In addition to showing an unwillingness to take on Red Sox right-hander Clay Buchholz‘s $13.5MM salary for next season, the Marlins weren’t open to dealing righty prospect Luis Castillo in trade talks, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Marlins previously traded Castillo to the Padres last July in the Andrew Cashner deal, but San Diego quickly returned the 23-year-old to Miami in exchange for the injured Colin Rea. Castillo, whom MLBpipeline.com ranks as the Marlins’ fifth-best prospect, spent most of last season at the High-A level and logged a 2.07 ERA, 6.96 K/9 and 1.38 BB/9 in 117 2/3 innings.
More pitcher-related news:
- While Colorado native Mark Melancon reportedly would have taken a slight discount to sign with the Rockies, they were never really in contention for the closer before he inked a four-year, $62MM deal with the Giants on Monday, writes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. “They knew that we were interested, but I wouldn’t say we were at the front of the line,” said general manager Jeff Bridich.
- The Mets have given closer Jeurys Familia permission to pitch in the Dominican Winter League with Gigantes del Cibao, per Adam Rubin of ESPN.com. Familia has a scheduled Thursday court hearing, at which his simple assault charge stemming from an Oct. 31 domestic violence arrest will likely be dropped. Even if that happens, commissioner Rob Manfred could still suspend Familia for some portion of next season.
- The Tigers are listening to offers for relievers Justin Wilson and Shane Greene, but the former is the likelier of the two to move because he’s pricier and would bring back more in a trade, according to Evan Woodbery of MLive.com. Shipping out the left-handed Wilson would free up an estimated $2.7MM for Detroit, which acquired him from the Yankees for righties Chad Green and Luis Cessa last winter. In his first year with the Tigers, Wilson recorded a 4.14 ERA, 9.97 K/9, 2.61 BB/9 and 54.6 ground-ball rate in 58 2/3 innings. The right-handed Greene, also an ex-Yankee, will make close to the league minimum in 2017. He ended last season with a 5.82 ERA, 8.8 K/9, 3.28 BB/9 and 47.6 grounder rate across 60 1/3 frames.
For the Tigers: What’s the point of moving a 10K/9 lefty that is not paid much and has a high ERA?
Just hope that last year’s ERA was bad luck and use him LESS against lefties only and let us see what happens.
I know, right? He is going to be like 3 million or something and is pretty good.
I totally agree it seems weird but the Tigers are trying to cut spending AND get younger…this doesn’t cut spending but if u can’t move the big pieces on ur roster to get young prospects you gotta move a cheap and productive guy to get them.
The reason is teams are paying a kings ransom for lefty relief pitching. It never hurts to hear what’s available.
Just says they’re listening to offers just like everyone else. He was only bad last year because his fastball command was the worse in his whole career
I realize the Rockies probably aren’t done, and if they flip Blackmon or Cargo for pitching, they may come out looking really good, but right now Melancon probably would’ve been a better investment than Desmond. And I say that as someone who thinks relievers are bad investments.
Young, controllable, cheap players with upside like J Wilson and Greene are the type the Tigers are trying to acquire. Trading either of them makes no sense unless the return is a young controllable cheap center fielder with upside.
How about Brandon Nimmo of the Mets?
Mets should hold on to Nimmo, with grandees on and Bruce gone next year (unless one is traded sooner) he could prove to be a valuable piece of conforto shows he has the ability to handle center
While I’d love to trade Nimmo if the acquiring team was really set on him (Sandy could work his magic), though realistically he is still projecting out to be a toolsy meh power but higher batting average OF.
Right now he’s a 4th OF w. some potential bc of his AAA slashline: that included a.352 BAA and .962OPS. He has shown an ability to hit at every level and I like his approach at the plate (good eye and knows how to work a count), but he still has a ways to go to be worth trading. He only his .274 BAA and <.700 OPS last year in limited playing time.
How about Jankowski of SD?
The Padres do not need a lefty reliever.
Sox should trade both Pomeranz and buchholz eat a majority of buchholz salary and get a decent prospect in return. Trade Pomeranz for two decent prospects help restock the farm. The Sox already have depth with Elias, Owens, Johnson and could always sign another starter that is cheaper than buchholz.
With Dombowski you have great players but you can forget about a farm system.
