The asking price on Reds closer Aroldis Chapman is currently said by one American League executive to be “exorbitant,” tweets ESPN’s Jayson Stark. Other clubs doubt that Reds owner Bob Castellini is open to allowing Chapman to be moved in a trade, according to Stark. This isn’t the first time that Castellini’s name has come up as a potential road block in trades. Peter Gammons recently noted that the Castellini remains reluctant to authorize a sale, even in late July, and others have reported similar feelings from Castellini over the course of the summer. Retaining Chapman would make some sense if the Reds felt they have the pieces in place to make a run in 2016, but he’s already earning $8.05MM (and that figures to jump into the $12MM range this offseason) and is only controlled for one more season.
A few more notes from around the league, courtesy of Stark (all Stark links point to Twitter)…
- The Padres are listening to offers on their entire rotation, but they “really want to move” both James Shields and Andrew Cashner, Stark hears from other teams. Shields’ name has surfaced as an unexpected trade candidate in recent weeks, and it sounds like San Diego is very open to moving Shields’ backloaded deal. A team taking on Shields would need to be willing to commit three years and $64MM to him, barring financial help from the Padres, but there’s also the chance that Shields could opt out of the final two years of his contract. With a strong 2016 performance, he may feel that he can do better than the final $45MM he’s guaranteed over the 2017-18 seasons.
- That the club “really wants to move” Cashner is a bit more puzzling. While Shields is an aging veteran that has the potential to handcuff future payroll flexibility with his sizable financial commitment, Cashner’s 28 years old and enjoying a solid season (though his 4.10 ERA is a bit worse than sabermetric marks such as his 3.69 xFIP). Cashner’s earning a very reasonable $4.05MM in 2015 and will receive a raise this offseason before qualifying for free agency after the 2016 campaign. He does have a lengthy injury history, so perhaps the thinking among the new San Diego brass is that his value won’t be higher than it is now, and they don’t want to risk a second half injury.
- The Astros “aren’t done” after acquiring Scott Kazmir yesterday, per Stark. The team is still hunting for bullpen upgrades (GM Jeff Luhnow’s stated preference has been to add a “flamethrower,” if he upgrades the ’pen at all) as well as corner outfield bats.
- Similarly, the Royals aren’t targeting one specific area of upgrade, says Stark. Rival clubs say that Kansas City GM Dayton Moore appears to be “open to anything,” whether that means a rotation upgrade, an outfield bat or adding both to the mix.
- There’s a sense among some clubs that tomorrow’s Cole Hamels start could have a great influence on his trade market, it seems, as Stark quotes one executive saying, “He’s pitched in the playoffs and World Series. But for that front office, this may be the biggest start he’s ever had.” The Phillies’ ace has been torched in each of his past two starts.
When you have the best reliever available you can ask an exorbitant price and see what your best offer is. That’s how negotiating works.
If that was what was actually going on, I would be thrilled. Unfortunately, what’s really going on is that Chapman *won’t* be traded- for non-baseball reasons. Ca$tellini loves his strikeouts, the free pizza cheers, etc…I also expect them to keep everyone without an expiring contract under the guise of wanting to “contend” in 2016. You know, the same thing they did last offseason. And I won’t believe otherwise until something proves me wrong.
They can offload a few contracts and still not have the money to contend really. Possibly some of their direction from now over the winter will be determined by whether they can extend Frazier a bit. They have some bad contracts right now
Oh, I know they won’t contend. That was as evident before this season as it will be before next season. But, Bob tried to sell us that they’re really contenders. He’ll do the same next year too. Which is why Chapman is staying.
In all honesty I thought maybe they’d be a dark horse wild card contender this season….but it didn’t break right…time to rebuild it.
Walt and Bob are great. Kimbrel, Papelbon, Boxberger, Clippard, Benoit, and K Rod are also on the market, but Walt seems to be under the delusion that he’s the only guy with valuable relief assets to deal, and is trying to play the “well, we don’t HAVE to trade anyone” card. Except for that everyone knows he does need to, if they don’t want the team to be in a really bad spot from next year on. Don’t expect Chapman to be dealt now. They’ll wait until next year to trade him and get much less, like they did with Cueto, under the guise of “contending” next year. Hilarious.
The Reds have no great urgency to move Chapman, if they’re not happy with the offers they can try to trade him again at the offseason. I don’t think they’re operating under the delusion that he’s the only reliever available, but they’re also not operating under a delusion that it’s now or never to trade Chapman.
