Red Sox lefty Drew Pomeranz is a year from the open market — a reality that comes with added concern when viewed against the backdrop of the current free-agent landscape — but he tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com that he’s more focused on the upcoming season than anything else. “Obviously, I know I’m a free agent at the end of the year and I want to have a good year,” says Pomeranz. “…I’m just worried about picking up where I left off and kind of continuing to get better every year like I have every year of my career.” Pomeranz is no stranger to the business of baseball, having been traded four times in his young career as he struggled to establish himself as a quality big leaguer. Since coming to Boston, though, he’s pitched to a 3.68 ERA with 9.1 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in 242 1/3 innings. Pomeranz says his biggest goal in 2018 is to get quicker outs so that he can work deeper into games. Doing so would almost certainly allow him to establish a new career-high in innings pitched; Pomeranz tossed 170 innings in 2016 and a career-best 173 1/3 frames in 2017.
Elsewhere in the division…
- While the Orioles have been in touch with the majority of free-agent starters available, they’re content to wait out the market for now to see if they can ultimately secure some rotation help on shorter-term deals, tweets ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. Owner Peter Angelos is wary of locking in another four-year deal just months after Ubaldo Jimenez’s four-year, $50MM landmine is finally off the books, he adds. Crasnick lists Lance Lynn, Alex Cobb, Jason Vargas, Andrew Cashner and Chris Tillman as some of the many possibilities on whom the O’s have been keeping tabs.
- Aledmys Diaz tells Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith that he informed the Cardinals early in the offseason that he’d prefer to be traded if the team couldn’t find more regular at-bats for him in St. Louis. The Cards obliged that wish, though the trade that sent Diaz to the Blue Jays doesn’t necessarily create an immediate path to regular playing time, either. Diaz, though, spent much of the 2017 season in the minors, and it seems certain that the Jays envision him as a big league piece to at least fill a reserve capacity. “It’ll be nice to look down the bench and see a little more firepower,” said manager John Gibbons of the additions of Diaz and Yangervis Solarte. Indeed, that duo should be a more productive pairing than Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney, each of whom signed minor league deals elsewhere this offseason. And, with a pair of injury question marks up the middle in the form of Troy Tulowitzki and Devon Travis, it’s certainly not difficult to see Diaz and Solarte both getting their fair share of reps in 2018 with Toronto.
- Masahiro Tanaka again spoke about his decision to forgo his opt-out clause and return to the Yankees (link via Newsday’s Erik Boland). While Tanaka acknowledged that there were likely other possibilities for him in free agency, the righty doesn’t sound as if he ever gave serious consideration to testing the open market. “…[T]he important thing for me was to follow what my heart was saying, and that’s what I did,” said Tanaka. The right-hander, of course, now looks like he may have been well-served to remain with the Yankees, as nearly every starting pitcher that hit the open market this offseason remains unsigned, with a few exceptions (e.g. Tyler Chatwood, Jhoulys Chacin). “[Y]ou would never know it was going to turn into something like this,” said Tanaka of the stagnant market. Tanaka also spoke about his early struggles in 2017 and spoke about the disappointment over Shohei Ohtani’s decision to sign with the Angels, as well as his excitement to face his countryman down the line.
Does DD deserve a medal for dealing with Angelos? I’d resign and look for an opportunity elsewhere.
Exactly. Angelose (Ange-lose) would rather have no pitching staff than give anyone a multi-year deal.
Here’s an idea, quit giving multi-year deals to not quality pitchers. Jimenez and Gallardo were past their primes.
Exactly! People say”oh the Orioles payroll is high” yeah it is and a lot of it was going to Davis and Ubaldo. Two effin bums. If they wise decisions and spent money on quality players it would a completely different situation. But, it’s not.
Nobody cares about performance when your payroll is high – just that the payroll is high. See Yankees 2012-2016.
Trumbo, Davis, Jimenez, and Gallardo.
They could have resigned Nelson Cruz (a much better hitter than Trumbo), signed the likes of Ervin Santana, Matt Garza, Scott Feldman, Scott Kazmir, or Jason Vargas, for the years and money they gave to Jimenez. If they would have pushed it by $1MM to sign Santana, the Orioles would have had a decent rotation of Santana, Gausman, and Bundy last year. But no, Jimenez was who they went with.
And in 2016? Well, Gallardo was just a bad signing. The only thing they could have done was sign like Marco Estrada. Or re-invest the money elsewhere, like signing Span or Zobrist to play the outfield.
Exactly, with regards to multi-year deals. There are big question marks on the top 3 to 4 SPs on the market and unfortunately, the market won’t move until those arms are off the table.
He already tried to do that to go to the Blue Jays. The Orioles should have agreed to a bag of BP balls for him, and then the Jays would be stuck with him. Poor Buck. He deserves better.
lol disappointment.. how about Stanton never gets traded until Showee passes on us
Now you have a top 2 offense
What does this even mean?
He’s saying the Yanks don’t have an opening for Stanton if Ohtani is on the team. I don’t agree with the opinion, but I understand it…
Is he? I thought he was saying that if Shohei Ohtani had chose the Marlins (?) they wouldn’t have traded Stanton. He does say “now *you* have a top 2 offense”, not “we” or “they”.
