Some rumblings about major names who may or may not be shopped this offseason…
- Ryan Braun is struggling with the uncertainty of knowing whether the Brewers will trade him this offseason, according to the Associated Press. “Not knowing 100 percent where [I’ll] be playing is hard. It definitely complicates things,” he said. Brewers GM David Stearns, for his part, said he doesn’t have a trade involving Braun in the works. “I know that’s a big story this offseason, but I’m very happy that Ryan is a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. I expect him to be a member of the Milwaukee Brewers going forward,” Stearns said. Of course, the Brewers have already traded a long string of veterans as they’ve rebuilt, and Braun (who currently has 9.129 years of big-league service time) will acquire full no-trade protection after achieving 10-and-5 rights early in the 2017 season. There were also reported talks last summer about a deal that would have sent Braun to the Dodgers.
- Zack Greinke’s massive contract leaves Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen without much payroll space to work with, leaving ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (subscription required) to wonder whether Hazen can convince ownership to deal Greinke. Despite Greinke’s off year in 2016, Olney argues that he still has value to other teams, though the D’Backs will have to eat some money to make a deal happen (something ownership wasn’t willing to do in brief talks with the Dodgers last summer). If Greinke struggles again in 2017, however, then his value will plummet and the contract could become a total albatross for Hazen and the team.
- With the Braves looking for catching, the Athletics’ Stephen Vogt makes some sense as a trade target but David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter links) isn’t sure about a fit. The Braves prioritize game-calling and framing behind the plate, which is why they were pursuing Jason Castro before he signed with the Twins. Baseball Prospectus ranked Vogt near the bottom of the league in terms of both framing and blocking runs last season, so O’Brien isn’t sure Atlanta would offer much for Vogt despite his solid bat.
I would love braun on the Giants, but I don’t love what we’d have to give up to get him.
The Brewers wouldn’t get much in return for Braun as the Giants farm system is slowly turning to garbage. They’re in the bottom half is the farm system rankings. The Dodgers have the prospects to deal for Braun. It’s a safe bet he’s heading there
The Dodgers would probably still be interested in dealing for Greinke but less willing to give as much as they would have last year at the deadline. Yankees could also be an ideal trade partner.
No way yankees trade for him
I don’t know, I can see an Ellsbury for Greinke swap, would definately want to see it.
I would do that in a heartbeat , but I don’t think the D-Backs would.
That’s an obscenely one-sided trade. AZ doesn’t even need Ellsbury at all with Pollock there.
lopsided in the dbacks favor.
Wouldn’t go that far, but dollars remaining on contracts do tend to matter in trade analyses. Unless 2016 was a fluke, Greinke may have the worst contract in baseball.
Yanks throw in a decent prospect and that works value-wise. Of course, Dbacks don’t have much use for Ellsbury.
You can see an Ellsbury for Greinke swap because you’re a Yankee fan. That trade makes absolutely no sense for the D’Backs unless the Yankees took on all the money in Greinke’s contract, and even then it might not be worth it.
greinke is 90 mil dollars more. second, if rebuilding which the dbacks should do. pollock should be traded, ellsbury goes in center, goldy should be traded, Tomas goes to 1b. plan for a 2 year rebuild since the mlb ready talent is high. maybe the Yankees throw in a small piece but 90 million dollars is a big deal.
Why do they need to rebuild? They need to retool sure but their offensive core is still pretty impressive. Seem asinine to suggest selling Pollock and Goldy just to hold onto Tomas. Also seems to eliminate their MLB talent as those are two huge cogs. Seems to me that Grienke could be moved pretty easily without taking on such huge contracts. Even if they were to move Pollock doesn’t make sense to block Brito with Ellsbury. And to add onto that why would Ellsbury waive his no trade clause to go to a team completely rebuilding. Stop you don’t know what you’re talking about.
My brain says no but my heart wants Billy to find a way to acquire Greinke at a reduced prospect cost by acquiring salary.
I don’t think Grenkie is worth the $$ for us. We already have 1 aging player who will be grossly overpaid into his late 30s/early 40s.
I like him as a player but even if we could afford him we shouldn’t….
Billy? There’s only one GM named Billy and that’s the one there’s a major motion picture about. You’re on neutral turf here, Angels fans, 95% of baseball fans will see Billy and think Beane, it’s just how it is. You look like biters with that talk. Say his last name or just say “our front office”.
