The Rockies have made a few small moves this offseason, but they haven’t yet addressed their rotation, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. It’s unclear where the Rockies will go from here, Saunders writes — a deal with the Indians might have made at least a bit of sense, although, via ESPN’s Buster Olney (Insider-only), the Indians don’t appear to see any urgent need to deal Carlos Carrasco or Danny Salazar. A trade with the Rays might be a possibility, but the Rays have already been connected to a number of other teams (including, today, the Cardinals). And as was reported yesterday, the Rockies weren’t able to get Kevin Gausman from the Orioles in return for Carlos Gonzalez. Here’s more from the NL West.
- Giants GM Bobby Evans says his team’s MRI of Johnny Cueto’s elbow “looked great,” Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweets. Cueto had a flexor strain last season, but it appears to be healed. It sounds, then, like the Cueto’s physical exam reassured the Giants that their $130MM commitment to him was the right move.
- The Dodgers’ end of the three-way Todd Frazier trade (in which they received youngsters Frankie Montas, Micah Johnson and Trayce Thompson) added talent to the organization, but their return also initially appeared a bit puzzling given that they presumably plan to compete in 2016. The deal might, however, be part of a broader plan to add talent that they can use to acquire veterans, Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles writes. That could mean they trade for a young starter like Jose Fernandez or Sonny Gray. As Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times recently tweeted, top Dodgers exec Andrew Friedman answered affirmatively when asked if the Frazier deal made him feel better about dealing prospects. “Obviously, we’re having a lot of conversations that involve us potentially trading some prospects in different-type scenarios,” says Friedman. “This wasn’t necessarily directed at that, but it’s connected in the same way every move we make has some connection. Expanding our talent base is helpful on multiple fronts.”
- Dave Cameron of Fangraphs , meanwhile, suggests a package that the Dodgers could use to land Chris Archer of the Rays. Such a deal could conceivably be based around young Dodgers infielder Corey Seager, with the deal also potentially including someone like Rays reliever Jake McGee. Cameron notes that the Dodgers would be reluctant to part with Seager, but, of course, the Rays would be reluctant to part with Archer as well, and the two teams have plenty to offer one another.
The Rockies aren’t going anywhere in that division.
The best thing they could do is start moving players and rebuilding.
The Rockies are never going anywhere unless they can find two or three pitchers who are immune to the effects of pitching on top of a mountain.
That’s why I think they should go after kennedy
Kennedy is definitely not immune to the effect of coors
He’s had good numbers there
He can just throw at batters’ heads, though, and forego pitching altogther.
Jeff Hoffman who they got for tulo should be a future stud.
Just like Drew Pomeranz should have been. There is no should with prospects, only could.
Pomeranz didn’t do good with the rockies. He did great with the a’s
As my avatar should have told you, I only care what he did with the Rockies. The fact that he did better with the A’s only makes me more wary of Hoffman and other pitching prospects.
Until a good pitcher wants to be there they better start being a really good road team.
If you want a good pitcher, improve your school systems!
The Dodgers can stockpile all the prospects they want, but they aren’t landing Fernandez, Gray, or Archer without giving up Seager and a lot more.
Perhaps that stockpile is to help ease the pain of losing Seager?
Considering what Atlanta got for Shelby Miller, can you imagine what the return would be for Sonny Gray?
Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Oakland, and Miami can thank Arizona for jacking the price of pitching in the trade market.
Sonny Gray would cost Urias , Seager + Others
Lol
when the dodgers asked for fernandez , The marlins asked for Urias Seagr and Pederson, It might cost one of the three to get gray + others
Marlins actually asked for those three and 2 more of their top prospects equally all 5 of dodgers top prospects. To get gray prob mlb ready pitcher plus a top prospect depending on which one
Funny
No he wouldn’t. Beane is much more reasonable than that. If he was offered Seager straight up, he’d probably take it. Seeing as Seager has more value than Gray does.
No, he does not, no chance Beane would take that.
Gray is a good pitch but not that good. Not even good enough for seager barely good enough for anyone of the others
Uhhhhhhh, no
Gray is so over rated
Why? Cause he’s a young pitcher with control who has put up ace numbers.
Since Gray is so over rated it would never be fair for the dodgers to trade for him. So just let the A’s keep him and maybe the dodgers can get Don Sutton to come out of retirement and anchor that awesome rotation they have.
That’s the drawback of having top prospects. Every team wants them, and it makes it tougher to get a trade done. When team’s are looking to trade an ace pitcher, for example, they want any given team’s best prospects, regardless of how good the next several prospects are. The Dodgers could put together a package of prospects without including Seager or Urias that would easily be the best prospects on most teams, but that does not matter because they are not the absolute best the Dodgers have. If it were another team offering that given package, a deal would likely be easier to complete.
