The Indians need outfield help, particularly after Michael Brantley’s recent shoulder surgery, but they don’t appear likely to trade Carlos Santana or any of their top starting pitchers (Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar or Trevor Bauer) to get it, Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com writes. They likely won’t pursue top free agents like Yoenis Cespedes or Alex Gordon, either. Instead, they could sign a middle-tier outfielder like Gerardo Parra, Austin Jackson, Steve Pearce or Nori Aoki, and even then, they’ll probably wait until December or January when the market is a bit clearer. Santana, meanwhile, is likely to play first base or DH, with the Indians looking for someone else to take the other spot. The Indians are also likely to give Giovanny Urshela, whose defense they like, more opportunities at third base. They could, however, have someone platoon with him. Here’s more from the Central divisions.
- The Tigers have interest in free agent starter Yovani Gallardo, Buster Olney of ESPN tweets. The Tigers don’t seem likely to be serious bidders for top starting pitchers, but they could bid for players in Gallardo’s tier as they attempt to fill in their rotation around Justin Verlander, Anibal Sanchez and Daniel Norris.
- It’s unclear whether veteran starter Mark Buehrle will retire, but if he doesn’t, he’s likely to pitch for the Cardinals, Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun writes. The Cardinals seem likely to look for starting pitching in the wake of Lance Lynn’s injury, although it’s unclear whether they would have interest in Buehrle specifically. Buehrle was born and raised in St. Charles, Missouri, about a half hour from St. Louis.
- The Pirates will have to consider adding a number of prospects to their roster next week to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5 Draft, writes MLB.com’s Adam Berry. Top prospects Tyler Glasnow, Josh Bell and Harold Ramirez will likely be easy decisions, in my opinion, and pitcher Clay Holmes and infielder (and Pirates minor league player of the year) Max Moroff will likely receive consideration as well.
I think Buehrle and Cardinals are a perfect fit.
Me too. I hate them both.
Lol
I agree and he made 32 starts last year with 4 complete games that’s more than the cardinals team had
Ive been saying Buehrle would be a nice fit and a quick fix for the Cardinals this year but it sounds like Mo might actually spend some money this offseason. Please dear God do not resign Heyward for what he is demanding. They dont need to spend 160-200 million on a right fielding defensive player. I would go with a Zimmerman and Chris Davis. Ive also heard that the Cardinals have checked in on Freedy Freeman. Dont know how I feel about that though.
I’m not sure if they’ve checked in on Freddie. I read the article he was mentioned in and the writer was basically saying that if Freddie is moved, these are the clubs I think would be the best fit. Of course, ESPN makes it out to be a headline that implies the Cardinals are interested and in turn all Cardinals fans ran with it (myself included for a little bit).
I read it on ArchCitySports .. I also say the ESPN one you’re talking about.. that was a junk article.
The Tribe are a pitcher development machine. They have a couple of nice kids that finished up AA with over 150 IP, high K/9’s and low whips in Clevinger and Plutko. If they can get a quality OF bat for Bauer, I would do it. Plutko is a college arm and while his K rate isn’t that of Clevinger, he may be more ready to go. Maybe Bauer to the Yankees in a deal for Gardner and some money and what ever pieces it takes to make it even.
Bauer for Marcel Ozuna sounds like a good deal for both teams.
I actually think that could make sense. It’d obviously have to be balanced out, but I like the upside/control of both
I don’t think the tribe would move Bauer for Gardner as the centerpiece. Bauer is cheaper, controlled longer, and has more upside than Gardner.
You know you’re desperate for a headline when you’re saying that Buehrle is likely to play for the Cardinals but its unknown if they have interest in him.
I believe he said Buehrle is likely to retire or pitch for the Cardinals. He has stated several times throughout his career that he would like to pitch for his hometown team. This is no surprise and since he has been an innings eater I don’t see why not if the price is right.
