A number of impressive postseason achievements have occurred on October 6th over the years, yet perhaps the most notable was Babe Ruth slugging three home runs in Game Four of the 1926 World Series. The Bambino’s huge day helped the Yankees to a win and (according to legend) fulfilled his promise that he would homer in honor of a hospitalized young fan on that day.
Could another incredible playoff moment take place tonight? While we wait for today’s NLDS Game 3 action, here are some notes from around the majors…
- The Cubs could be interested in outfielder Jonny Gomes, league sources tell ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers. The Cubs are known to be looking for both veteran leadership in the clubhouse and depth in the outfield, and Gomes could check both boxes as a platoon partner with Chris Coghlan.
- The Cardinals received some criticism when they signed Matt Holliday to a seven-year, $120MM free agent deal in January 2010, yet as MLB.com’s Tracy Ringolsby writes, both the team and the player are very happy with how everything worked out five years into the contract. Holliday has averaged .295/.383/.496 with 24 homers and 92 runs scored from 2010-14, and while he posted career lows in average (.272) and slugging (.441) this season, it could be argued that the deal has already been worth it for St. Louis.
- The Marlins are looking to add a starting pitcher this winter, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports. A new arm plus the return of Jose Fernandez could lead to some rotation shuffling, and Frisaro cites Tom Koehler and Nathan Eovaldi as possible candidates to move to the bullpen. Also in the piece, Frisaro examines some other Miami position changes that could occur depending on how the Marlins’ offseason shopping plans develop.
- On paper, Yoenis Cespedes fits as a long-term power bat for the Red Sox, though Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald notes that Cespedes’ free-swinging, low-OBP style doesn’t fit into the Red Sox organizational philosophy of taking pitches and grinding down opposing pitchers. Silverman thinks Cespedes could potentially better help the Sox as a trade piece, perhaps as part of a major package to pry Giancarlo Stanton away from Miami.
- Hunter Strickland’s rise from being an unheralded Red Sox draft pick to a flame-throwing postseason reliever for the Giants is chronicled by WEEI.com’s Alex Speier.
- Stephen Drew, Jed Lowrie, Jason Hammel, Rafael Soriano and Alfonso Soriano stand out as potential bargains on the free agent market, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post opines.
Doesn’t cespedes have 1 year left on deal? Doubt marlins would have that much interest if they do deal Stanton
Right. Is along the lines of the uptown and prado trade. If you are trading Stanton there is no way in the short term your team is going to be any better. So why make a piece of that deal be someone that won’t be on the next marlins playoff team.
If the Marlins trade Stanton at all the whole FO and ownership should be arrested for baseball malfeasance!
Why? They have a two year window with Stanton. Trade him now, get some big time, “just add water” ready prospects to fill in what the team is missing, and you’re talking about a team that can compete for the next 4 or 5 years.
Okay and when these ready prospects are “ready” they’ll what, trade them for more prospects? When does this merry go round end? The last time the Marlins were in the playoffs was 2003. You build your team around a guy like Stanton. Jeez no wonder no one goes to their games.
Just don’t trade for Low A, or “raw” type prospects. Hence why I said “just add water” ready. Prospects like Gray, Gausman, Myers, Schoop, Finnegan, etc.
The Marlins have a lot of young, high upside guys on the team right now that look like they will be really good within a year or two. Add a few of the type of prospects mentioned above, and the Marlins could have a strong team for years to come.
The O’s aren’t trading Gausman; maybe Schoop but that won’t be enough to land Stanton unless they include Matt Wieters but he’s coming off TJ surgery. They might be better off looking towards the A’s. I still don’t see a team loaded enough to trade that kind of talent–unless it’s some huge multiplayer deal.
My point wasn’t that the O’s or anybody is going to trade for Stanton, which is why I listed non-O’s prospects as well. What I’m saying is that the Marlins could trade Stanton and compete for the next “X” amount of years, if they target the kind of prospects a team has that are in the Gausman, Schoop, Myers, Finnegan, type mold. Prospects that a team has that are basically ready to join the big club and compete. That way the Marlins aren’t just going right back into a rebuilding mode when they trade Stanton.