Exactly. The Dogers won’t give up Seager. So what? Other teams don’t even have anything as valuable as Seager to offer. Go to any other team, ask them to make their best offer for Archer, go back to the Dodgers and LA could easily beat it with some combination of Urias, De Leon, Pederson, Holmes, Verduga etc. Seager will not be involved and he does’t have to be.
I wouldn’t trade Seager for any of those pitchers. He’s just too ridiculously valuable. And I’m not a Dodgers fan.
Exactly.
Urias is a different story. He’s a top 10 prospect in the game, with superstar ceiling and is better than most team’s top prospect. He would be a HUGE get for any team selling an ace. And I would trade him for an ace if the opportunity arose. A top 10 prospect in the game and Urias and two-three other good prospects, which the Dodgers have would be enough to get a stud pitcher.
Urias could be the next kershaw
Yeah, but he’s still not nearly as valuable as Seager.
So true urias has vaule because of his upside but seager has way more vaule because he mlb ready and already proved he can hit in the majors
Noooo. They say he could be the next Fernando valenzuela
He could also be the next Mark Prior. What’s your point?
My point is exactly what I said. People say that’s who he could be the next coming of. If you have problem talk to the the guy above me saying he could be the next Kershaw or talk to people comparing him to fernando.
Plenty of players have hit in the majors for there first like 30 games
Won’t stop people from coming up some ridiculous combo to trade for him.
Dodgers should just keep their prospects. JDL, Cotton, Montas, and Urias are nearly major league ready either way. 1 from that group should turn into at least a component #2 behind Kershaw in the near future.
I know Urias reached AAA last year, but I still don’t see a 19 year old who hasn’t thrown more than 88 innings in a season yet making it to the bigs for a couple years. Maybe as a late season call-up to pitch out of the pen or something during the pennant race. But I don’t see him being near major-league ready as a SP yet.
That because he came into the league at the age of 16. They don’t want to over work him and blow at his arm. His innings will go up I bet starting this year. Plus he already in the higher levels in the minors so he can be to far from being called up
He won’t get called up until sept call up, and don’t see him pitching at all prob just some simulated games only.
One of the few comps on appearing in MLB that young is none other than Clayton Kershaw. Those who remember know he was far from a finished product at that point. As much as I would like the Dodgers to compete this year, I’d rather see them finish third than give up Seager for anyone, let alone Seager and Urias.
The price of pitching is so high the Dodgers should look to someone like James Shield. rather than Fernandez, Gray or Archer. Taking on payroll lessens the quality and quantity of prospects needed to do a deal — maybe get Shields for a deal based around Holmes, Verdugo and/or Chris Anderson?. They could keep Seager, De Leon and Urias and still have the makings of a strong rotation, especially if Ryu and McCarthy contribute.
Rotation: Kershaw, Shield (or equivalent #2), Ryu, Anderson and Wood, with McCarthy, Montas, Urias, De Leon, Frias, Bolsinger, and Lee. potentially contributing throughout the year. Then by the time Shields contract is over (three years) Urias, De Leon and maybe even Montas are entering their prime.
McCarthy wont matter for the dodgers since he out till mid season. Dodgers have to rely on guys like Anderson, ryu and woods.
McCarthy could matter very much in the second half and playoffs if he comes back strong.
McCarthy was one of the more bizarre signings in baseball last year. FOUR YEAR the dodgers gave for a guy who has lost more games than he’s won, an ERA over 4….and has been injured often. But….he got hot at the right time with the Yanks. If he comes back the second half and pitches well, fine. But you can’t seriously count on him.
Yeah the mccarthy signing had me scratching my head instantly. It wasn’t like the Anderson signing where they gave an injury prone pitcher 1 year to prove himself. I’ve not been impressed with the “smartest front office in baseball.”
That’s an awful lot to give up for potentially 1 year of Shields. He has an opt-out at the end of the year.
The odds of Shields opting out is extremely slim if he is traded to the Dodgers, he and his amily love socal
Wasn’t aware of the opt-out. That could lower the price.
Took much for shields
Trading seager for a SP would only be fixing a hole while creating a hole. Trading from their young OF depth (pederson or puig) and their prospect pitching depth (de leon, urias, montas, etc…) makes a lot more sense to me. But what do I know…I just watch baseball. I don’t “analyze” it with my computer.
Well dodgers do think the same. When Lee was our top dog they wouldnt trade him, they wouldnt even do a hamels trade lasr season. So unless it a mlb ready good young talent. I don’t see the dodgers trading guys like urias or pederson
If they trade either Pederson or puig that creates a small hole in the of since they don’t really have anyone good enough to replace them.
That’s true…but they have the $$$$ to get upton or cespedes if they do trade one of them for pitching. I’ll be honest…I’d include puig in a deal for pitching to sign cespedes. Joc, on the other hand, would be harder to replace if only because he’s such a good cf’er.
