FanRag’s Jon Heyman kicks off his weekly notes column by recapping seven moves that turned the Cubs from cellar-dwellers into contenders, recalling the trades that netted the team Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks and Addison Russell as well as the Rule 5 selection of Hector Rondon. Here are some highlights from his roundup of notes on all 30 big league clubs…
- Brian Snitker, Terry Pendleton and Bo Porter are the Braves’ primary internal candidates to fill the managerial vacancy, while Heyman lists some potential outside candidates as Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo, former Padres manager Bud Black, former Twins manager Rob Gardenhire and Royals bench coach/former Mariners skipper Don Wakamatsu.
- The Astros will seek rotation help this offseason even if Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers get back up to full strength from their respective shoulder and elbow issues. With Doug Fister hitting the open market and the Astros receiving lackluster production from Collin McHugh and Mike Fiers, that’s not exactly a surprise.
- Both Tim Lincecum and Jered Weaver are determined to return in 2017, according to Heyman. He writes that Lincecum feels that he focused so much on strengthening his surgically repaired hip that he neglected to strengthen his arm enough, though a return to prominence for Lincecum always seemed like a fairly noted long shot after four down seasons and a significant surgical procedure.
- The Yankees will make a run at re-signing Aroldis Chapman as a free agent this winter, Heyman writes, at least in part due to Dellin Betances’ recent struggles. While Betances’ slump has been magnified by the fact that it’s taken place in late September, he was excellent for the bulk of the time following the Yankees’ deadline sale, pitching to a 0.57 ERA in his first 15 2/3 innings following the deadline and allowing only one run in August. If the motivation to re-sign Chapman is simply to once again create an extraordinarily deep back of the bullpen, that certainly makes sense, but pursuing him in light of three poor September outings from Betances seems rather reactionary when looking at Betances’ body of work as a whole.
- Second-half bullpen struggles have the Giants kicking themselves for not making a stronger push for Mark Melancon, Heyman reports. The Giants felt their offer was comparable to that of the Nationals, but Pittsburgh ultimately traded Melancon to D.C. in exchange for left-hander Felipe Rivero and minor league lefty Taylor Hearn. While the Giants made a run at Andrew Miller, as well, the Yankees asked for Joe Panik in exchange, which the Giants understandably found to be too steep an ask. GM Bobby Evans lamented not adding another established reliever to Heyman, and it seems likely that they’ll be in the mix for the top bullpen options this winter (Chapman, Kenley Jansen, Melancon).
- Extension talks between the Rangers and Rougned Odor were put on hold earlier this season, as the two sides couldn’t get on the same page. Odor’s camp was seeking a deal larger than Gregory Polanco’s five-year, $35MM pact with the Pirates, and while the Rangers wanted two club options tacked onto their top offer, Odor’s reps were only willing to concede one option year. That, of course, doesn’t rule out a deal being reached further down the line, but Odor’s 31-homer season as a 22-year-old second baseman figures to give his side plenty of leverage in talks, even if that power comes with an OBP that’s barely scraping the .300 mark.
Gardenhire to the braves? Not sure I like that. Snitker, Pendleton, or Black would be best.
I fear what starting pitcher the Astros will chase in the offseason and how much he’ll cost by trade or free agency. Free agency is a barren wasteland. It sucks but it might be time to send a king’s ransom to another team via trade for a starting pitcher. Maybe Teheran or one of the Rays starters?
With the way Atlanta’s offense has been performing the second half, I would assume that Teheran probably will not be traded. Not even for a king’s ransom.
i like snitker to stay and get the full time gig. if not, I’d like to see Lovullo come from boston. he works with young guys well.
I kinda got the impression when Lovullo signed his extension last year it came with a quiet agreement that if Farrell struggles then Lovullo would get the job handed to him. With the Red Sox looking like they’ll make the playoffs my guess is the Sox won’t stand in his way if any team asks to interview him. I think he really deserves a shot at being the skipper of his own team.
Yuuuuuup or terry no bud black
I think the Braves need to give Snitker a shot an improved pitching staff and see what happens. He and the offense has done well, specifically the last two months (25-23, 5.2 runs per game), but the pitching is continually a let down beyond Teheran and (lately) Matt Wisler. Folty is great when he’s on his game, but he’s far too inconsistent at this stage and they need somebody to step up in the 3-4-5 spots in the rotation (either from within or outside of the organization). The bullpen needs a lot of help too. If they can address the pitching even a little bit this offseason, they could easily be expected to contend for a Wild Card next.
Betances has a career 3.51ERA in Sept. and a 5.40ERA in the playoffs. Every year he is rode into the ground. He is not a reliever who can be counted on in the playoffs.
His struggles all stem from the Yankees not having a 200 inning pitcher since after his Sept call up.
Except if you discount this September and just say Betances hit a rough patch then his ERA in September would be 2.41. And bringing up his playoff stats are kind of pointless considering he pitched for exactly 5 outs, not really statistically significant. I’d say there aren’t enough facts to make such generalizations.