Arrested?! They aren’t even off parole yet.
I’m sorry but cues pedis in a package for Stanton. If the marlins are selling they want prospects. Not expensive veterans on one year deals.
Why would anyone want to sign Alfonso Soriano? I thought me was going to retire anyway.
He can still hit. So, he has value as a DH.
Edit: Although the article does say he “hated DHing”
But, I watched him last year. I don’t think he is effective in the field any more.
You sure about that?
Am I sure? Of course not. But, sure enough to give him a tryout. Give him a shot for a low contract and see what you have. The Cubs said he was really good with their young players, so maybe if you wanted to have that kind of guy on the bench.
I wouldn’t let my young players near that guy. He only had a good career because he physically was extremely talented. I would not want young players to watch how he plays. For physically less gifted players that is really a bad example.
He can’t though. Trust me I saw enough of it this year.
Yankee fan here too, so yes, I also watched him too. But, in the context of that team… I mean NO one could hit. It’s hard to judge. I wouldn’t sign him again, but I could see why a team might give him a shot. 2013 was not that far removed.
No one could hit, but he generally brings an awful approach to the plate, and that gets infectious. He will swing at anything. It seems like he could still be a productive player, but something inside his head won’t let him, and I don’t see that changing. He has made his career out of capitalizing on mistakes, and he can’t grab the mistakes like he used to.
I would not go anywhere near him. He was my least favorite Yankee this year. He is done. He will swing at anything. You could hit the dirt ten feet out and he will still swing.
I think “bargains” should be further defined.
Out of Curiosity, why would the Marlins want Cespedes if the Red Sox don’t want him? Plus, the Marlins could have signed him a few years ago, but didn’t.
Now, why would they give up Stanton to get him?
I don’t think they want him but if Miami is smart, they’ll trade Stanton while they still can. I don’t think he wants to be there much longer and I don’t see Miami paying him what he wants.
Gomes to the Cubs? Sweet! A whole season of watching a mediocre hitter adjust his helmet 99 times before each pitch.
I fail to see how Cespedes would be part of package for Stanton when Cespedece will be a free agent before Stanton.
Makes no sense.
I read the article just to make sure I was understanding properly. And his proposal makes even less sense now. The author compares trading Stanton to Miami trading away Reyes, after saying they were not going to trade him.
Marlins got back young talent as the headline of that deal. Not a player who is a free agent in a few months. The two scenarios do not compare at all.
I’m not defending the trade idea, just that the author used Reyes as an analogy that you can’t take the Marlins word on anything, if they told Reyes ‘go ahead buy a house’ two days before trading him, how can they be trusted when they say they won’t trade Stanton. Reyes was an example of the forked tongue of the Marlins not as a comparison of reasons for a trade of talent.
Because he’s Cuban and he can for power and would cost about 25% of Stanton
To everyone posting about the Cespedes in a package for Stanton. I live the Boston area and the way it would work is that the Sox would resign Cespedes and then trade him to the Marlins on that new contract and maybe pay some of the $$$. That is what I have heard as a theory in the past not much recently because baseball talk died on August 2nd.
It’s a given that Boston would have to sign Cespedes to a new contract and then eat the money. The problem with that is with Boston eating the money, it takes away from the package Miami can get in return. So then if you’re Miami, you have to look at how good of a player is Cespedes? Is he worth it for you to diminish the rest of your return due to the fact that Boston would have to eat a lot of money? And I don’t think he is.
Why would they want a win now player though? And why would Cespedes want an extension and think he will be traded?
If they are trading there isn’t really a way they will be better next year. If you are trading stanton you are giving up on the short term to get better in the long term. No point getting Cespedes when a Stanton trade probably moves their window 2+ years into the future.
