The Twins have hired longtime Baseball America editor John Manuel and added him to their pro scouting department, Manuel announced yesterday (on Facebook). The Twins later confirmed the hiring, as MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger writes. Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey suggests to Bollinger that the team has no intention of cutting its scouting department despite a notably increased emphasis on analytics. “We’ve talked a lot about staff enhancement and continuing to build out,” said Falvey. “We’ll do that with different voices with advances in video scouting and live scouting. We have a good number of pro scouts, but we’re looking to add to it. It’s not our expectation to have fewer people in the field.”
Manuel has spent more than two decades at BA and has been the publication’s editor-in-chief for more than half that time. As someone who owns a mountain of BA Prospect Handbooks and has had an active BA subscription for a decade or so now, I can earnestly say that his work will be missed. Congrats to John, and best wishes in his new role with the Twins.
A few more notes out of the AL Central…
- Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star welcomed former Royals beat writer Bob Dutton onto his podcast this week, and the two discussed a wide variety of topics, including several looks back to the Royals of the early 2000s. Royals fans will want to check out the entire podcast, but the portion that takes a retrospective look at some historic Royals trades undoubtedly will have a broader appeal to all baseball fans. Dutton recalls details of the trades of Royals stars Carlos Beltran, Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye and provides an inside look at each of those deals. Perhaps most notably, he recounts the story of Beltran, with whom the Royals had reached a tentative agreement on a three-year deal that never came to fruition after it was presented to ownership. That spring, the Royals and Rangers were discussing a swap of Beltran for Michael Young and Hank Blalock when Beltran suffered an oblique injury, per Dutton. It’s a fascinating look back in transaction history, and I’d recommend a full listen to any who read this. This also makes for an appropriate place to wish Dutton the best in his retirement from the beat; Dutton provided outstanding coverage of the Royals for years before joining the Mariners’ beat with the Tacoma News Tribune earlier this decade. I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting him in person but have admired his excellent work for years. Best wishes to Bob from those of us at MLBTR.
- White Sox director of amateur scouting Nick Hostetler was a guest host for a pair of White Sox Inbox columns at MLB.com, during which he answered a slew of questions on player evaluation, a day in the life of a scouting director, amateur draft philosophies and the upcoming Rule 5 Draft in December. Hostetler states that he has full confidence in Tim Anderson’s ability to develop into a plus defender at shortstop and also talked about top prospect Zack Collins’ improvements both at the plate and behind the plate as a catcher. Hostetler also notes that GM Rick Hahn and assistant GM Jeremy Haber are constantly working to maintain roster flexibility should a strong opportunity present itself in the Rule 5 Draft.
As both a Twins fan and a Baseball America fan, I approve of this.
Question – given White Sox low gate revenue for 2017, what are their chances for a competitive balance pick? When are CBs announced? Thanks
Any chance White Sox use their excess payroll capacity in trade with Braves for Markakis and/or Kemp bundled with young talent? I could see Markakis, Newcomb and either Wentz or Riley in exchange for Avi, Davison and maybe Spencer Adams (Atlanta kid). If Sox took on Kemp, then could add Allard to the bundle. Thoughts?
There is literally a zero percent chance that the Braves would do that. You’re asking for a top 25 prospect (Newcomb) who has already shown he can handle the majors, a player that hit .275 (not great but serviceable) and a fringe top 100 prospect for a player who has had one great year but is a career .277 hitter, a former top 75-100 prospect who has shown power but has hit .224 and strikes out roughly every 2.75 at bats, and fringe top 100 prospect (and his stock is falling). They don’t need to dump Markakis’s contract since he’s off the books after this year and why would they even consider trading Allard (a fringe top 25 prospect) just to dump two years of Kemps contract? they all most certainly won’t compete next year so they won’t even care that much about his contract.
I wouldn’t do this from the Sox side. Why would they want Kemp/Markakis and those salaries while giving up two regulars and a pretty good pitching prospect?
