The Cubs needn’t be in a rush to extend ace Jake Arrieta, opines ESPN’s David Schoenfield. Arrieta’s camp is said to be seeking a seven-year deal, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, while the pitcher himself mentioned hoping to remain in Chicago for six or seven seasons. Though Arrieta’s 2015 results stack up with any pitcher in the game, Schoenfield notes that the righty hasn’t first proven himself capable of delivering consecutive 200-inning, 30-start seasons — unlike other pitchers to command seven-year deals. Arrieta will hit free agency at the age of 32, which makes him older than a typical free agent. However, he’s also thrown fewer innings in the Majors and minors combined than his peers that have inked seven-year deals by a fairly wide margin. Schoenfield also points out that president Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer seem to prefer to build around position players, as evidenced by their young core. Of course, the duo shelled out $155MM for Jon Lester just over a year ago, so it’s not as if the Cubs’ top decision-makers are entirely averse to long-term deals for pitchers.
Here’s more from the game’s Central divisions…
- Despite the fact that the Cardinals will be without Jhonny Peralta for what looks to be a span of two to three months, the team has yet to call other clubs on potentially available shortstops, reports ESPN’s Jayson Stark, as it awaits a final decision on Peralta’s recovery. One exec told Stark that he feels Braves shortstop Erick Aybar “has to be at the top of their list,” adding that “of the guys out there, he’s far and away the best player.” The Braves have shown a willingness to trade virtually anyone other than Freddie Freeman, so it would stand to reason that Aybar, a free agent at season’s end, could be had despite sitting atop Atlanta’s depth chart at shortstop. I took a look at a number of speculative shortstop options for the Redbirds shortly after Peralta’s injury.
- Brewers second baseman Scooter Gennett was shut down recently due to persistent pain in his right (throwing) shoulder, but an MRI performed today revealed nothing more than mild tendinitis, reports Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Knowing that there’s no structural damage, the Brewers will ease Gennett back into action, starting with drills, per manager Craig Counsell. Counsell did note that Gennett would essentially be starting “from the beginning,” though he made no mention of the second baseman’s readiness for Opening Day being jeopardized.
- Indians right-hander Tommy Hunter may open the season on the disabled list due to lingering effects from offseason hernia surgery, but that issue is not what caused a two-year deal with Hunter and the Yankees to fall through, reports MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (on Twitter). The Yankees reportedly had an agreement in the $11.5MM to $12MM range with Hunter disintegrate because of concerns over his physical, but the problem was not related to Hunter’s surgery nor his previous groin injuries, per Bastian. Whatever gave the Yankees pause didn’t curb the Indians’ interest, says Bastian, although considering the fact that the Yankees were initially going to offer a guarantee six times greater than the one Hunter received from Cleveland, it’s probably not surprising that they were a bit stingier with their medical evaluation.
- News of the Indians’ signing of Will Venable to a minor league deal broke within hours of Abraham Almonte’s 80-game suspension for a failed PED test, but president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told Cliff Floyd and Casey Stern of MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM that his club had been in negotiations with Venable for awhile before they learned of Almonte’s suspension anyway (audio link). “Thankfully, at that point, in Almonte’s case, we had been engaged with a number of free agents, including Will Venable, and were able to bring that to conclusion, coincidentally about the same time, but that actually had been something we were working on for quite awhile,” said Antonetti.
Peralta needs to be out past the trade deadline for the Cardinals to not give the time to Diaz and Garcia
Peralta has to be out past the deadline for the cardinals to not give that time to Diaz and Garcia and Gyroko
Totally agree. I would put them Gyroko, Garcia, Diaz in that order for one reason. Diaz and Garcia won’t produce offensively like Peralta has. Gyroko has proven power, and I think he’s the best fit at short while Peralta is out.
cardinals don’t have freeman on roster to trade.
The braves are willing to trade seemingly any player, not the cards
I don’t think the Cardinals would give the Braves the asking price they desire for Aybar, nor should they. Peralta for the time being is out 2-3 months, so no real need to trade prospects for a rental SS.
Take frediot also and send me a Coke
You can’t win the pennant in April and May, but you can sure lose it. This decision isn’t as “Cut and Dry” as it might seem.
I think Carson Kelly and Tim Cooney for Erick Aybar and Jason Grilli would be a good trade for both sides. Cards get a solid vet and a reliable late inning guy and Braves get an MLB ready pitcher and add catching depth with a guy who’s been compared to Mike Matheny.
Peralta is under contract for next season and only expected to be out a few months, I really don’t understand why any cards fan would want the team to trade any prospects or assets to basically rent a guy for 2-3 months. Just sign a AAAA type guy still looking for a deal or a well-past-his-prime vet like everth Cabrera or Rafael furcal.
Side note: biggest issue about Peralta injury isn’t who’s going to play short but what is this lineup going to look like. Holliday can’t be counted on to play 145+ games a year anymore, Piscotty and Grichuk still have small sample size concerns, and Wong, gyorko, Moss, and Adams are all quality bench players faking it as starters (Wong might be legit but not sold on him just quite yet). Aside from Carpenter, Peralta seemed to be the only consistently productive bat you could pencil in the lineup every day IMO.
Agreed. Whatever happened to Dean Anna? He would be a perfect fill in for Peralta and might actually turn into a solid player if given every day at bats for a couple of months. From what I remember he raked in AAA with the Padres before he went to the Yankees and started bouncing around. I would really like to see him get a legit shot.
Ramon Santiago will provide solid defense and a similar bat to Aybar.
No he wouldn’t. Santiago is 7 years older than Aybar, and has never produced anything close to the offensive output Aybar has.
No sense for the Cards to trade for an Aybar type player since Peralta won’t be out that long…what would they do w/ Aybar when he comes back?
Go get gennet I mean yeah he’s a second basemen but is similar to gyroko in the sense he can hit and plays all of the infield and some outfield if he doesn’t cost too much why not he’s always found a way to hit the cards well why not add to the bench in a move like this look at how cardinal killers have done when they have come to stl (i.e. Beltran, Berkman,furcal to name a few) the best part is he’s still young and isn’t a major cog in the Brewers lineup so he shouldn’t cost an extreme amount go ahead and do it I don’t see it backfiring for us move him to the bench for relief of the infield to compliment gyroko and take even more pressure and wear and tear off of holiday,peralta,Marp ,Wong, and Adams /moss
Should we worry about having the 2nd worst record in spring training?