This week in baseball blogs:
- Inside the ’Zona reviews this week’s big trade between the Diamondbacks and Mariners.
- Outfield Fly Rule is bullish on the Braves’ signing of utilityman Sean Rodriguez.
- Baseball Docs names three teams that could trade for Tigers right fielder J.D. Martinez.
- Now On Deck (click for links) predicts a slew of free agents’ fates.
- BP Toronto argues for and against keeping Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna in the bullpen.
- Outside Pitch MLB wouldn’t mind seeing Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen patrolling left as a member of the Giants.
- Chin Music Baseball shows that the best might still be ahead for the majors’ top player, Angels center fielder Mike Trout.
- Pinstriped Prospects interviews Yankees left-hander Stephen Tarpley.
- NYRDCAST talks with Cardinals minor league right-hander Robby Rowland.
- The 3rd Man In chats with MLB.com prospect guru Jim Callis about Tim Tebow, the 2017 draft class, the Brewers farm system and the proposed international draft.
- The Point of Pittsburgh explains that the Pirates can take valuable lessons from the Royals.
- Climbing Tal’s Hill examines what signing first baseman/designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion would mean for the Astros.
- Jays From the Couch doesn’t see first baseman/DH Mike Napoli as a fit for Toronto.
- Off The Bench Baseball regards the Giants and Phillies as the most logical landing spots for free agent outfielder Michael Saunders.
- AngelsWin offers the second half of its offseason primer for the Halos.
- MLB Reports opines that the Mariners should attempt to acquire Brewers first baseman Chris Carter.
- MLB451 lists teams that might have interest in trading for Rangers infielder/outfielder Jurickson Profar.
- Pirates Breakdown makes a case for Pittsburgh to bring back right-hander Edinson Volquez.
- Jays Journal breaks down several free agent first basemen/DHs who could interest Toronto.
- Call To The Pen (links here) studies what the Phillies might do with the fifth spot in both their lineup and rotation.
- Yanks Go Yard wants the Yankees to keep left fielder Brett Gardner.
- The Runner Sports profiles Athletics shortstop prospect Franklin Barreto.
- Everything Bluebirds views shortstop Troy Tulowitzki as one of the Blue Jays’ most important players entering 2017.
- That Ball’s Outta Here examines potential Rule 5 offensive targets for the Phillies.
- Think Blue Planning Committee asks where Dodgers utilityman Rob Segedin fits on next year’s roster.
- The Runner Sports suggests the Astros trade outfielder Nori Aoki in the wake of the Josh Reddick signing.
- Bronx Bomber Blogger looks into whether the Yankees should have protected left-hander Ryan Webb from the Rule 5 draft.
- Sports Talk Philly wonders why Charlie Manuel didn’t get another chance to manage after his tenure with the Phillies ended in 2013.
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In light of recent discussions, maybe we should lighten the mood by making a top 10 list of the worst all time discussions we’ve ever had. I’d like to submit any comment ever posted by bigpapi4ever, the Sandoval laziness debate, and the good old Steve Clevenger thread. Anyone else?
Oh damn, are there people taking minutes on all these silly arguments between 14 year old trolls and adults? Wow, imagine donating brain space to that info….what’s it like?
What’s your issue? I’m making light of your idiotic remarks!
Sorry. That was low. But seriously, I’m trying to lighten the mood.
Or you could stop bringing it up on every thread and contribute something about baseball.
Yup you’re right. Sorry. I’m being way over the top. My bad guys.
There was that Braves fan who always posted those insane 5-team, 30-player trade scenarios always centered around Julio Teheran, who he compared to Christy Mathewson. I have to admit, those were entertaining as hell, and he put extraordinary amounts of time into those posts, making lists and such.
A lot better than the big Papi fan
Yup that guy was great…
Really enjoyed the braves article it’s a very interesting and hopeful article excited for the off-season to see what other presents the FO has for us
Although I focused more on the Braves-related articles, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the AngelsWin article. It’s certainly a read for everyone, Angels fans and otherwise.
Agreed. Thanks for the recommendation
Dear lord, acquiring Carter would be such a monster mistake. Valencia/vogelbach already form a natural platoon, and Cruz already has DH on lockdown. Carter has zero spot on this team.
That blog post about the Mariners was so poorly put together and illogical.
Outfield fly rule is a terrible Braves site. Talkingchop.com or tomahawktake.com are way better
Yes I highly agree with you
But as far as blog names go it takes home the award
Outfield Fly Rule has far fewer articles and contributors than both Talkingchop.com or Tomahawktake.com. BOTH of those last two are basically larger communities of bloggers. I’m not sure of your definition of ‘way better’ because there are certainly some stinker articles on both talkingchop and tomahawktake, but if you mean amount of content then I can agree based on sheer numbers of articles. However from the several articles I read on Outfield Fly Rule they are well written articles by a lesser number of contributors. Perhaps they haven’t been around as long (because I certainly found out about the other two well before I found out about Outfield Fly Rule.
Your certainly entitled to your opinion, but I think that the articles I read on Outfield Fly Rule has some very well written articles that go in depth and were numbers driven. While talkingchop and tomahawktake certainly have more content, I would not dismiss outfield fly rule for a good read.
Why is Outfield Fly Rule a terrible site?
They don’t write as much stuff as Tomahawk Take or Talking Chop, but like southi mentioned, they don’t have as many writers. And they do the news and daily type stuff in their Facebook group. And two of their writers also write for Tomahawk Take.
I would like to see them write more. Their articles always seem well thought out, even if I disagree with something it may say. And they don’t do clickbait stuff. I think that’s one reason they don’t write as often, according to the comments in the Facebook group.
A lot of people I follow on Twitter have been talking up Outfield Fly Rule recently. I think they are just a smaller site, but they do good work.
