The Marlins face a tricky decision with out-of-options righty Jose Urena, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro writes. Urena posted a 6.13 ERA last season (albeit with a somewhat more palatable 6.2 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9) and has yet to establish himself in the Majors. At the same time, he has terrific velocity and a good prospect pedigree, so the Marlins likely don’t want to lose him. The Marlins’ additions of Edinson Volquez and Jeff Locke to their rotation and Brad Ziegler, Junichi Tazawa and Dustin McGowan to their bullpen means there’s limited space, however. A trade is a possibility, although Frisaro thinks that’s unlikely. Alternately, the Marlins could consider keeping 13 pitchers on their staff rather than 12, although that would limit their flexibility with their bench. Here’s more from the East divisions.
- The Orioles’ acquisition of Seth Smith this week should not impact their potential pursuit of Mark Trumbo, writes MASN’s Steve Melewski. The Orioles could still use Trumbo at DH, and their savings of about $4MM in the deal could possibly free up a bit of extra capital to sign him. As for Smith, he’s a platoon player, and neither he nor Hyun Soo Kim have much of a track record against lefties. That means the Orioles will likely continue to look for outfielders, presumably of the right-handed variety.
- Money and the potential loss of amateur talent were key reasons the Red Sox didn’t seriously pursue Edwin Encarnacion, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes. Getting under the luxury tax threshold will save the Red Sox money both now and in future seasons, particularly given the possibility that they could reset their threshold this season, thus limiting their penalties in the future. Also, the new CBA calls for teams that exceed the threshold and sign a player who declined a qualifying offer to forfeit their second- and fifth-round draft picks and portions of their international bonus pools.
Wow. Looks like the new CBA will cause typically high spending teams to not sign high priced free agents if they’ve rejected a QO. That could contribute to salaries falling. Hard to imagine the Player’s Association being okay with that.
Huh? The old CBA was much more harsh on teams signing a QO free agent, as it forced teams to give up a first round pick. Now, at worst, it’s a second and a fifth. Boston would’ve been even less likely to sign Edwin under the old CBA.
The “old” CBA is still in effect. The new CBA takes effect next season
Right. I’m just pointing out that OP’s point is incorrect. The old CBA was much harsher on teams signing a QO player.
That’s oversimplified. The new penalties are much more complicated than just the draft 2nd/5th round picks. The financial penalties go up rapidly each year and with surcharges based on how far over you go. Plus, you can have your 1st round pick knocked down by 10 slots and lose a significant chunk of your international spending allotment, which hurts much more now that there’s a hard cap instead of just a tax. Plus, the incentive is particularly big for getting under the cap this year or next. There is going to be a raft of 30 million guys on the market after the 2018 season and teams like the Sox and Yankees probably know that they are going to blow past the tax threshold that year to get guys like Harper, Machado, Donaldson, Kershaw and others.
Exactly! Well said!
You know you’re reaching when a 6:3 k/bb is somewhat palatable.
That’s ~210/284 for reliever with more than 20ip. (random ss, yes)
2:1 is hard to do as a starter
Ya, he had a 4.72 FIP. Not good by any means but I guess they’re saying it’s much better than his 6.12 ERA. I’d still take the upside guy in Urena over some bum like Locke
after looking at his stats more, he was better as a starter. he had a 12:10 k/bb ratio as a reliever, which is just awful. I get that it’s better than his awful era, but palatable it is not.
I’m not really sure he’s all that high of an upside guy, but yes, he’s probably better to keep around than jeff locke.
He was also better later in the year (from what I recall). Almost threw a shutout late in the year. Considering it was his first full season, he throws hard, and the Marlins severely lack any young talent in the minors, they can’t let guys like Urena get away.
Fips of 4.87 in 1st half in 20 ip and 4.68 in 63ip in the second half.
I get your point that they don’t have much talent, but my main contention is with the post citing those rate stats as “more palatable” and claiming he has a good prospect pedigree. He’s a 45 fv prospect who despite throwing hard has never had very good k numbers. He’s a meh pitcher who the marlins probably shouldn’t lose, but just because you throw hard doesn’t mean you can be successful at the mlb level.
I think the marlins should keep him because he’s cheap more than because he has legit potential to be good.
Yes I agree, I suppose I should clarify that I don’t think Urena is a rising star or anything. Looking at his minor league numbers I was pretty unimpressed. It’s more just the fact that the Marlins have to take chances on guys like this turning into something useful: either a backend starter or setup reliever. And yes, being cheap is another benefit for a team like Miami.
Considering the draft pick compensation is in place it was already ratified by the league and union. So they agreed to it. Too bad.
The Marlins have to be realistic about where they are. They aren’t competing; at best they’re a third place team and more likely to finish fourth or fifth. Why give a low upside vet like Locke meaningful innings instead of a young power arm like Urena?
Because they think they can win now
That’s not being realistic. They were a 3rd place team last year and lost by far their best player (RIP Jose).
I’m pretty sure loria doesn’t care about realistic. *tinfoil hat on* it looks like he’s trying to make this team appear as a competitor without dropping a ton of $ to increase potential sale price. This could just be my lack of trust in loria, but it really seems like he’s just willing to absolutely mortgage the farm to be a .500 team.
Because Loria seems to think his team draws the ravest of reviews, but he couldn’t be more wrong in that regard.
I would keep Utena, he sure has good velocity, perhaps some adjustments and some confidence.