Earlier this week, we checked in on how last year’s five American League playoff qualifiers have addressed their rosters since this still-quiet offseason began in November. We’ll follow up today with the National League, starting with the reigning pennant winners…
Los Angeles Dodgers (2017 record: 104-58; current FanGraphs projection for 2018: 94-68): The Dodgers’ financial clout hasn’t been on display this winter, owing to a desire to get under the $197MM competitive balance tax figure in 2018. Los Angeles helped its cause in that regard last month by dumping the contracts of Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy on the Braves and only getting back old friend Matt Kemp, whom the team seems likely to flip elsewhere or release prior to the season.
Aside from a household name in Kemp, whose best days are long gone, the newest Dodgers may not be all that familiar to casual fans. Their only major league signing, former back-end Marlins starter Tom Koehler, took a $2MM guarantee to work as a reliever in 2018. There’s optimism Koehler will thrive in that role, as FanGraphs’ Jeff Sullivan highlighted last month. On the other hand, southpaw Scott Alexander has already demonstrated excellence as a major league reliever, and the Dodgers acquired the groundball machine from the Royals this week in a deal that saw them part with fellow lefty Luis Avilan. LA’s hope is that Koehler and Alexander will ably step in for Avilan, 2017 standout Brandon Morrow – who joined the Cubs in free agency – and the still-unsigned Tony Watson.
Speaking of unsigned players, high-end starter Yu Darvish remains without a contract two months after the market opened. Two disastrous World Series starts notwithstanding, Darvish was mostly outstanding as a Dodger after they acquired him from the Rangers at last July’s trade deadline. While the Dodgers have discussed a reunion with Darvish this offseason, it’s hard to picture it coming to fruition when considering their wariness toward the tax and the expensive pact he’s sure to secure.
Generally, Dodgers president Andrew Friedman has been hesitant to hand out large contracts – a key reason the team was only on the periphery in the sweepstakes for the extremely costly Giancarlo Stanton, despite reports that he’d have preferred to play in his hometown of LA. As such, any splashy pickups may be more likely to come via trade than free agency. The Dodgers, in fact, tried to swing a deal for Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. earlier this offseason. That trade would’ve cost the Dodgers Yasiel Puig, but the Red Sox were uninterested in making the move.
Washington Nationals (2017 record: 97-65; current projection for 2018: 91-71): Fortunately for the Nationals, they haven’t and won’t lose any integral contributors from last year’s team to the open market. Nevertheless, Washington has been active in the rumor mill lately, with catching, pitching and outfield upgrades on the club’s radar.
Entering what could be the final season of the Bryce Harper era in D.C., reports have connected the Nationals to the likes of J.T. Realmuto, Alex Avila, Jake Arrieta, Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi, Greg Holland and Christian Yelich in recent weeks. Adding Realmuto, Avila or Jonathan Lucroy would be especially beneficial for a team that received the worst behind-the-plate production in the majors last season. The Nationals thought they found their solution at catcher a year ago when they signed Matt Wieters, but the Scott Boras client hasn’t been effective over a full season since 2013. Although Wieters is guaranteed $10.5MM in 2018, Washington would be hard-pressed to count on him again as a regular.
Just as he did last year with Wieters, there’s speculation that Boras could end up talking Nationals ownership into taking on one of his high-profile free agents this winter. Boras has a longstanding relationship with the franchise, and inking any of Arrieta, Holland or outfielder J.D. Martinez to big-money pacts would address areas the Nats have been looking at this winter. To this point, their free agent signings have been modest – they re-upped reliever Brandon Kintzler and brought in reserve first baseman Matt Adams.
