is over and they've also discussed trades for significant starters, including the Cubs' Jeff Samardzija. More out of the AL East..
- Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said he is looking to add another bench player and remains on the lookout for another arm for the bullpen, writes Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Tribune. Friedman also indicated that this year's payroll could be a record high, beating 2010's total of $72.8MM. If that's the plan, it could be an indication that they plan to hang on to David Price.
- Like the Blue Jays, it's been a pretty quiet offseason so far for the Orioles, but Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com fully expects the club to go out and get another starter based on the current makeup of the rotation. For now, it looks like Chris Tillman, Wei-Yin Chen, Miguel Gonzalez, and Bud Norris are in the rotation. The fifth spot is wide open, but left-hander Zach Britton is the likely favorite because he's out of options.
- Nick Markakis potentially could be entering his last season with the Orioles in 2014, a year where he will be paid $15MM with a club option at $17.5MM. While it would take an exceptional season for that to be triggered, the O's would happily settle for a return to the norm for Markakis in 2014 and worrying about 2015 later, writes Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com.
Santana and Ubaldo are the two I’d have liked the Jays to get if possible. Tanaka would be great but I’d put the Jays chances at about 1-2% to get him. I’d rather see the Jays splurge on Jiminez + Santana/Garza than sign Ubaldo and trade for Shark. Not worth the assets to get a lesser pitcher for a 8 mil cheaper….
Signing two starters is unrealistic, the focus is on signing one and trading for another.
I agree it is unrealistic but I think that it’s easier for Rogers to swallow shelling out big money for 2 rather than buying one with what’s left in the coffers and buying another with what’s left on the farm.
Rogers made an investment last season and if they’re serious about continuing down this path I think they need to move on this. Now that’s just my opinion. AA may feel that one of those starters is worth the money and the others aren’t upgrades in his eyes. If that’s the case then fine. But don’t try and sell me on the idea that someone like Samardzija would be worth 1-2 of our best prospects and 1-3 od our good prospects (2 best + 1 good or 1 best +2-3 good is what the consensus has been on Shark).
Losing money is one thing for someone that doesn’t live up to the contract. Losing prospects has to be avoided at this point.
They need to pass on Santana. He gives up way to many homers and Rogers Centre is not pitcher friendly park.
Yep. Santana would likely be a disaster in Toronto (and the AL East in general).
Would you take Garza over Santana? I think both are risky… Garza had an alright time in the AL East previously but didn’t look all that great in Texas… As I said Tanaka is out of reach so it is really just Ubaldo/Garza/Santana. I think I go for Santana and Ubaldo… Garza’s overall career is more impressive than Santana’s in my mind but his last season has me a little worried.
If he’s able to stay healthy, I’d take Garza. I mean, I’d take Ubaldo over either of them, but if it came down to those two, I might take the risk of getting a healthy Garza over 30hr’s…
In fantasy, a healthy Markakis leading off in his walk year or at least playing for that club option has Matt Carpenter ’13 upside. I know it seems like a reach, but Markakis arguably has a better lineup, park and is the exact same type of hitter in approach.
Markakis actually has a little more Spd but Machado, Davis and Jones following, being thrown out at 2B is very unproductive.
Markakis’ production has been in a downward spiral for a few years. 2013 was a horrible season for him at the plate. Contrary to what MASN commentators think, he is not one of the “core” guys on the team and is not comparable to the core players on other teams in their division. I’ll be glad when his salary is off the books and the O’s can upgrade. But if there is even a slight uptick in his numbers this year, the owner may have other ideas than to let him walk.
Would the Rays like Keppinger back? I doubt he has another year like last year. He was dealing with personal issues for most of last season too. The Sox bench is just getting to crowded at the moment
I’d be interested to hear from O’s fans what they think caused Markakis’ steep dropoff. Is it strictly injuries?
Wrist injury has been nagging him for a while.
Big momentum changer when the Yanks drilled Markakis and broke his wrist in the playoffs. I don’t think the Yankees should have won that series.. it was Baltimore’s to win (from not a fan of either team… just saying)
He broke his wrist during the regular season and not postseason. PLus the Yankees didn’t hit him on purpose.
He broke his wrist during the regular season and not postseason. PLus the Yankees didn’t hit him on purpose.
He hasn’t lifted a weight in four years.
Good grief why does Nick Markakis make $15mil this year
It is a heavily backloaded contract. He also has a $2 million buyout for 2015. It was a 6 year $66.1 million contract so at 11 Million AAV it doesn’t look as bad. Averaged 1.9 WAR for first 5 years even with the AWFUL 2013.
remember that Garza has pitched in the al east before and Santana hasn’t