The thing about Buehrle is that he was really, really bad at the end of the year for the Jays. His numbers really tanked, and his fastball velocity declined from the middle of the season on. Now, obviously Buehrle isn’t Clemens, but the decline from 84mph to 81-82mph could indicate some kind of injury that also affected his command. He wasn’t walking guys, but he just didn’t look right, and wasn’t fooling hitters at all. He went from an 84mph finesse pitcher to a 82mph batting practice pitcher and it was hard to watch.
I’ve thought that if the Cards are actually looking at 1st base and want to avoid free agents, a trade with the Brewers could make sense. Adam Lind and maybe Lohse would return as well as part of a trade. Just a thought of what may happen if Mo isn’t going to spend much money.
I disagree that the Tigers aren’t likely to pursue a top pitching option. Last year they had price (20M) and cespedes (10M?). They have some payroll to spend, and I think they would definitely be interested in someone like Zimmermann (who I’d consider as a top option)
They have $45MM to spend to match last year’s payroll. That should be enough to get 2 top players. Zimmerman makes sense. Their is so much supply. I am not sure the demand will match it.
I think that the fact he has a QO attached might slightly reduce the cost to sign him as well
The question for Detroit is do they get 2 SP that cost: (#1)$20-24MM(Zimmerman) + (#2)$8-12MM or get two SP that are in the $15-18MM range. Now that Boston has their big ticket closer, Detroit has one less club after O’Day or Soria.My guess is neither will sign unless they are given the closer role.
Tigers need to make Fulmer or Boyd their closer short term.
They cannot afford getting BOTH top shelf Starters and Relievers.
I could see fulmer joining the bullpen in September when the rosters expand, but I’d really like him to stay in the minors and get as much experience as a starter as possible before than
Why would you do that to Fulmer? He has no experience as a reliever and projects to be a big part of the rotation going forward. Leave him in the minors to continue developing as a starter.
Do what St. Louis did… and what worked for Smyly.
I would argue that it didn’t turn out so well for Smyly. He’s not been fantastic by any means. And for every success story, there’s some bad ones(see Feliz/Chamberlin). They were both supposed to be starters originally, converted to relief… Then were never the same.
My vote would be to not focus at the top of the relief market. “Proven Closer” is a myth. I’d rather they look at Bastardo, Kelley, and their ilk. Sign a solid starter(Zimmerman, Iwukuma, Kazmir, or Gallardo).
And I have no clue what they’re gonna do about LF
It didn’t work out well for Feliz, or Joba…
Just two examples off the top of my head.
Buehrle just feels like a nice buy-low, 4/5 in the rotation type of guy that the Cardinals need right now. Wouldn’t surprise me if he has a nice bounce back type of year with STL. He’d be fairly cheap too.
Cleveland has a really excellent trade piece in the 23(in 2016) year old Jose Ramirez, who is a SS by trade who could also play a plus 2B or even 3B and he’s got playing time in LF too. He’s not unseating Kipnis or Lindor, and is way too good already with a high ceiling to be a utility guy. He’s their biggest trade chip IMO, and he alone could bring in a quality regular of any kind be it OF, 1B, whatever they need. He got dinged by an unsustainable .232 BABIP in 2015, so any team could expect his numbers to improve significantly in 2016. Whoever gets him could stick him at 2B or SS or even use him as a Zobrist-type for the next 5 seasons and enjoy the results.
Cleveland has a really excellent trade piece in the 23(in 2016) year old Jose Ramirez, who is a SS by trade who could also play a plus 2B or even 3B and he’s got playing time in LF too. He’s not unseating Kipnis or Lindor, and is way too good already with a high ceiling to be a utility guy. He’s their biggest trade chip IMO, and he alone could bring in a quality regular of any kind be it OF, 1B, whatever they need. He got dinged by an unsustainable .232 BABIP in 2015, so any team could expect his numbers to improve significantly in 2016. Whoever gets him could stick him at 2B or SS or even use him as a Zobrist-type for the next 5 seasons and enjoy the results.
I hope the Tigers get Yovani his era isent that bad and will will go down pitching in Comerica park.And he eats innings witch is what we need.
True and get chen, oday and soria or bastardo and sipp