If the Royals win the World Series it would be difficult to imagine GM Dayton Moore leaving for the Braves’ vacancy. However, those who know Moore well say that he felt comfortable in Atlanta, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes. On top of that, the Braves would offer Moore a bigger budget to work with. More from today’s column..
- Word is spreading that the Red Sox could make Yoenis Cespedes available. The slugger will make $10.2MM in the final year of his deal and his desire not to play right field or work on his defense could spell the end of his time in Boston. A Cespedes deal would allow the Sox to make room for Mookie Betts or add a left-handed hitter.
- The Giants are a team to watch when Nick Markakis hits the open market as expected. Even though they’re enjoying Travis Ishikawa’s work, they are unlikely to commit to him as an everyday left fielder. The Mets could also be in the mix.
- One agent believes Jake Peavy has turned his next contract from a one-year, $7MM deal into a three-year, $36MM deal based on his second half with the Giants. Cafardo notes that the Giants won’t re-sign Ryan Vogelsong and with little help coming from Triple-A, they’ll likely have to bite on a Peavy deal.
- There have been preliminary talks between the Red Sox and Koji Uehara about staying in Boston,but the sides aren’t close to a deal.
An earlier report from Boston implied Cespedes won’t work on being patient at the plate either. It sounds like this player is at risk for being labeled “uncoachable.” I have always thought that if the A’s are willing to give a player up you might need to be wary.
Cespedes has been overrated for awhile. He is an alright player, I just didn’t see enough excess value once you take his remaining contract into account to be worth half a year of Lester.
What was half a year of Lester worth to the Red Sox at that point? The difference in finishing 71-91 or 73-89? If there was no prospect on offer that Boston liked, then getting Cespedes was the right move, as a player for 2015 or as a trade chip this off-season. If the Sox put him on the block, they’re going to get some good offers.
Why would they get good offers? He’s a good player, that’s about it. You’re only getting him for one year, and you can’t give him a QO after the season.
I appreciate your comment bgardnerfanclub. Hadn’t thought about it in that way. I am kind of hoping Cespedes head back to the Bay.
You seem to be new here, as this is your first post. First off, welcome aboard! Second, you can reply directly to people’s comments by using the ‘Reply’ just below the comment. You don’t need to use the big box up top. Happy posting!
If Cespedes gets traded, the Lester trade looks much worse than it did before.
Chances are they resign Lester without draft compensation so it would be a wash anyway.
Lester recently put his house in new england up for sale I wouldn’t count on him returning. It’d sure be nice though. But if they end up trading Cespedes I question why they ever traded Lester in the 1st place. Sure speaks volumes about how bad Boston’s scouting is if they trade for a major league player and then trade him away after only two months of the guys. It’s not like Cespedes has an awful contract.
It’s not like Cespedes has a terrific contract either. We aren’t talking about Abreu or Puig. He is worth the contract probably, but I don’t see a ton of excess value that people are hyped about. Maybe he turns it around, but from the way he has played these past 2 years, I really think that’s a pretty bad return for half a year of Lester.
It’s a good contract at this point. A one year contract at 10 million for a 3 WAR player is always good. As far as the 2 months of Lester it really did not matter because the Sox were burried at that point. Still I never loved Cespedes from the get go. If they can move him for prospects or some decent cost controlled piece I would be fine with it. Maybe Cespedes, Coyle and one of Ranaudo/Barnes/Webster for Heyward or Upton
Lester’s not going back to Boston. Red Sox don’t want to pay the money for a guy in his 30’s. Forget it.
Not really, because letting Lester go to FA is going to mean the Sox paid more to resign him. For it to be a wash, the value for what they get from Cespedes has to be greater than the additional money they pay for Lester now. At this point we don’t know if that is true.
Doesn’t that kind of depend on what comes back in the trade? Whatever it is, if it’s worth at least as much as a compensation pick in next year’s draft, then the trade was a success, because if we don’t trade Lester that’s all we get.
The Red Sox also received a compensation round draft pick from the A’s in the Lester trade in addition to Cespedes. So whether they play him or trade him this offseason, it’s basically all surplus value.
Well it depends on what Cespedes brings back. If he brings back a young SP prospect that becomes a rotation member the trade might actually look better.