Chicago Cubs (2017 record: 92-70; current projection for 2018: 92-70): Free agency has been a mixed bag for the Cubs, who have been aggressive in adding players as others have reached the market. Arrieta is still out there, as mentioned, though the Cubs lost 2017 closer Wade Davis to the Rockies. For now, they’re slated to replace Davis with Morrow, who, for what it’s worth (maybe nothing), doesn’t come with the “proven closer” tag. Morrow is one of five pitchers the Cubs have inked to big league deals this offseason, joining two other relievers (Steve Cishek and Dario Alvarez) and a pair of starters (Tyler Chatwood and Drew Smyly, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery).
While president Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer have been busy, they’re definitely not done upgrading their team’s pitching staff. Whether it’s a rumored possibility – Arrieta, Darvish, Archer, Alex Cobb, Gerrit Cole or Danny Duffy – or an off-the-radar name, the Cubs will add another starter to round out a rotation that currently includes Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana, Jon Lester and Chatwood.
Additionally, Chicago could make a splash in the position player market, as reports have linked them to Yelich, Lorenzo Cain and Orioles infielder Manny Machado,. A left side alignment of Kris Bryant at third base and Machado at short would be transcendent, but the latter’s only under control for another year. Consequently, teams have been reluctant to meet the O’s lofty asking price for Machado. In the event the Cubs do reel in Machado, it’s unclear what it would mean for starting middle infielders Addison Russell and Javier Baez, who are under wraps for the foreseeable future. Notably, the Cubs dangled Baez in talks with the Padres at last month’s Winter Meetings.
Arizona Diamondbacks (2017 record: 93-69; current projection for 2018: 84-78): On the heels of a surprisingly great season, the Diamondbacks apparently aren’t in financial position to do anything significant in free agency. While ace Zack Greinke is occupying a massive chunk of payroll and has drawn some trade interest this winter, the 34-year-old’s contract makes a deal a long shot. Greinke’s presence, while highly beneficial in 2017, is one reason J.D. Martinez is likely to sign elsewhere after an incredible second-half run with the D-backs last season.
Meanwhile, 2017 closer Fernando Rodney (Twins) and catcher Chris Iannetta (Rockies) have already left, though they obviously aren’t nearly as important as Martinez. The Diamondbacks may attempt to replace Rodney in the ninth inning with either of their two new bullpen pickups, Brad Boxberger or Yoshihisa Hirano. Boxberger, whom they grabbed in a trade with the Rays, has been an effective major league reliever (including a stint as a closer), but injuries have beset him lately. Hirano was a great closer in Japan before immigrating to Arizona last month for a guaranteed $6MM.
To this point, Boxberger and Hirano stand as the Diamondbacks’ only noteworthy additions, but GM Mike Hazen expects more moves to occur. Trading starter Patrick Corbin and his projected $8.3MM salary is reportedly a possibility, and clearing his salary would enable the D-backs to address other areas either through trades or free agency. They’ve aimed high on the trade front, having been connected to Machado, Yelich and Marcell Ozuna (who’s now out of the picture after going from the Marlins to the Cardinals). Speculatively, the D-backs could also pursue an offensive upgrade over defensively gifted catcher Jeff Mathis – particularly in the wake of Iannetta’s exit – though Hazen has downplayed that possibility.
Colorado Rockies (2017 record: 87-75; current projection for 2018: 80-82): Like division-rival Arizona, Colorado was among 2017’s biggest surprises. The Rockies haven’t rested on their laurels since the D-backs ousted them in the wild-card game, having signed a trio of established relievers – Davis, Bryan Shaw and Jake McGee – to three-year deals worth a guaranteed $106MM. Davis and Shaw, two newcomers, will replace Holland and Pat Neshek. Thanks to Davis, Shaw, McGee and the Adam Ottavino–Mike Dunn tandem, the Rockies have the priciest bullpen in the game, which they were able to assemble thanks in part to a starting staff that’s peppered with inexpensive hurlers.
Of course, it’s debatable whether the Rockies’ approach is the right one. They’re on pace to start next season well ahead of last year’s franchise-record Opening Day payroll of $127MM-plus, and that’s without having done anything major to upgrade either their rotation – which lost Chatwood – or position player group. The Rockies addressed the latter area to a degree when they brought in Iannetta, though his signing may rule out a Lucroy re-up.