Beane isn’t even a GM anymore, and the guy who said “Billy” is clearly an Angels fan, so anyone with knowledge of front office execs can put 2 and 2 together
pretty easy to see that he’s an angel fan and since he said “billy” he meant eppler. Don’t think anyone would put the A’s and greinke in the same sentence
DAMN!
Got put in your place dude
Ever since they hired Eppler I’ve been calling him Billy didn’t realize it would cause such a stir.
Anyway I know that we don’t need any more dead money on our payroll but just seems like the plan has to be push for a run in 2018 to 2020. Taking on payroll is a quick avenue when the farm is bare.
Farm isn’t as bad as its made out to be. Jones Ward and Thaiss are on the up and up. Marsh and Williams are high upside guys who haven’t really played enough to see their stock rise. Hermasillo is a guy to keep an eye on as well. Former 2 sport athlete who is just now focusing on baseball. Not much for arms but The rotation is super young when healthy.
Richards/Heaney/Tropeano/Skaggs/Shoe are a strong rotational base assuming health (big assumption) and the core position players are pretty underrated.(for whatever reason)
Cron/Simba/Calhoun are strong compliments to Trout and Old Man Albert. Add in a decent yr from Yunel and Maybin and we have an outside chance of competing as soon as this yr.
Nah, pretty sure every team in baseball has better players, and more good players than the Angels. The only other team you could even come close to touching is the Orioles, and they got ya beat too,
Pretty sure Heaney and Tropeano are out for all of next year
The angel farm is historically bad. BA has them ranked 30th again. That’s 4 out of the last 5 years they’ve been ranked dead last.
Angels ain’t competing with anyone this year, and probably not next year either.
I hope the angels trade for greinke and his salary. I’d love to see them crippled by another huge salary for the next 5 years.
Yeah they are both out next yr. If we are talking farms than I’d argue Miami Baltimore and San Francisco are all pretty bad. Not sure who would be 30th but those teams systems are in the conversation.
Giants have a bad system but they’re top 5 are pretty solid. Arroyo, Beede, Shaw, and Reynolds are all highly regarded. Most people would take their top 5 over the angels top 20 easily. And the Marlins, also bad, at least have two exciting young arms w/ Brax Garret and Kolek. The angels don’t have a single prospect that can compare with the upside of the names I just mentioned.
If the angels didn’t have the problems with staying under the luxury tax, I think they would be a better team and adding talent around trout in the line up. All they need right now is another starter and another bullpen arm, Greg Holland for them right now would be perfect or Feliz.
Ha! Just another Angel fan that wants an ex player back….. Do you Angel fans ever move forward and get over anything?
I hope the Braves either Get Ramos at a reduced price due to his Injury or just stick with Flowers/Recker
The only way I see this happening is if everyone who needs catching gets someone including trades for Vogt and Norris before he gets healthy and the Braves pick him up during Spring Training.
I hope you damn braves fans quit hallucinating about how great your team is. Now I don’t have a huge leg to stand on here being a brewers fan, but at least I’m not delusional about my team. The Braves are a solid, young and upcoming team, but they won’t compete this year or next year or probably the year after that. In a few years, they’ll be a powerhouse, but it’s unrealistic to expect them to be good anytime soon, and it’d be dumb of them to trade for Greinke and make several other moves suggested
That who is suggesting? Each team has crazy fans. Most fans know that selling the farm for a player is bad, especially Braves fans. (Mark Texiera)
Just ignore those outliers and hopefully we ignore the crazy Brewers fans when they start.
Umm.. who said anything about the Braves trading for Greinke? I am talking about catchers here.
Braves will be less than 5 games out of the playoffs in 2017. They’ll make the playoffs in 2018.
They were one of the better second half teams last year. They hit well and pitching can always improve. The team came together well after Kemp arrived and they were playing well under Snitker.
IMO, trade Arodys Vizcaino in a package for a above average hitting 3B (Gallo) and let Jim Johnson groove Mike Foltynewicz as the closer of the future.
Troll them, and then berate them for their idiocracy and delusions of grandeur. Baseball championships isnt as much about a cause and effect formula for success as they are about NOT angering the baseball gods. Fiscal responsibility, patient prospect development, and incredible scouting is useless if half your staff spends more time in Doc Andrews office than on the mound. Be humble, dont disrespect other organizations players and prospects by over evaluating ours.
