The latest on Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton comes from the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo, who reports that the Red Sox currently have “tepid” interest in the NL MVP. Notably, Miami isn’t enamored of Boston’s farm system, per Cafardo, though he notes that the Marlins’ main motivation in trading Stanton would be to rid themselves of his contract. As such, one shouldn’t rule out Stanton to the Red Sox if they’re willing to take on a significant portion of the $295MM coming his way over the next decade.
While it’s unclear how much of Stanton’s deal the Red Sox would be open to absorbing, the Giants are “willing to take on a lot” of it, Cafardo writes. The Giants have shown more interest than anyone else in Stanton, Cafardo hears, and he adds that they’re prepared to exceed the luxury tax threshold for the fourth straight year if necessary. As of now, they and the Cardinals are the only known teams that have submitted offers to the Marlins to acquire Stanton.
More from Cafardo:
- In addition to the previously reported Brewers and Twins, the Blue Jays, Rockies and Rangers have shown interest in free agent right-hander Jake Arrieta, Cafardo relays. All of those teams have contacted agent Scott Boras about Arrieta, though it’s unclear how serious any of them are about the 31-year-old. The Rangers seem to have the greatest need for Arrieta, who MLBTR projects will land a nine-figure contract, but as Steve Adams pointed out when previewing their offseason, they don’t have a lot of payroll flexibility.
- The Giants, White Sox and Royals “will likely keep inquiring” about Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. throughout the offseason, Cafardo contends. Each of San Francisco, Chicago and Kansas City have pursued Bradley recently, but the Royals already had Lorenzo Cain occupying center when they went after JBJ in 2015. Now, with Cain likely to depart via free agency, the fit between the Royals and the affordable Bradley is obvious. However, it’s fair to wonder whether the Royals have a good enough farm system to put together a deal for Bradley, who’s controllable through 2020 and will make around $5.9MM next season.
- The Nationals are interested in reuniting with righty Jordan Zimmermann, but the Tigers would unsurprisingly have to eat some of his contract, according to Cafardo. Zimmermann was at his best with the Nats from 2011-15, but he has experienced a sharp decline since signing a five-year, $110MM pact with Detroit entering the 2016 campaign. The 31-year-old has pitched to an ugly 5.60 ERA in 265 1/3 innings as a Tiger and is owed an unpalatable $74MM over the next three seasons.
- Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez has a full no-trade clause – not a partial NTC – agent Jim Boggs tells Cafardo. Regardless, coming off a back injury-shortened season in which he accounted for minus-1.1 fWAR in 252 plate appearances, finding a taker for Gonzalez, 35, figures to be a tall task for the Dodgers. LA may simply eat the $21.5MM Gonzalez is owed next season in order to jettison him, Cafardo suggests.
Kind of surprised the Nats would be interested in Zimmerman.
They could use an innings eater and they probably see something they can fix in his mechanics to get him back to his normal self.
If they get the Zimmerman of the last few years they are not getting an “innings eater” at all. He has struggled to get out of the 4th inning without giving up 5+ runs and that’s when he hasn’t been on the DL
the nationals would be getting an ace back if he can get back to his 2013-2014 form.
What kind of money would the tigers be eating to make that deal reasonable? No way you’d want Zim at anymore than 3/30 at this point I would think. Forget the marginal prospect return. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to take on anymore than 30million.
That is still a lot for him at this point.
I don’t know if it makes any sense for Detroit to get Rid of him of for that. Anymore than that and you might as well just keep him and let him take a slot in the rotation. 3/30 is probably the most someone would pay for him right now. Zim has a positive track record and the going price for a 4/5 starter is about 10mil. I’d imagine the prospect return would be non existent. but i cant see Det eating any more of that salary. Would be 45 mil eaten at 3/30.
Tigers should keep Jordan Zimmermann if they have to eat half of the contract. Zimmerman’s value can only go up consider how awful he’s been.
I don’t see how they don’t have to eat half the contract in a trade. What kind of deal do you think Zim would get in FA coming off of these last 2 years? Maybe a 1 year 7-10 mil base salary with incentives. I don’t know if a team could trade for Zim and take on more than 30 over the next three. I agree they should probably hang on because you’ll have to replace those innings at some cost anyway. Depends what the Nats are willing to do. They know the guy as well as anyone but I have a hard time believing you can value Zim any higher than 10mil or so for the next 3 seasons.
