Here’s the latest chatter on the trade and free-agent markets to round out the evening:
- While there has been some movement on the free-agent market for relievers now that the top three arms are off the board, there’s also some untapped potential on the trade side, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). The Orioles are “willing” to deal Brad Brach, who quietly turned in an excellent season and is projected by MLBTR to earn $2.9MM in his second pass at arbitration. And the Rangers are taking calls on some arms, with Jeremy Jeffress — a quality sinkerballer who has dealt with substance-abuse issues — said to be “in play,” among other hurlers. He, too, projects at a $2.9MM tab in his first season of arb eligibility.
- The Rangers have held discussion with the Rockies about the latter organization’s potentially available outfielders, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network (via Twitter). It’s not entirely clear just who might be targeted, though certainly Charlie Blackmon would make for a high-quality and reasonably affordable fit — presumably, bumping Shin-Soo Choo to DH and perhaps moving Carlos Gomez to a corner. Carlos Gonzalez could also step into right for Choo, though he’s owed $20MM this year — which, from all indications, is more than Texas is looking to spend. Lining up may not be easy, though Colorado surely would have interest in some of the Rangers’ relievers.
- With little apparent need for him given their present roster construction, the Cardinals are “listening” on first baseman Matt Adams, per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). Particularly with so many defensively limited, left-handed bats still floating around in free agency, it’s certainly hard to see Adams drawing an exciting return. The 28-year-old put up a slightly above-average .249/.309/.471 batting line last year and did pop 16 long balls, but was scarcely used against left-handed pitching. (While he actually hit well against southpaws last year, it came in a minimal sample; over his career, Adams owns a .212/.243/.352 batting line without the platoon advantage.) MLBTR projects Adams to earn $2.8MM in his second season of arbitration eligibility, so he may at least be somewhat cheaper than some of the other players who rival clubs will be considering.
- One piece of that surplus of lefty bats, free-agent first baseman Logan Morrison, is starting to see his market heat up a bit, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). As Passan notes, Morrison did hit quite well for much of the year, though his putrid opening month and a half left the 29-year-old with an overall .238/.319/.414 batting line — which, much like his career production, sits right at the league average level. Like Adams, Morrison has traditionally been much better against right-handed pitching, though his splits aren’t nearly so dramatic.
Can LoMo still play outfield occasionally or is he strictly a first baseman/DH now?
He always drew pretty awful reviews in the outfield. Can’t imagine he has gotten any better.
as a Marlins fan, LoMo cant play the OF, and that was before he had those knee issues
Adams has a lot of potential so I’m sad to see him not get the playing time he deserves. If he’s moved I hope he flourishes. He could easily pop 25hrs with an .800+ OPS.
Adams is 28 years old and 3 years removed from showing signs of being an above average performer at 1st. It’s more likely he joins a long list of mediocre 1B
He was injured one year and didn’t get enough playing time in the other two. You can’t expect someone to learn when spot starting occasionally or being placed into games when either up or down by insane amounts. His age doesn’t concern me as he’s shown his abilities at a young age, and people can be late bloomers (Matt Carpenter anyone?). When he’s good he’s far better than just “above average” and deserves a chance.
I’m surprised the cardinals havent made a major trade centered around Matt Adams yet.
Major trade centered around Adams just sounds wrong. If he ever learned to hit lefties I’d agree, but he’s not even a one dimensional player. He’s terrible on the bases and is only adequate on defense.
I think markmc1235 was being sarcastic.
Adams is just too redundant in a market that has Carter, LoMo, Bautista, Encarnacion, Napoli, etc. out there.
Because you can’t have a major trade centered around Adams he just isn’t that good.
I would think Colorado should have some interest in Adams….he’s been awesome hitting at Coors with a .419 average, 4hr, 10rbi in 7 games.
If Adams is traded, it will be along the lines of the Jaime Garcia trade – Adams for a one or two mid-level prospects.
I know you shouldnt trade in your division but Adams absolutely rakes in Pittsburgh not to mention he is from a small town outside of there and he would come cheap in a trade. Pittsburgh could certainly use an upgrade over that hippy Jaso. Just sayin
Another great trade by former Padres GM.
Regardless, Brach deserves an invitation to WBC, along with other under-appreciated non closer relievers such as Barraclough, addison reed, david phelps, and brad hand. They all need to be on that team.
What’s weird is that LoMo always hit lefties better in the minor leagues, and in his first couple of years in the big leagues.
I wonder what kind of return Brach could get the O’s, an MLB ready OFer and top 100 prospect? What about Brach plus a prospect for Mazara from Texas?
lol, lmao, lmfao, rofl, roflmao, haha, hehe, giggle.