If nobody bites they’ll try again over the winter. Some would call their ability to wait ‘leverage’.
If Chapman is moved for a very poor return most Reds fans would be pretty darn angry. They better get a good deal when they do finally move him. Clearly at the moment they’re not yet getting offers good enough for Jocketty.
Oh yes, that waiting worked out so well with Cueto. They could have realistically gotten Addison Russell for Cueto at the deadline last year- now they’re entering a situation where he might not bring much more back than a draft pick.
A year and a half brings back more for Chapman than a year or a half a year. And, really, we all know WHY Chapman isn’t getting moved- it isn’t because a team isn’t giving a (realistic) good offer. It’s because Ca$tellini loves him some Ks and Free Pizza Cheers. Woooooooo!
Some would call your complete lack of understanding and seemingly neverending loyalty to and obsession with the Reds’ front office ‘hilarious.’
The fact is the Reds have not yet made any trades, and you have no idea what returns Jocketty will get, so it’s pretty difficult to compare them to what you speculate he could have gotten. Give it until July 31st, then we’ll debate the return. I’m not grading the unknown. Innocent until proven guilty.
Some would call your pessimism trolling.
Some would say that you have literally no idea what you’re talking about.
You should lighten up man.. The guys likes his team and is hoping for the best.. Absolutely nothing wrong with that..
I don’t think Boxberger is on the market.
Boxberger is 27 and isn’t a FA until 2020. He has 1 pre year arb this year and 3 years of arb left.
The Rays would need huge incentive to move him.
Yeah they are gonna want something big for him.. I think they will move McGee myself.. Boxberger is still very affordable..
Are the Padres going to eat some of Shields’ contract? I don’t see many teams willing to take on Shields for $20 plus million a year when they could have had him for that amount or less on an average annual basis before the season. And I can’t imagine many teams are wanting to do that two months before Price and Cueto hit the market.
i think with his opt out clause after 2 years some teams might be interested
Why would teams be interested because of his opt-out clause? If he is pitching like an ace, he will probably opt-out. If he is pitching mediocrely, then whatever team trades for him will be stuck with him. I highly doubt the opt-out clause will affect a team’s interest.
The opt out probably diminishes his value, if anything.
Maybe…but I’d rather have him pitch solid for a couple seasons and walk away than take a chance on the back end of that deal.
The opt out clause does nothing to his value because it is extremely unlikely that he opts out.
That opt out clause could be a killer for a team. Shields might ride that to a pair of mediocre seasons.
There’s no way he opts out. If he does that he will be walking away from $45m over the next 2 years. No way anyone pays him that much on the open market.
I agree no one is going to pay him $45m for 2 seasons.. If he opts out it will probably be for a contract with more length.. 3/$55 or 4/$65 something like that.. This past offseason I thought there was no way Cuddyer would turn down that $15.3 million qualifying offer.. He did and signed a 2 year contract for $21 million.. That one still baffles me.. Even if he had a down year I am sure he could get more than a 1 year $5.7 million offer from someone..
Only difference in the last offseason was that Shields as a free agent had more control of where he would sign.
Maybe that why Cashner is availible .Preller might get something decent back if he packages shields and cashier together.A club may take shield if they get cashier also to offset some of the sheilds money.
Cashner has only one year of control left.. I would think teams would want Ross though..
Seeing as how they got him for $10 million this year I don’t see how they could avoid paying a chunk of that contract.. Nobody is going to want Shields for $21.3 million a year for his age 34-37 seasons.. I can see a team like Boston or Detroit that needs several rotation pieces taking him in a package with Ross and then restructuring Shields by adding another year worth a bit less money.. Something like 3/$55 and then adding a clause similar to Lackey’s that says if Shields gets hurt he pitches a 4th year at league minimum.. Its not Shields’s fault that Preller wrote such a foolish
Walt is an idiot. Sent by the cards to sabatoge the reds lol. I’d just keep everyone put qualifying offers on cueto and leak get draft picks. Seems no one is willing to give up anything for anyone so I sure as hell wouldn’t trade him for nothing either if the price isn’t right. But with all fairness he should have blown it up last year. Phillips. Bruce. Cueto. Chapman. Leak. But castellini puts his fan side and emotions first then being a owners. Phillies here we come
You don’t blow it up the year before you host the All Star game.
Why wouldn’t you now that we waited we may not get a thing for cueto which in turn hurts the reds movement in rebuilding.
I just wonder if that has any effect on an all-star game.
