Here’s the latest from the National League:
- Phillies starter A.J. Burnett seems more likely to retire (and forgo his $12.75MM player option) than many people believe, observes Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com in an offseason preview piece. Meanwhile, the club will listen on Cole Hamels but continue to demand a ransom in return, while Philadelphia could be more open to dealing not only veteran Marlon Byrd but also arb-eligible outfielders Domonic Brown and Ben Revere. As Salisbury notes, the rotation has plenty of question marks and openings.
- While Salisbury says he believes the Phillies will ultimately hang onto the 30-year-old Hamels, for better or worse, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki argues that the organization must view Hamels (and his fellow core veterans) from a pure baseball perspective. Attendance is plummeting in spite of the continued presence of numerous pieces of the team’s run of success, he notes, and the only way to rebuild the fan base is through winning.
- Neutral talent evaluators believe that lefty Jon Niese is the Mets’ best trade chip among the club’s veteran starters, tweets Marc Carig of Newsday. Niese, 27, threw to a 3.40 ERA over 187 2/3 frames in 2014. He is owed $16MM over the next two seasons and has a pair of options ($10MM and $11MM, with respective $500K buyouts) thereafter.
- The Mets are expected to replace hitting coach Lamar Johnson, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. That move is still not official, however, and New York is in the early stages of assessing who they might bring in.
- Padres GM A.J. Preller is about to get his first taste of open market action from the seat of power, as MLB.com’s Corey Brock reports. Preller said that he anticipates a lot of trade attention on the team’s slate of arms, and indicated that he would be open to discussing any players if there’s a way to improve the club.
- One interesting player who remains under the Padres’ control is starter Josh Johnson, whose injury-shortened year left the club with a $4MM team option. Preller said that he hopes to have Johnson in the fold next year, though left unclear whether the team is interested in a straight exercise of the option. “With Josh, he’s a guy that everyone has a positive feel for,” said Preller. “We’ll try to go down the road with him and try to present something to him that makes sense to him.”
I have no clue how I feel about Hamels when I think about in depth. If you ask me, trading him is a no brainer but given Amaro’s track record (pence trade) I doubt he will be able to secure the pieces that could be required for a player of his caliber. The Phillies are not going anywhere for a couple of years and a guy like Hamels can bring in some huge pieces to that rebuilding process. It seems like a Hamels to the Red Sox deal makes so much sense for both sides, but who knows. Knowing RAJ he will prob net Allen Webster and Shane Victorino
It doesn’t “make so much sense for both sides,” when a guy like Amaro is making unrealistic demands which the Red Sox would be foolish to entertain. What doesn’t make sense is the fact that he still has a job.
Why is just the Red Sox mentioned? Many teams will make offers to get Hamels. Yankees will buy Scherzer, Lester goes back to Boston or to the Cubs. That’s when it becomes interesting, to see the bids for Hamels, especially if the Dodgers and/or Cards don’t win the World Series. If the Red Sox doesn’t re-sign Lester, then I think the Dodgers, Cardinals and Red Sox get to “bid” for Hamels with the best package.
That said… I think the Cardinals can offer the best 4 player package for Hamels by offering Taveras, Miller, Piscotty and Carlos Martinez.
Red Sox would then have to offer Betts, Webster, Ranaudo, and Coyle.
Dodgers would then have to offer Pederson, Seager, Lee and Guerrero
That’s what I would say to those three teams. if 1 bites, Hamels is gone.
The problem with trading for Hamels now (as opposed to in the middle of the season) is that there are several free agent options open that would not require the loss of prospects. So it’s simply a matter of how much you value your prospects as compared to the possible savings of a Hamel’s contract as opposed to the cost of the free agents. Amaro should have taken the opportunity before the trading deadline.
That is true, but it has been reported that some teams would prefer to trade for Hamels before having to offer contracts to Lester and Scherzer given how expensive starting pitching has been on the free agent market these past couple seasons. Hamels may be owed a lot of money but compared to giving one of the aces on the market a mega deal, Hamels is actually the cheaper option. Then again, you have to trade top prospects so it’s whatever that club sees as “cheaper”. Less talent in the farm or less payroll space is what it comes down to
The only 2 in Hamels class is Scherzer and Lester. Scherzer will be paid by the Yankees – book it, cause they will spend, and they can’t trade… Hamels comes cheaper than Lester and for less years as well.. so I think he’s the cream of the crop actually.