Not like Lester helped Oakland out a tone down the stretch. AL wildcard and done
I don’t care how uncoachable Cespedes is – he is in a walk year playing for a contract. Hey Mets – offer Daniel Murphy who is a lefty hitter that can play 3B (also in a walk year) and call it a day. I’ll even throw in Dillion Gee.
It is also interesting that the blurb about Cespedes is at the bottom of an article about how hard it is to be a hitting coach right now because no one is hitting. And that is something Cespedes can do. So, for the right team, or the right manager, it won’t matter what Cespedes does as long as he hits.
Career 115 wRC+, it’s interesting that he does hit as you note but not particularly great either. To me the deal from the A’s recognized that Cespedes, although a decent “non-platoon” bat (over his career, but check out his year to year wRC+ btwn LHers and RHers), is just not THAT valuable of a player. I think they also recognized that this upcoming season they wouldn’t have the money to resign him and might as well receive something in return for him before he leaves. I do believe that it was a weird deal and it blows that it didn’t them to a World Series, especially since Lester pitched pretty well for them.
Thing about Cespedes is his 115 career wRC+ is heavily influenced by his first half year, when he was one of the best power hitters in baseball. Once the league figured him out a little, he’s been little better than league average. And he’s got one not-very-cheap year left. I’m not sure he’s worth that much, to be honest. Maybe a SP who’s also a year from FA.
Exactly – he’s got okay range, a cannon arm, and is basically a 105 – 110 wRC+ guy. The Mets, for one, would be better served getting a lefty-masher and platooning him with den Dekker to beat those numbers.
He’s just not that great of a hitter though – last year, he was comparable to Curtis Granderson. He’s barely cresting a .300 OBP. It doesn’t matter if you have ridiculous power; a .300 OBP means you’re just not a great hitter. He’s good but he’s far from great. Another 5 percentage points on his walk rate and he’d be elite but the guy just doesn’t get on base enough. That’s why he’s not in the same league as guys like Stanton, Abreu, and Bautista.
Nobody wants Daniel Murphy.
Gee is nice but I wouldn’t part with Cespedes for him especially since the pitching market is rich and the hitting market is so barren.
Not true – he is the type of hard nosed player that would be a hit in Boston. Plus at 3B he would not be the defensive liability he is at 2B.
Murphy has played just 44 career games at 3B and only 16 in 2014. (and had a -11 UZR/150 at 3B that year) Not sure where Mets fans get the idea he can be a regular 3B man.
He is not a power hitter and only gets on base barely above league average. There’s not much to him.
Murphy is a good hitter that’s it, he can’t play the field and is a terrible baserunner.
You can’t use a UZR/150 for a 16 game sample size, first of all. Secondly, Mets fans actually know that he’s a 3B playing 2B – it’s his native position but he hasn’t gotten many reps there for years because the team has David Wright. Murphy can play average 3B if given the chance to start there. He’s also pretty comparable offensively to the (overrated) Céspedes, despite different offensive profiles, while playing in the infield as opposed to the outfield.
A Murphy-Cespedes trade would not be a terrible thing, maybe the RS could help Murphy take in 3rd over the offseason so that he improves because the UZR/150 is built on a very small sample size but he had a 7.2 UZR/150 in more innings in 2011.
Why would moving him to a more difficult position make him less of a defensive liability?
Murphy is a DH with no power!
There you have it. Not really sure why that would be an asset to most teams. He’s an above average hitter with a below average glove. 1-2 War player.
He’s closer to a 3 WAR player.
Over the past 5 seasons he’s averaged a 2.18., so not really. And that’s fWar, rWar has had him at 1.6, 3.0, 1.5, 1.5, and 2.0 for an average of 1.92.
He plays solid 3B, passable 2B, and above average 1B. That’s not exactly a DH.
I’m not sold on Murphy but second base is generally considered higher on the defensive spectrum than third base. Granted, they take different skill sets to a degree. If I knew Murphy could handle third reasonably well I’d be tempted as a Red Sox fan to trade Cespedes for Murphy. That being said I don’t know how he would handle third base. I don’t take much stock in his poor advanced metrics at third as he has such a small sample size to measure over there.
I disagree. Third is a more difficult position to field. You are more likely to have to deal with line drives, and there is throwing across the diamond aspect. There is also handling of bunts that second very rarely has to deal with. You’ll see a few more balls hit to second in the average year, but the position itself isn’t more difficult to field. FWIW fangraphs rates them as equally difficult positions. I still would tend toward third being more difficult, if only for the longer distance throws, but just an opinion.