Given that the Rockies’ two best players, third baseman Nolan Arenado (two years) and center fielder Charlie Blackmon (one year), are running low on team control, there’s an argument that they should be aggressively trying to upgrade their lineup around them. But the Rockies haven’t been in on any of Martinez, Eric Hosmer or Logan Morrison to this point. They have shown interest in Jay Bruce, though, and he’d seemingly be a higher-impact signing (and a higher-cost one, granted) than fellow rumored possibilities Mark Reynolds and Carlos Gonzalez – both of whom posted mediocre production as Rockies over the past couple years.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
No way cubs win 92 if season were to start today . Sure hope you are right them getting ace pitcher and hopefully reed or holland. Leadoff bat would be gravy
But the season does not start today. Very cold hot stove and lots of time. They will add a SP and maybe a RP. Not going to go after a top of order bat. Don’t really need one. Number 2 in runs scored in NL last year-only 2 behind Rockies.
Signing any of Cobb, Darvish, Arrieta(hopefully not) will give them one of, if not the best starting starting staff out there.
Im not sure why Alex Cobb turned down the cubs offer , he would be a perfect fit for them, My guess they move on to darvish
Sure, the Cubs scored a lot of runs after the All Star break. An argument can be made the Cubs offense got worse with the loss of Jon Jay. Addding a legit leadoff bat to the top of the order will make them better, simple as that.
Almora can start against lefties and Happ against righties. you can argue that makes them better
you’re right…probably more like 98
Cubs will win 92 games. They will not have the same offensive struggles they had last year. Everyone slumped. That alone will get them to their win total of last year
Pretty astonishing how CHC nearly led the league in offense despite Schwarber’s woeful first half and Rizzo and Bryant coming up a bit shorter than they did in 2016. They’ll miss having Jon Jay in the lineup. He was basically the most consistent bat they had.
With the young’ns being one year older I’d say the offense has a good chance of improving. I’m guessing the rotation will be “meh” again at best, though. If they get off to another cold start they’ll probably trade again at the deadline (they do have chips). I expect around 92 wins and another playoff appearance.
If you’re in the position the Cubs are in (contender), you should leave nothing to chance. These are, in fact, young players. You should always hope for tge best, but plan for the worst.
I think 92 wins is generous to The Cubs. They are losing Arrieta, and Wade Davis. In my opinion, I would predict around 88 wins.
I strongly prefer Morrow-Cishek-Strop-Edwards over Davis-Strop-Edwards-Uehara (especially with Morrow on a more team-friendly deal.
Without a real closer, it won’t matter who the setup guys are. The Cubs got to the NLCS in two consecutive seasons with a weak bullpen and a dominant closer. Acquiring a Holland or Colome allows the bullpen to settlte into their roles. Closer by committee with no real closer on the team just creates chaos.
Cishek does have 121 career saves. He has always been under-rated in my opinion.
True, but he lost the closer gig a couple of times for a reason. You’re not winning a WS with Cishek or Morton as your closer.
*Morrow
For what it’s worth, I’d definitely rather see them sign Cobb, Reed, and Duensing as opposed to Cobb and Holland.
as of now Morrow is the closer
Houston just won a World Series with a bad closer. It’s an overrated position.
In what universe is Ken Giles a bad closer?
The projections seem a little too conservative. The Dodgers lose Brandon Morrow and drop 10 wins. The Indians lost a few pieces and their run differential is projected to drop by 50%. Rockies able to get more pitching and they’re under .500.
I think you’re looking at the projections a little superficially. Rockies got some pitching, but they also lost some. Shaw and McGee are both projected to regress, while Chatwood, whom they lost is projected to have better numbers in ’18. And I’m not sure that replacing Holland with Neshek is an improvement. Looking at them as a team, they struggled into the PS playing sub-.500 ball in the 2nd half.