I think they’re just trying to corner the market on players named Zimmerman.
I’m also pretty surprised by this one. Zimmermann is probably not the worst retread project out there especially since hes had success with the Nats in the past, but that price tag is pretty staggering.
I would think the Tigers would be more likely to give him some time with their new pitching coach to see if he can bounce back some before eating the amount of money it would take to move him at his bottom.
Remember Cafardo is an idiot. None of his suggestions ever come true. Maybe LA cutting Gonzalez. Anyone could make that prediction.
Did Cafardo really need an agent to tell him AGon has a full no trade clause? I guess he is unaware of those 5/10 rights thing
Just hope that situation ends amicably…unfortunately for A-Gon the baseball Gods have caught up to him and the Dodgers will be better off without him in the lineup…hopefully he ends up back in the organization because regardless of being in SD longer I think he is another vet that should be a “Dodger for life” because of his ties to the community
Looking at it a little deeper, he’ll probably be a Padre for life even though that organization is a stage 4 dumpster fire…good luck either way A-Gon and thanks for the hard work you put in for the boys in Blue
He’s had bad problems with his back. You can’t say he’s done. I’ll bet he returns next year and will be more than just good.
He’s a headstrong business man who runs and owns businesses (including a Mexican B.B. club), so he may have butt heads with the Dodgers.
The Dodgers wanted Belanger at first so they could have options in the outfield.
But wouldn’t it have been nice to have him dh or pinch hit or play defensively at first late in the games? Don’t know.
Dodger for life??? Is that what you call someone who doesn’t bother to attend the World Series that his team is playing in (hurt or not) so you can tour Europe??? Please!! He’s all about AGon and that’s about it!
Those rumors about his being in Europe during the WS were not true. He went to Europe to help his wife between the first round and LCS. He was there for about three days or so and back in L.A. for the start of the next series.
Wait what? What do you want him to do honestly. Do you want him to buy a seat in the stadium? It’s not as though he was even able to sit in the dugout. Such reaction is ridiculous. Guys deal with their crap in their own separate ways. If he was allowed to stay in the dugout and declined that’s a completely different story.
Yes, I’m sure he would’ve been buying a seat and not sitting in the team/owner’s box seats.
mcdusty31… must be nice to go on vacation to Europe, while you’re team is fitting for a World Series ring.. typical dodger fan!! Don’t really see the big picture on been a winner.
What the hell does “fitting” for a World Series mean? And I think you meant “being” a winner.
Grab a dictionary before you leave your comments.
The sad news is……A-Gon JUST acquired those 5-10 rights this past August. They should have moved him before that….but he was on the DL. Bad timing for the Dodgers.
They have $61.15 Million tied up in A-Gon (21.5), Kazmir (16.0), Olivera (4.67), Kemp (3.75), Ethier (2.5), Arruebarrena (6.5), Sierra (4.5) & Toscano (1.8). That could easily all be “Dead Money” if A-Gon & Kazmir can’t play.
This was easily the most useful, and informative comment I’ve seen on MLBTR in long time. I really mean that.
Yasiel Sierra might well be a part of the Dodgers bullpen in 2018.
That said, with the Dodgers having a lot of money coming off the books after 2018 (A-Gon/22.36M, Kazmir/17.67M, Ethier/2.5M, Arruebarrena, Ryu/7.83M, McCarthy/11.5M and Puig/9.21M) why not make a play for Giancarlo Stanton?
baseball-reference.com/teams/LAD/los-angeles-dodge…
It would seem like a good idea to package some of this dead money to the Marlins in order to make sure the Dodgers stay under the penalty portion of the salary cap (total salary less than 237M) so they don’t get bumped down ten slots in the 2018 draft. What’s considered for the cap is slightly adjusted for what’s actually owed to players in 2018.
truebluela.com/2017/11/12/16618194/dodgers-payroll…
In order for the Marlins to be interested, if you’re the Dodgers not offer 3-5 prospects in a Stanton trade. 1-2 could be any of the Dodgers top ten prospects like Alex Vergudo or anyone else other than Walker Buehler or Kelbert Ruiz. The other three could be lower level prospects. That way, the Marlins get long-term salary relief from Stanton’s contract and prospects to rebuild around. The Dodgers get short-term salary relief of some of their 2018 contracts (Kazmir’s is the most realistic contract to send to Miami) in order to take on Giancarlo’s contract.