LOL no way Texas does that deal. They wouldnt trade mazara for Sale no way they trade him for Brach.
Brach, bundy or gausman, and another good prosect is what it will take to get mazara.
Nice dreaming though.
Texas doesn’t need brach, plus mazara is as close to “untouchable” as they have
this was a very funny comment
I love relievers and their value, but giving up a proven MLB guy is too steep unless that guy is Andrew Miller.
Braves would give them Markakis for him
I bet they would
You need help! I will pray for you!!!! Sad!!!
I propose a 3 team trade between The Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Please leave comments and share your opinion.
Rockies get: Zach Britton, Scott Van Slyke, Scott Kazmir (both from Dodgers)
LA Dodgers get: DJ LeMahieu,
Orioles get: Brandon McCarthy, Alex Wood, Ross Stripling (from Dodgers), Gerrardo Parra, Jeff Hoffman (from Rockies, Dodgers pay half of remaining salary)
For perspective here’s another way
Dodgers pay: Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir, Alex Wood, Scott Van Slyke, Ross Stripling
Rockies pay: DJ LeMahieu, Gerrardo Parra, Jeff Hoffman
Orioles pay: Zach Britton
Ok this is a bit confusing and complicated proposal but let’s break it down.
First, Dodgers get a young controllable 2nd Baseman; even outside of Coors, if he puts up a .280/.340/.430 line with 10HR and 20 2B with average defense and 10SB going leadoff I( I’m a Dodgers fan) am satisfied.
Second, for the Rockies, selling high on DJ and turning him into 2 years of the best closer of 2016 is a huge step towards contention. Hoffman is a steep cost but not that big a bullet to swallow when you consider hauling in Britton. SVS provides 1B and OF depth, he can be a backup option if Desmond doesn’t workout at 1st.
For the Orioles, they cash in on Britton for a pretty much overall roster package. Brandon McCarthy is a mid rotation starter when healthy, with upside, Wood, Stripling, and Hoffman are all young controllable arms which the Orioles DESPERATELY need, all are MLB ready and have considerable upside. Parra provides OF depth at a cheap cost.
All 3 teams are contending so they all need to fill holes. The Dodgers fill a glaring need at 2B, while shedding salary. The Rockies seriously upgrade their pen, they have options in Bregman (etc.) at 2B and enough deep pitching talent to afford Britton.
Matching the Orioles cost for Britton was hard and I feel my offer isn’t enough because many of the players I mention are injury-prone, or just mediocre. Baltimore has to work out their OF, and I feel someone like Trayce Thompson or Andrew Toles might entice them. But the package I mention also has merit in terms of cheap controllable arms.
I will keep posting trade proposals, JUST PLEASE leave your opinion via comments and feel free to criticize too. Thanks for reading.
Looks great for the Dodgers. Shed salary, add a 2B, and lose very little.
other than facilitating a trade that puts arguably the best MLB closer in the Rockies BP.
If the Orioles are giving up Britton u better have Blackmon coming back at least
lol why would the rockies give up an MVP candidate? Already shipping out the batting champion and top prospect, plus taking on 2 lousy contracts from the dodgers. The market this offseason is saturated with closers, so just getting Hoffman and Alex wood is pushing it.
The Orioles aren’t trading Britton for that. Britton will bring at minimum Andrew Miller type returns and they won’t muddy that in a 3 team trade. I love the creativity but no way does Britton get swapped for anything less than some absolute top prospects. Britton is the pinnacle, and that is only traded for a potential pinnacle.
1) The Indians gave way too much for Miller because their outfield is set for the next 5 years and there was no path for Frazier. 2) This IS a Miller like return for Britton. Hoffman is a top prospect, Alex Wood is a young and controllable starter, plus 2 other major league ready pitchers who have experience starting and as relievers who have upside.
So what you are proposing is the Dodgers getting a good 2b for absolute scraps? Their focus and attention is on Dozier and it’s going to cost. It’ll cost somewhere in the neighborhood of DeLeon, Verdugo, Stewart and another. I can see a tie with the O’s and Ethier I.e trying to eat money and prospects to get Brach. But it’s highly unrealistic especially considering Britton alone would cost significant pieces. As a Dodgers fan I can say your evaluations are completely off.
Interesting…but Britton isn’t getting traded. At least not until July 31 or so. Also, O’s never want Parra. And I doubt they want injury-prone McCarthy.
And the Rockies aren’t anywhere near contention enough to add a Britton.
I do like the 3way trade idea…but do it so Brach is the Rockies closer, not Britton.
When did the Rockies acquire Bregman?