Shrug.
You understand Martian?
English and context please!
Everyone gave Tanaka a hard time for opting in.
Remember that one guy screaming “under the table deal”
I consider Darvish the better pitcher (less injury risk) and he’s still unsigned. Tanaka opted-in, in 3 yrs $67M and it’s “something shady”
I’m happy for him, he doesn’t have to wait uncomfortably, in suspense like the other FA, where he’s comfortable.
I don’t think Darvish’s situation is at all “uncomfortable” for him, except if he really thought he was going to get the 7 / $175 million that was mentioned as his asking price in some rumors a few weeks ago.
If Darvish wanted to agree to a contract for 5 years in the $110 to $125 million range, then he could already be signed. And it would probably be around the top of that range.
Is Darvish really the better pitcher at this point?
Yes. But going forward it all depends if last year was an outlier for Tanaka or not
Got a medical source: Tanaka was close to needing TJ surgery in 2016, took Alternate treatment – PLP. Let’s see how ‘18 works out. I think he knew if he went open mkt he’d have scrutiny on physicals etc. Smart move to stay w Yanks.
Amazingly, I don’t know if Tanaka could have gotten that deal had he tested this weird market. Smart move for him.
This is way off and why the reference to him in the post doesn’t make sense. Of course he could have gotten 3/67 as a free agent, even with a qualifying offer. If Darvish was willing to sign for that (or a bit more if you think he’s better, 3/75 or 3/80), he would be picking from the 20+ teams willing to pay him that.
I wish that Ohtani went to the Yankees, and the Yankees signed Darvish. Then get Hisashi Iwakuma from Seattle. Then convince Tsuyoshi Wada to come back to the US. The rotation of Darvish, Tanaka, Ohtani, Iwakuma, Wada would be nice.
I wish the Yankees would bring back Kei Igawa and give him 200 innings
Not to mention the corpse of Hideki Irabu!
Solarte can play third after they trade Donaldson
Oh man, have you watched Solarte play third? You don’t want that.
Estupido
What? His defensive is passable at 3rd. Its not elite but its not freddy freeman at 3rd bad.
Donaldson does need to be traded for a near ready pitching prospect if they can get it but Solarte and Diaz aren’t the answer for Jays infield issues. There’s a reason Diaz was in the minors, once major league pitching figured him out, he couldn’t adapt.
Stick Solarte at second when Travis goes down. Diaz will play himself back to the minors eventually.
Tulo moves to third or first. Urena plays shortstop. Trade Smoak.
Blue Jay lineup problems solved.
Next is how to fill out the rotation becuase it isn’t close to championship level moving forward. Don’t look at the stats of these guys from the past that is meaningless, they won’t fulfill that pattern this year. Only one reliable starter in the group and that is stroman..
It is hard to make make adjustments to major league pitching when you are playing in the minors. Many, including Willie McCovey a Hall of Famer, were sent down to the minors on their second year after being a Rookie of the Year. Shwarber was also sent down. As to Diaz, he is getting a second chance. There are already rumors and doubts in baseball about DeJon being able to repeat his production mainly because of his high rate of strike outs. Let time take care of things.
I tend to agree with this and (as a Cards fan) I’m worried they gave up on Diaz too soon, especially since DeJong’s sophomore slump might be just as bad. But Diaz didn’t really figure it out minor league pitching either after his demotion.
Question for the Blue Jays, say midseason rolls around and the team is out of contention. I’m assuming you trade off all veteran assets including Donaldson correct? Do you hold onto Stroman who will bring you back the largest haul of prospects or do you hold on to him and make that decision in the offseason? Lastly, being a Yankees fan what kind of package would you be looking for if your trading your ace?
I agree that the Jays selloff is coming when they fall out of contention at the trading deadline. As for trading Stroman for Yankees prosepcts, who knows.
In theory, a Stroman is worth a haul of near ready elite prospects including a near ready starting pitcher, so do the math of the trade yourself, your guess is a good as mine and why the Yankees only? I would be offering Stroman in a bidding war type of selloff.
They have a kid in AA that might turn out OK. If he needs another year, Tulo can move over and let someone like Guriel or Urena play short.
You are dreaming if you think that Gurriel can play SS.
This solves no problems. Tulo ‘s bat at 1b or 3b is a new problem. Taking Smoak out of the lineup and replacing him with Urena is a new and large problem.
Both Solarte and Diaz can play multiple positions, so there’s a lot of opportunities to get at bats that may not have been available to Goins and Barney. They will be used to rest the starters more, and there will be more situations when they will pinch run for Morales, then stay in at DH.
Atkins said last Fall they were looking for a utility player that could get 500 AB or so, and now they have 2.
Well Devon Travis is a lock to miss time so I’m sure Solarte will be playing 2B for probably half a season.
Tanaka coming off his worst year and his UCL lights up MRI’s . . No brainer. Thats just spin
Also off the back of a brilliant post season in which he pitched 7 shutout innings against the both the Indians and Astros.