With LA it’s not just the loss of Morrow. They also are losing Darvish and Watson. I think they were seen as having had a lot of things go right in ’17 that can’t be counted on for next season. They are apparently not spending so they can get below the CBT threshold, so a reunion with Darvish is probably not going to happen. Projecting 94 wins seems about right.
Darvish had a 0.6 WAR with the dodgers. Not losing much when he leaves
You’re turning your nose up at 0.6 WAR for only 2 months? That projects to 1.8 over the entire season. Even then he clearly under-performed since he had a 3.3 WAR over the first 4 months with TEX. Still that 1.8 WAR ranks as 4th best for any LA pitcher in 2017. Right, LA isn’t losing much. Good luck with that philosophy.
Except they didn’t have darvish for the entire season. They were well on pace to be a 100 win team before he showed up. Your really reaching if you think the dodgers project to be worse. Not record wise. But player performance. Taylor and Wood are for real. But will they win 100 games probably not just because thats very hard to do.
*they will probably not win 100 games.
I don’t get it. You’re arguing with me, for defending the projection, which has them winning fewer games in 2018. Now you say they will not win as many games in 2018. It’s a projection and as projections go I think it’s correct, but it’s not a reliable prediction. There is a large factor of variation.
As to Darvish, just because he wasn’t there for the entire season doesn’t mean his contribution can be ignored. He still gave the Dodgers almost 50 IPs, which equates to about 1/4 of the season. He had the 2nd highest SO/9, behind Jansen, and the 3rd best SO/W ratio behind Jansen and Kershaw. Chances are the team does worse with any other option in place of Darvish.
They may have been projected to win 100 before Darvish arrived, but you can’t assume they automatically do without him. You simply can’t can’t negate Darvish’s contribution, just you can’t negate JDM’s contribution to the D’backs.
Im arguing the “many things went right” part. I interpreted that as many dodgers had seasons that wont be sustainable. So if your saying their individual numbers wont be as good thats what i disagree with. As for Arizona martinez eas huge. But they are still the 2nd best team in the division easy, even with the projected departure of JD
I would say the projection assumes that for the Dodgers, many things did go right in 2017, hence the 94 win projection. That;s borne out with the individual player projections, Some key players like Bellinger, Turner, Taylor, and Puig are projected to do worse in 2018. And just about every starting pitcher is projected negatively even if it isn’t by a huge margin. Same can be said for the relievers including Jansen.
These are just projections and some players will surpass them and others won’t, But a lot of analysis goes into the projections and it’s silly that Dodger fans get their feelings hurt because of a MLB best 94 win projection,
Feelings hurt? More like being rational. Bellinger and Taylor both did not play the first month. So that production will basically be a free bonus to the teams success in 2018. Saying all the pitchers will regress is also unrealistic.
J.D. Martinez makes no sense for the Nationals. The Nationals have a set starting outfield (Harper/Taylor/Eaton), a swing man coming off a solid season last year (Goodwin), a big-league-ready top prospect (Robles) and a top prospect a little farther away (Soto). While either Martinez or Yelich would be an upgrade, the likely cost of a marginal upgrade make it hard to see the Nats ultimately acquiring either player.
I think it’s safe to say that most teams are not high on Martinez, Hosmer, Arrieta, and Darvish at the price it will cost to get them. What happens if teams fill their spots with trades rather than signing them as free agents? I was thinking maybe a few of these guys go for pillow contracts/ one year.
It doesn’t feel like there are dominoes set up to fall. On the contrary it feels like most teams are ready to go to spring training with what they have. The Cubs need a starter and the Giants need a CF. Other than that it feels like if “The Price is Right” then a team might do something of significance.
