Twins general manager Thad Levine revealed earlier this week that the team would have to be “really inspired” to trade second baseman Brian Dozier. It’s now possible the Dodgers will do enough to wow Minnesota into dealing Dozier, as Los Angeles is aggressively pursuing the slugger and has “piqued” the Twins’ interest, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). The second base-needy Dodgers have been after Dozier throughout the offseason.
More rumblings with the winter meetings set to commence:
- Backing up a recent report from Rob Bradford of WEEI, the Red Sox are unlikely to sign free agent first baseman/designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, writes Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald. Moreover, the Sox probably won’t make any major free agent splashes in general, adds Drellich, thanks in part to their reluctance to spend beyond the $195MM luxury-tax threshold accompanying the new collective bargaining agreement. Boston has exceeded the luxury-tax limit in each of the previous two seasons and will need to pay a 40 to 50 percent penalty if it surpasses the mark for a third straight year.
- In addition to the previously reported Chris Sale, the Astros have interest in Rays ace Chris Archer, per Fanrag’s Jon Heyman. There’s skepticism around the game that the Rays would trade Archer, though. The right-hander is under team control through 2021 at eminently affordable rates.
- A report earlier this week indicated that the Orioles had interest in free agent left-hander Rich Hill, but they haven’t pursued the 36-year-old, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Hill, who was with the O’s in 2009, is on the verge of re-signing with the Dodgers.
- Free agent closer Mark Melancon reportedly has four-year offers worth $60MM-plus in hand from San Francisco, Washington and perhaps another team. In light of that, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post tweets that the Rockies probably aren’t the mystery club; however, as a Colorado native, Melancon would be open to taking a bit less to join the Rockies, Saunders hears. General manager Jeff Bridich has reached out to Melancon’s representatives this offseason, but it’s nonetheless difficult to imagine the Rockies putting together a rich enough offer to land the 31-year-old.
- While the Nationals may have shored up the catcher position in trading for Derek Norris and avoiding arbitration with Jose Lobaton earlier this week, they’re still interested in free agent backstop Matt Wieters, relays Kubatko. If the Nats were to sign Wieters, the “sense” across the industry is that they’d look to flip Norris elsewhere.
“really inspired” and “piqued” interest. Could it be true what they say about those two? Sounds like love…..
Friedman’s eyes twinkled in the moonlight
Ack. Thanks loads for putting that image into my head.
Reports from Minneapolis suggest that they’ve been spotted sitting in a tree.
You can stop now. I’ve already had to flush my brain fluid once today.
I get annoyed by the vague terms used by these writers sometimes that speculate on deals. Twins have to be “inspired” yet the Dodgers “piqued” their interest? So what exactly does that mean guys? Have they dangled De Leon? Is Calhoun the blue-chipper? Verdugo? Heaven forbid Bellinger? I must know more!
As a Red Sox fan I’ll be very upset if Dumbroski doesn’t make any moves, this is what I called your typical Red Sox being cheap as always.
Red Sox and cheap don’t belong in the same sentence.
Amen to that
Yea they definitely don’t have a history of being cheap
Oakland and cheap are always used in the same sentence.
Seriously! Die hard Sox fan from California here. I really hate how it seems like he’d go get an aging Cabrera in a heartbeat who’s clearly declining but he won’t get a BIGTIME bat like EE who would instantly be able to fill Papi’s shoes Bc he crushes it in the clutch
Case and point, we spent all that money on Price who SUCKS in the postseason and we let CHOKE artists like Clay stay on the team and give him 13 million. Seriously?!
Apparently “seriously” is a favorite word today, my apologies.
The Red Sox have not been cheap the past few years. And I’m sure you were loving the Price deal when it was first announced. Just the same as you would love an EE deal as soon as its announced, but when he regresses to a barely average hitter, you’d be cursing DD for giving out the deal in the first place. EE is not the answer, the Red Sox hitting last year (which was tops in the majors) did nothing for them in the playoffs. What they actually do need is another solid pitcher (not necessarily a #1 or #2 pitcher though) and they need to build their bullpen. I’m not saying Miguel Cabrera isn’t going to decline eventually, but the guy has put up numbers that are still representative of a top 3-5 hitter in all of baseball. What is he declining from? His stats that came when he won the Triple Crown? If anything, Cabrera’s bat will be better than EE’s in a couple of years because EE is so dependent on power whereas Cabrera could still hit at an above .300 level.
