Here’s the latest from Ken Rosenthal, via a pair of videos at FOX Sports:
- There will be ample interest in Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes this winter. The past two seasons have shown how much he can help a lineup — the Athletics faded down the stretch last year after trading him, and the Mets are now thriving after dealing for him.
- If Dave Dombrowski doesn’t promote assistant general manager Mike Hazen to GM, the Red Sox front office could undergo a “mass exodus.” Diamondbacks executive DeJon Watson is another possibility for the GM job, and former Braves GM Frank Wren could fit in as GM or in some other position.
- Matt Wieters has a house in Atlanta and went to Georgia Tech, and he could be a good fit for the Braves this offseason. He might also make sense in Washington, however — Wieters’ agent Scott Boras also represents Nationals stars Max Scherzer, Jayson Werth, Bryce Harper, Gio Gonzalez, Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg. Nats catcher Wilson Ramos has not hit well this season and is eligible for free agency after 2016.
- Corey Seager is off to a hot start to his big-league career, but the Dodgers still seem likely to use him as a backup in the playoffs (depending, perhaps, on the timing of Enrique Hernandez’s return from a hamstring injury). Jimmy Rollins has hit well enough in the second half (.233/.301/.386), and the Dodgers are big fans of his defense. They also want to demonstrate respect for the roles Rollins and third baseman Justin Turner have played for the Dodgers this season.
- “The planets are aligning” for David Price to score a huge contract this offseason, Rosenthal says. The Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs and Red Sox are all potential contenders for his services.
- Rosenthal says he suspects Tigers manager Brad Ausmus will, in fact, be dismissed after the season is over. The team recently said it hadn’t reached a decision on Ausmus, but it notably did not commit to him for 2016.
Well then why would the idiots trade Mcann and allow themselves to get in a jam like this? Braces being the idiots, of course (like normal)
Why would it be “idiotic” to try and outbid the Yankees for McCann’s services when he would need to be our full-time catcher and his offense was already waning, not including injury concerns? How is that “idiotic”? McCann is not a full-time C for NYY nor does he need to be, and with his injury concerns, he couldn’t be a full-time C for ATL. ATL isn’t in the minority trying to find a better catcher. Wieters would be a major upgrade, not a fallback. If we really wanted to, we could re-sign Pierzynski to another 1 year deal (with an option) to provide us a little more time.
I’m not insinuating at all that Ausmas is a great manager because I don’t get to see many Tigers games, but I don’t understand why he should lose his job. No matter who he would bring in from the bullpen, the lead would be given up. I don’t see how you can blame him for this year’s results.
New Front Office, new vision. Its an old story.
If Ausmus is not brought back, it won’t be because of how he handled the bullpen. It won’t be because of the record either. He was done in by extensive injuries to Verlander, Cabrera, VMart and Nathan, plus poor performance by Sanchez, Greene, Chamberlain and Gorzellany.
It may be because he deferred too much to the established stars.
No, that’s not true. Ausmus misused the bullpen. Wilson and Hardy have pitched well all season, but have only recently been used in high leverage situations. He decided that they weren’t good for anything but mop up early, and even though the chosen relievers struggled, he refused to change his mind until after Soria was traded. He also was regularly out maneuvered by the other managers, unable to bring in the next reliever because they weren’t warmed up yet. He was unable to put his players in a position to succeed. That is why they failed.
Cespedes was a sub-.300 OBP hitter and had absolutely no part in Donaldson playing like garbage down the stretch or the pitching falling in a hole. One player does not make a team, and if anyone is serious about voting for him over Harper for MVP they need to have their voting rights taken away. If Harper was on the Mets they’d have 120 wins this year, bottom line. He’s putting up the biggest season we’ve seen since Barry Bonds played.
Absolutely nailed it. Rosenthal loves the narrative, it gets views. And poor A’s fans will grasp at any reason for that collapse – other than the obvious. The team slumped terribly.
Correlation does not equal causation.
Cesedes changes how an entire line-up is pitched to. All impact hitters do. If you look at the right stats, you’ll see that all the Mets hitters did better when he joined the team this year; the Tigers hitters went down some when he left; and last year the A’s hitters fell apart after he left. OBP means nothing at all.
MLB batters can hit the ball. The issue is getting good pitches to hit.
well the biggest season since Trout in 2013 anyway (10.5 WAR)
and 2012 (10.3 WAR) he won’t top those two, but he’s having a good season.
well, if the Nats miss the playoffs Harper will lose votes. I think it should go to the player who had the best overall season regardless of his team, but apparently a lot of voters don’t feel that way.
Regardless, even if it’s not Harper, Cutch and even Bryant have a much higher claim then Cespedes just due to their time in the league this year.
imo the nl mvp will go to cutch or rizzo
ask yourself this one simple question: would the Dodgers be where they are right now without Grienke?
The MVP award has always (until recent days of fantasy baseball) been influenced by how a player’s team has finished. There are awards for the best player; Player of the Year (usually by Bill James or such), which should not be confused with the MVP award. Intangables are part of the ingredients that are considered for the MVP award. Mathematical formulas can not take this into account. The best player has not always been the MVP, because that is not what the award is all about.
Well, not always. The Cubs were terrible in 59 & 60, but Ernie Banks had two sensational seasons and won MVP both times. Kirk Gibson won the MVP …. and he had a very good season. But there was no way the Dodgers would have made it to the World Series without Orel Hershisher’s incredible season in 1988.
Rollins will come back but in what shape we still don’t know, and Turner hasn’t been the same since his DL stint. Even of that wasn’t the case, Seager has been too good to use as a backup. If he stays anywhere close to as hot as he has been, Seager will start alternately at SS and 3B through the end of the season and into the playoffs.
Gotta play the hot hand. If Seager is getting the job done….he plays IMO, not Rollins or Turner.