Sorry I was talking about Brendan Rodgers MLB’s #6Prospect
The thing is, the Rockies have a second baseman in the works, Forrest Wall. him, Rodgers, and McMahon (with McMahon or Areanado shifting to first base) will probably create one of the best infields to ever bless Coors.
Not this guy again
All three of those guys have a long way to go if they want to be league average ball players. Wall and McMahon both regressed last year. And Rodgers still has 3 levels of minor league baseball to get through.
Orioles getting a terrible return in that deal
Orioles should not do that. All of the players in return get hurt a lot, or kind of stink.
Great for the Dodgers, decenct for the Rockies(though I doubt they do it.) awful for the Orioles.
I would go Rockies give up Blackmon for Brach, Mancini
You mean the Rockies could give up an MVP candidate for 2 middle relievers?? Where do I sign up??
As a Dodgers fan, I will approve this deal. lol. A batting champion at a position of need for a bunch of spare parts.
You lost me as soon as you said Parra. The Orioles already traded for him once for a half season and he stunk. If they traded the best closer is baseball for anything with Parras name on it oriole fans would lose their mind immediately
Maybe these fake trade thingies should disreagard player names, and discuss their likely outcomes. What is a reasonable return for a cost-controlled LHRP that figures to be worth 1.5 wins or so over the next two seasons (Brach)? Or a LHH that is limited to 1B against RHP, and isn’t that good against them (Adams)?
The best lesson about Brach is that he was drafted in the 42nd round from Monmouth University. Teams can always get better at scouting and developing their own talent. The best lesson about Adams is that he was a 23rd Rounder from Slippery Rock University. Teams can always get better at scouting and developing their own talent.
A lot of teams are in win now mode and your theory of scouting and developing won’t help for at least 2-4 years. By then a 90 win team that is a solid playoff contender could be a 75 win team looking to dump salary and rebuild (ex. Royals).
Scouting and developing makes a team significantly better in about three or four years. And keeps producing into the future.
Yeah, there’s a lag time.
Every team that would invest in eight or ten more good scouts, and a few more good coaches at the compound level would be better in three or four years for the next ten.
Kinda like the Cubs.
If (insert team here) is in win-now-mode, they should have upgraded their coaching and scouting five years ago.
Spend $200,000 on scouting per season, and $300,000 on coaching per season. And watch your third day draft picks become as good as Brach or Adams.
what does draft position have to do with anything? There have been near infinite number of 1st-5th round guys who have either not made the majors or been a complete joke. What a team may see one year, means nothing to what that player becomes years down the road. Maybe I am not fully understanding the point of your comment, and if so i apologize, but the scouting of players is basically a crapshoot. For every David Price their are many more Luke Hochevars. Scouts honestly mean nothing because projectability is a guessing game. It is up to the player to advance their potential or live in their overwhelming ds high school hero status.
Plenty of players miss. Without a doubt.
Having quality scouts at the local levels that can locate options like Brach or Adams in the later rounds limit the necessity to spend eight figures to get reasonably decent relievers. If the team can find and develop them on their own.
Bring in eight good players, get one or two to develop.
Bring in 22 good ones who are pot-committed to being the best they can be, and maybe get four or five worthwhile ones instead.
It’s not about David Price. It’s about, bringing in better talent on the third day, like Brach or Adams, even if it costs closer to $100,000 in a signing bonus each time.
(See Devin Travis, also. Paul Goldschmidt was a late-second day pick.)
The talent is out there. Draft and develop it, and it solves plenty of problems much more easily.
And you hit a very important point. Get the player who will advance his abilities on his own, over the prima donna that needs to ba babied.
When did Brach become a left handed reliever?
It doesn’t sound bad but I don’t really think the O’s would want Parra back. They traded for him once before and he didn’t impress them so they decided to go with a RF platoon of about 5-6 players instead of resigning him. Maybe Dahl instead of Parra.
Ya sure, just some bait and switch. Instead of a wildly overpaid negative asset in Parra, you’ll accept a viable young talent like Dahl for league minimum.
Thanks for the comments all. I thought that the return for Britton wasn’t enough. Please remember though that Hoffman is a top 35 MLB ready prospect in his own. How about a package of Hoffman, Trayce Thompson, Andrew Toles Parts?
It’ll take more than that too. Look at what the Nationals gave up for Eaton and add another really good prospect (I’m talking top 5 in said team’s farm system) and it could work. I’m not saying Britton is worth all that as a player, but that’s what Baltimore has seemed to price him at.