If the reason that Miami wants to trade Stanton is “Salary Relief” to bring the payroll down to $90 Mil in 2018………Why on earth would they take on an albatross contract for an injured player? Makes No Sense.
Marlins have been pretty clear that they are reducing payroll, and that they’d rather reduce the prospect haul rather than offset Stanton’s contract. I guess if the player was an overpaid, but productive addition, they might consider it….but that’s not what they have said to date.
Possibly…. they’d consider taking Puig back, since he’s a FA after 2018, and only costs $9.2M for ’18.
Kazmir is dead money unless he pitches in ST and shows he is healthy. If he does that…..the Dodgers will put him in the rotation…more than likely.
Does it matter about Agon being a 5/10 guy. No GM in their right mind would trade for that bad contract. Best they could do is release him. Sometimes subtract is a addition.
Well not to pick at it, but they already paid Olivera his bonus a while back. He just counts against the cap as AAV component. Kaz well with the deferrals there’s still another 40 M to paid out until 21. Really the dead money isn’t much of any issue with the exception of threshold tax. Especially considering that Sierra, Arrumbarna, and Toscano don’t count against the threshold tax. And really Sierra is starting to look like a legitimate multi innings reliever.
I can see them realistically churning more short term no control pieces to keep parring down the payroll, but they are finally getting to the place where financially they are looking upwards.
Sorry I am late to the party but correct me if I am wrong. Wasn’t acquiring all of these players and staying competitive during the rebuild part of the Dodgers plan all along? They knew it would be a massive over pay and they would end up with some bad years but they didn’t want to go the Astros or Cubs way. Didn’t they get some of their good prospects by taking on bad contracts? (Rangers fan so not in tune with everything Dodgers but have always liked them) Now that the money will be coming off, they are stacked and ready to run for the long haul and will have the cash to sign their own guys and supplement through free agency.
Disagree that the Royals are an obvious fit for Bradley. He’s only got 3 years of control, and their window seems like it just closed. Barring some sort of massive unexpected payroll spike that’s probably not feasible and certainly is not likely, this feels like a time to hoard prospects, not trade them away for average players
Bradley has played at the level of a 3-4 WAR (depending on source) player now for three straight years. I know a lot of people on here habitually hate on Boston, but you’re either lying in terrible fashion or you need to catch up on our modern understanding of baseball player value. He might not be a good fit for everyone, but he is most certainly much better than “average”.
I’m not a Red Sox hater or unfamiliar with modern value. If you want to argue that Bradley’s slightly above-average, fine, but he’s been worth more than 3 wins (fWAR for me) once in his career, and every offensive indicator that you can look at regressed last season. I think he’s a 2-3 win player moving forward, average to slightly above because he’s obviously a plus defender, but highly doubt that’s enough to move the needle for a KC team that, right now, looks like one of the worst rosters in baseball
Nick Cafardo is a generally unreliable source of information.
Actually, Cafardo is reliably unreliable.
Really dont see a match for Zimmermann to the Nats. Would think the Tigers would have to eat at least half of the contract and even then would the Nats part with any quality prospects?
I would think the Tigers would be happy to rid themselves of 1/2 of that contract for nothing in return.
AGonz will be healthy again
He’s going to be an excellent Bench Bat for them. I bet he doesn’t play 50 games at 1B all year……(unless they trade Pederson or Puig)
Like sands through the hourglass, so is the latest on the continuing Stanton saga. This may go on all winter, who knows.
I would really like the Jays to take a run at Arrieta although he is 31 and he has had his peak and his numbers are decreasing the last 2 years so it is pretty clear that his decline has started. I would consider a 3 -5 year deal depending on the AAV,. Unfortunately he is a Boras client so signing him is likely going to be a chore for anyteam.
Arrieta was 23 in WAR the last 2 years at 6.2 Happ had a WAR of 6.0 and is making 12 million a year, Arrieta will cost you 22 to 26 million a year, this is a bad contract.
You made a great case for why teams should be cautious pursuing Arrieta.
Bradley for Abreu
Will not happen.
Who says no?