Cespedes and his reps will likely anticipate that scenario and demand some sort of no trade protection
How does this look for a Stanton offer. I think it’s a start to say the least. Owens, Swihart, Cespedes resigned to a new deal, Betts, Escobar and Rodriguez (the guy we got for Miller and one of the guys we got for Peavy) and cash to offset the Cespedes signing.
No.
Subtract Betts and maybe
Please tell me you’re not under the impression that giving up all of that for one player is reasonable?
Yes when that player is 24 years old and has proven 80 power. Power is hard to come by these days. Yes they will be overpaying but Stanton is worth it. I mean maybe you could take one of Escobar and Rodriguez out. And it’s also maybe a little less than the Dodgers giving up Urias, Pederson, Seager and probably shedding one of those OF contracts like Ethier.
That’s the thing though, you have six players there. All of whom could be really good contributors to your team, and who will cost less combined than Stanton. Let’s say you get 25 hrs out of Cespedes and 15 out of Betts in a full season. You can throw in 10 from Swihart. That’s 50 hrs right there. 15 wins each from Owens and Rodriguez. Escobar, I’m not sure will ever be much, but lets call him 10 wins a season. Now not all of these guys will pan out surely, but you’re looking at paying them less than you would Stanton. At least for the next four or five years. Even with a new deal for Cespedes. Why deal for Stanton you would almost assuredly get the same amount of production from Cespedes and Betts combined in the starting lineup? Stanton can be a perpetually 40 homerun guy, but why bother trading the whole farm for him, to get that production out of one player, when you can get the same production out of two and pay a lot less for it? It doesn’t make any sense.
Yea, like I said maybe a little too much, but I think that it could be what the Marlins start out with. And it is also not known whether or not Swihart will stay behind the plate. And I see Stanton could average around 45-50 home runs in Boston with the Monster being so close and also the short wall in RF. I feel we would constantly see him hitting around 45 hr’s in a season. And I just feel Stanton is one of those guys that you gut the system for. And I can really only see 2 or 3 other guys gutting the farm for. They are Trout and Kershaw, easily and maybe Jose Fernandez but I want to see how he recovers from TJ next season before I gut the system for him. And a power hitting player is exactly what the Red Sox need. And from what people have been saying on this site in the comments is that Cespedes want to leave anyways. But I have never read anything about that.
Swihart is the number one catching prospect in baseball. He threw out 46% of runners last year, coupled with handling pitchers very well (not sure about his framing) while swinging a good bat. He’ll stick at catcher. Whether they decide to deal him at some point (for pitching maybe) just means he’ll be someone else’s catcher. You’re overpaying for Stanton just to have one 6 WAR player when his production could be equaled at much less of a cost with two 3 WAR players. If that’s what you want it’s fine, but I’d hardly say it would be worth what you’d have to give up. Admittedly names like that have moved before, and not much has come of the players that were involved in the deal, but I think some of the players mentioned could be pretty special. If even half of those players reach their ceilings you have lost that deal.
That said, there is no way any deal gets done this off season. The break or next off season is as soon as it happens, and there’s a definite chance of being outbid by another team. There’s also a chance that Stanton comes back next season, and isn’t the same player.
There is a small chance that a deal could gone this offseason. I think the reason that Swihart would stick at catcher because he could outgrow the position. But I don’t remember where I heard because it was before this season started. But after this season I could definitely see him sticking there. And I think the consensus top catching prospect is Hedges with the Padres. But at the 2 lists I read (MLB.com and Mike Rosenbaum), MLB had Hedges first and Swihart 2nd and Rosenbaum had Swihart 1st and Hedges second. BBall America has it the same way as Rosenbaum in their midseason update. So it could be a 1 and 1A thing with the 2 of them.
It happens all the time. Not to mention you can’t add up players and say “together they are equal to or better than this one guy” There is significantly more value in one 6 Win player than three 2 Win players.