Don’t like that move Folty I believe proved himself for the rotation after last year. I would like to see Vizzy moved to the Blue Jays for Reese McGuire. I know the Blue Jays are looking for a bullpen arm and they have Martin in the way. Do I could def see a match.
Looks like your autocorrect has weighed in on Jim Johnson and the possibility he’ll “groove” more pitches in his Age 34 season.
Folty to the eye test is similar to wissy. Neither have proved anything. His superior velocity has been too easy to barrel up. Blair folty and wissy have all had spectacular mlb showings, but the percentage of time they appeared completely over matched was way too high for mlb pitchers. They were out of their league and it was evident. The FO would not be signing dickey and colon if it wasnt the case. One will play mlb ball and learn- the other two should be allowed to dominate triple a until august. Unfortunately wisler blair jenkins newk and sims wont all be able to occupy a 40 man/triple a rotation spot all year long. We are going to start losing good players to an impending roster crunch if we dont move some of them. That is why a move is imminent. I bet dansby is the hold up. Haveing an untouchable makes negotiating tough. See what we got for miller bc pollock was untouchable lol
I enjoyed his rant. I think it’s a bit reactionary, but not without some truth. I’ve read a lot of wild trade theories about how the Braves will get Trout or Sale and suddenly it will be the 90s again.
I like what the Braves are doing, but the fans are trying way too hard too compete now and ruin the rebuild.
Patience.
I think the yankees taking a chance on him would be a good idea… might be able to unload gardner in the deal if they give up a decent package and they have the prospect depth so it wouldnt hurt too bad. If hes having a good year but they are sellers again at the deadline they might be able to flip hime like they did with chapman.
You don’t just flip someone with Grienke’s salary.
Im talking about braun
My bad homie
Braun can only be traded to 6 teams and they are all on the west coast it’s not going to happen.
The angels of Anaheim are desperate. They would take greinke’s salary in a heartbeat.
Are you serious? They have money tied up with pujols and not too mention what trout is making. If the Angels are desperate it’s fixing their beaten down farm system which is the worst in baseball
You don’t need to give up any good prospects to take on Greinke’s salary either.
Im talking about braun! Lol
Braun would block any trade to the east coast. He’s west coast or bust
The problem with both Braun and Grienke are no trade clauses.
True good point didnt even think of that
He can’t block a trade to Miami.
Yeah true but Miami has a terrible farm and nothing much to offer without acknowledging their pitching woes.
Why is it 2016 summer always written here as past summer?
Why not write it as this past summer or this summer?
Past summer makes it look like 2015 summer
How about a surprise trade between the Braves and Diamondbacks. Atlanta decides to trade for Greinke and somehow comes out ahead in their deal again.
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice…
Wishful thinking Rob Black. 🙂
How about Ellsbury and either Gardner or Headley for Greinke! Salaries are about the same and D-Backs get shorter term
His dislike for those media market makes me believe NY is on his NTL. Plus why would AZ take on those two contracts when they can probably get LA to take on a majority of it. Plus those two guys suggested don’t take into account their needs so they have two dead money contracts in a non position of need. Which not to mention they also have a big contract in Thomas.
LA only offered 25 per and AZ rejected it, now the offer might be even lower..
And why couldn’t Greinke handle the NY market when he was in LA?
Well the difference is they have new FO in place. If they are looking to retool it makes sense. They aren’t going to compete this year. LA media is no where close to the NY media. It’s actually a pretty soft media.
New GM, and the Goldschmit window is closing and they need 2 good outfielders.
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Ellsbury isn’t good though…if he was so good the Yankees wouldn’t want to trade him. They also have Pollock who is a CF and lights years better than Gardner/Ellsbury. You can’t just throw players you don’t want on your favorite team for some guy and expect the other team to take it, this isn’t MLB The Show.