You really don’t think the white Sox can’t get anything else?
If the Yanks get Ohtani they might make another deal with the Sox. could move Mitchell, Adams, Estrada, and Tate for Abreu
That’s a big “if.”
Replace Adams/Tate (hard pass on Mitchell) with Sheffield/Andujar, and I’d be ok with it.
Considering that Bradley has an extra year of control, I would say that the one-for-one value isn’t far off.
Generally, deals like this would involve a prospect or two being involved to cover a minor difference in value.
Bradley doesn’t seem to be the type of asset that the White Sox should be looking for at this time, but given the continued interest that Chicago has shown in Bradley over the past few years, it makes sense.
I dont see the need for the Yankees to get Abreu. If they pick up Ohtani then the only real hole in the lineup is 3B which could be filled by a number of options. Bird is too good to platooned with anyone and same goes for Abreu.
Given Bradley’s extra year of control, I think the one for one value is pretty close.
Generally, deals like this have an additional prospect or two involved to make up for any minor difference in value.
While Bradley doesn’t seem like the type of asset the White Sox should considering at this time, their continued interest in Bradley over the past few seasons and apparent interest now make it a possibility.
It should be noted that Boston likely won’t be making Bradley available unless they bring Stanton or Martinez into the fold.
Not just straight up Bradley for Abreu. That would make no sense for a rebuilding team.
Why do the White Sox want JBJ? So he can increase his stock and get them back more in a trade next year?
If LA decides to just drop Adrian Gonzalez from their roster i would like the pads to pick him up at the minimum rate. Throw him in at 1b and put Myers in LF when Gonzos playing. The Rebuilding padres are shooting for .500 at best nxt yr so as a way to get more fans and get a LH 1b who can still defend would be great to bring more fans in
Considering he’s a couple home runs away from being the career home run leader for the Padres, it wouldn’t be a shocker if the Padres sign him
Jordan Zimmermann for Adrian Gonzalez. straight up.
I remember thinking when Zimmermann signed with the Tigers that was going to be the best signing of that pitchers market in Grienke, Cueto, Price, Zimm. I was pissed Giants missed out on him.
If the Dodgers are willing to eat a good portion of Gonzalez’ salary, the Mets would be a fit. They need a 1B if they’re truly down on Smith.
Gonzo has to get himself traded to an AL team so that he can DH. Otherwise, he is through as a regular player. And, as his Red Sox experience attests he is not an east coast type of guy either…So his best deal might be with Houston which just lost its DH (Beltran to retirement.
With the severity of his back issues, I’d be surprised to see ANY club willing to trade for A-Gon. 50% of his contract would be $21.5 mil x 50% = $10.75 Mil.
There are so many other options out there.
Teams could sign Adam Lind for less than that, not give up a prospect, and get better production (plus a player who can play more than one position).
I’d think that the Dodgers are stuck with A-Gon.
If they’re truly down on Smith, they should try to find somebody that is still high on him and ship him out. If the White Sox like him, the Mets should try to move him and another couple pieces for Abreu.
I wish, but everyone knows the Mets are down on him following Sandy’s comments a couple/few weeks ago. I hope they can rebuild value and dump later in the year.
I’m sure you’re right about that. However, it doesn’t mean that they can’t still use him as a piece in a bigger deal.
I’m not saying the Sox would do something 1-for-1 or anything like that, but I could see him coming back to Chicago with another significant piece (or a couple lesser pieces, depending on how Hahn views their system). I’m sure Hahn would have at least some sort of interest in guys like Peterson, Gimenez, Szapucki, Lindsay, Guillorme, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hahn could find a better deal elsewhere (assuming he moves Abreu at all, which is a big assumption), but it wouldn’t be a horrible move imo.
Rockies and Blue Jays seem like really odd teams to be interested in Arrieta. Both have full rotations that are the strengths of their teams, and have other needs that are bigger. Wonder if either are trying to load up on SP’s to free a different one up to trade to Marlins?
Blue Jays only have one good starter and he is a #2-#3 – Stroman. Happ will decline even further from last year, Estrada has a heirniated disk and will be lucky to win 6 games, and Sanchez finger issues are not resolved or tested and probably will end up in the pen due to health. The Blue Jays got little they can depend on in the starting rotation.