The brakes have been applied in Miami. Jeter gave Ozuna away for nothing. The reality of trades is no one is dealing prospects they believe in. Teams aren’t filling their needs through trade, they are giving up on that and acquiring a body to put there by dealing garbage from their farm. The Angels moves are terrible. They won’t sniff the playoffs but they didn’t touch the talent on their farm. It’s a continuing trend of top level prospects being valued more than MLB talent.
I agree that Martinez makes no sense for the Nat’s. In fact I don’t think he makes sense for most teams unless he backs off on wanting to play the OF. I guess some team with a small OF, like LF at Fenway, wouldn’t be too bad, but he’s probably best suited at 1B or DH.
Baseball parity is in great shape, the two teams that were in the world series 5 years ago are picking one/two in this years draft, the Giants/Tigers.
Should have been the White Sox picking first. Just goes the show professional sports are rigged.
then stop watching
I loved to hear how its rigged against the sox
Been watching for 35+ years, and yes, It is rigged in favor of certain teams.
Or you could stop posting on baseball forums.
“Matt Kemp, whom the Los Angeles Dodgers seems likely to flip elsewhere or release prior to the season.—–Question 1—Say if the Angels sign him when he was released by the Dodgers—Would the Dodgers be responsible for the majority of his salary–how much would the Angels be responsible for if they sign him—Has he ever played 1B—–Cron then can be traded for a pitcher
Yes someone will give Kemp the league minimum and the Dodgers would be on the hook for all of except the minimum. He’s never played 1st and he’s not really a guy you even want to think about putting there. Plus Cron doesn’t really have any trade value.
I believe Kemp’s salary for 2018 is being paid mostly by the Braves, although the Padres may be on the hook for some of it as well. If he is released and signs elsewhere he would be signing for the major league minimum.
Kemp is owed $43.5m over the next 2 seasons, and LA will pay Kemp all but $5m, which will be paid by the Padres.
The Cubs will win more than 92 games next season. They will likely see improvements from Schwarber and Heyward over last season, and they will have Quintana and Happ there for the full season. Morrow and Cishek will be able to replace Davis and Rondon. Arrieta will be replaced by a full season of Quintana. The mess of Anderson, Butler, Lackey will be replaced by Chatwood. If they sign another pitcher, even better for next season.
Lance Lynn would be nice for them or do they go out and replace arrieta with darvish
“Likely see improvements from Scwarber and Heyward”? How do you justify your prediction? I personally don’t see Heyward improving his power or bat speed. Schwarber is who he is; a slugger who strikes out a ton. Sometimes you have to trust what your eyes see when it comes to ball players. Heyward is a below average hitter with superior defense. Schwarber is a slugging DH and marginal LF.
Schwarber was much better in the second half after returning from his demotion. He batted around .170 before the all star break. I don’t think he can be that bad again at the start of next season. Heyward’s 2017 was better than 2016, but still worse than any of his other seasons. I still think his bat could bounce back some more, I don’t think he just lost most of his hitting ability at 27. Those are the reasons I am basing that statement off of.
Look at the BB Ref projections for both Heyward and Schwarber. Heyward is projected to have an almost identical season in ’18 as he did in ’17.
Schwarber is projected to improve somewhat: .211/.315/.467 in ’17, 234/.333/.473 in ’18.
Fangraphs has Heyward’s wRC+ improving from 88 to 100, but I don’t think either can be counted on as big contributors this coming season.
Yeah, and they weren’t big contributors last season either. That’s why I listed multiple reasons why the Cubs can improve over last season.
It seems you might be focusing on the positives too much, Arrieta is gone, and Zobrist, who’s showing signs of decline, is a year older. I know Zobrist will be a utility guy, but then you have the defensively challenged Schwarber in LF. I don’t see Morrow as an improvement on Davis, in fact, just the opposite.
But mainly I’m surprised to see a fan of any team whining about a projection of 92 wins, which is the second highest behind the Dodgers and 4 better than the rival Cards. Good thing you’re not a Rockies fan.