Ellsbury has a no trade clause that’s he’s he’s not waiving to be moved to a corner. That’s not a trade that works for either side. The Dbacks have answers in the OF that was never the problem. They still have Pollok, still have Peralta, still are going to work Brito in, and Drury is still the real deal. They aren’t hurting for offense they truly aren’t. The problem is their ability to pick it and in trading and shedding salaries for Grienke and Thomas. It’s a fascinating team. It really is and their is a need to retool more than a rebuild. Tomas put up some big numbers that definitely work as a DH/1B neither of which Dbacks can provide. He can also probably fetch something that could help instead of being a butcher in the field and being redundant.They also need younger starting pitching to actually develop. I think competing in 17 is stretching it, but retooling and competing in 18 is a real possibility if they rebuild their bullpen and Walker and Ray develop along with a young pup or two. Shedding both can also lead to them comfortably extending Pollock and Goldy to be lifelong Dbacks. Gardner/Ellsbury just make no sense for the Dbacks.
Greinke and Tomas(DH) for Ellsbury and Kaprielian or Fowler.
He’s not waiving his NTC to go to the NY market and I’m betting Ellberry isn’t either.
Not sure why the Diamondbacks, who are trying to get out of bad contracts, would be trading for Ellsbury, Gardner or Headley. They don’t need a third baseman, Ellsbury’s contract is underwater and Gardner is just okay, nothing special. If they are able to move Greinke, it will be for salary relief and some fringy prospects.
Only reporters think the braves want Vogt. Coppy said he will only get the. catcher he wants he won’t settle we have guys he is comfortable with if he doesn’t get the catcher of his choosing.
What about the tribe? They need to upgrade right field and need another bat. Napoli will go somewhere else this offseason and they will give up by one except their #1 prospect. Their window is short, they need an outfield bat…
I would like the Braves to go for a young guy at catcher now that Flowers can play a part in grooming. Murphy from the Rockies interests me but I don’t know how available he would be. Or the Phillies have 2 of the top 10 catching prospects in the minors but it would be hard to make a deal between division rivals. The Yankees got Torrens with Sanchez entrenched as the catcher of the future I could see a fit there. Anybody else have any young guys on the cusp in mind ????
Reese McGwire in Toronto system.
I don’t know anything about McGwire, but he’s probably the successor to Russell Martin, so I doubt Toronto would want to trade him.
Especially with major concerns about Max Pentecost’s durability and ability to stay at catcher.
you are so worried about catchers
I think people are underestimating how weird Grienke is, in a good way. People also forget how extremely intelligent he is. He’s also had major social anxiety problems in the past. So when discussing trades understand that he probably threw the harshest media markets out the door i.e. NY, Boston, and Chicago and put them on his NTC. He probably also most likely crafted his perfect escape scenario. So when talking about size of contract and personality he’s just not that stand alone ace that’s going to lavish media or attention etc. He’s a great 1A behind an ace where he doesn’t have to take media incoming and severe scrutiny. So in terms of possible trade destinations like the Brewers the Dbacks are kind of handcuffed because at 34 mill a year for 5 not many mid markets can take that on and at his advanced age that’s a time bomb waiting to happen for a lot of clubs. With LA being in final stages until the AZ Hail Mary I just see AZ unloading at least 25 mill a year on the Dodgers
What about Seattle. They’ve got the salary available, they already have an ace in King Felix, and it’s the pacific northwest which is a fantastic place to live for people of his temperament. Seattle is in a win-now mode and if they want Arizona to eat some salary they’ve got the prospects to send back.
That’s an interesting idea, problem is I don’t know what his exact NTL beyond the obvious consists of. But with DiPoto looking at his time in Ana I don’t know if he’d be all to willing to load himself with another huge contract.
I think the Indians or Yankees should make a play Braun
No trade clause except for the west coast teams and the marlins. He ain’t going anywhere east
The great equalizer NTC to 5 west coast teams and Miami. Pretty clear pattern.
Braun is destined to be a dodger. Trade chatter has been eminent for his whole career. He will be a dodger by the end of the offseason. Guaranteed.
Wouldn’t be too sure talks broke down after being asked for Bellinger. I can’t see them willing to part for Bellinger in taking on that contract.
For sure. All this talk of the Dodgers eating Brauns salary AND giving up top prospects is absolutely insane.
As a Brewers fan, I agree. The Giants don’t have the prospects and the chatter with Braun and the dodgers has been going on for awhile. Look for the Brewers to throw in 2B gennett in that mix
I don’t see gennett being anything more than a throw in piece if in the package at all
From what I’ve heard, the Brewers will eat some of brauns contract and throw in gennett and in exchange the Brewers would want either one of the Dodgers top 2 prospects and another one
If that were true that’s probably why talks haven’t been revisited. Gennett makes no sense for a team looking for plus defense and looking to upgrade against lefties.
