The Padres are one of the only teams in baseball with a clear need at shortstop, and they appear to be shopping around the potential market. Per Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer, via Twitter, San Diego has “real interest” in free agent Zack Cozart. He’ll surely command a fairly significant contract, though there may also be an opportunity to realize value given the lack of demand at short. The Friars are also looking into Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. Galvis is projected to earn a healthy $7.4MM in his final season of arbitration eligibility, so he’d likely be available for a reasonable price — so long as the Phils decide it’s time to move on.
More on the market for middle infielders …
- Meanwhile, the Phillies are said to be setting a fairly lofty price tag on second baseman Cesar Hernandez, per Heyman (Twitter link). The 27-year-old switch-hitter has established himself as a quality regular with two consecutive seasons of above-average offensive production and quality glovework. He’s projected to take home $4.7MM this year and is eligible to be tendered contracts for two more seasons. Hernandez is arguably the most valuable of the second basemen that can reasonably be considered plausible trade candidates.
- Athletics second baseman Jed Lowrie is currently penciled into the organization’s everyday lineup, but Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that “it’s increasingly apparent that Lowrie could be on the move sooner rather than later.” The driving force here, it seems, isn’t so much salary — Lowrie’s reasonable $6MM tab still leaves the A’s room to work with — as it is opportunity. Oakland evidently sees a chance to get a strong return on Lowrie while working to improve in the outfield. Since Frankin Barreto could step into Lowrie’s shoes, the team may just be seeing a new and better way to allocate resources. The 33-year-old Lowrie had a strong bounceback season in 2017, turning in 645 plate appearances of .277/.360/.448 hitting.
- All along, Tigers second bagger Ian Kinsler has seemed the likeliest player at his position to move. And it’s possible a deal could come together this week, GM Al Avila tells reporters including MLB.com’s Jason Beck (Twitter link). It’s a “possibility,” but not a certainty, that something will get done, according to Avila.
Angels are going to get JHay before the end of the week.
Pirates fan here, I don’t really see the pirates moving Harrison, unless they get a very good offer.
I think they’ll move JHay. I predict he will be gone before Friday.
(Pirate fan as well) I highly doubt they’ll move him that soon. There has been very little talk about him. The most I’ve seen is Blue Jays might be interested in him.
The pirates intend to compete at this point, and they aren’t exactly strong in the infield, so unless they get an offer they can’t pass up, I don’t see him going anywhere.
Which player holds the rights to the J-heigh nickname? JHey Or JHay?
So if the A’s trade Lowrie who is going to get on base? Matt Joyce? They’ll lead the league in solo homers fwiw
Franklin Barreto their top prospect.
Pinder also plays 2B.
Barreto is a sub .300 OBP guy
He’s never been below .330 in any year of his career in the minors.
Semien, Chapman, Joyce, Davis, Powell & Olson all have wOBA of .310+ and walk more than league average. Semien is actually a very good baserunner (BSR 4.6), ahead of Joey Gallo and Cameron Maybin in that stat.
I love Jed. Quietly, he had a very strong 2017 where his defense was just good enough and was certainly the offensive MVP. for the A’s However, as others have said, it’s going to be time very soon to see what Barreto can do. I think one of three things are going to happen…
1. Trade now for OF help
2. Trade at the trading deadline in July if the A’s aren’t in the mix for the WC
3. Let him walk in free agency after next season
Regardless, I will miss Jed, best walk-up song in baseball!!!
Lowrie was better offensively than Davis? Olson?
someone please take Jed lol I wanna see Barreto play
Cesar Hernandez is gonna cost more than the rest of the 2Bs, so for that reason, I don’t think he gets moved
Where are the hits for solarte and Spangenberg
I like the idea of signing Cozart. Fills a need, won’t be too expensive with a lack of demand at his position and won’t cost a draft pick.
Hey! We agree! Still don’t think we bring Tatis up til after the start of next year to keep his service time down. Cozart could play 2nd or third in his 2nd or third year, or be flipped, granted he’s healthy and productive
Hey, we all agree! Cozart would be the smartest addition Preller could make this offseason. Every reason you mentioned for one, and for two the lineup needs to be lengthened. Myers will immediately become a better player once more is added to complement him.