Before you comment, can you please read what I wrote? I said the combination of Morrow and Cishek (the two RP they signed) is better than the combination of Davis and Rondon (the two RP that left). I agree Morrow isn’t as good as Davis, but Rondon also isn’t as good as Cishek. Arrieta was just good last year, not great like he was in 2015 and 2016, and Zobrist has already aged, he didn’t add much value with the bat last year. I am comparing 2017 to 2018. Zobrist’s age was a problem in 2017 also, and Arrieta was only a 1.9 WAR pitcher last year according to baseball reference. I think they have already made moves to replace 1.9 WAR in 2018.
I did read what you wrote. Did you assume because I don’t agree that I didn’t?
Even if the combination of Morrow/Cishek is better than Davis/Rondon, the difference is marginal at best, and is not going to account toward multiple team wins. And I don’t agree that the new 2 are better than the departing 2. They are certainly older, which increases the odds of injury. Maybe Cishek is > Rondon, but Davis is > Morrow.
Arguing that guys like Heyward and Zobrist weren’t great last year, and remain on the roster this year, makes your “Cubs will be better” a bit nonsensical. You’re counting on some guys to improve, no guys to be worse, and all the replacements to be equal or better than the guys they replaced.
Don’t expect Cubs fans to be rational or objective about the team. It doesn’t matter who’s on the roster, they’re myopic about negative aspects and insanely optimistic about marginal players.
I don’t see the loss of Morrow by the Dodgers costing them a 10 game swing. I see them more of a 98-64 ball club. The additions of Alexander, Koehler and the return of Yimi Garcia will make up some if not all the production lost. Keep in mind the team will have an extra month of Bellinger in the lineup the return of Andrew Toles and Barnes possibly assuming the majority role behind the plate.
Baseball had three 100+ game winners last year. That was more than typical but the current projections is no 100 game winners, which would also be unlikely. This tells me the statistical methods used for projections is not dealing well with outliers, which is hardly surprising because statistical methods aren’t designed to predict outliers. The difference between a 94 game winner and a 98 game winner is basically within the margin of error.
Exactly. I doubt any prediction system would predict a 100-win team, unless it was the ’39 Yankees or ’84 Tigers or something like that.
Well, right, they are arithmetic means, the midpoints of some data set, without disclosing any variability. It would be more useful if a range was stated, say the first standard deviation. That range would probably be pretty large and not look half as tidy, but it would be a much more realistic representation.
They lost more than just Morrow. They also lost Darvish and Tony Watson. While neither was with the Dodgers all season the 2 months of what each contributed can’t be discounted.
Toles return shouldn’t be over-valued since there are only 3 OF postions and someone isn’t going to play.
They do get an extra month of Bellinger, but it’s a huge assumption that he will provide the same level of production. Second season guys rarely continue high levels of production because pitchers have a better book on how to get him out.
How does The Rockies go down in projected wins? Yea, they’ll likely lose CarGo, Lucroy, and Reynolds, but they still have Blackmon, Arenado, LeMahieu, Story, and Desmond. Plus, they’ve upgraded their bullpen.
They didn’t upgrade their pen. Its the exact same quality as last year. They just have it all year as opposed to whenever they got Neshek
I have the Rockies finishing 2nd behind the Dodgers and in contention to host the WC against STL. I like what the Rox did. They are always a scary team to face. And i don’t see improvements for the DBacks. I think they are finishing 3rd if not 4th depending on how well the Giants bounce back.
The Cardinals added Ozuna but really havent done anything else. The starting pitching is worse, same as pen. They dont have a closer. I dont see how they have improved much from a team that ended the season barely over 500
Still plenty of time
The Rockies lost Chatwood, and Holland. Not sure Shaw and McGee are that much an improvement. Plus they were one game under .500 over the 2nd half of of the 2017 season, and despite their hitting were out-scored on the road. I admit a sub-.500 projection is rough, but I don’t see them making the 2018 PS.
