The Orioles have spoken to Nick Markakis’ agent and will continue contract discussions this week, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. Markakis is expected to hit free agency when the O’s decline their half of a $17.5MM option on the outfielder’s services for 2015. “Both sides want to get a deal done, but….A hometown discount has its limits,” Kubatko writes. Indeed, Markakis will draw a lot of interest on the open market, with MLBTR’s Steve Adams predicting Markakis will find a three- or four-year deal worth between $39-$48MM (depending on whether the Orioles extend a qualifying offer).
Here’s some more from around the AL East…
- The Red Sox had some preliminary talks with Adam Katz, then Yoenis Cespedes’ agent, about a four- or five-year extension, Bill Madden of the New York Daily News reports. Since then, however, Cespedes changed his representation to Roc Nation Sports and is expected to look for a longer-term deal, making it more likely that the Sox explore trading him this winter. Beyond contract reasons, Boston could look to move the outfielder because, as a source tells Madden, Cespedes “marches to his own drum and the [Red Sox] coaches all hate him.”
- The Red Sox could use Cespedes as a trade chip for starting pitching, and Madden speculates that the Mets line up with the Sox as trade partners. Boston is also “exploring” what the Phillies would want for Cole Hamels, though Philadelphia isn’t interested in Cespedes.
- Ex-Rays manager Joe Maddon spoke with Fangraphs’ David Laurila in September (before the current drama surrounding Maddon’s opt-out) and discussed why pitching and defense are dominating the sport. Beyond the PED crackdown, Maddon pointed out that quite a bit of recent significant sabermetrics work has been focused on pitching and defense, rather than offense. Maddon also said driving a starter out of a game no longer presents the opportunity it once did, as “You see a lot of 95-plus out of the pen now, and some of those guys have quality secondary pitches. I think it’s become easier to build bullpens, and it’s rare a team has a bad one.”
- Maddon also suggested speed might become a more crucial part of the game than it has been in the recent past, when homers and walks became the blueprint for offensive production. The Red Sox, however, are one team that plans to stick to its offensive philosophy, GM Ben Cherington tells Laurila. “We know we need to build a better offense, but we have to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” Cherington said. “If we can see pitches and get on base, and still hit for power and hit with runners in scoring position, I still think that’s a formula to score runs.”
Looks like that Red Sox “source” diminished Cespedes value down considerably with those “uncoachable” comments. I am sure Cherington is not happy about that.
Exactly. Why would anyone run down their own guy like that? That just seems completely unprofessional and damages your own trade prospects for a guy that came to Boston with a good reputation. I have said before that personally I always kind of wonder about a guy when Billy Beane lets him go, but that was just speculation, now it’s out there. Wow. Not a good move.
I didn’t get that Cespedes comment either. Why would you say it publicly?
It wasn’t said publicly – it was leaked to a reporter. The Red Sox have a history of doing this through multiple owners.
They have said that “chicks dig the long ball” but I have always said that *chicks* also dig speed and defense (says the fan of Brett Gardner). I hope Joe Maddon is right. More bunts.More steals. More great catches. Bring it!
As a chick myself, I can say that we do dig the long ball, and stolen bases, and good defense. But I stand by my assertion that chicks will never dig the sacrifice bunt.
You’re definitely pulling ahead as the favorite commenter! If your next comment is about how intentionally walking someone is a terrible idea, I’m going to wonder if you’re my wife that’s been listening to me yell at Matheny the last 3 years. Lol
I only like the intentional walk if it is immediately followed by a GIDP. If not fire the manager. I do however always like when one of my guys is intentionally walked, because it seems like it really gets the next guy irritated and he always comes thorough.
Ah, but this chick does.
The Red Sox are making me dizzy with their moves. They trade pitchers for hitters, and 3 months later want to trade the hitters for pitchers. Their plan is looking more and more like – throw a bunch of stuff up against the wall and see what sticks – i.e. play the hot hand and when it cools off we’ll see if we can make some trades and find some other hot hands.Revolving door.
Lester was testing free agency regardless. Peavy wasn’t producing, and Lackey might not have come back next year at league minimum. What they did was turn over those assets for whatever they could acquire. Now, they have a surplus of potential outfielders for next year, so they’re looking to flip the one who will likely produce the most that has one year left. It makes perfect sense. It’s not a revolving door it just happened to play out this way with these particular trades.
If it’s not a revolving door, what do you call turning over more then 50% of the roster every year?
Cherrington fell in love with his moves, after winning the series!
Bring Cespedes to Seattle. Wasn’t Cano Roc Nation’s first baseball client? Perhaps Cano can have an affect on him. And no, it’s not going to take Elias, Paxton, Walker or Diaz to bring Cespedes to Seattle if the coaches really don’t like the guy.
I wouldn’t mind trading Cespedes and another prospect for Paxton. What kind of prospect do you think they would need to include to get him?
Paxton is likely an untouchable. A left hander that throws 96 with ease and hasn’t reached arbitration? That’s like asking what it would take to trade for Lester in 2007 and a little bit more.
So exactly who do you think Boston would take back for him? They aren’t going to just give the guy away.
I guess Diaz is a good name to start with actually. Moving Cespedes over the winter actually increases his value because of the QO attached to a guy on your team all year.
I don’t know the Boston minor league system so I don’t know what their needs are, either. The M’s have some nice SS and C depth as well as arms like Diaz and Sanchez in the mid minor. I wouldn’t be surprised if the M’s dealt Michael Saunders this winter, either. He seems to be in the doghouse with the FO and manager for some reason.
Cespedes’ contract prohibits any team from offering him a QO
I forgot that. Thank you very much.
The Phillies need to gut their entire front office and ownership. Their entire business structure is archaic. I wouldn’t trust the men in power to trade any of their (aging) talent away. Also, if you look at the stats, aside from Howard — the problem last year wasn’t with the older guys, it was with their anemic “young guys”: Brown, Asche, Revere, Hernandez….
It has been no secret that Cespedes was more likely then not going to test the market.