You make some valid points and WAR has been giving them equal positional adjustments for awhile now. Bill James always had second ranked above 3rd but I think that had something to do with the number of plus bats who would get stuffed at 3rd and fail (Harmon Killebrew, Frank Howard, Miguel Cabrera come to mind.) In the past you would see players move from 2nd to 3rd sometimes but not so much the other way around (Pete Rose, Johnny Pesky, Placido Polanco, Paul Molitor) although Brett Lawrie has certainly changed that some. In the end I kind of think they just take different skill sets. You mentioned the skills that make a third baseman. I think Second base has challenges of its own such as range and particularly turning the double play. I think that’s the main reason we have not seen many guys switching from third to second. The 2007 Red Sox make a good case as they had plus defenders at second and third in Pedroia and Lowell. Thank God it was Lowell making the throws across the diamond and Pedroia turning the double plays. I shiver to think how ugly it would be if you simply had switched them.
1st off, it’s generally considered that 2B is harder than 3B defensively. That’s what people that get paid to think about the game think. 2ndly, 2B is more about range and less about the arm. 3B is less about range and more about the arm. Murphy’s got the arm for 3B and his range is somewhat limited at 2B – that means he’s a 3B.
Murphy’s a 3B. As someone who has watched most Mets games over the past few years, the simple truth is that he’ll need reps in Spring Training but he’ll be fine. It’s his native position but he moved off it because he wasn’t going to displace David Wright. He’s a much stronger 3B than he is at 2B.
Not that third base is out of the question necessarily but to say “he will need reps in spring training” kind of scares me. I’m also not sure how you can call him a third baseman even if you have watched every Mets game for the past 5 years. He’s only played 40 some odd games there over his career and UZR didn’t love this hot corner work. I actually like Murphy and wonder how he would be at third which is about as far as a Red Sox fan is going to go on this given what I have read on these pages. I like his left-handed bat and his ability to spray the ball across the field with authority. I think he might be good for some doubles over the foreseeable future at Fenway. But for Cespedes you are probably looking at Murphy+Gee or Niese.
Pretty sure the Mets would do Murphy+Gee for Céspedes without thinking twice. Both players are redundant for the team. Niese would be an overpay as a cost-controlled (4yrs), slightly above-average lefty; he’sworth more than an above-average but non-elite OF only under control for a year with no draft compensation opportunity.
We’ve had this conversation before – Murphy is and always was a 1B/3B but moved to 2B because David Wright plays 3B for the New York Mets. Murphy’s struggle at 2B is with his range, not his arm. 2B is a more difficult position to play than 3B with respect to range; you don’t need as much at 3B. Murphy is a 3B playing 2B right now – so he’s docked for range and can’t use his arm as much as he would at 3B. He’s a better fit, then, at 3B – his actual position.
Cespedes is a rental.
If the Red Sox want to solve their third base problem by converting a second baseman, they have a better option in-house than Murphy already. Put Mookie Betts there.
Not sure why everyone assumes Murphy can be an every day 3B. He’s barely played there both in the minors and the majors and his limited time has not been pretty.
If I’m the Mets I would consider this deal but one should also note that Cespedes OBPs .300 and there’s very little chance of the Mets resigning him. The Mets are not going to be big contenders next year so I’m not sure a one year rental makes sense.
If the Royals can contend this season, the Mets with their pitching can contend next season if they improve the offense and that’s what Cespedes does. They also have some young outfielders (Nimmo and Conforto) who should be ready by 2016, so the one year rental could work.
Good point about Nimmo and Conforto.
How much does Cespedes improve the offense, though? For all the fanfare surrounding him, he’s barely over league-average in OPS+ over the past two seasons combined. Murphy had a similar OPS and an even better OPS+.
If Wilmer Flores can replace Murphy’s production and Cespedes replaces Chris Young – it’s a big win for the Mets. IMO, Duda and Cespedes would be a good 4/5 combo in the batting order.
Except Flores replacing Murphy’s production is far from a given and Cespedes would be replacing den Dekker, not Young. For all of his early struggles, den Dekker turned it on and finished just less than league average for OPS+. In fact, if you combine Murphy and den Dekker’s OPS+ and compare it to Flores and Cespedes, there’s very little improvement, if any.