I’m also not sure what you’re referencing that his UCL “lit up MRIs” other than in your head. His partial tear was nearly four years ago at this point,.
Pete is having difficulty coping with the new reality that they Yankees rebuilt on the fly and are loaded. So he picks on some angry old opinions.
Here is a perfect comparison:
Sale-Cy Young was terrible down the stretch when it mattered.
Tanaka has a rough start out of the gate for most of September and all of the post season he was one of the best.
Pete should ask his mommy for some pain medicine to make the headache go away. If not treated in the next two weeks it will be a migraine with the loaded Yankee lineup
Why does Petey Angelos even have a General Manager? He’s the one making all the decisions. He acts like he’s investing his own money, when in reality that money comes from fans and other morons paying $25 annually to subscribe to his ridiculous “sports network”.
Pay up Petey! You can save some of your money by buying day old bread and dented canned goods.
We are forced to pay for the Orioles network in our cable bill-it is not a choice. The Orioles also get a lot of the Nationals cable $, which was agreed upon to have them move there.
Angelos is 88 and approaching the end of the line one way or the other. O’s fans can take heart that the current state of ownership affairs shouldn’t last much longer.
The Orioles don’t have a General Manager as Angelos does not give out that title. DD is Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations.
“Since coming to Boston, though, he’s pitched to a 3.68 ERA with 9.1 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in 242 1/3 innings. Pomeranz says his biggest goal in 2018 is to get quicker outs so that he can work deeper into games. Doing so would almost certainly allow him to establish a new career-high in innings pitched; Pomeranz tossed 170 innings in 2016 and a career-best 173 1/3 frames in 2017.”
That lost inning, where did it go?
It’s simple math you idiot!
3 1/3 + 0 = 2 1/3
Duh!
Calling people idiots over the internet, always a good look
what lost inning?
Lol does cxcx think 170 in 2016 + 173 1/3 in 2017 adds up to 243 1/3??
“Pomeranz pitched 242 1/3 since coming to Boston.”….
You look for the lost inning, I’ll go look for the other 100, we might find them in San Diego.
orrrrr perhaps just pointing out the other lost inning where it was really 170 2/3 in 2016 and 173 2/3 in 2017?
Lots of lost innings goin’ on around here!
I remember people were talking smack about him last year but I believed in my guy
Pomeranz sounds ripe for a reasonable extension…..
Imtellenya O’s will go back to Tillman and he will have a great year.
Diaz and Solarte are a huge improvement over Goins and Barney. The Jays should consider deploying Tulo at DH and playing Diaz and Solarte at SS and 2B respectively. Move Morales (if you can) or keep him as a bench bat (albeit a very expensive one).
Morales isn’t going anywhere. He’ll be clogging up a roster spot for the next 2 years unless you want to try a homer Bailey swap or something along those lines.
Morales can be moved if at the deadline a team is looking for a bat off the bench or DH. The Jays would get a marginal prospect in return and would likely have to eat some of his contract. The trade market will determine if this is possible.
173 1/3 + 170 = 243 1/3
I only have a public school education but I’m fairly sure 173 2/3 + 170 = 343 2/3….however, he only pitched 68 2/3 in BOS in 2016, so, 68 2/3 + 173 2/3 = 242 1/3…..at 32 GS in 2017, he only averaged 5.4 IP/G…..those are NL numbers for a pitcher. if you’re in the AL you need to avg above 6 IP/G.
That’s some hillbilly math you did there. You are very qualified for a engineering position for the white house.
he was traded at the deadline, so some amount of his 2016 innings came with the padres
Padres should re-sign Pomeranz in a year. Get Anderson Espinoza for two seasons of Pomeranz while they aren’t contending and then get him back without giving up anything (except probably a draft pick) right when they are on the cusp.
Peter Angelos apparently prefers to die without a World Series title vs opening up his check book for some pitching. Oh well……………
People complaining about Angelos not being willing to spend and how the times he did spend it was dumb because he did so on bad players…just stop. Who do you want him to sign and to what contract?
If he signs Darvish to 6/160 and Darvish has to get Tommy John six months from now and misses the next year and a half and a sixth of their payroll is still tied up paying him you all will be saying “Stupid Angelos, why doesn’t he spend, instead of adding good players he gives it to some guy who was obviously going to get injured, what a jerk.”
Or if he gives Moustakas 5/80 and Moustakas continues to not be very good and even regresses which is plenty likely you all will be saying “Stupid Angelos won’t spend, he tied up all his money on this dumb player who isn’t any good and can’t get on base blah blah etc.”
It’s like people just love to whine.
There are negatives you can point out about him, like the O’s do seem to bid against themselves (Davis) and when they wait out the offseason until the remaining players should be willing to sign for less they end up overspending and overcommitting anyway (Ubaldo.) But signing X free agent(s) from this class for whatever they are asking for isn’t going to fix the O’s problems unless you can just forward in time and see which guys are going to deliver great value on their contracts, which you can’t.
This is exactly how it feels with the Jays! And probably a good dozen other teams. Extremely well said!