Would be worth checking their projected number of wins before the 2017 season. I’d guess it was a smaller number than where they ended up. This team substantially outperformed expectations for the first couple of months.
True, they jumped out to a hot start and struggled down the stretch. Fangraphs projected them to win 74 games and they improved on that by +13. It’s interesting to note the Giants were projected to win 87 games, while the Yankees were projected to win only 83. Most surprising was the projected wins for the D’backs: 77.
Thanks for the info. Kind of tells us what we can do with those projections, doesn’t it?
Well, why would anyone put much stock in a projection? There will always be variations. But they do have some value. The projections for 2017 accurately predicted every division winner. TEX instead of MIN. was the only miss in the AL. They missed on both NL wild-cards but find anyone that predicted the D’backs would lose 93 games in 2016 then win 93 games a year later.
Some people act as it these projections are just some guy musing on a team and the then pulling a number out of his a$$. Not sure about all that’s considered, but at least part of it is WAR is tabulated for all the players on a team’s roster, Anyone arguing that his team will do better based on individual assumptions is kind of silly.
Unless someone is wagering on the overs or unders, I can’t see much value in them either.
The second half of Rockies 2017 wasn’t great because their young arms started wearing down somewhat. The bullpen actually got really wild and numerous RPs were struggling from June through August. Chatwood actually pitched himself out of the rotation during a stretch where he couldn’t find the strike zone, losing him doesn’t hurt the team at all.
_…losing him doesn’t hurt the team at all.”
At all? Yeah, keep telling yourself that losing a pitcher who is a ground-ball machine, especially at Coors, and who is only 28, will have no impact. But I’m sure those new guys won’t have any trouble adapting to Coors, especially McGee with his 5.40 ERA, and 10 HRs in 51.2 IPs there.
Rockies should do the following…
1) find someone to take Parra in a salary dump and use the savings to bring back cargo on a 1 year deal
2) sign Alex Avila to platoon with Iannetta
3) trade Ryan McMahon for Justin Bour
4) take a flyer on Jaime Garcia or possibly a different cheap bounce back veteran starter they could just cut if it doesn’t work out
1) Good luck finding a taker for Parra. They’re probably better off with Parra instead of Cargo though.
2) Not a bad idea.
3) No way the Marlins are trading a productive, and cheap Justin Bour with a lot of team control left for Ryan McMahon.
4) Not a bad idea.
Parra is a sunk cost. Nobody wants that guy. They’d be better off just releasing him and finding any random vet to play there – a Jon Jay-type.
This offseason has been really slow. I don’t think teams are waiting on next year’s class, I just think that they are taking a page out of the Cardinals notebook of not over paying players that aren’t really worth it. Defense is bad all across baseball because they don’t teach fundamentals and rush players to the majors. They talk about exit velocity which is sending the wrong message to hitters because teams are happy with a .200 batting average and 30 homers and 80 RBI. With that said and I could go on and on, it’s a lot of players getting squeezed because of the way the business is ran today, which is sad.
I don’t see where Cubs fans would rather see Russell gone than Baez. Russell went through a lot before last season and also was not healthy the majority of the year. A 23 year old SS who already has a 21 HR 95 RBI season under his belt and is just as good, if not better in the field than Javy. I think Russell has the chance to be really special…IMO
I could not agree more. I’m guessing Cub’s fans like the flashiness of Baez, but defensive metrics like Russell better. For SS Russell is a no-brainer for me.
agreed…Baez is overrated. He still boots too many routine plays and goes through stretches where he is an auto out, literally
Baez strikes out a ton to. Some people are short sighted because of his flashy defense. They trade Russell instead of Baez will be a big mistake
Russell is a very good defensive shortstop, but his offense has been lacking for the most part.. Even in the one season you reference, everyone hits 20 homers nowadays. Second, RBIs don’t matter as a stat (c’mon, you should know that by now). His OBP has been low,just like Javy – they don’t get on base enough. That said, I would rather sign FAs and keep the guys we got.