However, I do agree with you that it’d be better to have someone short term in the OF. Who knows, maybe Cespedes would have a great year and the Mets could QO him.
Cespedes can’t be QO’d
Well then it makes even less sense.
Except I doubt they’d QO Murphy anyway because they’d be afraid he’d take the money. And no more long term contracts for this team – the thought of paying Wright and Granderson is already crippling them.
Wright’s played up to his contract so far – it hasn’t been crippling. The Granderson signing looked terrible on day 1 and looks about the same right now. You’re spot on about not giving Murphy the QO.
Sure, but the Mets could also acquire a guy like Scott Van Slyke and improve even more while giving up less. A .300 OBP is a .300 OBP, any way you cut it.
I thought about that but the fact that Cespedes had 100 RBIs leads me to believe that he must be clutch – something the Mets badly need. The fact that the A’s collapsed after he left makes me think he’s more valuable than certain stats might show.
When looking at a player, I prefer to look at player stats, not team stats. I also look at what the player has done over his career. I completely agree that Céspedes would make the Mets better – there’s no doubt he’s an improvement over the Youngs. What I find difficult believing is that he’ll definitely be an improvement over a den Dekker/RHB platoon.
Sure den Dekker is better defensively, but offensively he is a AAAA player. I don’t see how you can turn your back on 100 RBIs in the middle of a lineup.
I look at den Dekker’s Minor League numbers and see a completely different trend. He’s younger than Céspedes, plays better defense, walks more, and strikes out less. I see him as a Heyward-lite, and Heyward put up 5 fWAR with a 110 wRC+. den Dekker’s stopped striking out and has always required an adjustment period; now that he’s getting used to Major League pitching, I see him as a valuable 4th OF/backup CF/corner OF platoon. I also think that a den Dekker+RHB platoon would be better and much cheaper than Céspedes straight up.
I just don’t see it with den Dekker. I would rather keep Nieuwenheis as my 4th OF and include den Dekker as part of a trade – maybe there is a team that values him as much as you.
Den Dekker has much better Minor League numbers and peripherals than Nieuwenhuis and he’s better defensively. So the guy is better on offense and better on defense; it’s difficult to understand why you would prefer the inferior offensive/defensive player. Guys with 30% K rates have trouble succeeding in the Majors anyway you slice it. Den Dekker walks about as much but strikes out about half as often.
Unless Céspedes suddenly starts taking walks, it’s easy to envision Den Dekker out OPS’ing him.
What about the Nats and Braves, they have much better teams, and even the Marlins have more young talent. The Mets do have some good young pitching, but that’s it!
That’s why they need Cespedes.
What the Mets need is new ownership, right now they are trying to be the Rays or A.s with little in position players. Their best move would be to trade for Cespedes, and trade two young pitchers to the Cubs for Castro or Addison. The Murphy trade looks good for the Mets, but not for the Sox. The Sox need pitching if they want to be competitive next year.
I agree with you – as currently constructed the offense stinks. I would trade Zack Wheeler to the Cubs for a SS and also send Dillion Gee with Murphy to the Red Sox for Cespedes. Then I would dump Colon for anything just to get salary relief, because as we know the team is broke. As for the owners, they are driving the team into the ground, but I don’t think they care as long as the value of the team appreciates.
Good point!
I don’t think the Red Sox would make that trade. If the Cubs do Wheeler for Russell+ or Wheeler+ for Castro, I’d be in, although I think the Mets would be better off sending a lesser prospect for Owings, Chris Taylor, or Brad Miller.
If the Mets were the Rays, I wouldn’t see the problem in that because it would mean they’d be winning. If the Mets were winning, they’d pack Citi Field. A packed stadium in NYC would lead to strong revenue streams allowing the team to get out of the financial straitjacket it’s currently in. People who knock the Mets for cutting budget seem to have forgotten all the years where the Mets had the #2 payroll in baseball but still lost lots and lots of games. The Mets were within the Top #5 for payroll in the decade leading up to Madoff and they underperformed significantly. In a way, I’m thankful for it because of where this team would be without those financial limits – the Mets would have gone into 2014 with Drew, Morales, and Bourn – all guys who dramatically underperformed. You can’t have it both ways.
It has been all downhill since they played the Yanks in the series.
