This is the latest installment in our Market Snapshot series. After checking on corner outfield options earlier tonight, we’ll look up the middle.
Teams In Need
Unless they move Dee Gordon back to the outfield, the Mariners have a hole. While the Giants have hopes for Steven Duggar, they’ll surely be on the lookout for other options this winter. Just what kind of player they’ll be interested in will depend upon who they hire to run their baseball ops department and what direction they take.
It’s arguable that several other NL West clubs should be looking up the middle, too. The Rockies could certainly stand to bump Charlie Blackmon to a corner spot, while the Diamondbacks will be looking for new blood. With Arizona potentially taking a rebuilding approach, of course, a big expenditure would seem unlikely.
While the position isn’t an area of need for the Phillies, all bets are off in Philadelphia. Just how much of a need there’ll be for the Indians isn’t known, though it’ll be hard for the team to count on a return from Leonys Martin. The Athletics were fairly unsettled up the middle, but perhaps saw enough in Ramon Laureano to more or less turn the job over to him for a full run. Perhaps there are some scenarios where the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, or Astros decide to shift around some pieces and pursue a center fielder, though that’d seemingly be dependent upon opportunity rather than need.
Whether the Reds believe they’re ready to begin winning could help decide their moves in center. An upgrade would certainly be in order if the organization wants to ramp up toward contention. Otherwise, the Rangers and White Sox aren’t settled in center and could potentially be opportunistic buyers. The Royals and Marlins are less likely to spend, and have some youthful players to try out, but also don’t have clear solutions on hand.
Free Agents
While this class doesn’t have any stars, it features at least one quality regular option in A.J. Pollock. While his durability remains a question, and he failed to sustain a hot start over the course of 2018, Pollock figures to command a strong, multi-year commitment.
Despite a middling 2018 season, sturdy veteran Brett Gardner is probably the best alternative. If his option isn’t picked up and traded, he’ll bring his typically steady lefty bat to the free agent market.
Otherwise, the market contains timeshare options at most. Players like Carlos Gomez, Austin Jackson, Jon Jay, Adam Jones, Cameron Maybin, Gerardo Parra, Denard Span, and Chris Young likely won’t be considered as even semi-regular options up the middle. Though all have spent significant time as everyday options in center over the years, none has shown the ability to do so productively of late. Indeed, it’s debatable whether any but Jay, Maybin, and perhaps Gomez will really be seen as realistic options to take the field in center after the defensive showings made in 2018.
Depth Options: Peter Bourjos, Gregor Blanco, Rajai Davis, Craig Gentry, Shane Robinson, Jake Smolinski, Matt Szczur, Eric Young Jr.
Trade Targets
Potential Regulars: It’s tough to know what the Rays are thinking, but Kevin Kiermaier is the only player they are locked into contractually. Given that he’s coming off of a subpar season, though, perhaps it’s likelier they’ll hold for the time being and hope he bounces back. The Blue Jays could consider dangling Kevin Pillar. Perhaps most plausibly of all, the Phillies could decide it’s time to move on from the enigmatic Odubel Herrera, who’d be of interest elsewhere.
Platoon/Bounceback Options: Keon Broxton may well be on the move given the Brewers’ outfield logjam. In a similar situation, the Nationals could hang on to Michael Taylor as a reserve, but it’s also possible they’ve seen enough. Taylor has plenty of glove and runs well but remains an inconsistent performer at the plate. That description is true in an even more extreme form with regard to Billy Hamilton of the Reds, a fascinating player who is miscast as an everyday piece. The Yankees and Cardinals would surely like to find takers for Jacoby Ellsbury and Dexter Fowler, respectively, but it’s tough to either player moving except perhaps in some kind of bad contract swap.
one thing angels don’t need is a centerfielder. unless, nah!
Mariners should try to get KK
Pillar could fit in Seattle. Wouldn’t take a lot to get him.
The dee Gordon to centerfield idea failing is about the least surprising thing imaginable.
Did it fail; or just Cano
How bad is Brandon belt in a corner? The giants need an entire outfield if they’re going to continue this attempt to scrape out a competitive season. 1b Types come very cheap and that lineup needs some pop. Move belt to a corner, get a C.J. Cron type to play first and sign another outfielder if you really think Duggar can play. By all accounts they should be rebuilding but if that’s not the case that seems to be a better option.
With his concussion history, Belt’s future is in the AL where he can also DH. Give Minnesota a call; they could use a LH hitting 1B to platoon with Austin and they now have a good bit of payroll flexibility.