Well, the only thing that I can think of is that the host team would want as many players wearing their jerseys as possible.. Plus, it would be awkward for fans of Cincinnati to see their favorite player (Cueto, Chapman) wearing a different jersey during the All Star game..
Just love it that someone actively scans to downvote anything I say. Nice work newbies
I don’t understand this thinking today by so many fans that believe a qualifying offer pick is going to net their team a for sure major league player.. By the time the picks get to that point they are little more than a crap shoot.. There are the few that inevitably fall that far because of signability issues (Funkhouser and Cameron this year).. But there is a reason that non contending teams always make deadline trades.. Taking a minor league player that has proven himself worthy of prospect status is a way safer bet than a QO pick.. Just because a player is not a consensus top prospect doesn’t mean they can’t strike gold.. A few examples: 2008 A’s sent Rich Harden (solid TOR arm before he got the injury bug) to the Cubs and received Matt Murton (the headliner) and Josh Donaldson (little known catcher) plus 2 others.. also in 2008 the Indians sent Sabathia to the Brewers for Matt LaPorta (headliner) and Michael Brantley (the throw in).. There are several more trades like that.. You can’t judge the prospects that come back in a deadline for 2-3 years down the road.. Who knows Cueto might net the Reds their very own Donaldson..
True, but while they might not turn into great major league players…they’ll often turn into stellar prospect bargaining chips in a deal.
I figure Padres want to trade Cashner since they can get more now than say next year at this time. There has been 0 talk of him and an extension anyways.
Shields I find interesting because he seemed like he took a leadership role with the team, but maybe there is more behind closed doors. I know he has been unhappy a few times being pulled from games.
I think wanting to move Shields is more about the front office’s worry of such a large part of their payroll being taken up by one guy. They invested a ton into the team last winter with the hope it would pay off in the checkbook, and I think the on-field disappointment that has followed has made them very cautious of how much to invest/allocate in the next couple of years. In other words, it appears that keeping Shields in a Padre uniform is largely contingent on the team improving and bringing in increased revenue.
As a long-time Pads fan, it’d be extremely difficult to watch them deal him four months into a four-year deal. Shields garnered the biggest contract (AAV-wise) the Friars ever gave to a free agent, and I was hopeful they made that deal with the aim of keeping him around through that K barring something completely unforeseen. Shields represented San Diego dipping their toe into the competitive market for high-class free agents, and in my opinion a hasty turnaround from that aim (trading him) would reek of impatience and false promises, similar to a Jeffery Loria-type deal.
That’s one way to look at it…that’s fair. But I’ll say that they might view his real value up front this season. I do believe they thought Shields was going to front a stellar rotation…some of the KC magic might rub off….the bats would hopefully be good enough for a playoff berth..etc. It hasn’t panned out, and now the next years of Shields perhaps regressing don’t look so appealing. Shields reminds me of a guy who in a different world would have gotten a.massive single season contract…but that wasn’t happening in free agency.
I think Preller and the owner are lost.
They rolled the dice with a few trades.It almost worked for them until they fired Bud Black and it fell apart after that.Think if they had a healthy Will Myers,and a healthy Brandon Marrow this season nobody would be talking bad about any of these trades
No one has had.a healthy Brandon Morrow or Wil Myers, or Matt Kemp for that matter…this team was loaded with risk
Kemps been Healthy for 2 seasons I thought .When was he hurt last
I don’t think Kemp has been healthy…he might not have lengthy DL stints…but his past has zapped him of his best ability… It’s like with Wright now and the spinal stenosis…. He’ll be touch and go.
Will Myers bone spurs that he had removed are probable care theatening.lpl give me a brake.You have no idea what your talking about.
He is a stud there is no way they could have known what was going to happen.
Hope they only trade there free agents to be so that Preller has a chance to prove all these critics that don’t know what there talking about wrong
I’m not sure who called Myers injuries career threatening. I think it was only basically mentioned that he hasn’t been healthy much to date
Wisler for Kimbrel was an awful trade.. As good as Kimbrel is he is still only a one inning pitcher.. To give up a stud starting pitching prospect for a reliever just doesn’t make sense.. Plus they got Upton and gave up Maybin who is going to bring a greater return for Atlanta.. Hart took Preller to the woodshed this off season.. Twice.. I wonder how the Padres season would have turned out had they avoided Wil Myers and kept Maybin in center.. They could have brought Turner up in September to plug up SS.. He is looking more and more like the real deal everyday.. They would have had Wisler in the rotation and just let Benoit close.. Thankfully Justin Upton still has value and Kimbrel does as well.. But I think Preller is now realizing that the offers are nowhere near what he gave up.. I wonder if Byrnes is now going to finally send Preller a congratulations on your new job card.. But like I said earlier about hindsight and all..