If you’re talking about the World Series 15 years ago, that’s a pretty funny statement since the team – players, coaches, front office, and so on – is completely different. Wright was 17 then.
The Braves are quite a bit behind the Mets when you look long term. They’ve got a couple of relievers, Freeman, and Teheran. Heyward’s going to walk, Upton’s going to walk, and the team doesn’t have all that much depth. The Mets finished tied for 2nd in the division but it’s pretty clear where the teams are trending. Remember – one of the two GMs got fired and the other got an extension. The Marlins have lots of young talent and the Nats are the team to beat but the Braves don’t look that great at all.
I’ll believe it when I see it with the Braves. You’re not even including Alex Wood, who is more consistent than Teheran nor Mike Minor, who had a bad 2014, in part because he didn’t have a spring training, like everyone else IMO. We’ll have a couple more young arms come out of nowhere, and Lucas Sims come up in not too long, while Jose Peraza will really help at 2B. I’m hoping OF will get a boost from Braxton Davidson in a couple of years. And we can sign one of JHey or JUp. I think JHey will be re-signed and Justin we’ll at least get a pick out of. Sure, we’re not as deep as we’ve been, but we also will have more to spend with over the next couple of years, BJ Upton or not. When you factor in addt income from the stadium and a new (revised) TV deal that should be taking effect in a few years, we should be doing alright if we get our scouting/player development back on track.
The Braves have some pieces but it’s difficult or just wrong to say they have more/better young talent than the Mets at this point. They have the winning culture going for them, which is important, but they did finish with the same record and their farm system is ranked quite a bit below the Mets by every source. The Mets have had some pretty bad teams in recent memory and their PR is a disaster but if you’re looking at young talent alone, they’re streets ahead of the Braves.
The Braves are better at C, 1B, SS, CF, and RF, with established players.
Those are very difficult arguments to make, Slider. The Mets are better at C, marginally worse at 1B (Duda hit for a 136 wRC+/30 homers compared to Freeman’s 140 wRC+), are better offensively but worse defensively at SS (2.3 vs 2.1 fWAR), were much better at CF than the Braves (4.9 fWAR vs 0.5 fWAR – the Braves were 29th in baseball at CF) and clearly worse at RF (similar to the CF situation but reversed). So realistically, you were completely wrong about C and CF, 1B and SS are close to a wash, and you’re right – the Braves are better at RF (and LF). The Mets have far more depth, though, positionally and in pitching.
Céspedes is better than the Youngs but he’s not nearly as good as people seem to think. The ~.300 OBP isn’t what the Mets need right now, and in all likelihood could get better offense from a platoon built around Den Dekker.
Only people who haven’t watched him play at 3B assume he can’t be. He’s a 3B and he plays it just fine. He’ll need some reps because the Mets have David Wright at 3B and have had him there for the entirety of Murphy’s career. But seriously – his defense at 3B is perfectly cromulent.
Some more reps will embiggen his skills.
Murphy can’t play 3B.
He plays 3B just fine and he’s passable at 2B, in addition to playing above average 1B. Please stop the misinformation. He just hasn’t played it much because the Mets have Wright there.
No he does not. Check his defensive stats at 3rd going all the way back to the minors and you’ll see that there’s no misinformation. He’s about to be 30 and isn’t a very good defensive player to begin with.
Most players in baseball – including Gold Glove winners – have rough numbers in the Minors. Murphy passes the eye-test just fine and would adjust to being a close-to-scratch defender at 3B if starting.
Whose eye test? Yours? His numbers were rough in the games he played this year also. They’ve never not been rough at third and as he gets older, there’s less and less reason to think that will change. He isn’t a good defender at all.
If all you’re going to toss back is your opinion, don’t accuse people of “misinformation,” because people are already tired of the Murphy/Red Sox trades that Mets fans have posted here for weeks.
That would good for us maybe put wilmer at 2b and then get a SS
Wilmer’s likely the starting SS going into 2015 unless a move is made.
will* say that he felt comfortable in Atlanta
Giants aren’t going to bite on Markakis, they’ve already got money tied up in two outfield spots and he isn’t a guy who could play CF if Pagan is still having injury issues.
No, but Blanco could play center field if Pagan is out. Blanco is a bench player at best, but Boch loves using him in place of injuries, we won’t be looking at Markakis to serve a filler role.