Didn’t Niese clear waivers in August?
I thought he was a nice piece, but that doesn’t seem like it could be true if he cleared.
How are the Phillies minor league system? Are they deep?
As deep as my kiddie pool.
I know the patient Phillies fans will support them as they rebuild…
Deep, not really. They’ve got 3 really good prospects (top 100) in JP Crawford (SS), Aaron Nola (SP), and Maikel Franco (3B). After that, they’ve got some fringe guys with Jesse Biddle (SP) and Roman Quinn (CF). The problem with them is that the best “talent” outside the top 100 is in A+ ball or below (Cord Sandberg, Andrew Knapp, Matt Imhof, Carlos Tocci, Dylan Cozens). So they have no immediate help coming for 2015 (outside of Franco, and maybe Nola).
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Biddle as a fill-in when one of our SPs hits the DL at some point during the 2015 season. MAG didn’t exactly impress in September, but he’s also got the potential to be good… Though our ‘pen is probably our strongest area, presently.
We also have Pettibone and Morgan presumably coming back from injury. Again, not stellar, but potentially useful.
I don’t see Biddle ready to fill-in in 2015 unless he has a heck of a winter (and spring). IMO, he pretty much had a lost season after late-May (when he got hit with the hailstone). He only pitched another 40 innings over the seasons final 3 months, but 20 of them were with the concussion like symptoms.
I think they’ll see if they can stretch MAG out, but right now, he’s a bullpen piece in my mind, and I didn’t really want to count him in the system.
As far as Pettibone, Morgan, and to a lesser extent, Shane Watson, go, while I hope they make full recoveries, I rarely count on any pitcher coming back from an arm injury (it’s why I left them all out of the “depth”).
By “fill-in” I meant Biddle gets a call-up at some point in July or August, after he’s had a chance to (hopefully) return to form for a few months in the minors.
Honestly, if he’s not at least an option for a September call-up next year, he’s probably destined for a career as a long reliever.
He is still just 22 years old…
The Mets simply have to trade Niese. He is a cheap pitcher that runs a high injury risk. A lot of teams should be willing to take that risk. If he stays healthy, he will likely cost half as much as a free agent of equal ability, and if he gets injured his low salary wouldn’t hit a large payroll team very heavily. The Mets are a low payroll team with other options, Niese has to go. He is just too risky to stay a Met.
Does Brown have any actual trade value at this point?
Being cheap, young, and has shown some potential. He has value, just not a lot.
Yea, a little. If he’s traded, it will probably be someone in a similar situation to him (top prospect in the last 5 year who has had trouble finding their footing at the major league level – talent is there, but probably too much pressure in the city they are in).
The Blue Jays really wanted him included for Halladay and didn’t get him, they did get Gose who hasn’t panned out.
Gose & Graveman for Brown & Bastardo.
So it’s time for AJ to get all Hamlet with everyone before he comes back again. If the money’s there, he’ll be back.
Don’t believe a word Burnett says, wait until it happens!
Burnett should have been a man of his word at the beginning of this season. Either sign with the pirates or retire. He didnt do either and wound up having the worst year he ever pitched.
By ERA+, yes, though just barely. By almost every other metric, however… I think you’ll find his 2010 and 2011 were both noticeably worse.
He also pitched with a Hernia all year… He says “now” that he regrets not getting it taken care of sooner… Phillies fans do too. That said, I blame management for not shutting Burnett down instead of having him pitch in pain all year when it did not good whatsoever, its not like we were ever in it. And now he can come back for 12.5 million – 5 million were made in incentives for games started… WHY? He was HURT – He should of had Surgery BEFORE – Not AFTER the season was over. Could be a $5 Million Dollar Mistake.
Would you have said no to $16.75 Million dollars? $15 Million + $1.75 Million in bonuses. Now he gets to say no to 12.75 Million + 1.75 in incentives for 2015
Nise and Gee are the only ones that i would move if i were Sandy Alderson.