The same guy we are asking to bat 3rd everyday, hit 30 and 100 every year, is the same guy 3 years ago who was batting leadoff, stealing bases, and was arguably the best player on that 2015 “rockstar GM” team. He does better with a supporting cast and Cozart would be a nice start to the complementary pieces that are needed to support Myers and make this lineup deeper.
Uh oh, well Ryan would disagree about “lineup protection.” Truth is, he’s not a leader, and he’s being asked to be. He’s a goofy, streaky, talented KID. It also is hard to be the best player on a crappy team. Everyone talks about his defense, but the year before he was one if the best. So the kid needs to get his mental in order. Hosmer would be a great fit, but I think he is just too expensive to have him in his prime for only a 2-3 years when we’re ready to compete. If we could get him for 6/120, I’d be for it. But 7/180, no way.
Even if we got Carlos Santana and Zach Cozart, that immediately makes the team better.
A lineup of:
CF-Margot
2B-Asuaje
LF-Myers
1B-Santana
SS-Cozart
3B-Solarte
RF-Renfroe
C -Hedges
Adding Santana and Cozart to this lineup puts everybody where they should be.. It allows Renfroe to slide down the order, You keep the Margot/Asuaje combo at the top which did well last year, while giving Myers som legit thump behind him while Hedges rounds it out, not bad to have your defensive minded catcher giving you 20 bombs from the 8 hole
You’re dam right I will. Lineup protection has been proven to be a farce. If it were a real thing, Wil Myers’ OBP would have gone up after Kemp got traded. It went down.
Giving Myers “some legit thump behind him” isn’t going to stop him from swinging at bad pitches or stop pitchers from throwing him bad pitches.
Yeah Cozart would be a good signing to fill shortstop. His offense will probably decline, but if he can keep up his usual good glove work throughout the length of a 2-3 year deal, he’ll be a serviceable shortstop to have until Tatis is ready.
And of course, minor league shortstops often have to move off the position; by the time Tatis makes the majors, if he even does, it might be as a third baseman or outfielder or second baseman. Cozart is already a major league shortstop, which has immense value all by itself. Think about how many bad hitters have hung around the majors for years and years because of their ability to play shortstop.
@Padres2019
For all the reasons you just mentioned, even with light demand, Cozart may not decide to sign with the Padres. This is his one opportunity to decide where he wants to play. Why would he want to sign with a team that may use him as a trade chip in a year? Would the Padres give a NTC?
When signing w a bad team, there is always a higher chance you’ll be flipped. If he’s a super competitive guy, he may take less to play w a contender. But he hasn’t had his big payday yet, and The Padres typically don’t offer the highest offer due to being one of the best cities(if not best) in the country. But no they won’t give a no trade clause. Small market teams can’t afford to.
These reasons ha e always hindered us from signing top free agents. Same w the A’s, Ray’s etc. We.muat build theough the draft
We’d offer him the most money is the reason why he would do that.
I dont mind if the Phils keep Cesar for a little bit until the deadline, but please for the love of god move Freddy!
What can the Tigers expect in return for Kinsler from, say the Mets or Angels?
I could see the Mets offering Harvey for Kinsler. I know they want back prospects but if Harvey can rebound for that team they could flip him for someone at the deadline. Other then that the Mets farm isn’t to impressive
I’m not a fan of either of these teams so feel free to correct me if this seems off base, but I feel like a package of Szapucki and another mid-level prospect could be about right. Kinsler is a solid player for sure, but the one year of control left knocks his value down a little at the same time.
I believe the Tigers are looking for positional player prospects, to add to others they got at the deadline
It’s early in the rebuild. Their goal should just be to add as much talent as possible.
Its possible that if Gleyber Torres isn’t ready, Ian Kinsler could fit into the Yankees plans for one year.
Hard to believe the Yankees aren;t going hard for Cesar Hernandez and his .373 OBP.
After all they gave up for Stanton, do the Yankees have any farm system left? (Cough, Cough)