Braves might consider it for 3 reasons…1) huge salary dump…Kemp is owed $43M over next two years; 2) need to make room for Acuna, who is presumed to be major league ready and 3) Avia (4.2 WAR in ’17) can provide much needed pop from right side. Davison and Adams are sweeteners but Newcomb (1 WAR in ’17 limited action/100 innings) and Wentz/Riley seems fair.
1) The Braves payroll in 2017 was a little over 115 million, they have just under 80 million on the books for 2018 so while yes they would love to move Kemp, they are going to give up their #2 (top 25 overall, according to MLB.com) prospect just to do so. 2) just because they need to make room doesn’t mean they need to trade away other good prospects/young players, they would be better off just releasing Markakis. 3)Garcia has one season of WAR over 1, in fact he only has 2 seasons with a positive WAR. He’s a good player but I don’t know what you mean by “pop” because they most HR’s he’s hit in a season was 18, which was tied for 94th most last season. I think you are way over valuing one good season, Newcomb is a left handed strikeout pitcher, there is no way the Braves are trading him. Again that trade would make no sense for the Braves, in what way do they improve their team? The get a OF who hits for average with little power and isn’t 100% proven, a 3B with power but can’t field (he will be a DH before long, which isn’t an option for the Braves), has a terrible average, and if you want to talk WAR his was -.9.. They get a fringe top 100 pitching prospect and a salary dumb, which they can do in other ways. in return they would have to send a potential future ace in Newcomb (also left handed), the number #21 over all prospect (and #1 LHP prospect) in Allard, either the number #94 overall prospect (also a LHP) or a player who is pretty much Davidson only younger, plus an above average OF in Markakis (.9, 1.1, 1.5 WAR the last 3 years), and Kemp. Again what do the Brave gain from that?
swap wentz/riley w/ ian anderson and the math kind of checks out.
i don’t think it happens regardless. if the sox take on a sunk asset like kemp/markakis, they won’t want to give up anything of value. and braves probably would never consider something like kemp and anderson for matt davidson
The Sox are one year into a complete rebuild of their farm system and big league roster. Not sure why you think they’d have any interest in giving away young players for a couple of aging players on bad contracts.
Because they wouldn’t be giving away young players for a couple of aging players on bad contracts. They’d be “trading away” a couple young players for younger players with high ceilings, and in order for a team like the Braves to do that, the Sox would need to sweeten the deal by taking on a horrible contract. They aren’t taking on Kemp or Markakis because they want them on the team; they are doing it as a way to add value for the Braves. Pretty simple to figure out…
Exactly Priggs, this would be an amazing deal for the Sox, they get two potential aces (Newcomb and Allard) and a number 2-3 Pitcher (Wentz, also all three are lefties)or a Riley who has the ceiling of a middle of the order bat or at worst becomes Davidson but a better defender (not saying Riley is a good defender but Davidson is an awful defender) and what do they give up in return? Davidson who is looking like a .200 hitter who will strikeout 200 times a year and would have to play first base (way to slow for the outfield) for the Braves, which I think they might already have covered. Then there’s Adams who is a middle of the rotation pitch to contact guy and lastly a guy who will hit for a decent average with below average power and average fielding, who by the way you only have two years of control over before he is a FA. Why would the White Sox not take that deal? Kemp would be off the books by the time they are ready to compete anyways.
Kemp and Markakis combined for a -2 WAR in 2017. Between them they are owed $54 million. Avi had a 4..5 WAR in 2017 at slightly over $3 million. Even with some performance regression and super two bumps in pay he is a bargain.
If I’m Hahn, I’d be focused on Markakis in combo w/Newcomb and Wentz. Forget Kemp…Braves can live with him for the next two years. The problem with contemplating multi-player deals involving salary dumps is finding an agreeable way to value assets. WAR seems as good a metric as any and contract value/length is inarguable.
The Braves are There! Couple of prospects make the Difference, Gonna Add a starter and were Good
Braves are knocking on door but MLB might come down on them for Coppy transgressions. If so, several teams would be ready to pounce on Maitlan.
Including the White Sox
That must give encouragement to the writers of this site that a real job in baseball is definitely a possibility someday! Keep up the great work guys! All it takes is getting a foot in the door.