Anyone with half a brain knew exactly how that Price deal was gonna go down. He’d be less and less passable each year for the duration of the deal, and dissapoint you every Octorber. EE I would actually want on my team in the playoffs.
Cabrera at this point is still better than EE, and theyre similar in age
Yeah, he could probably decline a lot before He drops to EEs offensive output
200 million payroll the last two years is cheap???
The Red Sox have not been cheap Since they signed Manny Ramirez….seriously? Cheap?
The Red Sox are cheap. Yeah, ok. Thanks for showing the world just how little you know about baseball. Now run along outside with the rest of the children and leave this to the adults
It would serve Dombrowski well to prioritize a couple of relief pitchers. Also, are they satisfied with how Steven Wright is feeling? Or did Farrell mess up his career?
Prioritizing relief pitchers is not one of Dombrowski’s strong suits.
Want valbuena
I’m surprised I haven’t heard anything substantial about Jose Abreu or Adam Eaton. I thought those two would be in high demand in addition to Sale and Q. Robertson, Jones, Melky, and Frazier hasn’t gotten much attention either. I think all those players have a market somewhere.
The White Sox are telling teams that Abreu and Eaton are available but at a really high cost. Especially Eaton. Quintana isn’t going anywhere. They’d have to get something really nice to move Nate Jones. Robertson and Frazier are getting attention (watch the Dodgers). Melky will be a late mover.
Robertson to Nats for Severino
Melky to StL for Gomber/Mayers
Frazier/Jones to LAD for Bellinger/Verdugo/Stewart
HAHAHAHHAHA Bellinger and Verdugo for Frazier/Jones…you’ve got to be kidding me right? If Bellinger is the sticking point in talks for Sale/Archer, why in the world would we give him up and our second best position prospect for a guy who hits .200 and a meh reliever
Who said Bellinger is the sticking point for Sale/Archer? Do you have a link? It possibly could be Urias which is why Dodgers had no interest in pursuing further. Maybe Pederson…? I’m guessing your playing armchair GM like the rest of us.
They could have had Frazier for less, and you could say he regressed since then.
Frazier has some value with the 40 HR potential and a quality glove at the hot corner. I would say we probably arent far apart on his value. Jones, on the other hand, I think has more value than what you are giving him credit for. He had another quality year and comes with a good contract. Relief pitching has been a crazy market in recent years and I see no reason that would change this offseason. Maybe it’s a steep asking price, but I could see Dodgers having interest in both players.
Verdugo, Calhoun, Stewart, Sborz
The problem is, the Red Sox are still paying Allen Craig $11m. Not quite as bad as the $21m the Yanks will be paying A-Rod this season but still… they need to be smarter in their extensions. I’d like to see them sign Matt Holliday to a one year deal to be the DH. They need to catch lightning in a bottle. Hopefully Pablo Sandoval can be comeback player of the year.
Castillo still has a ton of money on the books too
Good idea on Holliday, i’d rather have him than Napoli or EE
Boston didn’t extend Allen Craig, they just took on his contract in the John Lackey deal.
My best estimate of the Red Sox payroll for MLB luxury tax purposes as of today that includes everything (arbitration projections, pre-arb salaries, the balance of the 40 man roster and benefits and incentives) except signing a DH or upgrading their bullpen. It comes to $192MM plus or minus. That also includes the hit for Castillo and Craig who have been banished to Triple A but count against the Sox tax figure. Now of course the Sox could always move say Buchholz and maybe even Sandoval if they eat a chunk of his salary. But without doing either of one of those 2 things the Red Sox can not sign anyone else without going over the NEW luxury tax threshold of $195MM for 2017.
If you trade a player and eat some of their salary, does it not count against your payroll? My assumption was that it still counts.
Yes it counts but has to be recalculated
It counts but only the portion you eat counts against the luxury tax calculation. For example Sandoval’s AAV is $19MM per season if the Sox eat say $9MM of that each year for the remaining seasons effectively they save $10MM against their total payroll for each season. So that $192MM I mentioned previously becomes effectively $182MM the Sox payroll in 2017. That’s a bit of an over simplification but as they say it’s close enough for government work.
That’s exactly what I thought. Really, it wouldn’t offer very much relief, then. Thanks.