Knowing how much of a troll you are, I’m surprised you haven’t said something like Betances will be the first ever unanimous HOFer. After all you did call Cessa and Green future aces. But we know you just troll and don’t mean it.
That 5.40 playoff ERA is from ONE GAME (1.2 innings and 1 run allowed). I guess if you were an Angels fan or if Trout was on your team, then you can’t count on Mike Trout with his .083 BA in the playoffs
I know Jonathan holder he’s gonna be good I’m telling you now
For the yanks
Heyman’s conversation about Weiters and the discrepancy in salaries that he is hearing from front office types and agents is interesting:
The free agent call made in this space last week for Wieters to get $30 million over three years as a free agent was apparently quite controversial, with some saying it was way too low for a catcher with his resume (three All Star teams, 2 Gold Gloves, 4 times 15-60 in home runs, RBI). To see what others thought, I asked two top management people and two agents (not his own). The two agents said they thought he’d get $70-80 million, based on the deals for Brian McCann and Russell Martin and the lack of good catchers in MLB, more than double what I guessed. However, the two management people thought I was actually a little high, with one guessing as low as $8 million for one year. This should be an interesting one
Thanks for posting this, I didn’t see it. In conjuncture with Washington offering Ramos 3/30 there may end up being a big discrepancy when it comes to agents and teams. The first of the three will surely set the tone.
Why was Joe Panik too steep of a price to ask for Miller? Panik is OK, and he’s not close to being untouchable.
Agreed. I’m also not sure where the Yankees would put him since they have Castro at 2B (unless he was in the rumor too).
Panik has a bad back so he is value is higher than it should. Another factor is the giants traded Duffy for Moore so they had no options at 2b. Sabean did a very poor job in not trading for bullpen pieces which has come back to haunt them.
Sabean isn’t the GM anymore: it’s Bobby Evans. Bobby Evans failed to land a closer. The Will Smith acquisition was good, although they did overpay for him.
The Giants do have a viable 2B option in Kelby Tomlinson, but he’s had his own injury issues this season. I still think Panik has more upside at the plate than Matt Duffy.
Do you think they could move all of Castro’s remaining contract if they did find a replacement?
If it isn’t Snitker, then I want Bo Porter
Yep
Where is trading for then re-signing fowler on the cheap?
It makes sense for the Yankees to go after Chapman as their primary target for bullpen help. He pitched well in NY and he indicated that he enjoyed his time on the Yankees. Plus, there is no compensation tied to signing him. But if the Cubs win the WS I think that he stays in Chicago. The Cubs could be something special for the next few years.
He’ll sign with whoever offers him the most money, regardless of what the Cubs do next month.
Funny Bud Black should be mentioned today. This was the day in ’07 where he went out on the field to restrain Milton Bradley, who tore his acl while being restrained by Black.
Milton Bradley was always…interesting.
Luhnow gave away all his controllable starters ! So now have to pay up! Or sit on hands like he did at deadline, instead of adding he dealt another starter in Feldman
He’s over his head
Why do you have so much hate for luhnow? He did a fantastic job with St.Louis, and more recently, he’s turned the Houston franchise completely around. They’re one of the youngest teams in the MLB, and looking to make playoffs in back to back seasons. They gave up VV and Feldman over the last two years but also got Giles in return, I wouldn’t say that means he’s given away all of his controllable starters…
Cosart, Buchanan, trapeano, Lyles, folty, hader, houser, mengden, etc
Not to mention Jd Martinez
Getting a lot of credit that should be going ed wades way / Great sign w sipp too btw
I believe Larussa and comp had more to do w cards then luhnow
I don’t hate him just think he’s smoking mirrors and gets more credit then warranted
Almost all those guys you listed are completely irrelevent depth guys except for hader and maybe tropeano. All GMs make trades like that, and as for Martinez, all GMs make bad decisions eventually
Thanks for insight there
Just think even when he messed up his first hire as manager, messed up several trades (Gomez ?) messed up back to back 1/1 picks, and all media ever do is write good things
Think it’s smoke and mirrors
JD Martinez was given every chance in the world. It’s not Houston’s fault he got better later.
As to that long list of traded prospects: how many of them were impact players this year or will be next year?
Lunhow has made some bad trades, but he’s overall an excellent GM, and I’m thrilled he’s running my team.
His algorithms run team
How many starters are impact starters? …..this year 0
I think they should make a strong offer yo Lovullo,if he passes I’d go for Porter,then Snitker….I think some fresh voice and approach is what the team needs.
I’m not sure what I want the Braves to do at manager. I’ve been mostly happy (or at least not angry) with Snitker’s work other than some absolutely ridiculous bullpen usage early on. But I’m hesitant to see the Braves continue to not branch out and instead hire people from within after that person’s superior couldn’t hack it. It’s not that it never works, but I do think there’s something to the idea that it might not be very likely that the best candidate for the job was with you all along and you just never realized it.