He seems to fit what the Giants look for. He stays healthy, puts the ball in play a lot with a low strikeout rate, can play adequate defense, won’t be extremely expensive because he doesn’t offer much power from a traditional power position and has a good lockerroom reputation. He also won’t cost a draft pick. With Belt, Crawford and Panik all but certain to have locks on starting jobs I’m not so sure they’ll want another lefty bat in left field, but with Pablo’s status still uncertain I could definitely see them pursuing Markakis.
I don’t know about that. Blanco is a fantastic option of the bench, but I don’t think Bochy wants him to be a day-to-day starter in the outfield. Markakis would be a starter.
Giants are going to sign Tomas, not Markakis
Giants at $155m and have Peavy to deal with (and Panda). Think they’re heading up into the $180 range?
I don’t see why not. The extra revenue from the World Series should more than cover that bump. I don’t want to see them overpay for Sandoval. I think it’s time Posey takes over at third and Susac gets the everyday catching job. That should allow them the financial flexibility to make a run at Tomas. But in reality they have enough money to go after whoever they want.
According to Cot’s they “only” have a little over 127 mil in committed salary next season before arbitration cases. While the salaries for Blanco (3rd), Belt (1st), Crawford (1st), and Petit (2nd) could be significant, I don’t really see those and the minimum salary guys bring the 2015 commitments up into the 155 range. Of course Romo, Sandoval and Morse will all either leave significant holes to be filled or command salaries that will push the club well past their 2014 payroll of 149 million dollars. But I think there’s plenty of room for them to operate between where they were this year and the 180 million figure you suggest. I don’t expect to see them challenging even the more fiscally conservative version of the Dodgers were supposed to see next year for the highest payroll in baseball, but there’s no reason to think the budget won’t expand again, just as it has each of the last 5 or 6 years. There’s also well over 20 million dollars coming off the books after next season in Lincecum and Scutaro, players whose recent contributions won’t be expensive at all to replace.
Cespedes for Samardzijia?
Fair deal, but I don’t think the A’s want Cespedes back. I think they were done with him. Seems a bit head strong …
you got to be kidding me.
Samardzija is a solid pitcher. There isn’t a ton of value in Cespedes’ contract.
Both one year rentals.
And?
That doesn’t change the fact that there is much more value money wise in Shark than Cespedes.
Is there, though?
I can see Beane offering Sammy to the Red Sox, but not for Cespedes. Since I’m sure that the Red Sox won’t trade Betts, it would have to be something like Swihart and Owens, plus one of the B-level prospects. Same if Donaldson was on the block.
Usually the Boston press waits until a player has been traded before running him through the mud.
Cespedes must be special.
Re Cespedes: It’s amazing to me that a player can refuse to even try to improve his job performance and still get to keep his contract and job.
he prolly doesn’t want to be accused of performance enhancing.
How has Cespedes indicated that he won’t work on his defense? Does anyone know more about that situation?
Excellent point.
How come there was no problem with Cespedes attitude towards his defense a week ago, when the RS GM was being lauded as trading for a solid RH bat at a time with those were hard to find.
Reminds me of Gammons reporting on Manny for years, but the day he signed with the Red Sox the national writer labeled him “the best RH bat in the AL”. Funny, he wasn’t the day before.
I don’t believe anything Boston rumor mongers write, other then to recognize that they get some information and they play the game. So I’m figuring that Cespedes will be trade bait, as the RS continue their tradition of turning over 50% of their roster in the offseason, and another 1/3 once the season starts.
Let’s all pretend that all four teams in the ALCS/NLCS this year didn’t have the type of player like Cespedes on their team. You know, the free swinger that gets a ton of hits in the playoffs because everyone is throwing strikes, oh, and his defense was way above average as was his base running.
I don’t know that I’d really call Sandoval and Cespedes similar hitters. Not all free swingers are similar.
Would that “one agent” happen to be Jake Peavy’s agent?
Probably. I can’t imagine an extreme fly-ball pitcher in his mid-30s getting 3/36 on the open market just because he got traded to a place where fly balls go to die and pitched great for two months. But if he stays in San Fran, he’ll continue to be effective.
Cespedes for Porcello (25 years old with 76 wins and 15.3 career fWAR). Both under contract for one more year. Assume Tigers sign Price longterm and get a mid-level free agent to replace Porcello.
Porcello would be a much better pitcher if he actually had a decent defense.