I’m thinking with Betts and Cespedes you have two three win players. Betts may actually be a four win player. And there’s four more guys in his prospective deal. Including two pitchers who are number 3’s or better. It’s too much to give up for what you get back, just so you can say, oooh look Stanton. He hits 40 homeruns all by himself. You don’t come out ahead of that.
Well Cespedes definitely isn’t going to Miami. Betts could be very good. 4 WAR player is likely his ceiling. Stanton would cost a ton and would likely be worth it for the next three years.
He wouldn’t be worth the six players mentioned in the original trade proposition. That’s pretty much what I’m arguing.
Prospects are prospects. nothing’s proven yet. Again I’m not saying this deal should happen. But you can’t never put too much value on prospects although there can be few exceptions but none we currently have.
Yes that is true, but Cespedes and Betts have already proven their value. And if just one of the other four in that prospective package hits their ceiling, you have paid too much.
That seems like a huge price to pay. You’re not getting a ton of value on Stanton’s contract. If you made the deal today, you’d get 2 years of excess value. And then you are resigning him for the market price. So you’ve given up a lot of contracts that had a ton of value to them, and are basically getting a contract that has very little excess value on it.
seems to me like not enough. Most of these prospects will fail why not trade big papi and cespedes and owens for stanton now we’re talkin especially since Stanton will most likely be resigned by boston
Why would Miami want expensive players either at the end of their career or with limited upside? Ortiz is going to play the field for Miami? Good luck with that…
Marlins won’t be able to afford Stanton so they will have to trade at some point before the 2016 deadline at least. Cespedes was mentioned as the PART of the package because his heritage and residence are better fit with the Marlins than the Red Sox and the Marlins will have far better chance to extend him than the Red Sox. Cespedes will be much cheaper option for Stanton and the Marlins will be receiving top prospects from the Red Sox at the same time. Cespedes is not the centerpiece of the Stanton package. He’s just an appealing piece to the Marlins that the Red Sox can afford to lose to minimize the cost of team’s prospects.
Cespedes was mentioned as part of the package because Boston writers talk about Stanton to Boston trades at every opportunity even when their ideas make no sense.
I never said this deal would happen. I just explained why Cepedes name is mentioned in Stanton deal if it were to happen.
So Miami signs guys and trades them not long after, they can’t be trusted and Stanton shouldn’t want to play for them. Boston does same thing, it’s…..
The Red Sox only traded Gonzalez because he was a player that the Dodgers wanted in order for the deal to make sense. They took on 2 horrendous contracts with Beckett and Crawford. So you really can’t even compare the 2. The Red Sox traded a player who they just signed to shed 2 bad contracts.
what are you talking about? Where did I say Boston would do the same thing??
He’s saying they already the same thing 3 years ago with Gonzalez.
The thing is I never said Sox would sign Cespy to long term and then trade him for Stanton in favor of Miami.
No. Your whole trade scenario is around the Sox signing Cespedes to an extension, then trading him. The exact reason why some claim (make up) that Stanton does not want to stay in Miami.
That’s the thing. If he really wanted to stay in Miami, he’s say he loved it there and he wants to stay. Not “five months doesn’t change five years.” Doesn’t sound like a guy who really wants to stay.
The Marlins can’t afford Stanton. Cespedes is probably looking for 15 millionish a season. The Marlins can’t afford that either. As part of a Stanton deal, Cespedes makes no sense. The Red Sox are actually better able to sign him because they can afford him. Unless he wants to take a pay cut to play in an area that has a lot of Cuban culture and people, I doubt he resigns there. Cuba also has a lot of Cuban culture and people. What they’d actually want as part of the deal are young, cost controlled players who have already demonstrated an ability to play in the major leagues. Betts probably more than anyone fits what they are looking for. I don’t think they Red Sox have anyone else that fits that mold unless the Marlins think Bogaerts is more the guy who played in April, May, June, and September, than the guy who played in July and August. They’d probably also be interested in Owens and Eduardo Rodriguez. Cespedes isn’t going to work there.