The Dodgers would rather take Brauns entire salary rather than give up one of their top prospects. Over the last several years LA has not been afraid of spending money but they’ve always been hesitant to give up their prospects and that’s why you see them making the playoffs every year.
If the dodgers get braun the brewers will get that 80M off their books but they aren’t getting Urias, Bellinger, Verdugo, nor De Leon on top of that. That’s just crazy talk.
Then you won;t be getting Braun. The Brewers are rebuilding to attain controllable young talent, not shed payroll (Which was one of the bottom five lowest in MLB last year). Braun is affordable even for a rebuilding team and isn’t going to be let go to save a few bucks.
I’d hold out for Bellinger. I wouldnt mind throwing in Tyler Thornburg to get it.
Over the last few years, the Dodgers have spent surprisingly little on free agents, and this offseason they’ve done nothing so far but shed payroll, so this would appear to be the trend. Where they’ve spent big on is international signings. As for what the Brewers can expect or want in return for Braun, keep in mind they claimed Puig off waivers, at a time when his value was most questionable, so we know at a minimum that they are interested in him at his current salary.
The only way the dodgers get Braun is for a top prospect or 2 if they can’t get that then there are other teams the Brewers will talk to in California. So if the dodgers want him then they’ll have to pony up
Sure they would like to get a bidding war started with the Giants and Dodgers but it’s hard to fits with the six teams in Miami, Angels, Dbacks, and Padres or whichever team he recently changed on his list of 6. The Brewers are sort of handcuffed and were asking for MLB pitching or close to ready MLB pitching. Oaks getting injured kind of derailed the whole thing.
That being said I’m entirely ok if they pass on Braun if they expect Bellinger to be ready around the trade deadline. A healthy Thompson will be a big boost and they owe it to Toles to figure out if he could be an everyday player. They aren’t going to be able to dump Ethier’s contract and Thompson can bounce around all three spots.
If the angels have to take on his salary, then the angels wouldn’t have to give up much, but add his bat in the line up with trout, pujols , calhoun , cron , escobar and simmons, thats a balanced line up, but still would need another lefty option.
What we learned is the Brewers don’t want to just dump his salary. They have no need to just dump salary especially with their guaranteed salary expected to only be around 60 mill. They are still expecting good prospects and MLB talent.
The Angels don’t have the prospects that the Brewers want as the Angels are the worst farm system in baseball. Instead of spending money on FA’s. The Angels should really try to fix that dumpster fire of a farm system. Until they do that imo they’ll always be the red headed step child of the dodgers. Besides, why take on brauns salary where that money should go to trout in a few years to a long term contract
Man, I am heartbroken that Ryan Braun is struggling with the uncertainty. Why do bad things happen to good people?
Ha. I was thinking the same thing when I read that remark. As the Boss once wrote, he gets paid a king’s ransom for doing what comes naturally. And yet, he struggles with uncertainty. That proves something, but I don’t know what.
There are only a few teams that would take a 35 million dollar contract, the Yanks,Sox,Nats,Gaints, and Dodgers. for Greinke. The Giants, Dodgers are out, so it would come down to the Nats,Yanks , and Sox.
You obviously don’t know Grienke very well or his disdain for those types of media markets. It really doesn’t come down to any of those teams suggested maybe besides the dodgers and a wild card team like Houston or one with a closer climate to LA/AZ. You also seem to forget that LA has 45M coming off the books after 17 and 61M coming off after 18 so Dodgers are definitely not out.
Diamondback’s uniforms are so ugly they will never be taken seriously. And how many different combos of them are really necessary? Two is bad enough!
The Diamondbacks uniforms are just as ugly as the Cleveland Browns uniforms of the NFL
They could save us all a lot of grief and only play each other.
What about the Brewers fans’ uncertainty of his suspension? When he was suspended, seasin ticket holders didn’t the certainty their fallen superstar playing. How about Braun lying to the world and to his business partner, Aaron Rodgers, about the whole thing and the uncertainty of their joint business venture! Braun isn’t owed any certainty by anybody.
How about Panik for Braun straight across. Then you could bring arroyo?