Opposing teams bring up right-handers Carlos Martinez and Alex Reyes more than any other Cardinals in trade talks, general manager John Mozeliak told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Unsurprisingly, though, the Redbirds are “extremely unlikely” to deal either, said Mozeliak. The Cardinals were interested in extending Martinez as of October. For now, Martinez is arbitration eligible for the first time, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a $5.3MM award. The 22-year-old Reyes, on the other hand, won’t hit arbitration until after the 2019 season. Mozeliak is focusing on helping Martinez, Reyes and the rest of the Cardinals’ pitchers by improving the team’s defense this offseason, which he realizes “took a step backwards” in 2016. “We put a lot of stress on our pitchers this past year. Our whole staff is defined by ground balls. It’s a pretty simple leap to say that if we play better defense, we’re going to win more games,” he commented.
More rumblings:
- Sixteen teams have shown interest in free agent reliever Daniel Hudson, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag. One of those clubs is the Diamondbacks, with whom the right-hander pitched from 2010-16. With a 5.22 ERA in 60 1/3 innings, the two-time Tommy John surgery recipient struggled to prevent runs last season, but he did show impressive velocity and post respectable strikeout (8.65) and walk (3.28) rates per nine.
- The Pirates are willing to pay some of left-handed reliever Antonio Bastardo’s $6.5MM salary for 2017 in order to trade him, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Bastardo’s coming off a disappointing year spent with the Mets and Bucs, as he logged a 4.52 ERA in 67 2/3 innings and allowed a .253/.321/.495 line to lefty hitters. He’s currently one of four southpaws in Pittsburgh’s bullpen, joining Tony Watson, Felipe Rivero and Wade LeBlanc.
- In the event the Red Sox prefer a left-handed hitter to take over their vacant designated hitter job, they could attempt to acquire Jay Bruce or Curtis Granderson from the Mets, writes Scott Lauber of ESPN.com. The Mets look likely to trade at least one of the two outfielders this offseason, perhaps as early as the winter meetings.
- Free agent righty Tyson Ross will take his time signing with a team, tweets Peter Gammons, who notes that the 29-year-old should recover from October surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome between February and April. The Padres non-tendered Ross on Friday after he missed nearly all of last season with shoulder troubles.
There’s no way the Cards will deal Reyes or Martinez.
NEVER. Oh and MO so the whole pitching staff is defined on ground balls yet the Cardinals will have the same infield as last year.. A new “athletic” CF is the answer to group balls.. What in gods name are you smoking?
What do you think about trading Peralta, trading for Dozier, and platooning Pham and Wong in CF?
I think it is a good move but Wong will have to be in the trade to get him and that leaves a lot of room for money in the outfield and sign turner and you have fixed the defense problem
Still early in the offseason. That being said, I wonder if we will run w Diaz at SS for one more season before making any decisions on his defensive future. Didn’t even need advanced metrics to see Diaz was awful at SS. Hopefully he improves his glove work.
I’m glad the Pirates are wiling to eat some contract as opposed to sending 2 top 10 prospects along with Bastardo in a deal. Still sour at the Hutchison trade…smh
Obviously Martinez and Reyes are the most asked for Cardinals in trade talks. Thanks for writing out what everyone already knew.
And because of that, … no big names coming to St Louie.
There probably isn’t any big names coming, but it could happen without those two.
Those are both big names already in St. Louis (Martinez more so than Reyes). How would any team actually get better by trading a player like Martinez? The only reason to do so was if you had no intention of trying to compete. When was the last time the Cardinals weren’t competitive?
Not trading Reyes probably takes them out of any Sale talks. Besides that, there’s no player on the trade market worth even discussing Reyes.
Weaver, Bader, Kelly, Flaherty, Alcantara, Fernandez, Sosa, Sierra…puts them in the conversation for any realistic target.
2007… That team needed a 6 game winning streak at end
Oriole’s need to take a chance on Tyson Ross
They sure do.
He was an all star in 2014.
Along with every other team in the MLB lol
I agree as long as the dollars are reasonable. I fear he might be shredded. There’s a reason they couldn’t trade him and he got non-tendered
the dbacks have to sign hudson back.
As a sox fan, please god do not let jay Bruce be traded to the Red Sox. There are so many better options
Bruce still has a solid bat. His 1st half with the Mets was solid. HR hitter in Boston that won’t cost much in the talent pool to acquire .
Solid bat ? Where ? He’s not even a career .260 hitter
33 HR 100 Rbi. still solid #. Avg is not everything.
He’s a mediocre bat at best
Bosox keep Encarnacion away from that Bronx garbage.
Bruce can hit (albeit not in NY). If you place him in a hitters park and only ask him to DH, that would be the best way to utilize his particular skill set. I think he’s better suited in Baltimore as a DH buy Boston makes sense.
agreed. 30 HR and 100 Rbi is still solid. DH in Bal or Bos would be good.
Cincy was a hitters park
Why doesn’t Hudson start anymore? Is he just better as a reliever?
Injuries. Can’t stay healthy for a starters load
Ah gotcha
Guys with two TJs are deemed a ticking time bomb for a career ending injury. So bullpen is thought of as “safer”. Plus his effectiveness as a reliever has definitely helped keep him there
Yep. There’s no double -TJ guy who has ever had much of a career after the second operation, except in the bullpen.
Bastardo did notably better with Pittsburgh
I’d take a chance on Bastardo. He owned lefties from 2011-2015 despite last year’s struggles against them. Last year I think may have been a case of bad luck. His HR/FB ratio more than doubled while his HR per 9 went up by nearly 1. Even with the elevated HR rate, his only 2 bad months were May and June and he was solid(if unspectacular) from July through September.
I doubt the Pirates would want much even if they were to kick in $2 million. Could be worth the gamble seeing Bastardo only has 1 year left on his deal.
Red Sox need to trade for Gattis NOW, or they could go a different rout and get Turner play him at 3rd and Shaw at DH
Nooooooooooo not gattis they already have too many catchers and can’t put him at DH or LF
I’d take a chance on Bastardo. He owned lefties from 2011-2015 despite last year’s struggles against them. Last year I think may have been a case of bad luck. His HR/FB ratio more than doubled while his HR per 9 went up by nearly 1.
Even if the Pirates were to kick in about $2 million, I doubt they’d want much back in return. Based on his history and the going rates of lefty BP arms, Bastardo is a worthwhile gamble in my opinion, especially for just 1 year.
I would think the Dodgers would take a run a Ross; sounds like he’ll be ready to go about the time McCarthy will get hurt
Ross’ ERA is a run higher away from Petco & is OPS against is .100 pts higher away from Petco
How about Todd Frazier at 3rd base for Cardinals and Kevin Kiermaier in CF? Trade Wong, Adams, Peralta and Luke Weaver. Put Carp at 2nd.
Forget Frazier. Just get Longoria and Kiermaier from the Rays. Better D at third and center.
But then you’re almost guarenteed to give up one of Martinez/Reyes plus a lot more. If not, it’d make no sense for Tampa
Ethier to the Red Soxs? Lol would practically cost nothing. That might actually be a team I could see him waiving his 10-5 for.
I’m glad the Pirates are wiling to eat some contract as opposed to sending 2 top 10 prospects along with Bastardo in a deal. Still sour at the Hutchison trade…smh