I know the prospect price for someone like Britton. From the Dodgers purely only to make a deal it would take about Jose De Leon, Alex Verdugo, Willie Calhoun, Brock Stewart or such. The main reason I keep listing these prosposals is because as a Contending Team, the Orioles will only be looking for Youn MLB talent, and that they will receive if they trade Britton.
If they’re looking for young MLB talent then they most likely won’t get it from the Dodgers. Pederson is the only person I can think of that really fits the bill because they obviously won’t be giving up Seager and Thompson, Toles and others don’t really come with as much of a pedigree.
Now that I read my comment, I realize it can be seen as confusing. I meant they won’t be giving up Seager (end of that statement) and the Thompson, Toles statement was a whole different statement.
Dude Jeff Hoffman is in the same breath of De Leon
And maybe switch in Brach for Britton
If it’s brach there’s no way he’s getting Hoffman in return
Jay Bruce for Brach? Bruce would hit 40 HR with Camden yards being his home park
Matt Adams hasn’t become the player that the Cardinals thought they had while he was in the minors. He doesn’t hit lefties well, but does have one awesome swing in his stats……
Oct 7, 2014……..vs the Best LHP in the NL………possibly in “All Of Baseball”…….Clayton Kershaw. Adams hit the Game-Winning / Playoff Hopes Ending HR against Kershaw……..knocking the Dodgers out of the Playoffs.
Yea……..it IS just one swing………….But He Made It Count!!!…………lol
I live in Korea so our time zone is different but.. Adams hit that HR while I was eating breakfast on the day of my Exams… I almost cried and wrecked everything as result..
I am not sure why you would trade Brach now unless you think there is something wrong. I am figuring this is the all in year. Next off season you trade Machado, Jones, Britton, Davis, Tillman, Schoop etc. Tear it all down get a ton of youg talent, and wait 3 years.
Exactly so. All the trade pieces you have mentioned make the Orioles potential contenders(or at least pretenders). I think the Birds still have a few years of buying before tearing down like the Sox. Even in that occasion, I strongly believe Machado will get locked up with a Stanton-like extension.
You’re not going to be able to trade Davis with his contract. They have to trade Brach because there’s not much on the farm. They also have an extremely deep pen in which they can trade Brach and be completely fine. It make sense in order to see where they stand this year.
The problem with liquidating assets is that it takes time for trades to line up. You’re not going to trade all those names in one off season for optimal returns. There aren’t enough buyers with assets ready to move. Look at CWS, they’re openly ready to sell off them team and they hit a wall after two big trades. Astros didn’t wanna give up young pieces and neither did other top farm teams, after Boston and Washington. Taking a couple years to sell off remaining parts of a once contending team is the norm, so likely they’ll start with who they’re going to lose first.
It also depends on the needs and market. Tillman is a FA next year so they have to decided what they want to do with him. Schoop is in a tough spot because who really needs a 2b and is he better than Doezier and Forsythe? Davis is immovable especially in a market where guys like him are starting to feel the market shift. So if you’re expecting windfall talent I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re sorely disappointed. Two piece will get a significant return Britton and Machado. But with a rare talent in Machado why wouldn’t you just lock him up? If Britton is healthy and stays dominant you might get a haul but it also depends on which teams are in contention and which farms have been depleted. It’d be smarter if they wait until deadline to see where they’re at. You can’t tear it down now because they’ve essentially missed the window to strike.
if you look at matt adams stats, he isn’t as terrible against lefties as writers lead you to believe.
He has one position, and isn’t particularly adept at it.
Few teams are in the market for a borderline 1B. Those types get released in March.
lou gehrig had one position
And he doesn’t hit nearly as well as Gehrig.
Adams can only play first base, so if he is going to be stuck at first, then he needs to be a great offensive player to have value there.
He doesn’t.
I’ve long been a supporter of Adams getting more playing time, but he isn’t getting it and won’t be getting it. His bat is league average for the position, and that’s with the platoon advantage. He is worth a mid level spec basically at this point. Try for two Moz if you can.
So a .595 OPS vs LHP for his career isn’t terrible? But I forgot he hit a HR off Kershaw once.
Not to mention Matheny hardly ever lets him face LHP anymore.
Are the Cardinals better with Carpenter at 1b than Adams?
Yes.
So should he be traded?
Yes.
Maybe he can platoon DH in the American League?
Should he bring anything of significance in return? Probably not.
If Matt Adams is traded to the right team, he could pay off big time. He hit 37 hr’s in the minors one year. He has some pop. If he went to Baltimore or Colorado. Could see him hit 25-30 hr’s at .260 clip. Not bad
I think Matt Adams can still be the stud he looked like he would become before his injuries started and he lost his job. Just needs to stay healthy and get at bats