JMHO.
Pirates fans: What might it take to have McCutchen patrolling LF in AT&T next year?
Not saying this is a fair value deal, but let me toss out a concept….
A big money team like SF could trade, say, Jeff Samardjiza and pay 90% of his contract to a poor team like the Pirates for a superior player (assuming you grade them that way).
The Dodgers could sign Ivan Nova to a 3 year $45 million deal and then trade him and $30 million to the Pirates for McCutchen.
The MLB doesn’t allow sign-and-trade deals. If the Dodgers sign Nova they can’t trade him until June of 2017.
Interesting concept considering we don’t see much of this is baseball.
No one would be that brazen to attempt a sign and trade unless they were 100% guaranteed the deal would be approved by the MLB. On top of that the Dodgers eating salary comes out to 25 mill. Which means beyond just eating 25 mill, you’d have to add an elite prospect onto that, for a club trying to get under the threshold. Why wouldn’t they just go sign Desmond? I mean it would save you 10M a year which over the course of the contract would save money epically at 50% tax over the cap. Plus he fits their RH needs at LF/2b.
In terms of the Giants same thing just go sign Cespedes or Fowler. You can always get big points
Add on to that his terrible season. That is just a disaster of a ticking time bomb waiting to happen.
Just curious. What is the most money that MLB has allowed in a trade? I am doubtful that 90% would be allowed.
None of that matters. If a team signs a free agent to a contract that player can’t be traded until June of the next season. That’s the rule.
The article about Saunders going to SF is just ridiculous. The writer suggests that SF would get a 20 home run guy if they signed him. He hit 24 HRs while playing in the AL east where they play a bunch of games in home run friendly ball parks while surrounded by good hitters who pitchers would throw around so they could pitch to him instead. No way he hits even 15 home runs if he played at AT
Yeah, Saunders is a bust waiting to happen.
Agree completely. If Saunders is on their radar, just save the cash and roll the dice with Williamson. Saunders in SF has “Aaron Rowand” written all over him.
As a Gamecock fan, I hope the Braves consider taking Ryan Webb in the rule 5 draft. Very talented and projectable lefty reliever for a team that only has one lefty.
We have more than 1 LHRP. Pack is coming back from injury, Krol had a really good season and I am predicting Minter to be up very soon.
ahhh forgot about Paco. And I’m ready to see Minter soon as well. I guess it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to see Minter in the bullpen early next year
Matt Wieters to Miami makes no sense at all. Just because he is familiar with one pitcher?? I don’t see it, I guess if that happens, they can trade Realmuto for some pitching.
That signing was predicted in the Now On Deck link.
This deal would be awful for the Marlins. They have one of the better catchers in the game. They need to focus on pitching. If you can’t build a good starting five, beef up that bullpen. That’s how the Royals won it all in 15.
I thought that too. Realmuto’s easily the superior catcher, why give money to wieters to be the backup
They might as well call this the Yankees Trade Rumors.
MLBTR should have higher standards for referencing and linking to some of these awful blogs.
Yeah, the article about Carter to the Mariners is awful. Poor grammar, colorful text, “I think…”. It is a must skip.
I think the best part of that article is when he claims that with the Segura trade, Seattle is now the favorite to win the division over Houston.
What a joke. As of 11/2, World Series odds for Houston were 12/1 while they were 25/1 for Seattle (he’s actually linked to these odds in his blog before, too!). In the meantime, Houston added Brian McCann, Charlie Morton, and Josh Reddick. Seattle added Jean Segura while losing Taijuan Walker and Ketel Marte. And somehow the Mariners now have better odds?
Both teams had near identical records in 2016. But the Astros did it with players who didn’t play all season due to injury or late season promotions (Bregman, Gurriel, Castro, Musgrove, McCullers, Gustave), underperforming players (Keuchel, Giles, Sipp, maybe even Correa), and prospects who could emerge and become impact players this season (Reed, Moran, P. Tucker, Hernandez, Paulino, Fischer).
The Mariners did it with the core of their roster all maintaining health and producing as expected or better. And I’d say their only potential impact additions from the farm next season are O’Neill and Vogelbach. Not to mention that their roster is just getting older – Cruz is 36, Aoki is 35, Iwakuma, Smith, and Cano are 34, Hernandez is 31, and Miley is 30 next season.
I’d even put the Rangers as significant favorites above the Mariners. They have some guys on the market this year, but they finished nine games better than the M’s last season. Even assuming nobody resigns, the only real losses are Desmond (2.7 WAR) and Lewis (2.4 WAR). The other seven – Beltran (0.3), Moreland (0.7), Tolleson (-1.3), Lohse (-0.5), Holland (0.8), Harrell (0.0), and Gomez (0.9) – posted a grand total of 0.9 combined WAR for Texas last season.
ANybody think Alex Avila is next on the Braves catcher list ????? And if so how much/long is it gonna take to get him signed ????
He’s a solid defensive C so I could see that. Lefty half of a platoon with Flowers.
Avila could be an option, but I think his framing and defense has slipped some…at least his framing, anyway. He’s prone to concussions, too. Man’s gonna scramble his eggs before it’s over.
FYI, it’s Tyler Webb, not Ryan. Ryan Webb, is the sinker ball pitcher that spent the 2016 season with the Rays. I believe the reason the Yankees didn’t protect him in the rule 5 draft, was because there interested in a lefty with tons of experience. Examples, Cecil, Dunn, Howell, and Logan. They want someone who can combine with Layne, but could get both lefties and righties out. Basically fill the role Justin Wilson did in 15.
haha I thought something was off with that name…
Tyler Webb is the Yankees minor leaguer.
Only minor leaguers are exposed to the rule 5 draft