The Yankees are scouting KBO first baseman Byung-Ho Park, Chosun Ilbo reports (link in Korean; hat tip to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com). As Kuty notes, the Yankees’ level of interest is unclear, and they have Mark Teixeira under contract for 2016 and Greg Bird potentially ready to take over at first base after that. Nonetheless, Park will be a tempting option, assuming the Nexen Heroes post him after the season. He’s hit .351/.442/.727 this year and has totaled 100 homers in the last two seasons. The KBO is an offense-heavy environment, but the success of Park’s former teammate Jung-Ho Kang in Pittsburgh makes it appear likely that Park’s skills will translate fairly well to the Majors. Here’s more from the East divisions.
- At 68-72, the Orioles are still expected to push as hard as possible for the playoffs even though their chances of getting there are remote. They should consider trying equally hard in these next few weeks to keep at least some of their pending free agents, Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun writes. Scott Boras clients Chris Davis and Matt Wieters are likely to test free agency, but the team ought to consider trying to re-sign reliever Darren O’Day, who might require a three-year deal in the $20MM range. (MLBTR’s Jeff Todd profiled O’Day earlier this week.) Gerardo Parra might also be a good candidate for the Orioles to re-sign before free agency begins, Schmuck suggests.
- It’s been a lost season for the Marlins, and their struggles extend to their minor league system, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald writes. Three of the Marlins’ top four affiliates finished in last place, and the Marlins rank at the bottom of Baseball America’s Organization Standings. That’s not necessarily the kiss of death, since minor league records aren’t always the best indicators of prospect quality. But experts agree that the Marlins aren’t exactly spilling over with top prospects, other than top 2014 pick Tyler Kolek. “[Y]ou go beyond [Kolek], and you get to guys who are not top 200- or 300-type guys,” says BA’s J.J. Cooper. “I have talked to scouts who struggle to name a player or two they project as future regulars from the Marlins’ position-player prospects.” The Marlins recently attempted to address the issue by hiring Marc DelPiano from the Pirates to oversee their minor league operations.
The Marlins just need more pitching. They should be solid next season
Dee and Hech up the middle
Yelich Ozuna and Stanton in the outfield
Realmuto behind the plate
Alvarez and Fernandez atop the rotation
That should be enough, just deal away some pieces like Dietrich, Hand, Koehler etc for B/C+ grade prospects and sign Mat Latos or Doug Fister to fill out the rotation on a rebound type contract.
Also, regarding the O’s, they missed their window. When a bubble team is undecided on their trade deadline stance, they shouldn’t consider if they can possibly consider that year, but if they could compete next season without the pieces that they are to lose. In the O’s case, they should have traded Davis, O’Day and Wieters for a ridiculous prospect haul rather than giving up Zach Davies for a complimentary outfielder after the Jays had just acquired Tulo and Price. The Tigers used the method and came out with a nice package of prospects.
The O’s were tied with the Red Sox a couple days ago. I haven’t heard anyone in Boston delusional enough to suggest the playoffs were a possibility. I read something yesterday where TB writers were suggesting the same thing – and are basically in the same situation.
Ridiculous prospect haul? Oh please. Davis has been on a tear in second half, but the Trade Deadline was only a few weeks after that. No one was giving up top prospects for any of those three.
The issue with the Marlins is that outside of those few you mentioned, the rest of the team isn’t very good. Combine that with the fact that Alvarez and Fernandez can’t be relied on to make 30+ starts and the team doesn’t look like it is good enough to be a consistent contender year to year.
The Marlins need at least 2 SPs and 3 bullpen arms, including someone that can get lefties out, and another arm that can pitch at the backend of the bullpen, as well as a new manager that doesn’t make moves that make you want to rip your eyes out.
Move Koehler, and now they need 3 SPS
If they don’t spend this offseason, they should just retool b/c that’s the only way they’re recovering from the moves they made last offseason. It’s obvious that they are planning on moving Ozuna, as much as that frustrates me. If they retool, I would think they would in fact move Ozuna, Koehler, Martin Prado, Dee Gordon, Brad Hand, David Phelps, Mike Dunn, Bryan Morris, and AJ Ramos
The O’s were a disaster this year.
From DD flirting with the Blue Jays to Showalter and his shift.
The thing is DD didn’t hire Showalter and I think some of the problems stem from that fact.
As for free agents and the O’s signing any of them. Quite frankly, I don’t care.
I think with exception to Wieters, I really won’t miss any of them,
Although, I do think they should sign Parra, but other than that.
DD is Dombrowski’s nickname, not Duquette’s. Also, Showalter and Duquette have been working together for years. Why would that suddenly become a problem now?
Well, why did he want to leave then?
I mean after Angelos threw the gauntlet down, I didn’t see Duquette get anything out of whatever happened between him and the Jays. Quite frankly, he alienated some fans in the whole process.
So in the end the O’s have a disappointing season and nothing was gained by anyone as far as I know.
Why would you think that Duquette wanting to leave would have anything to do with Showalter given Angelos’ reputation?
Don’t forget about the biggest move made last offseason was a trade for Travis Snider, who isn’t even on the team anymore. This season had mediocre written on it from the get go. I hope we can at least make these guys a QO if anything to try to get some picks to re-stock the farm since it’s not too often that the O’s compete for the big name free agents.
Maybe if the marlins hadn’t given away all of their young depth in terrible trades, and maybe if they didn’t make ridiculous choices in the early rounds of the last 2 drafts, this would be different
Look at the roster, subtract Dee Gordon and Miguel Rojas, and add Andrew Heaney, Anthony DeSclafani, Enrique Hernandez, and Austin Barnes. Then consider the added years of control with those players, as well as the money the Marlins SHOULD have to spend, with so little payroll committed. This should have been a good year, after a good building year in 2014, and this offseason should have been the time to add to our core with a free agent or 2, but instead, we’re trying to recover from the incredibly dumb moves made in this past year, and we have no depth.