There are two ways to look at it. You either believe the Marlins are willing to start spending money, in which case they could maybe afford Stanton, so there’s no need to trade him. Or you believe the Marlins are the same team they always have been, in which case they can’t really afford Cespedes anyway, so there’s no reason to trade Stanton for a package that includes Cespedes.
Further evidence that no one writing for the Boston Herald has any idea what they’re doing.
Although I do agree that Cespedes wouldn’t fit long-term. Boston isn’t good for players who don’t really seem to care. (See also: Carl Crawford, end-era Manny Ramirez)
So you actually believe Manny Ramirez cared less about baseball near the end than he did just a couple years before that when he was carrying the team? You East Coasters really buy into these narratives, huh?
He sure seemed bored.
Manny looked pretty laid back in 2003-2006 too.
Laid back != bored.
So we look at results…then determine how much a player cares? So kind of like when the team wins the division, they have a great clubhouse. When they don’t, they have clubhouse cancers. It’s just funny to see people buy into all that.
While I appreciate good snark as much as anybody, this is the same stuff I was saying at the time, based on my own experience of watching pretty much every game during those summers. You can hold as low an opinion me as you’d like, but the fact is that Manny seemed to care less once the team staggered a bit in 2006, and then the attitude came back in force in 2008.
I actually have a very high opinion of you, for what little I know. There’s not a Sox fan I’d go to before you about an opinion of the team. I didn’t mean it as a personal slight.
Sorry, you hit a nerve x_x
But really, his 2006-2008 antics sure looked like a guy who didn’t care as much. At some point it really seemed like all he cared about was maybe looking cool sometimes.
Crawford and A-Gon also never fit in because they also didn’t seem to care. Players in this market sort of need to buy in to the whole Red Sox “thing” to be successful, it seems.
It might also be worth noting that Manny has been on the record earlier this season expressing contrite feelings for how he behaved during the end of his tenure in Boston. Or is listening to Manny talk about his own behavior still “buying into” some narrative?
I’m sure he was inventing imaginary injuries to stay out of the lineup because he was really fired up about playing baseball.
I’d bet good money there were a lot of things Manny did that stayed in the clubhouse when he was the best hitter in the league that the team just put up with. But when it was time for him to go, it was narrative time.
Sure, that’s how sports work. It comes out after you leave. When you have other players literally screaming in your face, because their livelihoods depend on you actually showing up and doing your job, and you’d rather not, then it’s time to go. Manny was a fantastic hitter. They didn’t trade him for Jason Bay because they though Bay was an upgrade. They did it because they couldn’t count on Manny to care anymore.
Marlins aren’t trading Stanton. Sheesh writers, find something else. You seem to have gotten it through your heads that the Rockies aren’t trading Tulo … please do the same with Stanton. And the Rockies probably SHOULD trade Tulo, unlike the Marlins, who could actually win a division next year if Fernandez comes back strong.
I’d actually be mildly surprised if Cespedes is not a Padre next year. Seems to be a match made in heaven.
So, the Red Sox aren’t allowed to have 1 player in the lineup who’s a free swinger? I would prefer they keep Cespedes. Besides, if I were the Red Sox, I’d be wary of Stanton’s mental makeup after taking that heater to the face. The physical scars will heal, but will the mental ones?
Stanton and Fernandez to Boston…Tulo and Gonzalez to Miami…and mass prospects to Colorado
Why would Miami make that trade? All they get are two frequently injured players who are entering the tail end of their prime, and don’t have “Miami” friendly contracts.
It’d have to have other financial and player compensation involved…. I just tossed out generals. I’m looking from the hypothetical Rockie rebuild angle and throwing out a possible way to alter their system.
Miami just isn’t a good trade candidate. To even get them half way interested, Colorado would basically have to pay all of Tulo and CarGo’s remaining salary.
When Miami trades, they make the kind of trades they did with Houston for Cosart. Young, cost controlled players they will have for a long time.