I think he’s passable out there but he’s also a top defender at 1st, I don’t think they’ll move him off 1st unless they trade him which I can’t see happening either, I like the logic tho for sure. Wouldn’t mind picking up KK and either he or Duggar in RF
I would add the Mets to the list of teams looking for a CF
If there was a good fit out there Mets would make sense, but with nothing jumping off the page and given other needs it probably makes more sense to make do with Lagares, Conforto and Nimmo all seeing time in CF.
If both players are willing to waive their NTC, then Jacoby Ellsbury to Arz. Diamondbacks with 3 prospects for Z. Greinke, would be a good deal for both the yanks and D. backs. Each team might be able to find what they think is a good deal. D-backs get young talent for the future, and save 10 million a year and the Yanks add a good starter to try to win the WS now.
If they were interested in moving grienke for good prospects, they could do it without taking back a bad contract in return.
Either they take on a bad contract or someone pays half that salary.
D-Backs have been trying to move that contract for 2 years.
No one is taking on a contract that huge and also moving good prospects.
Ellsbury to the D-Backs is not something I thought of, but it might be possible.
Ellsbury’s contract is insured as well. This trade makes a ton of sense for the D-Backs. The Yankees will never go for it though. Just like Yankee fans thinking they are going to sign Machado or Harper. They will each command over $30 million a season. Combine that with Stanton’s contract and they will be taking a $65 million hit on the luxury tax for 2 players. I just don’t see any team except for whomever Dombrowski is running making a commitment like that. Look for them to sign Corbin. Move Sheffield into the rotation and resign Happ. That will be their rotation with Severino and perhaps signing CC to start the beginning of the season and then moving him to a long man/6th starter role after Montgomery comes back. Unless they can find a taker for Stanton I just don’t see it happening. I would like to see them trade for Wil Myers though. He was able to stay healthy and was productive when he was only a 1st baseman. Maybe they can send the Padres Ellsbury and $15 or so million, a decent prospect, plus good lottery tickets for Myers. Ellsbury is a sunk cost and the Padres can afford the dead money playing as many pre-arb players as they will be the next couple of years. Plus, like I said, his contract is insured.
Sorry about the novel guys. When I get going I can’t help myself.
If Machado and Harper can be had for just 3o million a year, the Yanks should be all over it. I think they get 35 million a year, but even at that rate, I think it is worth it for the Yanks. The Yanks could sign both of them for 36 a year for 10 years, but front load both contracts, at 60 million a year for 4 years, plus pay each player 10 or 20 million deferred, then give each player an opt out, this almost guarantees both players leave at the end of 4 years, giving the Yanks a killer offense to win a world series. This also gives them a very cheap 3rd baseman to trade, (Andujar) which they can field offers for or package him with Frazier, and Sheffield an another pitching prospect and try to get a frontend starter. They sign Patrick Corbin, and reup Happ, plus get the best relievers in free agency, for the pen….Let’s go Yanks.
The Yankees actually have a lot of money to spend this offseason – something like 60-80 million. I actually do like the idea of packaging Ellsbury with a prospect to the Padres for salary relief – the Yankees and Padres made this exact same deal with Chase Headley – the Pads took on most of Headley’s salary and then immediately released him, basically – they wanted Bryan Mitchellm, and taking on Headley’s contract was part of getting him. While that didn’t work out so well because Mitchell was awesome, if the Padres got some real prospect of value – perhaps even Greg Bird+, they might take on Ellsbury and just release him – the last thing San Diego needs is another outfielder.
(btw “Mitchell was awesome” was sarcasm)
yeah, of course yankees are rebuilding?
You have to stop acting like Greinke is a salary dump. It’s salary relief for an above average and productive player. That being said, the prospect return should be factored into how much money they take on. I think in any deal including Ellsbury must come with 50-75% of his contract paid by Yankees. Greinke can still be a FOR starter for a new team. Ellsbury may not be able to take the field on a regular bases. I would say a productive and expensive Greinke is better than an injury riddle and expensive Ellsbury.
But no team is going to take Zack and his 31 or 32 million dollar a year contract for 3 years, at his age, (35-37) even with a good era, considering his FIP is just 3.71 in the national league. He would be coming to a DH league, where it will be tougher to get outs, that means his innings and strikeouts, go down and his walks and era, probably go up, I think the diamondbacks might be very willing to take 3 secondary pitching prospects, plus Ells, and save 10 million a year, If the D-backs get two back of the rotation prospects and relief prospect that might be considered a solid return, by them, since his age, contract length, and salary are all minuses.
