The Dodgers have been floating Carl Crawford’s name in trade talks, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets. It isn’t known how much the Dodgers are willing to eat of the roughly $69.25MM owed to Crawford through 2017, yet needless to say, it “will need to be a lot.” L.A. was reportedly open to hearing offers for Crawford last winter, though there unsurprisingly wasn’t much interest given Crawford’s large salary, injury problems and declining performance over the last four seasons.
Here’s some more from Passan’s latest “Ten Degrees” column…
- The Cardinals and Mets are staying in touch with the Rockies about Troy Tulowitzki’s availability, and the Mets are willing to include top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard as part of a trade package. Colorado isn’t budging, however, unless Tulowitzki actually demands a trade, which could be part of the “let him be the bad guy” strategy that Passan considers “a ludicrous way to run a franchise.”
- The Phillies are still looking for “a return of any kind” in exchange for Cliff Lee, according to two executives on teams interested in the veteran southpaw. This implies that the Phils want more than just salary relief, which could be difficult given the size of Lee’s contract.
- The four-year, $70MM extension offer the Red Sox made to Jon Lester last offseason may have made sense on paper for a team that is loath to spend big on a pitcher into his 30’s, yet Passan feels this offer was such a lowball that it has turned the Lester extension talks “into a season-long story” and cost Boston its hometown advantage in re-signing the ace. One Red Sox insider tells Passan that “the likelihood of Boston re-signing Lester lessens by the day” and trading Lester might now be the best way for the Sox to get some value for the left-hander.
- The Red Sox and Rangers had serious trade talks about Lester in the 2012-13 offseason, even to the point of exchanging some player names. This obviously doesn’t mean Texas would get in on the bidding on a Lester trade now, given that they’re far out of contention and Lester is only signed through the end of the season.
I certainly hope that a name of Profar didn’t keep the Rangers from trading for Lester.
Can’t call someone a bad guy for wanting to play on a winner
It can’t be good when a team is motivated to trade a homegrown star because they miscalculated extension talks that result in an increased need to get something for him at the risk of losing him without any silver lining to it.
That was a very gross miscalculation. It’s almost insulting when you compare it with other contracts even for lesser pitchers. I took a negotiating class in college and I understand that they should have started with a low point, but there is a such thing as too low.
If the Mets are able to add Tulowitski, that makes the NL race if crazier. The Mets bullpen and starting pitching have been top notch, and now you add Tulo to a solid core of Duda, Murphy, Wright, Granderson and D’Arnaud.
Could be something special.
Tulo is on the DL until September. I doubt he would help the Mets much.
Do you have a source? I know he’s on the DL but it seemed like he’d be back some time in August.
Granderson and Duda…lets get excited?
Duda has a .259/.356/.500 slash, a 142 OPS+. It’s not too bad for a guy making $1.6MM and playing at the major league-level for the entire season for the first time.
Not bad but I wouldn’t get too excited over Duda, if he puts up back to back 30hr seasons then maybe.
Well, aside from this season, a 142 OPS+ is higher than any that Tulowitzki has put up in his career. Just for comparison.
Duda’s got the same wRC+ as Miguel Cabrera and more homers. That’s not bad for what he’s earning.
Duda’s got the same wRC+ as Miguel Cabrera and more homers. That’s not bad for what he’s earning.
Duda is having a breakout season.
Eh. Even if Tulowitzki was healthy, the Mets are 7 games out of the Wild Card and 8.5 out of the East.. And you claim their pitching has been so good, but they’re 8th in ERA, which is good, but most of the teams they’re looking up at in both races are ahead of them, most notably Washington and Atlanta, which are 1st and 3rd in ERA
If they added Tulo, it’d be for beyond this year (especially since he’s injured, of course).
Right – if they add enough pieces to get over .500 this year, great. The main goal, as you note, is improving moving forward. Tulo wouldn’t be a rental so he fits that vision.
Tulo isn’t worth the package he will require when he makes $20M a year and you need 2 hands to count the number of times he’s been on the DL in the last 5 years. And this is in his 20’s. I could only imagine what his 30’s are going to be like.
thank you. a fan that has some sense. Tulo is no doubt one of the top hitters and Ss when healthy….but..
Look at his contract then look at recent FAs like Ellsbury and Cano. If he hit the open market this summer, he would easily be in the 200 mil range. Injury concerns are one thing, but I don’t think the contract itself will scare anyone away. There are probably 15 teams who would be more than happy to pay him 118 mil over 6 years.
ACtually, the crazy thing is, he might still be worth it. He’s generally been able to put up over 5 WAR each year even though he’s only been playing 130 games a year or so. If the guy were actually capable of staying healthy for 150+ games, he’d probably command a Robinson Cano-like contract.
It is scary thinking his health could get worse with age though.
He’s a weird one to consider, because it’s plausible he could be a GREAT pickup if someone traded for him or it could be disastrous, and there’s enough evidence for an “I told you so” either way.
This is just speculation, but it might be hard to convince Rockies fans that Tulo is the bad guy when the owner said that Denver might not deserve their franchise.
If the Mets get Tulo, I will be purchasing Mets tickets immediately…
until Tulo gets hurt once again!
No different than when they have Reyes and Wright, one was always injured.
sure, but the Mets didn’t have to give up the farm (or the big o’ $$$) for them!
Look, I’m not saying they shouldn’t try, if he’s available. But, an upgrade at short can be had anywhere. I’d rather they try for the young shortstops like Brad Miller, or Didi or Chris Owings…etc. Upgrade at LF/2B/1B with a better solid player.
The mets would have to offer a good package which has to include Syndargaard
Maybe
Syndrergaard, Plackei/D’Araund, montero, And Nimmo
Personally I prefer D’Aruand over Pleckai but the mets like dAruand more!
TdA (just use the initials – it’s easier than spelling his name) has started hitting at the Major League level so he does have that over Plawecki – a guy who hasn’t dominated at AAA yet. He’s also in sync with the pitching staff so it would be much harder to move TdA than, say, a corner OF or minor leaguer.
A four year $70 million offer is a “low ball”? Must be nice to be offered a pittance of $17.5 million a season to play a game for a living.
I am never going to understand why the Sox didn’t sign Lester in February. The idea that they can trade him now and then get him back in free agency is absurd. The Yankees/Cubs/Dodgers/etc. will offer him $40-50M more than the Sox. The Red Sox have payroll flexibility galore. They could take on several mega-contracts and still retain that flexibility. You can show me all the spreadsheets you want about how pitchers age after 30. I still think he’s one of the 2-3 best players at the core of the team and will be productive for several more years. The cost of replacing him will be very high, with a high probability of failure. If the Sox can’t or aren’t willing to sign him, they shouldn’t charge the highest prices in baseball. I just don’t get it…
The Mets are willing to offer the Rockies Syndergaard,but not willing to offer tulo the money
I’m baffled at the idea of the Cardinals going after him. I’m not sure what we do with Peralta and his four-year contract if we acquire Tulowitzki–although I guess we could play Peralta for the other 40 games each year that Tulo’s hurt for….. Seems a bit much for a guy we’re paying 8 figures to though.