The Shaw deal was idiotic. They could have resigned Ziegler and gotten the same results as Thornburg without further tapping into the farm.
Even with eating money how good of a prospect(s) could one expect to recieve for these guys when both have questions surrounding their health?
That depth sucks at the MLB level. At least Pom and Buch have had some success. This situation is why they shouldnt have picked up Buchs option. Even without the Sale trade, they still had too many starters.
Pomeranz seems like a good trade target for the Pirates. Cheap, controllable, cheap, has upside and cheap.
If two average prospects is the cost, that sounds very doable.
The problem is that if they trade Pomeranz now they will not get anything close to Espinoza. It will be an admission that trade was a mistake. To trade Bucholz they would need to eat a majority of his contract for a middling return. That would mean picking up the option was a mistake..
I don’t think Dombrowski wants to start conceding that many mistakes now.
You can never have too much pitching depth… What if one of the starters pitches ineffectively (E-rod springs into mind) or gets injured? If I remember correctly the Red Sox spot starters (O’Sulivan, Owens etc) last season pitched to a combined ERA above 10, so I’m not entirely convinced of them as reliable depth. Don’t forget Buchholz can also serve in a relieve role which he performed well as.
not sure who would really want shane greene, just eyeballing his stats not really sure how he is still in the majors….. am i missing something?
The only thing that was ok last year was his FIP. That tells you that his ERA might be lower next year. Still, he is a big gamble as a reliever and as such I don’t the Tigers getting anyone with major league potential in return for him.
He has been hindered with arm injuries and he keeps trying to pitch threw them. Last year he was doing well statistically until he went on the DL. Ausmus kept using him in key moments after his return from the DL and he was lit up….skewed his stats…I am guessing he was still hurting when he came back…he has a history of not saying anything when his arm hurts….
In the Red Sox case, it reminds me of that scene in Caddyshack, “code only cost $.25” “The price went up” “I’m not spending $.30 on a coke” “well, you don’t get no coke”
What is NYM doing to addressing closer role? No one knows how much time Familia will miss, and even then, they need more depth. Is Addison Reed enough for a contending team? Hansel Robles has the most storybook name in MLB, but I’m not sure he gives games the same happy ending.
Absolutely agree….but they have been unwilling to pay sky-high prices for RP. They have some young guys they could slot in and try, but they really do need at least one more legit BP arm.
I think the Red Sox need to make a deal before the season to deal either buchholz or pomeranz. I understand the idea of keeping them around for depth but whoever ends up being the odd man out in the rotation will lose much of their value to opposing teams. Think about it, if Pomeranz is pitching in relief and Buchholz does well as a starter, they would end up trading pomeranz for far less than what they paid. Better to deal him now when teams still value him somewhat. The only scenario that keeping both of them makes sense is if they end up dealing whoever makes it as the 5th starter in hopes that they succeed and increase their value. I just think it’s too risky to think that both guys will be able to maintain value once the season starts.
I’m not sure who really values clay buchholz nowadays. Pomeranz probably has a tiny bit of value but not even remotely close to Espinoza.
Yeah… Pomeranz has little value. A 4 WAR lefty, cheap and under control for 2 years. Should net a c+ prospect, nothing more.
He’s not a 4 win lefty and now his injury concerns have resurfaced.
If anything, Pomeranz’s value is super inflated because of the B on his hat, other than that it’s nothing special.
baseball-reference.com/players/p/pomerdr01.shtml
Yes he is.
No. He isn’t 1.5/0.4/3.4 + 0.6.
fWAR 0.6/1.3/3.0
projection 2.3 fwar.
No one is buying him as a 4 win pitcher
Heads up, Connor- wrong Luis Castillo linked.
You want this one: baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=cast…
Changed it. Thanks!
I can’t believe teams aren’t willing to give up a high prospect and/or be willing to pay Buchholz’s high salary!!! Since 2011 the only time he has shown good numbers are years where he misses over half his starts 3 of the last 6 seasons). The other 3 seasons his stats are good enough to be the 5th starter on some teams, at best. Can’t blame the Red Sox for trying though in this market.
Everyone in Red Sox nation in around the country is worried about the Red Sox farm system, I do not think they’re worried about that at all right now.
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They’ll most likely have Gsellman and Lugo in the BP and to fill in spot starts should they decide to rest the starting five.