Does Grienke have a NTC… yes NY is a city Grienke has voiced an unwillingness to be traded to, or that he would not sign there. This makes a few of these guys proposals dead in the water right off the bat, let alone that contact.. John, hope the Sox put the Astros away tonight.
NTC to 15 clubs GreatCereal according to Cot’s and can figure about every large media market is on that list for obvious reasons we don’t need to rehash here.
I saw no reason for him heading to NY in any salary swap with Ells alone, it made no sense for Arizona without bringing up that other reason you are hinting at.
Some of these Yankees fans that have popped up on here lately(if they’re really Yankees fans) are embarrassing with these ludicrous proposals. Grienke wouldn’t go to NY and it’s well documented why. Ellsbury will be dead weight for a couple more years, and if it was that easy to unload him I’m sure they’ve exhausted all avenues to do so.
I don’t know. He’s never won anything. He survived in LA. He might want a chance to contend for a title. It’s unlikely but if he wants out of AZ (and I don’t know if he’s voiced his stance one way or another) then he might have limited options, same as Stanton. But I don’t think Ells would be involved unless the Yanks are 75% of his remaining contract. and took on all of Greinke’s.
I also like Aron Hicks to either the Braves, Indians or even the Astros, to get 2 or 3 prospects, if they can simultaneously pull off a trade with their division rival Tampa Rays. The Yanks would trade Clint Frazier to the Rays for CFer Mallex Smith, Frazier would provide power to their line-up, while also chipping in good corner defense, and the Yanks get a young, cheap CFer for 4 years, who gets on base, steals bases, and plays good defense, a new version or Bret Gardner.
This might go over, since the Rays still have good defense in CF, with Kevin Keirmaier. I don’t know how each team values their players, of course, so maybe the Yanks might need to add 1 prospect pitcher in the trade since Smith has already proven himself on a major league level, but Frazier is still highly regarded by the Yanks, who believe he will be a solid mlb player, at the very least.
Frazier is a formerly highly regarded prospect. It’s been a couple of years now.
The Yankees got him as a high-level minor leaguer about to hit the majors. 2-3 years later he’s still that. He’s injury prone. Not enough speed for CF, nor the arm for RF, and appears to be below ML average in LF. He hasn’t shown much power, nor has he established himself. At this point he’s a wash out. Why would a team give up an established ML player with speed for him? All teams have OF’s that hit well in AAA.
As for Hicks – he’s a solid poor boys 5 tool player; a switch-hitter that can man any of the 3 OF positions at an above-average level. He has years of control, and has never caused a problem. Why would the Yankees trade him? I know – you want to move Didi to CF so you can sign Machado. lol
Hicks isn’t going anywhere. Cashman loves Frazier and is not going to sell low on him. He is not injury prone. He had concussion issues which can take awhile to completely go away. His knees are still good and he hasn’t had any serious arm/back injuries. He will get a chance next year and we will hopefully find out why Cashman has so much praise for him. Let’s remember Cashman for a FO guy seems to know his scouting pretty well. He said Bird had the best swing in the system before he was promoted in 2015 and showed so much promise before he lost that swing riding the DL for 2 years. Plus, Voit. I mean talk about one of the best trades I have seen in awhile. Granted he is still probably a 4A player but he was the spark plug through September and Cashman traded his worst bullpen pitcher and a meh bullpen prospect for him. Without Voit the Yankees could have easily missed the playoffs.
Hicks is in the last year of his contract, he does not have multiple years, and he is 29, he has extreme value for a win now team, who can’t afford Harper and maybe not Brantley, who Hicks would be far cheaper. Hicks is either extended by the Yanks or he hits free agency after 2019. So trading him to a win now team like the Braves, Indians Cardinals, or maybe even the Rockies, or Astro, makes sense for all parties, if the Yanks can get Mallex Smith in a separate trade, then not extending Hicks makes financial, and youth sense, as far as Frazier is concerned, his power numbers are quite good. He hit 311, with a 389 obp, 574 slg, and 963 ops, with 10 hrs, over 216 abs, over 48 games, excuse me, but that’s one hr, for less than every 5 games, he will be very desirable by many teams. This is why, despite how good Gerrit Cole is, the Yanks did not want to trade both Andujar and Frazier in a package for Cole. And when you look at top outfield prospects stats, not many have better numbers than Frazier in the upper minors. He is going to be a good mlb player, a one for one trade is quite reasonable from the Yanks perspective, hell they may even think Frazier might out perform M. Smith.