Case in point:
Fister’s (a very similar ground ball pitcher) FIP was LOWER with the Tigers in 2013 that with the Nationals this year, but his ERA was a full run lower with the Nationals in 2014.
Tigers had the worst 3rd baseman defensively in all of baseball, Nick Castellanos… and Iglesias was injured all year at SS.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Red Sox are below average defensively at SS (Bogaerts) and don’t even have a third baseman. Porcello isn’t going to be any better off there. His best bet is that the Tigers find a better 3B, move Castellanos to the outfield, and Iglesias stays healthy.
They will just go with the 4 OF, no 3rd base alignment that @revmurph:disqus suggests… Should work just fine in Fenway.
Back when the trade was made I was slammed for suggesting that Cespedes chief value would be as trade bait. He really is not a hitter that fits with the Red Sox since he is more of a hacker and his arm is rather wasted in Fenways LF. The signing of Castillo and emergence of Betts makes it even more likely he gets dealt.
On his own he probably yields not very much since he is a FA after 1 yr, but he would be a good piece in any package. Maybe the Marlins is his next destination
The Marlins OF is better than Boston’s, there’s no room for him. No, Miami is not taking Cespedes as part of a package for Stanton.
I never got the rumor of Cespedes and a few prospects for Stanton….and I’m a sox fan!
what if red sox traded cespedes and Napoli for ryan howard, dom brown, jesse biddle and a ton of cash to offset the wretched contract of ryan howard meaning if he is owed 50 million they should send about 35 or so and we have a replacement for papi after 15 season and I think defense and doms bat could play in fenway
NO. We take a bush league hitter, one of the worst contracts in history (along with his injury history and lack of ability to hit) and a C+ pitching prospect for 2 above average ML regulars? For Cespedes alone, try Franco, adding in Napoli would make it even worse
why?
Dayton Moore might go to Atlanta both for the reasons mentioned and that he would be heir apparent for president of the club, a position unlikely to be available in Kansas City with Dan Glass in that office.
The only reason to go there is the putative idea that the Braves would spend more money than KC would. And even then, it’s not that big of a difference. The Braves’ payroll this season was $112MM, the Royals $92MM. And the Braves are probably going to reduce that (they had been $83-96MM the previous five seasons), while KC’s success in 2014 probably means they can go up a little more.
Moore would probably be better off staying in KC and being able to run the show there without interference than he would be going back to the Braves and having Bobby Cox looking over his shoulder. If Cox still wants to call the shots in Atlanta, he should just ask for the GM job back himself.
I’d like to see the Reds make a play for Cespedes. He’d fill in the LF spot nicely, and maybe move a SP with one year of control left.
One of the problems with Cespedes is that he can opt out and become a free agent after 2015 thus will limit the return. I am sure that Seattle will come calling.
Patrick Kivlehan could be a nice fit for Boston. With Seager locked in at 3B, he doesn’t really have a position in the future. Hit .295 with 20 HR, 103 RBI and 32 2B split between Long-A and Double-A.
Bostons front office is one of the best in baseball, they wouldn’t throw away the chance to sign Lester long term at a hometwon discout, which lester said he would take, to turn around and trade Cespedes for nothing more than a #3 starter like Jon Niese.
Cherington has stated they are planning on contending in 2015 and plan on having Cespedes in the 2015 lineup.
Whether they sign himto an extension or let him walk , who knows? But Cespedes WILL be in their 2015 lineup.
The only possible way I can see Boston trading Cespedes would be in part of a 3 team deal, thats sent a power hitter to BOS, Cespedes to ‘team x ‘ and prospects to ‘team y’. But realistically, Cespedes will be in the sox 2015 lineup
The giants outfield next year will be ok they dont need to go after markakis
And if Pagan goes down?
I think a regular line-up involving Pence, Pagan, and Markakis would work out really well. You could run Pagan or Markakis as the lead-off guy.
I’m wondering though, if Sandoval goes elsewhere, what’s their game plan at third? Do they have the money to sign Markakis and an everyday 3B?
Sounds like a good deal coming for the mets they need a LF power hitter how about cespedes for colon and maybe den deccker or kirk. Than the mets can sign asdrubal cabrera for SS
If the Giants go after Markakis, what would their option become at third base?
The price of winning a World Series: Stuck with Dayton Moore.