Has Cafardo won any awards? If so, it’s probably the “writer” equivalent of the Gold Glove Award while he’s Rafael Palmeiro in 1999 (spending most of the time at DH).
Could you start putting him in the Baseball Blog Roundup section? While some of those “writers” are garbage as well, giving him his own posts is disrespectful to the rest of them.
Gordon is the hold up between Boston and Miami to the consummation a deal for Stanton.
The Red Sox will take on the remainder of Giancartlo’s 13-year $325M deal But the Marlins are insisting that the BoSox have to take on both Stanton and Gordons’ contracts as they are presently constructed. DD is balking, saying no way!. In all likelihood, DD has made a counter proposal by offering to take on both contracts if the Marlins will agree to take on Rusney Castillo’s $33M/3 yrs. remaining deal, and perhaps, retaining payment responsibility for 50% of Gordon’s deal of $58.5M which is heavily backloaded.
DD will let others, like St. Louis and San Francisco, offer up their 50% + prospects deals before he begins to push Jeter for a decision.
If the Boston/Miami deal goes through, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gordon included in a trade for, Abreu, or perhaps Wil Myers of San Diego and Brad Hand, the lefty reliever. Myers is a better hitter than his numbers indicate and can play the OF. Brentz might be a throw in to make the deal work.
It’s pretty cool that the Marlins and Red Sox are conferencing you in on their trade talks.
How did you come up with this fiction? Especially since it’s known that the Red Sox have not made a proposal’ only the Giants and Cards have.
Why take Rusney Castillo on for Gordon? Makes zero sense, that makes the proposal worse. They could find a suitor for Gordon for much less than the cost of Rusney Castillo. And why would the padres or Chisox have any interest in Dee Gordon? Might want to rework that one.
Dude you can’t even get the numbers right. Gordon’s entire contract was 50M and is it backloaded sure, but it’s not so outrageously backloaded. Castillo’s contract is also closer to 40 M, but I digress. The Marlins could also easily shed the contract. Secondly why would SD have any interest at all in Gordon. The whole post makes no sense at all.
the white sox should not go after jbj. its just not the right time to move prospects
Any chance the Tigers would take Prado, Volquez, and $2.5MM cash in 2018 and maybe a lottery ticket from MIA for Zimmermann, a low-level Tigers prospect, and $15MM of the $25MM owed Zimmermann for 2020, in 2020?
I don’t see why Zimmerman would approve a trade to Mia.
Of course not. I’d forgotten that Zimmermann still has a full no-trade clause.
All the more reason DET probably keeps him at least through the 2018 trade deadline if not all next season..
If Carfardo is saying that teams are interested in Bradley then that must mean the Sox are pushing hard for Stanton or Martinez. They probably would like to trade him before making another move that would weaken their leverage.
They could get Martinez or Stanton then sign Hosmer to remake the middle of the lineup.
And the Jays don’t have an immediate need for pitching? You got Stroman, then three question marks purely in health reasons of Sanchez, Estrada and Happ. One of those three may be in the pen to start the year or the whole year. Happ will be .500 again, Estrada will be just over .500 Sanchez who knows.
Best way to gage a pitcher….win-loss record! Lol
I agree with Jaysrule1399. When all is said and done at the end of the year, I think that Jays rotation will be even more poorer that you have said. I agree with Paul Miller as well, it takes wins to get to the playoffs and if a team wins when a guy is on the mound, regardless of stats, I’ll take it.
A rotation must be able to carry a team to a minimum number of wins to get to the playoffs. As far a Nov 2017 in time, the Jays don’t have this rotation [yet].
Adrian can DH for Angels….stay in LA. Something happened in that LA clubhouse. Rumors were that players did not want him in dugout during WS….so DR asked him to stay out of uniform. Surprised me. LA eats his contract if rumors were accurate. We need him in SD. Gold Glove vs airhead Myers….no brainer.
What rumors? That’s really not accurate. He wasn’t on the taxi squad and injured. It was made perfectly clear at the beginning of the playoffs the rule was not on the taxi squad then you would not be in the dugout. It was an organizational rule.
Jackie Bradley JR would be nice to see on the royals, but I’m a little nervous to think about what prospect(s) they would give up for him. They need as many prospects as possible since they depleted their farm with the Cueto and Zobrist trades.