Yes they have tons of cash, but they have always said they want to lower it and cespedes would prob cost 150+. Besides why trade a cheap puig for another 100 million dollar outfielder when they are still trying to get rid of the 2 they have. They want cheap young talent and puig is cheap young talent. Joc they been waiting for him to come up for 2 yrs he just need to pick a batting stance and stick with it and stop changing it.
I agree with you on that but initially I was referring to all the talk about them trading seager for archer or one of these other guys. Makes no sense to trade seager when they have an abundance of of’s and prospect pitching depth. Since we (yes I’m a Dodgers fan) missed out on all the top sp’s in FA I’d rather them just wait it out for the right trade and not panic and do something hasty (like trade away a potential star ss). I don’t want them to give away puig either (especially since we can’t maximize his value coming off a down year) but if someone’s gotta go I think he’d be the easiest to replace
Everyone says dodgers need to trade seager to get talent. All that does it make a hole at ss. Would be smart to do that. If dodgers want to do a trade they have other talent they can use in a trade
First rule: Don’t trade Seager.
“Dave Cameron suggests a package that the Dodgers could use to land Chris Archer of the Rays. Such a deal could conceivably be based around young Dodgers infielder Corey Seager..”
Well, we can all stop listening to what Dave Cameron says. The Dodgers would never consider including Seager in a Fernandez deal, what makes him think they’d do so in one for Archer? Seager is virtually untouchable.
The Dodgers are not trading Seager for a pitcher, period. Young shortstops who can hit are far more rare than pitchers. They have nobody on the team or in the minors who can effectively replace what they expect Seager to contribute next year and for years to come. There is not a free agent available who can effectively replace Seager either. While it is clear that Seager is a very attractive player for other teams, they need to get a grip. Seager is not going anywhere unless it is for an all star everyday player that fills a Dodger need.
Archer was a 5+ fWAR pitcher last year and is 27, he’s easily worth Seager plus.
The day archer wins at least 3 cy young, 1 MVP, a gold glove, and strike out 300 you can say he is worth giving up their starting shortstop
So Archer needs to win all of those awards, but Seager only needs to be the starting SS for 30 games? Makes perfect sense I’m sure, but most people would see that as an unfair expectation.
people say Jose Fernandez has the ability to win all those and he is prob worth seager plus more. Why not expect from archer when some say he is worth the same.
That makes absolutely no sense.
Seager is not going for not even for an all-star player. He is as untouchable as any player can get
Name the untouchable top prospect SS the dodgers once had. Hint 2 time baseball america over all #1 prospect in all of baseball? Bet you can’t name him…Can you guess his name? Jose Offerman that is how some top prospects fall.
Yeah and brien taylor broke his hand in a bar fight, todd van poppel was a bust, and matt anderson can’t throw an octopus. None of those guys not living up to their hype have anything to do with seager.
Yes yes the same old talk…just because he’s a top prospect can go bust some don’t live up to the hype blah blah blah. Did you say something similar when Chris Bryant was called up?
I wouldn’t trade Gray or Fernandez, for Seager straight up. Seager will be moving to 3b because of his defense. He should hit but you never know Brandon Wood 10 years ago put up the same numbers but couldn’t hit the breaking ball.
I have seen any number of “can’t miss” prospects over the years who do miss. Jake Gibbs, Mike Epstein, Clint Hurdle come to mind. With others, it takes a few years. Sandy Koufax took 5-6 years to develop “the left arm of god”. Even today, look at Nelson Cruz….a lot of potential but it took him until the age of 28 before he finally understood how to succeed. He was good with Texas several years and the last two years, has been a beast. MLB is about adjustment, too. Joey Gallo was awesome the first two weeks he came up this past year until the book came out that Gallo couldn’t hit breaking pitches and he hit under .200 the rest of the way. Hopefully, he’s been working on that this off season. Otherwise, he’ll become another Dave Hostetler.
“Can’t miss prospect” is an oxymoron. Yet every successful player was a prospect for a time, and some will take far longer than others to realize their potential, at whatever level that turns out to be. No amount of examples of talented athletes who never made the grade will ever resolve this apparent contradiction, assuming it is one. The truth is, it’s a lottery. The best any team can hope to do is improve their odds of picking winners.
Got to agree with a lot of the comments about Seager above.
This isn’t the same as when he was a blue-chipper at AAA – now, he’s the Dodgers starting Shortstop. He is not going to get moved if it’s going to create a massive hole at a key position.
The Dodgers are not going to create a hole to fix a hole.
Agreed..Seager is as entrenched on the Dodgers as Bryant is on the Cubs.Your not prying any one of them two away unless you bring up the name Trout..No pitcher is going to do it.Urias could be dealt with a piece because your upgrading a hole you need as long as the pitcher is cost controlled for a few years.