@yankeebtv1
Of course! Why would you trade someone with good numbers in the minors (Frazier) and a young DH, (Andujar) for a TOR arm like Cole? Might be why Houston is still playing, and the Yanks are watching on TV.
Players Astros gave up aren’t nearly as good as Cole and Frazier. And the Astros are still at risk of losing Cole in a year.
If Hicks wants to be a Yankee and isn’t asking for an absurd contract then I imagine the Yanks would want to keep him. He ranks as the 3rd best CF behind Trout and Cain in total WAR and provides great range, route tracking, power, patience and overall defense..Yanks are trying to win now. I can’t imagine them being better with Mallex vs Aaron.
Frazier should STILL be considered a prospect but his ability to stay on the field is an issue. I think he’s more likely to be a lesser part of a bigger deal vs being the main piece.
Giants will just hang onto Gorkys Hernandez as a fallback/backup in CF.
Test
Fail
Without even trying
No Keon Broxton love? He’ll be out of options, and given who the Brewers already have as OF starters, he’s got no future here. (The same holds true for Domingo Santana, but this thread is about CF.) Teams could certainly do worse than taking a flier on him.
Ah yes meant to include him. Will add him.
Jon Jay is a brutal fielder. He’s not a good hitter either. I don’t care what any bullsh*t defensive metrics say about him. He’s slow. Takes bad routes to balls. Can’t throw any better than a 12 year old. I never have or will understand the love teams have had for this guy over the last few years?
Jay is an average player at his position, which is valuable given his contract.
He sucks.. He has no contract right now.
Did an excellent job platooning with Almora for the Cubs 2 years ago
He did a great job of taking at bats away from Almora and playing horrible defense. Other than that, he was great. So great, the Cubs let him walk
Hamilton saves several runs and is always in the top 20 or less of runs scored. dont get me wrong senzel could be better but Hamilton is way way underrated. he is a everyday player especially in a bigger park. with a quality catcher and ss we could still get by will Billy. of course that money would be better spent on arms
Hamilton’s only value is on defense. He has the same problem as Dee Gordon – he can’t get on base enough to utilize his speed effectively. If he had any patience at all he could be a 70-80 steal guy, but instead, Hamilton has a career 298 OBP. He laso has zero power and strikes out at an alarming rate for a player with so little other offensive skills. He’s a fourth outfielder/pinch-runner at this point, except he’s being paid like an above-average starter.. He feels like the perfect non-tender candidate.
No mention of the padres outfield log jam? I mean Jankowski, Margot, Cordero one or two are bound to be traded.
Given Polanco is out for a few months to start the season and the Pirates dont really have a backup CF for when Marte needs days off, I would like the Pirates to go after Pollock but know that probably wont happen so I’ve come around to the idea of signing Brett Gardner on a two year 10-12 million deal which is totally reasonable. Adding Gardner and a Marwin Gonzalez or Jed Lowrie type player to add an established bat that can cover a couple of infield spots would be a solid offseason for the Pirates. Just sucks as a fan that you have to look at second to third tier free agents as a small market team fan as a starting point for free agency daydreams.
Well if the Brewers don’t resign Moustakas and then Shaw moves back to third , I wouldn’t mind seeing them trade Broxton and maybe trade Santana( not a necessity because of pinch hitter capability). I would really like to see Meyers in Milwaukee, he could play left when Braun is hurt and not convinced with Aguilar at first yet completely. He is still 27 and would be great for this team as a young player
Theo Epstein has made it clear that he was extremely disappointed with the offensive production down the stretch. Unfortunately for the Cubs, Heyward is not opting out of his contract, so if they resign Murphy at 2B and keep Almora in CF, they are essentially putting the same product on the field that failed to get it done last year so I doubt they resign Murphy. Almora would be great trade bait during the season. Baez may or may not have overachieved at the plate as well; he is arguably the easiest out in the game if you throw sliders away and high fastballs so the lineup needs help if they want to get back to WS. Bottom line, Epstein is going to go after AT LEAST AJ Pollock, who if healthy would be great at the top of the lineup. It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to sign LeMahieu at 2B. He has proven to be solid defender and has a decent OBP.