Shields won’t get traded. He has negative trade value.
Well said.. But I seem to remember something about Shields being from the area and wanting to pitch there as well.. If they dump him so quickly after signing him it will be several years before a marquee free agent is willing to sign there again.. Remember the off season and what Preller tried to do as his first signing.. Sandoval spurned the Padres and signed for less money with Boston.. I am sure he expected something similar to this to happen..They can expect that same exact thing from future free agents for the next few years.. He never should have signed Shields knowing full well that he had that giant anchor of a contract of Matt Kemp’s holding them back.. If only he would have kept Wisler and avoided Shields.. He would have been way better in the long run but hindsight is 20/20 and all..
Maybe he should pitch better if he doesn’t want to get pulled.He recently gave up runs in close games against Seattle and Texas at around the hundred pitch mark.
Anyone have any Phillies predictions they care to make? Think their high asking prices lead to no deals AGAIN or think the front office structure leads to them waiting til the offseason to pull any triggers? Interested to see what non-Phillies fans think they’ll do (or not do).
Revere and Papelbon go. Those are relatively glitch free deals…barring the Phils not wanting to pick up some of Paps deal for next season. Hamels could be 60/40. Not sure an offseason deal will be THAT much better….but they don’t need to deal him now. Maybe a few more teams jump in during the winter…maybe not. No trade clauses are poison…really surprised teams agree to them
Revere should be the easiest to move. Papelbon a little tougher because of the option. With so many aces available this offseason, I think it’ll be very difficult to move Hamels then. I understand giving star players some sort of NTC, but I don’t think I’d ever make it cover more than 10 teams at the very most. But sometimes that NTC is the difference between a player joining your team or another. Pick your poison I suppose.
An offseason trade of Hamels would absolutely NOT be better for the Phils than a deadline deal.
Agreed. I feel like if the Phillies hold Hamels past the trade deadline (which I think is a huge mistake barring them not receiving a single good offer) then they’ll have to wait a full year til next year’s deadline to try moving him again. And that’s way too risky for me when you take into account him being a year older, risk of injury, and performance. Not to mention it delays the rebuild that much longer.
The only way its better is if a team that is not contending now decides to join the usual felons in pursuit. Once the winter market takes shape things could open up. A few scenarios…say Seattle decides on a direction to pair with Felix….Detroit wants to replace Price…St. Louis feels more,comfortable structuring a deal over the winter. I’m not saying its better in the winter…but its possible
I like Hamels as a pitcher, but I hope he implodes tonight so RAJ and the Phils are forced to keep him or trade him for a lesser package.
As long as Cole is healthy I honestly don’t think a few bad starts are going to change how other teams view him
I agree, but it couldn’t come at a worse time. And 3 awful starts in a row will definitely give other GMs a reason to lowball the Phillies some more. Cole doesn’t need to pitch a no-hitter tomorrow with 12 Ks. He just needs to give a line with 6+ innings, 0-2 R to show he’s all good. Plus, finish the game healthy of course.
It’s dangerous to speculate on reporters comments. By this point we’re hearing 4th hand information. Being “desperate” to move Cashner might only be the overstated opinion of an executive outside the Padres organization
Chapman is the “sexy” name out there for closers, but as another posted wrote, there are other very good options. I enjoy watching him pitch, but at ~12m next yr, that is a big chunk of change for closer not named Mariano R.
Doubt the Padres will be able to move Shields. He’s a 33-year-old #3 starter making ace money the next 3 years. Doubt he opts out of his contract after 2016 either. There’s no way he gets offered as much as he his owed those last 2 years.
The Jays say they can’t take on any money this year, but with a lot of contracts off the books next year (Romero, Dickey, I think Buehrle as well) could they trade for Shields, with the Pads paying him the remaining money owned this year, and the Jays picking up the final 3 years when they free up some payroll space??
Just like last season Castellini is sitting on his duff wanting uber-prospects for rentals and one year-plus guys. Honestly, it might be for the best just to keep Cueto, Leake, and Chapman. This season, get an extra first rounder for Cueto and maybe Leake, and an extra next season for Chapman.
The scouts seem to be the only non-player department who do an effective job.